Zambia Lessons

In Mark 5:1-17, we learn of a man who is possessed by evil spirits. Not just one evil spirit, but a large number of evil spirits, possibly as many as 2000. Everyone was scared of this man. He lived among the tombs, in the grave yard. Many people had tried to catch this man and subdue him, but no one was strong enough to lock him up. No matter how hard they tried or how many chains they used, he was always able to tear them apart. Nothing was strong enough to hold him, and no one was strong enough to withstand him.

These spirits also made the man hurt himself. He would cut himself with sharp rocks and cry out in pain. This man scared everyone around him, and no one wanted to be near this man.

This was his life. He had no hope, he had no control, and he had no future. That is, until he encountered Jesus.

Mark 5:6-8

“When he saw Jesus from a distance, he ran and fell on his knees in front of him. He shouted at the top of his voice, "What do you want with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? Swear to God that you won't torture me!" For Jesus had said to him, "Come out of this man, you evil spirit!"

Jesus saw a man in need of healing, and Jesus demanded that the spirits come out. It was one man, Jesus, against a large number of demons; yet Jesus was much stronger than the demons he was facing. Jesus has supreme power over the demons. They cannot face him, they cannot stand up to him, and they cannot overpower him.

Mark 5:9-13
Then Jesus asked him, "What is your name?"
"My name is Legion," he replied, "for we are many." And he begged Jesus again and again not to send them out of the area.
A large herd of pigs was feeding on the nearby hillside. ¹²The demons begged Jesus, "Send us among the pigs; allow us to go into them." ¹³He gave them permission, and the evil spirits came out and went into the pigs. The herd, about two thousand in number, rushed down the steep bank into the lake and were drowned.

Jesus drove the demons out of the man. What is amazing is how different the man is from then on.

Mark 5:15

When they came to Jesus, they saw the man who had been possessed by the legion of demons, sitting there, dressed and in his right mind; and they were afraid.

The man’s entire appearance was changed. Now he was sitting calmly, clothed, and in his right mind. No longer does he live among the tombs; now he can live among the people, because Jesus has set him free!

The people were more afraid of the power of Jesus than they were of the demons he had cast out!

We find another story of Jesus’ power over demons in Mark 9. In Mark 9 there is a story of boy who had been possessed by an evil spirit.

This spirit wanted to cause him harm and even kill him. It took away his speech and made him mute. When the evil spirit takes over his body, it throws him to the ground, makes him spit and foam at the mouth, and makes his body go into seizures. Nothing has been able to drive out this spirit, and it has been happening since this young man was very little.

Let’s listen to the story:

Mark 9:17-20
A man in the crowd answered, "Teacher, I brought you my son, who is possessed by a spirit that has robbed him of speech. Whenever it seizes him, it throws him to the ground. He foams at the mouth, gnashes his teeth and becomes rigid. I asked your disciples to drive out the spirit, but they could not."

"O unbelieving generation," Jesus replied, "how long shall I stay with you? How long shall I put up with you? Bring the boy to me."
So they brought him. When the spirit saw Jesus, it immediately threw the boy into a convulsion. He fell to the ground and rolled around, foaming at the mouth.

Mark 9:21-27

Jesus asked the boy's father, "How long has he been like this?"
"From childhood," he answered. ²²"It has often thrown him into fire or water to kill him. But if you can do anything, take pity on us and help us."
" 'If you can'?" said Jesus. "Everything is possible for him who believes."
Immediately the boy's father exclaimed, "I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!"
When Jesus saw that a crowd was running to the scene, he rebuked the evil^a]">[a] spirit. "You deaf and mute spirit," he said, "I command you, come out of him and never enter him again."
The spirit shrieked, convulsed him violently and came out. The boy looked so much like a corpse that many said, "He's dead." But Jesus took him by the hand and lifted him to his feet, and he stood up.

No one had been able to heal this young man. Jesus, however, drives out the demon with his power.

No demon is supreme over Jesus. No demon is more powerful, no demon has more authority, and no demon has more ability, because Jesus is supreme.

Paul promises us this in Romans 8:38-39:

Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written:
"For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.”

No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 8:35-39)

Jesus is supreme! James tells us that even the demons believe there is only one God, and that makes them shudder and tremble (James 2:19). Jesus is supreme over all powers, over all the universe. He has power over demons, power over sickness and disease, power over death.

Jesus is LORD!

So why are we so afraid? Why do we live in fear of sickness? Why do we visit the witchdoctors when we need to turn to the LORD? Why do we wear the charms, amulets, and protective spells that are supposed to keep demons away?

If we believe and trust in Jesus, we have nothing to fear. We don’t need to be afraid of the demons, because the demons are afraid of Jesus!

If we are living in Christ, we have nothing to fear! We do not need to fear curses. We do not need to fear ancestors. We do not have to keep trying to make them happy; the only one we need to live for and make happy is Jesus Christ!

New Hawks for Christ Video

Enjoy!

New HFC Video

Hey guys, here's the new HFC Video that we will be using this year. I put it here for your preview. I hope you enjoy it!

