Live Free with Josh Howerton - Your Scars Point Others to Hope | Ep. 425 | Friday, September 20, 2024

Episode Date: September 20, 2024

In moments of darkness when you feel lost, desperate, and overwhelmed, Jesus stands by your side, offering light, hope, and healing. As you embrace the light and experience transformation in your life, you'll be empowered to extend that same healing and hope to others with Jesus by your side. “As Jesus was getting into the boat, the man who had been demon-possessed begged to go with him. Jesus did not let him, but said, ‘Go home to your own people and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and how he has had mercy on you.’ So the man went away and began to tell in the Decapolis how much Jesus had done for him. And all the people were amazed.” (Mark 5:18-20 NIV) For more information, visit lakepointe.church/dailydrive

Thanks for tuning in to today's Daily Drive with Lake Point Church, a daily dose of God's Word for your morning drive. When the word, not the world, becomes the majority of your week, your life will start to change. For that reason, our prayer is that God will speak to you through today's devotional. For more digital content to feed your faith, visit lakepoint.comit. Church slash daily drive. And now let's dive in to today's devotional. Well, it is Friday on the Daily Drive, and we are wrapping up a very cool story from Mark 5 where we meet a deranged and dangerous guy who desperately needed to be unchained from his tortured life. And he meets Jesus, the chain breaker. And into his extremely dark life, Jesus

floods his light. Such a great story of hope. And although we can't relate with this whole living naked among the tombs, we can't identify with this stuckness, can't we? We can relate to the stronghold that had him in bondage, lots of us have been there. And lots of us have also encountered Jesus and the freedom that only he can bring. So I love how this story ends. Verse 18 says, as Jesus was getting into the boat, the man who had been demon-possessed begged to go with him. But Jesus said, no.

Go home to your family. Tell them everything the Lord has done for you and how merciful he has been. So the man started off to visit the ten towns of that region known as the DeKalien. and began to proclaim the great things Jesus had done for him, and everyone was amazed at what he told them. I like what the artist LeCray says. If we can be honest about our scars, we can show other people that wounds can heal.

And I think that's what this man did. He just went, scars and all, to everyone who would listen, to tell them about Jesus' healing work in his life. His scars would point them to hope. You know, when I think about all this darkness, death, change, shame, self-harm scars, to become peace-filled, joy-filled ambassador for Jesus, I think of so many of my friends who have come out of extremely dark worlds, and now they just shine. They point people to Jesus, and because of their scars, lots and lots of other people

are finding healing too. You know, many recovery groups call this working the 12th step, where you allow God to now use your story of redemption to help other people. Gang, we all have amazing worth in God's eyes. No one else saw it in this guy in the graveyard, but Jesus did, because he created him. He breathed life into him, and he has you as well. And even though you and I can make a royal mess of our lives, if we will humble ourselves and let him go to work, God will not only set us free, not only break those chains, he will recycle all that nasty stuff for his good and his glory.

No one is worthless. No one is useless. He wants to use your story and mine to now help other people. And that's what he does with this guy. And listen, you may not yet have a ton of great insight. You may not yet be able to offer the kind of counsel and wisdom that someone else can who's further down the road than you. But you can say to people, I'm not where I want to be, but I'm not where I used to be.

God broke my chains. And he's changing me from the inside out. He's setting my feet on a new path. He's helping me walk a new direction. And man, he wants to do that for you too. I'm just telling you from personal experience. If you will cooperate with the leadership of God, he can and will recycle all your pain, all your failures,

all your screw-ups, all your dirty secrets, and your past into an unexpected ministry to help other people. When you become broken, humble, and dependent upon God, when you live grateful for grace, grateful for a second chance in life, then you become a real player in God's redemptive plan. You become empathetic, compassionate understanding because you've been there.

You know that you've been forgiven, much. So like Jesus said, now you're able to love much. You know how futile self-help is. You know how destructive bitterness is. You know how freeing forgiveness feels. You understand the value of complete honesty. You know where to excess real transformational power. You know what it takes to make a courageous choice to walk down a different path. You now understand the power of feeding your mind and changing your focus. You're in the process of changing a little more every day, one day at a time. I mean, think about it. If you were God, isn't that the type of person? you want on your team? Like this guy in the story, God uses you and me to carry the message of

hope and redemption to be his representative and his ambassador to tell the story of how God woke us up, pulled us out, broke our chains, and set us free. So today, pray that God will start intersecting your life with other people and then notice them when he does. And never see him as an interruption, but as an answer to your prayer to help somebody else with your story. seize the opportunity to humbly, tactfully, and graciously share what life is like now that you and God are walking this new road together. All you have to be able to say to help somebody is, the road is long, but with God's help, I'm getting there one step at a time. I sure love to take you along with me. How about it?

Why don't we live grateful for grace today? Go shine the light you've been given. Hope you have a great weekend. See you back here on Monday. Thanks for tuning in today. For more biblical teaching and worship, join us for our church online live weekend services on Saturdays and Sundays. For more information about all the digital ministries of Lake Point, visit lakepoint.church slash daily drive. Also, if this podcast was helpful to you,

would you be sure to rate, review, and share this podcast to help get the word out.