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We're going to continue our sermon series. We're actually going to go

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backwards now from last week. If you were here last week we looked at how God

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created everything good and very good and what that meant and because it was

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communion how God creates good and very good and how it kind of worked with our

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communion service. This week we're going a little bit prior to that. We're going

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to pick up from where we ended I guess sometime last month in our creation

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account. So from the beginning to the end we have been looking at the account in

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Genesis, Genesis chapter 1. We're still in Genesis chapter 1. We haven't gotten

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out of it. The last time that we were here we looked at the days of creation

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until the first part of day six. So the land animals, the creeping things, the

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the bugs and the beasts and the dogs and the cats. Today we're going to pick up

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from there and we're going to look at the second half of day six. Before we do

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that though do we have the... all right before we do that though we want to talk

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about Pablo Picasso. Pablo Picasso a famed 20th century artist. His paintings

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go for untold dollar amounts. People like to get a hold of him. He's usually known

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for more of his abstract depictions of things. I look at him and I just go well

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that's kind of neat but it seems like even I can do that and I don't have a

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whole lot of artistic talent. People who know what they're looking at tell me

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that even in the abstract arts like like him and some of the other well-known

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artists that there is still a talent and a depth and a layering to the abstract

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that because again art is not my thing I'm not talented in that I can't quite

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see it. Those with a discerning eye can. I did not know though until recently that

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he also has a fairly lengthy collection of self portraits beginning with his

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first one at the age of 15 there on the left and then his next one at the age of

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18 there on the right. What what we're looking at is we're going to see a

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progression of his self portraits how he viewed himself and how it translated

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onto his medium as he aged because if we're going to consider perhaps what he

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saw of himself how he portrayed it what kind of image does he have about himself.

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There he is at the age of 20 and then at 24 can we already see a shift in his

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depictions a little less like maybe a real image or capture of himself into

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something slightly more abstract even just the difference between the two the

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skin color is different the hair style is different the eyes look a little bit

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more empty and blank. We can go on to the next one there at 35 and then at 56 a

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leap in a couple of decades and can you see a very stark contrast. By the time

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Picasso had gotten into his 50s he was really working a lot with his what he

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has become most famous for his abstract art things that are just a little out of

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where if you and I were to take a photo of it it would it would not look like

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his drawings and they have nothing similar to his earliest ones in terms of

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can you could you even tell that this was a Picasso if you just had that and

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you didn't know that he drew it. At 83 and 85 he's actually getting closer to

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the end of his life and and just me critiquing it maybe that's why we have

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less hair on the top of the head a few more wrinkles in the brow maybe those

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are his ribs showing through if he's losing a little bit of weight as he as

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he ages. We can go to the next one there at 89 and then at 85 so maybe think of

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those in other ways this is really starting to look more humanoid and less

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human really kind of looks cold doesn't it little I mean awfully dark and you

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have non-descript lines on that one on the right more shadow and I can think of

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confusion or anxiety when I look at lines like that and then our next one oh

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it does stop there okay

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that's fine he's got one he's got actually several when he was 90 he passed

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away shortly after those last ones we're done with this he passed away shortly

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after his last couple of pictures and they are even less human than these his

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image of himself as he aged as he really found his own in whatever drew him to a

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more abstract style of art I believe affected his self-image and when you

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look at the ones where he was drawing at 90 and when he's really saying I

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believe his last one was titled something like self-portrait facing death

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or something like that the face that you see is one of a man looking at the end

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of his life there's less color to the skin there's there's less brightness in

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the eyes there seems to be more questioning or

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doubt he seems to be a little less upright in his posture a little bit more

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hunched a little bit more down faced if you will and and maybe I'm reading too

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much into it but you look at it and you go this is how his image shifted and

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changed as he aged I wonder if we do that I wonder if when we're trying to

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portray who we are to those around us one do we go through phases two how well

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do we do it and three how often do we reserve ourselves because we don't

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really want our real image put out there or our real selves put out there let me

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phrase it that way we would rather have an image kind of in our likeness and we

