1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:13,440 Welcome to Walk in the Truth podcast. 2 00:00:13,440 --> 00:00:18,800 Today John Metter, lead pastor of Cross City Church, brings a message in the Origins series 3 00:00:18,800 --> 00:00:22,400 that helps answer the five most important questions in life. 4 00:00:22,400 --> 00:00:26,080 How you live today depends on how you answer these questions. 5 00:00:26,080 --> 00:00:33,080 Here's John Metter with the teaching on the five questions. 6 00:00:33,080 --> 00:00:37,800 I can tell you I've really loved our Origins series and if you have your Bibles this morning, 7 00:00:37,800 --> 00:00:43,160 let's go to Genesis chapter 1 today as we go back into our series. 8 00:00:43,160 --> 00:00:46,520 Day 4 is the title of the message today. 9 00:00:46,520 --> 00:00:50,360 Day 4, Genesis chapter 1, beginning in verse 14. 10 00:00:50,360 --> 00:00:55,160 I want to ask you some questions today before we begin. 11 00:00:55,160 --> 00:00:57,320 First let me take a poll. 12 00:00:57,320 --> 00:01:03,440 How many of you would say that in the last 10 years or so, you've noticed dramatic changes 13 00:01:03,440 --> 00:01:07,880 in culture and the way people think and the way people behave and live? 14 00:01:07,880 --> 00:01:10,160 Would you raise your hand if you've noticed that? 15 00:01:10,160 --> 00:01:11,640 Just the last 10 years. 16 00:01:11,640 --> 00:01:13,160 I've certainly noticed that. 17 00:01:13,160 --> 00:01:18,560 Certainly over the last few decades, but the last 10 years has been probably the most cataclysmic 18 00:01:18,560 --> 00:01:23,320 kinds of changes, kind of changes in the way people think and the way they live and lifestyle 19 00:01:23,320 --> 00:01:28,200 choices they make and the kind of things they say. 20 00:01:28,200 --> 00:01:30,200 It's really been amazing to me. 21 00:01:30,200 --> 00:01:34,800 It's almost like, in fact it is like, people have completely forgotten foundations for 22 00:01:34,800 --> 00:01:40,920 what truth is, completely forgotten where to find the truth and who defines truth and 23 00:01:40,920 --> 00:01:45,440 made truth their own subjective perspective. 24 00:01:45,440 --> 00:01:48,440 You know, over the last few months we've been talking about the most important questions 25 00:01:48,440 --> 00:01:53,600 in life and I'm convinced that we've gotten close to naming the most important questions 26 00:01:53,600 --> 00:01:55,040 of life. 27 00:01:55,040 --> 00:01:59,040 And I also believe that the book of Genesis answers all these questions as we walk through 28 00:01:59,040 --> 00:02:00,600 it week by week by week. 29 00:02:00,600 --> 00:02:04,440 Here are the five questions that we put before you every week. 30 00:02:04,440 --> 00:02:07,040 First of all, who is God and what is truth? 31 00:02:07,040 --> 00:02:12,840 If you can define the answer to that question, it's an amazing guide for you in life. 32 00:02:12,840 --> 00:02:16,360 Question number two, who was I created to be? 33 00:02:16,360 --> 00:02:18,520 Question number three, who are my people? 34 00:02:18,520 --> 00:02:19,520 Who can I trust? 35 00:02:19,520 --> 00:02:20,520 Who are around me? 36 00:02:20,520 --> 00:02:23,920 The next question, do I pursue healthy relationships? 37 00:02:23,920 --> 00:02:24,960 Do I know what they are? 38 00:02:24,960 --> 00:02:26,720 Do I know how to pursue them? 39 00:02:26,720 --> 00:02:30,360 And then the fifth question is, what is my purpose in life? 40 00:02:30,360 --> 00:02:31,680 Why am I here? 41 00:02:31,680 --> 00:02:34,760 Why am I breathing air and taking up space? 42 00:02:34,760 --> 00:02:36,800 All those important questions have answers. 43 00:02:36,800 --> 00:02:42,400 And it's my personal conviction that departing from the answers God gives us to these questions 44 00:02:42,400 --> 00:02:49,160 leaves us in a culture that is confused, unsure about how to live, who they are, where to 45 00:02:49,160 --> 00:02:50,160 find truth. 46 00:02:50,160 --> 00:02:54,960 But when you go back to the book of Genesis, you get reconnected with all that God said 47 00:02:54,960 --> 00:02:58,120 from the beginning to lay down the foundations for truth. 48 00:02:58,120 --> 00:03:03,000 So Genesis chapter one, beginning in verse 14, day four will share so much with us about 49 00:03:03,000 --> 00:03:04,520 the answer to these questions. 50 00:03:04,520 --> 00:03:08,200 Please stand with me as we read God's word together today. 51 00:03:08,200 --> 00:03:16,440 Genesis chapter one, beginning in verse 14. 52 00:03:16,440 --> 00:03:22,240 Then God said, let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day 53 00:03:22,240 --> 00:03:29,800 from the night and let them be for signs and for seasons and for days and years and let 54 00:03:29,800 --> 00:03:30,800 them be for lights. 55 00:03:30,800 --> 00:03:37,720 Now I'm going to go back and repeat that sequence of four phrases and words that are very, very 56 00:03:37,720 --> 00:03:38,960 important to this text. 57 00:03:38,960 --> 00:03:46,120 Let them be for signs and for seasons and for days and years and let them be for lights 58 00:03:46,120 --> 00:03:49,360 and the expanse of the heavens to give light on the earth. 59 00:03:49,360 --> 00:03:54,120 And it was so God made the two great lights, the greater light to govern the day and the 60 00:03:54,120 --> 00:03:56,240 lesser light to govern the night. 61 00:03:56,240 --> 00:03:58,400 He made the stars also. 62 00:03:58,400 --> 00:04:03,480 God placed them in the expanse of the heavens to give light on the earth and to govern the 63 00:04:03,480 --> 00:04:07,080 day and the night and to separate the light from the darkness. 64 00:04:07,080 --> 00:04:09,600 And God said that it was good. 65 00:04:09,600 --> 00:04:13,560 It was evening and there was morning, a fourth day. 66 00:04:13,560 --> 00:04:19,040 Father, in Jesus' name, I pray for your Holy Spirit to give us wisdom and insight. 