1 00:00:00,400 --> 00:00:08,240 To the book of Genesis, Genesis one, verse 24 and and we'll be 2 00:00:08,400 --> 00:00:11,440 in verse 24 to chapter 2, verse three. 3 00:00:11,440 --> 00:00:15,600 Last week we just started a brand new series after finishing 4 00:00:15,600 --> 00:00:18,360 the book of James. We just started Genesis last 5 00:00:18,360 --> 00:00:22,200 week and we made it to verse 23. And this morning we're going to 6 00:00:22,200 --> 00:00:26,240 pick right up in verse 24 all the way to chapter 2, verse 3. 7 00:00:28,640 --> 00:00:33,080 So let's read the text, open us in a word of prayer, and then we 8 00:00:33,080 --> 00:00:34,600 will jump into the sermon this morning. 9 00:00:34,600 --> 00:00:37,640 Genesis 1, beginning in verse 24. 10 00:00:39,720 --> 00:00:43,360 And God said, let the earth bring forth living creatures 11 00:00:43,360 --> 00:00:46,840 according to their kinds, livestock and creeping things 12 00:00:46,840 --> 00:00:49,200 and beasts of the earth according to their kinds. 13 00:00:49,480 --> 00:00:52,120 And it was so. And God made the beasts of the 14 00:00:52,120 --> 00:00:54,440 earth according to their kinds, and the livestock according to 15 00:00:54,440 --> 00:00:56,960 their kinds, and everything that creeps on the ground according 16 00:00:56,960 --> 00:01:00,720 to its kind. And God saw that it was good. 17 00:01:01,520 --> 00:01:07,080 Then God said, let us make man in our image after our likeness, 18 00:01:07,480 --> 00:01:10,120 and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the 19 00:01:10,120 --> 00:01:13,120 birds of the heavens, and over the livestock, and over all the 20 00:01:13,120 --> 00:01:16,080 earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth. 21 00:01:16,840 --> 00:01:20,960 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God. 22 00:01:20,960 --> 00:01:26,480 He created him, male and female. He created them and God bless 23 00:01:26,480 --> 00:01:28,400 them. And God said to them, Be 24 00:01:28,400 --> 00:01:31,880 fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and 25 00:01:31,880 --> 00:01:34,320 have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of 26 00:01:34,320 --> 00:01:36,800 the heavens, and over every living thing that moves on the 27 00:01:36,800 --> 00:01:39,280 earth. And God said, Behold, I have 28 00:01:39,280 --> 00:01:43,080 given you every plant yielding seed that is on the face of all 29 00:01:43,080 --> 00:01:45,440 the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit. 30 00:01:45,640 --> 00:01:49,280 You shall have them for food. And to every beast of the earth, 31 00:01:49,280 --> 00:01:51,200 and to every bird of the heavens, and to everything that 32 00:01:51,200 --> 00:01:54,640 creeps on the earth, everything that has the breath of life, I 33 00:01:54,640 --> 00:01:57,320 have given every green plant for food. 34 00:01:57,760 --> 00:02:00,760 And it was so. And God saw everything that He 35 00:02:00,760 --> 00:02:04,200 had made, and behold, it was very good. 36 00:02:05,040 --> 00:02:08,280 And there was evening, and there was morning the 6th day. 37 00:02:08,919 --> 00:02:12,160 Chapter 2. Thus the heavens and the earth 38 00:02:12,160 --> 00:02:16,640 were finished, and all the host of them, and on the 7th day God 39 00:02:16,640 --> 00:02:20,440 finished his work that he had done, and he rested on the 7th 40 00:02:20,440 --> 00:02:23,000 day from all his work that he had done. 41 00:02:23,320 --> 00:02:29,560 So God blessed the 7th day and made it holy, because on it God 42 00:02:29,600 --> 00:02:35,160 rested from all his work that He had done in creation. 43 00:02:36,240 --> 00:02:43,320 Should pray with me Father, as we continue to work our way 44 00:02:43,320 --> 00:02:47,280 through the creation story. I pray this morning that you 45 00:02:47,280 --> 00:02:53,040 would give us insight into this topic of your image. 46 00:02:54,080 --> 00:02:56,800 What does it mean to be made in your image and and what 47 00:02:56,800 --> 00:02:59,120 implications does that have for us and how we live? 48 00:03:00,440 --> 00:03:03,520 What does it mean that you made male and female and what 49 00:03:03,520 --> 00:03:05,480 implications does that have for how we live? 50 00:03:07,160 --> 00:03:11,560 What does it mean that you rested on the 7th day and what 51 00:03:11,560 --> 00:03:13,760 implications does that have for how we live? 52 00:03:14,920 --> 00:03:18,600 So Lord, as we answer, as we examine these questions and 53 00:03:18,600 --> 00:03:21,160 attempt to answer them, Lord, would you please give us insight 54 00:03:21,160 --> 00:03:26,280 into your word and help us to discern what creation is saying 55 00:03:26,280 --> 00:03:29,400 about you? Lord, I pray this in Jesus name, 56 00:03:29,800 --> 00:03:34,320 Amen. We have a lot to get to, so I'm 57 00:03:34,320 --> 00:03:35,800 going to jump right in. I'm going to give you the 58 00:03:35,800 --> 00:03:38,800 context if you weren't here. Last week we started a new 59 00:03:38,800 --> 00:03:42,880 series on Genesis. We got through Genesis one, one 60 00:03:42,880 --> 00:03:45,960 through 5, and lastly we talked about the first five days of 61 00:03:45,960 --> 00:03:47,960 creation. Let me recount those to you 62 00:03:48,240 --> 00:03:52,440 before we jump in. On day one, God made light and 63 00:03:52,440 --> 00:03:57,480 he made day and night. On day 2, God separated the 64 00:03:57,480 --> 00:04:00,120 waters below and the waters above. 65 00:04:00,120 --> 00:04:03,120 God gave us oceans and an atmosphere. 66 00:04:03,520 --> 00:04:08,920 On day three, God made separated the waters and the land, and he 67 00:04:08,920 --> 00:04:11,360 made all the vegetation for the land. 68 00:04:11,680 --> 00:04:16,120 On day four, God made the sun and the moon and the stars and 69 00:04:16,120 --> 00:04:19,920 the sky. On day five, God made marine 70 00:04:19,920 --> 00:04:23,080 life and all the birds of the sky. 71 00:04:23,520 --> 00:04:28,960 And this morning we're going to get to the last two days of 72 00:04:28,960 --> 00:04:34,640 creation, Day 6 and day 7. So let's start with the next 73 00:04:34,640 --> 00:04:38,040 edition of the text. My goal in this is to exposit 74 00:04:38,040 --> 00:04:40,880 the word and bring out its meaning, and then I'll give us 75 00:04:40,880 --> 00:04:44,600 application after that. So let's start looking at verses 76 00:04:44,600 --> 00:04:48,920 24 to 25. And God said, let the earth 77 00:04:48,920 --> 00:04:51,680 bring forth living creatures according to their kinds, 78 00:04:51,680 --> 00:04:54,680 livestock and creeping things and beasts of the earth 79 00:04:54,960 --> 00:04:58,200 according to their kinds. And it was so. 80 00:04:58,720 --> 00:05:01,080 And God made the beasts of the earth according to their kinds, 81 00:05:01,080 --> 00:05:03,080 and the livestock according to their kinds, and everything that 82 00:05:03,080 --> 00:05:05,520 creeps on the ground according to its kind. 83 00:05:05,920 --> 00:05:12,200 And God saw that it was good. So last week we saw that God has 84 00:05:12,200 --> 00:05:16,160 made animals for the seas. God has made animals for the 85 00:05:16,160 --> 00:05:20,000 skies, but now he wants animals on the land. 86 00:05:20,360 --> 00:05:24,440 He says let the earth bring forth living creatures according 87 00:05:24,440 --> 00:05:28,720 to their kinds. He starts with livestock. 