Welcome to a firm foundation presented by Princeton ministries with Dr. Ken Smith. This is Carol          Smith, Ken’s wife. Please enjoy.

Please. World, never forget us and never forget our murderers. These words were written in pencil in a Bible in a concentration camp by a young girl during World War II. He asked the question, of what value is some pencilled words in relation to eternity? An architect, 36 years old by the name of Simon Wiesenthal came to Israel after the war to help in the building of homes. This Bible fell into his hands. The words pierced his heart. And he thought to himself, I can’t forget what this girl asked. He stopped his work as a building architect, and he devoted the remaining 30 years of his life to searching the world for the people who were responsible for the death of not only millions of Jews, but also 5 million christians who were killed in those camps during World War II.

You might think, well, this is no more than an act of revenge. He says, at first, yes, but after a year or so, all I remember are the words of that girl and the responsibility that I had to her. In some 30 years of investigation, he has found 1100 men who were responsible for some of those deaths. The value of one girl writing one comment in pencil in the front of a bible. And I think if we’re all honest, we often ask ourselves, of what value am I to the lord? Of what worth am I in relation to all of the great things that I see others doing? And that’s the question I want to talk with you about today. Jesus. He comes to a place called the Gadarenes, a desolate wilderness.

Coming out of the boat, he sees the hills and the cragged mountains. And from the shadows of a rock, a man runs towards him, screaming and crying. He’s naked. His arms show where chains had held him, and he apparently had broken free. And Jesus sees this man. The man calls out, Jesus, what do you have to do with us? Jesus says, what’s your name? My name is Legion. Legion, meaning many a man who was crazy, a man who was filled with evil spirits. And he runs to Jesus. And Jesus commands those demons to come out of that man. Nearby is a herd of swine. They beg that Jesus not send them, the demons back to hell. And Jesus says, go into the swine. The swine who apparently were the mainstay of business in that community.

And those swine run off a cliff and are drowned. The people saw what Jesus had done. And like so often is the case even today. When Jesus Christ changes a life, more often than not, it frightens the people. Who see a life changed. And that was exactly what happened. People ran back to the town. They told the story. They came back to see who had sent these swine to their death. And what did they find when they came back? The man who was demon possessed, who was naked and bleeding from the wounds of chains, was clothed and in his right mind, and he was quietly sitting at the feet of Jesus Christ.

And when the town people saw this man, rather than rejoice that here was a person whose life had been sent back to make sense, the scriptures tell us clearly, they were frightened of Jesus. And they asked Jesus, leave us. Just go away. The man from Gadara, who now is in his right mind, says, Jesus, I want to come with you. Jesus says, no, I want you to go back to your hometown and you tell them what’s happened. It’s a story that we like to think happened long ago. But have you ever thought of the ministry of Jesus Christ? And that as he is making his way from town, in the midst of all of the commotion, of all of the crowds, one crazy man appears. And that’s the one who Jesus spent time with. That’s the one who Jesus saw as having value.

If you were Jesus, would you have passed him by, perhaps thinking, unsavoury fellow, crazy, have no interest, go where the action is, because the action could never be here with one lonely, frightened man in the wilderness. And Jesus said, stop. This is the man who has value to me. I’m going to change his life. We look at the second book of Chronicles, chapter 33. There is a king who is listed, the son of a godly king. His father, Hezekiah, the son Manase. Now, Manase took the seat of authority as a king at the age of twelve years old. He reigned for 55 years, the longest reign of any king of Judah. We’re told that he did evil in the sight of the Lord. Now, it’s easy to pass by a statement like that. What would be evil in the sight of the Lord?

Manasseh, first of all, destroyed the altars that his father had built to the living God. He had them all torn down. And in the place of those altars, he had constructed new altars to Baal, a false God. He had, in the very temple of the Lord, constructed an idol that was placed as the center for worship. Manasseh called together sorcerers and witches and all of the occult spirits that could be found in the area, and he received his counsel from them. Manasseh took his son and brought him to one of the temples of Baal and offered as a living sacrifice his son Manasseh then led the nation of Judah to follow after. And the Lord comes to Manasseh and he says, stop, this is wicked.

And if you do not stop, I will send Assyria, that great nation that is like a warrior that will come down and destroy this nation. And Manasseh continued in his wickedness. And then the lord did just what he said. He sent the Assyrians and it was their practice to take the king and with a hook in the nose of that leader, to lead him out of town, like some Kerr on the end of a leash, who has been subdued. And Manasseh was brought to Assyria. We’re told that in his imprisonment he gave his life to the Lord. He humbled himself and the Lord heard his prayers and he restored Manasseh back as the king of Judah. And when he returned, he constructed once again altars, not to Baal, but to the living God who had saved him.

If you’ve ever had a yard sale, one of the things that is most amazing about them is the fact that the thing that you are sure is of greatest value and is going to sell the quickest stays on the table to the end of the day. And the things that you thought were junk, people gather in their baskets and they trot off as though this was a great treasure. And that’s very much the way the Lord is. The things and the people that from our earthly view, we say there’s a person of value. Why, look at the way he walks, look where he lives, look at his style. Value. The scripture says that the Lord does not look on those external things.

He looks to the heart and he says that the things that you value from your earthly view, I don’t value at all. As a matter of fact, if you had real sight, you would see that the things that you think are treasures are really polluted. Who would have ever thought that the Lord God would take Manasseh? A man who destroys the temples of the Lord offers his son. And the Lord looks at that man and he says, you’re valuable to me. I’m going to hear your prayers. I’m going to make you a new person. And lo and behold, he does it. Of what value are you? Of what value am I to the Lord? Jesus told a parable, he said, I want to make it very clear, the value that a person is to me, it’s something like this. It’s like a shepherd.

