Gregory Dickow - Freedom From Loneliness
Well, I want to welcome you our friends around the country and around the world, and our extended ministry family around the world to the Power to Change today broadcast. I'm really thrilled that you joined me today because I'm going to be talking about loneliness and the feelings and the traps that go along with loneliness. And today is going to be your day to break free from loneliness forever. Listen, loneliness encourages a self-defeating mindset that makes us so depressed, discouraged, and it's difficult to escape. It's a trap. And the longer our loneliness lasts, the more challenging it can be to break those mindsets. But today, that loneliness, sadness and anxiety that that sometimes comes along with it is coming to an end, you know, to be happy. We really need relationship. We're not meant to be alone. We need to be able to confide in someone. We need to feel like we belong. We need to be able to to get and to give support.
In fact, strong friendships, studies show, are one of the keys to happiness. And isn't it awesome that Jesus calls us his friend? He calls us his friend in John Chapter 15. Jesus really is the answer. But loneliness affects so many of us because it affects our our our husbands or our wives, our spouses, or it affects somebody you care about. It affects somebody close to you or affects you. And and when when when loneliness sets in, it's just silently killing you emotionally. And I believe what you're about to hear in today's broadcast will transform your life forever. You're going to be free from loneliness and everything that goes along with it today in Jesus name. Check this out, Luke chapter 8 verse, we're going to begin in verse 27. And it says: When Jesus had stepped out into the land.
Luke 8:27: When Jesus stepped out onto the land there met him, a man from the city who had demons for a long time. So he was in this condition for a long time. And the devil loves to keep people in bondage for a long time and God loves to set people free. And it says and he wore no clothes, nor did he live in a house, but he lived in the tombs. And and I really want to get out. I want you to get a hold of this, because this miracle is going to show us something. This miracle that that is about to happen demonstrates Jesus dominion over the devil and Jesus has dominion over the devil. And if Jesus has dominion over the devil. So to you, because Jesus said in Luke, chapter 10, verse nineteen, behold, I give you authority and I give you power to trample upon serpents and scorpions and over all the power of the enemy. And nothing shall by any means injure you, hurt you or harm you.
We've been pushed around by the devil too far too long. We don't need to be pushed around by the devil. We've been given more authority than he has. But what he has done is he's deceived people into thinking that he has more authority than we have. But God wants us to know that we have more authority than the devil has. Jesus said, I give you authority, say God gave me authority to trample on serpents and scorpions and overall the power of the enemy. How much of the power of the enemy, how much does that leave for the enemy? How much does that give to you? All right. You ought to rejoice, man. And nothing. And nothing. And nothing. And nothing. And nothing. And nothing. And nothing. These are Jesus words, not mine. And nothing shall by any means hurt you. So we got to learn how to walk in this authority so that nothing shall by any means hurt us if we don't learn how to walk in this authority. God has given us authority through the abundance of grace and the gift of righteousness. We reign in life.
So if we're not reigning in life, it's because we don't understand the abundance of grace and we don't understand the gift of righteousness. And that's what what happens when you don't understand God's God's grace. Why is why is it so important that we are a church of grace? Why is it so important that we are a church that believes in the righteousness of God? Why is this? Why is it so important? Because only through the abundance of grace and the gift of righteousness can we reign in life. So where there is an absence of grace and an absence of understanding of the gift of righteousness, there will be an absence of victory. But where there is an abundance of grace and where there is an understanding of the gift of righteousness, there will be an abundance of victory. Can anybody say amen?
I don't know why a Christian would want to go to a church that tells them that they'll be defeated and they should expect defeat and they should expect to the devil to watch out because the devil has been sent by God to teach you a lesson. The devil has not been sent by God to teach us anything. God has taught us through the Apostles. God, the Word of God has been sent to us to teach us. We have authority over the devil. The Word of God has been sent. The Holy Spirit has been sent to us. The Word of God has been sent to you and the pastor has been sent to you. God gives us pastors that teach us and equip us to fulfill the purpose in calling in destiny that God has on our lives. The Devil has not been sent to teach you the Bible. Teachers and the pastors have been sent to teach you.