88 00:05:29,120 --> 00:05:31,560 The Hebrew word for livestock there is behema. 89 00:05:31,560 --> 00:05:33,320 That's where we get the word behemoth. 90 00:05:34,080 --> 00:05:37,400 It's often translated as cattle, but it's actually a pretty broad 91 00:05:37,400 --> 00:05:39,640 term. It can refer to any 4 legged 92 00:05:39,640 --> 00:05:42,680 animal. You also make creeping things, 93 00:05:43,920 --> 00:05:47,920 our favorite reptiles, amphibians, and vertebrae's, 94 00:05:48,200 --> 00:05:51,560 snails, snakes, lizards, turtles, caterpillars, 95 00:05:51,800 --> 00:05:57,960 armadillos, and bugs as well. And then he made beast of the 96 00:05:58,000 --> 00:05:59,960 earth. These are essentially wild 97 00:05:59,960 --> 00:06:03,200 animals as opposed to livestock. These are wild animals, Cougars, 98 00:06:03,200 --> 00:06:08,520 coyotes, lions, tigers, bears. And notice the narrator 99 00:06:08,520 --> 00:06:11,040 emphasizes once again. He says it twice. 100 00:06:12,200 --> 00:06:13,840 He says it with each each category. 101 00:06:13,840 --> 00:06:16,920 God made beast according to their kind. 102 00:06:17,360 --> 00:06:20,600 God made livestock according to their kind. 103 00:06:21,000 --> 00:06:25,080 God made creeping things according to their kinds. 104 00:06:25,800 --> 00:06:26,880 That's important. Why? 105 00:06:27,120 --> 00:06:34,280 This invalidates scientists theory of common descent that we 106 00:06:34,280 --> 00:06:39,160 all descend from one Organism. That's not how it worked. 107 00:06:39,800 --> 00:06:47,680 God made everything according to its kind and for the 6th time 108 00:06:47,680 --> 00:06:50,000 God saw that it was good. Let's look at verse 26. 109 00:06:50,120 --> 00:07:00,280 A thank God said let us make man in our image after our likeness. 110 00:07:01,600 --> 00:07:04,840 Now this verse raises all kinds of questions, all kinds of 111 00:07:04,840 --> 00:07:06,560 questions. Let's try to break it down into 112 00:07:06,560 --> 00:07:11,880 four parts. Part 1 Let us let's catch that 113 00:07:12,880 --> 00:07:14,840 he said us. Now we all know from elementary 114 00:07:14,840 --> 00:07:17,680 school we took we all took grammar and elementary school 115 00:07:17,680 --> 00:07:19,760 that us is plural is not singular. 116 00:07:20,480 --> 00:07:24,400 God says, let us, who is us? Who is us? 117 00:07:24,400 --> 00:07:27,120 There are many theories, but I'll boil it down to two main 118 00:07:27,120 --> 00:07:31,200 theories here. A, God could be speaking with 119 00:07:31,200 --> 00:07:35,240 the royal we or the majestic we, right? 120 00:07:35,600 --> 00:07:40,280 Kings talk like this, right? King says, shall we tax the 121 00:07:40,280 --> 00:07:43,440 people, right? That's how kings talk. 122 00:07:43,440 --> 00:07:46,400 They, they talk with a royal we. That could be what God's doing. 123 00:07:47,400 --> 00:07:50,080 Or B. This could be the earliest 124 00:07:50,080 --> 00:07:53,160 reference to what we know as the Trinity. 125 00:07:54,200 --> 00:07:57,840 The New Testament affirms that Jesus was active in creation. 126 00:07:57,880 --> 00:08:02,120 Colossians 116 For by him all things were created in heaven 127 00:08:02,120 --> 00:08:04,560 and on earth. All things were created through 128 00:08:04,560 --> 00:08:07,880 him and for him. So that us here could be 129 00:08:07,880 --> 00:08:12,640 referring to the Trinity. That's what I tend to go with. 130 00:08:12,640 --> 00:08:15,200 But you may decide to go with the royal we. 131 00:08:16,280 --> 00:08:19,680 That's the first part. Second part, Let us make man. 132 00:08:19,720 --> 00:08:23,440 Let us make man. That the Hebrew word for man is 133 00:08:23,440 --> 00:08:27,000 a Dom. It's a generic Hebrew word for 134 00:08:27,000 --> 00:08:29,280 mankind. Let's let us make mankind. 135 00:08:29,280 --> 00:08:31,360 It's where Adam gets his name from. 136 00:08:32,159 --> 00:08:38,760 Let's be very clear about this. God made man. 137 00:08:41,200 --> 00:08:46,520 We did not evolve from an ape. God made us. 138 00:08:48,720 --> 00:08:57,240 God made us #3 in our image. In our image, there's the plural 139 00:08:57,240 --> 00:09:01,080 again, our image. I want you to notice that so 140 00:09:01,080 --> 00:09:04,920 far, God has not made anything in his image neither the sun, 141 00:09:04,920 --> 00:09:08,360 the moon, the stars, the trees, the plants, the fruit, the sea 142 00:09:08,360 --> 00:09:09,960 animals, the birds, the land animals. 143 00:09:10,120 --> 00:09:15,240 None of it is made in the image of God, except humans. 144 00:09:16,720 --> 00:09:19,080 There's even a question of our angels made in the image of God. 145 00:09:19,080 --> 00:09:21,280 That's very debatable. I don't know, maybe, maybe not. 146 00:09:22,240 --> 00:09:26,720 I tend to lend not. But the only thing on this earth 147 00:09:26,720 --> 00:09:31,080 that is made in the image of God is you and me, humans. 148 00:09:33,040 --> 00:09:35,120 Now this raises an important question, doesn't it? 149 00:09:36,640 --> 00:09:39,160 What does it mean that God made man in his image? 150 00:09:40,680 --> 00:09:42,400 We all know that. We've all read that, we've all 151 00:09:42,400 --> 00:09:45,320 heard that in the Bible, right? But have you ever stopped to 152 00:09:45,320 --> 00:09:46,960 actually ask yourself, what does that mean? 153 00:09:47,960 --> 00:09:50,120 What does it mean that we're made in God's image? 154 00:09:50,720 --> 00:09:53,240 There are at least a dozen different theories out there. 155 00:09:54,440 --> 00:09:57,160 Typically, when you think of something being made in your 156 00:09:57,160 --> 00:09:59,440 image, it means it looks like the person, right? 157 00:09:59,600 --> 00:10:03,400 Like if you see a statue, you can tell whose image it's made 158 00:10:03,400 --> 00:10:04,960 in, right? This is George Washington, this 159 00:10:04,960 --> 00:10:08,000 is Abraham Lincoln, this is Michael Jordan, right? 160 00:10:08,000 --> 00:10:10,840 Like typically if you see a statue, you can see that statue 161 00:10:10,840 --> 00:10:17,200 is made in this person's image. But God is a spirit, so how can 162 00:10:17,200 --> 00:10:23,200 we be made in the image of God? We are we are flesh, so how how 163 00:10:23,240 --> 00:10:28,320 can we be made as God? Many scholars suggest that we 164 00:10:28,320 --> 00:10:31,560 reflect the image of God this way. 165 00:10:32,440 --> 00:10:36,760 We reflect his image in our morality, our our sense of right 166 00:10:36,760 --> 00:10:39,800 and wrong, and our ability to reason. 167 00:10:40,840 --> 00:10:46,600 Our spirituality, our ability to relate to God, our aesthetic 168 00:10:46,600 --> 00:10:52,600 sense, our judicial sense, all of these are qualities about 169 00:10:52,600 --> 00:10:56,080 humans that reflect God. That's different than everything 170 00:10:56,080 --> 00:10:58,800 else. I like what Martin Luther 171 00:10:58,800 --> 00:10:59,920 writes. He writes this. 172 00:11:00,200 --> 00:11:04,640 Therefore, when we speak about the image of God, we are 173 00:11:04,640 --> 00:11:06,640 speaking about something unknown. 