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Reemerge: A Return to Vision
Lead Pastor: Rollan Fisher
Proverbs 29:18
Where there is no prophetic vision the people cast off restraint, but blessed is he who keeps the law.
Focus: You will reemerge with Christ when you allow him to realign you with his eternal vision.
Strangled Vision
An Encounter With Jesus
A New Vision
Strangled Vision
The trials through which we pass can strangle the vision and thus distort the image of God in our lives.
Mark 5:1-20
They came to the other side of the sea, to the country of the Gerasenes. And when Jesus had stepped out of the boat, immediately there met him out of the tombs a man with an unclean spirit. He lived among the tombs. And no one could bind him anymore, not even with a chain, for he had often been bound with shackles and chains, but he wrenched the chains apart, and he broke the shackles in pieces. No one had the strength to subdue him. Night and day among the tombs and on the mountains he was always crying out and cutting himself with stones. And when he saw Jesus from afar, he ran and fell down before him. And crying out with a loud voice, he said, “What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I adjure you by God, do not torment me.” For he was saying to him, “Come out of the man, you unclean spirit!” And Jesus asked him, “What is your name?” He replied, “My name is Legion, for we are many.” And he begged him earnestly not to send them out of the country. Now a great herd of pigs was feeding there on the hillside, and they begged him, saying, “Send us to the pigs; let us enter them.” So he gave them permission. And the unclean spirits came out and entered the pigs; and the herd, numbering about two thousand, rushed down the steep bank into the sea and drowned in the sea. The herdsmen fled and told it in the city and in the country. And people came to see what it was that had happened. And they came to Jesus and saw the demon-possessed man, the one who had 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 demons begged him that he might be with him. And he did not permit him but said to him, “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.
In what ways do we need to reemerge?
Many have experienced atrophied muscles socially, relationally and spiritually this past year, all of from which we need to reeemerge.
The prolonged shutdown broke many spirits, smothering both personal and Kingdom ambitions.
Just as there is a real God with angels who do his bidding, there is a real devil and demons who reflect Satan’s.
One of the things demons look to do as we go through times of trial is drive us into isolation.
It is in this place that demons look to strangle the image and vision of God in our lives.
*If you lack healthy love and acceptance from God ordained sources, the temptation is to receive these things from the wrong voices that will distort the image of God in your life.
How did the demons strangle the vision of the man with the unclean spirit?
1. They drove him into isolation
2. They gave him a supernatural strength to resist those who would try to help him.
3. They drove the man to inflict self-harm.
The world has fundamentally changed.
We all need to reengage atrophied muscles of loving interaction, faith and ministry to address the isolation, depression and fear that have marked our world.
Coming out of the pandemic, we all need to learn to walk again through an encounter with Jesus.
An Encounter With Jesus
Jesus comes to restore our God-given image and vision.
The demons began to identify the man more than his remembrance of his own name or the image that he bore of God.
* Do not defend that which God wants to heal.
You may have become comfortable with the demonic forces with which you have been identified and tormented, but God has a different vision for your life.
Jesus comes not to torment you, but to set you free through the change that he brings.
The ultimate goal of the demons was to not only destroy the man’s vision, but his life.
This was reflected in what the demons did to the pigs when they were driven out.
In the world, those who usually thrive after periods of trial are those who have the vision, resiliency and ability to reinvent themselves.
It is a wonderful time “to reinvent yourself” in Christ.
You must know that when Jesus invades your situation, he does so speaking a word of peace to you.
Yet you must meet Jesus in death at the cross before you can truly experience his resurrection life.
Repentance and faith are God’s incubator for healing.
A New Vision
When you encounter Jesus, he gives you a new vision which includes testifying to his deliverance, healing and peace.
The gospel demands that you come to realize what needs to die that you might truly live.
*Several times throughout life we are presented with scenarios that evoke existential crises pushing us to ask the big questions in life:
What does it all mean?
What am I here for?
Why do things happen the way they do?
This is what the man could have undoubtedly questioned but knew that all great longings of the heart and soul could ultimately be satisfied as he was with Jesus who had healed him.
Jesus gave him that peace and an even greater vision.
The man would be a witness for the power, love and mercy of God that had transformed his life.
The Scripture would later testify to a revival in the Decapolis that would break out when Jesus arrived for which this man’s testimony paved the way.
May our lives be used in a similar fashion as we encounter Jesus and reemerge with Christ’s eternal vision for our lives!
Second City Church - Pastor Rollan Fisher 2021