WEBVTT 00:00:11.312 --> 00:00:21.530 I love that Mike was in the first service this morning and you know, when I came up in the first service, I almost said right here that what happened was Mike found Jesus. 00:00:21.530 --> 00:00:27.311 And that's true, mike found Jesus and his life was radically transformed by the grace of God. 00:00:27.311 --> 00:00:42.908 But what really happened was the goodness and the mercy of God chased Mike down and the more Mike ran, the more God pursued Mike and there came a day where Mike's eyes were opened to the glory of God and Mike's a new man. 00:00:42.908 --> 00:00:49.253 And I love that because that's on the table for every single one of us. 00:00:49.253 --> 00:00:56.643 The goodness and the mercy of God has followed us in to 2024, and isn't that good news for all of us today. 00:00:56.643 --> 00:00:58.304 So, father, we're grateful. 00:00:58.304 --> 00:01:01.204 We're grateful to be in your house, we're grateful to be here. 00:01:01.204 --> 00:01:09.923 Father, we pray now that, as we go to your word, that you would speak loudly and clearly by the power of your spirit In Jesus' name. 00:01:09.923 --> 00:01:11.709 And everybody says amen. 00:01:11.709 --> 00:01:13.466 Hey, kids, why don't y'all head out to kids? 00:01:13.466 --> 00:01:17.228 Men, let's give it up for our kids as they roll out this morning. 00:01:17.228 --> 00:01:22.368 Hey, thanks for being in church at the start of a new year. 00:01:22.368 --> 00:01:30.353 You know, all throughout the scriptures, you see, the principle of giving God our first and our best. 00:01:30.353 --> 00:01:38.387 So I love the fact that we're gathered together on the first Sunday of 2024, just believing that God's got something he wants to do. 00:01:38.387 --> 00:01:42.129 God's got something he wants to say to us today. 00:01:42.129 --> 00:02:02.822 So we're kicking off today a new collection of messages titled Vapor and Rust, and that title will make a little more sense as we go, but here's the premise God has given us one life to live and he invites us to steward well the life that we have been given. 00:02:02.822 --> 00:02:13.891 He invites us to use the life that we have been given not to glorify ourselves, not to lift up our own name, but to give him glory and to lift up his name. 00:02:13.960 --> 00:02:22.528 The question is what does it look like to live a life of purpose to the glory of God, and what does that mean for me as an individual? 00:02:22.528 --> 00:02:28.932 What does that mean for you as an individual and what does that mean for us as the body of Christ? 00:02:28.932 --> 00:02:34.072 As we go through this series, we're going to hopefully ask and answer two major questions. 00:02:34.072 --> 00:02:36.709 The first is why is the world the way that it is? 00:02:36.709 --> 00:02:38.406 You ever wondered that? 00:02:38.406 --> 00:02:41.408 You ever looked at life and be like why is this the way that it is. 00:02:41.408 --> 00:02:44.587 You ever looked at somebody and be like why are you the way that you are? 00:02:44.587 --> 00:02:48.028 You know like, why are things the way that things are? 00:02:48.028 --> 00:02:53.251 And the second question is this what are we, as the church, supposed to do about it? 00:02:53.251 --> 00:03:01.929 Why is the world like it is, and what are we, as the people of God gathered in the name of Jesus, supposed to do about it? 00:03:02.800 --> 00:03:08.513 It's a series about purpose, about stewardship, about why we are on this planet. 00:03:08.513 --> 00:03:19.110 You know the question of purpose the topic of purpose has been studied a lot by psychologists and scientists and researchers over the last couple of decades. 00:03:19.110 --> 00:03:36.371 I am neither scientist, psychologist or researcher, but I can read and Google and so I was doing some reading this week about the science and psychology behind purpose and what a sense of purpose actually does for us. 00:03:36.371 --> 00:03:45.849 And the statistics, the studies, are fascinating when it comes to what living with purpose actually does for our lives. 00:03:45.849 --> 00:03:59.631 The studies found that for youth, for young people, living with a sense of purpose leads to higher levels of happiness and greater satisfaction in life, and all of us can look at that and say, absolutely, of course. 00:03:59.631 --> 00:04:09.789 For a teenager who knows why they're on the planet, of course they're going to be more satisfied with life than somebody who has no idea what they're doing here. 00:04:09.789 --> 00:04:20.985 For adults, a sense of purpose, a clear sense of who we are and why we're here, is directly linked to greater longevity. 00:04:20.985 --> 00:04:26.293 So you stay sharp for longer and greater cognitive functioning, right? 00:04:26.293 --> 00:04:31.471 You think clearer when you understand who you are and why you're here. 00:04:32.340 --> 00:04:36.710 A sense of purpose is linked to overall lower stress levels. 00:04:36.710 --> 00:04:40.668 We want some lower stress levels in 2024. 00:04:40.668 --> 00:04:44.629 That just sounds great to me, and we know what stress does to our health. 00:04:44.629 --> 00:04:50.472 So greater sense of purpose, lower stress, better health I'm all in on all of that. 00:04:50.472 --> 00:05:00.827 And then studies also found y'all and maybe the most interesting of all people who live with a clear sense of purpose floss their teeth more. 00:05:00.827 --> 00:05:07.471 Now I'll be honest, I don't know what that says about my sense of purpose. 