Jesus drives out an evil spirit from a man in Capernaum
Mk 1:21-28 21 They went into Capernaum; and immediately on the Sabbath He entered the synagogue and began to teach. 22 They were amazed at His teaching; for He was teaching them as one having authority, and not as the scribes. 23 Just then there was a man in their synagogue with an unclean spirit; and he cried out, 24 saying, "What business do we have with each other, Jesus of Nazareth? Have You come to destroy us? I know who You are – the Holy One of God!" 25 And Jesus rebuked him, saying, "Be quiet, and come out of him!" 26 Throwing him into convulsions, the unclean spirit cried out with a loud voice and came out of him. 27 They were all amazed, so that they debated among themselves, saying, "What is this? A new teaching with authority! He commands even the unclean spirits, and they obey Him." 28 Immediately the news about Him spread everywhere into all the surrounding district of Galilee.
Lk 4:31-37 31 And He came down to Capernaum, a city of Galilee, and He was teaching them on the Sabbath; 32 and they were amazed at His teaching, for His message was with authority. 33 In the synagogue there was a man possessed by the spirit of an unclean demon, and he cried out with a loud voice, 34 "Let us alone! What business do we have with each other, Jesus of Nazareth? Have You come to destroy us? I know who You are – the Holy One of God!" 35 But Jesus rebuked him, saying, "Be quiet and come out of him!" And when the demon had thrown him down in the midst of the people, he came out of him without doing him any harm. 36 And amazement came upon them all, and they began talking with one another saying, "What is this message? For with authority and power He commands the unclean spirits and they come out." 37 And the report about Him was spreading into every locality in the surrounding district.
Jesus went to city after city to preach the gospel. On the Sabbath, the Jews would go to the synagogue, and so Jesus went there on the Sabbath too, because He had a valuable message for the people. He was there to serve and help, not to make a financial profit.
Why do you go to a church meeting on Sundays? If you are on the church payroll at this point in time, would you still serve in the same way if you were not getting paid?
Jesus taught with authority. That is, His teaching was backed by God. When a problem surfaced (i.e. when the demon interrupted His teaching) Jesus didn’t get stuck, but simply cast out the demon. He did this by the power of the Holy Spirit (Lk 11:20), who backed Him up. No man is able to cast out a demon by his own power because demons are stronger than any man. Even Jesus, the Son of God who became man, needed the Holy Spirit to cast out demons.
It is easy to teach others what to do, especially if you are in a leadership position in the church. But does your teaching have authority? That is, does God back you up?
If you are not walking with God, God will not back you up. You might be able to solve some human and physical problems with human strength, but to solve supernatural problems you need the backing of God.
When you attempt to build the church, demonic forces will oppose you. If you are not building by the power of the Holy Spirit, you will end up building something other than the church. God will not give you His Holy Spirit, and the accompanying authority to build the church if you are not walking with Him.
Live a life where your teaching comes with authority. If God is not there to back you up, it is better to not teach; instead, first fix whatever is hindering God from backing you up.
It is rather naïve to think that every person you meet at church meetings are filled with the Holy Spirit. You can find people with unclean spirits in the synagogue. The demons in such people can speak through the people they possess. For this reason, you have to have discernment – especially when you are among people in the church.
The demons knew who Jesus was. They described Him as the Holy One of God. Demons identify people by their spirit, not merely by their external appearance. Our spirit gives us our unique identity in the spiritual world, just like how a social security number in the USA uniquely identifies a person to the federal government.
The demons knew that one day they would be destroyed. They just didn’t know when. When the recognized Jesus, they thought that their time and come. We don’t need to be afraid of demons if we are walking with God.
The demons had no choice but to obey Jesus. If you have the backing authority of God and come to them in Jesus’ Name, they will have to obey you too.
Jesus felt free to heal on the Sabbath when presented with the opportunity. He understood that the purpose of the Sabbath was to get direction from God, not to limit the good He could do for others. It is important to understand God’s reasoning behind His commands. A man who blindly follows God’s commands without understanding why they were given is danger of opposing God in the very act of attempting to obey Him.
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