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Welcome To The River. 
City Church podcast and a 

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message by our lead. 
Pastor Jason Powers our prayer 

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is that this message would 
Inspire and encourage you, build

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your faith and point you to the 
life-changing love Jesus, may 

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you enjoy the goodness of God as
you follow him today? 

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Before we jump into the message,
I want to kind of acknowledge 

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something today. 
So Jesus said in Matthew 5 6 or 

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7 and remember exactly what was 
said. 

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Matthew Chapter 5 he said, 
blessed are the peacemakers. 

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It's an important distinction 
because there are peacekeepers 

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and there are peacemakers and 
what Jesus didn't say. 

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His blessed are the peace 
Keepers, right? 

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The Peacekeeper changes the 
subject when it gets 

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uncomfortable so we can talk 
about something else, right? 

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You talk about something and 
he's oh let's have peace makers 

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instead. 
When we since division or 

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separation, or hurt, or pain, 
they weighed in cautiously 

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gently and they bring out truth 
and they do what they can to 

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bring people together. 
And Jesus said, blessed are the 

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peacemakers has, they'll be like
God. 

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So in the church, our role in 
our responsibility is to be 

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peacemakers. 
That's what God is. 

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Like, that's what forgiveness is
the way he makes peace between 

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us and him is through 
forgiveness. 

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Okay, so none of us come to God 
on our own merits. 

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And so that's a real quick. 
Want to take a look around and 

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you'll notice a couple things 
and the room aside from there, 

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not being any empty chairs, 
which reminds you should come to

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our annual meeting this Tuesday 
at the video at the venue over 

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in freiheit Village, it's 
church. 

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It's a building that we're going
to buy. 

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We're looking at it. 
We'd love for you to see it and 

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see what it's all about. 
Nonetheless, that's not we're 

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talking about today. 
There's a great opportunity for 

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the church to make peace in the 
world but we have to acknowledge

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that in order to be peacemakers 
we have to walk into difficult. 

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Territory are you ready for that
today? 

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Day. 
Today some of you are like, tell

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me and then I'll let you know 
whether we're ready for today's 

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sanctity of Life, Sunday. 
Oh now there's that silence, 

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right? 
I want you real quick. 

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Look around the room and see if 
you can identify the evil 

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people. 
The people are here. 

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So as to thwart the will and 
direction of God, I don't see 

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you. 
That must have been first 

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service. 
They were all in here. 

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So our calling, as a church is 
to be peacemakers to enter into 

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territory where we are 
separating, where we are divided

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in to make peace. 
And I think on this subject on 

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this topic, there's no greater 
opportunity for the church to be

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peacemakers in our world. 
So what is sanctity of Life? 

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Say it's changed a little bit 
because last year because 

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Happened with Roe versus Wade 
this year. 

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And so what I want to know, 
despite the fact that we are in 

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this room, not good and evil 
people. 

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We are on different sides of 
this issue and so how does the 

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church be a peacemaking force on
this issue? 

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What we do is we pray. 
Now, here's the thing. 

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We are Jason Powers. 
Here's what I believe. 

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Psalm 139 the psalmist says to 
God. 

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You knit me together in my 
mother's womb before Or one day 

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was formed. 
You knew all of them, all of the

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days of my life were written 
before. 

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One of them existed, my belief 
is that God creates life and 

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Life Starts early. 
That's my belief and my 

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conviction and I know some of 
you in this room disagree with 

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me. 
So how do we make peace on this?

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The first thing we have to do is
we have to understand the 

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objections of those who disagree
with us. 

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By and large the large 
percentage of people who 

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disagree, this idea, what do 
they care about? 

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They care about the life of the 
woman. 

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They care about the life of the 
child in this world Watson at 

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with and go. 
And here's what I can say. 

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I care about that too. 
You know what I care about when 

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I think about women and 
abortion. 

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I care about all of those women 
since 1973, who for whatever 

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reason have had an abortion and 
want to deal with it. 

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And have felt like the church is
not a safe place for that 

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lesson. 
I say as a pastor of a church 

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church we have to repent for 
that. 

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The fact that the most broken 
people in society seem to be 

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drawn like a magnet to Jesus, 
but not to the church as a 

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problem, it is a problem. 
So, I advocate for the life of 

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women and I want you to know, I 
want you to hear me clearly on 

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this, the statistics outside of 
the church, say something like 1

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in 3 1 and 4. 
Women have been through this, we

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are foolish. 
If we think those numbers don't 

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come into this room. 
So here's what I want you to 

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say, here's what I want you to 
know if you are in this room and

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your life has been touched by an
abortion either yours or someone

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else. 
This is a place where you don't 

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feel shame. 
You are welcome here. 

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You do not have to hide from me.
You do not have to hide from 

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this congregation and the reason
is because you don't have to 

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hide from Jesus. 
That is our stance on pro-life 

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now. 
Church we ready? 

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We got a lot of work to do. 
We had a lot of going on right 

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here because guess what, right? 
Like we had this big thing, we 

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celebrate. 
Hey, and the church, if you 

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celebrated this robe, you would,
if you didn't celebrate Roe v-- 

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Wade. 
That's Hawaii, right? 

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Because you're worried about all
of these, terrible hard 

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difficult things right on for 
all these mothers, right? 

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Well here's the deal Church, 
guess? 

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What if you were pulling and 
praying and cheering for Roe v--

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Wade to be overturned. 
Guess what you got it? 

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Guess what? 
Our job started that day because

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guess what? 
We were in a foster crisis 

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before, now, what Church. 
This is our moment and we will 

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either gain and maintain 
credibility on this issue or we 

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will not. 
And so our prayer as a piece 

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making church, is that all life?
The life of mothers, the life of

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children, the life of unborn 
pregnancies, the life of women 

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who are caught and don't 
possibly see a way out. 

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Our prayer is number one. 
They would no hope number two 

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that they would find. 
And Jesus. 

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And number three, that this, the
church would be a gathering 

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where they feel welcomed and 
loved and able to walk out even 

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the most difficult. 
But if there is a sense of shame

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or hiddenness, that'll never 
happen because they'll just live

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in secret, this is not that 
place, right? 

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Let's pray. 
Jesus. 

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We thank you that you created us
here. 

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You, thank you, that you love 
us. 

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Thank you. 
That you have a purpose for our 

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life and Jesus we acknowledge 
that we need you. 

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And we had knowledge even in 
this room that we're divided and

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we acknowledge that. 
Nobody on either side has a 

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position and believes that they 
are against God's desire. 

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So father, I pray that you would
give us humility in that. 

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And I pray that we would choose 
to battle together over what we 

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agree on that life matters to 
you and I am Jesus. 

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I'm pro-life. 
Help me to have Grace and 

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compassion with people who are 
different from me as they seek 

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to follow. 
You may we talk about our our 

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ideas and our beliefs but may we
gather together around you. 

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We thank you for this day to 
remind us that they're that in 

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difficult and uncomfortable 
situations we pray and we come 

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to you and we thank you. 
Jesus, I thank you that we have 

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this great opportunity to walk 
this out and I pray Jesus that 

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you would be glorified by the 
way that we treat each other the

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way that we talk to each other, 
by the way, that we advocate for

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your life. 
So we asked Jesus, all these 

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things in your name and for your
glory. 

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Amen. 
When watch a quick video and 

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then we'll start. 
It's really okay to disagree. 

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It's hard. 
It's hard because we want our 

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disagreements to be right and 
wrong good and bad. 

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Right? 
If we want our disagreements to 

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be how we evaluate and how we 
how we judge people but I think 

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our disagreements are just an 
opportunity for us to go. 

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Lord, let us have Grace with 
ourselves and Each other as we 

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follow you. 
There's a powerful phrase that 

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I've learned that I don't use 
often enough, but I should it 

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says, I think I'm right, but I 
could be wrong. 

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It's pie thing I'm right, but I 
could be wrong. 

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And the more I live in that 
space and the more I live in 

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that and that tension the more 
it causes me to see you beyond 

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just the sum total of your ideas
and your beliefs. 

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We just kind of started talking 
a little bit. 

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Last week, we're in a series 
called blueprint. 

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We started talking about started
this series. 

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I looking at John chapter 3 and 
Jesus said to Nicodemus, and 

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Nicodemus, had made it, right? 
He was like the kind of top of 

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the social food chain at the 
time in Jesus like, listen, 

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unless you're born again you 
cannot see the kingdom and 

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Nicodemus like what that doesn't
make sense. 

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But the idea behind this whole 
John 3 and really we're going to

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talk about Genesis 12 and 3 over
the next couple of weeks. 

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The what he says this idea that 
there's no new life without New 

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Birth, which is confusing 
because we've already been born,

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which really gives us a clue. 
Right. 

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Re means again And right. 
So, it's life again, born again,

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right? 
And when you think about rewrite

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like like, say a car, you want 
to restore a car, the idea 

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behind restoration of a car as 
you take a car that is and you 

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get it back to what it looked 
like when it was new and it's 

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fresh. 
And so maybe you do a paint job,

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maybe you restore the interior, 
maybe you put a new engine in it

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and there's all kinds of 
restoration. 

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Some of it is completely 
faithful only Factory original 

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parts on that. 
Some people say I'm going to 

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take a 1949 in a soup, it up. 
I'm going to make it all kinds 

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of new ways, but if we're 
talking about new life, that 

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Jesus comes to give us new life 
to be born again to be reborn in

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him. 
It raises the question. 

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Well, what was the original 
supposed to be? 

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If I'm restoring a 1950s 
Corvette, I got to know what a 

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50s. 
Corvette originally looked. 

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Like so when we talk about 
rebirth, the question comes, 

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what did the original birth look
like? 

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like, If we are created new in 
Christ Jesus, what did the 

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original creation look like 
that? 

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We're getting back to what are 
we going back to in that? 

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And that's what Genesis is, 
Genesis is an account of the 

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first things and I think 
especially particularly in 

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Genesis 1 2 and 3 we can find 
unique in the account of God's 

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creation. 
We can find a metaphor in a 

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picture of what it looks like us
to find and to follow him but I 

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do. 
Have to say Genesis one, maybe, 

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one of the most difficult 
controversial, even divisive 

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texts, and all of scripture 
what's happening? 

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What does it say? 
What does it mean? 

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What's going on? 
Was it six literal days or is it

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figurative days is the earth, 
6,000 years. 

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Older is the earth, a billion 
years old. 

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Are you raised at 13 billion 
years old? 

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You want to know the answer? 
I don't know. 

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Do you know why? 
I don't know? 

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Because it doesn't say and some 
real God. 

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Yes it does. 
This is what we have to figure 

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out. 
So here's what we're going to do

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today. 
We are going to take a rocket 

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ship and spend our time on to 
versus. 