00:05:07.471 --> 00:05:09.912 I go to the dentist. 00:05:09.912 --> 00:05:11.039 My dentist is like, do you floss? 00:05:11.039 --> 00:05:17.762 And I'm like, every six months when I come to the dentist, you know and I'm just confessing today, maybe that's you, I don't know about that. 00:05:17.762 --> 00:05:19.167 When the other three, I can see. 00:05:19.820 --> 00:05:25.762 But that question of purpose, like if somebody comes to you and says okay, what is your purpose? 00:05:25.762 --> 00:05:29.527 Why are you on this planet? 00:05:29.527 --> 00:05:34.850 Why is there breath in your lungs and a beating heart in your chest? 00:05:34.850 --> 00:05:36.604 Why are you here? 00:05:36.604 --> 00:05:44.662 David says in Psalm 90, verse 12, he says teach us to number our days that we may gain a heart of wisdom. 00:05:44.662 --> 00:06:00.270 Teach us to number our days to recognize that we are limited and finite, that we have a start and we have a stop, because, when we see it that way, there's wisdom that comes from that. 00:06:01.599 --> 00:06:01.980 James. 00:06:01.980 --> 00:06:08.387 In James, chapter four, verse 14, he puts it like this he says so what is your life? 00:06:08.387 --> 00:06:10.512 What is your life? 00:06:10.512 --> 00:06:12.746 What is your life? 00:06:12.746 --> 00:06:14.945 Isn't that an interesting question? 00:06:14.945 --> 00:06:18.488 What is your life? 00:06:18.488 --> 00:06:25.271 You are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. 00:06:25.271 --> 00:06:28.007 Mist can also be translated vapor. 00:06:28.007 --> 00:06:33.822 You're a mist, you're a vapor, you're temporary, you're here for a moment and then you're gone. 00:06:33.822 --> 00:06:45.411 And, by the way, the context of this verse 14 in James, chapter four, it's in the context of a conversation about the future, about what comes next. 00:06:45.411 --> 00:06:55.203 James is warning us not to look at life and go here's where I'm going tomorrow and here's where I'm going next year, and here's what's going to happen Ten years from now. 00:06:55.203 --> 00:07:01.085 Planning is great, long range planning is great, but we've got to hold our plans with an open hand. 00:07:01.085 --> 00:07:04.625 James says you don't know what's going to happen tomorrow. 00:07:04.625 --> 00:07:10.289 You're a mist here today and gone tomorrow. 00:07:11.239 --> 00:07:19.086 And then Jesus in Matthew, chapter six, sermon on the mount principles of the kingdom is the context of this passage. 00:07:19.086 --> 00:07:45.239 Jesus looks at his followers and he says this don't lay up for yourselves treasures on earth where moth and rust destroy and thieves can break in and steal, but rather store up for yourselves treasures in heaven where moth and rust cannot destroy and where thieves do not break in and steal, for where your treasure is there, your heart will be also so. 00:07:45.239 --> 00:07:59.201 If we were to combine all of these scriptures into one thought, it might sound something like this when we number our days, we focus on what matters most and we trust God with the future. 00:07:59.201 --> 00:08:12.582 As we learn to number our days, we're able to focus today on what matters most today and entrust the future that we don't know and we can't control anyway to God, who is in control and does know. 00:08:12.582 --> 00:08:16.121 And that sounds great, does it not? 00:08:16.121 --> 00:08:26.688 How many of you in 2024 would like to have a clear sense of focus today, no anxiety and stress about the future, and to know that in everything, god was in control. 00:08:26.688 --> 00:08:30.786 That sounds pretty good, right, but isn't what we often do? 00:08:30.786 --> 00:08:33.294 Something like this, we do this. 00:08:33.436 --> 00:08:36.826 We're not that great at numbering our days, and so we worry a lot about the future. 00:08:36.826 --> 00:08:52.683 It often leads us to focus today on the wrong thing Rather than seeing our limitations, embracing our limitations, doing today what God's called us to do and trusting tomorrow to Him. 00:08:52.683 --> 00:09:09.451 We are much more prone to thinking that we are infinite, thinking we got all the time in the world stressing about the future, being anxious about what is to come, and then it causes us to lose perspective and purpose in the day to day. 00:09:09.451 --> 00:09:12.723 So what do we do with that? 00:09:12.723 --> 00:09:14.286 How do we navigate this world? 00:09:14.286 --> 00:09:26.252 How do we not waste the vapor that is our life, and how do we fight the temptation to store up temporary treasures that will one day rust away? 00:09:26.252 --> 00:09:38.199 Vapor and rust that's what we're talking about for the next few weeks together, and today, to kind of put a framework up for this series, we're going to go to Genesis, chapter one. 00:09:38.781 --> 00:09:42.576 We're going to look at the first three chapters of Genesis today. 00:09:42.576 --> 00:09:45.490 Don't worry, we're not going to read every verse in three chapters. 00:09:45.490 --> 00:09:47.220 You're not going to be here till this afternoon. 00:09:47.220 --> 00:09:50.627 I promise we'll get you out in good order today. 00:09:50.627 --> 00:10:04.823 But the goal today is simple we want to see the character of God in the creation story and develop some confidence in God because of who he is and what he's done. 00:10:04.823 --> 00:10:06.966 Character of God in creation. 