Main Address - 42nd Annual National Leadership Prayer Breakfast

Choose Hope, Arise and Build

TEXT: Mark 5:1 – 20

Excerpts of Address

The theme, “Choose Hope: Arise and Build” is undoubtedly a call to action. It is a call to action for every leader, in every sector of our society and a call to every citizen – young and old, both home and abroad.

As I think of this theme, a few questions come to mind:

What do we mean by hope?
Why is it necessary for us to choose hope?
Where does true hope come from?
What should we build?
How should we build?

Hope can be defined as a feeling of expectation and desire for a particular thing to happen. So, one might say “I hope to be more diligent in pursuing my goals for this New Year.”

But, there is a difference between biblical hope and an ordinary expression of hope. Biblical hope is a confident expectation and desire for something good in the future based on who God is. The foundation true hope is Jesus whom the Bible identifies of the God of hope!

Brothers and sisters, fellow citizens and friends, despite our progress in many areas of national life, there are dark clouds of despair that is threatening to further derail the progress and prosperity of our nation.

We meet to pray today because all is not well.

All is not well when unemployment is at a historic low level of 4.5% while homicide in Jamaica is still at an intolerable level of approximately 46/100,000. (Jamaica has recorded over 1000 homicides each year for the last 20 years).
All is not well when so many of our young people are busy “drifting” while our society has gone off course.
All is not well when over 50% of our children are born outside of the stability and security marriage helps to provide.
All is not well when despite greater access to education, some people have chosen to put their hope on winning big or “chopping di line” to fleece others out of their life savings.
All is not well when only about 32% of registered voters choose to vote in our elections while increasing voter apathy is threatening to choke our stable democracy.

Yet, in the midst of such dark clouds of despair, there are brilliant rays of hope!

Five boys choosing to take their injured friend and schoolmate to get urgent medical attention is a ray of hope.
A taxi driver choosing to take the initiative to have a customer appreciation day is a ray of hope.
Going after gangs and prosecuting them to the full extent of the law is a ray of hope.
20 consecutive quarters of positive economic growth and a tourism sector that keeps breaking records is a ray of hope.

Friends, the fact is that there are always both dark clouds of despair and brilliant rays of hope in our country. We can either choose to see the glass of half full or half empty.

I want to make it abundantly clear this morning that no matter what is happening in our country and around the world, God is still in control. Yes, He’s got the whole world in his hands so we can choose hope!

When we choose hope, the light of hope will shine through the dark clouds of despair hanging over our country.

When we choose hope, the river of hope will can run through every family in this nation and bring a refreshing healing stream.

When we choose hope, the blanket of hope will comfort every hurting heart in the warmth of a neighbour’s love.

To choose hope is not to ignore the elephants in the room or burry our heads in the sand. Rather, to choose hope is to acknowledge that despite our problems, we can say “The sun shineth, the land is green and the people are strong and creative.”

To choose hope is to have an abiding conviction that things can be better. To choose hope is to put our shoulders to the wheel and trust God for the seemingly impossible in this country!

Context of Mark 5:1 – 20

Mark’s purpose in writing the gospel of Mark is the same as the other gospel writers – “These are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God and that believing, you may have life in his name” (John 20:31). In Mark’s gospel chapter 5, there are three miracles of Jesus.

1. There is the narrative of the healing of the Gaderine demoniac

2. The raising of Jairus’ daughter from the dead and

3. The healing of a woman with a bleeding problem.

These three stories reveal the central message of Jesus’ power over demons, death and disease.

For our brief time on reflection this morning, let’s look closer at the story of the healing of this demon-possessed man in Mark 5:1 – 20.

In reading this text, I see pictures of hope amidst hopelessness and a call to action.

After the miracle of Jesus calming the storm in the latter part of chapter 4 (Mark 4: 35 – 41) which shows Jesus’ power over nature, Mark now tells us at the beginning of the story in chapter 5 that Jesus and his disciples came to the region of the Gadarenes. The Bible says as soon as they got to the shore Jesus and his disciples were met by a man with an unclean spirit. In Matthew’s account of the story, he tells us there were two men but Mark focus’ on one and gives us a picture of the condition of the man in the first 5 verses.

What follows is a description of THE DESTRUCTIVE POWER OF DEMONS. The Bible says …

He had an unclean spirit which means he was possessed by demons.
He lived among the tombs.
He had superhuman strength because when members of the community tried to restrain him, he broke the shackles and chains from his hands and feet.
This man was sleep deprived and suffering from mental and emotional anguish because night and day he was crying in the mountains.
The Bible tells us that this man was self-destructive because he was cutting himself with stones.
We are also told that he was naked.