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reserve who we really are I believe we do that sometimes I think that's

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appropriate I don't think you should should really bear everything certainly

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not in the kind of social media age that we have everything is permanent online

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and everyone sees that nothing is private if you haven't figured that out

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even on the so-called private forums but when God was looking at the end of his

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creation process in Genesis we introduced the idea early on that he

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wasn't just arbitrarily putting land and arbitrarily putting water and air and

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and creatures and beauty and form and all of that he wasn't doing that just

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because he was in a good mood that week I believe that God knew what the crowning

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act of his creation was going to be before he uttered those first words let

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there be light I believe he knew that once all of that was done once it was

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all shaped and pieced together that that the purpose of all of that was so that

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his final creation at the end of the week would have a home would have land

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would have something to do would have a dominion etc. was all leading to this our

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scripture reading today tells us exactly what happened after God called forth the

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living creatures the other animals in nature apart from what our verses have

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said because in Genesis 1 and 26 God said let us make man in our image after

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our likeness so right out the gate just because someone asked very recently if

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this was a comment on the Trinity it's not it's a comment on the plurality of

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God again you don't have a full understanding of the Trinity until you

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get to the New Testament you can't do it only and exclusively with the Old

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Testament but it's certainly a plurality idea about God let us make man that's

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mankind that's humanity in our image after our likeness this word for image

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at Salem in the Hebrew is a meaning of something carved or cut out something

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carved or cut out that would be like this like what Picasso had done if he

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were to make a self-portrait using wood or a marble that would be Salem in the

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Hebrew after our likeness makes much the same point in that God made man like

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himself though not divine that was what that is one thing that is only reserved

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for the Godhead exclusively God alone is holy the Bible tells us but we can learn

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a little bit quite a bit actually about what it is to be made in the image of

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God what does it mean when God says that what should we look for back then and

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right now in humanity what is it to be made in the image of God bearing his

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likeness defining us as like him though not divine John Calvin puts it this way

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man remember resembles him and that in him that's man God's glory is

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contemplated as in a mirror that was a very nice way of phrasing it so in other

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words we're going to look at when we look side by side at each other and we

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are contemplating mankind when we're contemplating one another what do we see

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in how it relates to God one to be made in the image of God it does speak to

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form note that I said form not body and there is a difference the Bible tells us

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Jesus tells us in John chapter 4 and 24 that one God is spirit and we worship

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him in spirit and truth God is spirit but in all of the theophany accounts that

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the Bible records the appearances of God before prophets or his people God has a

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form God is always described with a head with a chest with arms with something

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like legs and I say something like legs because that's often the language it

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seems that when the prophets in vision are beholding the majesty of the heavens

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they're using the best human language that we have to describe the indescribable

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divine something like legs something like arms a form but not a body always

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depicted upright always depicted as as regal in appearance always as

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brilliant always as as sure of himself and how he's shown so it's it's good to

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know that there we can draw something from the image of God and how it relates

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to our form but I believe it would be wise to stop just shy of saying that God

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has a definite body because the Bible doesn't actually tell us as such

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mankind we certainly have a body and a form and in our body and in our form it

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speaks of dignity and a healthy human body has a dignified presence about it

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when you are fit when you are walking and you're upright and your shoulders

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are back and you are you you are not weighted down or burdened or have some

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other reason to not walk like the way that that God created us it speaks of

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dignity and ability that is beyond the rest of created nature our unique

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structure with our appendages and our balances and our eyes and what we can

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hear and sense it might not be quite what a dog smells or hears or quite how

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fast a cheetah can run but there is a beauty and a dignity that takes mankind

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even beyond the best that the animal world has to to be made in the image of

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God includes our mind Augustine proposed the image of God resides in man's memory

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understanding and will he was attempting to find in man's mind some sort of

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commonality with the Trinity so the three persons of the Godhead and here's

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the three elements of the mind the memory understanding and will I would

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add that there is at least a fourth I don't know if it's a subset of the will

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but our reason God has said come and let us reason together humans have

