← Victory Church: Paul Daugherty
Victory Church: Paul Daugherty
JESUS WANTS TO CHANGE YOUR STORY | PAUL DAUGHERTY | THIS IS MY STORY PT. 3
00:52:20
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Jordan, tell them what God's done.
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Yeah. So in 2017, me and my wife started dating. In 2020, we lost my dad to a brain tumor. And it was a really dark time in my life. You know, we were best friends. We did everything together. So it was just tough, man. I started getting heavy into drinking. I was doing drugs, I was gambling, you know, just trying to fill a void. My wife, she was my girlfriend at the time. She was taking our son, and she was leaving, and rightfully so, she was done. I was very selfish. And I just remember sitting in my room and they were gone. And I just looked to God and I didn't know him at all, but I knew he existed. And I just knew I didn't want to lose my family. But at the same time, I knew I couldn't quit that lifestyle on my own. So I gave it to him. I called her, I convinced her to come back. Praise God. And we started getting plugged into victory. And that's what we did. Shortly after, we got saved, and then we got baptized. January 19th, February, we went through men and women's discipleship. That was an amazing time. We learned so many things. But when we got to week 10 of sexual purity, when we learned about that and, you know, just honoring God that way, we weren't married at the time, and we separated rooms until we got married. And we finally did. We got married July 7, 2025, by Pastor Jason Ana.
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Tell them what God's done in your story.
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About five years ago, my husband and I were newlyweds, and we lost our first baby through a miscarriage that just, like, triggered a lot of things. Went through a lot of anxiety, panic attacks, months of doctor's appointments because I was convinced that there was something wrong with me and that I was going to die. So it was just a very dark season, like, hard thing after dark thing. And there was this one moment we had just lost our puppy, and I just fell on my knees in our apartment. I was really mad at God, wanted nothing to do with church. After growing up in church my whole life and telling God, like, why won't you let me have anything? Like, no baby. We were trying to get pregnant. We couldn't get pregnant. And I just reached this moment that I was like, God, I surrender I everything to you. Like, if you want me to have a baby, I'll praise you. If you don't, then I will still praise you. And now we have two beautiful babies. It has not been an easy journey, but.
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I met my husband in College in 1986. I was completely in love with him. And I thought my passion and my love for him was enough to sustain my marriage. But it was not. It was. I built my house on sinking sand. So we started arguing and rejection and finally adultery. It was a death sentency in our marriage. One day my husband got to me and said, I'm leaving you. And he said, I'm buying a ticket. I'm leaving and I'm taking our son with us, with me. And I said, you, you could go, I don't care, but you're not taking my son with you. The love that he felt for Juan, our son was bigger than the anger he had towards me. And he didn't go because of our son. And I was suffering a lot. But we had a friend over 10 years. He prayed for our family. Don't stop. Pray for your family friends. That friend invited me to a meeting. And that day I had an encounter with Jesus. God changed my life completely. God changed us from a broken home and now we're restoring other homes. Now our family is built on a rock. That is Jesus. Today I have six grandchildren
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and we
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are living our best days. Don't give up on your family. St. Jesus that did it for me and wants to do it in your family. Amen.
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So powerful. Come on, Jenny, let me tell you why you're up here. People in this room have noticed how much you've been serving God loving people serving in this house. And they decided to bless you with a car. So you're going home today with a car. And they've already blessed you with more than enough gas money for multiple times to fill up your gas. Jenny, God sees you and he sees your heart and he sees your faithfulness. And people see you. People see your heart, your faithfulness. Jenny's been serving in the dream team, serving in the church, ministering, volunteering. People recognized she needed transportation and they decided to bless you on behalf of the church to give you a car, give you gas money, take care of the tag and the license plate. We love you. You want to say anything? Thank you so much. This helps me so much. I've been taking care of my kids on my own the past 25 years. This helps me so much. Well, we love you. Come on, give her a big hand. Give them all a big hand. But I think I want a new story, dude. And it's crazy for me to even say that. Yeah, I'm asking God for a new story, right? I'm asking God for the next part of me. Come on. Well, this is the final part of our series. This is my story. But it's gonna keep going because there's gonna be more stories that God's gonna do in our church. But if you got a Bible, go to Mark, chapter five. Mark Chap. I want to title this message, Jesus wants to change your story. Jesus wants to change your story. And that's good news, my friends, because we need Jesus to change our story. I don't want Jesus just to change my story from 20 years ago. I want him to keep changing my story. I want Jesus to keep affecting my life on a daily basis, moving me from anxiety to trust, from fear to faith, from bondage to freedom, right from shame to grace, from a place of overwhelm to a place of trusting and praising him. I want Jesus to keep changing my story. We're going to look at a