May The Lord Be With You

I am going to go full nerd on this one, but I want to try to help people understand the power of God by comparing it to the movie franchise "Star Wars". Before I begin, I want to make sure you know that I am not saying George Lucas read the Bible for his inspiration or that Star Wars is fact fictionalized, I am simply trying to help those of you maybe understand it a little easier. 
For starters,we have the symbolic similarity of Obi-Wan Kenobi and Jesus Christ. In the first movie, we meet Obi-Wan as a old hermit watching over young Luke Skywalker. When Luke falls into some trouble with Tusken Raiders, Obi-Wan comes to his rescue. After hearing the message sent from the princess through a little astromech droid named R2-D2, pleading that he is the rebellions only hope, he then proceeds to tell Luke about the power of the all-encompassing Force that gives a Jedi his unique abilities. In the Gospels, we see Jesus as a man who comes to the rescue of the people of old. He too tells his disciples of a spiritual helper that will come to their aid after he is gone. Towards the middle of the movie, Obi-Wan confronts his old padawan Darth Vader and they battle it out. Doing this fight, Obi-Wan informs Darth Vader that killing him will only make him stronger, but in his anger, Darth Vader strikes him down anyway. This is in resemblance to Jesus Taking the weight of the world on his shoulders when he goes to the cross. Had satan known what he was really doing when he had the people crucify Christ, He probably would have thought through his actions. Satan did not understand that once Jesus gave up his spirit, His reign of terror would officially end. Obi-Wan, after death, is able to guide Luke towards his target of shooting torpedoes into the very heart of the Empire's ultimate weapon, the Death Star. In death, Jesus went right into the gates of hell and the grave and walked out with the keys. Through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, there was now a bridge that was made between God and the believers that allowed open access to the Father, through the Son. 
Next is the gift.  In the world of Star wars, we have this thing that holds their universe together, and that is the Force. The Force is the power source that allows the jedi to do what they do. When a Jedi taps into the power of the Force, they are able to see things in a whole new perspective. On the flip side, this is what the Holy Spirit is like to the Christian. When a believer is filled with the Holy Spirit, they are able to walk in new strengths and talents that they never knew they had before. God gave this gift of the Holy Spirit to the believers after Jesus was crucified and rose again.There was a mighty rushing wind and tongues of fire appeared on the heads of the saints, therefore allowing them to speak in new languages and spread the love of Christ to those who were unable to hear it before that time.  
In another similarity of Christ, we have Luke Skywalker, now a full fledged jedi in the sixth movie, Return of the Jedi. In the fifth movie, Luke has discovered that Darth Vader is actually Luke's father, Anakin Skywalker. In the Empire Strikes Back, Darth Vader cuts off Luke's hand and tells him to join him on the dark side and together they can rule the galaxy. Luke declines his father's "gracious" offer and leaves with his friends until the next movie. This is similar to Jesus' time spent in the desert during his 40 days of fasting. Satan comes to the Son after 40 days and tries to get him to fulfill an earthly desire so that he may sin against the father, After 2 failed attempts, he tells Jesus to bow at his feet and he will give him power of the nations. Jesus rebukes the Devil, and he finally gives up an leaves him. Once again, Luke and his father meet up and both the Emperor and Darth Vader try to convince Luke to turn to the dark side. Emperor tries to bring out the anger and hate from Luke 's heart in order that he will strike him down and fully embrace the dark side of the force. Here, I see Jesus on the cross and before his tormentors. At any time, he could have done signs and wonders that would have made them believe in him, or he could have saved himself from the cross by calling down a legion of angels from heaven to rescue him, but he choose instead to die for the believers for that was the Father's will. In the end, Darth Vader turns his heart back to the good side, and he kills the Emperor, even though in the process, it too kills him. Darth Vader vanquishes the evil to save his son, even when his life could not be spared.

"May The Force Be With You". This phrase sums up pretty much the whole Star Wars saga, but this was not entirely a George Lucas original. Paul says to the church in Thessalonica, "Now may the God of Peace himself give you peace at all times and in every way. May the Lord be with all of you

From one saved nerd to another,

Adam Semple- a young man on a mission from God