 You know, it's a blessing to be up here this morning you guys and and it's a blessing to be a part of you our men's ministry and and you know it's it's been one of those things for our men's ministry is that we always want to grow and So this this theme that we have here is being equipped We took it out a second Timothy chapter 3 and we read the verse last night But I just want to read it again, but let's ask for God's blessing on on our time Father, thank you for the men that are here Hear your word Lord. I thank you for all the guys that got here early this morning to help set up Lord to To provide the continental breakfast Lord and to set everything up Lord bless them Lord as Justin was saying Lord, we have families back at home And we asked Lord that you would be with them as we're being equipped in you So Lord may your spirit fall upon us Lord Lord and we want to give you the glory and the honor this morning in Jesus name Amen So we know that our theme is second a second Timothy chapter 3 verses 16 and 17 and it says all scripture is given by inspiration of God and it's profitable for Doctrine and reproof for correction and for instruction in righteousness that the man of God may be complete Thoroughly equipped For every good work The theme of our men's conference has been them at the man of God May be complete and thoroughly equipped for good works and I think what's missing today within our men is that part of being thoroughly equipped if There's anything that we need as men this morning is that we are being equipped that the the sad thing is Oftentimes we look for other things to equip us We can turn to our wives or to our work or to our status or to our profession And and we get this false sense of identity that this is what's equipping us to live this life But according to Paul here us all of us being men of God There's only one thing that can equip us which is the word of God and so this morning here We're seeing here that Paul is called a man of God But Paul also is called referring to Timothy as a man of God But Paul is also saying here that all of us can be men of God by being thoroughly equipped and complete And so what I want to do this morning is I want to take a look at briefly be what being Equipped and complete means and then I want to take us to mark chapter 5 Because mark chapter 5 gives us a picture I think where all of us can relate in a lot of ways so when when we see here the two words in Second Timothy chapter 3 as we're looking at verses 16 and 17 just as an introduction here We see the words complete and equipped If there's anything we need today men is that we need to be equipped and complete Often times our pursuit of things in this world can leave us not equipped and Ill-complete or uncompleted and yet Paul has given us the instructions here that it's God's word That we need in our lives to be equipped and to be complete Now when's the last time for you married men that your wife has come up to you says you complete me Why are you guys laughing? because we know that being complete has a sense of fulfillment we know that when we're completed or we've Completed something we have a sense of fulfillment. We have a sense of that we were equipped and Again as I mentioned so many men guys So many men are looking to be equipped and complete in the wrong areas and When it means to be complete means to be flawless or to be full is to be Fit in shape and in condition I mean the way I see you guys eating those donuts this morning And to be equipped has a very similar meaning it means to be prepared for service So what I like to focus on this morning is being complete in Jesus Christ And what I'm specifically drawn to this morning men is how the Lord can take a life like ours And that better be Jesus calling How the Lord can take a life That has been incomplete and that has not been equipped and he can take it and Transform us by his word to make us complete and thoroughly Equipped for every good work. So if you would please turn to mark chapter 5 And we're gonna start off looking at verses 14 and 15 But before we do so I need to give a couple of shout outs First of all, I want to give a shout out to our pastor for allowing us to meet together as men I want to give a shout out to our men's ministry overseers Marco Tim Justin and Louie And also want to give a shout out to our men's ministry secretary. She's not here obviously Dominique and so she's the one that's behind a lot of this I want to give a shout out to her and to remind you that the bookstore will be open Afterwards for some cool hoodies and and bibles are discounted. So I just want to put that out there really quick But in mark chapter 5 Versus 14 and 15 I want to read here because I want to point out something Interesting it says here. So when those who fed the swine fled and They told it in the city and in the country and they went out to see what it was that had happened Then they came to Jesus and saw the one who had been demon possessed and had a legion Sitting and clothed in his right mind and they were afraid what we see here is a description of this man as In verse 15 as the one who had been Demon possessed and had a legion We're told upon once upon a time that this Savage here is now sitting at the feet of Jesus fully clothed and in his right mind We are told that