You’ve all seen a shepherd. You know that he’s out in the field day and night with his herd. Well, the shepherd comes home. He’s got a flock of a hundred sheep. He brings them back to the fold at night and he begins to count. I must have miscounted. 9697-9899 there’s one missing. Where is it? And if that shepherd is worth his salt, he leaves those 99. And he goes back into the wilderness looking for that one lost, lonesome, bruised sheep. And he takes it when he finds it and he puts it around his shoulders and he comes back and he calls his neighbors and he says, I found the sheep. What value are you to the Lord? Jesus says, it’s like that shepherd who found his lost sheep, but it’s also like a woman who has ten coins. That’s it. She’s poor.

And in the midst of the day, she misplaces one of the coins. Just this morning, I misplaced my scripture and I went all around the house trying to find my bible. And if you know the sense of misplacing something and then begin frantically looking for it, where are the keys? I have to be there on time. And around the house you scurry through piles and drawers and into jackets and then you find them. Jesus said, it’s like a woman. Ten coins. The end of the day, she counts them, only nine. She becomes so concerned that she turns on the lamp in the evening and she begins to search the house. And then she begins to sweep in the corners to find out perhaps it’s dropped somewhere that I can’t see.

She looks in the cracks, she searches the house, and then she finds that coin. And what does she do? She calls her friends and her neighbors and she says, you can call off the search. I found it. Of what value are you to the Lord? The same value as that woman who finds that coin and is overjoyed when she finally finds it. Jesus says, if you still don’t have the point, I want to tell you how valuable a person is to me. It’s like a father who has a son. The son wants his inheritance. The father is a loving dad, gives it to him, and the boy goes off. He spends it all on a debauched life.

Finally, he comes to such a low ebb that the only job he can get is to feed some pigs out in the field, and it’s so bad that he eats with them. And then that boy comes to his senses and he remembers his father and he says, I’m going home, but I’m not even worthy to be a slave in my dad’s house. And he comes with his head down, and his father sees him. His arms are outstretched, and he grabs his son. He puts a cloak around him. He puts a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. He calls for the oxen that has been waiting for a special occasion. He says, have that one butchered. We’re going to have it tonight. Why? Because this, my son who was dead, is now alive. Of what value are you to the Lord?

You’re the same value as the lost son who comes home. I received a letter this week from a young man who says, dear pastor, my name is Richard. I’ve just recently accepted Jesus Christ into my life as my savior. I am presently in prison. I ask that you pray that my faith continues to grow with each day, that I continue to grow spiritually, and that I am united with my family. Soon, in closing, I will pray that people will support and listen and that you can continue to reach out to people that need to hear about our good God and his only son that he gave to the world, that whosoever believes in him shall not perish but have everlasting life. Knowing our criminal system, it’s tough to get into prison these days. That’s where this young man is. Of what value is he?

He’s of such value that God has reached into that prison, said, I want you. I want you to be a follower of mine. I want you to be a new person. And one of the things as christians that we must constantly guard ourselves against is deciding who is of value and who is not of value. The Lord says, you’re all valuable. The Lord said Manasseh was valuable. I never would have said he was valuable. The Lord said Zacchaeus was valuable. Zacchaeus, who made his money by taking advantage of the people as a tax collector. The Lord said, you’re valuable. I never would have said Zacchaeus was valuable. The Lord met a woman at a well with five husbands living with a 6th man who was not her husband. The Lord says, you’re valuable. I never would have said that.

The Lord sees a man by a temple door who’s been blind from birth, and everyone’s scurrying by, and the Lord stops. He says, I want you to see you’re of value to me. Who’s of value to the Lord and who isn’t. More importantly, do you see that you are of great value to the Lord? The same value as a sheep that’s been lost and brings great joy to the shepherd when it’s found of the same value as a woman who loses a coin and then finds it rejoices. You’re of such value to the Lord that, like a prodigal son who goes away, squanders the inheritance, then returns. The Lord says, you are valuable. You are worth saving. You are worth being my child.

And I thank God that Jesus Christ did not have my eyesight, but that he looked at things with spiritual understanding, and he saw value in people that he wants you and me to see and to follow. And like that madman at Gadara, as we are brought back to our own senses, he calls us, go to your home. Tell the people the things that you’ve seen and heard. Why? Because you’re of value. And so are they, my friend.

It’s a real privilege every week to talk with you by way of the radio. I would be very interested in knowing how the power of Jesus Christ has been changing your life. And I would like to have a card from you or a letter and just to be encouraged about what the Lord is doing in your life. And I’d also be interested in topics that you would like to hear discussed on this program. Is there something from scripture, from your life that you’re struggling with, and you’ve never heard a message on it? Would you please write me that topic so that I can study the scripture and present a timely message specifically related to your concerns?

And I would like to put into your hands a copy of the new international version of the New Testament, one of the most recent up-to-date translations of the Bible. And I have personally found this to be one of the most helpful of the recent translations, and I know that you’ll greatly be blessed and benefited.

Thank you for listening to a firm foundation presented by Princeton Ministries. This programming is supported by you, the listener. You may go to our website, princetonministries.org, or send your donation to Princeton Ministries post office, Box 2171, Princeton, New Jersey 8543. That’s Princeton Ministries post office, Box 2171. The Lord bless you, and Dr. Smith looks forward to hearing from you. We would like to thank Rones web development company for making this webcast possible. You can find their link at the bottom of our website, princetonministries.org.