00:10:06.966 --> 00:10:09.530 Confidence in God. 00:10:09.530 --> 00:10:14.889 Contacts for Genesis, chapter one. 00:10:14.889 --> 00:10:19.502 By the way, if you're in a life group, this might be a little bit of a recap, and I love that. 00:10:19.502 --> 00:10:26.220 I didn't realize we were going to be studying Genesis in the new year, when we begin to kind of kick around the ideas for the series at the start of the year. 00:10:26.220 --> 00:10:28.586 I love how God lines things up. 00:10:28.586 --> 00:10:30.211 That's pretty cool to me. 00:10:30.211 --> 00:10:32.423 Contacts for Genesis. 00:10:33.625 --> 00:10:38.754 Genesis was written down under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit by a guy named Moses. 00:10:38.754 --> 00:10:42.204 Familiar with Moses if you've been in church before. 00:10:42.204 --> 00:10:50.199 Moses was the one who, under the hand of God, under the power of God, led the Israelite people out of slavery. 00:10:50.199 --> 00:10:55.889 Israel had been enslaved in Egypt for 430 years. 00:10:55.889 --> 00:11:08.994 Generation upon generation upon generation grew up captive in Egypt, enslaved, without a home, under the authority of a people who worshiped not just one God but many gods. 00:11:08.994 --> 00:11:20.220 And then one day, a guy named Moses shows up on the scene and says hey, god sent me to deliver you from the hand of Pharaoh, from the people of Egypt, and so there's some plagues that happen. 00:11:20.220 --> 00:11:22.850 You can read about it in Exodus. 00:11:22.850 --> 00:11:24.717 There's a parting of the Red Sea. 00:11:24.717 --> 00:11:35.220 As Israel leaves Egypt, the Red Sea comes back and covers the Egyptian army who's in pursuit of the Israelites, and Israel finds themselves at the foot of Mount Sinai. 00:11:36.643 --> 00:11:57.220 Moses goes up, he meets with God, gets the Ten Commandments and sometimes in that wilderness period is when most scholars and theologians say Genesis was written down for the very first time, nearly roughly 2,500 years after Adam and Eve walked the planet. 00:11:57.220 --> 00:12:04.492 Adam and Eve's story is written down and handed to the Israelites in the wilderness. 00:12:04.492 --> 00:12:08.610 Now, that context is important. 00:12:08.610 --> 00:12:16.220 In the first service I told them it was 2,500 years after Abraham, which messed up the context completely, because that'll make no sense and it's bad math. 00:12:16.220 --> 00:12:17.143 But it's Adam. 00:12:17.143 --> 00:12:27.893 2,500 years after the events of Genesis, chapter one, moses writes this stuff down and he reads it, or somebody reads it to the Israelites as they're in the wilderness. 00:12:28.379 --> 00:12:30.764 Now, james, why are you telling us all of this this morning? 00:12:30.764 --> 00:12:34.952 Because that changes the questions that we ask about Genesis. 00:12:34.952 --> 00:12:45.114 See, a lot of times we come to Genesis, chapter one and we're reading the creation account and we're like, okay, well, how old is the earth and where are the dinosaurs? 00:12:45.114 --> 00:12:49.706 That's what I want to know, right, earth, dinosaurs, what I need to know. 00:12:49.706 --> 00:12:51.770 And those questions are great questions. 00:12:51.770 --> 00:12:55.009 They're significant questions, they're meaningful questions. 00:12:55.009 --> 00:13:01.231 I am just more and more convinced that they are not the main question that Genesis is answering. 00:13:02.379 --> 00:13:15.808 Think about the context Moses, people of Israel in the wilderness, 430 years of captivity in a pagan culture, polytheistic worship. 00:13:15.808 --> 00:13:33.220 They're asking one question who is this God that has the power, by the hand of Moses, to lead us into freedom, to wipe out the entirety of the Egyptian army, to overcome the power and the authority of Pharaoh? 00:13:33.220 --> 00:13:38.648 Who is this God and what is he like? 00:13:38.648 --> 00:13:42.833 And why can we trust our lives to him? 00:13:42.833 --> 00:13:53.644 And so, with that in mind, let's read a little bit in Genesis, chapter one In the beginning, god created. 00:13:55.946 --> 00:14:03.434 What a start to a phenomenal theological foundation. 00:14:03.434 --> 00:14:07.865 In the beginning, god. 00:14:07.865 --> 00:14:11.430 In the beginning God. 00:14:11.430 --> 00:14:18.465 The story begins with the eternal, pre-existent, uncreated creator. 00:14:18.465 --> 00:14:19.606 In the beginning. 00:14:19.606 --> 00:14:21.511 Who is there, god? 00:14:21.511 --> 00:14:28.125 This isn't one of the little G gods worshiped by the Egyptians. 00:14:28.125 --> 00:14:34.586 This is the one true, sovereign God, who is over all. 00:14:34.586 --> 00:14:36.741 And what does he do? 00:14:36.741 --> 00:14:38.439 He creates. 00:14:38.439 --> 00:14:40.536 He creates. 00:14:41.139 --> 00:14:58.515 Now you need to know this morning that that every ancient Near Eastern culture had some form of a creation myth and you can research and we don't have time to get into all of them today, but but there are a lot of similarities in the other ancient Near Eastern creation stories. 00:14:58.515 --> 00:15:05.827 There's oftentimes a war amongst gods and there's violence and there's chaos and there's disorder. 00:15:05.827 --> 00:15:21.161 And in these Creation accounts what often happens is the gods create humanity in order to have forces for battle and slaves for service, and that's the culture of the Egyptians. 