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Welcome to the Bridge Church VB Podcast, your weekly source for uplifting and transformative Sunday messages! Each episode features insightful, practical teachings rooted in Scripture, designed to inspire and guide you on your spiritual journey. Led by our passionate Lead Pastors, Archie and Tangie Callahan, we strive to create a welcoming environment that encourages individuals from all walks of life to connect with the person, power, and purpose of Jesus Christ.
In this podcast, we delve into relevant themes and timeless biblical truths that speak to the challenges and joys of everyday living. Whether you’re commuting, exercising, or simply seeking encouragement, our messages aim to empower you to grow in faith and discover your unique purpose.
Join our vibrant community of believers as we explore how to apply God’s Word in practical ways, fostering a deeper connection with Him and one another. Don’t miss out on the opportunity to enrich your life through these dynamic teachings. Connect with us and find out more at www.bridgechurch.tv!
Good morning.
My Lord, we could have just kept on praising God through the Labor Day weekend.
Amen.
It's good to see you on Labor Day.
Anybody off work?
Why is it on Labor Day weekend I'm always working?
I thought it was supposed to be a labor-free weekend.
I'm working in my yard, getting ready for my daughter's wedding in our backyard.
Lord, help me.
Pray for me.
Amen.
I need all your prayers and your financial support.
I didn't know what I was doing when we had three girls.
But God does.
Amen.
Amen.
Take out your Bibles and turn to Mark before I get into football.
Turn to Mark chapter number six.
And we're going to look at a story that is a powerful story in the life of not only Jesus and his disciples, but in the life of a guy who was demon possessed.
This girl, Megan, she was a great, great young lady.
Very talented.
She was a straight-A student.
She was a team captain.
She was a college athlete with a scholarship and a future.
And when she got to college, she was that great student.
Nothing about her life said addict.
But somewhere along the way, she began to party, she began to drink, she began to take Adderall to help her manage her school assignments.
She went to a party, got drunk, passed out, and woke up in a jail cell.
She was scared, she was cold, she was still drunk.
Peering through the bars of that jail cell, she asked this question that many of us ask.
How did I get here?
How did I get here?
Maybe you've asked that question before.
How did I get here?
The story we're going to look at today is a story about a demoniac.
This demoniac, the Bible says, was living among the tombs.
He was in a place that no ordinary citizen would want to be during the day in which he lived in because the tombs represented uncleanness, represented death and demise, a putrid mess, destruction, a place of decay.
How did I get here?
Let's look at Mark chapter number 5.
And we're going to look at verses 1 through 6.
And it says this.
They went across the lake of the region of the Gerasenes.
The Gerasenes.
The Gerasenes was a place where Greek and Roman culture collided.
It was a place that was a Gentile area.
And when Jesus got out of the boat, a man with an impure spirit came from the tombs to meet him.
This man lived.
Look what it says.
This man lived in the tombs.
I don't know about you, but I think I could find a better house.
come on somebody i'd find an apartment or something and no one could bind him anymore not even with a chain for he had often been chained hand and foot but he tore the chains apart what does that mean he was so demonically energized that those demons within him gave him supernatural power he tore the chains apart and broke the irons on his feet
No one was strong enough to subdue him night and day.
Look at this miserable existence.
I want you to notice this.
Night and day among the tombs and in the hills, he would cry out, cut himself with the stones.
When he saw Jesus from a distance.
Look here, he sees Jesus.
He ran and fell on his knees.
He ran toward Jesus and he fell on his knees in front of him.
This man, this demoniac, had been existing among the tombs.
We don't know how long he had been there, but he had been there long enough for the community to try to chain him, bind him up, hands and feet, to the point that they knew that he was demonically energized to the point that they could not subdue him.
They could not bind him up.
They could not control him.
They became fearful demons.
Now within the context of Mark chapter 5, to get the greater meaning of this, you have to look back at chapter 4 of Mark.
In chapter 4 of Mark, Jesus is teaching on seed time and harvest.
He knows and he begins to explain to his disciples that the seed is the word of God.
The soil is your heart.
Your heart could be rocky soil, dry soil, or good soil.
And so, you know,
Oftentimes when we come to church, we think the preacher has to be hyped up and jacked up and ready to go up when all that we have to understand is that our heart has to be good soil.