story in the Bible of a man who needed Jesus to change his story, and he was overwhelmed. In fact, all these sticky notes on this stage represent what people have come out of or what people are believing to come out of. And I look at each of these words on this stage, and they represent someone's story in the room. Mark, chapter five, verse one. They went across the lake to the region of the garrisons when Jesus got out of the boat. By the way, anytime you get ready to cross over to the other side, there's gonna be conflict. Anytime you get ready to change your story, there's. I mean, the devil does not like you taking ground. The devil does not want you having a change in your lifestyle. The devil wants to keep you stuck in dysfunction, stuck in pride, stuck in addiction, stuck in sin, stuck in hiding your secrets, stuck in that place of never getting free. So when you get ready to cross over, the devil's gonna try everything he can to try to stop you. There's an enemy that wants to write your story. Jesus says in John 10, verse 10, the thief comes to steal, kill and destroy. And here's what the devil will try to do before he destroys you. He tries to write your story. He tries to keep you in a narrative of negativity. He tries to keep you in a narrative of you are the victim, you should just stay in this place of the person who is entitled to keep drinking another bottle of alcohol, entitled to keep vaping, entitled to keep taking your anger out on another person. And so here's what the enemy will do. He will try to write your story. He'll try to keep you stuck in a chapter of defeat. But there is a savior who has come to change your Story. Jesus is coming for you. Tell that person next to you, Jesus is coming for you. By the way, Jesus had an appointment on this day. He had circled it on the calendar. Jesus knew he was coming across this lake. He was crossing the lake just for one person. If Jesus would cross the lake just for this one person. And by the way, that's what he does. He impacts one person. And he gets back in the boat and goes back to the other side. He crossed the whole Sea of Galilee. I've been to the Sea of Galilee. I've seen exactly where Jesus was. I've been there. I went on a mission trip in 2023 with my mom. And I remember us swimming in the Sea of Galilee. And to think that Jesus would cross that lake just for one person. He would cross it for you. The lost sheep, he goes after the 1. He leaves the 99. And so they cross over and Jesus gets out of the boat. And as soon as he gets out of the boat, a man with an impure spirit came from the tombs to meet him. So this man, he could feel the presence of Jesus. He could sense that God was coming to mess with his life. We want God to mess with our lives. We've had enough of the world messing with our lives. We need God to mess with our life. You're in a mess because you've been letting the world mess with your life. And so this man, he came looking at Jesus. Now, every time I used to preach this story when I was younger, I used to think. When I read this story, I used to think I'm. You know, I'm like, if there's one character I can relate to, it's Jesus. I'm. I'm on a journey to heal somebody. I'm on a journey to set somebody free. I am the hero in the story. I'm the healer in the story. But the older I've gotten, the more I've realized I am not Jesus. I need Jesus. Anyone else need Jesus? And I know he lives in me. And greater is he that lives in me than he that is in this world. But when I read this story, I no longer see myself as the hero. I see myself as the one that needs Jesus to do something in my life. Don't look at me so religious like, you're so perfect. I know you're. You got issues, too. You got issues, too. But the man lived in the tombs. He lived. And you go, well, Paul, I can't really relate to that. I don't. I don't live in a graveyard. I'M not going down to 61st immemorial. Just living among the tombstones. You know, at Moore Funeral Home, I'm not hanging out in graveyards and funeral houses. I'm not hanging around corpses. You may not be hanging around corpses, but what dead places have you been visiting online? What dead places have you been scrolling through? And you go, well, it's not dead. It's just like. It's nostalgia. I love. I love living in the past. What God has called dead that you keep going back to is just as bad. Some of us are stuck in the past, so we're living in the glory days of what happened 20 years ago. We're living in the deceased nostalgia, the romance of 25 years. But you can't live in today if you're still living in the tombs of yesterday. And so when I read the story, I think, God, what are you trying to teach me here? Where are you trying to do something fresh in my life today. This man lived in the tombs and no one could bind him anymore, not even with a chain. People tried to control this man. People tried to fix this man. Jeremiah chapter six says you try to offer superficial treatment to fix a a problem that only God can fix. Jeremiah the prophet, he told the nation of Israel he says you keep trying superficial ways to break chains that only God can break. There are some parts of your story that only Jesus can heal. Sex won't heal it. Drugs won't heal it. Alcohol won't heal it. Porn won't heal it. Money won't heal it. A house won't heal it. A car won't heal it. I'm telling you, there are parts of your story that only Jesus can can heal. Only Jesus can cure Only Jesus can fix. They had been trying to fix this man. They had been trying to help this man. They had been trying to subdue this man, control this man. But he would often break the chains off his hands and off his feet. He would tear the chains and break the irons. No one was strong enough to control him. He was out of control. He was out of control. Verse 5. Night and Day among the tombs and in the hills he would cry and he would cut himself. He was a cutter. And you go, paul, I don't know if he was cutting it. Yeah, he would cut himself out of self hatred and he would cut into his skin and cry out, somebody save me.
