2026 The Mission (For Proclamation): Pastor Adam Mabry

(upbeat music) - Hello and welcome to the Victory Devotional Podcast. We invite you to take the next few minutes to connect with God, hear His voice, and respond in worship and prayer. Here's today's message. - All right, I hope that that time in prayer and singing and all that good stuff was a blessing to you. Now we're going to open our Bibles together and look at the story of Jesus and the man he healed from a legion of demons. If you have a Bible, I would love for you to open it to Mark chapter five. We're going to read verses 15 to 20. I'll read it and we'll pray and then by faith, God is going to speak to us in His word. Here's what Mark chapter five verses 15 through 20 says. And they came to Jesus and saw the demon possessed man, the one who had the legion sitting there clothed and in his right mind and they were afraid. And those who had seen it described to them what had happened to the demon possessed man and to the pigs and they began to beg Jesus to depart from their region. As he was getting into the boat, the man who had been possessed with the demons begged him that he might be with him and he did not permit him. But said, "Go home to your friends and tell them how much the Lord has done for you and how he has had mercy on you." And he went away and began to proclaim in the decapolis how much Jesus had done for him and everyone marveled. Lord, bless our timing your word in Jesus' name. What about you? But it's so easy for me to experience something good from God, a blessing, healing, financial miracle, something good that happens to my family. And just to go, "Oh, that was great." And sort of thank God for it. And then move right along with my day. This man had had something marvelous, totally unexpected and wonderful happened to him. Jesus wanted him to do something different with that information. This man was the demon possessed man, the man who had a legion of demons. And Jesus brought him deliverance, brought him healing, brought him liberation because Jesus is the king of all kings. Jesus is the spirit anointed Messiah who can tell the devil and all evil spiritual beings to move, and they must, why? Because he is the king. And so Jesus comes to this man and he extends his rule and his reign into his very soul by displacing the demonic and replacing that demonic influence with a Christ exalting influence. He brings him into relationship with himself, he saves him. If you're watching this this morning, it's probably because you love Jesus. And probably you can sit here with me and think of the things that Jesus has done for you. And maybe even a couple of things Jesus has delivered you from or liberated you from. Here's what I want to tell you today, one simple idea. Your liberation is for proclamation. You see, Mark didn't record this just so that we could know that yeah, Jesus does deliver us from demons. There are other stories in the gospels where Jesus has delivered others from demons. We didn't need this story to give us the information that we already had. We know that Jesus can deliver from the demonic. That's not the only reason Mark put this here. The reason Mark put this here is because Mark wanted his readers like you and me to see why this man was delivered from the demonic. Why was he liberated? And he was liberated according to this text, not just so he could keep that information to himself, but so that his liberation from the demonic, from sin, from Satan, from death would lead to proclamation. What does that mean? First thing I want you to see that liberation, your liberation is for the proclamation of your story. Look at the end of this text. It says he went away and began to reclaim in the decapolis how much Jesus had done for him. You and I have to be able to in a succinct and compelling way tell people what Jesus has done for us. Sometimes in our church family, we call it our two minute miracle. Like what can we say in about two minutes that describes how God has rescued us, how Jesus has saved us and what he's delivered us from. Maybe he's delivered you from some demonic stuff. Maybe he's healed your body. Maybe he's brought you into some massive moment of prosperity. That story is not just for you to know. Your liberation is for the proclamation of your story. No, I get it. The evil one can come and lie to you and say, well, you don't have anything to say. You don't have anything that anybody would be interested in hearing. No, he's partially right. You on your own, don't. But the story of what God has done in you. The story of your liberation through Jesus is to be proclaimed. So your liberation is for the proclamation first of your story. Secondly, your liberation is for proclamation and for their response. This is interesting because here, Jesus has healed the Stephen Possess man and you would think that in response, everybody who knew that guy would be like, oh my gosh, this is great. Do you think there'd be celebration? What did they do? They were afraid. They were afraid of what it would mean for Jesus to be that powerful. So you know what they did instead? They asked them to leave. Can you imagine this? Can you imagine Jesus visiting your town, visiting your office, visiting your house or your