The problem is we got bad teachers in the body of Christ that just confuse the Word of God and confuse Christians because they just can't grasp grapple. They can't grasp the reality that, hey, we live in a fallen world and sometimes tragedy happens and bad things happen. But that doesn't mean that we should lower our guard and simply expect those things to happen in the name of trusting God. We should trust God, but we have the power to hold up the shield of faith to to to thrust forth the sword of the spirit, to wear the breast of righteousness so that no weapon formed against us can prosper. You know, you look at the Bible, if you look in Matthew 8:16. I'll put some of these scriptures up here. Matthew 8:16, the miracle of what Jesus is about to do when he casts this, this this legion of demons out of this man. And Luke will come back to you in a moment. But this miracle demonstrates his dominion over the devil and your dominion over the devil.
And it says in Matthew 8:16, it says, when evening it come, they brought to him many who were demon possessed. And what did he do? He cast out the spirits with a word and he healed all who were sick. He cast out the demons with what? He didn't need some chant. He didn't need some oil. He didn't need some magic. He had a word. And you know what? The devil listens to your words. And that's why death and life are in the power of the tongue. And that's why when you speak words of death, do you give access for death into your life? When you speak words of life, you give access for life into your life. That's why our words are so powerful and so important. And this is what Satan wants to Satan wants to make us all deaf, dumb and and mute. He wants us to not be able to hear what God has to say. He wants us to not be able to see what God is doing. And He wants us to not be able to speak what God's word says. But guess what? God is giving you mouth to speak, ears to hear, eyes to see. And we need to use this authority that God has given us.
I love what he says in the living translation. The new living translation of this verse says that that evening, many demon possessed people were brought to Jesus. He cast out the evil spirits with a simple command, and he healed all the sick. He didn't say, Oh, you know what? I can't do that. One can't. You know what? I can't handle it. Oh, you know what? You're mentally ill. Sorry, I'm not equipped for that one. You know, maybe the father has some other children he can spend one day. Now, when he sent Jesus. He sent all that we would ever need. I'm not trying to make up something that sounds better to try to explain everything that's happening in people's lives. Look, the Word of God explains itself. There's a real demon. We live in a fallen there real there are real demons. There's a real devil.
We live in a fallen world. People make bad decisions. We risk our lives. We grow up being abused. We grow up with bad parenting. Sometimes we grow up bad making bad choices. We grow up and something is done to us that hurts us and harms us. We grew up with every one of us grow up with a DNA of some sort of sin, the DNA, the propensity, the tendency to air in one way or another. Some people grow up in their tendency is they really hope they're really susceptible to alcohol addiction. Other people are really susceptible to pornography and other people are really susceptible to some opioid or some drug or other people are really susceptible to craving everybody's attention and craving everybody's affection.
Everybody grows up with some craving of some kind, you know, and some of us just ended up having some of us just ended up with growing up with all of those things, you know, all in one, you know, that's why, you know, when God saved me, he saved the worst. First he said, let me get this guy, because if I can get this guy, people like me, let me get these kinds of people. Because if I get these crazy ones, if I can get these these out of their mind ones, if I can get these out of control, if I can get these true sons of Adam, you know, these truthy, these sons of Adam that have most of Adam sitting all lodged up in them, if I can get them saved and get them delivered and get them healed, then they will be a picture of what God can do in anybody's life. Amen.
The English standard version of this verse says in back in Matthew 8:16 that evening, they brought to many who were oppressed by demons and he cast out the spirits with a word and healed all who were sick. Well, this this scripture shows Jesus compassion for oppressed people, his commitment to see his finished working you and his fearlessness of Satan and anything Satan can do. And we look at this man back in Luke 8:27. You're going to see Jesus compassion for an oppressed person. You're going to see his commitment to see his finished working you because he never leaves unfinished business in your life. And you're going to see his fearlessness of Satan. I love how nothing is too much for Jesus because when he steps out, he sees this guy had been demon possessed for a long time. He wore no clothes.