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different than the rest of animals we have a memory in the short term and the

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long term that definitely outpaces the best of the animal world the only thing

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I don't quite understand is salmon getting back to there that must be

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something really ingrained and they've met they don't know where they were

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born but they make it back up those rivers our understanding our our ability

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to know things goes way beyond the most intelligent animal way beyond and of

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course only in humans do we find a will the ability to be able to choose to go

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in this direction or to go in that direction reason it out and understand

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why we can resist another person's will we can push our own will on someone else

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and that's different than animals they just kind of have their instincts and so

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on and then of course our reason the ability to think deep and high and broad

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thoughts God did not say let us come and feel together as important as feelings

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and emotions are and I actually think that's one other common thing that we

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have in our image of God with him but God has placed our logic and our reason

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as that higher order Christ in being called the Logos Logos is not just word

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it is also our root for logic God is a logical rational reason reasonable

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reason-bearing being and man has been created in like manner we could also

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think of man's self-awareness and our personalities which are of a higher

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order than animals I have two cats and a dog and they all have a personality they

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are nothing as deep as the people I know I've kind of figured out what the cats

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and the dogs are going to be like it didn't take long my wife after 20 plus

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years of marriage still surprises me and I love that about her my parents after

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all of the years that I've known them still surprise me sometime and I have

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dear friends that that also will surprise me in their personality in how

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they change a little or in how they have grown in their self-awareness we also

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have a conscience and we are capable of moral decision-making God clearly is

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both of those things man alone worships God among the creatures we alone worship

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God with a spiritual awareness you can look at all the various animals and in

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the various accounts nature responds to God but we don't ever read in the Bible

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how nature seeks after God to worship him that's unique to humanity the wise

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man in Ecclesiastes chapter 3 in verse 11 says that he has made everything a

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beautiful in its time also he has put eternity in their hearts only mankind

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has the ability to think in that way and that is a that is a high and lofty

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description to think in eternal matters is to be made after the image of God

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number three in verse 27 of Genesis 1 we see that God created man in his own

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image in the image of God he created him male and female he created them male and

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female both comprise the image of God in the original creation it was purely

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equal in all regards when it comes to bearing the image of God that has not

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changed when it comes to our morality when it comes to our value when it comes

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to what we are charged with doing and what we how we worship who we worship

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all of the rest of what we will talk about it's equal between the sexes along

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the way where where men and and some women certainly got a little confused in

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that and thought that only the male comprised the image of God and the

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female had to only bear it because of him etc that's faulty thinking don't

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think like that male and female he created them the differences between the

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sexes do not detract from this image but uniquely and together they bear the

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image it's good to know number four what we also see in this male and female is

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that we are communal not merely individual as we read it through the

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Bible we find the three members of the Godhead Father Son and Holy Spirit they

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work in harmony aside from the time when Christ was dead in the grave those three

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have not known separation from each other time in memoriam I don't understand

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it but I have faith that God's Word is true and just like they have a community

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with each other mankind was created for a knee or with a need for community we

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are intended to be together isolation and hyper individualism does not bear out

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well in in the population it doesn't that's why we have laws that restrict

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how long a person even in prison can be in solitary confinement that's why when

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when people are stranded alone on an island and we hear these stories usually

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there's some account of them personifying something that they then

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kind of talked to the the Tom Hanks movie castaway might bring that he had

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his little little beach a little beach ball volleyball Wilson he personified a

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volleyball but that maintained in his mind that relationship the community

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that we all need you can see terrible results right now in what happens when

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you forcefully interrupt that for any lengthy period of time with the

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lockdowns from kovat and everyone being told to go home and being told to stay

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apart from each other and being told that if you get near one another you

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just are going to kill them all of that breaks down broke down that community

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the community need and an image and and thing that's deeply rooted in us and that

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has borne out in skyrocketing prescriptions for antidepressants

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anti-anxieties ADHD drugs an explosion in in addictive behaviors and an

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addiction to social media and the depression rates and the suicidal

