Oak Hill Church of Christ 8-7-22 Message: "The Crazy Convert"

Oak Hill Church of Christ preaching minister, Randy Sterling, delivers a message on the importance of responding to God's love and mercy.

Many times in the New Testament, we are told that Jesus heals the sick. We are also told that on one occasion, Jesus sent evil spirits out of a man that today we might call "crazy." His affliction gave him inhuman strength and a feral demeanor.

Jesus has mercy on the man and frees him of the possession. The man returns to his senses and responds positively to Jesus, being thankful for the healing and interested in following Jesus. However, Jesus instructs him to share the story of his healing with those he knows personally rather than joining him on a long journey.

Other members of the community, however, decide to chase Jesus out of town because they lost a herd of pigs when the demons in them jumped off a cliff rather than be near Jesus.

God shows us that there are only two real choices we have when it comes to Him and His Son: We can receive His cleaning and be made whole, dedicating ourselves to sharing the story of how much God loves us; or, we can shake our fists at the inconvenience God and His Truth causes, and run Him out of our lives, and even out of our communities.

We must choose whether we will spend our days mourning the loss of our pigs, or rejoicing in our new Godly sanity.