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Somebody heal me.
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Somebody fix me. And you might be here today going, this is way too dramatic. Why are you illustrating this sermon, y'?
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All?
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I was a pk I grew up as a pastor's kid. Every night we had Bible story time, and we had to act out the Bible stories. And for some reason, they placed me as the demoniac. And my sister Sarah was Jesus, healing me, setting me free. You know, why did you guys put me in that role? Okay, Anyone else grow up having to act out Bible stories as a kid? Okay, I did. I had. My parents were pastors, so, you know, we did Bible stories, and I was the crazy man. I used to struggle being vulnerable in church preaching to y', all, because I'd be like, man. I'd walk off stage and I'd be like, man, I was so raw. I was so vulnerable in front of so many perfect people. And then God was like, no, they're all crazy too, Paul. They all got issues, too. They might act like Pharisees and sweet little religious people on Sunday, but they're all crazy, too. So I just decided to tell myself, you all need Jesus. Who else needs Jesus? All right, okay. I'm preaching to the right crowd. Come on. The 11am is the rowdy crowd. Woo. You never know what's going to happen in the 11am service. So this man was overwhelmed. He was out of control. He was crazy. He was tormented in his mind. As a man thinketh, so is he. If you think depressing thoughts, you start taking depressing actions. So he's popping the pills and he's drinking again, and he's cutting himself and he's hating himself. And I used to think only people that didn't have a good life did this. Then I started meeting millionaires that battled depression. I remember in 2018, I preached a message about depression and walking in victory. And I'll never forget getting emails from people that had millions of dollars that said, I can't sleep at night. My marriage is a wreck. I just drank another bottle of liquor and I just made a million dollars this year. And I realized money can't fix depression. Money can't fix tormenting spirits. So no matter how big your salary gets or how big your house gets, or how many chains they try to put on you to control you, there's parts of your story that only Jesus can change. Only Jesus can change it. And when he saw Jesus. Now, when he saw Jesus, it was his first time to see Jesus. But it was not Jesus first time to know about this man. And here's why I know this, because we're in chapter five. I should have started this story in chapter four. The story really begins in chapter four to understand chapter five. To understand any person's story, you gotta back up a little bit. When you walk into a chapter, you think, oh, this is where it all started. But it actually started before this. And when Mark was writing this story, he actually starts in Mark 4, verse 35. Before Jesus would go over to the other side. In verse 35 of Mark chapter 4, when evening was coming, he said to his disciples, let's go to the other side. Now he was speaking about going to see this man. In the first few chapters of Mark, it talks about how Jesus was building his disciples and he was ministering in Capernaum. Capernaum was the town of Comfort Nahum, a comforting town. It was his comfort zone. Jesus was about to leave his comfort zone. He was about, some of you are stepping out of your comfort zone. You're stepping into a new season and the devil doesn't like it. Anytime you leave the comfort zone of sin, the comfort zone of dysfunction, the comfort zone of how it's always been, the devil tries to stop you from moving forward. The devil hates any forward movement in your life. The fact that people are holding a cardboard on stage saying, that's not who I was, I'm not who I used to be. I may not be who I want to be, but I'm not who I used to be. I'm a story in progress. God is up to something. I'm making progress, I'm moving forward. And if there's storms coming for your life, it's not evidence that God has left you. It's evidence that God is working in you and he's working on your behalf. And if hell is coming against your marriage, it's because God knows there is a plan and a purpose for you. And so Jesus says, let's go to the other side. He knew he was going to see this man. And before Jesus decided to do this, Jesus would oftentimes withdraw from his disciples because his disciples, they would drain him Sometimes. Anyone ever felt drained by some disciples in your life? Some children, some sons and daughters, like, I gotta escape to the bathroom for my five kids. Those are my disciples. I'm like, I just need a break from my disciples. Liam, Benaiah, Mack, Ellie and Gianna. So Jesus would withdraw. And the Bible says when he would withdraw, he would go to solitary places in the hills of Capernaum, in the early hours of the morning, while it was still dark. We're talking like 4am, 4am Jesus would be out there praying on the hills of Capernaum. Now go back to Mark 5, verse 3. And 4. While Jesus was praying on the hills of Capernaum. Go to verse five, Mark five, verse five. Night and day, among the tombs and in the hills, this man was crying out. I've been to the area where Jesus was at before he went to the other side. You