174 00:11:07,560 --> 00:11:10,560 For not only have we ceased to experience it, but we 175 00:11:10,560 --> 00:11:13,160 continually experienced the opposite. 176 00:11:14,160 --> 00:11:18,000 My understanding is that the image of God was this, that Adam 177 00:11:18,000 --> 00:11:24,320 had it in his nature to love God, to believe God, to know 178 00:11:24,320 --> 00:11:28,960 God. That's a good summary by Luther, 179 00:11:29,400 --> 00:11:33,600 that to bear the image of God means the ability to love God, 180 00:11:33,840 --> 00:11:40,160 believe God, and know God. And then #4 he says let us make 181 00:11:40,160 --> 00:11:45,440 them after our likeness. Now there is considerable debate 182 00:11:45,440 --> 00:11:49,040 as to whether image and likeness have different meanings, right? 183 00:11:49,040 --> 00:11:50,880 Are those different or are they the same? 184 00:11:51,520 --> 00:11:54,680 And I read way too much on this. After reading it. 185 00:11:54,720 --> 00:11:58,000 I personally don't think there is much difference in meaning 186 00:11:58,000 --> 00:11:59,840 here. I think that they were are 187 00:11:59,840 --> 00:12:02,160 referring to the same thing essentially, maybe with some 188 00:12:02,160 --> 00:12:06,280 nuance differences and so forth. Let's look at 26B. 189 00:12:07,840 --> 00:12:11,000 Let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the 190 00:12:11,000 --> 00:12:14,120 birds of the heavens, and over the livestock, and over all the 191 00:12:14,160 --> 00:12:18,000 earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth. 192 00:12:18,800 --> 00:12:22,960 God declared that mankind would have dominion over all that He 193 00:12:22,960 --> 00:12:27,160 has made this word dominion means rule, to rule over, to 194 00:12:27,160 --> 00:12:30,560 dominate, to direct, to lead, to control, to subdue. 195 00:12:31,560 --> 00:12:33,720 God gave us dominion over everything. 196 00:12:33,720 --> 00:12:36,560 He gave us dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds 197 00:12:36,560 --> 00:12:39,400 of the heavens, over the livestock, over all the earth, 198 00:12:39,680 --> 00:12:43,520 over every creeping thing. Now, I always found that verse 199 00:12:43,520 --> 00:12:48,080 kind of ironic and funny because I often feel like we don't have 200 00:12:48,080 --> 00:12:52,240 dominion. Growing up in the South, I 201 00:12:52,240 --> 00:12:54,560 didn't feel like I had dominion over the mosquitoes. 202 00:12:57,240 --> 00:13:00,680 Here in the Pacific Northwest, I don't feel like I have dominion 203 00:13:00,960 --> 00:13:04,360 over the crows who continually tear up my grass. 204 00:13:08,000 --> 00:13:11,720 And when we had the food bank years ago, I did not feel like I 205 00:13:11,720 --> 00:13:13,720 had dominion over the rats running around. 206 00:13:13,720 --> 00:13:17,160 No matter how much I tried to beat them, they won. 207 00:13:19,120 --> 00:13:25,200 But as my boy Moses likes to remind me that humans have 208 00:13:25,200 --> 00:13:29,160 killed far more sharks than sharks have killed humans. 209 00:13:32,400 --> 00:13:37,040 Fair. Look at verse 27. 210 00:13:38,200 --> 00:13:41,160 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God. 211 00:13:41,160 --> 00:13:44,920 He created him, male and female. He created them. 212 00:13:45,400 --> 00:13:48,080 The narrator adds A poetic line here. 213 00:13:48,400 --> 00:13:50,680 The first two lines form a chiasm. 214 00:13:51,320 --> 00:13:56,520 Chiasm was like ABBA, the emphasis being on the image of 215 00:13:56,520 --> 00:13:58,120 God. You see that there? 216 00:13:59,240 --> 00:14:01,400 But I want to highlight this last line. 217 00:14:01,400 --> 00:14:11,400 Male and female, He created them, not man and woman, male 218 00:14:12,240 --> 00:14:18,160 and female, two different words. I want to point out four truths 219 00:14:18,160 --> 00:14:20,280 from this statement really quickly. 220 00:14:20,440 --> 00:14:28,080 Number one, God made gender. God made gender. 221 00:14:28,760 --> 00:14:31,000 Now, unless there's anybody in the audience who's saying who's, 222 00:14:31,640 --> 00:14:33,040 there is no distinction between gender. 223 00:14:33,040 --> 00:14:34,320 I'm just going to use the word gender. 224 00:14:34,600 --> 00:14:37,320 But the world wants to separate sex and gender. 225 00:14:37,680 --> 00:14:39,560 I I think that's a, that's an illusion. 226 00:14:41,400 --> 00:14:45,240 They're one and the same. God made gender. 227 00:14:46,240 --> 00:14:50,720 This is not a social construct. This is designed by God. 228 00:14:52,120 --> 00:15:00,120 God made this number two. God made 2 genders, 2 male, 229 00:15:00,960 --> 00:15:12,760 female, not 3, not 4, not 34. Two #3 Gender is not assigned at 230 00:15:12,760 --> 00:15:22,520 birth, it is created by God. And #4 both male and female 231 00:15:22,800 --> 00:15:26,880 reflect the image of God. I've heard some crazy theories 232 00:15:26,880 --> 00:15:29,160 out there. People say men reflect 50% of 233 00:15:29,160 --> 00:15:31,240 the image of God and women reflect 50% of the image of God 234 00:15:31,240 --> 00:15:36,920 and together they both know they both 100% reflect the image of 235 00:15:36,920 --> 00:15:40,840 God. Male and female equally are made 236 00:15:40,840 --> 00:15:43,800 in the image of God, no more, no less. 237 00:15:44,760 --> 00:15:46,000 They both reflect the image of God. 238 00:15:46,200 --> 00:15:49,880 Look at verse 28. God bless them and God said to 239 00:15:49,880 --> 00:15:53,120 them, Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it 240 00:15:53,360 --> 00:15:55,720 and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of 241 00:15:55,720 --> 00:15:58,880 the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the 242 00:15:58,920 --> 00:16:01,040 earth. This is the second time that we 243 00:16:01,040 --> 00:16:04,880 see this word blessed here. Both times come right before the 244 00:16:04,880 --> 00:16:08,080 same command. We saw it last week. 245 00:16:09,280 --> 00:16:14,680 Be fruitful and multiply. Just as God commanded the birds 246 00:16:14,680 --> 00:16:17,760 of the heavens and the creatures of the sea to be fruitful and 247 00:16:17,760 --> 00:16:22,800 multiply, so God commands humans to be fruitful and multiply. 248 00:16:23,120 --> 00:16:25,400 Again, I want you to see the connection. 249 00:16:25,680 --> 00:16:33,480 The reason that we are able to be fruitful and multiply is 250 00:16:33,480 --> 00:16:41,760 because God has blessed us. That is why procreation is not a 251 00:16:41,760 --> 00:16:46,680 result of anatomy or biology or physics. 252 00:16:48,840 --> 00:16:50,600 It is a result of God's blessing. 253 00:16:52,280 --> 00:16:54,680 God has blessed us with the ability to do this. 254 00:16:56,520 --> 00:16:59,280 Now one question that people will sometimes have with this 255 00:16:59,280 --> 00:17:04,920 verse be fruitful, multiply is this does this mean we are 256 00:17:04,920 --> 00:17:10,520 commanded to have children? And some of you women are like, 257 00:17:10,560 --> 00:17:12,240 man, if that's true, I didn't get married. 