Welcome to Word of Life Study Series- Foundations for Christian Living! Having laid a foundation of God’s Word, our next episode in this season will provide a reference to our beginning and origin. I believe that one of the greatest of human needs is to possess a sense of purpose and meaning in life. The questions of who am I, why am I here and where am I going will be addressed in this episode according to the Holy Scriptures. As church leaders, we do not presume to have all the answers, rather our job is to point people to The Answer, Jesus Christ. Jesus, being the Word of God has all the answers to life’s questions and pursuits. God’s Word is our final authority for all matters that pertain to life and conduct! I believe that this episode will be a lot of fun as it opens our eyes to some of the mysteries of life.
1. Who Am I?
When conception takes place in a mother’s womb, God creates a spirit being, the real person to abide in that little physical body as it is being formed. This spiritual attribute of humanity is what makes us unique to the animal creation! We are created in God’s image and in His likeness. Genesis 1:26- “Then God said, ‘Let us make man in our image, in our likeness.’” The physical body is just a house, shell or a vessel that we inhabit; James 2:26 states, “The body without the spirit is dead.” We are a tri-cotomy, a three part being. We are a spirit, we have a soul and we live in a body- 1 Thessalonians 5:23. We are eternal beings and we spend it all depends on what we do with Jesus- accept or reject Him.
2. Why am I Here?
Why did God make me in the first place? One thing is for certain you are not some cosmic accident, chance or random event. First of all God wanted to have someone to share his creation with and allow us to know what it is like to live, to exist, to be. He honored us above all creation by making us in His image and in His likeness. God gave us dominion to rule and take care of the earth. To discover all of its mysteries and to replenish it with people, who will grow up to know God and have a relationship with Him- Genesis 1:26-27; Acts 17:24-31.
3. What in the World Happened?
Why would God have one tree that could not be eaten from in Genesis 2:16-17? God did not make mankind to be a race of robots. Animals function through instinct that drives them down pre-programmed behavior patterns. However, mankind is unique in that God has given every human being a free will to choose their eternal destiny. To be with God or without Him. The purpose of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil was to test man’s allegiance. Was man going to stay true and faithful to the Lord or listen and follow Satan- it was a probationary period.
4. The Promise of a Redeemer
Having sinned, Adam and Eve condemned mankind to an eternal hell along with Satan and his crowd. But not so fast, God in his infinite mercy, made a declaration that a man would be born of a woman who would crush Satan’s dominion over mankind, but in the process Satan would make it painful. Approximately, four thousand years later, God the Son became a man and his name was Jesus. As the divine God/man, Jesus defeated the devil as a man but paid an incredible price in the process through His death, burial and resurrection- Genesis 3:15.
5. Creation not Evolution
The theory of evolution is just that, a theory, yet many educators act as though it is fact. True science rejects the notion that: Nothing working on nothing by nothing, through nothing, for nothing, begat everything.