Speaker 1: God Almighty, we are grateful that you have chosen and redeemed people from all parts of the world, that even though, lord, we come from different continents and have different stories and have different journeys, at the end of the day, lord, we have been united by the blood of Jesus Christ and we have one Father, we have one brother and we have been sealed by one spirit.
Speaker 1: Lord, I pray that you speak to us this afternoon.
Speaker 1: Lord, I pray that the Holy Spirit illuminate our minds and move our affections and influence our will, and we pray for all of this in the name of Jesus.
Speaker 1: And we all say you may take a seat.
Speaker 1: All right, church.
Speaker 1: As you heard, my name is Hannibal Rodriguez and I want to say greetings from Wheaton Bible Church to Parkland Church.
Speaker 1: We have heard so many beautiful things about everything that the Lord is doing in you and through you and, believe me, if the pastors say that we have been a blessing to you guys, you have no idea what a blessing you have been to all of us.
Speaker 1: So, thank you, thank you so much.
Speaker 1: It is really a blessing for me to get to see what the Lord is doing in Kenya.
Speaker 1: It is amazing for me to hear that 80% of the population in Kenya are Christians.
Speaker 1: That in itself is a supernatural miracle of God, amen.
Speaker 1: Now, as you could tell, I'm a Latino, even though I live and work in the United States.
Speaker 1: I'm Colombian.
Speaker 1: That means that I know what it means to have the best coffee in the world and I know that you guys would debate that with me, but listen, put it this way, it is true, and your coffee is second best.
Speaker 1: So let me tell you how we're going to do this.
Speaker 1: So, because I'm a Latino, right, if there's one thing that Latinos have with people in this part of the world is that we are all super animated.
Speaker 1: Amen.
Speaker 1: That means that, as a preacher, I expect the congregation to be just as animated as I'm preaching, amen.
Speaker 1: So I'm going to need participation and amen and do whatever you want to do, but I need to hear you interacting with me.
Speaker 1: Amen, love it, love it.
Speaker 1: Today, my job is to speak to you something that the Lord placed in my heart.
Speaker 1: But Arasabu's spending time with your pastors on Friday, I realized that the same thing that the Lord has placed in my heart is the same thing that the Lord has placed in your pastor's heart.
Speaker 1: So, basically, I'm telling you things that they have been telling you for years now.
Speaker 1: The only difference is that I'm going to speak to you with a Latino accent, which we would all agree is super cool.
Speaker 1: So this is what I want you to think.
Speaker 1: I want to invite you to imagine what this creation looked like when God has started everything.
Speaker 1: And then I want to invite you to imagine what this creation will look like when Jesus returns and he makes all things new.
Speaker 1: And then I want you to imagine that, if we grasp what the Lord did in the past and if we grasp what the Lord is going to do in the future, I want to imagine what Kenya would look like if all of us would actually believe that.
Speaker 1: How is the image of our past and the image of our future influenced the way we live today?
Speaker 1: So I'm going to need you to do me a favor.
Speaker 1: Look at the person next to you and say you have to pay attention today.
Speaker 1: Go ahead.
Speaker 1: So these are my three points, for today.
Speaker 1: We're going to talk about God's original design, god's final victory and God's restoration plan.
Speaker 1: God's original design, god's final victory and God's restoration plan.
Speaker 1: Point number one God's original design for this creation.
Speaker 1: In the United States, there is a practice that whenever they want to equip someone to help them identify what a counterfeit bill looks like, a false bill looks like, the way they train people is that for about six months they study a real bill.
Speaker 1: For six months they pay attention to the letters and the ink and the details and everything.
Speaker 1: So people have a good understanding of what the bill looks like.
Speaker 1: And after six months they introduce a false bill and after six months people could spot right away what's wrong with that bill because they are so familiar with what the real bill looks like.
Speaker 1: So what I'm trying to do today is actually help you see what was God's original design for this creation, so we can truly understand why he said that.
