207. Bonus Israel Content - Rick Ivey at Bet She An and Victory In Jesus

For freedom, he set me free. Not for change, not for guilt, not for Pharisee. Grace lit the flame, now I'm puffing peace. Cigars and victory justified, released. Welcome to the For Freedom Podcast. This podcast exists to bring the freedom of the gospel for everyday Christians with everyday issues. I ain't saved by dress codes, not by what I eat. I'm covered in the righteousness, washed from head to feet. No tally of tradition, no man-made code. Blood bought my freedom, now I ride that road. They clutch pearls when they see smoke rings rise. But my praise still ascends past the legalist cries. Christ plus nothing, that's the real math. So miss me with your fence laws and your extra path. He sat with sinners, I'm sitting with saints. Sipping grace from the bottle, no room for fakes. I light one for liberty, toast to the king. Every ash a sermon, death has lost its sting. For freedom, he set me free. Not for chains, not for guilt, not for Pharisee. Grace lit the flame, now I'm puffing peace. Cigars and victory justified, released. For freedom, he set me free. Not for chains, not for guilt, not for Pharisee. Grace lit the flame, now I'm puffing peace. Cigars and victory justified, released. Let grace begin. For freedom, you set me free. Not for change, not for guilt, not for Pharisee. Grace lit the flame. Now here are your hosts, James Saifert and Brett Martin. For the history of Israel as well as the history of the Gentiles as well. So in 1 Samuel chapter number 31, you'll see the story of where that King Saul, he's died. He is captured, his body is captured by the Philistines. They bring the body to this city and they hang him on the wall as a sign of disrespect for Israel. And so as they hung him on this wall, we know the story goes on. And there were some very brave men who came by night. They removed the body of King Saul. They took him so that they could not continue to disgrace his body and his memory. When you think about what had taken place in that time as King Saul being the first king of Israel, it was a sign of disrespect to the nation that he was king over. And so when you begin to think about that history a little bit, what you'll see is it was a mockery. It was a mockery of the God by which Israel followed. And because of that, for a long period of time, there was a stigma of shame that came with the act that took place with Saul being placed on the wall. Not only was Saul placed on the wall, but his sons were also killed as well. It was a total destruction of the hierarchy of Israel. And certainly the enemies of God thought that they had taken the nation of Israel and destroyed what the very foundation of their nation was. But what they didn't realize was that the foundation of the nation was not based upon the man, but it's based upon the God by which they served. And so that was the first significant thing that took place here in this region. And I want to touch on just another thing, if I can, is Dr. Nix talked last night about the demon-possessed man in Mark chapter number 5 that was delivered. And as he was delivered, and he was sent back to this place here, and this is one of the cities of the Decapolis. There's 10 cities of the Decapolis, and it was heavily Greek-influenced. So I want to read just the latter part of chapter number 5 of Mark. I don't want to rehash everything that was said yesterday, but I do want to kind of read just a couple of things here, if I can, to get to the point where I want to go. And the Bible says in verse number 15 of chapter 5, Then they came to Jesus, and saw the one who was demon-possessed, and had the legions sitting and clothed in his right mind. And they were afraid. And those who saw it told them how it happened to him who had been demon-possessed, and about the swine. Then they began to plead with him to depart from the region. And when he had got into the boat, he who had been demon-possessed begged him that he might be with him. However, Jesus did not permit him, but saying to him, Go home to your friends, and tell them the great things that the Lord has done for you, and how he has compassion on you. And he departed and began to proclaim in Decapolis all that Jesus had done for him, and all marveled. So what we see is that the gospel at that point was coming to this region. And God had taken someone who was bound and conflicted. Someone who had no control over his own faculties. He had no control over his entire being, because he's controlled by the legions of demons. And God takes this man, and through the power of Jesus, as he delivers him, he sends him back to this place. And he says, I want you to tell everybody what's happened to you. And all I can think about is that's what God has done for us. He did that through Jesus. He did that through the forgiveness of sin. When Jesus died on that cross and delivered us, he gave us a mandate. He said, I want you to go into all the highways and hedges and compel him to come in, that my house might be filled. And the Lord told us to do those things for this purpose, that his kingdom would be built, and that Jesus and his glory would be lifted up high. So when I compare the two events that took place, where the shame of where Saul was hung on the wall and that stigma for all of that time, that the Lord redeemed that city by sending someone that could share the gospel and change the lives of the people who heard it. So this was considered to be almost the capital of the Decapolis. There's ten cities of the Decapolis that goes all the way to Damascus and cities in between. Some were in Israel. Some were in Syria. And the Lord used this one man who had been demon-possessed to change the lives of other people by telling them that he met a man that could do all things. I'm telling you, I'm so grateful today just to be able to share the gospel when the Lord gives me opportunities. We oftentimes fail that. But in our failures, the Lord says, pick it up. Let's go on to the next person. And let's share the gospel of Jesus Christ. So as we had these different events here, I just want to kind of conclude by simply saying this here. The Lord's given us a great mandate. He's given us an opportunity. We're no different than the man who was filled with the leavings of demons. We're no different. Our sin may have afflicted us in a different way. Our lives may have been in a different direction. The strongholds that we may have had in our life may have been totally different than what this man was. But at the end of the day, it was sin. At the end of the day, sin controls the person until they are delivered. And I thank God today that we've been delivered by the blood of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of our sins. So let's close in prayer. And then I'll turn it over to Becky, your saint. Father, we love you. We thank you. What a privilege it has been today to stand in this place where you sit that demon-possessed man and you told him to go share the gospel. Go tell the world about what Jesus had done for him. Lord, there's no doubt that many, that we probably will never know until we get to heaven, came to faith in Christ through the words of a faithful man. Lord, thank you. Thank you for delivering us. Thank you for forgiving us of our sins. Thank you for walking with us every day. Thank you for these opportunities that we have. And Lord, we love you. In Jesus' holy name. Thank you for listening. Thank you for listening. Thank you for listening. Thank you. And ever since I found my freedom in you. Thanks for listening to the For Freedom Podcast. If you enjoyed our content, do us a favor by liking, subscribing, or sharing our podcast on whichever podcast platform you use. Be sure to join us next time for the For Freedom Podcast. For Freedom Podcast.

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