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So the next week when we start 
unpacking day 1 Day, 2 Day, 3 

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Day. 4 day, 5, day 6, we've got 
a better sense of what's going 

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on. 
So how are we going to 

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understand Genesis chapter 1? 
The first thing. 

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Understand is Genesis chapter, 1
is an ancient near Eastern 

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creation, text. 
And all that means is that 

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Genesis 1 is a text about 
creation. 

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That was written in the near 
East during ancient times. 

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And here's the thing, you know, 
okay, so this is this is where I

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get really nerdy. 
OK. 

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Because like I'm a nerd about 
the Bible but I'm really a nerd 

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about literature cake. 
That's my deal literary 

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criticism and all of that. 
And so what that means is that 

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Like, there are other ancient 
near Eastern creation texts that

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we can look at and compare. 
And I just want to pause real 

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quick and just acknowledge you 
might right now be real nervous 

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about Pastor. 
Talking about Jenna's chili 

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would park rat. 
Let's see, I get it. 

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I understand. 
Hey I'm going to acknowledge 

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people get weird about this. 
Hey sometimes weird is just 

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weird right? 
Sometimes the Lord's going to 

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call us to do things that people
can do that. 

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Funny, he's forgiveness, that 
doesn't make any sense. 

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But sometimes weird is just 
weird, and I think some of the 

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things that we've done with 
this, passage are just weird, 

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00:13:29,300 --> 00:13:31,000
right? 
So let's look at some other 

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00:13:31,100 --> 00:13:34,300
ancient near Eastern creation 
text. 

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00:13:34,300 --> 00:13:36,700
And let's see what we can learn.
And see, we have to find out 

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about Genesis chapter 1, if you 
go all the way back to kind of 

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Babylonian times, right? 
And there's this creation myth 

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is called the uh Numa eilish, 
right? 

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And so what we want to do is we 
want to see kind of these these 

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Myth and see what elements kind 
of pop out. 

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So in this in nuuma, eyelashes 
ancient Babylonia thing, what we

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have is the beginning of the 
story, what you'll find in a lot

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of accounts is swirling Waters, 
right? 

252
00:13:59,800 --> 00:14:07,000
Like dark, primordial Waters and
some manner of God rising out of

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the waters. 
That's what we find Indian Uma 

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00:14:09,400 --> 00:14:10,600
eilish, right? 
This God. 

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Marduk this Babylonian God, 
Marduk? 

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00:14:12,600 --> 00:14:14,800
Who's always there. 
Always, like associated with the

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elements, he comes out. 
And the first thing he does out 

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of the swirling Waters, you take
the A spear throws it right 

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through the heart of this other 
God, interesting. 

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A lot of violence. 
A lot of kind of do that. 

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But what we find here is we're 
looking for similar is ready. 

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Creates comes out out of the 
waters. 

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And one of the first things in 
creation is marred. 

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It begins to separate this from 
that, that Chris has several 

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over here and you go over here 
and he's creating any 

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separating. 
We get to the Mesopotamian 

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creation, myth of how do you say
it attra. 

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00:14:44,000 --> 00:14:46,300
Hey, sis epic, right? 
And what's interesting about 

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that is the gods here. 
At Races, they take clay these 

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elements of earth and they form 
them together to create mankind 

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Out of the Dust of the earth if 
you will out of the dirt and 

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00:14:58,900 --> 00:15:04,000
they form and they fashion if we
go to interesting one for me, is

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00:15:04,000 --> 00:15:07,500
this myth, this Egyptian myth 
out of heliopolis, right? 

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00:15:07,500 --> 00:15:10,900
And the reason it's interesting 
to me is because the Israelites 

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for 400 years were slaves, in 
Egypt, their entire worldview, 

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would have been shaped and 
formed mush by these Egyptian 

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00:15:20,000 --> 00:15:22,800
myth, these Egyptian ethos, they
were surrounded by them. 

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00:15:22,900 --> 00:15:25,200
What's interesting about this 
Egyptian myth and again, a lot 

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00:15:25,200 --> 00:15:26,900
of the same elements that come 
out, right. 

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00:15:26,900 --> 00:15:31,100
You got Waters, you've got 
elements, you've got, you've 

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00:15:31,100 --> 00:15:33,500
got, you know, all these kind of
things registering on the 

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separation. 
What you have in the Egyptian 

283
00:15:36,200 --> 00:15:39,000
myth is this God, a tomb and 
what he does that's really 

284
00:15:39,000 --> 00:15:43,600
interesting. 
Is he creates himself with 

285
00:15:43,700 --> 00:15:45,700
presents a logical problems, 
right? 

286
00:15:45,700 --> 00:15:47,800
Creating of oneself, is 
difficult to create. 

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00:15:47,800 --> 00:15:50,100
Sloshed, Problems but we're kind
of not going to get an app. 

288
00:15:50,100 --> 00:15:55,600
But so through all of these 
myths you find these elements 

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00:15:55,600 --> 00:15:58,800
right. 
Primordial Waters rising out and

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00:15:58,800 --> 00:16:02,500
you find separation creation by 
separation and calling it right.

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00:16:02,500 --> 00:16:06,500
Like this is that and that's it,
creation of mankind from the 

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00:16:06,500 --> 00:16:09,300
elements and then we come to the
scripture, we come to the Bible 

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00:16:09,300 --> 00:16:13,400
and it says, in the beginning, 
God created the heavens and the 

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00:16:13,400 --> 00:16:17,800
Earth and the Earth was without 
form. 

295
00:16:18,200 --> 00:16:22,300
It was void and darkness was 
over the face of the deep. 

296
00:16:22,300 --> 00:16:27,200
And the spirit of God was 
hovering over the face of the 

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00:16:27,200 --> 00:16:29,400
waters. 
There's you see the similar 

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00:16:29,400 --> 00:16:33,100
elements in this creation 
account in the Book of Genesis, 

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00:16:33,200 --> 00:16:35,900
obviously, there are certainly 
some differences to and what I 

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00:16:35,908 --> 00:16:38,500
would say is those differences 
are what significant the 

301
00:16:38,500 --> 00:16:41,600
differences are. 
What to me, gives veracity to 

302
00:16:41,600 --> 00:16:43,300
the story, but here's the 
question, right? 

303
00:16:43,400 --> 00:16:46,100
Does it cause difficulties to 
you to find out that there are 

304
00:16:46,100 --> 00:16:50,000
these common elements in? 
Extra Christian extra biblical 

305
00:16:50,000 --> 00:16:53,100
stories out there, and it makes 
you nervous, like, oh my gosh, 

306
00:16:53,100 --> 00:16:55,500
maybe we just borrowed this and 
it's not real mess. 

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00:16:56,100 --> 00:16:58,600
Exercise saying, we all walk 
outside the door right here and 

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00:16:58,600 --> 00:17:01,400
we go out and hear, Boom. 
And you look out and there was a

309
00:17:01,400 --> 00:17:03,600
car accident in the police come,
right? 

310
00:17:03,600 --> 00:17:05,500
And someone that was standing 
over the corner of the buildings

311
00:17:05,500 --> 00:17:09,099
like that guy, come flying this 
way, it is going 100 miles an 

312
00:17:09,099 --> 00:17:11,300
hour and there is danger, 
personal reasons. 

313
00:17:11,300 --> 00:17:16,099
No, got turning left out and 
went what we can agree on there 

314
00:17:16,099 --> 00:17:20,800
was a car accident that Car got 
T-boned that car did the 

315
00:17:20,800 --> 00:17:24,800
t-boning and really, for some 
things that's enough. 

316
00:17:26,000 --> 00:17:29,700
So when we find stories from all
over the world that have common 

317
00:17:29,700 --> 00:17:33,400
elements rather than making us 
doubt those what they do to me 

318
00:17:33,400 --> 00:17:37,700
as they caused me to believe 
them, there must be a nugget of 

319
00:17:37,700 --> 00:17:41,700
truth that keeps showing up and 
cultures all around the world, 

320
00:17:41,700 --> 00:17:44,900
regardless of background, 
regardless of their kind of, 

321
00:17:44,900 --> 00:17:47,800
ethos, and mysticism, whatever 
they all seem to have. 

322
00:17:48,200 --> 00:17:50,800
Flood myths. 
They all seem to have swirling 

323
00:17:50,800 --> 00:17:54,400
Waters and gods rising out of 
the waters and creation through 

324
00:17:54,400 --> 00:17:58,000
separation and all of that. 
And so the question, obviously 

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00:17:58,000 --> 00:18:03,900
comes Pastor, are you saying 
that the Bible is just a myth 

326
00:18:04,600 --> 00:18:07,000
and that it's not literally 
true? 

327
00:18:09,000 --> 00:18:11,900
You want to know that. 
So where did Genesis come from? 

328
00:18:12,000 --> 00:18:13,900
I'm going to answer it directly 
and plainly everything that 

329
00:18:13,900 --> 00:18:17,900
you're wanting Genesis is not an
eyewitness account, that's 

330
00:18:17,900 --> 00:18:21,200
really important, okay? 
And we know it's not an 

331
00:18:21,200 --> 00:18:24,000
eyewitness account because 
before the creation of mankind, 

332
00:18:24,300 --> 00:18:25,800
we know what we know it 
happened, right? 

333
00:18:25,800 --> 00:18:33,700
So where did Genesis come from? 
The people of Israel, God comes 

334
00:18:33,700 --> 00:18:35,800
to Abraham says, I'm gonna make 
a blessing of you and all the 

335
00:18:35,800 --> 00:18:37,500
people in the world are gonna be
blessed through you. 

336
00:18:37,500 --> 00:18:40,000
A neighbor has a son called 
Isaac and the promise goes from 

337
00:18:40,000 --> 00:18:42,800
God to Isaac, and from Isaac 
son, to Jacob. 

338
00:18:42,800 --> 00:18:44,800
And God tells Jacob, I'm gonna 
make a nation out of you, the 

339
00:18:44,800 --> 00:18:47,800
promise continues. 
And so Jacob has 12 sons and 

340
00:18:47,800 --> 00:18:50,700
they become the nation of Israel
and for 400 years to talk about 

341
00:18:50,700 --> 00:18:54,700
this there in Egypt being formed
and being shaped by the Egyptian

342
00:18:54,900 --> 00:18:57,700
ethos and by Egyptian religion 
and by Egyptian culture. 

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00:18:57,700 --> 00:19:00,400
And then God comes to a guy 
named Moses and says, Moses go. 

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00:19:00,500 --> 00:19:04,000
Get my people. 
And so the people of Israel 

345
00:19:04,100 --> 00:19:08,000
trapped in Egypt for 400 years, 
they hear a man comes to them. 

