introduced twice but you know I used to drive the old church van when I was here and had a whole bunch of teenagers didn't I? Some of you here and told Tammy when she came in I said well I'm gonna sing our favorite gospel song as a special this morning And she says, don't you dare. Does anybody here remember that wonderful gospel song that we used to sing when we were riding the van? Anybody here want to hear some of the words to it? Every time I think of it, my head still explodes. McDonald's is my kind of place. I tell you, those kids sang that. That's good being here, getting to meet new people and fellowship with people I've known for many years. And a lot of times I go to preach and I just don't look forward to the engagement. You know the reason why? I'm preaching for Brother Mark because he can't preach this morning, he's your pastor. And I'm thankful I can help him. but do pray for him, and as you think of it, pray for me. I'm not sick, I'm not feeling bad, but I have to go to the doctor Thursday, and they call him a surgeon, whatever that means. And he's going to schedule me for open heart surgery for my valve in my heart. So everybody's praying about that, What happened a few weeks ago, things come by warning. The engine blowed up in my car, and we had it put back in, a different engine, and started up and run fine. Well, if you know my pastor, he worries over me like I'm his little son, or his grandpa or something. When the doctor said I'd have to have the surgery, he was all teary-eyed, and I said, Brother Tim, I took my car, to the garage. Mechanic analyzed what was wrong with it. Said, I have to have a new engine. Got an engine put in it. Started up and it run just fine, he said so. I said, that surgeon has a lot more training and education than that mechanic. So I think he'll do all right. So pray for me and I'm looking forward to getting that done and over with. And so pray for the message this morning. Turn to Mark chapter 5, if you will, and I'm going to preach about something that seems to have discouraged God's Baptist churches. God's Baptist churches need encouragement, and my intention this morning is to encourage you. Mark chapter 5, and just read verse 15. And they came to Jesus and they see Him that was possessed with the devil and had the legion, look at this now, sitting and clothed and in His right mind and they were afraid. What I want to preach about this morning is dealing with the whole If you take the members of this church and sit down and compile a list of people around you, they're drunkards and they're life beaters and they're drug addicts and they're thieves and they're gamblers and they're at the very bottom of society, they're worthless, no good, helpless, hopeless, downable, despicable, and the list goes on. and you start writing them off, how many would you have left to witness to? That's what's happening in Bible churches. I believe that we get this little bit of hopeless despair that people are just not going to be saved. Well, if you want to turn your Bibles to Matthew chapter 19, I'm going to show you something here. Here in this chapter, while you're turning there, you have that incident with the rich young ruler. And Jesus told him, go sell all that you have. He had great riches. And the Bible said he went away sorrowful because he had great riches. But you go on in that Scripture, and the disciples, the apostles, with a deep concern when they heard it, they were exceedingly amazed, saying, Who can be saved? What did Jesus say? With men it's impossible. It's impossible. With us, here today, with all of our good efforts, All our compassionate hearts, when it comes to the salvation of one soul, it becomes impossible. Do you realize that this morning? That about all the people in this whole county and surrounding counties, you personally, it's impossible for you to get one person saved. With me and this, it's impossible. But Jesus beheld them and said unto them, With men this is impossible, but with God. But with God. See, that's what we're getting in our equation, but with God all things are possible. Only with God. Only by the grace of God. And let me tell you what, to introduce you to what I'm gonna preach on, when you go out in this community and you see these people and you're hesitant about witnessing to them, you have that little tinge of doubt, that little tinge of fear, you know what to say? Except by the grace of God, there go I. If it had not been for the grace of God, where would I be today, in the penitentiary? homeless, a drunkard. I come from a long line of drunkards. I could have been a drunkard like a long line of uncles and grandfathers and great-grandfathers. See what I'm saying? Except by the grace of God. And, you know, understand this and be encouraged by it. With God, all things are possible. The whole history of God is that he is in the life-changing business. Only he can change a life. Only he can transform a sinner into a saint. Need to recognize that. Have you experienced a life change this morning? Has God spoken to your heart? and reveal your sinful condition? Well, I'm gonna tell you something. There is nothing you personally can