258 00:17:12,280 --> 00:17:13,599 I don't. No children for me. 259 00:17:17,200 --> 00:17:20,200 Does this mean we are commanded to have children? 260 00:17:20,440 --> 00:17:23,079 That question is beyond the scope of the sermon. 261 00:17:23,960 --> 00:17:27,040 But for now, for now, I'll say this. 262 00:17:27,640 --> 00:17:34,200 If you are married and if you are able to have children, 263 00:17:35,400 --> 00:17:40,280 procreating is typically God's will for your life. 264 00:17:42,520 --> 00:17:47,400 Procreation is typically God's will for your life. 265 00:17:50,480 --> 00:17:52,960 You can see me at Starbucks later if you like. 266 00:17:52,960 --> 00:17:56,320 For a longer explanation, look at verse 2931. 267 00:17:58,320 --> 00:18:01,880 And God said, behold, I have given you every plant yielding 268 00:18:01,880 --> 00:18:04,880 seed that is on the face of the earth, and every tree was seed 269 00:18:04,880 --> 00:18:07,520 in its fruit. You shall have them for food, 270 00:18:07,880 --> 00:18:09,840 and to every beast of the earth, and to every bird of the 271 00:18:09,840 --> 00:18:11,880 heavens, and to everything that creeps on the earth, everything 272 00:18:11,880 --> 00:18:16,400 that has the breath of life, I have given every green plant for 273 00:18:16,400 --> 00:18:18,440 food. And it was so. 274 00:18:18,800 --> 00:18:21,880 And God saw everything that He had made, and behold, it was 275 00:18:21,880 --> 00:18:24,120 very good. And there was evening, and there 276 00:18:24,120 --> 00:18:29,160 was morning the 6th day. We learn here that part of God's 277 00:18:29,160 --> 00:18:33,600 reason to make all of this vegetation is for food. 278 00:18:34,960 --> 00:18:38,200 Every plant yielding seed and every tree with seed in its 279 00:18:38,200 --> 00:18:45,440 fruit shall be for food. So God gives us blueberries and 280 00:18:45,440 --> 00:18:50,360 raspberries and avocados, broccoli and green beans and 281 00:18:50,400 --> 00:18:55,640 sweet potatoes and walnuts and almonds and pecans and chickpeas 282 00:18:55,640 --> 00:19:00,160 and black beans and lentils. God made enough vegetation on 283 00:19:00,160 --> 00:19:03,640 this earth that only will humans have plenty of food. 284 00:19:04,400 --> 00:19:11,280 So will the animals. I want you to notice, no meat. 285 00:19:13,280 --> 00:19:17,400 No meat. God originally made all humans 286 00:19:17,400 --> 00:19:21,000 to be vegetarians and all animals to be herbivores. 287 00:19:23,640 --> 00:19:28,720 If there was anything, if, if there was anything good that 288 00:19:28,720 --> 00:19:34,000 came out of the curse, it was meat. 289 00:19:38,920 --> 00:19:43,000 Now, at the end of all of this, God looked at his creation. 290 00:19:44,480 --> 00:19:49,040 He looked at Jupiter and Mars. He looked at the trillions of 291 00:19:49,040 --> 00:19:52,320 stars. He looked at Mount Everest and 292 00:19:52,320 --> 00:19:56,360 the lizard, the Pacific Ocean and the Sahara Desert. 293 00:19:57,880 --> 00:20:03,920 And not only was it good, he said, it was very good. 294 00:20:06,520 --> 00:20:10,440 And that was the 6th and final day of creation. 295 00:20:11,800 --> 00:20:14,600 Now we often talk about the seven days of creation, don't 296 00:20:14,600 --> 00:20:17,800 we? So what did God do on day seven? 297 00:20:18,520 --> 00:20:20,360 Look at chapter 2, verses 1 to 3. 298 00:20:21,560 --> 00:20:24,200 Thus the heavens and the earth were finished and all the host 299 00:20:24,200 --> 00:20:27,080 of them, and on the 7th day God finished his work that he had 300 00:20:27,080 --> 00:20:29,280 done. He rested on the 7th day from 301 00:20:29,280 --> 00:20:32,400 all his work that he had done. God bless the 7th day and made 302 00:20:32,400 --> 00:20:35,960 it holy, because on it God rested from all his work that he 303 00:20:35,960 --> 00:20:42,080 had done in creation. The heavens and the earth were 304 00:20:42,080 --> 00:20:45,600 finished. Imagine how that must have felt. 305 00:20:47,880 --> 00:20:49,680 I don't know if you have you ever worked on a project like 306 00:20:49,680 --> 00:20:52,000 something you've been working on like for a long time and you 307 00:20:52,000 --> 00:20:56,720 look at it and you when you're finished with your like God 308 00:20:56,880 --> 00:21:02,120 finished this universe, Imagine how that must have felt. 309 00:21:02,960 --> 00:21:07,200 God just made an entire universe and everything in it. 310 00:21:07,560 --> 00:21:11,880 What is he going to do next? What do you do next after making 311 00:21:11,880 --> 00:21:17,960 the universe? He rested on the 7th day from 312 00:21:17,960 --> 00:21:21,800 all the work that he had done. The Hebrew word for arrested is 313 00:21:21,800 --> 00:21:23,720 Shabbat. That's where we get the word 314 00:21:23,720 --> 00:21:27,520 Sabbath from. It means to cease or to stop or 315 00:21:27,520 --> 00:21:31,520 to come to an end. Now did did God rest because He 316 00:21:31,520 --> 00:21:34,320 needed the rest? Was he worn out from creating? 317 00:21:34,320 --> 00:21:38,240 No and by no means. The Lord does not get tired. 318 00:21:39,560 --> 00:21:43,360 So why did He rest? I think He rested for the same 319 00:21:43,360 --> 00:21:48,520 reason that He made night. God is teaching us to know our 320 00:21:48,520 --> 00:21:53,240 limits. God is teaching us to know our 321 00:21:53,240 --> 00:21:57,120 need. Forrest, the narrator, says that 322 00:21:57,120 --> 00:22:01,680 God bless the 7th day and made it holy. 323 00:22:01,920 --> 00:22:05,040 Now it's interesting. For the first time in history, 324 00:22:05,040 --> 00:22:09,520 God makes something holy. This is the first thing that God 325 00:22:09,680 --> 00:22:14,280 consecrates and makes holy. The 7th day is holy God. 326 00:22:14,640 --> 00:22:19,320 God's rest on the 7th day will become the foundation for the 327 00:22:19,320 --> 00:22:22,400 Sabbath for thousands of years to come. 328 00:22:24,000 --> 00:22:27,240 And we'll stop there with exposition application. 329 00:22:29,120 --> 00:22:32,720 I have 10 points. And yes, if you're visiting with 330 00:22:32,720 --> 00:22:35,760 us, it is not an anomaly to have this many points of application. 331 00:22:36,480 --> 00:22:38,480 I know it's common. Pastors have three points. 332 00:22:39,080 --> 00:22:48,840 I've had as many as 1510 points of application #1 God made over 333 00:22:48,880 --> 00:22:53,280 8 million different types of life. 334 00:22:54,480 --> 00:23:02,720 To say something about himself, God made over 8 million 335 00:23:02,840 --> 00:23:08,720 different types of life to say something about himself. 336 00:23:10,040 --> 00:23:11,880 I was looking up on Gemini this week. 337 00:23:12,720 --> 00:23:14,480 I've switched over to Gemini ChatGPT. 338 00:23:14,720 --> 00:23:18,080 I've broken up with ChatGPT. It's giving me way too many 339 00:23:18,080 --> 00:23:20,840 wrong answers. I've moved over to Gemini's. 340 00:23:22,080 --> 00:23:23,640 We'll see if this relationship works out. 341 00:23:26,960 --> 00:23:30,520 I was asking Gemini this week. How many different types of life 342 00:23:30,560 --> 00:23:32,960 are there? 8 million. 