346
00:19:08,000 --> 00:19:13,100
And says, I am Moses and the god
of your father's, the god of 

347
00:19:13,100 --> 00:19:18,300
Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob has 
sent me to get you, okay? 

348
00:19:18,400 --> 00:19:20,100
So, now, Abraham, Isaac, and 
Jacob. 

349
00:19:20,100 --> 00:19:23,500
This is the god who is calling 
out and he goes and God wins and

350
00:19:23,500 --> 00:19:25,500
beats the Pharaoh and all these 
people come out. 

351
00:19:25,500 --> 00:19:28,300
And so now, the question of the 
people of Israel in the 

352
00:19:28,300 --> 00:19:30,300
wilderness far away from Egypt, 
far away. 

353
00:19:30,400 --> 00:19:32,200
Pharaoh far away from that whole
thing. 

354
00:19:32,200 --> 00:19:37,300
The question on the Israelites 
mind is who is this, God, the 

355
00:19:37,300 --> 00:19:39,400
god, of Abraham, and Isaac and 
Jacob. 

356
00:19:39,400 --> 00:19:43,500
Who are we, who is he, and how 
is he different? 

357
00:19:43,500 --> 00:19:48,600
The story of Genesis 1 is a 
story told to an ancient people 

358
00:19:48,600 --> 00:19:52,200
in the wilderness. 
The point was not to fix their 

359
00:19:52,200 --> 00:19:54,700
cosmology. 
God, we're going to come next 

360
00:19:54,700 --> 00:19:56,200
week, right? 
We're going to read on day two, 

361
00:19:56,200 --> 00:19:57,700
right? 
It's going to say and he 

362
00:19:57,700 --> 00:20:00,400
separated the waters above from 
the waters below. 

363
00:20:00,400 --> 00:20:01,300
Glow. 
And you look at me like there's 

364
00:20:01,300 --> 00:20:03,400
not really Waters, right? 
And so the idea behind the 

365
00:20:03,400 --> 00:20:08,100
waters above is firmament, which
means she'll so Genesis, one 

366
00:20:08,100 --> 00:20:11,300
talks about, there's a shell 
around the earth, right? 

367
00:20:11,300 --> 00:20:15,800
And some of you are like, no, we
have rocket ships and airplanes 

368
00:20:15,800 --> 00:20:19,400
and weather balloons and we know
there's not a shell. 

369
00:20:19,500 --> 00:20:21,100
Okay. 
So now I want you to imagine 

370
00:20:21,100 --> 00:20:22,800
that God comes down to an 
ancient. 

371
00:20:22,800 --> 00:20:27,300
Prehistoric people who have just
spent 400 years in slavery in a 

372
00:20:27,308 --> 00:20:30,100
pagan, you know, barely 
prehistoric. 

373
00:20:30,100 --> 00:20:32,600
How do you They come out 
Homestead and God's not gonna 

374
00:20:32,600 --> 00:20:35,900
sit down to them and go. 
Okay, let's talk about light 

375
00:20:35,900 --> 00:20:40,500
years. 
They're like, 200 miles is the 

376
00:20:40,500 --> 00:20:42,300
other side of the universe to 
them. 

377
00:20:42,300 --> 00:20:44,000
What do you talk about light 
years, right? 

378
00:20:44,100 --> 00:20:47,600
Like, okay, like to talk about 
quantum physics right? 

379
00:20:47,700 --> 00:20:51,200
Know, God doesn't change, he 
doesn't say there's not really 

380
00:20:51,200 --> 00:20:53,800
any primordial waters, you know 
what God says? 

381
00:20:54,000 --> 00:20:55,800
Hey, you know how you think it 
all comes out of those 

382
00:20:55,800 --> 00:20:57,700
primordial Waters. 
Listen, if you were to go back 

383
00:20:57,700 --> 00:21:00,000
to the primordial waters, you 
know what you'd find. 

384
00:21:00,400 --> 00:21:05,200
God was there. 
And God was doing it and God was

385
00:21:05,200 --> 00:21:07,700
making it. 
See that thing that you believe 

386
00:21:07,700 --> 00:21:10,900
about the creation, you think 
raw did it, and then Marduk got 

387
00:21:10,900 --> 00:21:12,600
it and then all these other 
people did it, what he's saying 

388
00:21:12,600 --> 00:21:15,100
is, yeah, I know you got the 
basic flow override. 

389
00:21:15,100 --> 00:21:19,700
Everything came from Seminary 
happen but really it was our God

390
00:21:19,900 --> 00:21:23,200
who did that. 
So let me be very clear for you.

391
00:21:23,200 --> 00:21:29,900
Or you ready, I believe that 
there is nothing in this 

392
00:21:29,900 --> 00:21:34,600
universe that you have seen. 
Seen touched tasted or heard 

393
00:21:34,600 --> 00:21:38,400
about that. 
Did not immediately proceeded 

394
00:21:38,400 --> 00:21:41,400
from the mind and the will of 
God. 

395
00:21:41,400 --> 00:21:45,600
Let me say it differently. 
God created everything. 

396
00:21:45,600 --> 00:21:50,600
I believe that about been clear,
God created everything. 

397
00:21:50,700 --> 00:21:55,200
And I believe that the story of 
Genesis 1 is not the account of 

398
00:21:55,200 --> 00:21:58,100
the material creation of the 
world. 

399
00:21:59,400 --> 00:22:03,900
I believe something different is
happening in Genesis chapter 1 

400
00:22:03,900 --> 00:22:06,800
and again something like yeah 
but it's not literal right. 

401
00:22:06,800 --> 00:22:08,900
Here's I want you to know 
reading the Bible literally 

402
00:22:09,000 --> 00:22:14,500
means acknowledging, the genre 
of the text, I have to read the 

403
00:22:14,500 --> 00:22:18,700
poems of Wordsworth differently 
than I read A Brief History of 

404
00:22:18,700 --> 00:22:23,800
Time by Stephen Hawking, which I
read differently from a history,

405
00:22:24,000 --> 00:22:25,900
the history of Lewis and Clark, 
right? 

406
00:22:26,000 --> 00:22:31,200
Here's an example, say we go to 
Psalm R19 and Psalm chapter 19 

407
00:22:31,200 --> 00:22:33,900
begins in Psalm 19 verse. 
One writer says the heavens 

408
00:22:33,900 --> 00:22:36,200
declare the glory of God, for 
talk about the skies and the 

409
00:22:36,200 --> 00:22:38,100
stars and the space, right? 
This and listen. 

410
00:22:38,100 --> 00:22:39,800
What verse for the heavens, 
right? 

411
00:22:39,800 --> 00:22:43,300
Their voice goes out through all
the Earth and their words to the

412
00:22:43,300 --> 00:22:45,200
ends of the world. 
Let me ask you a question. 

413
00:22:45,200 --> 00:22:48,800
Have you ever literally heard 
the sky speaking words to you? 

414
00:22:48,900 --> 00:22:51,300
If you walked out on your way to
work today and it came up and 

415
00:22:51,300 --> 00:22:56,300
said, Sean. 
You'd freak out. 

416
00:22:58,600 --> 00:23:04,300
Listen in them in the heavens, 
he has set a tent for the sun is

417
00:23:04,300 --> 00:23:06,200
there really? 
If you were to chase the Horizon

418
00:23:06,200 --> 00:23:09,400
for enough, would you find a 
tent where the sun slips into 

419
00:23:09,400 --> 00:23:11,000
each night? 
It had to be a big tent 

420
00:23:11,000 --> 00:23:16,600
heatproof fireproof for sure or 
is Psalm 19 trying to poetically

421
00:23:16,600 --> 00:23:18,900
convey. 
Something that is significant 

422
00:23:18,900 --> 00:23:23,500
and Especial far beyond where 
the sun goes at night time. 

423
00:23:24,400 --> 00:23:28,100
Psalm 19 is a poem to be read as
poetry. 

424
00:23:28,400 --> 00:23:30,500
With imagery and with metaphor 
and we don't have a problem with

425
00:23:30,500 --> 00:23:32,800
that, we read that and we look 
at it and we know, let me read 

426
00:23:32,800 --> 00:23:36,600
you Isaiah 6:1 in the year that 
King Uzziah died. 

427
00:23:36,600 --> 00:23:39,800
I saw the Lord sitting upon a 
throne high and lifted up and 

428
00:23:39,800 --> 00:23:42,800
the train of his robe filled the
temple. 

429
00:23:42,800 --> 00:23:44,900
Now this is different than Psalm
19, right? 

430
00:23:44,900 --> 00:23:47,400
You know how it's different 
because it has a date in the 

431
00:23:47,400 --> 00:23:51,300
year that King Uzziah died. 
I can go back and find the year 

432
00:23:51,300 --> 00:23:55,500
647 BC and the King Uzziah died.
And so, what this does is it 

433
00:23:55,500 --> 00:23:59,800
places us in a time and in a 
space This is not written like 

434
00:23:59,800 --> 00:24:02,600
mythology. 
Well, they didn't have Harry 

435
00:24:02,600 --> 00:24:05,600
Potter as a literary genre, 
right where you play Smith and 

436
00:24:05,600 --> 00:24:08,300
time space, right? 
This isn't given an account as 

437
00:24:08,300 --> 00:24:10,800
time and space and it looks 
different. 

438
00:24:10,900 --> 00:24:14,300
It reads different. 
We have to read history 

439
00:24:14,400 --> 00:24:17,500
differently than we read poetry 
differently than we read 

440
00:24:17,500 --> 00:24:19,700
letters. 
So it's important that we know 

441
00:24:19,800 --> 00:24:23,200
what's going on in here. 
So Genesis 1 and I'm gonna 

442
00:24:23,200 --> 00:24:25,800
unpack way more. 
This next week is a literary 

443
00:24:25,800 --> 00:24:28,900
genre that we called elevated 
Pros. 

444
00:24:29,200 --> 00:24:32,600
Lots of poetry. 
Lots of repetition. 

445
00:24:32,800 --> 00:24:38,900
Lots of metaphor and simile, you
getting nervous yet. 

446
00:24:40,500 --> 00:24:46,200
God created everything God made 
you. 

447
00:24:46,400 --> 00:24:49,500
Another thing happens, if you 
look at, if you brought your 

448
00:24:49,500 --> 00:24:51,900
Bible, if you didn't, you can 
look on your phone, right? 

449
00:24:51,900 --> 00:24:55,900
So I read this sign right here 
means that this Bible is the 

450
00:24:55,900 --> 00:24:59,700
English Standard Version 
translation, okay? 

451
00:24:59,800 --> 00:25:03,200
Your Bible may say, NIV New 
International Version or New 

452
00:25:03,200 --> 00:25:08,400
American Standard or the ryrie 
study Bible or or whatever New 

453
00:25:08,400 --> 00:25:10,100
Living Translation, whatever all
the things. 