Speaker 1: When we say that this world is broken, why he said that this world is so broken, I want us to imagine, I want us to picture what was God's original design for this creation, because in light of that you could truly tell why this world is broken right now.
Speaker 1: So, if you remember, in Genesis one and two we get God creating everything by the power of his word.
Speaker 1: He speaks and thinks happen.
Speaker 1: And what is interesting about those chapters chapters one and two is that you see that there are three perfect relationships in the book of Genesis.
Speaker 1: There's a perfect relationship between God and nature.
Speaker 1: There's a perfect relationship between God and humanity and there's a perfect relationship between humanity, human beings and human beings.
Speaker 1: So look at the first one.
Speaker 1: So those perfect relationships, the relationship between God and nature, if you remember, god creates everything here.
Speaker 1: God creates the heavens, the earth, the sun, the moon, vegetation and animal.
Speaker 1: And if you remember, at the end of every single one of those things the Lord did, he said the same thing over and over again.
Speaker 1: It is good.
Speaker 1: Actually, we get to see a really good example of that in Genesis, chapter one, verse 25.
Speaker 1: Look at what it says.
Speaker 1: God made the wild animals according to their kinds, the livestock according to their kinds and all the creatures that move along the ground according to their kinds, and God saw that he was.
Speaker 1: No, no, no, we got to do better than that.
Speaker 1: And God saw that he was.
Speaker 1: So do me a favor look at the person next to you and say creation was good.
Speaker 1: Can you imagine, can you imagine a time and a place in which everything is perfect in this creation?
Speaker 1: Can you imagine a time and a place where there's no earthquakes, no famine, no tornadoes, no violence, no hurricanes.
Speaker 1: Everything is perfect.
Speaker 1: The flood is.
Speaker 1: Can you imagine that Not only that relationship was perfect, not only the relationship between God and nature was perfect, but also the relationship between God and humanity was perfect, and we see that in Genesis, chapter one.
Speaker 1: It's starting in verse 27.
Speaker 1: So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God.
Speaker 1: He created them, male and female.
Speaker 1: He created them Verse 28.
Speaker 1: God blessed them and said to them be fruitful and increase in number, which is what Kyle truly believed.
Speaker 1: Feel the earth and subdue a rule over the fish in the sea, in the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves in the ground.
Speaker 1: And you could see how God, in his divine providence, creates a man and a beautiful woman to be a helper suitable for him.
Speaker 1: Notice that there's no problems, there's no struggles.
Speaker 1: Notice that these couple are both created in the image of God and that simply means that both males and females were created with value and dignity and beauty simply because they reflect God.
Speaker 1: Can you imagine what our world would look like if we would look at each other the way God sees us?
Speaker 1: Actually, if you want to hear how joyful God was after he created humanity.
Speaker 1: Look at Genesis 131.
Speaker 1: God saw that he all that he had made, and this is after humanity, and he was very good.
Speaker 1: Look at the person next to you and say you were created very good.
Speaker 1: Can you imagine, can you imagine a time in a place where people are not afraid of God, people lived in harmony with God, where they enjoy the presence of God, where doing the will of God brings satisfaction and living for his glory brings pleasure?
Speaker 1: See, god created this.
Speaker 1: God had this perfect relationship with nature.
Speaker 1: God had this perfect relationship with humanity.
Speaker 1: But then we also see a third perfect relationship, which is a perfect relationship between humans.
Speaker 1: Genesis, chapter 2, verse 18,.
Speaker 1: And the Lord God said it is not good for the man to be alone.
Speaker 1: I will make a helper suitable for him.
Speaker 1: You know what's interesting about that verse?
Speaker 1: Adam was not alone.
Speaker 1: He has a perfect relationship with the Father.
Speaker 1: God is very present.
Speaker 1: Sin is not even present at that time.
Speaker 1: So what makes that verse so incredibly important is that he tells you that, by design, we need other people, that first and foremost we need God, but also we need other people.
Speaker 1: And the beautiful thing about the word suitable thing there is that it tells you that the male has something that the female doesn't have and the female has something that the male does not have.