do to be saved. That's what's wrong. Religion has the world turned upside down. Having men think it's possible that I can do something to be saved. You ain't talking to people while they tell you. I don't do this or this or this or that, or I've never done this or this or that. Oh, I'm doing the best I can. And here's one I hear a lot. Do I have to be a member of your church to be saved? Oh no, but what's the deal then? I'll tell you what the deal is. All men are helplessly, hopelessly lost in sin. All have sinned. You know, the Bible says, There is not one righteous man upon the earth that doeth good and sinneth not. If you're here this morning, may the Lord speak to your heart. May the Lord touch your heart. Why? Speaking of Christ, in 2 Corinthians 5.21, the Lord made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him. In salvation, we don't stand in our own merits. We stand upon the merits of the suffering of Christ. He died in my place. He died in your place. And so this morning, you can be saved. May the Spirit of God touch you, show you, and listen. You may be a good person. There's a good bunch of self-righteous people. Self-righteousness is when I proclaim my goodness. You may be a good child, a good son, or a good daughter. See what I'm saying? You may be a good father, as far as the world's concerned, But until you're born again by the Spirit of God and in the family of God, you're still lost. And so I would pray today as we preach this message that God would help you to see that there's hope. My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus' blood and righteousness. I dare not trust the sweetest frame, but the holy means. on Jesus' name. This man that we see here in our text that was sitting at the feet of Jesus, holding in his right mind, who is he? Who is this man? Well, the context of this chapter says he was a demon possessed man. He was a wild man, crazy man. He's one of the worst of the worst. And so here we see Him set in clothes and in His right mind. Remember now, we're talking about dealing with the hopeless. It's hopeless for anyone to try to get a soul saved. Here's a hopeless man. In Acts chapter 7, chapter 8, and chapter 9, we see Saul of Tarshish. You know who Saul of Tarshish was, he was the most notable terrorist of his day. He was out to completely destroy the name of Jesus and to have put to death and erase the Church of God, he said so himself. By his authority, Stephen was thrown to death. In chapter 8, the people in Jerusalem, members of that church, were dispersed. They went everywhere. Why? Upon that persecution that came because of Saul. So, in chapter 9, in verse 1, what's he doing? He's going to Damascus. How men and women, mothers and fathers, put in prison and their families torn up and torn apart. He was a horrible man. Then in the three Gospels, the first three Gospels, Matthew, Mark, and Luke. Remember Magdalene? The Bible says that Jesus cast seven devils out of her. She was a terrible woman. I want you to think about these. But let's look at this maniac. This man here in Gadara. This man, if you read this, and we won't take time for sake of time to read all that, but you know who he had for fellowship? He had only the demons and the dead for fellowship. in verses 1 through 5 of our text reading. And he lived in a cemetery. He was banished away from society. And think about it, look at the problem with this man. In verses 2 through 6, he is demon possessed. Verse 1, Jesus got in his boat and he went over to the other side to the country of the Gadarenes in verse 2. When he was come out of the tomb, immediately there met him a man out of the tombs, a man with an unclean spirit, who had his dwelling among the tombs. No man could bind him, no, not with chains, because he had been often bound with fetters and chains, and the chains had been plucked asunder by him, and the fetters broken, in pieces, neither could any man tame him. And always, night and day, he was in the mountains and in the tombs, crying and cutting himself with stones. Look at this man. Don't you think that it was a hopeless situation? I mean, we think, well, I'm glad it's not like that today. We know there's people all around us just like this man. Their veins flowing with every kind of drugs, liquor, all kinds of people that are hopelessly in despair, living lives that they can't overcome. We think of this man. what utter hopelessness that is facing his life, to live in a cemetery. And every morning on the way, we go to the Life Center in Portsmouth. And if we go up the main street through there in New Boston, you know what we see? We see this old lady pushing a cart, picking up garbage, a homeless woman talking to herself. What can you do for her? You say, well, you can give her some food. Well, we could take her to McDonald's and buy her a meal, how long will that last? We could give her some shoes and a jacket, it's wintertime, and buy her some good, warm clothes and they would wear out. See, that woman's helpless and helpless. And you know what's a sad story? Most of those homeless people, they're rich. My brother used to give. scraps to a homeless man from what they would