67 00:04:19,040 --> 00:04:24,880 I pray that our eyes would be opened to light that you give us for how to live life. 68 00:04:24,880 --> 00:04:27,440 Father, thank you for your word. 69 00:04:27,440 --> 00:04:28,920 We ask this in Jesus' name. 70 00:04:28,920 --> 00:04:31,000 All God's people, son. 71 00:04:31,000 --> 00:04:32,000 Amen. 72 00:04:32,000 --> 00:04:37,480 You may be seated if you would. 73 00:04:37,480 --> 00:04:42,920 I don't think there's any question we live in a searching, documenting, recording age, 74 00:04:42,920 --> 00:04:43,920 don't we? 75 00:04:43,920 --> 00:04:49,960 I mean, you can find everything about every event, present or past in many ways. 76 00:04:49,960 --> 00:04:55,040 And science has come up with some great tools to help us discover and see more sharply the 77 00:04:55,040 --> 00:05:00,920 things that are around us in the heavens, models by which we can view the universe and 78 00:05:00,920 --> 00:05:03,120 how it all works. 79 00:05:03,120 --> 00:05:06,480 But when you dive in this text, you begin to see some words that really bring great 80 00:05:06,480 --> 00:05:09,160 illustrations with them at the same time. 81 00:05:09,160 --> 00:05:13,760 For example, verse 16, God made the two great lights, the greater light to govern the day 82 00:05:13,760 --> 00:05:16,760 and the lesser light to govern the night. 83 00:05:16,760 --> 00:05:21,280 I have a picture for you today that's a model that's put together of what that actually 84 00:05:21,280 --> 00:05:23,840 looks like from space perspective. 85 00:05:23,840 --> 00:05:27,760 From behind the earth, being able to see the moon and then being able to see the sun on 86 00:05:27,760 --> 00:05:29,120 the other side of that. 87 00:05:29,120 --> 00:05:33,560 This is a regular occurrence that you and I actually look at with what we can see with 88 00:05:33,560 --> 00:05:36,240 our eyes every single day of life. 89 00:05:36,240 --> 00:05:41,000 In other words, God speaks from creation in the path and continues to speak to us in a 90 00:05:41,000 --> 00:05:45,760 powerful way today with what we see and what we know is happening. 91 00:05:45,760 --> 00:05:50,760 And really when you see the beauty of the sun, the moon and the earth and how it all 92 00:05:50,760 --> 00:05:54,280 works together, you should be mesmerized. 93 00:05:54,280 --> 00:05:56,040 But there's still more that God has created. 94 00:05:56,040 --> 00:06:02,160 For example, in verse 16, at the end of the sentence, he actually says it as an afterthought. 95 00:06:02,160 --> 00:06:05,120 He made the stars also. 96 00:06:05,120 --> 00:06:09,600 If you just take that at its literal word, you're thinking, okay, he threw a few stars 97 00:06:09,600 --> 00:06:14,280 up there, but you and I both know that the vastness of the universe is amazing. 98 00:06:14,280 --> 00:06:24,680 In fact, later pictures of the Hubble telescope and the images that are being back from that 99 00:06:24,680 --> 00:06:27,600 camera allow us to see the universe as it is today. 100 00:06:27,600 --> 00:06:33,520 I put two or three pictures up in front of you and it helps you to be able to see just 101 00:06:33,520 --> 00:06:37,600 what it looks like from perspective out of that Hubble telescope. 102 00:06:37,600 --> 00:06:41,280 Without going into the details of what each one of these pictures represent, they are 103 00:06:41,280 --> 00:06:45,560 the stars that God spoke into existence from eternity past. 104 00:06:45,560 --> 00:06:48,760 That's what we're viewing when we look at these kinds of images. 105 00:06:48,760 --> 00:06:55,040 As a matter of fact, the latest images from the most advanced telescopes convince even 106 00:06:55,040 --> 00:06:59,600 scientists that the Big Bang theories and all the theories that have been articulated 107 00:06:59,600 --> 00:07:06,760 about how the existence of space came into being, that's been disproven by how big space 108 00:07:06,760 --> 00:07:08,000 actually is. 109 00:07:08,000 --> 00:07:12,960 The better the cameras, the further we can see, the larger our universe is. 110 00:07:12,960 --> 00:07:17,680 And there is no scientific explanation that can actually tell us how all this came into 111 00:07:17,680 --> 00:07:19,000 being. 112 00:07:19,000 --> 00:07:23,480 And I really believe that God put these stars in space and all the social systems and the 113 00:07:23,480 --> 00:07:26,280 galaxies and everything else that we'll talk about today. 114 00:07:26,280 --> 00:07:31,560 He put them up there not for us to try to explain them, even though we do it best we 115 00:07:31,560 --> 00:07:37,360 can, but He put them up there to cause our attention to be focused on the one who put 116 00:07:37,360 --> 00:07:41,400 them there instead of the stars themselves. 117 00:07:41,400 --> 00:07:46,320 Instead of looking at the sun and being amazed at how it warms us and gives light to us, 118 00:07:46,320 --> 00:07:50,560 we ought to see the unseen hand that put it up there, God Himself. 119 00:07:50,560 --> 00:07:54,880 Instead of looking at the moon and being amazed at how it affects everything on the planet, 120 00:07:54,880 --> 00:07:57,440 we ought to be looking to God Himself. 121 00:07:57,440 --> 00:08:05,040 In fact, on day four, God places unexplainable and undeniable signs in the heavens pointing 122 00:08:05,040 --> 00:08:06,720 to His presence and to His power. 123 00:08:06,720 --> 00:08:09,800 That's what He wants us to see when we read the creation story. 124 00:08:09,800 --> 00:08:14,360 A few moments ago I walked through that text and caused your attention to four words and 125 00:08:14,360 --> 00:08:21,080 four phrases that matter when it comes to what God created and why He put those in space 126 00:08:21,080 --> 00:08:22,080 the way He did. 127 00:08:22,080 --> 00:08:26,480 If you remember those four words and phrases, we're going to come back and look at those 128 00:08:26,480 --> 00:08:27,480 one at a time. 129 00:08:27,480 --> 00:08:30,440 First of all, they're there for signs. 130 00:08:30,440 --> 00:08:32,640 There for signs. 131 00:08:32,640 --> 00:08:40,040 The creation account literally says that God put the lights in the sky for signs. 132 00:08:40,040 --> 00:08:42,360 I want us to look at those signs for just a few moments. 