343 00:23:35,080 --> 00:23:38,680 Now that's not 8 million units of life, that's eight million 344 00:23:38,880 --> 00:23:45,400 types of life types. Why did God make so many 345 00:23:45,400 --> 00:23:50,160 different types of life? Surely it was to say something 346 00:23:50,160 --> 00:23:54,800 about himself. Which raises the question, what 347 00:23:54,960 --> 00:23:58,280 is it saying? What does life on earth say 348 00:23:58,360 --> 00:24:00,800 about God? We have not found really any 349 00:24:00,800 --> 00:24:04,200 life in the universe yet, and yet here on earth we have 8 350 00:24:04,200 --> 00:24:07,840 million different types. What does this say about God? 351 00:24:07,960 --> 00:24:09,840 I thought of four categories. I'll give them to you really 352 00:24:09,840 --> 00:24:11,760 quickly. I thought of four categories of 353 00:24:11,760 --> 00:24:18,320 how life points to God. A Our God is a God of order and 354 00:24:18,320 --> 00:24:21,560 purpose. Our God is a God of order and 355 00:24:21,560 --> 00:24:23,680 purpose. Just consider the food chain as 356 00:24:23,680 --> 00:24:25,680 one example. One example, the food chain. 357 00:24:27,120 --> 00:24:31,160 In the 1920s, wolves had been almost wiped out from 358 00:24:31,160 --> 00:24:35,680 Yellowstone National Park. As a result of this, elk 359 00:24:35,760 --> 00:24:39,720 multiplied rapidly in the park. Because there were so many elk, 360 00:24:40,000 --> 00:24:42,920 they over grazed the trees and all the shrubs. 361 00:24:43,880 --> 00:24:48,320 Now in the past 20 years, they reintroduced wolves into the 362 00:24:48,320 --> 00:24:52,560 park and it kept the elk population in control. 363 00:24:52,960 --> 00:24:55,760 As a result of the elk population being in control, 364 00:24:55,880 --> 00:24:59,440 trees grew taller. As a result of trees growing 365 00:24:59,440 --> 00:25:03,880 taller, Beavers were able to return, who then built dams, 366 00:25:04,320 --> 00:25:06,880 which then increased ponds and wetlands. 367 00:25:07,560 --> 00:25:11,080 The ponds and the wetlands supported otters and moose and 368 00:25:11,080 --> 00:25:14,360 trout. The wolves also reduced coyotes 369 00:25:14,360 --> 00:25:18,280 which allowed rabbits and rodents to return and all of 370 00:25:18,280 --> 00:25:24,280 this, it's because of God's order and purpose. 371 00:25:29,240 --> 00:25:33,280 Often we can look at the so-called wolves and our life 372 00:25:34,280 --> 00:25:37,520 and think, I wish they were gone. 373 00:25:39,840 --> 00:25:45,520 I wish they would be gone, but they serve a purpose in our life 374 00:25:47,680 --> 00:25:49,520 because God made them for a purpose. 375 00:25:52,400 --> 00:25:56,000 Our God is a God of order and purpose. 376 00:25:57,520 --> 00:26:00,400 B. Our God is a creative God. 377 00:26:01,920 --> 00:26:05,320 All one has to do is go out into nature and see how creative God 378 00:26:05,320 --> 00:26:07,280 is, especially in a place like Washington. 379 00:26:07,480 --> 00:26:10,520 Just go out into nature and you will be fascinated with how 380 00:26:10,520 --> 00:26:13,640 creative our God is. I find it interesting that many 381 00:26:13,640 --> 00:26:17,600 of the people in this world who find, especially in in Seattle, 382 00:26:18,120 --> 00:26:21,640 many of the people who find religion boring, church boring, 383 00:26:21,840 --> 00:26:26,520 God boring are some of the biggest nature loving people out 384 00:26:26,520 --> 00:26:29,360 there. Isn't that interesting? 385 00:26:29,600 --> 00:26:32,960 I always found that ironic because God is behind all that 386 00:26:32,960 --> 00:26:39,160 creativity, all the things that you love about nature, God is 387 00:26:39,160 --> 00:26:44,000 behind all of it. How can anybody be bored with 388 00:26:44,000 --> 00:26:49,840 our God? See, our God is both strong and 389 00:26:49,840 --> 00:26:52,800 tender. There's a feature in Scripture 390 00:26:52,800 --> 00:26:55,760 called zoomorphism. Anthropomorphism is when we 391 00:26:55,760 --> 00:26:58,000 ascribe human characteristics. God. 392 00:26:58,200 --> 00:27:00,760 There's a feature called zoomorphism where we ascribe 393 00:27:01,560 --> 00:27:06,160 animal characteristics to God. God is likened to an eagle, a 394 00:27:06,160 --> 00:27:10,240 bear, a hen, a lion. Why? 395 00:27:11,040 --> 00:27:15,360 Perhaps God gave us strong animals to say something about 396 00:27:15,360 --> 00:27:19,480 his strength. And perhaps God gave us tender 397 00:27:19,480 --> 00:27:23,080 animals to say something about his tender care. 398 00:27:25,840 --> 00:27:30,160 And D, our God is a God of design. 399 00:27:31,720 --> 00:27:35,880 God is the original architect. He's the original engineer. 400 00:27:37,880 --> 00:27:45,120 Speaking of woodpeckers, God designed this bird with a built 401 00:27:45,160 --> 00:27:51,760 in helmet. I mean, that's fascinating. 402 00:27:52,560 --> 00:27:55,200 The birds got a built in helmet in its head. 403 00:27:57,960 --> 00:28:00,360 Did you know that there is a desert beetle that has 404 00:28:00,360 --> 00:28:05,120 hydrophilic bumps on its back that attract water out of the 405 00:28:05,160 --> 00:28:09,000 air and it will beat up on its back and when it gets enough, 406 00:28:09,000 --> 00:28:13,080 it'll then just slide down its back into its mouth and that's 407 00:28:13,080 --> 00:28:22,280 how it lives in the desert. All of this means that God has 408 00:28:22,400 --> 00:28:29,880 designed you and me too, exactly according to His good pleasure. 409 00:28:33,840 --> 00:28:46,560 You have been designed by God to his perfect pleasure #2 Even the 410 00:28:46,560 --> 00:28:54,840 mosquitoes, cockroaches, rats, snakes, and spiders were good in 411 00:28:54,840 --> 00:29:00,440 God's eyes. When we go back to Alabama, 412 00:29:00,440 --> 00:29:03,520 we're going back in June. Every time we go back, I forget 413 00:29:03,520 --> 00:29:04,840 how bad the mosquitoes are there. 414 00:29:06,240 --> 00:29:08,440 They were just bugs in general. One of the things I love about, 415 00:29:08,440 --> 00:29:11,440 I mean, I know we have some bugs here, but it's nothing like 416 00:29:11,440 --> 00:29:13,880 Alabama. Like it's bad. 417 00:29:14,720 --> 00:29:17,200 Sometimes you can look down at your leg and there will be a 418 00:29:17,200 --> 00:29:22,000 dozen mosquitoes on one leg. And I think, you know, when I 419 00:29:22,000 --> 00:29:23,920 look at them, I'm like, how is this good? 420 00:29:23,920 --> 00:29:27,880 God? I remember when we used to have 421 00:29:27,880 --> 00:29:30,200 the food bank. Some of you have been here for 422 00:29:30,200 --> 00:29:31,920 like many years. You remember we used to have the 423 00:29:31,920 --> 00:29:34,240 food bank. It attracted so many rats. 424 00:29:35,800 --> 00:29:38,360 There were dozens of rats running around in our parking 425 00:29:38,360 --> 00:29:42,040 lot. 1 time I walked out of that door and as soon as I opened 426 00:29:42,040 --> 00:29:45,600 that door, there was a rat the size of a small cat that ran 427 00:29:45,600 --> 00:29:50,760 right across my feet. And I was like, how is this 428 00:29:50,760 --> 00:29:57,440 good? How many things in this life do 429 00:29:57,440 --> 00:30:03,360 we see as a pest to be eradicated when God sees it as 430 00:30:03,360 --> 00:30:08,640 an opportunity to be sanctified? Everything has a good purpose. 