can actually see from Capernaum. You can see the region of the Garradians. You can see the area where this man was demon possessed. It's not a massive. We're not talking like an ocean, the Sea of Galilee. Imagine like Lake Keystone, Lake Skyatook. You could see someone shout from the very back, back there. Yeah, I can hear your shout. Even though we're hundreds of feet away, I can hear your shout. Jesus could hear this man screaming and crying for help on the other side of the lake. Jesus knew I'm coming for this man. I put him on my calendar. I have a ministry itinerary. And I've got a meeting with this man. I'm about to change his story. So he tells his disciples were getting in the boat. They don't know why. Can you get in the boat even when you don't know why? Can you follow Jesus even when you don't have all the details? If you know that he's the one that holds the future, then you don't have to worry about what the future holds. If you know that he has all authority, then you don't need all the details. If you could just trust him. Get in the boat. So he says, we're getting in the boat. We're getting in the boat. They don't know why. Jesus knows why. It's because he's been listening to the cries of a man who's desperate for a change in his story. So they get in the boat. Mark chapter four, verse 35. As they make their way across the Sea of Galilee, something starts to happen. Look at this. In verse 37, a furious storm came upon the sea. Now, every time I read this passage, I would only preach these five verses. Mark 4, verse 36 through 41. And I forgot that this is connected to Mark chapter five. I used to only think about how we all go through storms. I remember reading this passage after my dad died of cancer at age 57, and I felt like I was in the middle of a storm. And I preached to our college ministry that Jesus is with us in the storm. No matter how bad the storm gets, he is still with us. He has not left us and he never will. In the storms that you've walked through, the storms that you're telling you Right now, there is no storm. You go through that, he can't get you through. Even if you're in a storm right now, Jesus is with you on the boat. He can change the outcome of the storm. You're gonna get through this. Tell someone next to you, you're gonna get through this storm. And I would preach that because I believe it. And then I started thinking, maybe the important question is not will you get through the storm? But why did you get through the storm? It's not a question of will God get you through it, but why? Have you ever thought about how many times the devil has tried to kill you? How many times the devil has tried to stop you from being alive today, right now, in 2026, how many y' all should not be in the room today? Shouldn't still be following Jesus, shouldn't even be alive. Like, you should have died in a fire. You should have died in a car accident. You should have died of cancer 10 years ago. You should have died. You shouldn't be following Jesus. Like, the devil sent everybody, every kind of storm to try to knock you out, but you're still here. Somebody say, I'm still here. I'm still here. Tell the devil he lost. I'm still here. Come on, you lost, devil. So it's not a question of will he get you through, but why? Why are you still here? Why did you go through that storm? And why did that storm come? Jesus gets up in front of the storm. The disciples, they wake him up. They see him sleeping on a pillow. Like the storm is going crazy. Peter is screaming. Peter was always extra. You know, some extra people that just are main character energy. They just think they are the main person on the boat. Peter's like, don't you care? I'm gonna drown. You know, don't worry about the rest of these disciples. Me, I'm gonna go down, you know? And Jesus gets up from the pillow and he goes, all right, Peter. And he looks at the wind and the waves. He says, quiet, be still. He rebuked. Look at that. He rebuked the wind and the waves. Now, this word rebuke is the same word he's going to use with the demons. In Mark, chapter five, Jesus wasn't just rebuking nature. Jesus knew there was a demonic agenda connected to this storm. I'm not saying that every natural disaster that happens in Oklahoma is demonically charged. But I do believe sometimes the enemy wants to steal, kill, and destroy the future of your story. He wants to steal, kill, and destroy your family, your Marriage, your health, your finances. And so sometimes even in the middle of natural things, I think we got to be wise and discerning enough to know the Devil's doing something here. I'm not saying he's responsible for everything, but the Devil's trying to stop something here. And Jesus recognized it. And he rebuked the. The devil in the storm. Why would the devil send a storm right before Jesus is about to cross to the other side? Because someone on the other side must be an important threat against the enemy. The devil was protecting what he was carrying as a stronghold. The Devil was watching guard over the region of the Garadines. Jesus had not entered this region. It was a gentile region. Jesus was hanging out in Jewish villages. He was hanging out with Jewish people. But Jesus was headed to a new territory. And anytime you start taking territory from the devil, he doesn't like it. He's going to fight as hard as he. You