454
00:25:10,300 --> 00:25:15,100
The Bible wasn't written in 
English, by hours in Hebrew and 

455
00:25:15,100 --> 00:25:16,900
Greek and Aramaic and along 
this. 

456
00:25:16,900 --> 00:25:20,900
And what that means is that the 
Bible that you read today and 

457
00:25:20,900 --> 00:25:25,400
the Bible that I read today has 
been translated and translation 

458
00:25:25,400 --> 00:25:31,400
is an act of interpretation. 
Every time we come to a Greek or

459
00:25:31,400 --> 00:25:35,300
Hebrew word, a person, or a 
group of people have to decide 

460
00:25:35,300 --> 00:25:39,500
what that word means and what it
means in context and sometimes 

461
00:25:39,500 --> 00:25:42,800
those Those people come to 
different conclusions. 

462
00:25:42,800 --> 00:25:46,100
Sometimes those people see 
something, or they read a Nuance

463
00:25:46,100 --> 00:25:47,800
into a word, that means 
something. 

464
00:25:47,800 --> 00:25:50,000
So what does that mean? 
When we deal with something as 

465
00:25:50,000 --> 00:25:54,600
significant and important as the
text, as the scripture, what it 

466
00:25:54,600 --> 00:26:00,200
means is I believe I'm right and
I could be wrong which is the 

467
00:26:00,200 --> 00:26:06,700
word humility. 
We approach the scripture humbly

468
00:26:07,500 --> 00:26:11,100
with Grace because again I look 
around and I just go you may 

469
00:26:11,100 --> 00:26:13,300
interpret this passage of 
scripture differently than I do.

470
00:26:13,300 --> 00:26:14,500
But that doesn't mean you're 
evil. 

471
00:26:14,700 --> 00:26:19,500
Let me tell you a few things 
that we don't have to fight 

472
00:26:19,500 --> 00:26:21,800
about, but they just mean we're 
doing different things. 

473
00:26:21,800 --> 00:26:24,300
Right there are a few 
theological Hills that I will 

474
00:26:24,300 --> 00:26:27,500
die on, okay? 
You can find those things in 

475
00:26:27,500 --> 00:26:30,100
Creed's. 
If you go look up the Apostles 

476
00:26:30,100 --> 00:26:33,300
Creed, the Nicene Creed. 
A Phoenician create. 

477
00:26:33,300 --> 00:26:35,700
There's all these Creed's right.
These are important. 

478
00:26:35,700 --> 00:26:38,400
These are General Orthodoxy. 
Here's what I believe and I'll 

479
00:26:38,500 --> 00:26:41,100
fight you over like not really 
fight you because I'm not a 

480
00:26:41,108 --> 00:26:46,200
fighter, but everybody I believe
in God, the Father Almighty 

481
00:26:46,800 --> 00:26:51,200
creator of Heaven and Earth and 
in his only begotten, son, 

482
00:26:51,200 --> 00:26:56,200
Jesus, who was tempted, suffered
under Pontius. 

483
00:26:56,200 --> 00:27:00,000
Pilate, crucified, dead and 
resurrected. 

484
00:27:00,400 --> 00:27:03,400
He's coming again. 
We don't I'll have to agree on 

485
00:27:03,400 --> 00:27:06,800
those things, but those are the 
Christian things outside a 

486
00:27:06,900 --> 00:27:11,500
spiritual gifts, maybe the 
clothes Cannon, maybe six 

487
00:27:11,500 --> 00:27:14,600
literal days, maybe a billion 
years. 

488
00:27:14,900 --> 00:27:17,900
Maybe Jesus Christ loves me and 
died for me. 

489
00:27:18,000 --> 00:27:23,300
Yes, 100% 1000%. 
Yes, those are the things that 

490
00:27:23,300 --> 00:27:25,000
we can fight and we can 
downright. 

491
00:27:25,000 --> 00:27:29,000
The Bible is too important not 
to be taken. 

492
00:27:29,200 --> 00:27:31,300
Literally. 
And I think, unfortunately, the 

493
00:27:31,300 --> 00:27:34,500
problem is we hear that And so, 
what that means is we get this 

494
00:27:34,500 --> 00:27:38,100
wooden literal reading that 
doesn't leave any space for 

495
00:27:38,100 --> 00:27:41,200
humility, for greater context 
for realizing, they were reading

496
00:27:41,200 --> 00:27:45,100
a text that is thousand years 
old and not thousands of years 

497
00:27:45,100 --> 00:27:48,700
old and not from our context. 
So what's the story? 

498
00:27:48,800 --> 00:27:51,400
What's the thing behind it? 
What do we do with all this? 

499
00:27:51,400 --> 00:27:54,300
What is the story that we say 
here's the story of Genesis 

500
00:27:54,300 --> 00:27:55,200
chapter 1? 
Are you ready? 

501
00:27:55,400 --> 00:28:00,500
Genesis 1 is is a good God's 
blueprint for life and a desire 

502
00:28:00,500 --> 00:28:02,300
Universe lead outside of they 
want to talk about it. 

503
00:28:02,400 --> 00:28:04,500
Real couple things Genesis 
chapter 1, that's we're going to

504
00:28:04,508 --> 00:28:07,400
be this week and next week it is
a good God because what I 

505
00:28:07,400 --> 00:28:12,900
believe Genesis 12 and 3 reveal 
is the absolute astounding. 

506
00:28:12,900 --> 00:28:17,900
Overflowing overwhelming, 
eternity shaping goodness of our

507
00:28:17,900 --> 00:28:19,900
God. 
I think it is evident in 

508
00:28:19,900 --> 00:28:21,500
creation and I think we're going
to see it. 

509
00:28:21,500 --> 00:28:24,000
Hopefully starting today. 
Hopefully definitely sing it 

510
00:28:24,000 --> 00:28:27,000
next week. 
It is God's blueprint listen! 

511
00:28:27,100 --> 00:28:30,800
We find Genesis chapter 1, we 
find a tree in the middle of a 

512
00:28:30,800 --> 00:28:34,700
garden to trees. 
In the middle of a garden fast 

513
00:28:34,700 --> 00:28:37,300
forward to the end of the story 
to Revelation, 21 and 22. 

514
00:28:37,300 --> 00:28:42,300
You know what we find trees and 
Gardens multiplied. 

515
00:28:42,400 --> 00:28:45,000
Spread out, filling the whole 
earth. 

516
00:28:45,000 --> 00:28:48,200
The Bible is one story with a 
beginning. 

517
00:28:48,400 --> 00:28:51,100
And the beginning of the story 
is in the beginning, God created

518
00:28:51,100 --> 00:28:54,400
the heavens and the Earth, and 
the Earth was formless and void 

519
00:28:54,700 --> 00:28:57,800
and darkness over the waters and
the spirit of God hovered, 

520
00:28:58,100 --> 00:29:04,500
right? 
So I lost my train of thought, 

521
00:29:04,500 --> 00:29:07,300
so that's the story, right? 
That's, that's, that's our goal.

522
00:29:07,300 --> 00:29:08,700
It's a good God. 
It's his blueprint. 

523
00:29:08,700 --> 00:29:10,700
That's what you say. 
When we look at the end of the 

524
00:29:10,700 --> 00:29:13,500
story, it looks a lot like the 
beginning of the story which 

525
00:29:13,500 --> 00:29:15,100
means that we're now in the 
middle. 

526
00:29:15,200 --> 00:29:17,600
We can reference back and go. 
Okay, that's where it's getting.

527
00:29:17,600 --> 00:29:20,400
I gotta get dare I gotta get 
that gotta have that right for, 

528
00:29:20,400 --> 00:29:23,900
what else did it say? 
For a designer Universe. 

529
00:29:23,900 --> 00:29:29,400
You know what's crazy to me all 
of the qualities that make life 

530
00:29:29,400 --> 00:29:33,300
habitable on this Earth. 
Also make observation possible, 

531
00:29:33,500 --> 00:29:37,600
wouldn't it be terrible if the 
conditions for life on Earth 

532
00:29:37,600 --> 00:29:41,500
meant that there had to be a 
solid dense layer of clouds? 

533
00:29:41,500 --> 00:29:43,900
Covering the whole earth and we 
couldn't see anything else. 

534
00:29:44,600 --> 00:29:48,000
Are we grateful that the kind of
atmosphere that we breathe is 

535
00:29:48,000 --> 00:29:50,800
clear and open so we can look 
into the Kuiper belt and look 

536
00:29:50,800 --> 00:29:54,500
Beyond, isn't that great? 
It's almost like God wants to be

537
00:29:54,500 --> 00:29:58,000
discovered. 
It's almost like God wants to be

538
00:29:58,100 --> 00:30:00,300
found out. 
So next week, we're going to get

539
00:30:00,300 --> 00:30:04,700
real specific but I want to stay
General this week for just a 

540
00:30:04,708 --> 00:30:05,400
minute. 
Okay? 

541
00:30:05,600 --> 00:30:09,300
Because this is the deal. 
Genesis one is probably my 

542
00:30:09,300 --> 00:30:11,500
favorite. 
It may be my favorite. 

543
00:30:12,400 --> 00:30:16,500
Chapter in the whole scripture 
because it's Ritz poetry and I 

544
00:30:16,508 --> 00:30:20,500
like literature and I like to do
all that but it's rich and it's 

545
00:30:20,500 --> 00:30:24,200
full of Hope and it's full of 
very practical, hope for your 

546
00:30:24,200 --> 00:30:28,000
life and for mine. 
So let's look at the story and 

547
00:30:28,000 --> 00:30:31,000
let see where it leads us the 
story and I'm going to work 

548
00:30:31,000 --> 00:30:33,400
backwards through Genesis 
chapter 1 and 2. 

549
00:30:33,400 --> 00:30:37,500
So it begins with good creation 
begins in chaos. 

550
00:30:37,800 --> 00:30:41,200
The problem with it is we hate 
chaos, we acknowledge Castle. 

551
00:30:41,200 --> 00:30:44,100
What we try to do is we try to I
to stuff it or we try to cover 

552
00:30:44,100 --> 00:30:47,800
it, we try to put up, we try to 
order it but deep chaos. 

553
00:30:48,100 --> 00:30:50,200
Well, it goes deep. 
Right. 

554
00:30:50,200 --> 00:30:54,900
Listen when it says the spirit 
of God was hovering over the 

555
00:30:54,900 --> 00:30:58,200
face of the waters and if we go 
back to the first part of to we 

556
00:30:58,200 --> 00:31:00,100
find that there was Darkness 
around the water. 