431 00:30:10,280 --> 00:30:15,320 Just as mosquitoes, cockroaches, rats, snakes, spiders, they all 432 00:30:15,320 --> 00:30:19,800 have a good purpose and the eyes of the of God, so does sickness 433 00:30:21,400 --> 00:30:29,160 and suffering and trials and waiting and persecution and 434 00:30:29,160 --> 00:30:35,840 loneliness and testing all have a good purpose in the eyes of 435 00:30:35,840 --> 00:30:39,600 God. It all has a good purpose in the 436 00:30:39,600 --> 00:30:48,920 eyes of God #3 Creation points to intelligent design, not 437 00:30:48,920 --> 00:30:52,880 random chance. Creation points us to 438 00:30:52,880 --> 00:30:57,200 intelligent design, not random chance. 439 00:30:57,840 --> 00:30:59,920 I'm sure many of you have heard of an argument. 440 00:31:00,680 --> 00:31:02,880 An argument for there being a God, and not just a God, but a 441 00:31:02,880 --> 00:31:05,520 creator God called Pele's Watchmaker. 442 00:31:05,640 --> 00:31:08,040 Sure, many of you, if you've taken philosophy before 443 00:31:08,720 --> 00:31:10,800 apologetics or something, you probably have heard of this 444 00:31:10,800 --> 00:31:12,480 argument. For here's what he writes. 445 00:31:13,120 --> 00:31:17,640 Imagine walking across a heath and striking your foot against a 446 00:31:17,640 --> 00:31:20,960 stone. If you were asked how the stone 447 00:31:20,960 --> 00:31:24,120 came to be there, you might reasonably answer that it had 448 00:31:24,120 --> 00:31:28,360 lain there forever. However, if you found a watch on 449 00:31:28,360 --> 00:31:31,200 the ground, the same answer wouldn't suffice. 450 00:31:32,120 --> 00:31:35,280 Upon inspecting the watch, you could observe several specific 451 00:31:35,280 --> 00:31:38,000 characteristics. A You could observe its 452 00:31:38,000 --> 00:31:40,440 complexity. It consists of many intricate 453 00:31:40,440 --> 00:31:44,320 parts, gears, springs, glass. B. 454 00:31:44,320 --> 00:31:47,760 You could observe its precision. These parts are framed and put 455 00:31:47,760 --> 00:31:51,880 together for a specific purpose and see you can observe its 456 00:31:51,880 --> 00:31:54,760 purpose. The parts move in a coordinated 457 00:31:54,760 --> 00:31:57,480 way to produce a specific result. 458 00:31:59,120 --> 00:32:03,520 Pele argue that the watch's conveyance of design is so 459 00:32:03,520 --> 00:32:07,800 obvious that even if we had never seen a watch made or 460 00:32:07,800 --> 00:32:10,720 didn't understand how it worked, we would still conclude that it 461 00:32:10,720 --> 00:32:14,000 must have had a maker who comprehended its construction 462 00:32:14,000 --> 00:32:19,720 and designed its use. He further argues that the human 463 00:32:19,720 --> 00:32:24,800 eye alone, just the eye, is far more complex than a watch. 464 00:32:28,040 --> 00:32:30,600 I had this thought just hiking a few years back. 465 00:32:30,600 --> 00:32:34,240 I was hiking in the woods and you ever see a bridge that's 466 00:32:34,240 --> 00:32:38,480 been made in a hiking trail? Like the it's got like the 467 00:32:38,480 --> 00:32:41,520 planks are all the same length. It's got nails in it, It's got 468 00:32:41,520 --> 00:32:43,760 hand rails, right? Does anybody like come upon that 469 00:32:43,760 --> 00:32:50,560 and think, look, look at what nature has given us that that 470 00:32:50,560 --> 00:32:55,880 metal would just fall right inside and the plank, Who who 471 00:32:55,880 --> 00:32:58,240 thinks that? Do we not realize that somebody 472 00:32:58,240 --> 00:33:03,320 built this bridge and yet atheist look around at this 473 00:33:03,320 --> 00:33:06,720 world and say, look, look at what billions of years have 474 00:33:06,720 --> 00:33:10,520 given us. Is that not ludicrous? 475 00:33:17,050 --> 00:33:22,090 There is such design in this universe that there must be a 476 00:33:22,090 --> 00:33:25,810 designer, an intelligent designer. 477 00:33:27,610 --> 00:33:30,930 Now, I understand this, right? Some of you may be thinking that 478 00:33:30,930 --> 00:33:33,530 doesn't prove the designer is the Christian God. 479 00:33:33,530 --> 00:33:39,880 You're absolutely right, Allah could be the Christian designer. 480 00:33:40,600 --> 00:33:41,840 I mean the the intelligent designer. 481 00:33:43,600 --> 00:33:49,240 Pele's argument does not prove Christianity, but it does point 482 00:33:49,240 --> 00:33:54,160 to us that there is a creator, there is somebody behind all of 483 00:33:54,160 --> 00:33:58,080 this, and now the question is who is it? 484 00:33:59,400 --> 00:34:08,560 Who is behind all of this #4 Humans have the unique privilege 485 00:34:08,600 --> 00:34:13,239 of burying the image of God. Humans have the unique privilege 486 00:34:13,239 --> 00:34:16,560 of burying the image of God. Neither the sun, the moon, the 487 00:34:16,560 --> 00:34:20,679 stars, nor mountains or rivers or trees or land animals or 488 00:34:20,679 --> 00:34:24,360 marine life, or the birds of heaven, none of it bear the 489 00:34:24,360 --> 00:34:29,120 image of God. You see, we can look at Mount 490 00:34:29,120 --> 00:34:31,679 Rainier. You ever on a sunny day here, 491 00:34:31,679 --> 00:34:33,400 right? You're driving down I5 S. 492 00:34:33,719 --> 00:34:35,960 You see, you know you come across and also there's not 493 00:34:35,960 --> 00:34:38,760 Rainier and it's there. It is in all its glory and all 494 00:34:38,760 --> 00:34:44,800 its majesty, and yet it does not come close to reflecting God the 495 00:34:44,800 --> 00:34:51,800 way that you and I do. God made the world to display 496 00:34:51,800 --> 00:34:54,480 his glory. God made humans to display his 497 00:34:54,480 --> 00:34:57,680 image. Now, as I mentioned earlier, 498 00:34:57,680 --> 00:35:01,280 this debatable as to exactly what that means his image and 499 00:35:01,280 --> 00:35:02,240 his glory. Let's be clear. 500 00:35:04,080 --> 00:35:06,720 It's available as what exactly this means, but I think it 501 00:35:06,720 --> 00:35:09,320 includes everything from our morality. 502 00:35:09,480 --> 00:35:13,560 Our morality is is, you know, like animals don't have a sense 503 00:35:13,560 --> 00:35:15,480 of morality. The lion doesn't like feel 504 00:35:15,480 --> 00:35:22,240 guilty for killing the zebra. Our reason, our spirituality, 505 00:35:22,880 --> 00:35:26,560 our relational nature, our aesthetic sense, our sense of 506 00:35:26,560 --> 00:35:32,760 beauty, our judicial sense, all of it is what it means to be 507 00:35:32,760 --> 00:35:35,520 made an image of God. These are not byproducts of 508 00:35:35,520 --> 00:35:38,360 civilization. The world will say, well, these 509 00:35:38,360 --> 00:35:40,960 are just byproducts of of thousands of years civilization. 510 00:35:40,960 --> 00:35:45,560 No, they're not byproducts of the Enlightenment or the 511 00:35:45,560 --> 00:35:48,520 Renaissance or the printing press or the scientific 512 00:35:48,520 --> 00:35:54,200 revolution or modern psychology. These are byproducts of being 513 00:35:54,200 --> 00:35:59,800 made in the image of God. That's how we got here. 514 00:36:01,400 --> 00:36:10,600 Were made in the image of God 5 The image of God should impact 515 00:36:10,840 --> 00:36:15,960 how we interact, treat, and speak with the lost world. 