Speaker 1: The word suitable means that we complement one another, that we need one another.
Speaker 1: Can you imagine a time in a place in which we can say to one another I need you in my life and you need me in your life.
Speaker 1: Can you imagine a time in a place in which the first thing that we see in each other is the beauty of God reflected in each of us?
Speaker 1: Can you imagine a time in a place where everyone is treated with respect and everyone is treated with dignity, a place in a time in which there's no racism, no prejudice, no classism?
Speaker 1: Can you imagine a place in a time where there are no poor people, because they all get something.
Speaker 1: They all get what they deserve.
Speaker 1: See, at the beginning of creation we got three perfect relationships a perfect relationship between God and nature, a perfect relationship between God and humanity and a perfect relationship between human beings.
Speaker 1: But we know that that is not how the story ends, because there comes Genesis, chapter 3.
Speaker 1: And then God created beautiful.
Speaker 1: Now it's broken.
Speaker 1: Nature is broken, says Romans, chapter 8, the creation longs and groans for deliverance.
Speaker 1: Also, the relationship between God and humanity is broken.
Speaker 1: And now, instead of running toward God, you got Adam and Eve running from God, hiding themselves full of shame.
Speaker 1: And the third relationship is broken because now, instead of men and women and humanity loving each other, serving each other, protecting each other, now they see themselves as enemies and instead of walking in harmony, they run from each other.
Speaker 1: Now, what would happen if we stopped there?
Speaker 1: That would be the worst story of the world.
Speaker 1: But, thanks God, that is now where God stops, because in the story of the Bible we see that sin does not have the last word.
Speaker 1: In the story of the Bible, we see that the devil does not have the last word.
Speaker 1: Actually, in the story of the Bible we see that one day God is going to come back in Jesus Christ and he's going to make all things new, better than what he was at the beginning.
Speaker 1: And that leads me to point number two God's final victory.
Speaker 1: Now, for me, this theme in the Bible is extremely important.
Speaker 1: It's actually one of my favorite themes in the Bible when I think about the future and what we're going to get to see and enjoy one of the best things I enjoy about the story of redemption, because that image of what is yet to come really affects me the way I live today.
Speaker 1: So let me give you this illustration to help you understand why this is so important to me.
Speaker 1: How many of you guys like movies, any kind of movie?
Speaker 1: How many of you guys don't like movies?
Speaker 1: So we could pray for you?
Speaker 1: All right, I love movies.
Speaker 1: My wife and I watch movies all the time.
Speaker 1: We watch movies with my daughters all the time.
Speaker 1: But sometimes when the movie is complicated, I get impatient.
Speaker 1: You know, when there's a lot of drama and problems, that you don't know where the story is going and it's kind of confusing.
Speaker 1: So I do a very spiritual discipline when I'm watching a movie like that.
Speaker 1: This is the spiritual discipline.
Speaker 1: I pause the movie and I jump all the way to the last chapter of the movie and then I watch the last chapter and once I know how the story ends, I go back and continue watching the movie free of stress.
Speaker 1: And some people would say, hannibal, you just ruined the movie.
Speaker 1: And I would say, maybe, but I'm just following the biblical pattern because I know how the story ends.
Speaker 1: I know that at the end of the story God wins and that God is going to make all things new.
Speaker 1: Now I want to invite you to imagine what that looks like, and for that we're going to go to Revelation, chapter 21.
Speaker 1: It's starting in verse one.
Speaker 1: Look at what it says.
Speaker 1: This is John speaking about his dream and then he says then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away and there was no longer any sea.
Speaker 1: Now the word sea in the book of Revelation is symbolism for chaos, symbolism for problems and the Texas that one day, when Jesus returns, there will be a new heaven and a new earth and there will be no more chaos, no more sin, no more struggle, no more devil.
Speaker 1: Look at verse two and I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride, beautifully dressed for her husband, and notice that he's described God not taking us away and erasing everything, but descending, this descending beautiful city.
Speaker 1: That is holy.
Speaker 1: You know what holy means Separated, consecrated, dedicated for God.