00:15:21.161 --> 00:15:29.187 The Egyptians believed that their gods created them to be Servants, to be slaves, to serve the needs of Pharaoh, who was like a god to them. 00:15:29.187 --> 00:15:33.441 Keep that in mind in this account you have. 00:15:33.901 --> 00:15:37.629 In the beginning, god created the heavens and the earth. 00:15:37.629 --> 00:15:40.683 Now verse 2 is interesting. 00:15:40.683 --> 00:15:46.847 The earth was without form, void, darkness was over the face of the deep. 00:15:46.847 --> 00:15:49.194 You may be wondering well, god's creating? 00:15:49.194 --> 00:15:56.798 Why is there without form and void and darkness in this new creation of God? 00:15:56.798 --> 00:15:59.154 A lot of explanations have been offered. 00:15:59.154 --> 00:16:11.034 I personally believe that when God creates the heavens and the earth in verse 1, that includes all of the spiritual beings that Inhabit the heavens, the angels created by God for the worship of God. 00:16:11.817 --> 00:16:18.980 Somewhere between Genesis 1 1 and Genesis 1 2, I believe Satan Rebels against God. 00:16:18.980 --> 00:16:28.977 2nd Peter, chapter 2, verse 4, says that Satan and his demons, his fallen angels, didn't stay in the position Established for them by God. 00:16:28.977 --> 00:16:38.161 Rather, they tried to overthrow God and take over, and I think what happens here Is God creates the heavens and the earth. 00:16:38.161 --> 00:16:46.913 Satan rebels and is cast out of heaven, and so you end up with, in verse 2, an earth that is without form and void. 00:16:46.913 --> 00:16:53.560 In Hebrew it's tohu and bohu, which is just a great thing to say, is it not tohu and bohu? 00:16:53.560 --> 00:16:58.049 And it's only used to describe really, really chaotic moments. 00:16:58.049 --> 00:17:14.567 So the earth is Chaotic, it's dark, why, I think Satan has rebelled, he's been cast out of heaven, but in that moment, the spirit of God is hovering over the face of the waters verse 3. 00:17:14.689 --> 00:17:18.266 And God said Let there be light. 00:17:18.266 --> 00:17:23.201 Let there be light and that, what in the world is going on? 00:17:23.201 --> 00:17:26.649 Well, here's the point of all of that this morning. 00:17:26.649 --> 00:17:34.326 God is Overall, he's sovereign, he's creator. 00:17:34.326 --> 00:17:44.390 God has the power to bring order to chaos, and God has the power to bring light in the midst of darkness. 00:17:44.390 --> 00:17:56.282 What a theological foundation for the Israelites as they're wondering through the wilderness, going who is this God and when is our life heading? 00:17:56.282 --> 00:18:00.319 Hey, you can trust God, because he brings order from chaos. 00:18:00.319 --> 00:18:02.203 He brings light in the darkness. 00:18:02.203 --> 00:18:18.715 When God speaks, things happen, unlike all of the other little g gods that people worship, who are Engaged in conflict and they can't win a battle, so they need to create people to help them out and to be servants and slaves to them. 00:18:18.715 --> 00:18:25.209 This God has the power, by himself and with his word, to bring order and light. 00:18:25.209 --> 00:18:37.744 And can I say to you today, I don't know what 20, 24 holds for you, I don't know what it holds for me, but the same God Is present in our world today. 00:18:37.744 --> 00:18:43.609 Maybe you feel like the Israelites wondering through the wilderness, wondering what the future holds. 00:18:43.609 --> 00:18:49.009 God still has the power to bring order to chaos and light to the darkness. 00:18:49.030 --> 00:18:54.044 And If we had time, we would read the rest of Genesis 1 this morning. 00:18:54.044 --> 00:18:57.417 But if we did, we would see this repetition. 00:18:57.417 --> 00:19:06.224 That happens multiple times in Genesis 1 you see the phrase and God said, highlighted in yellow. 00:19:06.224 --> 00:19:10.363 I don't know if you can see it from where you are, but if you highlight in your Bible, I would challenge you go through. 00:19:10.363 --> 00:19:11.346 Highlight every time. 00:19:11.386 --> 00:19:20.634 You see in Genesis 1 the phrase and God said and God said and God said and God said how does God do his work of creating? 00:19:20.634 --> 00:19:24.465 How does God do his work of bringing order to chaos, light to darkness? 00:19:24.465 --> 00:19:25.367 God speaks. 00:19:25.367 --> 00:19:31.442 God speaks Unlike these other little G gods that are engaged in conflict. 00:19:31.442 --> 00:19:32.344 They can't win. 00:19:32.344 --> 00:19:38.419 Our God only has to speak a word and Things happen. 00:19:38.419 --> 00:19:44.362 Things change, things that were not come into existence. 00:19:44.362 --> 00:19:54.484 Universes are created, solar systems appear, planets and animals and Dinosaurs and whales and sharks and all the stuff that we see around us today. 00:19:54.484 --> 00:20:05.350 It's here because God said Second repeated phrase in Genesis 1 is and it was so, and that good news what God says. 00:20:05.350 --> 00:20:10.363 It is so you can trust the word of God. 00:20:10.363 --> 00:20:18.526 When God speaks, it is so, and so if God looks at me and says I love you guess what it is. 00:20:18.526 --> 00:20:23.778 So If God looks at me and says you're forgiven, it is so. 00:20:23.778 --> 00:20:39.535 When you come to the word of God and you read the word of God, it is so you can trust his word, because he's the one true God, sovereign over all. 00:20:39.535 --> 00:20:48.732 There's another phrase in Genesis 1 that's repeated and I love it, and God saw that it was good. 00:20:48.732 --> 00:20:50.490 Can we say good together this morning? 