133 00:08:42,360 --> 00:08:43,360 Signs are important, aren't they? 134 00:08:43,360 --> 00:08:48,000 I mean, some of the greatest times in my life take place because I read the signs accurately 135 00:08:48,000 --> 00:08:54,360 and some of the worst things that happen in my life happen because I ignore the signs. 136 00:08:54,360 --> 00:08:58,560 How many of you have ignored signs before and catastrophe takes place? 137 00:08:58,560 --> 00:09:02,600 I told you not too long ago about ignoring the sign of a red flag waving on a beach 138 00:09:02,600 --> 00:09:09,040 in Acapulco Bay and my honeymoon, ignoring that red flag that said, strong under toe, 139 00:09:09,040 --> 00:09:10,200 no swimmers allowed. 140 00:09:10,200 --> 00:09:13,220 I dove in and almost lost my life. 141 00:09:13,220 --> 00:09:15,360 I ignored the signs. 142 00:09:15,360 --> 00:09:20,000 Almost had a horrific car accident because two of us ignored signs. 143 00:09:20,000 --> 00:09:22,720 The car coming and the car I was in. 144 00:09:22,720 --> 00:09:24,400 Just almost lost my life. 145 00:09:24,400 --> 00:09:30,320 It's amazing how ignoring signs can bring catastrophic consequences to our lives, but 146 00:09:30,320 --> 00:09:36,040 if God put the sun, the moon, the stars in the skies for signs, we should know what those 147 00:09:36,040 --> 00:09:37,040 signs are all about. 148 00:09:37,040 --> 00:09:44,000 Let's take a look at those signs that God placed in the universe for us, first of all. 149 00:09:44,000 --> 00:09:46,440 There's signs of God, signs of God. 150 00:09:46,440 --> 00:09:53,640 Quite simply, there are signs that there is a God, that he's powerful, that he's a creator, 151 00:09:53,640 --> 00:09:56,440 that he's authoritative, that what he says goes. 152 00:09:56,440 --> 00:09:57,640 What he says happens. 153 00:09:57,640 --> 00:10:04,040 Every time he says, let there be, the ending part of that statement is, and it was so. 154 00:10:04,040 --> 00:10:08,720 Let's let this sign be a sign of God. 155 00:10:08,720 --> 00:10:11,640 We live in a culture that is a culture of doubt. 156 00:10:11,640 --> 00:10:16,360 I think there's no question that we realize that culture of doubt is more than ever before, 157 00:10:16,360 --> 00:10:21,600 and maybe we doubt as a culture more than ever before because we're always looking at 158 00:10:21,600 --> 00:10:28,360 something that man has made and we're being mesmerized by the trinkets of man-made things. 159 00:10:28,360 --> 00:10:34,760 I read a book a couple of weeks ago that was called History of God by Karen Armstrong. 160 00:10:34,760 --> 00:10:37,680 It's a semi-secular book, I would say. 161 00:10:37,680 --> 00:10:39,200 Out in this book, she makes a statement. 162 00:10:39,200 --> 00:10:43,960 She said, our scientific culture educates us to focus our attention on the physical 163 00:10:43,960 --> 00:10:49,720 and material world around us instead of at the unseen hand that may have put it all there. 164 00:10:49,720 --> 00:10:55,400 I think she's got a point because what we're here today is, put your head in this book, 165 00:10:55,400 --> 00:11:00,080 flex your eyes on this screen, focus on this image. 166 00:11:00,080 --> 00:11:06,720 In essence, it's saying, get your eyes off the unseen hand, the unseen God behind it all. 167 00:11:06,720 --> 00:11:10,640 And really, in spite of the fact that we have these amazing tools to study the universe, 168 00:11:10,640 --> 00:11:18,440 we really have few scientific answers as to how it could come into being apart from God. 169 00:11:18,440 --> 00:11:23,600 I've done a lot of reading of research journals and scientific magazines and articles and 170 00:11:23,600 --> 00:11:26,760 books as preparation for this message series. 171 00:11:26,760 --> 00:11:32,200 And I'm really concluding that an honest reading of all these scientific journals on creation, 172 00:11:32,200 --> 00:11:37,720 on cosmology, and astronomy will leave you with so many theories and presuppositions, 173 00:11:37,720 --> 00:11:42,200 all of them involving some sort of random explosion, some sort of big bang, 174 00:11:42,200 --> 00:11:47,160 some sort of cosmic clouds that dance around the sun and spin off new planets. 175 00:11:47,160 --> 00:11:53,360 And the language is full of phrases like, some say it is believed and theories 176 00:11:53,360 --> 00:11:55,560 suggest. 177 00:11:55,560 --> 00:11:59,200 You read so much of that, at some point you simply say, you just really don't know, 178 00:11:59,200 --> 00:12:01,760 do you? 179 00:12:01,760 --> 00:12:06,280 You really do not know how the earth came into existence. 180 00:12:06,280 --> 00:12:10,720 And I've always kind of lived by the theory, if you cannot find a provable theory for anything 181 00:12:10,720 --> 00:12:14,040 in life, look for something more reliable. 182 00:12:14,040 --> 00:12:16,400 And that's what I do when I read the Word of God. 183 00:12:16,400 --> 00:12:20,040 I look for something, someone more reliable. 184 00:12:20,040 --> 00:12:23,000 And in the beginning, God did create the heavens and the earth. 185 00:12:23,000 --> 00:12:26,880 And that's not dismissing science, it's not ignoring science, it's simply admitting that 186 00:12:26,880 --> 00:12:32,240 science doesn't have the answers for the immensity and the power and the order and the freedom 187 00:12:32,240 --> 00:12:38,760 from chaos and durability of space and galaxies and solar systems in our universe. 188 00:12:38,760 --> 00:12:43,320 It's not a sign of random explosion, it's a sign of God. 189 00:12:43,320 --> 00:12:47,560 It's a sign that God exists, that God speaks and things come into being. 190 00:12:47,560 --> 00:12:51,240 And Genesis gets very, very specific with this. 191 00:12:51,240 --> 00:12:59,000 In fact, in the text we read today, you find these phrases, God said, God made, God placed, 192 00:12:59,000 --> 00:13:02,400 God saw that it was good. 193 00:13:02,400 --> 00:13:05,640 You want to learn something about God, read Genesis chapter one. 194 00:13:05,640 --> 00:13:07,880 And these are some of the things that we learn about God. 195 00:13:07,880 --> 00:13:11,600 God said, and it came into being, God made and it was good. 196 00:13:11,600 --> 00:13:16,800 God placed it in the universe where he placed all these luminaries, all these lights, all 197 00:13:16,800 --> 00:13:20,200 these stars, the sun, the moon, the earth. 