557
00:31:00,300 --> 00:31:04,100
So in the beginning God created 
and what we're told is that the 

558
00:31:04,100 --> 00:31:09,400
Earth was empty and it was 
confused and there was Darkness 

559
00:31:09,400 --> 00:31:13,200
but the spirit of God was there 
and this is From other account 

560
00:31:13,200 --> 00:31:15,800
epics, right? 
Like the new Milas finds these 

561
00:31:15,800 --> 00:31:19,900
Gods kind of like, coming out of
the water, like, born in chaos, 

562
00:31:19,900 --> 00:31:21,500
right? 
Like rising out of this. 

563
00:31:21,500 --> 00:31:25,300
All right, at no point. 
Do we find these turbulent 

564
00:31:25,300 --> 00:31:29,100
Waters, creating or issuing 
forth our God, from the 

565
00:31:29,100 --> 00:31:32,500
beginning? 
Our God is hovering over the 

566
00:31:32,500 --> 00:31:34,300
waters. 
Now, hovering is one of those 

567
00:31:34,300 --> 00:31:35,500
words. 
What is hover mean, right? 

568
00:31:35,500 --> 00:31:38,300
Like, we live in a day of 
hovering parents, right? 

569
00:31:38,300 --> 00:31:40,800
Don't wear that Mom, I'm 27 
years old. 

570
00:31:40,800 --> 00:31:42,300
Let me wear the shirt. 
I want to wear, right? 

571
00:31:42,400 --> 00:31:46,600
Write all of the things that 
were that were, you know, we're 

572
00:31:46,600 --> 00:31:48,500
working on and we're covering. 
Oh, right? 

573
00:31:48,700 --> 00:31:53,000
Well, When we read that out of 
cash, I let me get to the book 

574
00:31:53,000 --> 00:31:56,700
of Deuteronomy Genesis Exodus 
Leviticus Numbers Deuteronomy. 

575
00:31:56,700 --> 00:31:59,200
It's the end of the Torah. 
It's into the first five books 

576
00:31:59,600 --> 00:32:02,600
Jenna, Deuteronomy chapter 32, 
okay? 

577
00:32:02,600 --> 00:32:05,600
Because here's the deal that it 
says, right in the in the 

578
00:32:05,600 --> 00:32:09,300
ancient near Eastern creation 
myths, we find these Gods rising

579
00:32:09,700 --> 00:32:13,400
out of the water here. 
It says, there's hovering over 

580
00:32:13,400 --> 00:32:14,700
the water, but what does that 
mean? 

581
00:32:14,700 --> 00:32:17,400
Well, let me give you a 
description where those words 

582
00:32:17,400 --> 00:32:19,500
and again, a lot of this is 
linguistic, right? 

583
00:32:19,500 --> 00:32:21,700
Goes back to the Hebrew. 
What is the Hebrew mean? 

584
00:32:21,900 --> 00:32:24,700
How is it used? 
So here's how those Hebrews 

585
00:32:24,800 --> 00:32:26,800
words are translated. 
Okay? 

586
00:32:27,000 --> 00:32:29,400
Deuteronomy chapter 32 starting 
in verse 10. 

587
00:32:29,600 --> 00:32:31,700
He found and he's talking about 
Israel about the people. 

588
00:32:31,700 --> 00:32:34,400
He's personifying this nation 
okay? 

589
00:32:34,600 --> 00:32:37,600
He found him in a desert land 
and in the howling waste of 

590
00:32:37,600 --> 00:32:39,600
wilderness. 
Do you sense the chaotic 

591
00:32:39,600 --> 00:32:43,300
similarities, right? 
Swirling Waters dark, formless 

592
00:32:43,300 --> 00:32:45,600
and void. 
He found Israel in a desert land

593
00:32:45,600 --> 00:32:49,700
and Howling ways of wildness. 
He encircled him, he cared for 

594
00:32:49,700 --> 00:32:52,100
him. 
He kept him as the apple of the 

595
00:32:52,100 --> 00:32:53,700
eye it. 
Now listen here's where that 

596
00:32:53,700 --> 00:32:57,400
idea of hovering over Waters, 
come from verse 11, like an 

597
00:32:57,500 --> 00:33:02,200
eagle that stirs up. 
Its nest that flutters over its 

598
00:33:02,200 --> 00:33:05,900
young spreading out its wings, 
catching them. 

599
00:33:06,000 --> 00:33:08,900
Bearing them on. 
Its pinions the Lord alone 

600
00:33:08,900 --> 00:33:12,000
guided him. 
No foreign God was with him. 

601
00:33:12,000 --> 00:33:14,200
So now we go back to this 
creation of Israel. 

602
00:33:14,200 --> 00:33:17,100
And what does it says, hovering 
over the waters isn't hovering 

603
00:33:17,100 --> 00:33:20,500
to go, you're wearing the wrong 
shirt to hover over the Waters 

604
00:33:20,500 --> 00:33:25,000
is a picture of a mother bird 
tending to her chicks covering 

605
00:33:25,000 --> 00:33:27,000
them. 
Keeping them warm, bringing them

606
00:33:27,000 --> 00:33:28,600
safe, they can hear her 
heartbeat. 

607
00:33:28,600 --> 00:33:30,200
She can feed them all of those 
things. 

608
00:33:30,300 --> 00:33:34,900
The spirit of God, hovering over
the waters is a picture of grace

609
00:33:35,200 --> 00:33:40,700
of love of compassion of 
presence of God's goodness, in 

610
00:33:40,700 --> 00:33:45,700
our space. 
The primordial waters are scary 

611
00:33:46,400 --> 00:33:51,600
and our God is present and 
hovering and watching and what 

612
00:33:51,600 --> 00:33:56,600
that means is that God redeems, 
what that means is that the 

613
00:33:56,600 --> 00:34:02,000
chaos in your life, the spirit 
of God is hovering so where's 

614
00:34:02,000 --> 00:34:06,500
your chaos? 
If you have a relational chaos, 

615
00:34:07,100 --> 00:34:09,400
is your relationship with your 
kids, or with your spouse, or 

616
00:34:09,400 --> 00:34:10,900
with your parents, or with your 
co-workers? 

617
00:34:10,900 --> 00:34:13,300
Is it breaking down? 
Is it chaotic? 

618
00:34:13,300 --> 00:34:14,800
You don't know where it's going.
You don't know where it's 

619
00:34:14,800 --> 00:34:16,199
coming. 
What I would say to you is 

620
00:34:16,500 --> 00:34:20,699
that's always where God's good 
creation begins. 

621
00:34:21,300 --> 00:34:25,199
That's also the problem church. 
When we pretend that we have it 

622
00:34:25,199 --> 00:34:30,100
together more than we do when we
make our acceptance to God based

623
00:34:30,100 --> 00:34:34,800
on our behavior before others. 
The problem is we hide our 

624
00:34:34,900 --> 00:34:37,800
Brokenness, we hard our 
confusion, we hide our pain, and

625
00:34:37,800 --> 00:34:39,500
our hurt. 
And the problem with that then 

626
00:34:39,500 --> 00:34:43,100
is how do we talk about Grace? 
If we don't talk about 

627
00:34:43,100 --> 00:34:47,000
Brokenness, how do we talk about
forgiveness? 

628
00:34:47,000 --> 00:34:51,800
If we don't talk about our sin, 
how do we talk about God being 

629
00:34:51,800 --> 00:34:55,100
good? 
If our whole story is that we 

630
00:34:55,100 --> 00:34:57,200
are good. 
What I want to say for you is 

631
00:34:57,200 --> 00:35:00,700
that very spot in your life 
where you're struggling or your 

632
00:35:00,700 --> 00:35:04,600
wrestling where you feel lost 
and out of control. 

633
00:35:04,900 --> 00:35:07,800
You feel hopeless and scared and
Afraid. 

634
00:35:07,900 --> 00:35:09,600
What? 
Genesis 1 tells me is there is a

635
00:35:09,600 --> 00:35:14,900
spirit of God, the Holy Spirit 
hovering over that place 

636
00:35:15,400 --> 00:35:18,100
Desiring to me. 
So what happens when the Holy 

637
00:35:18,100 --> 00:35:22,700
Spirit hovers over the place, 
good creation begins in chaos 

638
00:35:22,700 --> 00:35:26,800
and IT addresses, the problem of
confusion and emptiness. 

639
00:35:27,000 --> 00:35:30,400
We're going to have some fun 
with with Hebrew here in a 

640
00:35:30,408 --> 00:35:32,000
second. 
But first I want to read Genesis

641
00:35:32,000 --> 00:35:33,100
1. 
The first part of verse 2, it 

642
00:35:33,108 --> 00:35:37,400
says the Earth was without form.
Form and void, and darkness was 

643
00:35:37,400 --> 00:35:41,300
over the face of the deep that 
word without form and void. 

644
00:35:41,300 --> 00:35:43,900
It's two words in Hebrew. 
Those two words I want you to 

645
00:35:43,900 --> 00:35:45,500
say them with me, right? 
We don't do this often but these

646
00:35:45,500 --> 00:35:48,900
are fun words. 
Sato who good word? 

647
00:35:48,900 --> 00:35:54,300
Righto who say wha boo hoo, hoo 
hoo, woo hoo. 

648
00:35:55,800 --> 00:35:58,800
You can say with any inflection 
that you life, it rolls off the 

649
00:35:58,800 --> 00:36:02,400
tongue, right? 
Tohu and bohu are the two words 

650
00:36:02,400 --> 00:36:08,400
that are translated here Without
form and void. 

651
00:36:08,400 --> 00:36:11,600
Okay, so this is that this is a 
question in Creation in Genesis 

652
00:36:11,600 --> 00:36:14,900
1 God created everything in 
Genesis 2, everything is without

653
00:36:14,900 --> 00:36:19,800
form and void some translations 
say without substance, right? 

654
00:36:19,800 --> 00:36:22,800
Like that's the whole idea that 
interpretation is translation. 

655
00:36:22,900 --> 00:36:25,200
So if we're going to find out 
well how what do we do with 

656
00:36:25,200 --> 00:36:27,900
this, what does it mean, what we
want to do is we want to find 

657
00:36:28,000 --> 00:36:31,400
where those Hebrew words show up
in scripture. 

658
00:36:31,400 --> 00:36:34,100
The problem is, I don't have a 
Hebrew new text to Testament, 

659
00:36:34,100 --> 00:36:37,500
but I do you have the internet 
and I can go to a Bible site 

660
00:36:37,500 --> 00:36:41,800
called Blue Letter Bible dot-org
and they'll have all of these 

661
00:36:41,800 --> 00:36:44,500
Greek and Hebrew translations 
and you can look them up and 

662
00:36:44,500 --> 00:36:46,700
they'll tell you what it is. 
But here's what's more 

663
00:36:46,700 --> 00:36:48,800
important. 
They'll tell you where else in 

664
00:36:48,800 --> 00:36:52,500
scripture, you can find that 
word and what it does it shows 

665
00:36:52,500 --> 00:36:55,300
how its translated it lets you 
know what that word means. 