00:20:50.490 --> 00:20:52.245 One, two, three. 00:20:52.947 --> 00:21:05.457 Now if somebody invites you over for dinner and you go and you sit down and you're at the table and they start pulling stuff out of the oven, pulling stuff out of the fridge and they lay out a spread on the table and it is an epic spread. 00:21:05.457 --> 00:21:23.574 They have been working for hours and hours and hours in the kitchen and it is clear they have gone to great lengths, spared no expense, to cook you this meal and you sit down and you dig in and you go to town on dinner and at the end of dinner they look at you and they say hey, how did you like the meal? 00:21:23.574 --> 00:21:24.828 And you look back and you say it's good. 00:21:24.828 --> 00:21:27.776 What's going to happen? 00:21:27.776 --> 00:21:32.477 They're going to be like you ain't never coming back to my house for dinner again. 00:21:32.477 --> 00:21:33.971 Or if you do, it's McDonald's. 00:21:33.971 --> 00:21:35.931 Next time I'll pick up some pizza. 00:21:35.931 --> 00:21:40.230 You get the $5 hot and ready little Caesars on the way you bring dinner next time. 00:21:40.230 --> 00:21:46.330 If all you got to say is it's good, some of the parents in the room you're like kids pay attention. 00:21:46.330 --> 00:21:46.711 Right now. 00:21:50.144 --> 00:21:55.492 In our culture, when we hear the word good, we're like well, there's a lot of levels above good that I would much prefer to hear than good. 00:21:55.492 --> 00:22:03.913 It could be great, it could be amazing, it could be epic, it could be incredible, it could be phenomenal, but good good's just like, it's just good. 00:22:03.913 --> 00:22:21.830 But when Moses writes the word good in Genesis, chapter one, in the Hebrew language, to say that something was good means that it is exactly as God intended, without fault, without flaw, without error. 00:22:21.830 --> 00:22:25.538 It is exactly as God intended it to be. 00:22:25.538 --> 00:22:37.776 So for us to declare today together that God is good, what we are saying is that, through and through, 100%, god is perfect in all of his ways. 00:22:37.776 --> 00:22:57.431 He's without flaw, without fault, without error, in everything he does, everything he says, everything that he thinks, and we see in Genesis one that he makes a world and he sees that it is good, exactly as he intended. 00:22:57.431 --> 00:23:04.530 So here's the first big theological framework for the Israelites and the wilderness and for us today. 00:23:05.545 --> 00:23:09.874 God is the one true God, the sovereign and good Creator. 00:23:09.874 --> 00:23:20.976 He is the God over all, and in all he does and in all his ways he is good. 00:23:20.976 --> 00:23:25.374 Aren't you glad he's the same yesterday, today and forever. 00:23:25.374 --> 00:23:33.117 His character doesn't change, his power doesn't fade, his authority never ends. 00:23:33.117 --> 00:23:43.619 The sovereign God, good through and through, over all of his creation. 00:23:43.619 --> 00:23:46.230 And what happened? 00:23:46.230 --> 00:23:48.771 Well, let's keep going. 00:23:49.825 --> 00:23:51.669 Genesis, chapter one, verse 26,. 00:23:51.669 --> 00:23:55.878 Then God said let us make man in our image, after our likeness. 00:23:55.878 --> 00:24:03.497 Let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the heavens, over the livestock, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth. 00:24:03.497 --> 00:24:06.531 So God created man in his image and the image of God. 00:24:06.531 --> 00:24:08.957 He created in male and female. 00:24:08.957 --> 00:24:10.287 He created them. 00:24:10.287 --> 00:24:11.893 So what happens? 00:24:12.345 --> 00:24:13.468 Day six of creation? 00:24:13.468 --> 00:24:18.582 God makes people Adam and Eve in his image. 00:24:18.582 --> 00:24:22.794 Which means Adam and Eve were created by God to reflect the glory of God. 00:24:22.794 --> 00:24:35.997 They weren't created to be servants and slaves, simply existing to do the bidding of the God over the world, like no, they were created in the image of God, to know God and to reflect God to the world. 00:24:35.997 --> 00:24:42.873 Isn't this beautiful, created with dignity and value and worth. 00:24:42.873 --> 00:24:58.498 Every human being who's ever lived on the planet bears the image of God, and so for us, in our world today, every human being we encounter is created in the image of God. 00:24:59.025 --> 00:25:01.412 Genesis one, 26 and 27. 00:25:01.412 --> 00:25:12.100 Every human being that you encounter is inherently valuable, inherently worthy of dignity and respect. 00:25:12.100 --> 00:25:14.271 But I know some bad people. 00:25:14.271 --> 00:25:17.545 Well, we're all bad people. 00:25:17.545 --> 00:25:19.130 I'm going to get to that in just a moment. 00:25:19.130 --> 00:25:32.034 And every human being carries, even in our sin, shame and guilt, the image of God on our lives dignity, value, worth. 00:25:32.034 --> 00:25:38.655 Not only that God creates humanity with a sense of purpose. 00:25:39.877 --> 00:25:40.478 What does God say? 00:25:40.985 --> 00:25:50.297 Genesis 26, god says let them have dominion over the fish or the sea, over the birds of the heavens, over the livestock, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth. 00:25:50.545 --> 00:25:52.028 Now, who's over all this stuff? 00:25:52.028 --> 00:25:54.375 God is right. 