in Luke chapter 8 verses 35 and 36 that they went out to see what happened and and they came to Jesus and they found the man in whom the demons had departed sitting at the feet of Jesus clothed and in his right mind and When they seen this man who was once a savage they became afraid and When it references they The people that were afraid verse 14 tells us who these people were There were ones that were feeding the pigs They were the ones that lived in the country and that were in the city And they had heard about this man or they maybe encountered this man who had been demon possessed and At one time his identity was a possessed man And now we see that they refer to him in a past tense condition It says to them that he had been demon possessed His identity now sitting at the feet of Jesus has been changed The people came to Jesus to see this once demon possessed man And it's only through Jesus that we can be identified as someone who had been possessed Now I don't know if any of you have been possessed. I mean I seen you guys come this morning Harold jacked up It looks like you guys were possessed At least you guys have hair, right? But I don't know if we have really truly Either experienced demon possession of ourselves or if we have seen somebody demon possessed But what mark is pointing out here is that this once Demon possessed man is no longer demon possessed And what's interesting about this is I think about where we were Before we had an encounter with Jesus Christ. How did people refer to you as? For me it was the the dope fiend and the thief The needle user The one that nobody trusted Because I would rip everybody off The one that was always looking for the next fixed That's how I was identified How were you identified before you came to Christ? What were you once known as and I think about once what we were before in Christ an addict an alcoholic a thief a drunk Perverted and the list goes on But second Corinthians chapter 5 verse 17, which we all know tells us that if anyone's in Christ He's a new creation all things have passed away. Behold all things become new What I especially love about this Transformation is explained in Ephesians chapter 2 verses 1 through 6 and this is and you he made alive Who were dead in trespasses and sin and in which you walked according to the course of this world? According to the prince of the power of the air the spirit now works in the sons of disobedience Among whom also we have once conducted ourselves in the lusts of the flesh Fulfilling wrath just as others, but God Right, but God who was rich in mercy because of his great love in which he loved us Even when we were dead in trespasses He made us alive together in Christ by grace you have been saved and raised us up together and made us sit Together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus That's us men What were you once identified as? No longer. Are you identified that because we have been made alive in Christ and for you young ones that are here this morning maybe having quite Yet set up your identity But always remember that your true identity is always in Jesus Christ and that we are to not to be identified as Once we once were and it was such an amazing transformation That people who were all over that country came to see is it true that this is the man who once had been demon-possessed Think about your friends and family that have known you the longest and that have now seen your life transformed by Jesus Christ How do they once see you before and How do they see you now and to really understand the significance of This power of sitting at the feet of Jesus and his transformation by Jesus Christ We have to take a look at the before picture of this demon-possessed man Mark chapter 5 as we're in right here describes a man that has been savaged by demon possession and We must and most of us maybe have never been demon-possessed But we can relate to this man in a lot of ways When we look at mark chapter 5 verses 1 through 5 we get a detailed account of the tragedy of a ruined life the tragic the tragedy of being Separated and to live in the tombs. We see her in mark chapter 5 verse 1 That Jesus is now commanding His disciples that they have been in a storm in chapter 4 And now Jesus is with them on the boat and it tells them that it tells us in verse 1 that they came to another the other side Jesus was taking them on a ministry trip and It's and he's talking with his disciples and he's taking them to the other side And it's often times that Jesus wants to take us to the other side to experience not only a storm To prepare us for something greater, but to build our character and to build our strength So we see that Jesus uses this time with this demon-possessed man To prepare his disciples for greater ministry down the road and to have a divine appointment With this demon-possessed man, you know, it's incredible about each and every one of us here this morning Is that Jesus has had a divine appointment with each and every one of you? For me, it was in the depths of calling out to God before an attempted suicide Lord, where are you? I need you Lord. Please help me. I can't do this Well, I try to commit suicide each and every one of us Jesus has traveled the links to the other side to reach each and every one of you never forget that and