So when the seed of the word of God is planted in our heart, it will bring forth a harvest.
So Jesus is preaching.
At the end of Mark chapter four, Jesus is tired of speaking and he needs a nap.
It's like that Sunday afternoon after you go out to eat, after you've got your worship on and you go home and you go into that Sunday coma.
Jesus needed a Sunday coma.
And so Jesus says to his disciples as evening was coming, he says, guys, let's get in the boat and go to the other side.
He was leaving where he was at, where he was preaching, and he would travel to the eastern or southeastern side of Galilee into the Gerasenes.
The Gerasenes was a place that is known as Decapolis.
Decapolis is a Greek word that means ten cities.
There were ten cities on the southeastern shore of Galilee.
These ten cities were very Hellenistic, meaning they had cities.
Been influenced by Greek culture.
It was a Greco-Roman time in which the Greeks had influenced Rome.
And Rome had influenced Greeks.
And they began to merge.
The Greeks brought philosophy.
They brought theater.
They brought their temples and their paganism.
And Rome brought their law schools.
And Rome brought games.
governance and engineering.
And these two cultures merged in the Decapolis, these 10 cities.
Now in biblical numerology, 10 is the number of testing.
And so Jesus tells his disciples to get into the boat.
Let's go to the other side.
And I believe Jesus understood that there was going to be a test on the other side of their obedience.
But before they could get to the other side, there would be a test on the water.
And so when they get in the boat and they go to the other side, and the Bible says some boats followed them along, there came a storm on the Sea of Galilee.
The wind began to blow and the waves became furious and beat against the boat.
And you know where Jesus was?
He was chilled out in a Sunday coma, taking a nap in the stern of the boat.
Isn't that just like Jesus to sleep in your storm?
Have you ever felt like Jesus was asleep in the storm and all hell was breaking loose in your life?
You couldn't tell if you were coming or going and you found Jesus to be asleep in your storm.
And these disciples, the Bible says, became furious.
They became fearful.
They go down in the boat and they wake Jesus up.
How many of you know the storm that confuses you, the storm that gets you uptight, the storm that makes you fearful is the very storm that Jesus has learned to sleep through?
That's good preaching right there.
You know, if Jesus doesn't get uptight, you shouldn't either.
Come on, when Jesus gets uptight, you can get uptight.
But I've never seen Jesus uptight.
He didn't get worried about the storm that was brewing, the storm that was beating on the boat.
But the disciples became furious to the point and fearful to the point that they wake Jesus up.
And Jesus steps out of the boat and he says, peace be still.
Now we can make this real dramatic as peace be still.
Or I think he just said peace be still.
What's up guys?
Why are you waking me up?
You know, I've been preaching all day.
You know, I've been talking about the kingdom.
You know, it's Sunday afternoon.
And I got to, you know, Monday's coming.
Why are you waking me up?
Peace be still.
Oh, ye of little faith.
Why did you become afraid?
The Bible says they make it to the other side, to the Decapolis, and Jesus steps out of the boat.
And when he steps out of the boat, he doesn't step out into this beautiful city.
It's not like he steps out on Virginia Beach in the beautiful, hard, hot sand.
And goes up to Waterman's and gets him a chips and fish snack.
No, that's not what Jesus did.
When he stepped out, he put his feet in the area of the tombs.
Jesus is not scared or afraid of the tombs of our lives.
He's willing to go to unclean places in order to bring cleanliness that flows out of him into those unclean places.
And in that area of the Decapolis, he comes into this area where this man who had been living there... The Bible doesn't tell us how long...
evidently he had been there long enough for people to understand that this man was possessed.
The Bible never uses the word in its Greek form, demon possessed.
It uses this word demonized.
This man was demonized.
He was influenced.
He was taken over by a demon and not just one demon.
And if you read the story, he says, we are legion for we are many.
We don't know how many demons this man had, but he had a lot of demons.
You ever been around people?
You think they got many demons?
I've been around some people and they change every day.
Amen.
Come out.
That's what you want to say sometimes to people.
But this man is living there among the tombs.
among the tombs in this Hellenistic Greco-Roman society that is predominantly Gentiles with some Jewish minority influence.
And eventually some Christians would also live there.