00:25:54.375 --> 00:25:59.515 Only God has the right to tell other people and created things. 00:25:59.515 --> 00:26:00.698 Who can be over what? 00:26:00.698 --> 00:26:14.547 And here is God in all of his authority saying to humanity made in his image, I made you to partner with me, I made you to work with me, to be in relationship with me. 00:26:14.547 --> 00:26:18.867 We share in the ruling of God's good world. 00:26:18.867 --> 00:26:25.615 God invites humanity, say I want you to be part of what I'm doing in the earth. 00:26:25.615 --> 00:26:39.066 And just in case we miss it there, in verse 28, god blessed them and God said to them be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth, subduate, have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth. 00:26:41.297 --> 00:26:43.485 Did you catch the beginning of verse 28, by the way? 00:26:43.485 --> 00:26:46.461 And God blessed them. 00:26:46.461 --> 00:26:56.824 So God creates people in his image, gives them a purpose, a partnership with him in the running of his world, and he blesses them. 00:26:56.824 --> 00:26:59.523 Go back and read Genesis one this week. 00:26:59.523 --> 00:27:04.824 That's the only time in Genesis one that this phrase and God blessed them appears. 00:27:04.824 --> 00:27:12.403 God creates people and he elevates them above every other aspect of his creation. 00:27:12.403 --> 00:27:14.141 He blesses them. 00:27:14.141 --> 00:27:17.595 Look at good news for you today. 00:27:17.595 --> 00:27:21.640 You bear the image of Almighty God and his blessing is on your life. 00:27:21.640 --> 00:27:25.523 His blessing is on your life. 00:27:25.523 --> 00:27:27.862 Like I don't feel blessed. 00:27:27.862 --> 00:27:30.615 It's not about how you feel. 00:27:30.615 --> 00:27:35.264 It's about what God says in the beginning God blesses humanity. 00:27:35.264 --> 00:27:42.575 God invites humanity to partner with him in the way that his world works. 00:27:42.575 --> 00:27:46.595 So here's the second big theological anchor for us in this series. 00:27:46.595 --> 00:27:56.595 It's this that you bear the image of God and you're created by God to partner with God in the running of God's good world. 00:27:56.595 --> 00:27:59.615 What should you do in 2024? 00:27:59.615 --> 00:28:08.749 You should bear the image of God and you should partner with God in what God is doing in the earth. 00:28:10.736 --> 00:28:13.555 If the story just stopped right there, wouldn't that be great. 00:28:13.555 --> 00:28:15.990 We just like hey, that's great, amazing. 00:28:15.990 --> 00:28:19.595 God's good, he made us and now we get to partner with God and end of story. 00:28:19.595 --> 00:28:20.964 Genesis one was the end of the story. 00:28:20.964 --> 00:28:22.555 That would be pretty epic. 00:28:22.555 --> 00:28:23.964 Genesis two a little bit of a retouch. 00:28:23.964 --> 00:28:27.615 Genesis two a little bit of a retelling of the creation account. 00:28:27.615 --> 00:28:33.595 You get some more details on Adam and Eve, a beautiful verse on marriage at the end of Genesis chapter two. 00:28:34.538 --> 00:28:43.903 And then Genesis three hits and it starts with this phrase now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast in the field that God had made. 00:28:43.903 --> 00:28:50.143 Now y'all, there are a lot of questions that show up in Genesis chapter three, are there not? 00:28:50.143 --> 00:28:52.615 Where did this snake come from all of a sudden? 00:28:52.615 --> 00:28:57.732 Why is he in the garden that God plants and makes for Adam and Eve? 00:28:57.732 --> 00:28:58.615 Why is he talking? 00:28:58.615 --> 00:29:00.442 Why does he appear to have legs? 00:29:00.442 --> 00:29:05.681 Like there's a lot happening here with the serpent in Genesis chapter three, some of you are like he's got legs. 00:29:05.681 --> 00:29:06.583 Go read it Right. 00:29:07.957 --> 00:29:18.615 He's here in the garden and he shows up speaking to the woman and he says this did God actually say which has been his strategy from the beginning? 00:29:18.615 --> 00:29:20.840 That's still his strategy today? 00:29:20.840 --> 00:29:32.003 Did God actually say Satan from the beginning, has wanted to introduce doubt about the truth, the validity of what God says. 00:29:32.003 --> 00:29:38.480 Because if he can get us to doubt what God says, he can get us to do what he wants. 00:29:38.480 --> 00:29:44.892 And so he says to Eve did God actually say you shall not eat of any tree in the garden? 00:29:44.912 --> 00:29:48.384 The woman said to the serpent you may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden. 00:29:48.384 --> 00:29:50.615 But God said we may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden. 00:29:50.615 --> 00:29:54.615 But God said you shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that's in the midst of the garden. 00:29:54.615 --> 00:29:56.474 Neither shall you touch it lest you die. 00:29:56.474 --> 00:30:00.567 But the serpent said to the woman you will not surely die. 00:30:00.567 --> 00:30:02.615 You will not surely die. 00:30:03.317 --> 00:30:05.485 Maybe God doesn't know what he's talking about. 