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thoughts and people being stunted in in vocabulary and language and social

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interactions all of that all of that is still being felt and we really don't

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know how long it's going to impact our society especially our little kids you

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can't just take how God has created us forcefully smush it down and then think

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everything is going to be okay which is why the Bible talks about in Ephesians

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chapter 4 and then in Hebrews I'm going to turn to those really quick I forgot

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to put a marker there Ephesians chapter 4 verses 15 and 16 rather speaking the

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truth and love we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head into

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Christ this is speaking of the body of Christ from whom the whole body joined

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and held together by every joint with which it is equipped when each part is

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working properly makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love the

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body of Christ is intended to be held together knit together and grow up

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together not apart from each other and then Hebrews chapter 10 and verse 25

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let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works not

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neglecting to meet together as is the habit of some but encourage one another

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and all the more as you see the day drawing near from the beginning God

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intended humanity to be a community creature and we need to continue

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practicing that number five in verse 26 we see that God created man to be a vice

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regent over the rest of creation let them have dominion over the fish of the

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sea over the birds of the heavens over the livestock over all the earth and

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over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth you see God has a dominion

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what's his dominion saints everything all the universe and everything that it

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contains but he here is created man in his image and then like himself he has

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given man a dominion not a dominion apart from him but a dominion in God's

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place a co-regent a vice regent over nature meaning that man exercises the

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authority of another we exercise the authority in God's name over creation

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we're supposed to keep animals in check and and be good stewards of the plants

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and the streams and the fish and the birds all human beings are called to

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represent God's kingship through the whole range of human life on earth God's

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rule is not the rule of a despot but the loving nurture of a caring parent and

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that's how we should rule over the rest of nature I'm not one for at the expense

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of all things we preserve all the rest of nature I don't I'm not one for that

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but I do believe God has called us to be this to be the stewards to be the

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caretakers of the rest of this planet we should not unnecessarily waste we

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certainly shouldn't unnecessarily use up resources beyond our needs we should

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keep things clean we should help the animals that need our help we should do

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all of those things don't abuse in nature God has said that that's our

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dominion and I believe he will hold us account to much of what we have done

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number six the image of God includes communion with God spiritual creatures

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we are intended to live in harmony with a spiritual God animals are unaware of

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him in the same sense that we are they neither seek after him nor do they

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worship him Paul speaking to the church in Rome says for what can be known about

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God is plain to them that's people because God has shown it to them he

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reveals himself to us because he wants to be known and he wants us to know him

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and he wants us to reveal ourselves back to him that's prayer that's devotion

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that's that's taking a nature walk and looking at the beautiful flowers and not

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going oh what a fine accident that happened seeing God's fingerprints on

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the rings of a tree and so on he wants to commune with us and he reveals

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himself to us Jesus in the gospel of John in chapter 17 says this is eternal

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life that they know you the only true God and Jesus Christ whom you have sent

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eternal life salvation is in knowing God and not just intellectually but

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relationally you have to you have to become a little intimate with your

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creator he knows your ins and outs why not go ahead and be honest with him why

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not share with him what you are excited about and what you're sad about what

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you're looking forward to or what you're anxious over all of that openness

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strengthens the bond between you and him much like in a marriage if you and your

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spouse regularly hold back from each other only sharing the the generic or

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the superficial maybe you'll stay married for a long time but if anything

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comes up that challenges that how easily do the cracks form you want to grow

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closer to each other and you want to grow closer to God we also see that in

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in the creation method itself in the blessing that God poured out on his

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creation we see this communion because in Genesis 1 and verse 22 it says that

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God just blessed the birds and the fish he blessed them and he said let them be

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fruitful and multiply in verse 28 of chapter 1 God also does the same thing

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after he creates man he blessed them but he says and God said to them be fruitful

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and multiply have dominion over the fish and the sea etc so the other rest of

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animals they the the animals are created and then God God declares over them a

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blessing and then that ends the day when God makes man and woman he declares a

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blessing on them but then he also holds a conversation with them he speaks to