198 00:13:20,200 --> 00:13:23,480 And God saw that it was good. 199 00:13:23,480 --> 00:13:29,400 And when God says something is good, then it's truly good if God sees it and says that 200 00:13:29,400 --> 00:13:31,400 it is good. 201 00:13:31,400 --> 00:13:33,920 Nothing is left to chance. 202 00:13:33,920 --> 00:13:39,000 The authority of a spoken word, the creative power that he has, and the placement with 203 00:13:39,000 --> 00:13:42,600 which he's placed everything is obvious. 204 00:13:42,600 --> 00:13:44,240 And why did God do all this? 205 00:13:44,240 --> 00:13:49,760 I believe God did all this, especially in light of the fact that we know no other signs 206 00:13:49,760 --> 00:13:53,160 of sources of hope or life anywhere else on any other planet. 207 00:13:53,160 --> 00:13:57,160 We still haven't yet defined any hint of life anywhere else. 208 00:13:57,160 --> 00:14:01,700 God did all this and all these planets, all these solar systems so that people like you 209 00:14:01,700 --> 00:14:06,720 and I can look at them and say, there is a God and I know that God has to be awesome 210 00:14:06,720 --> 00:14:12,080 and I want to know him and worship the God who created the worlds around me. 211 00:14:12,080 --> 00:14:14,160 That's what I believe God did. 212 00:14:14,160 --> 00:14:17,400 He did it for that simple reason so that you would get up in the morning and watch the 213 00:14:17,400 --> 00:14:21,040 sunrise and praise the name of God. 214 00:14:21,040 --> 00:14:25,640 That you would watch the sun go down and worship the God that allowed it to go down, knowing 215 00:14:25,640 --> 00:14:29,800 that in his faithfulness that sun would come up the next day and go down at the end of 216 00:14:29,800 --> 00:14:30,800 the next day. 217 00:14:30,800 --> 00:14:35,040 So that you would look in the sky at night and see the moon and the stars and realize 218 00:14:35,040 --> 00:14:39,840 there is a God who knows the name of every one of these stars and he knows my name and 219 00:14:39,840 --> 00:14:41,760 the number of hair on my head. 220 00:14:41,760 --> 00:14:43,400 So that we would do that. 221 00:14:43,400 --> 00:14:48,000 God put all that in the solar system around us. 222 00:14:48,000 --> 00:14:49,800 It's really pretty powerful. 223 00:14:49,800 --> 00:14:57,280 I came across a video of the solar system recently and I'm going to show it to you. 224 00:14:57,280 --> 00:15:02,480 You really have to watch and focus on it because it is a four minute video cut down to about 225 00:15:02,480 --> 00:15:05,920 two minutes and I'm going to describe it just a little bit to you as it starts. 226 00:15:05,920 --> 00:15:11,400 But it is a camera moving outward, simulated of course at the speed of 186,000 miles a 227 00:15:11,400 --> 00:15:12,400 second a light year. 228 00:15:12,400 --> 00:15:19,280 It starts at the Great Lakes in the Northern Hemisphere moving outward at 186,000 miles 229 00:15:19,280 --> 00:15:20,280 per second. 230 00:15:20,280 --> 00:15:24,080 Now you watch for the moon and you'll see how fast this is moving. 231 00:15:24,080 --> 00:15:27,880 When you see the moon, there it is. 232 00:15:27,880 --> 00:15:29,200 It's moving quickly. 233 00:15:29,200 --> 00:15:35,880 It moves there to the orbit of the sun and the moon around the stars, around the sun. 234 00:15:35,880 --> 00:15:39,880 And then it goes to 10 hours out where you see the perspective. 235 00:15:39,880 --> 00:15:43,640 10 hours out at 186,000 miles per second. 236 00:15:43,640 --> 00:15:55,720 Then one day out, then one year out, then 10 years out, then 100,000 years out from 237 00:15:55,720 --> 00:15:56,720 the earth. 238 00:15:56,720 --> 00:16:01,520 It gets us even to the place where we can see and get past the Milky Way. 239 00:16:01,520 --> 00:16:06,040 Keep watching this video and it takes you all the way out to a million light years away 240 00:16:06,040 --> 00:16:13,600 from the earth past all known galaxies where you're seeing things that you never imagined 241 00:16:13,600 --> 00:16:14,600 would be out there. 242 00:16:14,600 --> 00:16:17,760 So far out that it's almost inconceivable. 243 00:16:17,760 --> 00:16:24,940 Can you imagine 100 million light years or one million light years at 186,000 miles per 244 00:16:24,940 --> 00:16:30,600 second past all known galaxies and you have a picture of what's simulated in front of 245 00:16:30,600 --> 00:16:31,600 you there. 246 00:16:31,600 --> 00:16:36,000 Listen, I look at the immensity of space and I watch videos like this pretty regularly. 247 00:16:36,000 --> 00:16:40,560 In this series I have been mesmerized at every time at what you can see. 248 00:16:40,560 --> 00:16:44,960 But when I see that, that I have only one real logical thought. 249 00:16:44,960 --> 00:16:47,200 This is too big to happen accidentally. 250 00:16:47,200 --> 00:16:50,080 It's too big to happen any other way. 251 00:16:50,080 --> 00:16:56,160 Our logical mind tells us that this universe is bigger than any explanation that we can 252 00:16:56,160 --> 00:16:57,160 come up with. 253 00:16:57,160 --> 00:17:01,540 So big that at some point we should stop and realize that God is real, that he's placed 254 00:17:01,540 --> 00:17:07,120 us on a unique planet and it shouts so loudly and so clearly of his presence that it's 255 00:17:07,120 --> 00:17:08,120 undeniable. 