Abandoned

Steve Brown of Key Life tells of seeing a beat up old car. It was the ugliest car he had ever seen. It was ugly on top of ugly. It had a large gash in the side, one of the doors was being held together by bailing wire, several body parts were missing, and it was covered with rust. And then, on the back bumper, it said:

This is not an abandoned car.

The human race is abandoning cars right and left, and not only that, but babies, children, and grandparents.

A while back we saw the disciples going to the other side of the sea and the storm arose. I am sure you remember that. Well, they got to the other side. And it wasn't a pretty place. It was the place of the tumbs known as Gadara. (Mark 5:1-20)

There they were met by a man. One man, not a crowd waiting and listening, but an Abandoned Man. An uncontrollable and strong man. A very helpless, hopeless, abandoned by humanity to the tombs man.

Jesus came across the sea at night to reach out to one man - this man. Notice, he knew who Jesus was and bowed down to him.

"When he saw Jesus from a distance,
he ran and fell on his knees in front of him."
(Mark 5:6)

Jesus commanded that the evil spirits leave. It was a scary, a totally scary experience. If you have ever experienced such as this, you can testify that it will make your hair stand on end.

Jesus asks the evil spirit his name, "Legion" he answered. There were many, it was an extreme case.

The demons knew who Jesus was and asked to be sent into the swine, and Jesus did. The owners of the swine came to Jesus and saw the man in his right mind sitting peacefully with Jesus.

When they came to Jesus, they saw the man who had been possessed by the legion of demons, sitting there, dressed and in his right mind; and they were afraid.
(Mark 5:15)

The herdsmen saw the evidence of the power of God in a human ilve, heard the story of a deliverance of the greatest magnitude, but they asked Jesus to leave and he left.

Then the man asked to go with Jesus, and Jesus said to him, "Go home to your family and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and how he has had mercy on you."

What does this teach us?

1. No one will be abandoned by God unless he wills to.
2. No one is beyond His help.
3. He will not abandon you.

As sinful as we might be and as bound by chainds of sin, drugs, self, and beyond help, abandoned by society, yet... Jesus will come to you where you are.

You probably never were as bad as that. You have been good - more or less good - but still sin is sin and you are as far away from God in your sin as this man was in his. The Gospel is the Good News! Beloved there is mercy with the Lord.

Another lesson is that Jesus is teaching us, we who have been rescued and received mercy. And it is this: There is a world of people out there needing to hear the Gospel of Jesus. And we are to go where they are and give them the good news.

What can we do at this point in time? Right now?

1. We can pray for our missionaries.
2. We can support missionaries on a regular basis.
3. You can become involved with those in the faraway places right here in your own home right now.

~Bill Gibson
Palisades 10/26/06