Why would Jesus take his disciples from a predominantly Jewish area into a Gentile predominantly area?
Because he was teaching his disciples that the gospel should not stay within the full walls of your little community.
But this gospel is powerful enough to go out into all the world.
So he's teaching his disciples that this gospel is not just for the Jewish nation.
It's just not for that slither of land that we call Israel.
That this gospel is for all nations.
That all nations need the gospel.
And you've got to understand, the Greco-Roman world is the world in which Paul wrote all his letters.
He understood that he was in a culture that was contrary to...
to the gospel he was in a culture that did not love jesus he was in a culture that was depraved and and downtrodden despondent and depressed he was in a culture full of paganisms and idol worship and temples that were greek temples he was in a culture that was ran politically by the roman government and if you didn't obey the government guess what you would die
Jesus comes onto the scene and steps out in the area of Decapolis into those tombs.
This man is living in the tombs.
We don't know his name.
We don't know how long he's been there.
But he's got a name.
You know who knew his name?
His mama probably knew his name.
Can you feel the heart of that mama?
My son's over there.
She heard him when he first cried when he was born.
And now she's hearing him cry out in anguish.
His dad knew his name.
If he had siblings, they knew his name.
But the community, the society, these 10 cities, they didn't know his name.
They just knew him as the demoniac.
Some crazy man who lived among demons.
The tombs.
These tombs were not like the beautiful memorial gardens that we have today.
It's not like Woodlawn Memorial Garden that you go and you get exercise around walking.
These tombs were carved out rock in the hillside.
They were not places you want to hang out.
In fact, Jews understood that tombs by their very nature were probably unclean.
Because Numbers 19 says,
That if you go into a tomb or around a tomb where there is a corpse for seven days, you become ceremonially unclean.
And you have to be separated from the people until those seven days are over.
So this man was doubly marginalized because he was in a place that was unclean.
Tombs were unclean.
Corpses were unclean.
And the Bible says he lived among the tombs.
He lived in the tombs.
Not only that, but in that region, he was among unclean animals.
There were pigs all over that region.
Jews would not hang out around pigs.
They had sheep.
They had sheep.
So not only was he in a tomb, but he was around pigs.
I mean, pork is one of the worst meats that you can eat.
Come on.
Whatever you drink or eat, do it all in the name of the Lord.
I love bacon.
Come on, somebody.
Anybody eating bacon this morning?
I love bacon.
And so he's hanging out there.
In the tombs with pigs.
Look here.
On top of that, it was unclean because of Jews.
They no longer would associate with Gentiles.
So it was a Gentile region.
So he was doubly unclean from the perspective of the 12 disciples that were in the boat.
Jesus, why are you taking us over here?
It gives us a vivid picture of the nature of what Jesus was trying to do in the sight of the Jewish disciples that were in the boat.
He was teaching them that this gospel has to go forth.
And so Paul, in this Greco-Roman world, would say in Romans 1, verse 16, I'm not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God unto salvation.
To the Jews first, look here, and then to the Gentiles.
Good Jews would have left the Gentiles alone.
Jesus, don't go to there.
Don't go to the capitalists.
Let those people die.
But Jesus said, no.
Now, I want you to understand this.
They're going to the other side.
Jesus puts his feet on that shore.
What happened between, boys, let's get in the boat.
Let's go to the other side.
A storm.
I want you to notice something about this storm.
I don't believe that it was just a natural atmospheric storm.
I believe that was part of it, but I believe it was demonically inspired by the prince of the power of the air to keep Jesus from going into the region of darkness and bringing the light.
So when that boat was sailing on the Sea of Galilee, and when that storm came up, Satan already knew Jesus was probably going to Decapolis.
Jesus was trying to expand his kingdom.
Jesus was taking the gospel there.
So he tried to confront that ship there.
With this storm to shake the disciples.
And to shake the son of God.
He might have shaken the disciples.
But he did not shake Jesus.
Jesus was the son of God.
In the flesh.
And he was going to the other side.
When Jesus says let's go to the other side.
You will get to where he wants you to be.
On the other side.
Don't jump out of the boat.
Stay in the boat with Jesus.
Amen.
As long as you got Jesus in your boat, you're going to get to the other side.
He gets there.