00:30:05.485 --> 00:30:07.575 Maybe God's holding out on you. 00:30:07.575 --> 00:30:12.746 Maybe there's a better option available to you. 00:30:12.746 --> 00:30:24.543 For God knows so, the snake speaking, god knows that when you eat of that tree your eyes will be opened and you will be like God, knowing good and evil. 00:30:24.543 --> 00:30:31.305 So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food and it was a delight to the eyes, the tree was to be desired to make one, why she took of its fruit and she ate. 00:30:31.305 --> 00:30:35.780 She also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate. 00:30:35.780 --> 00:30:46.920 Now here's the lie at the heart of what the snake says God's holding out on you because he doesn't want you to be like him. 00:30:46.920 --> 00:30:53.541 Snake says to Eve God knows, if you eat of it, your eyes will be opened and you will be like God. 00:30:54.756 --> 00:30:56.554 But think back to Genesis, chapter one. 00:30:56.554 --> 00:30:57.846 What is Genesis one? 00:30:57.846 --> 00:30:58.615 26 and 27? 00:30:58.615 --> 00:31:06.615 Say God says let us make people man, male and female in our image, after our likeness. 00:31:06.615 --> 00:31:11.746 Guys, we were created by God to be like God. 00:31:11.746 --> 00:31:15.324 Adam and Eve were already like God. 00:31:15.324 --> 00:31:24.343 They weren't God, but they bore his image, they lived in his presence, they dwelled in his good garden. 00:31:25.956 --> 00:31:27.302 And the snake says you know what. 00:31:27.302 --> 00:31:29.161 You actually can't trust what God says. 00:31:29.161 --> 00:31:32.624 You need to lead your life by your own understanding. 00:31:32.624 --> 00:31:34.839 Don't trust what God says. 00:31:34.839 --> 00:31:47.985 Trust what you see, follow your heart, trust what you feel, look around you and you make your own interpretation of the world and you go your way, even if it goes against what God says. 00:31:47.985 --> 00:31:55.704 And isn't that exactly what happens all around us and within us every single day? 00:31:55.704 --> 00:32:06.876 Trust what you see, trust what you think, trust what you feel and follow your heart In church. 00:32:06.876 --> 00:32:15.575 We have to get to the point where we say, hey, you know what, I know that I have feelings and I know that I have thoughts and I know that there are people around me that are telling me how I should live my life. 00:32:15.575 --> 00:32:42.480 But if any of that is in conflict with what God says, I'm going to go with what God says, because he's the sovereign and good creator, he is consistent, he is good through and through, and so if he says it, I can trust it, even if it seems to butt up against my feelings and my thoughts and my interpretation of how I think the world ought to run. 00:32:42.480 --> 00:32:46.580 I'm going with Almighty God In this moment. 00:32:48.067 --> 00:32:49.615 Adam and Eve do their own thing. 00:32:49.615 --> 00:32:52.204 They trust their own understanding interpretation. 00:32:52.204 --> 00:32:53.528 Take the fruit they eat it. 00:32:53.528 --> 00:32:57.100 Paul makes clear in the New Testament y'all, if we had been there, we'd have done the same thing. 00:32:57.100 --> 00:33:01.575 It's easy for us to sit here and be like Adam Eve. 00:33:01.575 --> 00:33:02.336 Come on, y'all. 00:33:02.336 --> 00:33:05.005 You're in the garden, god's with you. 00:33:05.005 --> 00:33:05.546 What are you saying? 00:33:05.546 --> 00:33:06.559 We'd have done the same thing? 00:33:06.559 --> 00:33:08.619 We'd have done the same thing. 00:33:10.118 --> 00:33:12.132 And so what happens? 00:33:12.132 --> 00:33:12.615 Well, they eat the fruit. 00:33:12.615 --> 00:33:14.615 They realize they're naked. 00:33:14.615 --> 00:33:17.221 They're so in fig leaves together to cover their shame. 00:33:17.221 --> 00:33:19.990 God shows up. 00:33:19.990 --> 00:33:21.114 Where are you? 00:33:21.114 --> 00:33:21.615 They're hiding. 00:33:22.399 --> 00:33:24.027 So it's shame and blame. 00:33:24.027 --> 00:33:25.133 Shame and blame. 00:33:25.133 --> 00:33:25.615 This is what sin does. 00:33:25.615 --> 00:33:27.543 Shame and blame. 00:33:27.543 --> 00:33:31.615 And Eve's like well, you know, god the snake did it. 00:33:31.615 --> 00:33:33.554 This is the snake's fault. 00:33:33.554 --> 00:33:35.615 Adam's like God, it's actually Eve's fault. 00:33:35.615 --> 00:33:37.548 She told me and you made her. 00:33:37.548 --> 00:33:42.657 So I'm going to point to Vingor and you and her Like we're just shame and blame and everybody in Genesis, chapter three. 00:33:42.657 --> 00:33:51.642 And you're like well, it's 1130 James, which means we got to be coming to the conclusion of this. 00:33:51.723 --> 00:34:01.505 And it feels a little bit like the Empire strikes back right now, where Luke gets his hand chopped off and all of a sudden he's got a robot arm and Han Solo's in carbonite and they're standing at the window and we're supposed to think everything's good. 00:34:01.505 --> 00:34:03.704 And it doesn't look that good right now. 00:34:03.704 --> 00:34:10.128 Anybody feeling a little bit of that Shame, blame, sin has entered the garden. 00:34:10.128 --> 00:34:14.809 God's not thrilled with Adam and Eve's choice. 00:34:14.809 --> 00:34:15.852 What's going on? 00:34:15.852 --> 00:34:18.347 Here's what's happening in Genesis, chapter three. 00:34:18.347 --> 00:34:20.646 Here's our theological anchor. 00:34:21.160 --> 00:34:28.164 God, in his sovereignty and as an act of love, has given us the freedom to make choices that actually shift the future. 