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"Where's the Power?"

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One of the craziest Jesus stories in the gospels can be found in Mark 5. Jesus heals a man in bondage to many evil spirits. He has so lost control of his life that he cuts himself with stones, shrieks, runs around naked, and lives in cemetery in the caves where dead people are buried. People have tried to bind him with chains, but can't. This poor man cannot even say his name because he has lost his personality to the evil spirits who dominate his life.

But, Jesus sees the man for the person God made. He sees him as much more value than the people accepting Jesus or the price they attach to the pigs that he sends the demons to inhabit. Jesus restores the man to his right mind and then gives him a mission: to go home and tell his family and friends what Jesus has done for him.

This story captures our hearts as we see Jesus display God's grace displayed in three movements:

• Jesus saves us from our BONDAGE
• Jesus saves us as God's BELOVED
• Jesus saves us to be God's BLESSING