256 00:17:08,120 --> 00:17:14,360 And not only is it undeniable, it's undeniable every morning, every evening, every night, 257 00:17:14,360 --> 00:17:18,580 every time you breathe the breath you are breathing the evidence of a living God who 258 00:17:18,580 --> 00:17:22,560 created earth for you to be placed on it and for you to know him. 259 00:17:22,560 --> 00:17:29,440 Isn't that an amazing thing that God is that big, that God is that huge. 260 00:17:29,440 --> 00:17:35,920 Chuck Swindoll writing about an experience he had years ago said he was camping out in 261 00:17:35,920 --> 00:17:41,880 the middle of nowhere, it was dark, and he went on to say he wanted to lay down and look 262 00:17:41,880 --> 00:17:45,680 at the sky and he wanted to be mesmerized by what he saw. 263 00:17:45,680 --> 00:17:51,040 Here's what he wrote, no words would actually frame the awesomeness of that moment. 264 00:17:51,040 --> 00:17:57,840 I remember a statement that one of my mentors used to say, wonder is involuntary praise. 265 00:17:57,840 --> 00:17:59,960 That night it happened to me. 266 00:17:59,960 --> 00:18:04,760 What struck me deepest as I curled up in my sleeping bag was this, everything I have seen 267 00:18:04,760 --> 00:18:11,480 belongs to this one galaxy and there are hundreds more beyond our own, maybe thousands, some 268 00:18:11,480 --> 00:18:13,960 much larger than ours. 269 00:18:13,960 --> 00:18:18,440 Astronomers are now convinced there are 20 galaxies within two and a half million light 270 00:18:18,440 --> 00:18:23,920 years away and there may be a billion galaxies within the photographic range of a 200 inch 271 00:18:23,920 --> 00:18:26,460 telescope on Mount Polomar. 272 00:18:26,460 --> 00:18:30,400 Oh God, all by chance, whom are you kidding? 273 00:18:30,400 --> 00:18:35,120 I honestly cannot think of a more erroneous illogical thought than that. 274 00:18:35,120 --> 00:18:39,720 And then he says, the boggled mind leads to the bended knee. 275 00:18:39,720 --> 00:18:41,360 I love that. 276 00:18:41,360 --> 00:18:46,200 When something you see is too big for you to explain, bend your knee and say God thank 277 00:18:46,200 --> 00:18:50,720 you that you're that big, that you're that amazing and that powerful to create something 278 00:18:50,720 --> 00:18:53,640 that I can look at every single day. 279 00:18:53,640 --> 00:18:57,440 You know I have a habit in my house when I get up early in the morning and I get up well 280 00:18:57,440 --> 00:19:02,600 before the sun comes up, one of my favorite things to do is walk out into my driveway 281 00:19:02,600 --> 00:19:04,720 and my driveway is behind a gated fence. 282 00:19:04,720 --> 00:19:09,080 You really can't see if you're in the street that I'm standing in that driveway and I just 283 00:19:09,080 --> 00:19:12,600 look up and I look at what stars I can see. 284 00:19:12,600 --> 00:19:13,600 I look at the moon. 285 00:19:13,600 --> 00:19:18,020 Later on I watch the sun come up and I just stand and marvel. 286 00:19:18,020 --> 00:19:22,240 And when I am appropriately awed that I'm ready for my day. 287 00:19:22,240 --> 00:19:25,720 I'm ready for my day because I have a different kind of perspective. 288 00:19:25,720 --> 00:19:27,040 The day is not about me. 289 00:19:27,040 --> 00:19:32,080 It's not about what I can do or think I can do, but the day is about serving that God 290 00:19:32,080 --> 00:19:37,800 who is so big that he puts all that up there just so that I can have focus on him and attention 291 00:19:37,800 --> 00:19:40,120 to him and so I can worship him. 292 00:19:40,120 --> 00:19:42,800 That's what life really is supposed to be about. 293 00:19:42,800 --> 00:19:47,720 That's why the foundational book of the Bible, the book of beginnings, the book of origins, 294 00:19:47,720 --> 00:19:52,720 Genesis begins with this creation account so that we might come to know this God in 295 00:19:52,720 --> 00:19:56,320 this way in a very, very first thought. 296 00:19:56,320 --> 00:19:58,800 This is the God we serve. 297 00:19:58,800 --> 00:20:00,600 Isn't he awesome? 298 00:20:00,600 --> 00:20:03,160 Isn't it amazing? 299 00:20:03,160 --> 00:20:07,680 So the universe was created for signs, signs of the God. 300 00:20:07,680 --> 00:20:11,680 The second is signs of the extraordinary. 301 00:20:11,680 --> 00:20:18,720 Think about this, the God who placed these stars in the sky and set them on their orbit 302 00:20:18,720 --> 00:20:20,680 also controls these stars. 303 00:20:20,680 --> 00:20:26,400 Now, it should stress your imagination a little bit that God can actually speak to a star 304 00:20:26,400 --> 00:20:28,360 and it goes to where it needs to go. 305 00:20:28,360 --> 00:20:30,240 But that's how he spoke it into existence. 306 00:20:30,240 --> 00:20:33,800 So that's how you can speak it again to go where it needs to go. 307 00:20:33,800 --> 00:20:37,980 You know, one of the most extraordinary events that has happened on the planet is when Jesus 308 00:20:37,980 --> 00:20:40,720 Christ was born, God in the flesh. 309 00:20:40,720 --> 00:20:46,320 Remember those wise men from the East who came looking for the star, the king born in 310 00:20:46,320 --> 00:20:47,320 the East. 311 00:20:47,320 --> 00:20:48,320 They looked for a star, didn't they? 312 00:20:48,320 --> 00:20:54,520 As they looked to the star, there was a star over the manger in Bethlehem and it guided 313 00:20:54,520 --> 00:20:57,160 those wise men to find Jesus. 314 00:20:57,160 --> 00:21:03,080 Now, every Christmas I preach about Christmas things and I go through again reminding myself 315 00:21:03,080 --> 00:21:09,240 of this star and reading all the explanations about how that star came to be. 316 00:21:09,240 --> 00:21:13,800 And people say all the stars were just aligned on that particular day so that they all saw 317 00:21:13,800 --> 00:21:16,000 that over the manger at Bethlehem. 318 00:21:16,000 --> 00:21:17,960 But I don't believe that's what happened. 319 00:21:17,960 --> 00:21:22,520 I believe God literally used the star in the same way he placed it in the first place. 320 00:21:22,520 --> 00:21:28,720 He brought the star over the manger at Bethlehem to help people know the extraordinary was 321 00:21:28,720 --> 00:21:30,160 taking place. 322 00:21:30,160 --> 00:21:36,280 God used his star to tell people about his promise and the fulfillment of prophecy that 323 00:21:36,280 --> 00:21:37,680 his son was going to come. 324 00:21:37,680 --> 00:21:41,560 He was born in this particular place and that he would make it possible for those to see 325 00:21:41,560 --> 00:21:45,560 the supernatural sign of this star and believe. 