666
00:36:55,400 --> 00:37:00,600
So, as fun as tohu Wabo, who is 
to say, if we wanted to make any

667
00:37:00,600 --> 00:37:04,500
sense, we have to say it in 
English, right? 

668
00:37:04,500 --> 00:37:09,200
So, Let's go, another place, 
where tohu Wabo, who is its, you

669
00:37:09,200 --> 00:37:12,600
can't stop saying it. 
Once you say it verse 34 and I'm

670
00:37:12,600 --> 00:37:14,400
gonna read a passage of 
scripture just so you can get 

671
00:37:14,400 --> 00:37:17,300
the, the flow, right? 
You can sense, what's going on 

672
00:37:17,300 --> 00:37:19,500
here and I'll cue you in on 
tohu. 

673
00:37:19,500 --> 00:37:22,900
And bohu ready? 
Isaiah 34 starting in verse 8, 

674
00:37:22,900 --> 00:37:26,300
this is a prophecy for the Lord,
has a day of Vengeance. 

675
00:37:26,300 --> 00:37:29,700
A year of recompense for the 
cause of Zion, Zion means 

676
00:37:29,700 --> 00:37:31,400
Israel. 
And what's he saying? 

677
00:37:31,400 --> 00:37:34,700
Here is we were at a place where
got were people God's people? 

678
00:37:34,800 --> 00:37:38,500
Israel have been oppressed and 
what we find is God's getting 

679
00:37:38,500 --> 00:37:41,000
involved. 
So the question now is, what 

680
00:37:41,000 --> 00:37:44,000
does God do when he gets 
involved? 

681
00:37:44,000 --> 00:37:52,300
Okay, verse 9 and the streams of
Edom shall be turned into pitch 

682
00:37:52,300 --> 00:37:54,000
that star. 
So I want you to imagine you go 

683
00:37:54,000 --> 00:37:57,700
down to land of Park tomorrow 
and you know, where the streams 

684
00:37:57,700 --> 00:38:00,800
of the the Comal River, it 
comes, there's that place, 

685
00:38:00,800 --> 00:38:02,000
right? 
Don't you go tomorrow? 

686
00:38:02,000 --> 00:38:04,600
And instead of the streams of 
the Comal River coming out of 

687
00:38:04,600 --> 00:38:09,600
that place, it's par thick black
tar and it's just going to keep 

688
00:38:09,600 --> 00:38:11,200
coming and it's going to fill 
all the river. 

689
00:38:11,400 --> 00:38:16,400
That would be gross, right? 
It would certainly change the 

690
00:38:16,400 --> 00:38:17,900
economy around here, wouldn't 
it? 

691
00:38:17,900 --> 00:38:20,000
It would Bad thing, let me ask 
you this question. 

692
00:38:20,000 --> 00:38:24,900
Very important would the Comal 
River turning into tar? 

693
00:38:25,800 --> 00:38:30,200
Would it cause all Life as we 
know it to cease existing? 

694
00:38:30,900 --> 00:38:33,600
Would we all vanish? 
Would we like d like 

695
00:38:33,600 --> 00:38:37,600
dematerialize or we just have 
like a hard time and we had to 

696
00:38:37,600 --> 00:38:39,700
figure it out right? 
Okay good. 

697
00:38:40,300 --> 00:38:42,500
You think it through this well 
night and day it shall be 

698
00:38:42,500 --> 00:38:44,900
quenched it's smoke. 
Shall go up forever from 

699
00:38:44,900 --> 00:38:47,700
generation to generation and 
shall I waste None Shall Pass 

700
00:38:47,700 --> 00:38:49,400
through it. 
It forever and ever, he's 

701
00:38:49,400 --> 00:38:51,500
talking about their enemies. 
And he say, it's gonna be 

702
00:38:51,500 --> 00:38:55,800
terrible, but the hawk and the 
porcupine, Pine shall possess 

703
00:38:55,800 --> 00:38:57,500
it. 
And the ow, and the Raven shall 

704
00:38:57,500 --> 00:38:59,700
dwell. 
It, he shall stretch the line of

705
00:38:59,800 --> 00:39:05,900
confusion tohu. 
He shall stretch the line of 

706
00:39:05,900 --> 00:39:13,200
tohu over it, and the Plumb line
of emptiness, wobbu, confusion 

707
00:39:13,500 --> 00:39:16,500
and emptiness. 
If the Comal River turned to 

708
00:39:16,500 --> 00:39:21,700
Tar, it wouldn't cause life to 
cease to exist immediately, but 

709
00:39:21,700 --> 00:39:26,000
it would sure cause confusion, 
and it would cause life and that

710
00:39:26,000 --> 00:39:31,300
River to be empty, wouldn't it? 
So the picture of creation is 

711
00:39:31,300 --> 00:39:36,300
not nothingness. 
It is Not a materialism. 

712
00:39:36,400 --> 00:39:38,900
It is materialism without 
purpose. 

713
00:39:39,000 --> 00:39:42,200
It is material without form. 
It is material without. 

714
00:39:42,200 --> 00:39:45,800
What now does that mean that God
didn't create everything. 

715
00:39:45,900 --> 00:39:48,400
Does that mean that I just said 
that it didn't exacerbate the 

716
00:39:48,400 --> 00:39:51,200
problems. 
No, I said, God created 

717
00:39:51,200 --> 00:39:52,900
everything. 
There is nothing that exists 

718
00:39:52,900 --> 00:39:56,900
that doesn't exist and Genesis 
chapter 1 is a different story. 

719
00:39:57,700 --> 00:39:58,900
We're going to find that story 
next week. 

720
00:39:58,900 --> 00:40:00,700
You should come next week. 
We're going to talk about that. 

721
00:40:00,700 --> 00:40:04,400
I mean good, right? 
So here's a question are here. 

722
00:40:04,600 --> 00:40:09,800
The thing, right? 
God gets involved in places of 

723
00:40:09,800 --> 00:40:13,700
confusion and emptiness. 
What does that mean for your 

724
00:40:13,700 --> 00:40:16,500
life? 
Are you confused about your 

725
00:40:16,500 --> 00:40:21,000
purpose parents? 
I have teenagers so hard time 

726
00:40:21,000 --> 00:40:24,600
with parents of teenagers, your 
teenagers ever confused about 

727
00:40:24,600 --> 00:40:30,300
things about identity about 
sexuality about relationships. 

728
00:40:31,300 --> 00:40:36,000
I want you to know where there 
is confusion the spirit of God 

729
00:40:36,000 --> 00:40:38,200
hovers over Waters. 
If you try to beat and 

730
00:40:38,200 --> 00:40:40,900
discipline your kids into 
compliance, you may get a 

731
00:40:40,908 --> 00:40:43,800
compliant kid but you won't find
a kid. 

732
00:40:43,800 --> 00:40:49,300
That's not confused. 
Get your kids to Jesus, talk to 

733
00:40:49,300 --> 00:40:52,000
him about the truth, talk to him
about love, and grace, and 

734
00:40:52,000 --> 00:40:54,100
design, and purpose, and show 
him the scriptures. 

735
00:40:54,100 --> 00:40:57,700
Show him Genesis chapter 1, but 
when you find confusion and 

736
00:40:57,700 --> 00:41:00,200
emptiness, listen, you can't 
fill their emptiness. 

737
00:41:00,200 --> 00:41:02,600
Do you know why? 
Because you're empty, too. 

738
00:41:03,300 --> 00:41:05,000
I mean, you got stuff. 
You got more stuff than your 

739
00:41:05,000 --> 00:41:08,200
kids, because kids don't really 
have much, but it's up to us to 

740
00:41:08,200 --> 00:41:10,100
give it to him, right? 
But what I'm just saying is you 

741
00:41:10,100 --> 00:41:13,700
have your own emptiness that you
need the Lord to hover over, you

742
00:41:13,700 --> 00:41:16,100
have your own confusion that you
need the Lord. 

743
00:41:16,300 --> 00:41:19,000
To clarify and that doesn't mean
I don't point my friend Scott 

744
00:41:19,000 --> 00:41:21,800
and go Scott, you're confused 
about God's purpose and plan for

745
00:41:21,800 --> 00:41:25,200
your finances, but I do that as 
a person with my own confusion 

746
00:41:25,200 --> 00:41:28,600
about finances in life and 
purposes in d.c. the humility. 

747
00:41:28,700 --> 00:41:30,400
That that brings when we 
realized, right? 

748
00:41:30,400 --> 00:41:32,000
That's why we say our confession
every week. 

749
00:41:32,000 --> 00:41:38,100
We're badly broken. 
We need that because if we're 

750
00:41:38,100 --> 00:41:44,200
not broken the very best that 
God's love will ever be for us 

751
00:41:44,700 --> 00:41:50,200
is an idea because until I know 
that God loves me where I'm at, 

752
00:41:50,700 --> 00:41:54,800
it doesn't feel like love or it 
won't feel like but like love so

753
00:41:54,800 --> 00:41:56,100
God is searching and he's 
confused. 

754
00:41:56,100 --> 00:41:58,500
And so here, what I want to say 
if you're here today and maybe 

755
00:41:58,500 --> 00:42:00,800
somebody drugged you here and 
you're not sure you're not even 

756
00:42:00,800 --> 00:42:02,700
sure you're like, oh my God, I 
can't believe in a six day 

757
00:42:02,700 --> 00:42:04,400
creation. 
I can't believe all that right? 

758
00:42:04,400 --> 00:42:05,400
Whatever. 
Great. 

759
00:42:05,400 --> 00:42:07,500
Here's why I want to ask 
whatever you feel like let's 

760
00:42:07,500 --> 00:42:09,500
resolve that later. 
Let's talk about that later. 

761
00:42:09,600 --> 00:42:13,200
Do you believe that there can be
a solution for your confusion? 

762
00:42:13,300 --> 00:42:18,500
Because what I have is, Someone 
saying they can deal with it. 

763
00:42:19,700 --> 00:42:22,300
Here's what I'm saying. 
I got a guy. 

764
00:42:23,400 --> 00:42:27,900
If your car breaks, I got a guy,
his name's Billy, I'll give you 

765
00:42:27,900 --> 00:42:30,100
the phone numbers. 
Great fixes all kinds of stuff, 

766
00:42:30,100 --> 00:42:32,300
right? 
Do you have a confusion problem?

767
00:42:32,500 --> 00:42:36,300
I've got a guy now, if you want 
Billy to fix your car, you're 

768
00:42:36,300 --> 00:42:37,400
going to have to drive it to 
him. 