can't take new territory without conflict. You can't take new ground without a fight. The devil's going to put up all the fight. Like, we've been watching the NBA tournament recently, and we were watching Thunder the other night, and we're going to watch Thunder win the finals in June. Come on, we're going to, we're going to get that championship again. But if you saw me on the Thunder team out on the court and they handed me the ball, there's not a whole lot of people that are going to run up and attack me and guard me. They're going to be like, this dude's going to, going to mess it up. He's going to shoot, and it's not even going to go in. No offense. It's just not my skill. Like, I'm not an NBA player. But if SGA gets the ball, if Shea gets the ball, they're going to triple team him. Why would they attack sga? Because he's a threat against them. Why would the devil send a storm to stop Jesus from coming to this region? Because the Devil knows this man who is possessed by demons is very valuable. You are more valuable than you think you are. Your story is more valuable. You are a bigger threat to the devil. If you've been experiencing some storms and setbacks, it's because the Devil knows you are a threat against hell. You are on the hit list of hell. And the Devil's going to send everything he can to stop you. But greater is he who is coming for you to change your story, who lives inside of you. The storm was not proof that God didn't care about this man. The storm was proof. Like in the case of Jonah, the storm was proof that Jonah was running from God. But in this story, the storm was proof that God was running towards this man and the storm was trying to stop God from getting to this man. So Jesus gets through that storm. He comes through all that hell just to talk to one man. Jesus went through all of that hell just to get to you, just to come to you on the back row. You watching online from Canada, from California, from New York. You in the room today. Jesus came for you. He comes for the one. And so go back to Mark, chapter 5, verse 6. When the man sees Jesus, knowing that Jesus had come just for him, he runs and he falls on his knees in front of him. In verse seven, he cries out, and this is the response. Anytime God gets ready to change your story, especially if you're not used to giving control over to God, the first reaction is fear. Fear. When I was listening to Theo Vaughn last week, who's a work in progress, some people ask me, they said, why did you let someone who's a work in progress have that much time in your sermon to talk about how they want God to do something? I said, because he relates to most of the people in the room that need God to do something fresh in their story. I had a lot of men come up to me after that sermon who said, man, I needed to hear what he had to say because I've been lying to myself. I've been telling God, I want you to change my story, but I don't really mean it because I'm afraid that if I let him change my story, that means I can't go back to the alcohol. That means I can't go back to the sex addiction. That means I can't go back to the vaping, that means I can't go back to the casino. If I really want God to change my story, that means. And I'm afraid, but that means my lifestyle is going to change. And my lifestyle is comfortable. I'm comfortable in my dysfunction of binging on more food and binging on more entertainment and binging on the video games. And I'm comfortable just sitting on the couch. If I. If I think Jesus is going to change my story, that means he's going to change, change my daily routine. So he screams at the top of his voice, what do you want with me, Jesus of this? The son of the most High God, right? He's screaming in God's name, don't torture me. You're like, this is way too real, Paul. Remember I was an actor as a pastor's kid. I had to act out the Bible stories every night. Don't torture me. Jesus wasn't trying to torture him. Jesus was trying to set him free from torture. Jesus isn't trying to torture your future. He's trying to set your future free from torture. But you keep going back. Jesus had said to him, come out of this man, you impure spirit. Come out of this man, you spirit of lust. Come out of this woman, you spirit of gossip. Come out of this family, you spirit of strife. Come out of this house, you spirit of division. Come out of this business, you spirit of lack. Come out of this man, you spirit of poverty, Come out of this man. And I'm telling you today, there's some spirits that are about to be kicked out of the lives of our church today. Come on, you didn't just come to play church. You came to meet and encounter the presence and the power of the living God, Jesus Christ of Nazareth. He said, come out of this man. But watch what he says next in verse nine. Because the spirit wouldn't come out. Jesus says, what is your name? Now, this man knew who Jesus was, but he didn't know who he was. He knew the name of Jesus, but he didn't know his own name. He had been so possessed and oppressed and depressed and labeled by himself and by the town that he lived in and his family and his kids and his spouse and his parents and everyone around him that he didn't even know his own name. I want to give you just a couple of thoughts here on this story and on this message as we come to the end of this series. Just a couple