consider scraps. Stuff he could sell at the scrap yard in Illinois is where he worked. He'd come by with his cart. And my brother would fill it up. He'd come by one evening. My brother had saved him some scraps to take down there. I'm not talking about scraps off the table. I'm talking about scrap paper, scrap wood, whatever you can sell. He'd go to that scrap yard where they buy scrap. You may call it junk, but I don't call it junk. My wife gets mad because her house is full of it. But anyways, gave him some junk, scrap, whatever to sell. Goes down and they were closed when he got there. They picked him up the next morning, took him to the morgue. He laid down and went to sleep and froze to death. How sad that a man can't take care of himself. Isn't that sad? Isn't that a sad story? I'm showing you the helpless despair of the human race. When they took him to the morgue and pulled his old rags off, he had a money belt under his coat and his rags for about $200,000 or $300,000. See what I'm saying? What was wrong with his mind, you say? He loved money more than he loved anything else. He worshiped money, just like this maniac. He had a problem, he was demon possessed. There's problems today. In Ephesians chapter two, let me read a couple of verses of scripture. Ephesians chapter two. And look in verse two. Here's a problem. When in times past we walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the earth, of that satanic influence, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience, that's what's wrong. Folks, it's helpless to deal with the devil. And when people are lost, they're children of the devil. You say, really? Sure. There are two kinds of people in this world. It's not Jews and Gentiles. It's children of God who have faith in God, who have hope in God. And then there's those whose mind and existence is controlled by devils and demons and that inner spirit that brings death and damnation and despair and then hell itself. That's what we deal with. That's what we're talking about here. And it gets discouraging. And here they are. And you know what he says? According to times past, we walked. We walked that kind of life. We were in that hopeless, helpless situation. And 2,000 demons in this man. Oh, how you know that? It's not easy. Hard to figure out, it's easy. There was 2,000 pigs. Heard of 2,000 pigs? He cast the demons into the pigs, Jesus did. Only when Jesus dealt with this man did things begin to change. And the people around us, just like ourselves, only when the Holy Spirit, through the gospel, begins to deal with them when things start to change. And we gotta realize that. You know what the antidote for morphine is? Well, you probably take them to the hospital when they have an overdose, and they'll give them an antidote. But we have a better antidote than that. The antidote is the gospel of the saving grace of God, which is the power of God unto salvation to everyone they believe in. So we have the answer. You take someone out of this community and take them to drug rehab and leave them and then they get out, what's the first thing they do? You take a pig out of a wallow, wash him up, clean him up, put some good smelly perfume on him, put a pretty red ribbon in his tail, turn him loose, what does he do? He goes back to the wallow. And that's the way it is with the human race. Hopeless, helpless. He had a problem. And then there's the pain. The pain of both soul and body. Here he was. They bind him with fetters and chains. And they break him. The pain. He was cutting himself with knives or whatever. It's the same today. We need to understand that. I don't believe that, does anybody know anybody that you've talked to them and their testimony was they wanted to be a hopeless, dirty, sad drunkard? You know anybody that their life's ambition was to be a drunkard? I never did, I've been in prisons and jails and preached and I never saw anybody that said, well all my life I wanted to grow up and be a murderer. What happens to them? Sin. Sin of whatever sort. I never kill anybody. Isn't that what Jesus said? One may say he's not a murderer, but he's a thief. Oh, I never steal, but he embezzles. You know what I'm saying? People have this besetting sin, whatever it is. And you know what? Every day of one's life, every day, Satan takes a sinner. as far down the road as he can. You know what I'm saying? You say, boy, it wasn't like this 20 years ago. It is today, you know why. Cancer has to have a cure. Otherwise, it gets worse and worse and worse and worse. Man's sin never gets better. Jesus said that in the end, it would wax worse and worse and worse. What's happening? It's waxing worse and worse and worse. What can we do? We don't have enough money in this country to build places of rehab for sinners. What is the answer? What can we do? Keep on preaching the gospel. You know, I was here in 1980, or 1973, Well, I left here in 1980. Well, 1973 or 74 we came here. Guess what? You know who you're witnessing to now? Helplessness of the same helpless people I was facing. You might be witnessing to their grandchildren. Some of them still may be living. Folks, God don't move people out of the