326 00:21:45,560 --> 00:21:49,280 Men who came from the East would believe and they did. 327 00:21:49,280 --> 00:21:55,600 God uses stars for the extraordinary but he'll also use stars for the future. 328 00:21:55,600 --> 00:21:59,800 You know, when you keep reading your Bible, you're going to find another cataclysmic 329 00:21:59,800 --> 00:22:02,800 major event that takes place when Christ returns. 330 00:22:02,800 --> 00:22:06,160 How many of you believe Christ is coming back someday? 331 00:22:06,160 --> 00:22:07,880 Say amen. 332 00:22:07,880 --> 00:22:08,880 He's coming back. 333 00:22:08,880 --> 00:22:14,360 Do you know one of the stars and the signs of his return is what he does with the sun 334 00:22:14,360 --> 00:22:15,360 and the moon? 335 00:22:15,360 --> 00:22:20,880 As a matter of fact, if you read Luke chapter 21, it tells us there will be signs in the 336 00:22:20,880 --> 00:22:23,000 sun and moon and stars. 337 00:22:23,000 --> 00:22:28,800 In fact, the prophet Joel says the sun will grow dark and the moon will become like blood. 338 00:22:28,800 --> 00:22:32,040 And the earth dismay among the nations will take place. 339 00:22:32,040 --> 00:22:36,280 The perplexity at the roaring of the sea and the waves, men fainting from fear and the 340 00:22:36,280 --> 00:22:39,480 expectation of the things which are coming upon the world. 341 00:22:39,480 --> 00:22:43,240 Get this last line, for the powers of the heavens will be shaken. 342 00:22:43,240 --> 00:22:47,560 Now I know when we talk about Christ returning, sometimes people hear about some of these 343 00:22:47,560 --> 00:22:53,480 different signs that may show us that Christ is about to return and they really don't believe 344 00:22:53,480 --> 00:22:55,000 the signs. 345 00:22:55,000 --> 00:22:59,120 But when the sun gets dark one day and the moon turns to blood, I believe you'll believe 346 00:22:59,120 --> 00:23:01,880 that Christ is about to come back. 347 00:23:01,880 --> 00:23:07,200 He's going to make that sign so evident, so powerful that there is no denying the fact 348 00:23:07,200 --> 00:23:09,440 this is not an ordinary day. 349 00:23:09,440 --> 00:23:12,080 Just like the day of creation wasn't an ordinary day. 350 00:23:12,080 --> 00:23:15,440 Just like the day of the birth of Christ wasn't an ordinary day. 351 00:23:15,440 --> 00:23:20,320 The day of his return will not be ordinary and the sign of the future is also in the 352 00:23:20,320 --> 00:23:21,320 stars. 353 00:23:21,320 --> 00:23:29,240 So the stars, the moon, the sun, they're all for signs but they're also for seasons. 354 00:23:29,240 --> 00:23:31,160 Seasons. 355 00:23:31,160 --> 00:23:34,760 You know here in Texas we have four seasons in the year. 356 00:23:34,760 --> 00:23:37,400 I have to tell some people about that because they don't believe me. 357 00:23:37,400 --> 00:23:42,080 But in verse 14 it says, for seasons. 358 00:23:42,080 --> 00:23:48,600 Now I've calculated very carefully, not scientifically but carefully, how many weeks of each season 359 00:23:48,600 --> 00:23:49,600 we have in Texas. 360 00:23:49,600 --> 00:23:58,400 I've concluded that we have 43 weeks of summer, three weeks each of winter, fall and spring. 361 00:23:58,400 --> 00:23:59,400 Am I right or am I not? 362 00:23:59,400 --> 00:24:05,520 But you know we have seasons for a reason. 363 00:24:05,520 --> 00:24:11,360 When God placed the sun, moon and the stars the way he did and allowed earth to orbit 364 00:24:11,360 --> 00:24:18,840 around the sun the way he did, he set it up where there would be seasons by which we have 365 00:24:18,840 --> 00:24:22,880 different rhythms of life that are absolutely necessary. 366 00:24:22,880 --> 00:24:23,880 Let me read this to you. 367 00:24:23,880 --> 00:24:29,160 As the earth spins on its axis producing night and day it also moves about the sun and in 368 00:24:29,160 --> 00:24:35,200 an elliptical orbit that requires 364 and one quarter day to complete. 369 00:24:35,200 --> 00:24:40,160 The axis is tilted with respect to its orbital plane which causes the seasons. 370 00:24:40,160 --> 00:24:44,120 When the axis points to the sun it's summer for that hemisphere when it points away we 371 00:24:44,120 --> 00:24:45,120 have winter. 372 00:24:45,120 --> 00:24:51,440 Since the tilt is 23 and a half degrees, specifically the north pole, never points directly to the 373 00:24:51,440 --> 00:24:52,440 sun. 374 00:24:52,440 --> 00:24:56,120 It's a remarkable placement. 375 00:24:56,120 --> 00:24:59,760 But I would say that placement is absolutely necessary for our way of life. 376 00:24:59,760 --> 00:25:01,680 Now we know about this. 377 00:25:01,680 --> 00:25:07,420 We know it's necessary for agricultural reasons, for food reasons, for migration purposes of 378 00:25:07,420 --> 00:25:10,200 animals and fish and other wildlife. 379 00:25:10,200 --> 00:25:15,300 The hibernation that takes place among animals is because of this. 380 00:25:15,300 --> 00:25:19,800 We know that fur grows heavier in winter months. 381 00:25:19,800 --> 00:25:27,960 We know that people grow heavier in winter months for a variety of reasons. 382 00:25:27,960 --> 00:25:33,400 Another author said it like this, our seasons come because of the perfect tilt of our planet. 383 00:25:33,400 --> 00:25:37,880 Were it tilted any more the swing in temperature would be far more and less tilt we would have 384 00:25:37,880 --> 00:25:40,520 no seasons at all. 385 00:25:40,520 --> 00:25:44,760 Scientists think another planet knocked into earth 4.5 billion years ago and that's why 386 00:25:44,760 --> 00:25:47,520 it's tilted so perfectly. 387 00:25:47,520 --> 00:25:51,560 And my own comment is I don't think so. 388 00:25:51,560 --> 00:25:56,760 Winter protects much of the world's population from a long nasty list of tropical diseases. 389 00:25:56,760 --> 00:26:02,160 Want to share your living space with malarial mosquitoes or T.C. flies? 390 00:26:02,160 --> 00:26:05,720 I've experienced some mosquitoes in recent weeks that are on steroids. 