Update, 6/5/09

Hey guys, we just wanted to keep you updated with some pictures and some posts to tell you about readers we are spending time with. Today Daniel and Mindy share their stories of time they spent with readers this week:

From Mindy: Of the many people I have gotten the chance to sit down and read with, one sticks out in my mind. This young woman came to our information meeting and sat down at my table. We visited for a couple hours and set up a time for the next day…she hasn’t missed a day yet. She doesn’t have much of a religious background, and even told me that the story of the virgin conception was hard for her to believe, but she comes every day with a smile and an eagerness to sit down and read. An important aspect in this culture is to form and maintain relationships, and she definitely has with me. One evening she came and told me that one of her best friends had just returned to Lima for the first time in two years and had stopped by to say hello to her. He invited her to go out with him but she told him that she had to come to the church because she had promised her new friends that she would be there. We’ve made plans this weekend to play some volleyball and I’m excited to see God’s plan for this woman he has placed in my life!

From Daniel: The reader who sticks out to me the most is Paola. Paola walked in off of the street five days ago. She came to the church building with her two friends. All three of them are studying English at a local institute; Paola’s friends are Christians (of some denomination), but she has very little Christian background. One of the questions on the LST form is “Religion.” When I asked what religion she was, she replied, “Umm… Catholic, I think…” She kinda believes in God, but isn’t sure about the Christianity thing. We have only read for three days, but she has had great insights into the story. When we were talking about the Virgin Birth, and I asked what two impossible things happen in that story. (#1: A virgin becomes pregnant. #2: An old woman becomes pregnant.) When I asked her how these things could happen, she quickly replied, “Because God can do anything he wants!” I was so excited to hear this answer from someone who isn’t sure what they believe about God, Jesus, and the Bible! Please keep us in your prayers as we continue our conversations!
God bless you guys! Thanks for the prayers!

Just a few pictures so that you can see our lives in Peru! God bless you today!

Seven Days Down, and a Short Reflection

Hey guys, I hope everyone in America is doing well! Actually, I have been told (multiple times) that I am not an American. I am actually a Estadios Unidenses (a “United States-zian”). I am not sure how that works, exactly, but whatever; it makes them happy here.

Things are going really well. We have been here for exactly one week now, and things are moving right along. Each of us has a pretty packed schedule. Most of us have 8-10 readers now, and all of our time slots throughout the day are filled. LST wants us to have 15 apiece, but that is difficult when we will only be here for three weeks and we hope to make a lasting impact with those that we do see.

But things seem to be going well so far. We have had a lot of interest in conversation. People often walk into the church from off of the street asking to read. Unfortunately, with the way Peru works, they want to read right then. If we are full of readers they say they will return but often do not. We have probably signed up enough readers to fill three schedules apiece, but many people commit to things here and never come back.

But please don’t think we are discouraged. Far from it. Things seem to be going well. I have had a number of great conversations with readers since I have been here. I have heard all sorts of stories: stories of personal loss, personal growth, the loss of family members, the deaths of friends, the challenges of living in Peru… Yet most of my readers have a deep love for God. Out of all of my readers only one isn’t a Christian of some sort. He is a 16 year old kid who believes but has never really had a Christian experience outside of LST. The other day he talked about how he prays many nights before he goes to bed, even though his family does not attend church, but he was afraid he didn’t believe in God enough because he often fell asleep while he was praying. I told him that if that was a mark of our belief in God then ALL of us fail! Tonight we talked about how we could follow Jesus this week, and he told me that he wants to pray with his family and try to learn more about Jesus! What an awesome blessing!

I want to include some pictures from this last week in LST. So here they go!

Also, we will focus one blog on the party we held on Saturday. Look for that manana.

Vaya con Dios, mi hermanos en Cristo!

Hello!

Greetings from Peru, dear family and friends! We made it safe and sound and we are already working away. The following blog is from Josh:

Hello from Peru!!! I am finally getting a chance to write to you after being here a few days. We have been here since Monday night/Tuesday morning at 12:30 or so. Needless to say we did not get to bed till about 2. But it was still good to finally to rest in a bed. Then on Tuesday we went and found all the supermarkets and the bakery for our food supplies. Then we rested finally. Tuesday night we had a meeting to get our readers to sign up. However the number was a little lower than expected it was still a good turnout. We each have about 3, 4, or 5 readers. After the meeting we sat around and talked about the meeting and then went to bed to rest up for our first day of reading. It was a little rough for me to get up at seven in the morning to get ready and eat breakfast because being a college student, I am used to sleeping in till y classes at about 10. Therefore I would get up at 9:50 and still be on time. But here I force myself to get up because I need to be awake and alert so I can understand my reader. I have my first one at nine and he is actually very good with his English. The others not so good. But that is fine I am here to assist with that. Now that I have done this a few times I am getting more and more comfortable with being here and talking to the people. I am actually remembering a lot of Spanish from when I took it in high school my freshman year. I think its because I am around it all the time. But I have now started to speak “spanglish” and I like it. But I have also started to develop a Spanish accent with my English words and it just sounds weird and I catch it after the fact that I do it. But I guess that is the joy of living in another country. So far we are all having a good time and are eager for the next two weeks to come. I will try to report something about every other day or so to let you guys know how we are doing and what we have done. I may also ask Vern, Daniel, or Mindy to write something to you as well like one of their experiences or favorite moment. But that is all for now so I hope you will follow up on us and pray for us. We thank you all for caring and we love you. God Bless!!!! =)