points. Number one, your story does not have to be defined by your diagnosis. Your story does not have to be defined by your labels, by your past mistakes, by your struggles and by your feelings. Those are all legitimate reasons to say, this is my story, Paul. This is my story. Right? I was bullied, okay? And I was depressed and suicidal. And my parents, they left me, Paul. I was trapped in foster care. This is me. This is my story, Paul. And I'm scared. And I'm always trying to please everybody else who keeps labeling me all of these things. And if I can just earn their approval, then I'll be good enough. I need some help. Daniel, Pedro, would you guys just put a bunch of these sticky notes on me? Because this is what this man looked like. He didn't know what his name was. Jesus says, what is your name? And he's thinking through it. He's like, abused, afraid, insecure, ashamed, lustful, addict, druggie, alcoholic, bipolar, schizophrenic, anxious, panicked, worried. What's your name? Jesus asked. And he responds, look at this verse. In verse 8, he responds. He says, my name is Legion. Legion, he says, verse 9. For we are many. Now, that sounds crazy. That sounds crazy. And some of us in the room are like, yeah, I can't relate to this guy, Paul. I've never been legion, okay? Somebody walked up to me a couple weeks ago. I was walking with all my kids. They looked at one of my kids. They go, this guy right here, he's your mini me. They were talking about Benaiah. Benaiah. He looks a lot like me. They're like, benny is your mini Me? I was like, yeah, I got mini me's. They're like, what's going on inside your head? There's a whole crowd in here. Okay? We're running out of hors d' oeuvres in here, all right? Heard somebody say that, and you go, paul, that's kind of crazy, man. Like, you're a little too vulnerable in front of all of us. Now. I know you're crazy, too. There's sleepy me. There's hungry me. There's me when I lost my dog this last week, pj. There's me when I lost my dad. There's me during COVID And that was a crazy me. There's me just trying to hold it together in front of my kids. There's me trying to be strong enough for my wife. There's me trying to be strong enough for you. There's me trying to impress you. And here's the beautiful thing. God sees all the you's. He sees every part of you. Jesus is like, I know. I know that's. That's how you see yourself. And I know that's how you feel labeled by all the things that you've walked through. But that's not your story. Here's the second point in this message. Thank you, guys. The second part of this notes is number two. Your story doesn't have to stay stuck where it is right now. Your story doesn't have to stay stuck in the addiction, in the diagnosis of. Of cancer. Jesus can heal you of that sickness. You don't have to stay stuck with that back pain. You don't have to stay stuck with that neck pain. Jesus can heal you. How many? I believe Jesus is the healer. Not just the savior, but he's the healer, too. He can heal Your story, he can heal your family. Some of you haven't talked to one of your family members in, like, 10 years. They ghosted you, cut you off, blocked you on Instagram. You can't even talk to him. You're like, I don't even know how to reach them. But your story doesn't have to stay that way forever. Jesus can change your story. I don't even know if Jesus wants to change my story. Let today's message be a reminder that if Jesus crossed the lake for one man who was demon, possessed, oppressed, had too many demons to count, that if Jesus came to change his story, he wants to come and change your story too, my friend. Friend number three, your story is an invitation for God's grace. Your story is not a block for Jesus to come through. You might be going, paul, my story's too ugly for God to even touch. It's too dirty for God to even do something in. No, your story is an invitation for God's grace. Number four, your story redeems your pain. When Jesus gets into your story, it redeems everything the enemy sent to destroy you. You, number five, your story is a weapon against the enemy. For we overcome by the blood of the lamb and by the word of our testimony. So when Jesus looks at the man with all of the stuff all over him, Jesus looks at him and he starts speaking to the demonic strongholds. He starts speaking to pride and lust and fear and anxiety and greed and depression and suicidal thoughts and the cutting and the fear and the unworthiness. And I need the band to come out because I'm ready to worship right now. I'm ready to praise. How many are ready to see a victory in this moment? Because this man was stuck. He was stuck. But when Jesus showed up, when Jesus shows up, everything changes. And so Jesus speaks to it. And what's interesting is the demons say, please don't send us away. Let us.
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Let us.
- [35:27]
A
Let us go into the pigs over there. There was about 2,000 pigs over to the side. That's a lot of bacon. That is a lot of bacon. This was a gentile region. The Jewish people didn't eat the pigs. But Jesus looks at the demons. The demons are like, growling and growling and trying to keep possession of this man. And Jesus cast them out. And as soon as they left the man, they went into the pigs, and the pigs ran into the. The water and died that day.
- [35:57]
E
Day.