neighborhood? And people getting so freaked out by his power that they would rather be without him than have to deal with him. You see, the story of your liberation, it is for proclamation, but when you proclaim it, sometimes their response is going to be to reject him. When you proclaim your story, it is to stir up a response in other people that either ends with their rejection of Jesus or by faith, hopefully their acceptance of the gospel. The response is not up to you. What is up to you and I is to proclaim the story of what Jesus has done for us. But finally, your liberation is for the proclamation of the story, of the gospel. It's all well and good to tell people what God has done in my life. And it's all well and good to tell people what God has done in my life and to see what their response will be. But ultimately, this is all to bring about the proclamation of the gospel of Jesus. You see, I get what this recently possessed and now he old man wanted. He wanted to go be with Jesus. Remember, in verse 18, it says that he wanted to go with Jesus. And Jesus said, no. Verse 19, "Go home to your friends and tell them how much the Lord has done for you." His liberation was for the proclamation ultimately of the greatest story ever told, the story of Jesus, the story of Messiah who has come to defeat the devil, to overcome the evil one. And who, by faith in him, allows us to overcome the evil one as well. Maybe you feel today depressed or anxious or worried. Maybe today you're waking up and you realize there are bills to pay or kids to care for or a job that you're not finished with or a situation in life that you're not really sure you really want to be in. Jesus doesn't only offer you rescue. He doesn't just want to solve your problem. He wants to liberate you from the power of the evil and that you might say something to others who desperately need to hear it. Your liberation, my friend, is for proclamation. So here's my question. Are you going to do what the demon possessed man did? See, the story ends in verse 20 by saying, so he did it. He went to the decapolis. The decapolis is an area of these 10 towns. And he went and he told lots of people the story of how he was demon possessed and how Jesus came and delivered him and how people rejected it. But what this is who Jesus is, this is who Messiah is. And undoubtedly, people heard the gospel and believed on their Messiah because of this man's liberation. My question you use, what are you going to do with your liberation? You're going to keep it to yourself. You're going to be like me. God gives me something and sometimes I just go, thanks Lord. And I forget that that story is meant to be told. Friend today, whatever God's done for you, whether you think it's enormous or small, if God has poured out a liberating grace in your life, tell somebody, tell your wife, tell your kids, tell your classmates, tell your colleagues, tell somebody at church, tell someone because our liberation is for proclamation. Let me pray for you, Father. I thank you for the men and women tuning into this right now. I thank you God for our time that we've had in the Word. I thank you for our time that we've had in worship. I thank you God for their liberation. And I pray in our holy spirit that you would fill them and enable them to open their mouths and proclaim the good news of who Jesus is and how he's changed their lives. So that others might be liberated as well. And pray this in Jesus' name, amen. ♪ And know that you will save me ♪ ♪ When I call upon your name ♪ ♪ No harm will overtake me ♪ ♪ Because you overcame ♪ ♪ Oh God, you are my refuge ♪ ♪ I rest beneath your wings ♪ ♪ I'm saving the shelter of my king ♪ ♪ I know that you will save me ♪ ♪ When I call upon your name ♪ ♪ No harm will overtake me ♪ ♪ Because you overcame ♪ ♪ God, you are my refuge ♪ ♪ I rest beneath your wings ♪ ♪ I'm safe in the shelter of my king ♪ ♪ 'Cause you are faithful ♪ ♪ Never failing ♪ ♪ You are steadfast ♪ ♪ Unchanging when I call ♪ ♪ You will answer ♪ ♪ Oh my God ♪ ♪ In whom I trust ♪ ♪ I trust you ♪ ♪ My God ♪ ♪ In whose word I praise ♪ ♪ Oh, oh my God ♪ ♪ In whom I trust ♪ - Thank you for joining us for Morning Worship and Prayer. I hope that this was a helpful and encouraging time for you. That as you begin your day, you're starting it out on the right foot. Reminding yourself who Jesus is, having spent a moment in worship and remembering that all that Jesus has liberated you from is to be proclaimed to others. Let me pray, bless anybody. May the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the one who sent Messiah to liberate the captives, now pour out the Holy Spirit in your heart through faith that you might walk through the day, free of sin, liberated from every demonic influence and filled with courage and grace to proclaim the good news of what he has done in your life. I pray this blessing over you and the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen, God bless you, have a great day. (upbeat music) - Thanks for joining us today. We hope this helps you build a habit of hearing from God daily. For more messages like this, follow us on Spotify or Apple Podcast. If you'd like to watch these messages every morning, visit us at facebook.com/victoryph. God bless you.