Speaker 1: And you can see that the first broken relationship now is fixed, that when Jesus returned, god and nature are going to have a healing relationship again, that God is going to make all things new.
Speaker 1: But not only that relationship is fixed, but the other two relationships are also fixed, and we see it in Revelation, chapter 21.
Speaker 1: It's starting in verse four.
Speaker 1: The Bible says that God will wipe every tear from their eyes.
Speaker 1: There will be no more death or mourning, or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.
Speaker 1: Verse five he who was sitting on the throne said I am making everything new.
Speaker 1: Isn't that a beautiful picture.
Speaker 1: It tells you that there's going to be a place and a time in which you are not going to struggle with your sin anymore.
Speaker 1: There's going to be a place and a time in which I'm not going to struggle with my sin anymore.
Speaker 1: There's going to be a place and a time, but there's not going to be any suffering, any pain, any hunger, any struggles, anything at all.
Speaker 1: Everything is going to be peace, shalom.
Speaker 1: There will be a time in which God is going to restore everything.
Speaker 1: Everything will be completely restored because the old order has passed away.
Speaker 1: So do me a favor look at the person next to you and say God is going to make all things new.
Speaker 1: So the question is this why knowing about our past and imagining our future is so important for Christians today?
Speaker 1: Why actually having this picture of God's original design for this creation and what the Lord is going to do in the future should be important for us today?
Speaker 1: See, I don't know if you caught this, but right at the end of Revelation 21.5,.
Speaker 1: God does not say that he made all things new.
Speaker 1: He didn't say God will make all things new.
Speaker 1: What the text says is that God is making present progressive all things new.
Speaker 1: You got to ask the question why is it that the Lord is using a present progressive?
Speaker 1: I want to invite you to see that this is part of the reason why the Lord chose you, called you and saved you.
Speaker 1: I want to invite you to see that this is the reason, if you are a believer today, why you are a believer today.
Speaker 1: See, the Lord saved you because he loved you.
Speaker 1: He saved you because he's got a mercy and a grace and he's patient and loving.
Speaker 1: The Lord did that because he loves you, but the Lord also did that because you are an instrument in the hands of God as he is making all things new.
Speaker 1: We are part of the greatest movement in the history of the world.
Speaker 1: We are the instruments of God, agents of restoration, as God is using his church to make all things new.
Speaker 1: Did you know that this is part of the reason why you are part of this beautiful church?
Speaker 1: So you can be used for the purposes of God, as he is making all things new.
Speaker 1: And with that, then, we go to point number three, god's restoration plan.
Speaker 1: I really want you to see that the reason why you exist today is because the Lord wants to use you to accomplish his purposes, that, regardless of who you are, where you have been, the things you do or don't do, at the end of the day, god saved you so you can become an instrument in his hands.
Speaker 1: I want to give you, then, a job description.
Speaker 1: I want to show you how the Bible describes believers, or cause believers to be.
Speaker 1: A famous passage that talks about this is Matthew, chapter five, starting in verse 13.
Speaker 1: Look at what it says about the church.
Speaker 1: You are the salt of the earth verse 14.
Speaker 1: You are the light of this world.
Speaker 1: A town built on a hill cannot be hidden Verse 15,.
Speaker 1: Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl.
Speaker 1: Instead, they put it on a stand and give light to everyone in the house.
Speaker 1: And I want to talk to you just for a few minutes, maybe a couple of hours, about.
Speaker 1: Hey, we're in Kenya, it's all right, and I'm a Latino, it's all right.
Speaker 1: I want to give you a brief description of what it means to be salt and what it means to be light.
Speaker 1: See, salt has two properties.
Speaker 1: The first property, and we all know it, is to give flavor.
Speaker 1: Right.
Speaker 1: Salt has the ability to get the flavor out of something and make it taste delicious.
Speaker 1: How about if I tell you the part of the reason why the Lord saved you and you are in Jesus Christ today?