391 00:26:05,720 --> 00:26:09,160 I would not want them all year round. 392 00:26:09,160 --> 00:26:14,480 I want the winter to come just because of what it does to mosquitoes. 393 00:26:14,480 --> 00:26:15,840 But it's all perfectly balanced. 394 00:26:15,840 --> 00:26:19,800 Really God has placed everything in perfect balance so that everything would work and 395 00:26:19,800 --> 00:26:22,800 it has been for centuries. 396 00:26:22,800 --> 00:26:27,400 The book of Genesis records this in Genesis chapter 8 verse 22. 397 00:26:27,400 --> 00:26:32,400 While the earth remains seed time and harvest and cold and heat and summer and winter and 398 00:26:32,400 --> 00:26:34,880 day and night shall not cease. 399 00:26:34,880 --> 00:26:40,880 God said that all those years ago after the flood, nearly 6,000 years ago and my conclusion 400 00:26:40,880 --> 00:26:45,760 is if I can count on that promise taking place every year as it has for these thousands of 401 00:26:45,760 --> 00:26:52,280 years then it's reliable and God's word is true. 402 00:26:52,280 --> 00:27:00,240 Even the seasons, God uses in a way that reminds us of his power and his ability. 403 00:27:00,240 --> 00:27:07,200 You know balance happens when something is perfectly designed and perfectly created and 404 00:27:07,200 --> 00:27:09,480 perfectly upheld. 405 00:27:09,480 --> 00:27:12,240 Adding creation, everything works just like it's supposed to work. 406 00:27:12,240 --> 00:27:14,640 The stars stay in their places. 407 00:27:14,640 --> 00:27:17,640 The sun, moon and the earth perfectly synchronize. 408 00:27:17,640 --> 00:27:18,640 The season works. 409 00:27:18,640 --> 00:27:23,440 You know the only thing that doesn't work well and that's mankind. 410 00:27:23,440 --> 00:27:25,460 We've said this before. 411 00:27:25,460 --> 00:27:30,040 Everything responds to the creative word and power of God except us because we have a will 412 00:27:30,040 --> 00:27:31,840 and we have our ways. 413 00:27:31,840 --> 00:27:36,480 And the truth is if the stars and the solar system, the sun and everything God created 414 00:27:36,480 --> 00:27:42,880 and put in the universe had the same will as we had it would be total, total collapse. 415 00:27:42,880 --> 00:27:44,720 Everything would be running into everything else. 416 00:27:44,720 --> 00:27:46,800 There would be explosions day in and day out. 417 00:27:46,800 --> 00:27:48,320 The seasons would be out of whack. 418 00:27:48,320 --> 00:27:49,320 It would be amazing. 419 00:27:49,320 --> 00:27:53,360 They would be having life anywhere on any planet. 420 00:27:53,360 --> 00:27:57,360 God did not give the rest of creation a will, just mankind. 421 00:27:57,360 --> 00:28:02,680 That's why it's important for us to acknowledge who he is on a day by day basis. 422 00:28:02,680 --> 00:28:06,320 So signs, seasons, number three, days and years, days and years. 423 00:28:06,320 --> 00:28:11,960 Now you can read this as time, time. 424 00:28:11,960 --> 00:28:12,960 God created time. 425 00:28:12,960 --> 00:28:15,480 Here it is right here. 426 00:28:15,480 --> 00:28:19,680 And because God created matter, because he created the sun, the moon and the stars, because 427 00:28:19,680 --> 00:28:26,480 evening and morning were defined as we know the first days and continue to define as days, 428 00:28:26,480 --> 00:28:29,880 evening and morning that we know we have time. 429 00:28:29,880 --> 00:28:35,160 I want to remind you that because God is eternal, he exists outside the bounds of time. 430 00:28:35,160 --> 00:28:39,880 Now we know that for a lot of reasons, but in the beginning before time, before creation, 431 00:28:39,880 --> 00:28:41,920 in the beginning God was. 432 00:28:41,920 --> 00:28:48,600 So he exists outside the boundaries of time, but you and I, we exist inside the boundaries 433 00:28:48,600 --> 00:28:49,600 of time. 434 00:28:49,600 --> 00:28:54,840 We are not eternal and we exist within those limitations. 435 00:28:54,840 --> 00:29:00,680 Psalms 90 is one of the great Psalms in the Bible and it's called the prayer of Moses 436 00:29:00,680 --> 00:29:02,400 and it speaks about time. 437 00:29:02,400 --> 00:29:05,400 In fact, Psalms 90 speaks so much about time. 438 00:29:05,400 --> 00:29:09,080 There's a wealth of lessons in it, but let me just share a few of those with you. 439 00:29:09,080 --> 00:29:11,800 It tells us everything we need to know about time. 440 00:29:11,800 --> 00:29:16,080 Psalms 90 verse one and two, for example, says this, Lord, you have been our dwelling 441 00:29:16,080 --> 00:29:22,680 places in all generations before the mountains were born or you gave birth to the earth and 442 00:29:22,680 --> 00:29:26,000 the world even from everlasting to everlasting. 443 00:29:26,000 --> 00:29:28,960 You are God. 444 00:29:28,960 --> 00:29:33,080 So the Psalm of Moses begins by saying, God, you're eternal. 445 00:29:33,080 --> 00:29:36,280 Before time came along, you are God. 446 00:29:36,280 --> 00:29:40,640 So we know this about God, he's eternal and he precedes time and creation. 447 00:29:40,640 --> 00:29:42,800 He'll stand after it all ends. 448 00:29:42,800 --> 00:29:44,640 That's what Psalms 90 says. 449 00:29:44,640 --> 00:29:48,800 But second, it says that we're not infinite, that we are finite. 450 00:29:48,800 --> 00:29:50,320 We're not eternal. 451 00:29:50,320 --> 00:29:51,320 We're temporal. 452 00:29:51,320 --> 00:29:56,720 And it's actually healthy for you and I to know you're not God, you're not eternal, 453 00:29:56,720 --> 00:29:57,720 you're not infinite. 454 00:29:57,720 --> 00:30:02,360 You have boundaries around the amount of time that you have on the earth as a reminder of 455 00:30:02,360 --> 00:30:04,760 his bigness and our smallness. 456 00:30:04,760 --> 00:30:05,760 The universe does that. 457 00:30:05,760 --> 00:30:09,920 I look at the sun, moon, and the stars and I think, man, I'm small. 458 00:30:09,920 --> 00:30:10,920 He's big. 459 00:30:10,920 --> 00:30:16,760 I look at time and eternity and I think God is big and I am small. 