- [35:57]
A
The ultimate action of a demonic stronghold on a person's life is destruction. What did. What did the pigs have to do with this whole sermon, the pigs were a symbol. When the town saw what happened to their pigs and they saw the man in verse 15 sitting in his right mind rather than celebrating his story. They were afraid for their economy. They cared more about their money than they did about human lives. Right now we have a lot of people in America who care more about money than they care about life. This man was changed, friends. When Jesus showed up, he ripped off all the labels. He took off all the stuff that had been plaguing that man. Is there anything left on here? Get it all off. Thank you. Somebody said, get it all off. Come on. Don't just get half of the stuff off. You can get it all. You need a fresh you. You need a fresh story. You need a fresh testimony. Get fully clean. Come on. You used to be crippled by shame and bipolar, alcohol, suicidal thoughts. But he's redeemed you. He's restored you, and you're about to graduate into a new season. Come on. There's a new you waiting to be explored. There's a new you waiting to be found. I hear God just saying, I got a new. I got a new version of people in the room. They haven't even met themselves yet. They've been so stuck in an old chapter. They haven't even met who I've designed them to be. But you're about to meet the best version of you. You're about to meet the best version of who God created you to be. The healed you. The free you. The peaceful you. The happy you. The you with the right mindset. The you who's been free from all of the junk. Number six. Someone needs your story. Someone needs your story. So here's what happens. The man gets set free. The town gets angry. They lose their pigs. They're mad about the pigs. They wanted to have bacon that day. It was all gone. But the man was free. And the man was in his right mind. This man was. I'm not saying he was perfect, but he was a story in progress. He was a story in progress, and he was taking ground. And for the rest of his life, he was going to walk it out. That's the story of you and me. How many y' all are a story in progress. Like the roads of Oklahoma under construction till we go to heaven someday. But God is work. How many? All. God is working on you. He's working in you. He's working for you. He's working through you. So this man comes to. To Jesus and he's like, look at this. This is interesting. This is how this story ends. In Mark, chapter 5, verse 18, as Jesus was getting into the boat. Jesus. Jesus was like, I fulfilled my assignment. Itinerary is moving on. My calendar is now moving to the next person he's going to heal, a woman with the issue of blood. He's got more issues to deal with, right? That's what happens in the rest of Mark 5. But as he's getting ready to leave, the man who had been healed ran after him. And he begged him. He said, please, let me go. I don't want to stay in this crazy town with these crazy family members. They're the ones that labeled me. They're the ones that saw me at my worst. They're the ones that judged me at my worst. They're the ones that still don't believe my story's changed. They're the ones that haven't seen the new me. And you see the new me. You gave me the new me. You're the one that wrote the new chapter. Let me go with you. Let me be. Let me. Let me replace this guy Judas over here. I know he's going to betray you. Let me be one of the disciples. Let me get rid of Peter. Let me. Let me take somebody's spot on the boat. Jesus looks at him and it's interesting because most of the disciples that Jesus brought with him, he wanted them to stay with him. But this one, he didn't. He said, go home. Verse 19. This sounds sad, but he says, go home. Go home. That's the last place I want to go. I want to go with you. The demons didn't want to stay. I mean, the demons wanted to stay. They didn't want to go. This man didn't want to stay. He wanted to go. And Jesus says, go home. Stay here. Sometimes it takes just as much faith to stay somewhere as it does to step out of the boat and go somewhere. Because staying somewhere means you get to walk out your story. You get to walk out your testimony. He says, go home and show your family. Show the people that have watched you grow up. Show them what I have done in your life. Tell them what the Lord has done for you, how he saved you, how he healed you, how he changed you, how he broke the chains off you. When I think about the Lord, how he picked me up, turned me around, how he placed my feet on solid ground. It makes me want to shout. Jesus said, I want you to tell your family. So watch this in verse 20. So the man obeyed Jesus, and he went away. And he began to tell someone Needs to hear your story. Someone needs to hear your story. Here's my last point. Number seven. Your story isn't finished. Your story isn't finished. It's just getting started. Tell that person next to you, your story isn't finished. So this man became. This man, went from maniac to missionary. Everybody say maniac to missionary. He went to the Decapolis. In my Bible, Decapolis has a letter next to it. So I had to go to the bottom of the Bible to see what that letter means. It's got a little A next to it. So I go down to the bottom. A means 10 cities. 