769
00:42:37,400 --> 00:42:38,500
You're going to have to leave it
there. 

770
00:42:38,500 --> 00:42:40,000
You're probably have to give him
some money. 

771
00:42:40,000 --> 00:42:41,200
You're going to have to answer 
some questions. 

772
00:42:41,200 --> 00:42:42,700
You're gonna have to do some 
stuff, it's not going to be 

773
00:42:42,700 --> 00:42:45,500
easy, but when you get it back, 
it's going to be fixed. 

774
00:42:46,100 --> 00:42:48,500
What if God came to you today 
and just said, hey man, I can 

775
00:42:48,500 --> 00:42:51,300
fix that confusion, I can fix 
that emptiness but I need you to

776
00:42:51,300 --> 00:42:53,100
do is I need you to give me your
ideas about sex. 

777
00:42:53,200 --> 00:42:56,800
X, I need you to give me your 
idea about security and I need 

778
00:42:56,800 --> 00:42:59,200
you to realize that your job is 
not your security that your job 

779
00:42:59,200 --> 00:43:02,100
is not your identity. 
But I am and I need you to let 

780
00:43:02,100 --> 00:43:04,900
go of all that I need you to 
give that to me because unless 

781
00:43:04,900 --> 00:43:06,700
you give me your life, you're 
just going to run around 

782
00:43:06,700 --> 00:43:08,700
confused and someday you're 
going to come to the end and you

783
00:43:08,700 --> 00:43:12,100
can go, is this what it was for?
So I could die and Hospital. 

784
00:43:13,600 --> 00:43:17,300
That's not that's not what God 
created life for, but he has to 

785
00:43:17,300 --> 00:43:21,400
enter into that space. 
So he comes to confusion and he 

786
00:43:21,400 --> 00:43:24,600
comes to emptiness and he 
addresses these problems, this 

787
00:43:24,600 --> 00:43:28,800
is the problem with our creation
but he does this when God begins

788
00:43:28,800 --> 00:43:32,000
speaking and this really, this 
is it, this is the Pinnacle. 

789
00:43:33,100 --> 00:43:38,700
Man, I'd just gotten married not
today like long time ago, and I 

790
00:43:38,700 --> 00:43:41,400
came home one day, and my 
father-in-law was at my house 

791
00:43:41,900 --> 00:43:45,900
and he was fixing my fence, and 
I almost passed out, man. 

792
00:43:45,900 --> 00:43:49,400
I walked in an allen as like, 
what is your dad doing, bro? 

793
00:43:49,400 --> 00:43:51,300
I can take care of my own 
household. 

794
00:43:51,300 --> 00:43:53,600
I know, I know what he's doing. 
It was like, Anna friend. 

795
00:43:53,600 --> 00:43:55,900
The guys are knowing, right? 
The guys know what happens, 

796
00:43:55,900 --> 00:43:58,500
right? 
And I was like, man, get your 

797
00:43:58,500 --> 00:44:01,300
dad, fix it but stopping is a 
sit-down. 

798
00:44:01,300 --> 00:44:03,400
I'm foul fix. 
I'll take Care of my wife, I'll 

799
00:44:03,400 --> 00:44:05,800
take care my family right that 
God could get involved like 

800
00:44:05,800 --> 00:44:07,100
that. 
He could just come around and 

801
00:44:07,100 --> 00:44:09,200
start doing some. 
But you know what he does, he 

802
00:44:09,200 --> 00:44:13,200
does Jason I'm walking around. 
I'm lonely. 

803
00:44:13,200 --> 00:44:14,900
And I'm sad. 
I'm mad at my kids. 

804
00:44:14,900 --> 00:44:17,100
I'm mad at the co-worker. 
I'm mad at somebody. 

805
00:44:17,100 --> 00:44:19,500
I'm not get him in that way. 
You know what? 

806
00:44:19,500 --> 00:44:21,300
Jesus comes me. 
And I just like Whispers in my 

807
00:44:21,300 --> 00:44:23,100
ear and in my heart and just 
gives me this thing and goes 

808
00:44:23,100 --> 00:44:26,100
Jayson, they don't get to Define
you, I had to find you and I 

809
00:44:26,108 --> 00:44:29,000
love you. 
Or when I lay on bed at night, I

810
00:44:29,000 --> 00:44:30,900
just want to cry because I'm so 
ashamed. 

811
00:44:30,900 --> 00:44:33,200
At that thing I did again, I 
can't believe I said that's my 

812
00:44:33,200 --> 00:44:34,200
wife. 
And my kids. 

813
00:44:34,500 --> 00:44:37,400
I can't believe I did that thing
again, and I hear Jesus 

814
00:44:37,800 --> 00:44:40,000
Whispering my life is Jason. 
This whole thing is about 

815
00:44:40,000 --> 00:44:42,800
forgiveness, man. 
This isn't About you earning it.

816
00:44:42,800 --> 00:44:49,100
See, creation begins, when God 
speaks our God is personal, do 

817
00:44:49,100 --> 00:44:50,900
you know how, you know, what's 
on my mind? 

818
00:44:51,500 --> 00:44:53,700
Because you can't get me to shut
up because it just keeps coming 

819
00:44:53,700 --> 00:44:57,800
out, right? 
Do you know how you can know 

820
00:44:57,800 --> 00:45:01,400
what's on God's mind because he 
speaks. 

821
00:45:01,400 --> 00:45:05,700
And you know what? 
He says, listen, In the 

822
00:45:05,700 --> 00:45:11,000
beginning was the word and the 
Word was with God. 

823
00:45:11,000 --> 00:45:14,900
And the Word was God. 
He was with, he was in the 

824
00:45:14,900 --> 00:45:16,900
beginning with God and how he's 
talking about the word is this 

825
00:45:16,900 --> 00:45:19,000
like personification, right? 
It's Jesus. 

826
00:45:19,700 --> 00:45:22,100
He was in the beginning with God
and all things were made through

827
00:45:22,100 --> 00:45:24,100
him. 
And without him was not anything

828
00:45:24,100 --> 00:45:29,000
made that was made in him was 
life, and life was the light of 

829
00:45:29,000 --> 00:45:30,900
men. 
See what happens when God starts

830
00:45:30,900 --> 00:45:33,700
speaking into your life, you 
start coming alive. 

831
00:45:33,700 --> 00:45:35,100
But you know what, he's a 
gentleman. 

832
00:45:35,300 --> 00:45:36,400
And there's sometimes I wish he 
wasn't. 

833
00:45:36,400 --> 00:45:38,500
I wish you'd just like kick the 
door and I'm like force himself 

834
00:45:38,500 --> 00:45:40,900
on me, so then I can go. 
Oh yeah, this is so much better,

835
00:45:40,900 --> 00:45:42,900
but it's not he comes. 
And he says, will you give me 

836
00:45:42,900 --> 00:45:45,300
your live and just go know? 
He was. 

837
00:45:45,300 --> 00:45:48,500
Okay, I'll wait. 
And then when you have a moment 

838
00:45:48,500 --> 00:45:51,000
and you get confused and you get
in, you get a loan and you come 

839
00:45:51,000 --> 00:45:53,700
and you're like, all right, I'll
try and he goes, great says, I 

840
00:45:53,708 --> 00:45:55,600
want you to give me that 
relationship. 

841
00:45:55,600 --> 00:45:57,900
Oh my God, I'll be so alone. 
I'll be a so afraid I'm gonna 

842
00:45:57,900 --> 00:45:59,000
hand. 
You know what God says, listen, 

843
00:45:59,000 --> 00:46:00,600
are you listening? 
Because you think that our 

844
00:46:00,600 --> 00:46:02,700
relationship that you give up, 
you can't go on without it and 

845
00:46:02,700 --> 00:46:04,200
you know what God says is I'll 
be there. 

846
00:46:05,000 --> 00:46:07,100
You won't be empty. 
I'll be with you but God you're 

847
00:46:07,100 --> 00:46:10,600
not like them is like I know I'm
Eternal and I know you and I 

848
00:46:10,600 --> 00:46:12,800
knit you together in your 
mother's womb and before one day

849
00:46:12,800 --> 00:46:15,200
was formed for you. 
I knew it and I created and I am

850
00:46:15,200 --> 00:46:17,800
for you and I'm on your side and
I'm better. 

851
00:46:19,600 --> 00:46:24,700
But God willing to say, yeah. 
I want you to know, I don't know

852
00:46:24,700 --> 00:46:26,500
where you're from. 
I don't know where you came, I 

853
00:46:26,500 --> 00:46:27,600
don't know. 
There's a lot of you that I 

854
00:46:27,608 --> 00:46:28,800
don't know in here. 
I don't know where you came 

855
00:46:28,800 --> 00:46:32,900
from, but I believe with every 
fiber of my being, I'll stake my

856
00:46:32,900 --> 00:46:38,400
job, my life on this. 
You are here today because God 

857
00:46:38,400 --> 00:46:43,700
is calling your name and he 
wants to create something in 

858
00:46:43,700 --> 00:46:47,000
you. 
That is so rich, and full and 

859
00:46:47,000 --> 00:46:52,100
beautiful and fragrant and 
abundant and blooming. 

860
00:46:54,800 --> 00:46:58,600
We have say, yes. 
We have to let him hover over 

861
00:46:58,600 --> 00:47:00,300
our water. 
Now, next week, we're going to 

862
00:47:00,308 --> 00:47:02,300
talk specifically about how that
goes and how that looks. 

863
00:47:02,300 --> 00:47:03,800
So you should come back next 
week and we can talk about that 

864
00:47:03,800 --> 00:47:07,900
but real quick, right next, 
we're gonna talk about the days 

865
00:47:07,900 --> 00:47:09,400
of creation, but until then, 
here's a couple things. 

866
00:47:09,400 --> 00:47:11,100
I'm just going to hammer these 
real quick, right? 

867
00:47:11,100 --> 00:47:14,600
First of all, confess your 
confusion and emptiness to God 

868
00:47:14,700 --> 00:47:17,200
and ask him for new life. 
This is if you're in here in 

869
00:47:17,200 --> 00:47:20,100
this, Jesus thing is new to you.
Maybe you heard that God was mad

870
00:47:20,100 --> 00:47:22,400
at you or that God wanted to 
make your life boring or doing 

871
00:47:22,400 --> 00:47:23,800
whatever. 
What I want to tell you, are you

872
00:47:23,800 --> 00:47:25,500
listening, please listen to me 
just a few minutes. 