Look at what it says. He wore no clothes, nor did he live in a house, but he lived in the tombs. Now notice the work of the devil in verse twenty seven. He was controlled by the evil one. This man was controlled by demons. Now you may not be controlled by demons, but many people are controlled by demonic thinking, even if the devil doesn't live inside you. Because when you're born again, the Holy Spirit lives inside of you. But the Holy Spirit doesn't live in your brain. The Holy Spirit doesn't live in your thinking. You have to you have control over your thinking. And so Satan has has possessed occupancy in your mentalities. Your mind sets in the way that you think. And you have to dispossess him by feeling your thought life with God's way of thinking. And as you do that, it leaves no room for the devil. You understand what I'm saying?
So and then he's got to go because he can only he can only ride on the saddle of wrong thinking in your life. He can only ride on the saddle of wrong thinking as soon as you change the saddle and put right thinking God's way of thinking in your life, in your mind, then Satan can't ride that horse. Look at verse twenty nine of this passage where we're supposed to go to twenty eight. You know, let's just read it all. When he saw Jesus he cried out, he fell down before him, said with loud voice What do I have to do with you, Son of the Most High God? I beg you, do not torment me. He was ah. This man was already tormented by the devil. He didn't want God to torment him too. And this is the problem with religious thinking people. They think God's tormenting them. But it's really the devil. What do I have to do with you, Son of God? Son of the Most High, I beg you, do not torment me.
Why would Jesus torment him? The only reason the only reason for him to think Jesus could torment him is because he had a he had heard some wrong stuff about Jesus. Because when you meet the real Jesus. The thought that he could torment you will never cross your mind, the thought that he would put sickness or disease or trouble in your life is the thought will never cross your mind when you meet the real Jesus. Everywhere he went, he lifted burdens. Everywhere he went, he cast out demons. Everywhere he went, he fed the hungry everywhere he went. He had mercy on the on the hurting and compassion on the suffering. Everywhere he went, he healed the sick. He raised the dead. He cleansed the lepers. He cast out demons.
The only people he tormented were the religious people that thought they could be right with God through their own action and through their own self-righteousness. He tormented their religion because their religion was man made, not God made verse twenty nine. Let's keep going. Verse twenty nine. For he had commanded the unclean spirit to come out of the man before it had been. It would often sees him and he was kept under guard, bound with chains and shackles, and he broke the bonds and was driven by the demon into the wilderness. So notice the condition of this man and what the devil has done. This devil has given this guy supernatural strength that he would actually break chains and shackles and he was driven by the demon into the wilderness. Now, I need to read this. I need to read this to you from the NIV. This last part of the verse says he was driven by the demon into solitary places. He was driven by the demon into solitary places.
Now, this will be very relevant to us today because I want you to see how Satan operates in people's lives and where violent people are born. I want you to see where terrorists are born. I want you to see where terrorism originates from and where where violent crimes originate from. Where they originate from is where the when the demon when the devil drives you into a solitary place, a place of isolation, a solitary place represents a place where you're isolated from being teachable. You're isolated from a church, you're isolated from family. You're isolated from people that love you and care about you and will speak the truth to you in love. When we isolate ourselves, this is when this is when we become fertile soil for the seeds of violence, fertile soil for the seeds of hatred, fertile soil for the seeds.
When we isolate ourselves from God, when we isolate ourselves from Jesus, when we isolate ourselves from the church, we isolate ourselves from the word. When we isolate ourselves from the from the truth. See, this is what happens in solitary places. That's where the devil is driving people. Satan is trying to drive people to solitary places because that's where they are. That's where they remain abuse. That's where they remain bruised from how they grew up. That's where they remain lonely. That's where they become loners. That's where they become people that have no other voices to challenge the voices in their head, that are telling them to kill themselves or develop a scheme to kill other people. It's solitary places that Satan is trying to drive people to.
That's why God puts people in families. That's why God puts people in churches. That's why God puts people in relationships. That's why God puts people in community. And we need community and we need church. And we need the family of God because Satan is trying to drive us into solitary places, not where we hear from God. I don't mean your prayer closet. He's trying to drive people into solitary places where they're isolated from getting the help that they need. And I think if if any one of you have a husband or wife or a loved one or a relative or somebody who's been given over to some forms of addiction and some forms of self injury and self mutilation, where they're given over to some sort of thing that is just defeated them and it's got control of their life. It's usually because first that person was driven to a solitary place.