Speaker 1: So you are flavor to this world, so you bring saltiness to this world, so you are people that bring flavor in your neighborhood, in your school, in your work, in your community.
Speaker 1: And if you want to know what bringing flavor looks like, all you have to do is think about the fruit of the spirit.
Speaker 1: To bring flavor means that we are all to be people of love, amen, people of joy, people of peace, people of perseverance, people of kindness, people of goodness, people of faithfulness, people of gentleness and people of self-control.
Speaker 1: That's what it means to bring flavor.
Speaker 1: I need you to do me a favor look at the person next to you and say you are here to bring flavor.
Speaker 1: Actually, this is what we're going to say you are here to be salty.
Speaker 1: That is the first property of what it means to be salt.
Speaker 1: The second property of what it means to be salt is that salt is a preservative.
Speaker 1: It keeps things from going bad or it protects something from getting worse.
Speaker 1: Nobody if I tell you that the Lord saved you and made you a part of this beautiful church.
Speaker 1: So you are a restoration agent, an instrument in his hands, in your community, in your town, in your work, with your friends.
Speaker 1: So you are going with your life and with your words against darkness, against what the devil is doing in this creation as well.
Speaker 1: Actually, let's go back and think about the fruit of the Spirit.
Speaker 1: See, christians, we ought to be people of joy instead of people of anger, amen.
Speaker 1: We ought to be people of peace instead of being people of war, amen.
Speaker 1: We ought to be people of perseverance instead of giving up, amen.
Speaker 1: We ought to be people of kindness instead of vengeance.
Speaker 1: We ought to be people of goodness instead of selfishness.
Speaker 1: We ought to be people of faithfulness instead of betrayal.
Speaker 1: We ought to be people of gentleness instead of harshness, and we ought to be people of self-control instead of simply following our own desires.
Speaker 1: See, there is a reason why the Lord plays you where you are.
Speaker 1: You are salt, you bring flavor and you are where you are as a preservative.
Speaker 1: This is the reason why we share the gospel church.
Speaker 1: This is the reason why we love with compassionate works.
Speaker 1: This is why the reason why we are people of loving with words and loving with deeds.
Speaker 1: But there's another thing that I want you to consider.
Speaker 1: This is the reason why the Lord has given you a vocation, work and a job.
Speaker 1: So, even if you're going through a season in which you don't have a job, I want you to think about this, because this informs how you pray.
Speaker 1: See, I think that a lot of Christians and this part of the world and in the other part of the world, the tendency is to do something that theologians call spiritual dualism, and what that simply means is that, as Christians, sometimes we think that there are some things that are really spiritual and other things that are not spiritual.
Speaker 1: So, for example, for most Christians, they would say well, it is a spiritual to come to church and we would say amen.
Speaker 1: It is a spiritual to read the Bible and we would say amen to give money to serve, to evangelize, and we would say amen, amen and amen.
Speaker 1: But I want to invite you to consider that, as Christians, those are not the only spiritual things we do.
Speaker 1: Everything we do is spiritual because everything we do is for the glory of God.
Speaker 1: Let me say that again because I don't think you heard me well.
Speaker 1: Everything we do is spiritual because everything we do is for the glory of God, including your job, including your work.
Speaker 1: I want to help you see that in our jobs, our callings, our vocations, we do two things with our job.
Speaker 1: Number one we reflect something about the character of God with the things we do.
Speaker 1: And number two, we represent God in this creation, even through our work.
Speaker 1: Look at the first one.
Speaker 1: Why would I say that?
Speaker 1: As our jobs reflect something about the character of God, regardless of what you do, I could guarantee you that if you pay attention to the Bible, you would see that your job is a spiritual.
Speaker 1: To come to church In the Bible, you would see that your job reflects something about God.
Speaker 1: Amy Wilson Carmichael, which was a Christian to India for many years this is what she said long, long ago.
Speaker 1: She said there are farmers because God was the first farmer.
Speaker 1: There are doctors and nurses, because God was the first divine healer.
Speaker 1: There are engineers, because God was the first engineer.
