“Only fear the Lord, and serve Him in truth with all your heart; for consider how great things He hath done for you.”

This has been my favorite Bible verse for several years.  It’s found in 1 Samuel 12:24.  This verse has always encouraged me to do my best in serving the Lord.  How can I serve Him with anything less than all my heart when He has done such great things for me?

Well, about a year and a half ago I found another verse that uses the same wording, Mark 5:19.  Jesus has just healed a man who was possessed by a legion of demons.  The man, being set free, sat at the feet of Jesus, the Bible says, “clothed and in his right mind”.  His neighbors saw this and were afraid – they begged Jesus to leave their coasts. 

Well, this man wasn’t about to let Jesus leave without him!  He wanted to follow Jesus and be a disciple.  He was free and could now go about the Lord’s work.  As Jesus was entering into the boat the mat who was set free, followed after Him and begged to be allowed to go with Him.

“However, Jesus suffered him not but said unto him, ‘Go home to thy friends, and tell them how great things the Lord hath done for thee and hath had compassion on thee.'”  – Mark 5:19

And that’s the last word on this man.  There’s never another mention of him.

Throughout this year I’ve thought about that verse a lot.  Go home and tell your friends how great things the Lord has done for you and hath had compassion on you.  I’m excited to say that right now that’s exactly what the Lord is giving me the opportunity to do.  I’m finishing up my School of Discipleship year very soon and when I’m done at Gospel For Asia I get to go home and tell all of my family, friends, and supporters what great things the Lord has done for me!  I have the opportunity to tell people how great our God is and to encourage them.

So, what ever did happen to the man Jesus sent?  The Bible doesn’t tell us – but I’m pretty sure that God did great things through him and that he was unstoppable.