516 00:36:17,440 --> 00:36:23,040 The image of God should impact how we interact, treat and speak 517 00:36:23,320 --> 00:36:26,320 with the lost world we are currently. 518 00:36:26,520 --> 00:36:29,760 The Renton small group is currently reading a book in our 519 00:36:29,760 --> 00:36:33,320 small group called The Gospel Comes with a House Key, 520 00:36:33,440 --> 00:36:37,880 practicing radically ordinary hospitality and a post Christian 521 00:36:37,960 --> 00:36:41,680 world. Now, while there are many parts 522 00:36:41,680 --> 00:36:44,760 of the book I don't like, and I would not recommend the book to 523 00:36:44,760 --> 00:36:55,120 anybody, sorry if you like it. One of my biggest takeaways from 524 00:36:55,120 --> 00:37:00,280 the book is how much she emphasizes that lost people are 525 00:37:00,280 --> 00:37:04,480 made in the image of God. She emphasizes this point 526 00:37:04,760 --> 00:37:07,760 wanting us to see that all lost people are made of them is God. 527 00:37:07,760 --> 00:37:09,920 Now, we all know that to be theologically true. 528 00:37:09,960 --> 00:37:12,720 Like, yeah, yeah, I know that Matt, we all know that to be 529 00:37:12,720 --> 00:37:15,160 theologically true. But isn't it very easily to 530 00:37:15,160 --> 00:37:18,360 practical to practically forget this truth when we come across 531 00:37:18,360 --> 00:37:20,520 certain lost people who rub us the wrong way? 532 00:37:23,320 --> 00:37:28,320 It could be the thief, could be the drug addict, could be the 533 00:37:28,320 --> 00:37:33,000 homosexual, could be the reckless driver, or the 534 00:37:33,000 --> 00:37:37,440 Democrat, or the Republican, or the sex offender. 535 00:37:41,120 --> 00:37:44,720 We never want to excuse anyone's sin, especially egregious sin, 536 00:37:45,800 --> 00:37:50,560 but we must remember that all lost people, all people bear the 537 00:37:50,560 --> 00:37:58,440 image of God, and this should impact how we interact, treat 538 00:37:59,080 --> 00:38:06,200 and speak with the lost world number six. 539 00:38:08,680 --> 00:38:14,080 The reason animal attacks don't happen more often is because God 540 00:38:14,080 --> 00:38:20,000 gave us dominion over the earth. The reason animal attacks don't 541 00:38:20,000 --> 00:38:24,280 happen more often is because God gave us dominion over the earth. 542 00:38:24,600 --> 00:38:29,280 And Exodus 8 to 10, Egypt was plagued with frogs, gnats, 543 00:38:29,400 --> 00:38:32,840 flies, and locusts. You imagine if that was a 544 00:38:32,840 --> 00:38:35,040 regular occurrence. You imagine if like once a year 545 00:38:35,040 --> 00:38:39,520 we were plagued with gnats or flies or frogs or locusts. 546 00:38:40,200 --> 00:38:43,640 We just dealt with it in numbers 21. 547 00:38:43,640 --> 00:38:46,240 Six serpents came out and bit people, and many died. 548 00:38:47,640 --> 00:38:49,640 Imagine we live in a world where, you know, it's like 549 00:38:49,640 --> 00:38:52,400 snakes on a plane, snakes in a church, right? 550 00:38:53,280 --> 00:38:54,840 We just got bit by snakes all the time. 551 00:38:56,760 --> 00:39:00,080 Second Kings 224, two sea bears came out of the woods and mauled 552 00:39:00,080 --> 00:39:05,520 42 boys. And second King 1725, lions came 553 00:39:05,680 --> 00:39:08,160 and killed some of the relocated Assyrian people. 554 00:39:08,560 --> 00:39:11,560 And in Jonah 117, a great fish swallowed a profit. 555 00:39:12,000 --> 00:39:14,200 Why don't these types of things happen more often? 556 00:39:17,280 --> 00:39:19,400 Because God gave us dominion over this world. 557 00:39:22,400 --> 00:39:25,240 God gave us dominion of. Now I know very well that shark 558 00:39:25,240 --> 00:39:28,320 attack still happen, right? That's why you won't find me in 559 00:39:28,320 --> 00:39:33,880 the ocean ever. Mountain Lion attack still 560 00:39:33,880 --> 00:39:38,560 happen and snakes still bite people. 561 00:39:40,000 --> 00:39:43,440 But imagine if God didn't give us dominion over this creative 562 00:39:43,440 --> 00:39:44,960 world. Imagine if he didn't give us 563 00:39:44,960 --> 00:39:47,880 this. Every time I see how many crows 564 00:39:47,880 --> 00:39:49,960 we haven't seen, ever knows how many crows we have in Seattle, 565 00:39:50,840 --> 00:39:53,480 we've got an exorbitant amount of crows in the city. 566 00:39:54,240 --> 00:39:56,920 Every time I see how many we have, I think about that Alfred 567 00:39:56,920 --> 00:40:00,120 Hitchcock movie The Birds, where the birds just, like, start 568 00:40:00,120 --> 00:40:04,640 attacking people. And I'm like, what if that was 569 00:40:04,640 --> 00:40:09,360 our life? It is a good thing that God has 570 00:40:09,360 --> 00:40:14,480 given us dominion over this world, something we should be 571 00:40:14,480 --> 00:40:23,560 thankful for. Seven Gender is not assigned or 572 00:40:23,560 --> 00:40:31,760 constructed, it is created. Gender is not assigned or 573 00:40:31,760 --> 00:40:37,840 constructed. It is created when I sign up for 574 00:40:37,840 --> 00:40:40,680 my health insurance every year on Washington Health Plan 575 00:40:40,680 --> 00:40:46,680 Finder. It asked me my name, my date of 576 00:40:46,680 --> 00:40:51,560 birth, and then it asked me for sex assigned at birth. 577 00:40:52,840 --> 00:40:56,680 I always find that hilarious. So I'm like, assigned by who? 578 00:40:57,760 --> 00:41:03,320 The doctors society? I mean, if it's assigned by the 579 00:41:03,320 --> 00:41:04,520 doctors, what are the doctors like? 580 00:41:04,680 --> 00:41:10,960 Like had told me when I was born, you're a female assigned 581 00:41:10,960 --> 00:41:16,120 by doctors society, my parents who who, who is it assigned by? 582 00:41:18,360 --> 00:41:22,560 Assigned means that there's an assignor who assigned this. 583 00:41:23,320 --> 00:41:26,480 Now, of course I put mail there. I put mail. 584 00:41:28,000 --> 00:41:30,720 But as much as I think that question is crazy, the next 585 00:41:30,720 --> 00:41:33,360 question is this. Are you pregnant? 586 00:41:36,280 --> 00:41:41,440 I already clicked that I am male and then it says are you 587 00:41:41,440 --> 00:41:46,800 pregnant? I I've wanted to click yes many 588 00:41:46,800 --> 00:41:50,760 times. I just want to see what it says. 589 00:41:50,960 --> 00:42:00,040 I want to see what it does. We are living in very confused 590 00:42:00,120 --> 00:42:02,960 times, aren't we? Not confusing. 591 00:42:03,320 --> 00:42:04,960 Let's be clear on this. Not confusing. 592 00:42:04,960 --> 00:42:08,040 There's nothing confusing here. Confused. 593 00:42:09,160 --> 00:42:18,320 The world is confused. We see in verse 27 that God made 594 00:42:18,320 --> 00:42:24,200 them. Male and female gender is not 595 00:42:24,200 --> 00:42:27,720 assigned. It's not constructed by society. 596 00:42:27,880 --> 00:42:37,760 It is created by God. That's what the Bible teaches. 8 597 00:42:39,840 --> 00:42:45,680 Singleness is a blessing. Marriage is a blessing. 