Puts his feet down.
This demoniac's there.
Among the tombs.
Unclean place.
You know, there are modern tombs today.
We deal with modern tombs.
The tomb of addiction.
The tomb of addiction, this addiction that holds us bound for years.
This guy, he had been dwelling among the tombs.
There are people, there are Christians, there are unbelievers and believers alike.
They often dwell among the tombs and God wants to free them.
God wants to keep them in his grace, but somehow they get the tomb there.
They get this tomb mentality.
They see the tomb was Satan's strategy.
Can I tell you, it was Satan's strategy to isolate him from community.
It was his strategy to isolate him from his mom, his dad, his siblings, his family members.
and the community in a broader sense.
It isolated him.
It pushed him into a place where nobody would visit him.
Nobody would hang out with him.
He is isolated.
The Bible says he's crying day and night and cutting himself.
He has been isolated because it's Satan's strategy to isolate you.
When he isolates you, there comes self-medication.
I medicate at night.
I drink real deeply because I'm lonely.
I drink because I
I don't understand what's going on in my life.
And guess what?
Jesus drank wine, so I'm going to drink it.
And we stay in this fog of desperation.
Another thing about the tomb, the tomb became his permanent residence.
He dwelled there day and night.
And oftentimes our tomb of addiction becomes our permanent residence.
The tomb of shame.
Anybody ever been filled with shame?
It becomes a personal paralyzing prison.
This shame.
This shame of yesterday.
The shame of my past.
The shame of my present.
The shame of where I live.
And we live in this shame.
And we're paralyzed by this shame.
And it becomes a permanent place of residence in our lives.
Depression can be a tomb.
It becomes a dark, dense tomb.
A cloud that's wrapped around me.
And I can't seem to get out of this tomb of depression.
And I have a permanent relationship with depression.
And I have a permanent residency with depression.
Trauma can be a tomb.
Sometimes it becomes such a great tomb that we wear it like a badge of honor.
Look what happened to me.
I'll never forgive that person.
I can't do that.
So we've been so traumatized that it becomes a permanent residency that we live our lives from.
Tombs.
Secret sins have become tombs.
Yeah, I get dressed up on Sunday.
Come to church.
Put on my religious face.
I become a whitewashed tomb.
I look good, but I'm empty.
I look good, I play the part, but man, my mouth is full.
I become this, but man, I live an alternative life Monday through Saturday.
But on Sunday morning, give me an hour, I'm going to dress up for Jesus.
Secret sins that we need to bring to Jesus and allow him to do something with the tomb that we're living in.
Tombs, modern day tombs.
Look what happened to the community when they figured out about this guy living in the tombs.
Guess what they did?
They learned to live with the demoniac among them.
How many of you know you can learn to live with your tomb?
But that's not God's best for your life.
The thief comes to kill, steal, and destroy, but I have come that you might have life and life more abundantly.
Jesus just didn't come to get you to heaven.
He came to earth to deliver a message of the gospel.
It is the power of God unto salvation, not just to get you to heaven, but to transform your life and make you a witness in the world.
Jesus said, behold, you will receive peace.
He didn't say you will do witnessing.
He says your life will become the witness if you'll bring the tomb to Jesus.
If you'll bring the shame to Jesus.
If you'll bring the depression to Jesus.
If you'll bring the addiction to Jesus.
If you'll bring the secret sins to Jesus.
Only Jesus can make you clean.
Only Jesus can deliver you.
But you've got to be willing to come to Jesus.
You've got to be willing to come there.
Tomb dwelling is a living death.
It's a living death.
This man was living.
He was breathing, but he was dead.
He was walking around but wavering in faith.
A living death.
See, people have learned the art of building a permanent residency among the tombs.
Among the tombs that God wants to set you free from.
Wouldn't it be when you get to heaven and you stand before God and God says, yeah, you were saved.
But you didn't have to carry that tomb with you every day.
Most people carry their tombs around like a book bag.
Like a college student.
Got my tomb.
I wish I had a book bag.
And sometimes if we forget the book bag, the tomb at home, we run back home and go, I got to have my tomb.
Man, I ain't nothing without my tomb.
You have become so identified with your tomb that you think it's natural and normal to have a tomb.