Speaker 1: There are accountants because God was the first accountant.
Speaker 1: There are business people because God was the first businessman.
Speaker 1: There are communicators, because God was the first communicator.
Speaker 1: There are builders, because God was the first builder.
Speaker 1: Everything we do as believers reflects something about the character of God.
Speaker 1: Your job matters, what you do matters.
Speaker 1: And not only we reflect something about the character of God, but as Christians, even with our jobs, we are contributing to what the Lord is doing in this creation.
Speaker 1: See, as Christians, we bring truth, we bring beauty, we bring goodness and we bring justice.
Speaker 1: We bring truth, beauty, goodness and justice.
Speaker 1: There's another author that has really helped me understand this.
Speaker 1: Her name is Amy Sherman.
Speaker 1: She wrote a book years ago called Kingdom Calling, and she makes the argument that, if you really pay attention, all of our careers and our jobs are contributing to the redemptive power of God.
Speaker 1: So, for example, she says that God does redemptive work.
Speaker 1: He redeems things.
Speaker 1: Therefore, if you are an evangelist, a counselor, a pastor or a peacemaker, you are contributing to the redemption of this world.
Speaker 1: See, god is a creative God.
Speaker 1: God creates by nature.
Speaker 1: Therefore, if you're an actor, a painter, a musician, a poet, a designer, a carpenter or an architect, you are contributing to the creative work of God.
Speaker 1: Amen.
Speaker 1: She says that God does providential work.
Speaker 1: He provides and sustains.
Speaker 1: Therefore, if you are a social worker, a farmer, a fireman, a police officer, a banker, a painter, a technician, you are contributing to the providential work of God.
Speaker 1: God is a God of justice.
Speaker 1: God cares about justice.
Speaker 1: Therefore, if you are a judge, a lawyer, a government official, a diplomat, a law enforcement, you are reflecting God through justice work.
Speaker 1: See, our God is a compassionate God.
Speaker 1: He brings comfort, healing and guidance.
Speaker 1: Therefore, if you are a doctor, a nurse, a psychologist, a therapist, a community worker, you are contributing to the compassionate work of God.
Speaker 1: See, our God reveals truth.
Speaker 1: Therefore, if you're a preacher, a scientist, an educator, a journalist, a scholar or a writer, you are contributing to the revelatory truthful of God.
Speaker 1: Everything we do as Christians, everything we do as believers, is spiritual, because everything we do is for the glory of God.
Speaker 1: That's why we love with word, we love with deeds and we love through our works.
Speaker 1: So I want to share a story with you.
Speaker 1: Years ago, I wrote a book called the Lord of the Rings.
Speaker 1: I don't know if you know this, but that man took 40 years to write that story 40 years and at one point he was so frustrated that he wanted to quit.
Speaker 1: And one day he has kind of a dream and he writes this story that is called the Leaf of Niggle.
Speaker 1: And in this story there's a man, there's an artist, and has this image of this beautiful tree.
Speaker 1: He wants to paint and he starts to paint and he starts with one leaf and he pays attention to the detail so much and he spends hours, and hours turns into weeks, and weeks turns into months, and months turns into years, and he's just painting one leaf and then he died.
Speaker 1: And you would say what a terrible story.
Speaker 1: Well, one day he makes it into heaven and as he, walking through the streets of heaven, from afar, he sees the beautiful tree that he had pictured before and he goes to that tree and guess what he found there?
Speaker 1: His Leaf.
Speaker 1: This is why I want you to hear church.
Speaker 1: You are not called to paint the tree.
Speaker 1: That's God's business.
Speaker 1: We are called to paint our leaf.
Speaker 1: We are called to make a difference where we are.
Speaker 1: We paint our leaf.
Speaker 1: Do me a favor, look at the person next to you and say you are called to paint your leaf.
Speaker 1: Whatever God does with that, that's his business.
Speaker 1: We are called to be faithful to whatever he has called us to.
Speaker 1: That is the definition of salt.
Speaker 1: What about light?
Speaker 1: And this one is actually going to be faster.