598 00:42:46,800 --> 00:42:52,600 Children are a blessing. Some people think of singleness 599 00:42:52,600 --> 00:42:56,400 as a curse, right? It's a curse to be single. 600 00:42:57,080 --> 00:43:00,040 But both Jesus and Paul tell us that it was a blessing. 601 00:43:01,160 --> 00:43:03,800 They actually say it's a gift that not everybody can receive. 602 00:43:04,440 --> 00:43:06,480 You are blessed if you can receive it. 603 00:43:08,040 --> 00:43:09,880 Some people think that marriage is slavery. 604 00:43:11,120 --> 00:43:13,880 Why? Why would I willingly choose to 605 00:43:13,920 --> 00:43:19,800 enslave myself to this person? The Bible tells us that marriage 606 00:43:19,800 --> 00:43:22,600 is a blessing. He who finds a wife finds a good 607 00:43:22,600 --> 00:43:25,000 thing. A prudent wife is from the Lord. 608 00:43:26,960 --> 00:43:29,040 And some people think that children are a burden. 609 00:43:30,760 --> 00:43:34,240 Do you know what it costs to raise a child in this world? 610 00:43:34,240 --> 00:43:38,840 Do you know what it costs to raise two children or 4? 611 00:43:44,250 --> 00:43:47,530 But children are not a burden, they are a blessing. 612 00:43:48,490 --> 00:43:52,050 Blessed is the man who fills his quiver with them. 613 00:43:55,130 --> 00:43:59,290 When God made male and female, he blessed them. 614 00:43:59,890 --> 00:44:03,130 And right after he blessed them, what did he tell them to do? 615 00:44:03,600 --> 00:44:08,760 Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth. 616 00:44:10,360 --> 00:44:14,240 The ability to be fruitful, the ability to multiply is a 617 00:44:14,240 --> 00:44:19,560 blessing from God. We currently have 6 examples of 618 00:44:19,560 --> 00:44:26,400 this blessing in our church. 6 So let me say to you all very 619 00:44:26,400 --> 00:44:33,960 clearly, whether you are single, whether you are married, or 620 00:44:33,960 --> 00:44:38,720 whether you have children, they are all a blessing in their own 621 00:44:38,720 --> 00:44:49,840 respective all of them. 9 There are few things that remind us of 622 00:44:49,840 --> 00:44:58,240 the goodness of God, like food. There are few things that remind 623 00:44:58,240 --> 00:45:01,480 us of the goodness of God, like food. 624 00:45:02,440 --> 00:45:05,880 We now see that part of the reason that God made all of this 625 00:45:05,880 --> 00:45:12,040 vegetation was for food, both for animals and for humans. 626 00:45:13,400 --> 00:45:16,360 Consider how the food reminds us of the goodness of God. 627 00:45:18,560 --> 00:45:21,560 Growing up, I had never really tried Indian food. 628 00:45:22,680 --> 00:45:26,080 And when we moved here, we went to this place, we got a gift 629 00:45:26,080 --> 00:45:27,600 card, this place called Naan and Curry. 630 00:45:29,760 --> 00:45:33,120 Man I thought I was in heaven. If you haven't tried I don't 631 00:45:33,120 --> 00:45:36,560 even know if it exists anymore but non and Curry it is good. 632 00:45:38,720 --> 00:45:40,560 I had never really tried good coffee. 633 00:45:41,720 --> 00:45:47,000 I always had like gas station coffee Folgers we moved here. 634 00:45:47,440 --> 00:45:51,480 I have tried coffee man that reminded me of the goodness of 635 00:45:51,480 --> 00:45:56,040 God. Same is true of apple cider. 636 00:45:56,040 --> 00:45:59,120 This in in the winter time you get some apple cider doughnuts 637 00:45:59,120 --> 00:46:04,720 as an apple cider and good. I had never tried Brussels 638 00:46:04,720 --> 00:46:06,800 sprouts or green beans like I had here. 639 00:46:08,640 --> 00:46:12,520 All of it showed me the goodness of God. 640 00:46:13,560 --> 00:46:18,680 When the Bible says taste and see that the Lord is good, 641 00:46:19,000 --> 00:46:22,720 that's true both spiritually and literally. 642 00:46:26,680 --> 00:46:36,280 And #10 last point, the Sabbath as a law, as a law is no longer 643 00:46:36,280 --> 00:46:41,440 binding for Christians. The Sabbath as an example to 644 00:46:41,480 --> 00:46:44,240 follow should be strongly considered. 645 00:46:44,240 --> 00:46:50,640 Let me say that again. The Sabbath as a law is no 646 00:46:50,640 --> 00:46:55,600 longer binding for Christians. The Sabbath as an example to 647 00:46:55,600 --> 00:46:58,360 follow should be strongly considered. 648 00:46:59,760 --> 00:47:02,280 A full doctrine of the Sabbath is beyond the scope of the 649 00:47:02,280 --> 00:47:03,640 sermon. I can preach the whole sermon on 650 00:47:03,640 --> 00:47:05,240 that. This and the reason it would 651 00:47:05,240 --> 00:47:07,560 take that while is because this is a highly debatable topic. 652 00:47:07,840 --> 00:47:10,880 Scholars debate over this as to whether we are legally were 653 00:47:11,040 --> 00:47:13,560 lawfully bound to observe the Sabbath or not. 654 00:47:14,000 --> 00:47:17,880 As I have researched this topic over the past 20 years, I have 655 00:47:17,880 --> 00:47:20,680 come to this conclusion and it's OK. 656 00:47:20,680 --> 00:47:22,680 This is it's OK if you have a different perspective. 657 00:47:22,680 --> 00:47:27,920 This is not a point to divide over the Sabbath as a law is no 658 00:47:27,920 --> 00:47:32,400 longer binding for Christians. I believe this is made clear in 659 00:47:32,400 --> 00:47:36,920 Colossians 216 to 17 and Romans 14, five to 9. 660 00:47:37,720 --> 00:47:40,240 I believe that point is made clear in those two passages. 661 00:47:40,880 --> 00:47:45,720 But the Sabbath as an example to follow should be strongly 662 00:47:45,720 --> 00:47:49,280 considered and the example is set by the Lord. 663 00:47:51,200 --> 00:47:54,600 I think the most common reason that people give for not taking 664 00:47:54,600 --> 00:47:57,760 a Sabbath, not not resting one day a week, but the most common 665 00:47:57,760 --> 00:47:59,720 reasons are I don't need the rest. 666 00:48:00,000 --> 00:48:03,320 You know, I mean, I, I, I, I feel fine. 667 00:48:03,320 --> 00:48:04,920 I work some days a week and I feel good. 668 00:48:04,920 --> 00:48:06,120 I don't, I don't, I don't need the rest. 669 00:48:07,440 --> 00:48:10,960 Or I could be more productive, right? 670 00:48:10,960 --> 00:48:12,920 Think about it. I mean, that's one seventh more 671 00:48:12,920 --> 00:48:18,120 productive. It's a lot or take an entire day 672 00:48:18,120 --> 00:48:19,280 off. It seems like a waste, right? 673 00:48:19,280 --> 00:48:21,360 I mean, when I'm not working, if I'm not doing something, I'm 674 00:48:21,360 --> 00:48:23,240 just sitting around just like twin my thumbs and I'm like, no, 675 00:48:23,240 --> 00:48:28,200 I'm just wasting time. And I would just remind us all, 676 00:48:29,720 --> 00:48:33,440 God didn't need the rest. The argument is I don't need the 677 00:48:33,440 --> 00:48:34,720 rest. God didn't need the rest. 678 00:48:36,920 --> 00:48:43,840 God did not feel the need to be more productive, and God didn't 679 00:48:43,840 --> 00:48:46,960 think it was a waste to create in six days and rest on one. 680 00:48:47,400 --> 00:48:51,600 He didn't find that to be a waste, and neither should we. 681 00:48:54,200 --> 00:48:59,720 Brothers and sisters, the Lord's Day is still holy unto the Lord. 682 00:49:02,040 --> 00:49:05,080 We should treat it as such. Let's pray.