Just a Thought: Going from a demonized state to deliverance, we see a terrible story with a happy ending. Well sort of. Luke takes us on a journey with Jesus to a place where we meet a man under the control of demons so much so that he has become wild, hopelessly and helplessly a prisoner of Satan’s power. That is until he meets Jesus. We see here that even the one who is severely dominated by the demonic is not out of the reach of the delivering power of Jesus. When the man meets Jesus, Jesus cast the demons (somewhere between 2-6,000) out of the man. Commanding them to come out and release the man from their grip. The short story is the man is remarkably delivered, changed and restored to his right mind all due to an encounter with Jesus. You would think with the reputation this man had and the tremendous display of power and transformation the people had witnessed, many others would desire what Jesus had to offer. But, this is where the story takes a strange twist, they not only don’t want what Jesus has to offer, they don’t want anything to do with Jesus at all (they ask Him to leave the area). Lesson learned: in spite of all that God has done through the transformed followers of Christ, there are still many who want nothing to do with Jesus. The man delivered desires to go with Jesus – and Jesus tells him, no, go home (first) and then around town and continue to share what has been done for you. And this is our story and task as well: We who have had an encounter with Jesus that has delivered us from Satan’s grasp and transformed our lives have a story to tell, so go tell it — even though many don’t want anything to do with Jesus, they still need to see and hear about the difference Jesus made in you. "Return home and tell how much God has done for you." So the man went away and told all over town how much Jesus had done for him. (Luke 8:39) You go and do likewise!

Dr. William Burnham is pastor of Point of Grace Church in Covington. He can be reached at burnhamw@charter.net.