10 cities. This man, who was set free from a thousand demons, went to go and preach to 10 different cities. And he began to lead people to Christ. And he went from being the depressed man, the suicidal man, to being the travel evangelist who began to share the goodness of God and said, look what the Lord has done for me. I once was lost, but now I'm found. I once was blind but now I see. I once was broken. I once was depressed and oppressed and possessed. But Jesus set me free, man. I think when Jordan showed up here three years ago, moved here from Boston, Massachusetts, coming out of all kinds of bad lifestyle, sin. And Jesus saved him. Jesus healed him, got him plugged into the church. Now he's part of the youth pastoral team, pastoring teenagers. You found Victory online. You were walking through a ton of depression. A ton. You were walking through all of this stuff, but Jesus saved you and he saved your family. And you're walking across the stage with a cap and gown. In two weeks, graduating Victory Bible College. Come on. 2015, I preached a sermon, really against depression, a message against depression. And he was there that night. He had been planning to end his life. He had felt suicidal, filled with depression. But God. Everybody say, but God. But God changed his story. He got plugged into the church, met his wife. They got four kids. I'm so glad you didn't throw it away, because now he's helping other people find purpose in their story. And at the end of your row are some sticky notes. I want us to pass those down. And there's markers and pins on each row. I want you to write down a word on that sticky note, A word of something that you're believing God is going to do for you. Or it could be two words. A word of what God has already done for you and a word of what you're believing God is going to do for you. In this current season of your story. So it could Be a word like maybe you've been told that you can't have children and you've been told by doctors it's impossible that you're writing down that word on that. That sticky note of what you're believing God to. To heal you and to. To bring to pass in your life, in your story. Maybe you've been feeling just overwhelmed by life, anxious, worried, and you're believing God for peace in your life. You could write down the word peace. As you write it down, I want you to leave your seat and come bring it down to this altar, place it on this stage. And you know, this whole sermon, I've been walking on this stage and my feet keep literally picking up the sticky notes on this stage, right? I've got some sticky notes on my feet. And as I'm looking at these sticky notes, I'm literally walking on sticky notes that say things like death and defeat and discouragement. And I realize I'm dancing on the grave that I once lived in. I'm dancing. I'm literally stepping on top of stuff that was supposed to crush me. He crushed the serpent's head when he stepped on top of every single thing the devil said to destroy your story. And today we're going to go out with a shout of praise that I'm dancing on the grave that I once lived in. And he's changing your story and he's rewriting your life and he's giving you fresh, fresh grace, fresh life, fresh victory in Jesus name.
- [44:58]
E
Come on.
- [44:58]
A
Once you write it down, bring it to the altar, put it on this stage. It's a declaration day. It's a freedom day. It's a hope day. It's a victory day.
- [45:53]
E
It. On the grave. I'm jumping on the grave. I'm jumping on the grave. I can't sit on the grave. I can't sit on the grave. Everybody say goodbye yesterday. I'm living in the light of a new day. I won't waste another minute in my. Praise the Lord. I've been born Again. Goodbye. Yes. Again I got. It again. Again, again and again and again you rescue me out of the mess I was in my. Jesus. I have decided to swallow Jesus and the world. Be the cross be turn back higher to decided to follow Jesus. I follow jesus. And cross before everybody say again and again and again and again you rescue, You rescue Jesus. You trust me now, everybody. Thank you, Lord. Praise the Lord. I've been born. Again I've been born. Praise the Lord. Dancing on the gr. I'm dancing. Dancing on the gr. I'm dancing on the grave and I'm dancing, Dancing. On the. Dancing on the grave we're dancing on the grave. Come on, church, come on.
- [50:48]
A
As I'm looking at this cross right now, I'm looking at all kinds of stuff that Jesus paid for that. Whatever you have been stuck in a grave with. If you could find that man who was preaching in the Decapolis and you asked him, do you want to go back to those tombs, he would say, praise the Lord. I've been born again and I'm not going back. Goodbye yesterday. Goodbye all those graves. Goodbye all that shame. I'm never going back who I used to be. The cross before me, the world behind me. Friends, he's paid the price and he's just getting started with your story. Come on, how many y' all believe it? You received that word today? Your story isn't finished. Well, Lord, I just pray over every person here in this room. God, I thank you that you are truly saving, restoring, redeeming, setting free God and Lord, I thank you that you are just getting started with the stories of in this house, the miracles in this house, the breakthrough testimonies, God, that the rest of 2026 is going to be the best of 2026, God, that these next six, seven months that are left, God, that we will spend our time testifying and praising you for all that you've done and all that you're doing and all that you're going to do. And we defeat the devil by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of our testimony. So today, God, we testify. Great is our God and greatly to be praised. In Jesus name. Everybody said amen and amen. God bless you.