This man was a lunatic on the loose; he was feared; a shell of himself; a man written off by society and a man who was more comfortable with the dead than the living. This man was like an animal because Bible speaks of people trying to “tame him” without success. This is a man you would protect your children from at all cost from a man like this. This man was a picture of hopelessness!

Demons were making his life a living hell – he was a maniac and a man far removed from being a productive member of society. When a pastor begins to talk about demons in a setting like this, it is understandable if some people begin to get nervous or even fearful and hesitant. When it comes to demons people go from one extreme to another. People either say there is no such thing as demons and seek to give some psychological explanation. Or, the other extreme, which is to see a demon behind everything. My friends, both extremes are wrong.

In Jamaica today, we have many pictures of hopelessness and in many ways, our society has gone mad and need to be rescued! Our society needs to be rescued from gangs, guns and lawlessness; rescued from reprisals and extortion; rescued from injustice in high and low places, rescued from the lewdness in some of today’s dancehall music that leaves nothing to the imagination. Our society needs to be rescued from the “mek-man- eat-a food-mentality” and rescued from those who use and abuse others to get ahead in life. Our society needs to be rescued from the unproductive use of smart phones and the pandemic of online over-exposure of our children!

In one of his many insightful articles, the late Ian Boyne said, “The whole society needs rescuing and the church is not doing a good job of it because the church itself needs rescuing.”

Brothers and sisters, if God’s church is to successfully tackle the pictures of hopelessness in our society, God’s church must also be urgently rescued! God’s church must be rescued from doctrines of demons (1 Tim. 4:1), greed (1 Titus 2:11-12), sexual immorality (Eph. 5:3), pride (), over-concern for our safety and disobedience regarding the Great Commission and the Great Commandment to love one another. The church must also be rescued from our post-pandemic comfort zones. Such rescue is urgent because many men right across Jamaica are involved in self-destructive behaviours that are destroying our families and destroying our nation.

In the passage before us, we see a picture of hopelessness from the destructive power of demons. Note well that this man’s hopelessness was not only due to being taken over by demons, he was hopeless without the same born-again experience Jesus spoke Nicodemus about. Friends, no matter how skillful we are at hiding our need for God, we must acknowledge in humility that life is brief and unpredictable and we are hopelessly and eternally lost without God. We can’t even walk without Him holding our hands! He has commanded everyone everywhere to repent and has given proof of this by raising Jesus from the dead.

In addition to the picture hopelessness from the DESTRUCTIVE POWER OF DEMONS, we also see in the Bible passage, THE DELIVERING POWER OF GOD.

The passage before us is the most extreme encounter with demonic power anywhere in Scripture. Nothing like this display of power over demons is recorded since God threw Satan and 1/3 of fallen angels out of heaven in a moment by the power of God! There won’t be another display like this until the time of the tribulation comes to an end and Christ binds the demons for 1000 years.

So the demon possessed man came and fell down before Jesus addressing Him as the Most High God. He then asked Jesus not to be tormented before time. This happened because Jesus had command the demons to come out of him!

Friends, demons know their place in the presence of God and are subjected to almighty God! No wonder the Martin Luther in the hymn “A Mighty Fortress is Our God” wrote:

And though this world with devils filled,

Should threaten to undo us,

We will not fear, for God hath willed

His truth to triumph through us:

The Prince of Darkness grim,

We tremble not for him;

His rage we can endure,

For lo! his doom is sure,

One little word shall fell him.

The devil’s mission statement is to steal, kill and destroy and the devil was succeeding because the man was possessed by about 2000 demons by their own admission. The man was powerless to help himself and hopeless until Jesus came deliberately to set him free. Jesus gave the demons permission to go into the pigs and they did. The pigs then rushed down the steep hill into the sea and they were all drowned.

Friends, at God’s command demon flee! This occasion was a fulfillment of 1 John 3:8 that tells us that the Son of God appeared to destroy the works of the devil. This raw display of unstoppable power was a validation of Jesus as Messiah!

Friends, Jesus came to set the captives free and by his delegated authority the early disciples rejoiced that demons were subjected to them. This is true of every born-again believer today!

Let me challenge the church of the living God to use your delegated authority to push back against the forces of darkness and territorial spirits in this country. The natural man does not understand this. But we know …

… We wrestle not against flesh and blood but against principalities and powers and spiritual wickedness in high places.
Oh friends, push back against the forces of darkness because “the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but they are mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds” in this country!

God knows we need increasing economic growth but there are some things economic growth can’t solve.
We need harsher penalties for the heartless criminals this country but there are some things harsher penalties can’t solve.
We need increased productivity and a more educated and high skilled workforce, but there are some things that these things cannot solve!