community so you got new folks to witness to, new folks to minister to. We minister to those whom God gives us a minister to. You know what it says? Paul said, I planted a polished water. God gives increase. So, no matter how hopeless it comes, what do we keep on doing? We keep on witnessing and preaching the gospel, and how this assurance, God said, my word will never return unto me, for it will accomplish that wherewith I send it. Look at the power of this man. Boy, sin and Satan is strong, isn't it? What is it? I mean, they tried to bind him up, Folks, they used the wrong wings, didn't they? They bound him up with chains. And he broke the chains and kept right on doing what he was doing. You may go down to the drunkard's house and throw out his liquor. I've done that before. Some widow in our church is married to our pastor's daughter. He's been the arch enemy of my pastor ever since his daughter was 16 years old. Went off and married her. You know what I'm saying? But his dad was a terrible drunkard. And he would beat his wife and those kids, and I'd go down there and he'd be drunk, and I'd steal his liquor and pour it out, but I'd always, when he's sober up, I'd go back and tell him, I poured your liquor out so you'd get sober so I could witness to you, I love you. Talk to him about the Lord. You know what? He was saved. His wife got saved. His children got saved. See what I'm saying? It was beyond me. There are some little things that you may do, but they're not going to be the cure. Because I did pour his liquor out so he'd get sober so I could talk to him. I'd say, look, I'm not sorry I poured it out. I want you to get sober so I can talk to you about the Lord. He was a drunkard, alcoholic. And the Lord saved him, got him out of that. You can't bind up sin and Satan in a person's life. Who then can be saying, with men this is impossible, but with God it's possible? Then we see it over and over and over again. And I'm gonna show you why it's possible. Because there's a miracle. You ever wonder about this? Look back in our text. And this is a good encouragement to us. Why was Jesus going over to the other side of the Sea of Galilee? What was His business over there? Look in verse 1. And they came over unto the other side of the sea, unto the country of the gathering. Now look in verse 21. And when Jesus was passed over again by ship under the other side, most people get under him. He goes over and he comes back. What's in between him going over and him coming back? There's something very important happened there. Something very wonderful happened there. Why'd he go over there? He went over there because that maniac was over there. See, God knows where people are. And listen, as the Holy Spirit of God leads us, we should follow the direction of the Holy Spirit of God and let Jesus lead us. And where He leads me, I will follow. Where He leads me, I will go. And what happens when we get there? God has something wonderful. Providence guides and moves. And it is possible. So he goes over and he meets this maniac Lost cause. It was a lost cause for him to go over there. All that was over there where he went was that cemetery and that crazy maniac of a man. There's a man in this community. I won't take his name. I came here. And I was out visiting one day and there was someone with me. And I pulled up to that man's house and started to get out and the person with me locked the doors. He'd done that to me several times, locked the doors because he was afraid it was gonna happen. And I said, man, you're gonna get me killed one day if you don't leave the door open. I'm a coward by nature. I need to get in that truck and run. He locked the doors and I went back and I said, what is wrong? He said, do you know who you're gonna visit? I said, that man behind the door right there. I'm gonna knock on that door He says, did you know that's the meanest man? He has a reputation of being the meanest person in Montgomery County. I said, he's lost. I'm not going to talk to him about the Lord. He said, I'm not going with you. I'm afraid of him. I said, that's all right. You stay right there. I went and knocked on that man's door and he come to the door. And I told him who I was. And I told him why I was there. I said, I love people like you. I want to talk to you about my Savior. He said, OK. And I talked to him for probably 30 minutes, gave him the plan of salvation. I said, I want you to think about that, and I'm going to leave you some tracts to read. Would you read them? He said, I will. I left in the tracks and I started to walk out and told him goodbye. I said, would you please come to church? You know what that man told me? He looked at me and he said, you know what? You don't know me, but he said, I'm not a church-going man. But he said, I'll tell you one thing. He said, you're the only preacher that ever bothered to ever stop and talk to me about the Lord. He said, I guarantee you one thing. He said, because you showed kindness to me, if I ever go to church, he said, you can be sure it'll be where you're preaching. You know what? From then on, that man always treated me like a friend. Wherever I would see him, he