Pork and demons

Have you ever tried to wrap your head around how big God is?  And i'm not just talking about him being geometrically bigger than the universe, because that's not really a problem for me to deal with in my mind.  Most likely because I am not an engineer.   I'm talking about God being bigger than our problems that we deal with in life and the burdens we carry.

Contemplating God's supernatural power is something we can easily forget about in our busy lives, lets take a look at Matthew Chapter 8.

 ²⁸When he arrived at the other side in the region of the Gadarenes,^[a] two demon-possessed men coming from the tombs met him. They were so violent that no one could pass that way. ²⁹"What do you want with us, Son of God?" they shouted. "Have you come here to torture us before the appointed time?" ³⁰Some distance from them a large herd of pigs was feeding. ³¹The demons begged Jesus, "If you drive us out, send us into the herd of pigs."
 ³²He said to them, "Go!" So they came out and went into the pigs, and the whole herd rushed down the steep bank into the lake and died in the water. ³³Those tending the pigs ran off, went into the town and reported all this, including what had happened to the demon-possessed men. ³⁴Then the whole town went out to meet Jesus. And when they saw him, they pleaded with him to leave their region.

Jesus has power over darkness, not just demons in the bible but also demons that you may be dealing with in your own life.  

It's important to remember that we don't just believe in a moral teacher.  We believe in an all powerful God who casts out demons into pigs and sent his son to die on the cross for our sins.  A God that desires to know you more.  

PICK UP A BIBLE:  Read Matthew Chapter 8 

-KTC

The Word speaks for itself

How Awesome is it that we have a Savior that prays for us? This is Christs prayer for his disciples and followers.


The High Priestly Prayer

¹Jesus spoke these things; and lifting up His eyes to heaven, He said, "Father, the hour has come; glorify Your Son, that the Son may glorify You, ²even as You gave Him authority over all flesh, that to all whom You have given Him, He may give eternal life. ³This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent. ⁴I glorified You on the earth, having accomplished the work which You have given Me to do. ⁵Now, Father, glorify Me together with Yourself, with the glory which I had with You before the world was.
⁶"I have manifested Your name to the men whom You gave Me out of the world; they were Yours and You gave them to Me, and they have kept Your word. ⁷Now they have come to know that everything You have given Me is from You; ⁸for the words which You gave Me I have given to them; and they received them and truly understood that I came forth from You, and they believed that You sent Me. ⁹I ask on their behalf; I do not ask on behalf of the world, but of those whom You have given Me; for they are Yours; ¹⁰and all things that are Mine are Yours, and Yours are Mine; and I have been glorified in them.
¹¹"I am no longer in the world; and yet they themselves are in the world, and I come to You. Holy Father, keep them in Your name, the name which You have given Me, that they may be one even as We are. ¹²While I was with them, I was keeping them in Your name which You have given Me; and I guarded them and not one of them perished but the son of perdition, so that the Scripture would be fulfilled.

The Disciples in the World

¹³"But now I come to You; and these things I speak in the world so that they may have My joy made full in themselves. ¹⁴I have given them Your word; and the world has hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. ¹⁵I do not ask You to take them out of the world, but to keep them from the evil one. ¹⁶They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. ¹⁷Sanctify them in the truth; Your word is truth. ¹⁸As You sent Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world. ¹⁹For their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they themselves also may be sanctified in truth.
²⁰"I do not ask on behalf of these alone, but for those also who believe in Me through their word; ²¹that they may all be one; even as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they also may be in Us, so that the world may believe that You sent Me.

Their Future Glory

²²"The glory which You have given Me I have given to them, that they may be one, just as We are one; ²³I in them and You in Me, that they may be perfected in unity, so that the world may know that You sent Me, and loved them, even as You have loved Me. ²⁴Father, I desire that they also, whom You have given Me, be with Me where I am, so that they may see My glory which You have given Me, for You loved Me before the foundation of the world.
²⁵"O righteous Father, although the world has not known You, yet I have known You; and these have known that You sent Me; ²⁶and I have made Your name known to them, and will make it known, so that the love with which You loved Me may be in them, and I in them."

AMEN - KTC

Be Thomas!

Thomas is pretty much the coolest name of all time.  It's my middle name, it's my Dads name and it's my awesome nephews name!  However, in the book of John, Thomas the apostle doesn't look so awesome when he doubts Jesus's resurrection.

John Chapter 20:24-29

4But Thomas, one of the twelve, called Didymus, was not with them when Jesus came. ²⁵So the other disciples were saying to him, "We have seen the Lord!" But he said to them, "Unless I see in His hands the imprint of the nails, and put my finger into the place of the nails, and put my hand into His side, I will not believe." ²⁶After eight days His disciples were again inside, and Thomas with them. Jesus came, the doors having been shut, and stood in their midst and said, "Peace be with you." ²⁷Then He said to Thomas, "Reach here with your finger, and see My hands; and reach here your hand and put it into My side; and do not be unbelieving, but believing." ²⁸Thomas answered and said to Him, "My Lord and my God!" ²⁹Jesus said to him, "Because you have seen Me, have you believed? Blessed are they who did not see, and yet believed."

Traditionally, most people look at this passage and read that Thomas doubted and we should have strong faith without seeing God.  SPOILER ALERT, that's not what I'm gonna be writing about! 

I wanna Challenge you guys to be more like Thomas!  " BUT KEVIN HOW CAN I BE MORE LIKE THOMAS?? " - Joe the Junior Higher. 

Wow, I'm glad you asked!

Okay, now hear me out before you stop reading.  Ideally in the story Thomas should have listened to the rest of the disciples and simply believed that Jesus had risen from the dead.  But Thomas wanted to know for sure, he wanted to touch Jesus.  I want to challenge you guys to do the same thing.  Now a days we don't have the opportunity to physically see Jesus.  We can't actually touch the wounds in his hands or his side.  We can however have a personal relationship with him and that can be just as real as feeling his palms.

Don't be satisfied by what people tell you about Jesus.  Experience him for yourselves; pick up a bible, go serve in his name, pray for and love others.  As a junior higher it is important for you to start taking hold of your own faith, you can't just rely on other people to be your only informational source about Christ.

Pray, Ask God to help you experience him and allow you to believe because you have felt him.  Ask him to help you in the areas in your life where you find yourself doubting.

*****BE THOMAS*****

-KTC

What's Cooler than Being Cool...ICE COLD

Jesus CHANGED everything.  I mean everything, not only are we adopted into the kingdom of God through him but his ministry changed the way we live as followers of God.  Back in the DAY it was impure for a Jew to eat with people that were seen as unclean(Tax collectors etc...).  Jesus Christ radically changed that by frequently eating with delinquents of that time. 

Luke 5:27-32

²⁷After this, Jesus went out and saw a tax collector by the name of Levi sitting at his tax booth. "Follow me," Jesus said to him, ²⁸and Levi got up, left everything and followed him.
 ²⁹Then Levi held a great banquet for Jesus at his house, and a large crowd of tax collectors and others were eating with them. ³⁰But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law who belonged to their sect complained to his disciples, "Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and 'sinners'?"
 ³¹Jesus answered them, "It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. ³²I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance." 

In his ministry, Jesus, broke bread with people who were considered "unclean".  This week at Pipeline we will be talking about how Jesus reached out to outcasts in society.  How can we as Christians reach out to people who are seen as outcasts?  Does Loving our neighbors include loving people that are typically hard to love?

CHALLENGE:  Pray for someone you think of as an outcast at your school.  Ask God to show you how to love them and pray for others to love them as well.

CHALLENGE PART 2:  LOVE OUTCASTS!

-KTC