Speaker 1: Light has one principle Light is public.
Speaker 1: As Christians, we live our Christian life in public.
Speaker 1: We don't run from the world.
Speaker 1: We don't hide from the world.
Speaker 1: We don't create our little, only Christian communities.
Speaker 1: We are in this world for a reason.
Speaker 1: Our faith is public.
Speaker 1: You make it public with your words.
Speaker 1: You make it public with your life.
Speaker 1: You make it public by the way you work.
Speaker 1: You make it public by the way you raise your family.
Speaker 1: You make it public by the way you live your singleness.
Speaker 1: You make it public with everything you are and everything you are, and that's the reason why the Lord left us here.
Speaker 1: So one more question how do we become people like that?
Speaker 1: How do we become people that really, really live in light of our past and is looking forward to our future and understand that that future invites us to participate in what God is doing?
Speaker 1: How do we change?
Speaker 1: So this is the thing.
Speaker 1: In order for us to live that way, we need freedom Freedom from ourselves.
Speaker 1: You know who's my worst enemy?
Speaker 1: Not my wife, not even the devil.
Speaker 1: The devil uses what I already have.
Speaker 1: You know who's my worst enemy?
Speaker 1: Hannibal.
Speaker 1: And there's only one way that Hannibal can be killed it's when I have placed my faith in the one that has the power to kill the sin in me, jesus Christ.
Speaker 1: The one that has not that lived the life that none of us have lived.
Speaker 1: The one that went to the cross to die the dead that we all deserve.
Speaker 1: The one that looked at us in our misery and our struggle and decided to do something.
Speaker 1: The one that did not walk away from us but was running towards us.
Speaker 1: The one that went to the cross, took the punishment we deserve and then he says it is finished.
Speaker 1: It is when we have that in our minds and in our hearts and it becomes part of who we are, that then we learn to extend to others what we have received.
Speaker 1: See, everyone is seeking to answer two questions who am I and why do I exist?
Speaker 1: Christians can respond to those two questions.
Speaker 1: You know who you are.
Speaker 1: You are the son of the living God.
Speaker 1: You are the one that has been adopted in Jesus Christ.
Speaker 1: You are the one that has been sanctified.
Speaker 1: You have been separated for God and His purposes.
Speaker 1: You are the one that has been justified.
Speaker 1: You have been declared righteous.
Speaker 1: There's nothing you could do to earn God.
Speaker 1: You already have an identity.
Speaker 1: You don't need to build your identity with anything else.
Speaker 1: You already have some.
Speaker 1: And you also have a purpose.
Speaker 1: We are here to be instruments in the hands of our God.
Speaker 1: So let me close with something that Mother Teresa once wrote.
Speaker 1: The poem is called Christ has nobody.
Speaker 1: Christ has nobody but yours, no hands, no feet, and earth and earth but yours.
Speaker 1: Yours are the eyes which he brings compassion and this world.
Speaker 1: You are His feet, you are His hands.
Speaker 1: You are how he brings blessings into this world.
Speaker 1: Isn't that a beautiful call.
Speaker 1: We are part of the greatest movement in the history of the world.
Speaker 1: May the Lord grant Parkland Church to be part of that movement.
Speaker 1: Amen, let's pray, heavenly Father.
Speaker 1: We are grateful that when we were lost, when we were dead in our sins and transpassers, like the Bible says, jesus died for us.
Speaker 1: He came to rescue us, lord, and he came to give us a new identity, and he came to give us a new nature.
Speaker 1: He also came to give us a new purpose.
Speaker 1: Lord, could you please help us see how beautiful was your design for this creation, how beautiful is going to be what is going to come in the future.
Speaker 1: And with that, lord, can you please help us see that we play our role in this creation, as you are making all things new.
Speaker 1: Grant us the gift to contribute to your purposes, and that we may do it with our words, that we may do it with our actions, that we may do it by how we work and what we do.
Speaker 1: And we pray for all of this in the name of Jesus and the Churches.
Speaker 1: Thank you, church.