would show kindness to me. I never saw him say, but I still pray for him. I don't even know if he's living or not. So many years ago, The miracle. It's miraculous that God would do that. Save lost causes. God has purpose. What did he see in this man that he got in the ship, went over the sea, and some people think that's when the storm came up. Remember, he stilled the storm on the way over there. I don't preach that. I'm not sure of that. Maybe it was. All he found when he got there was a cemetery. and a maniac. For what cause? Why did he go over there to this lost cause? What did he see? I'll tell you what he saw. He saw a missionary. What about Saul of Tarshish? This madman, murderous man, man who was so religious and bent on destroying anybody that would say anything contrary to his religion. And that's what the Christians were doing. They were preaching contrary to his religion. He depended upon the works of the temple for salvation. And God saved him on the road to Damascus. Wow. Did he do that? It was miraculous. Sure it was. But did He do that just to perform a miracle? Why? What about Mary Magdalene? He cast the devils out of her. These people that are around us that we are talking about People that like we were. And we can say, well, I wasn't like some of those people. No, but if you'd have died in your sins, you'd have went to hell. You have to admit that. What are we dealing with? God has Emmanuel Baptist Church right here. How is this church to survive as it has for the last, what, close to 60 years? How is it going to continue on? I can look out and see how it's continued. Because God has saved sinners. God went beyond Mark Campbell and some of these other members, and you were saved. How many have been saved since this building was built? Hold up your hand. There's a whole bunch of them. Look at that, look at that. Boy, that's something. Why in the world did God save you? Well, he didn't save you to get you to heaven. But your mark in this church was dealing with impossibilities. And along comes Mark and the church and you, and brought you together, and you were saved. And now you're here in this church. See that demonic of Gadara. Go back to Mark chapter 5. Let's see, let me find my place. He's fixing to go back over to Jesus. He's looking at verse 18. And when he was come into the ship, he that had been possessed with the devil played him, that he might be with him, howbeit Jesus suffered him not. But saith unto him, Go home to thy friends, and tell them how great things the Lord hath done for thee, and hath had compassion upon thee. Now we're going to see the end of the story. It's come to a climax, and Lord, I'm going with you. Jesus says, no, don't come with me. Go back home now. Verse 20, and he departed and began to publish in Decapolis. How a great thing Jesus had done for him, and all men did marvel. What am I saying? You look on your map, probably in the back of your Bible if you've got maps, where is Decapolis? It's on the west to the south of Jerusalem. It's a region of ten cities. What did God see in him? He saw a missionary. He saw a missionary to send out. He had purpose for him. God saves us with purpose. What is it? to go and tell. He sends us. He says, come unto me, all you that labor heavy laden, and I'll give you rest. Now you go and tell. But Lord, we've done that. We ain't seen a whole lot of people saved. God didn't tell you to go out and save people. That's impossible. You know, I told you to be thankful. Folks, I'll tell you what. I'm 73 years old. I've been saved almost 46 years. You know, the first thing my pastor taught me to do, by hands-on experience, I was baptized on Sunday, the day of the winter, on the north side of the city of Chicago on Thursday night. You know where we was at? We was out knocking on doors, and I was so happy to share with people what God did for me. You know what I do, Jim? I encourage other people to go out. Sure, I do. But you know what I love to do? If I was here with Mark, you know what I'd be doing this week? going out knocking on doors that I've knocked on way back in the 70s and saying, if I knew those people, I still love you. Are you saved? If you're not, I'm going to pray for you. And I want to see you saved. Have they all got saved? No. None of you got saved since this building was built. You know what? Some of your mamas and daddies I've witnessed too. And some of the people in this church was here way before I was ever here. And they was witnessing to these families before I came. What about Paul, son of Tartarus? A preacher, a missionary, he wrote 13 books of our Bible. How about Mary Magdalene? She became a servant of Christ and followed him even to death and to the tomb and served him honorably until she died. What about myself? You know something? I never had the opportunity some of you had. I grew up in a family of 10 kids. I was the middle one. in the head of a holler up in eastern Kentucky, Perry County. There was no church in our community, never went to church ever. And I thought I was doing men some a favor when we got married in 1967. Well, I wasn't making much money, so we headed north to find work. You know what