Never forget where you've come from Because it was only through the power of Jesus Christ that all of us are sitting here this morning And he's taken them to this place called the Gaterines or Gadara Which is on the east side of the Sea of Galilee in this area called the Decapolis Which made up of these ten cities that were within the Galilee and Samaria Samaria time And the scene here is like a cemetery. It's on his hillside where there were pigs feeding And and there were tombs there and when Jesus comes across to the other side We see here in verse 2 verses 2 through 5 a life without Jesus And I want us to take a just a little bit of time looking at this because a lot of us can relate to this man And what I want to do is from there take us back to verses 14 and 15 To share the importance of sitting at the feet of Jesus So we see here in verse 2 that when he had come out of the boat immediately met him There met him out of the tombs a man with an unclean spirit Who had his dwelling among the tombs and no one combined him not even with chains Because he often been bound with shackles and chains and the chains He had had been pulled apart by him and the shackles broken in pieces neither could anyone tame him and Always day at night and day He was in the mountains and he was in the tombs crying out and cutting himself with stones When they got out of the boat Immediately there met them a man that has been demon possessed Being equipped in Jesus Requires stepping out in faith Even when danger is present Jesus is teaching his disciples that in order for you to be equipped in ministry. You must step out of the boat And I think a lot of times we all get comfortable sitting in the boat We get comfortable with our two-minute devotions that we have in the mornings in our 30-second prayer and our 25-minute church service before we start getting squirmy and everything is fit in this nice little boat But if Jesus is gonna use us men in these last days We must have the faith to step out of the boat to be equipped in Jesus Hebrews chapter 11 verse 6 says but without faith is impossible to please him For he who comes to God must believe that he is and that he is a rewarder of those who diligently seek him But I want us to take a closer look at what this man is described to in verse 2 a man That lived within the tombs This is the most detailed demon possession that the Bible has And we're telling us here that the first description that were given to him is Where he lives and it tells us that he is a man now who is living Among the tombs of the dead in Luke chapter 8 verse 27 gives us the same account But from Luke's perspective it tells us in Luke 8 27 that this man was from the city and had demons for a long time He wore no clothes nor did he live in a house, but in the tombs at one time This man was living with his family At one time he was maybe had children at one time He was well-known and and he was with his family and friends and involved with Relationships and he was involved with things within the city and now he's described as living in the tombs And what is so Significant about living in the tombs is that he was living among the dead He was in Luke. She tells us that he was not clothed. He was naked and It sounds like a life that maybe many of us have experienced That we lived among the spiritually dead That we were the walking dead. I Remember a time in my life where anything that came to me is like I didn't care and I was dead spiritually and I was naked because I had no shame in what I was doing and Here the first thing that this man is described his dwelling place is that he's living among the dead And I think a lot of us can relate to that Because before we came to Christ a lot of us were spiritually dead And this is what I love about Ephesians chapter 2. It says now he has made us alive Do we understand the true significance of what it was to be spiritually dead? Why was it that mark first pointed out where he lived? Because where we live is where we get equipped Where we live is where we spend time Where we live tells us a lot about ourselves and this man is living among the dead No more is he involved with relationships. No longer is he around his family No longer is he in connection with anything in the city His pathetic condition is empathized by where he lived The tombs are notoriously the haunt of demons and For Jews considered permanently unclean He was emphasized by his diagnosis in verse 2 It tells us that he had a contaminated spirit or an unclean spirit, which in the original language means contaminated Where later we learned that there were thousands of demons inhabiting him In verses 3 and 4 we see that his condition is emphasized by his uncontrollability It tells us here that his dwelling place was among the tombs and that no one combined him Not even with chains It tells us that oftentimes he had been bound with shackles and chains And the chains had been pulled apart by him and the shackles broken in pieces neither could anyone tame him Do you guys remember how your life was out of control? How anything that would try to we would try to use to get right we would often break it We're at that point where we didn't care And here his pathetic condition is emphasized by how uncontrollable he was The shackles and chains testify the danger