Jesus Christ Crushes the Stones that Cut Us Inside

Some time ago I preached a message called The Jesus Factor from the story of the demon-possessed madman in Mark chapter 5. For some reason, I felt drawn to go back and read that sermon today. Maybe I needed to be reminded of the power of God to do for me what I could never do for myself. Here is an excerpt from that message that encourages me and, I hope, will encourage you too.

“A force stronger than the force that had kept the man down set the man free- that force was the Jesus factor! You don’t have to stay in the tombs, you don’t have to keep crying and cutting, you are not trapped, you are not stuck, you are not left for dead in the place of death, there is a force that is greater than all the forces doing their best to rob you of peace and keep you down and that force is Jesus Christ, the name that is above every name, the one through whom all things were made, the alpha and omega, the light that shines in the darkness, the one who is seated on the throne, the one who really is in control, the one who is ridiculously willing to cross into our region to get out of his holy boat and step into our tomb, into the graveyard of our situation and bring life out of death, causing dead bones to live again, he is the author and perfector of our faith and he loves us more than we love ourselves and he can do for us what we could never do for ourselves, and he is for us not against us, and if you let him have you, in time you will find that, no matter what circumstances surround you, you can be at peace in your right mind! Only Jesus can give pervasive peace; drugs, alcohol, sex, success, money, and therapy can only give temporary relief through diversion but when you lay your head on the pillow at night or wake up in the morning if you want the kind of peace that wipes out isolation, the crying and cutting that’s going on in the basement of your soul, then give yourself to Jesus, fall upon the rock that crushes the stones that cut you inside.”