I don't mean like, you know... I mean, in their soul, they've withdrawn and retreated, and every person who does one of the heinous crimes we've seen displayed over the last several weeks, months and years, they're usually loners. They've been driven to a solitary place emotionally and what we what we what we need to realize is that's a first that's the first place where we can operate in spiritual warfare. Not just by binding the devil over their life, but by saying hi to them. Greet the loner like I was a loner in school, I was a loner in junior high, in high school, I was I was to myself, I was withdrawn, depressed. And of course, many of you know my story on drugs by the age of 16, 17 years old, addicted, alcoholic, all of those things, I believe came from an emotional place of isolation.
I could have become one of those lone wolf attackers, one of those lone wolf violent extremists killers. I could have become that because I was in solitary place in my soul. We didn't let anybody in. I wasn't somebody who I would tell anybody what I was going through. I wasn't somebody that was open. I was very guarded, very vulnerable. Very, very I had a hidden life inside. I was my soul was was in bondage. And I was afraid to let anybody in to that soul that was so damaged and so afraid and so depressed and discouraged. So I guarded it. I protected it with external things. And I'm just trying to tell you what I'm trying to say is, folks, if somebody you know, the best thing that ever happened to me was somebody busted through that solitary confinement that I was in and said, hey, man, how you doing? We want to come to a Bible study with me. Bible study. I'm not I'm going to get high. I'm going to do drugs. I'm well, man, whenever you feel like it, come join me at this Bible study. Somebody cared, somebody reached out. Somebody greeted me.
Who knows what I would have become two years later if nobody would have reached out to me. And I just said, I'm not saying that that we're the reason why other people do crazy things. But what I'm saying is our love, our compassion, our reaching out are just saying to that loner, saying to that person in our world and in our environment, the person at work, the person in your family, the person in your neighborhood, that just seems like that person's always a loner. That person's always. And so you get away from them. They're always a loner. No, go to them and and say, hey, man, what's going on in your life? And don't be afraid. Love never fails. Love will break down walls and break down barriers and love cast out fear and love will drive the fear out of his life and drive the fear out of your life.
And who knows what could happen. But we know what happens. We know what happens when one is left to themselves in a solitary place. They're overcome by the devil. That's why the Bible says one can put a thousand flights, you can put 10000 to fly. That's why the Bible says when you're planted in the house of God, that's when you flourish. That's why the Bible says two are better than one, because two can receive a better return for their labor and a three strand cord is not easily broken. That's why the Bible says there are two or three are gathered in my name there I am in the midst of them. That's why the Bible says if two of you shall agree about anything they ask, it shall be done by my father, who's in heaven. There is a deliverance and there is a freedom, and there is a healing that comes to the soul through the power of connection.
We need our souls healed. Forty million people in America today suffer from anxiety. Three hundred and fifty million people worldwide suffer from depression. Today, over 60 million people suffer in America from a health disorder. Over 60, 60 to 70 million people suffer from a health disorder. That's one out of every four adults, not including children. One almost one million people commit suicide each year. Around the world, 20 million people are dealing with substance abuse. In America, one out of four women are suffering from domestic violence. We don't even talk about that enough. One out of every four women are suffering from domestic violence. Youths are suffering from violent deaths. More youth, 18 to 20. Actually, 16 to 22 year olds around that age are dying through violent deaths, 10 times more in America than any other industrialized nation.
Folks, we are dealing with an epidemic, and this man is a picture of us. We can find ourselves here, even though we don't have thousands of demons living inside of us. We have thousands of knives in our soul from what life has done to us. And I'm not trying to say that to make you a victim. I'm trying to say that to get you healed. And it say Life Changers Church is a place where souls are being healed. Spirits are being saved, souls are being healed, lives are being changed. And we need to let the world know there's a place they can come and find healing, there's a place they can come and find deliverance, there's a place they can come and be delivered from the power of the devil and the power of the demonic mindsets that he has left the imprint. Most people are not dealing with a demon. They're dealing with the imprint that the demon has left in their mind.