I call on the church to pray, pray, PRAY to the Most High God and take back our sons, take back our daughters, take back our students, take back our music ministers, take back our families and take back our country for Jesus who is mighty to save!

In this passage we see the power of God to deliver and bring people hope!

God allowed the pigs to be possessed so we would have no doubt about the man’s mighty deliverance.

Those who were tending to the pigs ran off into the town and told everyone what happened. When they came to see for themselves, they saw the man who had been possessed by demons, sitting, clothed and in his right mind.

What was the response of the people of the community? The Bible says they were fearful they pleaded with Jesus to leave their region. This is one of the saddest occurrences in all of Scripture! You would think that they would be happy that this man who was a terror to the community was totally healed and transformed by the Messiah. But, no! The people wanted Jesus out of their region.

As a nation, we also face a similar challenge today. Will we embrace Jesus and all he stands for or will we simply ignore Jesus because we can get by personally, corporately and nationally? I know that commitment to doing things the Jesus way and embracing values such as love, peace, justice, truth, integrity, honesty, fairness and compassion without compromise is often disruptive. But, this is what our country needs if we are to build a strong and cohesive society that we can bequeath to future generations to enjoy. Jesus was the only hope for the demon-possessed man and Jesus is still the only hope for Jamaica and the world today.

They begged Jesus to leave because they valued money, material things and their work more the man who was healed. We must be careful not to put more value on votes than people. We must be careful not to value the health of a company’s bottom-line more than people. We must be careful not to see people as expendable when they no longer fit into our agenda. The Jesus way is to value people more than material things and to add value to people because of our common intrinsic dignity. What do you need to change about how you see and treat people?

The narrative of the miraculous healing of the Gaderine demoniac shows us a picture of hopelessness by THE DISTRUCTIVE POWER OF DEMONS and THE DELIVERING POWER OF GOD. In this text there is also A CALL TO ACTION framed in the commissioning of the man who was healed.

I believe that a little more happened that what the story in Mark 5 captured for us. I believe Jesus proclaimed the gospel the man he delivered and he was born again. It is plausible to assume this because the man who was previously a naked maniac and lunatic on the loose wanted to go with Jesus.

By the way, in the narrative, three requested are made by three entities:

1. The demons pleaded with Jesus to send them into the pigs. Jesus said yes.

2. The people of the town pleaded with Jesus to leave their region. Jesus left.

3. The man who was delivered begged to go with Jesus. Jesus said no.

Instead, Jesus commissioned the man to go back to his hometown and to his friends. He was the tell them how much the Lord had done for him and how the Lord had mercy on him. This man was a recipient of God’s mercy. God did a lot for him. Can you imagine him saying “I use to be a naked maniac. People use to be afraid of me but God’s mercy changed my hopeless situation. The Bible said the proclaimed this message in Decapolis (ten towns) and the people were amazed.

This man chose to arise and go back home to build up his family, friends and town by his message of God’s goodness and mercy.

Has God been good to you? Are you a recipient God’s mercy? God has work for you because all of us were born to make unique contribution to the world. None of us were born to eat, sleep and take up space! God is calling on all of us to arise in obedience, find our purpose and build up Jamaica.

Leadership is a privilege and awesome responsibility. Let’s lead with integrity, conviction, vision and discipline so that we can inspire our country to believe in the Jamaican dream. If Jamaica is the be the place of choice to live, work, raise family, do business and retire in comfort, that we must keep our eyes on that sacred mission under God and do our part to make the vision come alive.

Lead in such a way as to spire those who have long given up on the Jamaican project and have become cynical because their hopes have been dashed too many times. We must work together to create a fair and just society where there are increasing opportunities for growth and development not just for the those whose bread is buttered on both sides, but also for those are working hard to buy a bread.

We must work together to inspire the gen-zees and digital natives who need to know that as young as they are, there is a role for them in fashioning a new Jamaica together.

CONCLUSION

The story of the Gaderine demoniac gives us a picture of hopelessness where we saw the destructive power of demons at work. It is a story in which we see God’s mighty delivering power and a story in which like him, we are commissioned and called to action to arise and build.

There is hope for Jamaica because God is alive.

There is hope for Jamaica because the church is alive.

There is hope for Jamaica because there are citizens home and abroad who are not surrendering to the view that “a suh di system set”.

There is hope for Jamaica because many people across this island are prepared to be the answers to the prayers they have prayed.

There is hope for Jamaica because there are people who believe in the best of Jamaica – knowing that with God we can and we shall overcome!

Let us arise in obedience to God and rebuild broken relationships. Let us rebuild our broken institutions and build bridges of hope.