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them and he says this is what you are to do he doesn't do that with the rest of

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nature that is much more personal that is much more of a communion with our

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creator number seven the image of God includes righteousness and holiness if

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he's in chapter 4 and 24 says that we are created after the likeness of God in

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true righteousness and holiness at the beginning in the beginning God created

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man perfect we were righteous like him we didn't have to try it came naturally

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to be righteous it came naturally to want to do what God asked us to do it we

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didn't have to fight against it we didn't have to plead for the help we

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didn't stumble and fall and and go boy can I can can God help me tomorrow maybe

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tomorrow will be a better day in the beginning we were created like God

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righteous and desiring to be holy like him we were created after his likeness

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true righteousness and holiness this signifies that in the beginning we had

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a right standing with God and holiness before him if you look at the sanctuary

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process the tabernacle process from the outer court and the curtains to the wash

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basin and the and the firm in the altar and then into the holy place and then

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into the most holy place and so on that is a progress of how does an unholy

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human enter into the presence of a holy God we have to do that right now because

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we are broken and we are sinful it was not so in the beginning we could just

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walk with God and we were not blinded by his brightness we could be in his

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presence and not worry or fear about our existence because we were not out of

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harmony with his holiness we were created in his image in that way why are

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we considering all of this why do we look at all of this and we can we can

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keep on going we could there are many other facets to humanity that you could

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say is created after the image of God you could think of our creativity our

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imagination you could think of our vocabulary and our ability to

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communicate you can think of so many things but why do we even bother looking

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at this our midweek study during prayer meeting has been going through some of

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the basic Christian practices so we started with looking at the practice of

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prayer why it was important different types of prayer that communication that

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we need between us and our Heavenly Father we just started looking at Bible

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study and our introduction this past week brought to mind some of the reasons

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you study the Bible and one really important reason is you study the Bible

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because the Bible gives you the biggest answer or the answers to some of the

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biggest questions that mankind has been asking for millennia such as who am I

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why am I here where am I going what am I to do while I am here and going if we

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answer the who am I and why am I here we are living creatures made by God to bear

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his own image why we're here says so the stamp of God is seen in our moral and

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our spiritual nature it is seen in our shared love within community and in our

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dominion on God's behalf and it's especially seen in our calling to

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communion with God in knowledge and righteousness that's why we are here we

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aren't here because of an accident we aren't here because fate said so we

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aren't here to just discover ourselves like so many people want to propose

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today that's that self-seeking attitude of who am I and I need to just well I

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just need to go on a journey to discover myself and it's a lot of it's a lot of

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narcissistic kind of thought in our world today the Bible tells us why you're

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here you are here to bear God's image in bearing his image it includes all of the

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rest of what we've already talked about there is nothing that could grant a

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greater dignity along with humility before God together with a higher sense

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of calling and privilege than to realize that we are creatures designed to know

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and be known by God and to love and be loved by our maker it's the greatest

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dignity that we could have forget the CEOs and the millionaires and the

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billionaires forget how well you work out or what awards you might win or what

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treasures you have laid up the greatest dignity that we have is to realize that

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we are creatures designed to know and be known by God and to love and be loved by

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our maker that's why we're here and it's such a joy it's such a joy but we have

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to also ask

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is everything good in mankind today is everything going the way that it once

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did back in Eden are we still getting along in harmony with one another and

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with our God is the image of God even still present today and if so to what

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degree what about the image of God in mankind after the fall in the

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introduction of sin it has been proposed early on as Christians were wrestling

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with this it has been proposed no the image of God is not present because sin

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has depraved us so much that it's just squashed the image of God right out of

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us and we are rebuilding that back and well God is rebuilding that back but it

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won't actually occur until we're in glory some say yes some say yes it

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hasn't diminished even though we're not perfect even though it's not really

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ideal the image of God is still there I would suggest to you that it is both no

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and yes it is both and not either or this is a fine quote we must state both

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that after his revolt mankind remains mankind we didn't become some other

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creature or some other creation we are still mankind and also that mankind has