873
00:47:25,500 --> 00:47:30,100
I promise we'll be done in. 
The second God wants to give you

874
00:47:30,100 --> 00:47:33,100
life and he wants to give you 
the kind of life that looks like

875
00:47:33,100 --> 00:47:34,600
Jesus. 
And you know, what's remarkable 

876
00:47:34,600 --> 00:47:39,900
about the life that Jesus lived?
No matter what they did to him, 

877
00:47:40,000 --> 00:47:44,500
they couldn't crush him. 
They didn't stop doing things to

878
00:47:44,500 --> 00:47:47,400
him. 
He just finally one. 

879
00:47:47,500 --> 00:47:50,200
And what we're told is that he 
sits at the right hand of God, 

880
00:47:50,200 --> 00:47:53,100
the Father, reigning and ruling 
today, and that is real. 

881
00:47:53,100 --> 00:47:55,800
And that is eternal and that's 
what he has for your life but it

882
00:47:55,800 --> 00:48:02,300
begins with Confession. 
I'm confused and I'm empty and 

883
00:48:02,300 --> 00:48:06,500
repentance that says, I want 
your way and guess what? 

884
00:48:06,500 --> 00:48:08,400
You don't know what his way is 
yet. 

885
00:48:09,800 --> 00:48:15,000
But it's trust and it's fake. 
We invite him into tohu Wabo who

886
00:48:15,000 --> 00:48:19,000
of Jason. 
If that's you today don't leave 

887
00:48:19,000 --> 00:48:20,700
without that and it is this 
simple. 

888
00:48:21,000 --> 00:48:29,300
God, forgive me lead me into 
life as you have it, if you do 

889
00:48:29,300 --> 00:48:31,800
that, it says that he will. 
If you did that right now, I 

890
00:48:31,808 --> 00:48:35,300
want to do this, send me a text 
message, I won't Buzz or 

891
00:48:35,308 --> 00:48:36,100
anything like that. 
You'll be fine. 

892
00:48:36,100 --> 00:48:38,700
Text the word, follower to the 
number 9400. 

893
00:48:39,200 --> 00:48:40,300
I'm not going to show up your 
house. 

894
00:48:40,300 --> 00:48:41,900
I'm not going to do anything 
weird, right? 

895
00:48:41,900 --> 00:48:43,800
I just want you to go on the 
record or someone just say, hey,

896
00:48:44,200 --> 00:48:46,700
I asked God to hover over my 
Waters. 

897
00:48:46,900 --> 00:48:50,900
Today, I ask God to bring peace 
to my chaos today. 

898
00:48:50,900 --> 00:48:52,600
The second thing I want you to 
do is I want you to write your 

899
00:48:52,600 --> 00:48:57,100
creation story. 
I want you to write about the 

900
00:48:57,100 --> 00:48:58,900
confinement. 
You write your confusion. 

901
00:48:58,900 --> 00:49:00,200
Where was the confusion your 
life? 

902
00:49:00,200 --> 00:49:03,800
Where did you find the spirit of
God, hovering over your Waters? 

903
00:49:03,800 --> 00:49:05,500
And when did it come? 
Like, here's the thing that's 

904
00:49:05,500 --> 00:49:07,300
important, right? 
We live in the 21st century, 

905
00:49:07,300 --> 00:49:09,000
want to make our creation story 
all about us. 

906
00:49:09,400 --> 00:49:13,300
I just picked up my bootstraps 
and I did that know, you didn't?

907
00:49:14,100 --> 00:49:16,500
No, you didn't. 
The story of creation is the 

908
00:49:16,500 --> 00:49:19,100
story of God. 
Getting involved in places where

909
00:49:19,100 --> 00:49:21,900
mankind couldn't get to your 
creation. 

910
00:49:21,900 --> 00:49:25,000
Story is the story of God. 
It's the story of John 1:1 in 

911
00:49:25,000 --> 00:49:30,700
the beginning of you was the 
word and the word brought life 

912
00:49:30,800 --> 00:49:33,800
and Grace and peace. 
So write your story. 

913
00:49:34,300 --> 00:49:37,500
Where was their confusion? 
Where did you find God? 

914
00:49:37,500 --> 00:49:41,100
And what difference did he make?
Where do you find your peace? 

915
00:49:41,100 --> 00:49:44,900
Where do you find your fullness?
And if you Find your story. 

916
00:49:44,900 --> 00:49:47,600
If you write your story and you 
find that you can't identify 

917
00:49:47,600 --> 00:49:51,900
those, that's okay. 
To start asking Jesus to fill 

918
00:49:51,900 --> 00:49:58,200
the emptiness to fill the space,
last speak to confusion, and 

919
00:49:58,200 --> 00:50:01,400
emptiness. 
In Jesus name, when you talk to 

920
00:50:01,400 --> 00:50:04,600
your neighbors and you hear 
their life is confused taught 

921
00:50:04,600 --> 00:50:07,200
them, it's great to talk to them
about church, but talking about 

922
00:50:07,200 --> 00:50:10,800
Jesus. 
Talking about your story and I 

923
00:50:10,808 --> 00:50:12,900
got all, I'm not a theologian. 
Good, they don't want a 

924
00:50:12,908 --> 00:50:15,500
theologian. 
Do read theologians they don't 

925
00:50:15,500 --> 00:50:17,900
care about theologians they want
to know that it works. 

926
00:50:18,500 --> 00:50:21,600
They want to know your story. 
They want to know where you find

927
00:50:21,600 --> 00:50:23,300
Jesus. 
They want to know where you find

928
00:50:23,300 --> 00:50:26,000
God. 
They want to know what God is, 

929
00:50:26,000 --> 00:50:31,500
creating all around us and as 
his church, that's our story. 

930
00:50:32,400 --> 00:50:34,700
So next week, we're going to 
mention that next week. 

931
00:50:34,700 --> 00:50:36,000
Going to talk about the specific
days. 

932
00:50:36,000 --> 00:50:38,100
I wasn't sure if I said that 
enough, you should come back. 

933
00:50:38,100 --> 00:50:39,800
It's going to be good. 
It's going to be neat, but 

934
00:50:39,800 --> 00:50:44,100
listen, here's the deal, if you 
believe the story of Genesis, 1 

935
00:50:44,100 --> 00:50:45,800
means that there was absolute 
nothing. 

936
00:50:45,800 --> 00:50:49,600
And then God said, and suddenly 
from a material nothingness into

937
00:50:49,600 --> 00:50:50,700
full right. 
Guess what? 

938
00:50:50,800 --> 00:50:52,700
Yeah, I think I'm right. 
You may be right. 

939
00:50:53,100 --> 00:50:55,200
I could be wrong. 
We'll find out someday. 

940
00:50:55,300 --> 00:50:58,100
We're not going to divide over 
that, because here's what I know

941
00:50:58,200 --> 00:51:01,000
whether he did, it six days or a
million years, that all came 

942
00:51:01,000 --> 00:51:03,800
from God. 
And without him, without him, 

943
00:51:03,800 --> 00:51:08,500
there is still only confusion 
and darkness. 

944
00:51:08,800 --> 00:51:12,600
And Chaos. 
That's what he came to remedy. 

945
00:51:13,000 --> 00:51:17,200
So Jesus, we invite you into our
lives to remedy those things in 

946
00:51:17,200 --> 00:51:20,600
US. 
I do pray for anybody in here. 

947
00:51:20,600 --> 00:51:23,200
That doesn't know you yet. 
Maybe they're maybe they came 

948
00:51:23,200 --> 00:51:26,400
today because of the confusion, 
maybe they came today because of

949
00:51:26,400 --> 00:51:28,200
the emptiness and they're 
looking and they're searching. 

950
00:51:28,200 --> 00:51:32,300
And if that's you and here, will
you just pray that father, 

951
00:51:32,300 --> 00:51:38,500
forgive me? 
Jesus, fill my life. 

952
00:51:43,200 --> 00:51:45,900
If you do that, he said he'll 
put his spirit in you to lead 

953
00:51:45,900 --> 00:51:48,900
you and guide you and redeem you
and restore, you and Lead You In

954
00:51:49,200 --> 00:51:51,300
to New Life. 
And Jesus. 

955
00:51:51,300 --> 00:51:53,000
I pray that you would show us 
all the area. 

956
00:51:53,000 --> 00:51:56,400
We don't just have one story of 
chaos and emptiness, we have a 

957
00:51:56,400 --> 00:51:58,100
million of them. 
I pray that you would show that.

958
00:51:58,100 --> 00:52:01,000
I pray that you would give us 
the ability to put words to it 

959
00:52:01,000 --> 00:52:05,900
and I pray, father, that your 
church would be active in 

960
00:52:06,300 --> 00:52:09,500
aggressively addressing the 
darkness and the sins, and this 

961
00:52:09,500 --> 00:52:14,200
world is sins of racism. 
The sins of Poverty. 

962
00:52:14,200 --> 00:52:20,800
This sins of all of them. 
Forgive us set us free. 

963
00:52:21,900 --> 00:52:25,200
Let us be alive in you. 
Jesus, we ask these things in 

964
00:52:25,200 --> 00:52:27,500
your name and for your glory. 
Amen. 

965
00:52:28,100 --> 00:52:31,100
Thank you for joining us today. 
River City Church is all about 

966
00:52:31,100 --> 00:52:33,800
experiencing and expressing 
God's love in our lives and 

967
00:52:33,800 --> 00:52:35,700
community. 
And we hope that you've been 

968
00:52:35,700 --> 00:52:38,400
able to experience that today as
grateful. 

969
00:52:38,400 --> 00:52:41,100
As I am, that you've spent this 
time, listening in this morning,

970
00:52:41,300 --> 00:52:44,700
this podcast is no substitute 
for full participation in a 

971
00:52:44,708 --> 00:52:46,500
local church. 
I love it. 

972
00:52:46,500 --> 00:52:49,500
When River City people listen to
other, Masters, but it is those 

973
00:52:49,500 --> 00:52:52,600
who show up week after week 
Faithfully, giving their support

974
00:52:52,600 --> 00:52:55,100
and time and resources that make
all of this possible. 

975
00:52:55,600 --> 00:52:59,000
If we can help you get connected
to a local church, pray for you 

976
00:52:59,100 --> 00:53:01,500
or support you in any way. 
Click the link in the 

977
00:53:01,500 --> 00:53:04,300
description and let us know if 
you'd like to financially 

978
00:53:04,300 --> 00:53:05,800
support the ministry of River 
City. 

979
00:53:05,900 --> 00:53:08,400
Click the give link on our 
website in the description. 

980
00:53:08,800 --> 00:53:11,400
Don't forget to subscribe, and 
don't forget to share this with 

981
00:53:11,400 --> 00:53:13,500
your friends. 
Thanks so much for listening. 

982
00:53:13,600 --> 00:53:16,600
May the Lord bless, and keep you
in all Grace and peace.