He poses His massive strength due to the demon possession He would tear chains and not escape in his tormentors. He wasn't escaping the demons Instead the demons are providing stronger than his restrainers Verse 5 his condition is emphasized by him crying out day and night in the mountains It tells us always day and night. He was in the mountains in the tombs crying out and cutting himself with stones Day and night I don't know if he guys ever been in a place so lonely And so destitute and so in despair That you literally cry out lord help me Lord I need your help I'm tired of living this way I'm tired of being an addict I'm tired of being an alcoholic I'm tired lord help me. I can't stop. This is uncontrollable. I'm in need. I'm crying out day and night I don't know if you guys ever been there. I mean, I know I talk to everybody that probably walks on water in here But have you experienced that before? We're like lord. I can't do this any longer. I am tired of this I would cry it oftentimes myself man Lord help me I'm caught up in this addiction. I was isolated. I was alone and I was cutting myself With needles shooting up And I remember every time I was shoot up lord help me Lord why am I here? And this man was in the mountains. What does that tell us? He was alone He was naked without shame living among the dead A life without jesus christ And a lot of us can relate to that In verse 5 it tells us that he would be in the tombs and he would cry out and he's cutting himself with stones the self-harm the use of stones were to bruise and perhaps to attempt suicide In luke chapter 8 verse 27 it tells us that His pathetic condition was emphasized by his use of no clothes How do we know that he had no clothes? Well luke tells us that but later when he's found sitting with jesus says he's clothed the greek describes this pathetic condition of this man in two words And I took some time to look this up in the greek two words to describe his pathetic condition and it's in the greek jacked up How else can you explain it? Think about it for a moment Think about where you were at Separated from family alone loved ones not around And in luke chapter 8 it describes this man as exceedingly fierce What a horrible way to live But how did this happen? Where did it go wrong with this man? The bible isn't clear how this man was possessed And there can be a lot of speculation But there's insight when mark tells us that he had an unclean spirit That means his spirit was contaminated Doesn't tell us how but men there are so many things today that can contaminate our spirit And we can find ourselves compromising with these things thinking that we can still call ourselves christians or men of god And flirt with the contamination of the world And if we think about how much does it take to ruin how many rotten eggs does it take to ruin an omelet? All it is it takes one And I think oftentimes we flirt With the things of the world that brings contamination into our spirit and we're thinking why are we not being used by the lord? Why have god? Why has my relationship with you not grown? It's maybe because we've allowed certain things to contaminate our spirit lust pornography drinking And the list is long and the bible here doesn't tell us Why this man was possessed? But the fact is his spirit was unclean and contaminated and this is why it's so important men that we remain in jesus christ This man now cut off from society He lived among the dead in isolation and we see these similar situations today where people are spiritually dead They're living among the tombs. They're spiritually dead and their only hope is jesus christ Many years of addiction as I've shared has spun my life out of control where I lived among the spiritually dead There was no direction in my life. There was no discipline or self control I was chained and shackled by addictions yet only lived for myself in a very selfish way And verses six through thirteen I want to summarize it because what's interesting here when When this man saw jesus from afar What does he do? He runs up and he worships him He was already Coming to the lord And jesus made that trip specifically that he would have an encounter with him Do we spend time worshiping the lord men? What does that look like? I always joke with our tuesday morning study while listening to k wave Really? That's your worship Or we come on friday night in true worship is to hear let it rise That's true worship But do we truly spend time worshiping the lord? It doesn't mean always in song. It means sitting at his feet this man Has had an intrude. Well, I'm going to summarize here real quick you guys So this demon possessed man has an encounter with jesus and and ultimately jesus cast out all the demons of this man It it mentions hero legion, which is about six thousand Demons and at the command of jesus these demons were cast out and they were given permission by him to enter Into two thousand pigs. I mean what a carnita fest that would be you guys Who gets some tortillas and some salsa and who were good And these pigs violently ran down a steep hill and they drowned in the sea Philippians chapter 2 verses 10 to 11 it says at the name of jesus every knee shall bow And of those in heaven and those on earth and those under earth And that every tongue should confess that