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radically changed I think that's fair that he is but a grisly shadow of

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himself mankind remains the image of God inviolable and responsible but has

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become a contradictory image one might say a caricature a witness against

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himself so no and yes we are still humanity we are still mankind there is

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no record that suggests that humans are now a completely different type of

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species or a different genus or a different whatever you can certainly

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find a variety and a spectrum of sizes and shapes and colors and abilities and

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so on it's all humanity wherever you fall along that line we're all still

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part of the human race no matter the this is I find it odd to say no matter

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the corner of the globe as you find yourself from or in and those you

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interact with you look at them and they look at you we're all part of the same

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human race and that hasn't changed we are still that but we have to be

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truthful in recognizing that we are radically changed from creation from

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even Noah's time or the patriarchs time or so on we don't still talk about the

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Giants that walk the land and I look like a grasshopper in their sight we

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don't really do that anymore we have changed you can think of it this way you

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can think of it kind of like a tempered gold piece a piece of tempered glass or

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a vehicle window that gets a nick and spiders out it shatters it's still there

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it still has its form and its shape but it is not what it once was it's cracked

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it's distorted you can see it but you can't see clearly through it and if you

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push on it too hard you can just kind of break it apart into pieces or you can

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think of if you did a self-portrait maybe in some watercolor and and then

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you got caught in a rainstorm and some rain drops fell on your watercolor

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painting it might mar the image that you had put on to the canvas even if you can

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kind of tell that there was once a person's face there similar things the

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image of God has been distorted by our depravity we have lost our close

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communion with him we can think through the rest of this list and we can say you

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know we are not quite as healthy as perhaps we once were we have our aches

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and our pains more so we can see that even our bodies are different some are

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born missing an appendage or needing surgeries right away or some have a

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propensity for cancers they have a predisposition from birth for cancers

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that wasn't in the original nature we know that some have different mental

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abilities some are very limited and handicapped and some are exceptional

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that's a change that's different we can think of male and female our

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relationships with one another have have certainly taken turns I mean the the

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whole men are from what is it women are from Venus and men are from Mars kind of

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idea shows that no longer do we have that harmony with the equality that was

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there in at creation we don't our community is not in harmony with one

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another more people seem very content with a really individual aspect about

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themselves and their interactions and can I serve me not how can we all be in

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unity people fight people argue people attack people are vindictive people hurl

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insults at one another or worse the image of God has certainly been tainted

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as vice regents we have not always done well in being good stewards of our earth

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it's just plain and simple sometimes we've had some very catastrophic

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natural disasters of our own making the most recent one that comes to my mind

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would be the train wreck in Ohio that that was not good and the cleanup was

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not good and I believe some of the lies that were told to the people were not

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good health will be affected for years they're saying because of that that's

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not good stewardship if we're just honest with ourselves of course we've

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had our communion with God interrupted we cannot walk in his presence anymore

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we do not talk with him in the cool of the evening like Adam and Eve is

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certainly enjoyed and we do not have an innate bent towards righteousness and

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holiness we now have a born with nature bent opposed to it we are now much more

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inclined to scream and shout curses at God or at best we just resist the Holy

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Spirit's urging we make excuses when we sin when we put our selfish desires

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above the will of God we blame others for it you caused me to do this I don't

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want to do what God has asked I don't even care that's where we naturally go

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we need the promise of a new creation we remain at creatures designed to know God

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and to respond to him in faith and praise that is true that's why we're not

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totally depraved we can still respond to him so the promptings of his grace by

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faith but now fallen man though we do still bear God's image we respond to

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divine and knowledge by cursings and rebellion but is there hope is there

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hope for the hot mess we find ourselves in is there hope for the depraved image

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that we certainly are is there a time when it will no longer be the cracked

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glass but rather clean and clear and put back together whole as it should be

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Jesus shows that the answer is yes not because he just really said it but

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because Jesus Christ is real and he was here and he walked among us and he showed

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that harmony with with heaven and a human again in Jesus we know that the

