Weekly Message / Prayer Request

ACTS 2:42 MEN’S FELLOWSHIP

"Then Jesus told them this parable: Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Does he not leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it? And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders and goes home. Then he calls his friends and neighbors together and says, 'Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep.'” Luke 15:3-6

We sometimes forget the amount of love that Jesus actually has for each one of us. Much of our discussion over the love of Christ is over how He will accept anyone who repents and comes before the cross. This is true, yet this is not the complete story. Jesus loves us so much that he will seek out the lost sinner and bring them back, no matter the cost. He will seek them out…

For each person has a designed purpose and plays an integral role in bringing glory to God. The mission that God gives someone is tailored for that person with the utmost perfection. For this reason, each sheep is worth saving.

And Jesus knew this when He lived out ‘the parable of the lost sheep’ in Mark 5 when He traveled across the lake to the region of Gerasenes. Once Jesus arrived there with his disciples, Jesus was confronted by a demon-possessed man. He healed the man by driving a legion of demons into a herd of pigs nearby. It is a parable that probably each one of us knows very well.

But the great part of this story is in Mark 4 where it is written: “That day when evening came, he said to his disciples, ‘Let us go over to the other side.’ Leaving the crowd behind, they took him along, just as he was, in the boat. There were also other boats with Him. A furious squall came up, and the waves broke over the boat, so that it was nearly swamped.” Mark 4:35-37

This is powerful because Jesus left a crowd of people behind that He was probably ministering to, challenged a storm crossing a lake, and tested the faith of his disciples, all for the one lost sheep in Gerasenes. Because in Mark 5, immediately after the healing of this demon-possessed man, Jesus gets back in the boat and crosses back over to the other side of the lake from where He came (Mark 5:18,21).

Why did Jesus do this? Why did Jesus risk so much in order to save one lost sheep? And he did not even allow the demon-possessed man who He saved to return with them in the boat…

I believe it is because of one simple verse in this chapter where it is written: “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 5:20

This man went on to spread the message of good news throughout an entire region, proclaiming the power and glory and love of Christ. In this ministry by this man, who knows how many were saved from eternal damnation and given the opportunity to receive saving grace all because the Lord risked so much for just one lost sheep…

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We need to do this as a group, a ministry, and a Church. We at times need to seek out the lost sheep even if it requires time away from ministering to others; even if it requires challenging a storm; or even if it requires testing our faith. We need to do this because Christ has done this for each one of us… Who knows, but the message of good news may have come to you because it was passed on through the generations by the message of one man in the Decapolis….

Therefore may God help us minister to those who are lost sheep and help bring them back to their divine purpose that only they can achieve…