I found when I got there? I found a little bald-headed man about that tall in Garrett, Kentucky. We moved into the trailer park, had about five or six hundred trailers, and that was his mission field. He come and told me in front of it that Christ loved us and he's going to pray for us, gave us the gospel. I said, I'm not religious. I'm not going to church. He said, that's all right. I'll keep on praying for you. Every time he'd see us in his white voice he'd say, I want to see you saved so much, I love you, I'm praying for you. You know what happened with that? God saved myself and then God saved my wife. And then God had a purpose for us. We moved back to Kentucky and I started my ministry. I ended up in Sagarsville, Kentucky. Long I've known about Sagarsville, Kentucky when I moved here. Did you know this? One month before I ever moved here, I heard about Sagarsville through Brother McGarry. And did you know this? My wife went to Indiana to visit her family. Her mom was sick. You know what happened? While she was gone, I called her and I said, the Lord's in this. When you come home, you're gonna come to a place you've never been. We moved us to a little house. My mom and dad and my brother helped me move. Came to Sayersville to meet you all, to love you, to witness, preach to you. Left here and I went to Garrison, Kentucky, a place I never heard of. Started Faith Baptist Church. God blessed me there. Just a little hick boy who never knew the Lord. Impossible. dead, damned, doomed in sin, and God saved me and brought me out of all that. And you know something? I don't say this braggingly. I say this because it's miraculous. It amazes me. In my years of preaching, I've preached all the way from Virginia Beach, Virginia, all the way to Seattle, Washington, all the way into Canada, all the way into Mexico, and here I am preaching to you this morning. because it's impossible for me to save people. I just bring you the message. I pray you'd be saved this morning. I pray the Lord would touch your heart. And I pray that you say the members of this church would realize you're dealing with the hopeless. And the only hope is in the gospel of the saving grace of a Savior who died for us. And I'm gonna give you that purpose. I've told you about the purpose of these. Now look in Ephesians, I've told you my purpose, and now I'm going to tell you your purpose in dealing with the hopeless. Look in Ephesians chapter 1. Look at verse 5, having predestinated us on the adoption of children by Jesus Christ Himself according to the good pleasure of His will. See, there's that predestination work of Christ that brings us in relationship with God through the gospel of saving grace of God. But it doesn't stop. Look at verse 11, in whom we have obtained an inheritance being predestined according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will. We have a purpose. What is that purpose? I don't know about you, but I can never begin to imagine the times like I have this morning that I've shared my testimony of saving grace across this land, even in New Mexico and Canada. Just think about that. And the thing that you don't realize is, and I pray that it would work out, do you realize how many people could possibly have been saved that you never knew about? See, we think that we have to see these people, we go to the door, we knock on the door and say, get saved, they get saved, and we say hallelujah. No, that's not the way it works. Heaven will reveal the worth of God's Word. What do we see in this man? Jesus changed him. Jesus called him. Jesus clothed him. Jesus called him. And then he said, go and tell. And he went and told. The hopeless What did he do? He became the hope of those around him. Why did God save you? You were hopelessly lost in sin, and now you're the hope of the very people that sometimes you despair. You know, your despair should turn to weeping and tears. He that sows in tears shall reap in joy. He that goeth forth and weepeth shall doubtless return again with rejoicing. bringing issues with them, despair, will discourage you. Hope will make you go. The hope that you have and the hope for those around you that are hopelessly lost in sin. Be encouraged today. I don't know who's going to be saved, but I know that God is going to save. The Apostle Paul went to that wicked city of Corinth. You know what that was like? That's like San Francisco of our day, if you know what that's like. He goes down there and even he got discouraged. You know what God told him? He said, preach and hold not thy peace. I have much people in this city. Father, we thank you today for this wonderful, blessed time of fellowship and rejoicing. Lord, thank you for the wonderful things that you've blessed us with in our salvation in this church. And now, Lord, today, we preach the message you've laid upon our hearts. And Lord, we pray for Brother Mark and his church. Lord, that they would find great joy in just doing and sharing what you've done and given them to share. And bless the ministry of this church. Save souls, change lives. and to this church in order that it may tarry till you come. For we pray in thy name. Amen. God bless.