When Jesus said, I want to deliver you from your tomb, from your addiction, from your shame, from your pain, from your depression, from your secret sin.
I have come that you might have life and life more abundantly.
Stop carrying the tomb.
Thank you for those two claps.
Tomb.
Tomb dwellers.
The church is full of tomb dwellers.
Jesus came out of the tomb so you could put your tomb down and come out of your tomb.
He didn't come out of the tomb so you could carry a tomb the rest of your life.
He came to set you free.
Free.
Free.
Free.
free.
Community just got used to it.
Can I tell you something?
Jesus is not intimidated by your tomb.
He's not put off by your tomb and he'll never reject you because of your tomb.
The community was put off in this demoniac's day.
Decapolis, all 10 cities had probably heard about this guy.
They were put off by his tomb.
They didn't want to be around this guy.
They didn't want nothing to do with this guy.
They were probably ashamed of this guy.
He is ruining the Greek culture.
I don't want to go to church with those type of people.
Bridge Church is going to be a place where you can bring your tomb, where you can deal with your tomb.
I'm telling you today, I'm not intimidated by your tomb.
I'm not put off by your tomb.
Why?
Because all of us came from death to life.
And sometimes we think it just happens at one time.
Salvation is instantaneously happens for you, but your sanctification is an ongoing process of God's grace of delivering you from the tombs of life.
And maybe you came in here and you got saved and you've got
some tombs, guess what?
Over the course of the sanctifying process of God in your life, you'll come to him and you'll begin to lay down those tombs.
The Bible says when Jesus came to Decapolis in that region of the tombs, he gets out of the boat and the Bible says the man who is demonized, the demoniac sees him from a distance.
Here it is.
How do I get delivered from tomb existence?
Number one, you gotta see Jesus.
You gotta see Jesus.
The Bible says,
We have been blinded by the God of this world.
The Holy Spirit opens up.
I believe the Holy Spirit opened up a moment in that demoniac's life.
He sees Jesus from a distance.
But how many know it's just not enough to see Jesus?
The Bible says he ran toward or to Jesus.
So if I see Jesus, I got to run.
I got to make my way toward him.
When I see the truth, I got to make my way toward the truth.
And he ran toward Jesus.
But it's just not enough to see Jesus and run to Jesus.
Look what he does.
This last thing.
He falls at the feet of Jesus.
He kneels at the feet of Jesus.
He surrenders at the feet of Jesus.
jesus no man could help him no woman could help him the greek culture could not help him come on somebody the philosophies of his day in the greek culture could not help him the roman law the roman political system the roman engineers could not help him only jesus and he runs
To Jesus.
And he bows his head.
At the feet of Jesus.
And Jesus calls out legion.
And he is set free.
And when the people come.
They see this demoniac.
He is sitting there.
He is clothed.
And he is in his right mind.
When you come to Jesus.
You get your clothes back.
You get your peace back.
You get your mind back.
You get everything back.
When you come to Jesus.
And bow before him.
Some of you need to bow before Jesus.
Say, Pastor, all I need is a therapist.
No, you need more than a therapist, honey.
And I'm not against therapy and I'm not against counseling.
But all the therapy and all the counseling will not help you in the world if you don't have an encounter with Jesus.
And the same Jesus out there at Decapolis is the same Jesus at 3168 Indian River Road.
And if you'll come to him, he will set you free.
He'll set you free.
I'm convinced of that.
He'll set you free.
You don't come to church just to get medicated so you can get to heaven.
You come to church so you can be transformed in your life.
In your life, you come to Jesus.
I want you to stand.
I've got some more I could preach.
So the man's delivered.
He praises God.
Look what happens here.
He says, Jesus, I'm gonna follow you.
And he tries to follow Jesus.
Jesus said, hold up, dude.
Hold up, dude.
The power of God's moving, man.
You need to come to this altar.
You just need, come on, come on.
I won't say another word.
You need to come.
You need to come.
Some of you need to bring your tomb.
Some of you need to bring your tomb.
Eli, just come pray with my brother, Pastor Scott.
If you're dealing with a tomb, man, there's no shame in this place.
Man, we need to come, just bring our tomb.
Come on, if you have a tomb, you're dealing with something in your life.
Let's bring that to Jesus.
You say, man, I've seen Jesus in here today.