00:34:28.164 --> 00:34:30.684 It's why. 00:34:30.684 --> 00:34:31.425 This is why. 00:34:31.425 --> 00:34:34.875 This is why, when I asked my wife to marry me. 00:34:34.875 --> 00:34:39.189 I got down on a knee and I opened the box and I said will you marry me? 00:34:39.189 --> 00:34:47.711 What you will marry me, because that's a hostage situation and that's not what we were going for. 00:34:47.711 --> 00:34:48.985 I said will you marry me? 00:34:48.985 --> 00:34:50.686 And Tara said no way, no way, no way. 00:34:50.686 --> 00:34:53.907 And I was like wait a minute, we got to clarify some things right here. 00:34:53.907 --> 00:34:54.751 Do you mean no way? 00:34:54.751 --> 00:34:57.728 Like you're really excited about this and you can't believe I'm asking you right now. 00:34:57.728 --> 00:34:58.590 She's like yeah, that's what I mean. 00:34:58.590 --> 00:34:59.925 I meant yes, I will marry you. 00:34:59.925 --> 00:35:01.182 I'm like praise the Lord. 00:35:01.182 --> 00:35:03.449 And just to clarify, I was real nervous there for a second. 00:35:04.760 --> 00:35:09.929 But here's the thing y'all, god doesn't want robots. 00:35:09.929 --> 00:35:16.912 God's not looking for us to serve him simply because we've been ordered to. 00:35:16.912 --> 00:35:21.892 God's not making us as people with no ability to choose. 00:35:21.892 --> 00:35:30.789 God is inviting me and you into relationship with him and, in his sovereignty, he's given us the freedom of responsibility. 00:35:30.789 --> 00:35:35.488 We can choose him or we can not choose him. 00:35:35.488 --> 00:35:47.503 We can say yes or we can say no, and y'all the choices that we make, they matter, they change things. 00:35:47.503 --> 00:35:50.146 Yes, god is sovereign. 00:35:50.146 --> 00:36:00.135 He is overall, 100% truth and, at the same time, the things that you and I do each day. 00:36:00.135 --> 00:36:08.784 The choices we make to choose God or to not choose God, to choose to love or to not choose to love it changes things. 00:36:08.784 --> 00:36:22.753 It makes a difference in the world around us, and we see in Genesis, chapter three, what happens when we fail to choose God. 00:36:22.753 --> 00:36:24.483 We call that sin right. 00:36:24.483 --> 00:36:36.347 It's choosing our way over God's way, and what we got to understand today is that sin has massive ramifications on us internally and externally and the world around us. 00:36:38.662 --> 00:36:51.690 Shame and blame and guilt all finds its root in Genesis, chapter three, as Adam and Eve choose their way over God's way and we in them have done the same thing. 00:36:51.690 --> 00:36:59.724 So God says to the serpent verse 14, because you've done this, cursed to you above all livestock, above all beasts of the field. 00:36:59.724 --> 00:37:03.684 On your belly, you shall go and dust, you shall eat all the days of your life. 00:37:03.684 --> 00:37:13.074 And then, in verse 15, this is what's called the proto-evangelium, or first good news, first gospel. 00:37:13.074 --> 00:37:20.782 God says I will put enmity between you and the woman, between your offspring and her offspring. 00:37:20.782 --> 00:37:25.769 He will bruise or crush your head and you shall bruise his heel. 00:37:25.769 --> 00:37:47.086 So in the garden, god looks at the snake and says hey, your days are numbered Because there's going to come one who's a descendant of woman and there's going to come a moment in his life where you take your best shot at him and you bruise his heel, but in that moment he's going to crush your head. 00:37:47.086 --> 00:38:00.148 First good news and if you keep reading in Genesis 3, what happens is God takes an animal skin and he covers Adam and Eve. 00:38:00.148 --> 00:38:03.907 Again, so many questions when did God get an animal skin? 00:38:03.907 --> 00:38:05.547 Well, how do you get an animal skin? 00:38:05.547 --> 00:38:07.084 Well, an animal's got to die. 00:38:07.084 --> 00:38:18.787 So you see in Genesis 3, 15, the first good news, you see at the end of Genesis 3, a sacrifice made for the forgiveness, the covering of sin. 00:38:18.787 --> 00:38:21.977 It's good news. 00:38:21.977 --> 00:38:24.552 It's good news. 00:38:25.789 --> 00:38:44.497 And thousands of years later, there's a man in a small town called Bethlehem who's asked a question by a group of Pharisees, religious leaders trying to trap him, trick him, catch him with his words, get him to say something. 00:38:44.497 --> 00:38:49.414 They can point at him and go hey, well, you said wrong there, that's not truth, you're not, clearly not from God. 00:38:49.414 --> 00:38:51.954 They say to Jesus. 00:38:51.954 --> 00:38:56.253 They say you know, you're from God, you speak what's true. 00:38:56.253 --> 00:39:08.259 Should we, as Israelites, hebrew people who worship Yahweh, should we pay taxes to Caesar Trying to get him on the bad side of the Jewish people in Rome in this moment. 00:39:08.298 --> 00:39:10.613 Jesus responds he says well, show me. 00:39:10.613 --> 00:39:11.956 Show me a coin. 00:39:11.956 --> 00:39:13.239 It's Matthew 22. 00:39:13.239 --> 00:39:13.840 Show me a coin. 00:39:13.840 --> 00:39:17.317 So somebody digs in their pockets, pulls out a coin. 00:39:17.317 --> 00:39:18.418 Here's a coin, hold it up. 00:39:18.418 --> 00:39:22.979 Jesus says whose image, whose likeness is on that coin? 00:39:22.979 --> 00:39:28.721 The religious leaders are like oh, that's Caesar's image on the coin. 00:39:28.721 --> 00:39:31.750 The coin bears Caesar's image. 00:39:31.750 --> 00:39:39.699 And Jesus is like great, give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar, because rust is going to take all that one day anyway. 00:39:39.699 --> 00:39:41.355 Give that to Caesar. 00:39:41.355 --> 00:39:46.041