jesus christ's lord according to uh to the glory of god the father Now I want to come back to where we started We see a life That has been destroyed A life that lived among the tombs that was Naked and had no shame and was not only physically dead, but was spiritually dead And he was separated from all family crying out day and night in the mountains alone And this man has an encounter with jesus when he sees jesus he runs up to him and he worships him And then jesus and his grace and mercy Casts out all these demons and now this man has been set free I don't know if you guys ever been in the condition where you would never think you would ever be set free Or that my life is just going to end up in prison or I'm going to end up dead To truly understand that well one day I ever will I ever be set free? I wonder in the times that this man had just a Clear moment in his mind if he would ask himself the same question will I ever be set free? Will I ever have the chance to get away from this this addiction or ever have the chance to get away from this and and lord I really need you Have any of you guys ever thought that way? That may be one day it would never happen We go back to verses 15 through 20 of mark chapter 5 It gives us a new perspective on this man Then they came to jesus And they saw the one that had been who had been demonic possessed demon possessed And had the legion sitting and clothed and in his right mind and they were afraid And those who saw it told them How it happened and how it happened to them and Who had been demon possessed about and about the swine And they began to plead with him with jesus to depart from their region And when he got into the boat He who had been demon possessed begged him that he might be With him In verse 19 says however jesus did not permit him but said to him go to your friends And tell them what great things the lord has done for you And how he has compassion on you And he departed and began to proclaim in the decapolis all that jesus had done for him And all marveled Wait a minute. Is this the same guy that we were just reading about? Was this the same guy that was crying out day and night in the mountains? Was this the guy that had been living among the tombs? Yes Because the writer now uses the past tense to identify him I like what it says in luke chapter 8 verse 35 here It just tells us that he was seated In his right mind fully clothed in his right mind luke tells us that he was sitting at the feet of jesus He had a true encounter with jesus. He had been set free. He's been delivered He's in his right mind and now he can think rationally. He's no longer tormented His mind had been healed and now has the mind of jesus christ in first crentin's chapter 2 verse 16 This is for he who has known the mind of the lord that he may instruct him But we have the mind of christ He is now fully clothed in his righteousness of jesus isaas 61 10 says i will Greatly rejoice in the lord My soul shall be joyful in my god for he has clothed me with garments of salvation He has covered me with the robe of righteousness Sitting at the feet of jesus This is a term that we don't throw out a whole lot This is something like hey bro. What are you doing today? I'm just gonna sit at the feet of jesus We don't say that a lot But the importance of it men To be fully equipped To be thoroughly equipped and complete. We must sit at the feet of jesus We must be equipped sitting at his feet Sitting at the feet of jesus is where we are complete and equipped for every good work We saw this with the disciples in acts chapter 4 verse 13 It says when they saw the boldness of peter and john and they perceived that they were uneducated Untrained men that they marveled and they realized that they had been with jesus We have allowed ourselves men In so many ways To sit at the feet of other things Our job Our finances Our pursuits Our relationships Our identity We have allowed ourselves to sit at the feet of so many other things that there's no way we can be fully equipped To be thoroughly equipped Sitting at the feet of jesus takes discipline If we ever expect to be used by the lord in great ways We must sit and continue to sit At the feet of jesus In luke chapter 9 verse 23. He said to them if anyone desires to come after me Let him deny himself take up his cross daily and follow me So what does the feet of jesus look like sitting at the feet of jesus look like? To be fully clothed in his right mind isn't this the testimony of all of us here who have been touched by god's amazing grace Who has been rescued from the bondage of sin No longer are we living in the place of death but sitting at the feet of jesus No longer are we banished to the mountains and crying out day and night naked, but we're sitting at the feet of jesus No longer are we in fear being face to face with the holy god who will condemn us in judgment But now we're sitting at the feet of jesus sitting Unlike walking running or even standing It's a picture of rest This teaches our hearts that we must rest and our minds must be still that we may hear the spirit of the lord speaking to us God never speaks to a proud man Because sitting at the feet of jesus takes humility This man was not sitting on a chair He wasn't sitting at the same level of jesus. He wasn't standing with jesus. He