This week in our Jesus Year Two series, we saw Jesus' light really begin to shine as he displayed his "power, authority & weight" over not only the physical world, but the spiritual world! The crowds following him were forced to answer the question, "who is this Jesus guy?" Although the crowds struggled to figure out who exactly Jesus was, there was no doubt who Jesus was in the eyes of the demons. They knew exactly who Jesus was: the Holy One of God, the Messiah, God's Deliverer. We need to be mindful that our struggle, our wrestling bout, is not with flesh and blood, but with our very real spiritual enemy who may have power, authority & weight in this broken, fallen world, but who is ultimately no match for Jesus! We need to cast out the enemy's lies. He no longer holds any power, authority & weight over us except that which we misguidedly choose to concede to him. In Jesus we have the victory!

"The people living in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned." This past Sunday we began our Jesus: Year 2 message series asking the question "what are the odds?" What are the odds that Jesus randomly fulfilled dozens of Messianic prophecies written hundreds of years before Jesus was born? That's the question the gospel writer Matthew is asking us to consider as he quotes Isaiah 9 and points to one fulfilled prophecy after another when it comes to the life, death and resurrection of Jesus. What are the odds Jesus would be born in Bethlehem according to Micah 5:2, be a political refugee in Egypt in Hosea 11:1, and start his ministry in the land of Zebulun and Naphtali in Isaiah 9:1-2? The reality is we are those people living in "thick darkness", in a land filled with "the looming presence of death". The odds of our succumbing to death are 1 in 1. The odds of our overcoming death are zip, zilch, none. So Jesus has arrived on the scene, just as God foretold through his prophets. The solution has arrived. The remedy is here. God's answer to our problem of sin and death is Jesus. Jesus is the light dawning in our darkness.

This week Sarah shares a great message about what our response to offense may be. It's something we can accomplish daily.

This summer we headed to Washington DC on our missions encounter for students. We had the chance to sit down with Maverick and Andy to talk about their experience.

We are Christ's ambassadors, God's co-workers, and children of light! The same God who spoke light into the darkness at Creation, has spoken light into our darkness when we became new creations. As his children, our prayer should be let your reign, your kingship, your authority & kingdom be established here in my small piece of the earth, just as it is in heaven. Our prayer should be let your will, your wishes, your desires be birthed here in my personal portion of the earth, just as it is heaven. When we truly seek these 2 things, God will be able to truly use us as his ambassadors, his co-workers, and his children of light shining in the darkness.

At RISING we are very invested in what happens around the world as well as right here in our back yard. This episode we had the chance to sit down with Katie Hove and member and partner here at RISING and talk about the Path Project. This is a ministry started in Buford by Katie after it's been in Georgia for a few years now. I trust this conversation is encouraging to you as it's been to me.

Session 4 of RISING Weekend's messages.

Session 2 of RISING Weekend's messages.