I've seen Jesus.
I've seen Jesus.
I've seen Jesus.
Scott, come pray with these guys here, man.
I've seen Jesus.
I've seen Jesus.
You don't have to walk out of here with the tomb on your back.
Don't wear it as a badge of honor.
Maybe you've been wearing your tomb for years and years.
Come on, see Jesus today.
See Jesus today.
Come on, just a few more minutes.
Maybe you're in here and you're not a believer and you need to bring Jesus your sin.
What an awesome opportunity.
Let's just bow our heads.
Lord, I just thank you for much grace that's in this place.
God, whatever those tombs are, but there are people in here, Lord, they're dead.
They are in a tomb, the Bible says, in their trespasses and sin.
And the only way out is Jesus.
If you're in here, you say, Pastor, I want to experience the free gift of salvation, the free gift of forgiveness.
If that's you, I just want you to raise your hand over this place.
Say, I want to come to Jesus today.
Raise that hand high where we can see it today.
Thank you, sir.
How many more?
You say, that's me today.
I believe God is speaking to people.
Lord, I just thank you.
We're going to say a prayer.
If you raised your hand, I just got to do this because I just feel the Holy Spirit just saying, don't miss this opportunity.
If you raised your hand or if you didn't raise your hand, I want you to step out of where you're at.
I want you to meet me right over here to my left, your right.
If you raised your hand, just come here.
I just want to pray with you.
Just come on.
If you raise your hand, you say, I want to experience the free gift of salvation.
Don't miss this time.
See, he saw Jesus, but he had to run.
It's not enough just to see Jesus.
You've got to run to Jesus.
If you need Jesus today, if you need to receive the free gift of salvation today, I just want you to come and stand to my left, your right.
I just want to pray with you.
It's a holy and sacred moment.
Some of you, there is a war.
I feel this.
There's a war going on inside of some of y'all.
I don't know if I can trust Jesus with this tomb.
I don't know if I can give it to him.
I don't know if I can give him my shame.
I don't know if I can repent of that.
I don't know if God can change my life.
There is a demonic assignment against your life.
And let me tell you, there is a wrestling in the spirit.
And God right now will give you grace, but you gotta step out.
You gotta step out.
Maybe you're online today.
You've been living your life in the tombs.
Jesus has stepped out into your situation today.
He stepped out.
Lord, I just thank you for every person in this building.
Thank you for the anointing of the Holy Spirit.
God, we will not be permanent tomb dwellers.
We're walking out.
We're walking out, Lord.
We're walking out and you're giving us grace to do so.
God, not only are we saved by grace, but we are freed by grace.
God, we let go of the past, the trauma, the hurt, the unforgiveness, the bitterness.
God, we let go of tomb dwelling and we come into kingdom assignment and living in God's grace.
You said who the Son sets free is free indeed.
Come on now, just raise your hands where you're at.
Just receive free grace.
Free grace.
Free grace.
Lord, I just thank you.
Much grace.
Much grace.
Over families, over marriages.
over individuals.
God, much grace.
God, there are people that are crying out in this place.
There are people, God, like the demoniac, they're cutting themselves.
There are young people, God, even cutting themselves.
God, free them.
Free them, Lord.
Give them your life.
Do that, Jesus.
Do that, Jesus.
Somebody in here, I just sense the Holy Spirit.
You've been contemplating and thinking about suicide.
That's not the answer.
That's not the answer.
That is not the answer.
If that's you, I just want you to raise your hand.
I just want to pray with you.
You don't have to.
I believe there's somebody in here.
I sense that.
I sense the Holy Spirit on that.
Life is worth living when Jesus is in your boat.
Lord, so we just come against that
Spirit of self-harm and self-destruction.
We come against that in Jesus' name.
We take authority over that.
We take authority over suicide.
We take authority over self-harm.
We take authority over self-destruction.
In Jesus' name.
And we cast it out in Jesus' name.
Leave in Jesus' mighty name.
The name that is above every name.
That at the name of Jesus, every knee will bow and every tongue will confess.
that Jesus Christ is Lord.
God, I thank you that you went to the other side for us.
You went through the storm of crucifixion and death to get to the other side of an empty tomb so that we could walk out of ours.
We thank you for it.