Powerful Stories Change Everything

Apologia Studios

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I know it sounds strange, but I've always looked at myself as having the most in common with the with the demoniac of the

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Gadarenes in Mark chapter 5. It's just such a beautiful picture of what

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Jesus did. Jesus had to go over to the other side of the Sea of Galilee and the reason he went over there was to go get the very first missionary to to the

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Gentiles. So he didn't go to the synagogue. He didn't go to various other places where learned people would be, but he went to a cemetery in the

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Gadarenes. He went to a cemetery where there was a guy with a thousand demons inside of him and Jesus healed him and you all know the story.

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He cleaned him up. He cast the demons into a herd of pigs. The pigs ended up jumping off a cliff and killing themselves and the people got all angry at Jesus, of course, and wanted him to leave.

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So when Jesus was leaving this gentleman that he had that he had cleaned up and who had given him a new heart and who had given him a whole new life wanted to get in that boat with Jesus as you can imagine if you were to come from where he came from and all of a sudden met

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Jesus and and he didn't want to get out. He didn't want to get away from him not one foot away from him, but Jesus said no you stay here and you be the one that tells people about the wonderful things that God has done.

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So he did he did he stayed there and he told the stories and he told what God had done for him how he had done it and I'm sure he got teaching and told him much more but the next time

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Jesus came back through the Gadarenes the people no longer wanted him to leave but he went through the

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Decapolis which were ten city -states much like the United Nations would be so the guy that was demon -possessed and was absolutely without any hope became a great light to ten different states of people.

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So what I've always looked at myself as is not as good as him but I've always looked at myself as as being a storyteller and that I always wanted to tell the people about what

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Jesus was doing down at that abortion clinic because every morning I go there it's it's so weird.

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I just feel like here he is and he's ready to go and he has he tells us what it is that we're to do and our weapon what our weapons are our weapons are prayer and our weapons are his weapons, which is the gospel.

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Romans chapter 1 it tells us to that the gospel is the power of God unto salvation.

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I see so many people try to do all kinds of little gimmicks and things but actually the way

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God works down there and I believe everywhere is through his word. It's his word that pierces.

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You can you can try and hold hands and be nice and all that but when when

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God's Word goes forth it's gonna do one of two things. It's either gonna begin to work and open eyes and open hearts or it's going to harden.

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It's gonna do one of the two. It's not gonna be neutral in any way shape or form, but so that's how

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God works is is that way and then as far as the stories go I just love telling people what

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Jesus does because you know of all the literally thousands of young ladies

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I've seen choose life and that's not counting the turnaways and all that kind of thing. I could really never take credit for one because I don't have the power to turn a new heart.

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I don't have the power to give sight to the blind. I don't have those powers but God does and he promises to do it through his word and he does it just about every single day down there and then

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God has opened areas for me to be able to go and tell stories about what

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Jesus does and you know, I post them on Facebook. R .C. Sproul used to actually get angry if I wouldn't post for a couple of days.

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It's like how am I supposed to know how to pray for you if you're not posting and letting us know how things are going down there and stuff like that so that it's gotten out that way and a lot of people have been encouraged around the country again, not by me, but by seeing the stories of what

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Jesus does. Jesus also put it to where I've been able to tell those stories every

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Monday night on two different radio stations in Orlando and two secular radio stations and they just want to hear the beautiful things that Jesus does down at that place of very much darkness and so I would just encourage everybody that does this kind of ministry to see yourself as a storyteller.

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Tell your story. Tell the stories of what what Jesus does when you're there and who you're with and all that kind of thing because it encourages many and many other people that you will probably never even meet in your lifetime.

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It's so funny. When I go to speak at like a conference or whatnot, if I get invited like the last one was in Oklahoma City, and I was supposed to teach two different classes, but I got in there and I started to teach the class and both times they said tell us a story.

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And it was like they wanted to hear stories about what Jesus had done. And I think that actually, especially since I was teaching the choir,

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I think the stories were much more beneficial to them than anything

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I could have possibly taught about how to do this type of ministry. But Jesus loves us to talk about him.

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And he gives each and every one of us a story. No doubt.

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I'm sure you don't have to, if you're a believer, especially if you're out on the front lines, you don't have to look too far to find a story of what he's doing.

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And not only that, not only with all the people around and not the people that you're ministering to, but also what he's doing inside of your heart.

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So I would encourage everybody to to be that storyteller because those kind of stories and those kind of beautiful things that Jesus has done can go on long after you are gone.