was sitting at his feet Many christians go months Years of reading god's word But do not sit at the feet of jesus How do we ever expect to hear from the lord if our hearts have been puffed up? Many of us will spend years walking as a christian and never taking the time to sit at the feet of jesus He speaks to those who lift listen What's so amazing verse 15 is that they no longer were Threatened by the sky they're now more threatened that he is fully clothed and seated at the feet of jesus because in verse 15 It says and they were afraid There are more afraid of a man that's been set free than a possessed man Because they saw him in his right mind Sitting at the feet of jesus and they were afraid I think of what the lord has done in your guys's life Maybe there was a time that you experienced a dark time in your life But maybe all of your life the darkness stripped us from everything that we had our identity and our sanity we felt naked But it was through the power of jesus that this man is fully clothed in his right mind sitting at the feet There's no other placement No other place that we need to be than sitting at the feet of jesus This is where we will find the true meaning of life This is where we will be commissioned To be to complete the good work that paul tells us in second timothy chapter three is only by sitting at the feet of jesus And in verses 18 and through 20 i'm going to wrap up with this here Is that this man is now commissioned He was a mess he has an encounter with jesus christ. He sits at his feet. He's in his right mind He's fully clothed and now jesus is going to commission him What does this tell us that in order to be commissioned to do the complete and thorough work that jesus christ has called us We must be sitting at his feet not one time not two times daily And he tells us this commission verse 18 tells us that he begged jesus That he wanted to go with him jesus did a great work in his life And now he wants to spend his life following jesus He wants to spend his life being in the presence of jesus and jesus commissions him to do one thing He says go home To your friends To your families And tell them the great things that the lord has done for you and how he has had Compassion on you You guys this moves me Because we have been Exactly like the steven possessed man in a lot of ways and jesus tells them to go do one thing go home and tell Go and share with everybody the great things that i have done in your life that i've had compassion on you that i've set you free I think sometimes when we forget where we've come from And we always have to remember that jesus has commissioned us to go and to tell All the great things that god has done for you. What are the great things god has done for you? Think about it Where you've come from Go and tell your friends Go and tell everybody But this can only happen If you're sitting at the feet of jesus on a continual basis Jeremiah 29 11 we all know this For i know the thoughts that i think towards you says the lord thoughts of peace and not of evil To give you a future and a hope This is my challenge to you men That we sit at the feet of jesus on a continuous basis Because as pastor david was telling us last night. We're in the last days. We're in the last minutes And we have bowed our hearts and allowed ourselves to sit at the feet of so many other things But we are called to sit at the feet of jesus Because just like this man his life has been transformed your has too But it doesn't end there We're to continually to sit at the feet of jesus not for a day Not for a few hours, but every single day If you want to be the husband that gods called you we must sit at the feet of jesus If you're going to be the grandparent grandfather that jesus has called you We must sit at the feet of jesus for you young ones are we're going to be Sitting at the feet of jesus that we will obey god's word at a young age in order for us to lead our children We must be sitting at the feet of jesus in order of us to be in our relationships We must be sitting at the feet of jesus in order for us to be used Effectively at our job at our workplace. We must be sitting at the feet of jesus men. There's no other way There's no other way of getting around it if we want to be thoroughly and complete and equipped for every good work We must sit at the feet of jesus That the man of god will maybe complete thoroughly equipped for every good work I'm going to challenge you men And i'm challenging myself Will we commit? To sitting at the feet of jesus I see a lot of you guys shaking your head. I'm going to take it an extra notch. I want you to stand I want you to stand as a commitment that we will sit at the feet of jesus And i want to pray for you and i want you to look around At these beautiful faces Look around to the brothers around you These are men who are committing with you to sit at the feet of jesus that we may be complete Thoroughly equipped for every good work. We're in this together men And the only way we're going to get through this men is if we sit at the feet of jesus There's no other way and my challenge to all of us is that we will pick up our cross because Jesus died on the cross for us And he died for our sins and it was because of his resurrection That we have life this men was this man was dead But god