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answer is yes because in Jesus we know that we can have victory over the

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depravity in Jesus we see the only way to forgiveness from sin that taints and

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Mars and tears up and soils in Jesus we see the example of what we should have

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been and if we model ourselves more and more after him that it does something in

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us it is it is true that the more you practice something the easier it becomes

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until it's much more of just a habit or your first thought or you don't even

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think you just kind of do the thing that you're wanting to do exercise is a fine

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example it's awful the first 30 days if you're out of shape it's awful you

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creak you ache you don't want to get up lifting a can of soup after you've

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worked out the day before it's tough your body reminds you that you haven't

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moved that way or lifted that much and who knows how long and you want to give

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it up but you get past that 30-day hurdle and then the 60-day hurdle and all of a

425
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sudden it kind of happens this way you find that you miss it when you don't

426
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have it you find that you don't get winded as easily when you walk the

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stairs it's it's more natural to choose water instead of a coca-cola because you

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know that you feel better with the one and the taste is good and the coca-cola

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is just too sweet I can't drink coke anymore I haven't I don't really like it

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I'm not there yet but I can tell you from personal experience if you drink a

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lot of water you like it and the sodas are a lot less appealing it is that way

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in your spiritual walk also it's not easy or comfortable to first open up the

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Word of God and see high and lofty and holy things it's not always easy it's

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not easy to get into the habit of reading something like this which is a

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fine piece of literature with deep understanding not the surface simple

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minded dribble that you get in most news outlets today this will challenge you

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this will really get at you asking those really piercing kinds of questions the

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Word of God is like a two-edged sword is it not but it's not easy when you first

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do it prayer sometimes feels off or uncomfortable or awkward or well I could

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be doing something else or am I praying long enough then your thoughts into your

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mind stick with it because God is working in you his will both to love and

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know and to do of his good pleasure and much like exercise 30 days 60 days 120

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days if you are consistent with it it becomes a part of your life and that

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image that we so long to have perfected starts to shine and you really do start

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to again regain some of what sin has chipped away and clouded up Ephesians

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chapter 4 verses 22 and 24 talks about putting off the old man concerning your

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former conduct the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts

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and be renewed in the spirit of your mind that you put on the new man which

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was created according to God in true righteousness and holiness you get rid

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of the depraved and you put on Christ's robe of righteousness that new man and

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he will recreate you again after his image 2nd Corinthians 318 but we all

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with unveiled face beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord are being

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transformed into the same image from glory to glory just as by the Spirit of

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the Lord behold him and he will change you from glory to glory in Jesus Christ

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our final quote who is both the Son of God and the image of God we are restored

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to our humanity as true images of our Creator and more than images in Jesus we

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are more than just an image of God in Jesus we are adopted into the heavenly

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family and we are then the sons and daughters in God's family that's more

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than just bearing an image we now have a title and a belonging and a relationship

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and community and everything else you are now a son and a daughter of God in

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Christ by the bond of that new covenant the covenant that we have in Jesus

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Christ what a wonderful promise what a blessed assurance we are created in God's

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image and it contains so many of those things and we haven't lost all of it but

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the only way to regain it all back is to find it in Christ the Bible tells us

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that he was the one who was the active person in creation he created us he

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started humanity on our journey on earth he is also the one who redeems us and

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recreates us back into that same image he is the beginning and the end for

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humanity and I say praise God for being created in his image let's pray heavenly

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father we thank you for the awesome privilege of being made in your likeness

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or we praise you that after we messed up as a people and as we continue to mess

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up today that you do not just shun us completely from your sight but rather

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you humbled yourself becoming one of us living the life that we should have

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dying the death that we rightly deserve but also conquering the grave for us so

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that we might have a claim to Christ righteousness that we might have a claim

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to eternity in you that we might have a claim to being called your sons and your

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daughters not because we've earned it but because you so freely give it to us

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in Christ's name or I pray that we would all claim it hold on to it and carry it

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with us until we see Jesus coming to take us home Lord may that be our reality

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today we pray in your name amen