460 00:30:16,760 --> 00:30:22,160 Psalm 90 verse 10, as for the days of our lives, they contain 70 years or if due to 461 00:30:22,160 --> 00:30:28,200 strength 80 years, yet their pride is about labor and sorrow for soon it is gone and we 462 00:30:28,200 --> 00:30:29,200 fly away. 463 00:30:29,200 --> 00:30:32,320 You feel the limitations now? 464 00:30:32,320 --> 00:30:37,080 You feel how God has confined us within time to just a short period of time? 465 00:30:37,080 --> 00:30:40,520 Even though he's eternal, we are not. 466 00:30:40,520 --> 00:30:46,320 And Psalm 90 also tells us that we should make our days count by learning from the one 467 00:30:46,320 --> 00:30:50,280 who gave us life and days and years. 468 00:30:50,280 --> 00:30:52,160 This is verse 12. 469 00:30:52,160 --> 00:30:58,160 So teach us to number our days that we may present to you a heart of wisdom. 470 00:30:58,160 --> 00:31:03,960 Every time the sun rises then goes down, I'm reminded I've got one less day to live. 471 00:31:03,960 --> 00:31:07,920 Every time it comes up and then goes down, I've got one more less day to live. 472 00:31:07,920 --> 00:31:09,760 I'm limited, he is not. 473 00:31:09,760 --> 00:31:16,040 It makes all the sense in the world for me with my limited time to look to him with his 474 00:31:16,040 --> 00:31:23,400 unlimited time and ability to give me wisdom and to give me the light that I need for life. 475 00:31:23,400 --> 00:31:25,200 You and I have a short period of time. 476 00:31:25,200 --> 00:31:27,760 It matters how we live. 477 00:31:27,760 --> 00:31:30,200 Count for something because it'll go very quickly. 478 00:31:30,200 --> 00:31:36,600 How many of you have ever heard the term, the days are long but the years are short? 479 00:31:36,600 --> 00:31:38,960 Would you raise your hand? 480 00:31:38,960 --> 00:31:39,960 You believe that's true? 481 00:31:39,960 --> 00:31:46,960 You know, when I was a kid, I thought the days were long and the years were long. 482 00:31:46,960 --> 00:31:47,960 I really believe that. 483 00:31:47,960 --> 00:31:51,160 I mean, it was going to be forever before I became a teenager as though that was some 484 00:31:51,160 --> 00:31:53,400 great place to be. 485 00:31:53,400 --> 00:31:57,240 And it was even longer forever until I got my driver's license. 486 00:31:57,240 --> 00:32:03,160 Even longer it seemed until I graduated from my high school and was able to go to college. 487 00:32:03,160 --> 00:32:05,240 Even longer until I got my college degree. 488 00:32:05,240 --> 00:32:08,600 It seemed like a long time until I would get married. 489 00:32:08,600 --> 00:32:10,560 A long time until I would have children. 490 00:32:10,560 --> 00:32:13,720 And then all of a sudden things started getting shorter and quicker. 491 00:32:13,720 --> 00:32:17,080 And I look back and I think where have the years gone? 492 00:32:17,080 --> 00:32:22,360 I mean, the days may still be long sometimes, but the years are very, very short. 493 00:32:22,360 --> 00:32:26,120 And then at some point in your life, you get past the first quarter or the second quarter 494 00:32:26,120 --> 00:32:30,240 or the third quarter and you ask the question, where has life gone? 495 00:32:30,240 --> 00:32:34,520 It's by design that you have a limited amount of time so that you would look at one who 496 00:32:34,520 --> 00:32:40,760 is not limited at all for light in how to live while on this planet. 497 00:32:40,760 --> 00:32:48,080 And that's the fourth reason that God put the luminaries in the sky for light. 498 00:32:48,080 --> 00:32:49,080 For light. 499 00:32:49,080 --> 00:32:54,000 Notice what it says there in verse 15, and let them be for lights in the expanse of the 500 00:32:54,000 --> 00:32:56,200 heavens to give light on the earth. 501 00:32:56,200 --> 00:32:59,320 And it was so. 502 00:32:59,320 --> 00:33:02,960 Can you imagine a world with no lights at all? 503 00:33:02,960 --> 00:33:07,280 Can you imagine a room with no light at all? 504 00:33:07,280 --> 00:33:11,040 With nothing to light it up that's manmade or any otherwise? 505 00:33:11,040 --> 00:33:15,560 Where you didn't know what was on the floor, on the walls around you. 506 00:33:15,560 --> 00:33:19,320 You just shut the dark room and you have to navigate your way through that room. 507 00:33:19,320 --> 00:33:20,320 Can you imagine that? 508 00:33:20,320 --> 00:33:26,200 Can you imagine a dark world where you couldn't navigate anywhere to travel or to see each 509 00:33:26,200 --> 00:33:30,280 other where you literally couldn't see the hand in front of your face? 510 00:33:30,280 --> 00:33:32,720 What if we all had to make our own light? 511 00:33:32,720 --> 00:33:34,560 It would be a rough world. 512 00:33:34,560 --> 00:33:40,960 One of the things I've enjoyed doing over recent years is cycling, bicycling. 513 00:33:40,960 --> 00:33:47,080 And especially because we have 43 weeks of summer in Texas, I like to ride my bike early 514 00:33:47,080 --> 00:33:49,840 in the morning before the sun comes up. 515 00:33:49,840 --> 00:33:54,320 But I will tell you today that if I had to ride my bike without any manmade light, I'd 516 00:33:54,320 --> 00:33:55,320 be in trouble. 517 00:33:55,320 --> 00:33:59,440 With the trails that you ride on with a bicycle or fast curving trails, you're going pretty 518 00:33:59,440 --> 00:34:02,560 fast down that path and you never know what you're going to see. 519 00:34:02,560 --> 00:34:03,560 I've seen a skunk. 520 00:34:03,560 --> 00:34:09,520 I have seen what I consider the largest rat I've ever seen in my whole life. 521 00:34:09,520 --> 00:34:14,640 I've seen all kinds of things in addition to the trees that I nearly miss and the little 522 00:34:14,640 --> 00:34:18,560 breaks in the sidewalk that I would miss nearly if it weren't for light. 523 00:34:18,560 --> 00:34:23,440 So I have a light on my bicycle and it helps give me a perspective of what I should not 524 00:34:23,440 --> 00:34:26,320 run into as a bicyclist. 525 00:34:26,320 --> 00:34:32,680 But once that sun comes up, that little light is not necessary anymore and it's not comprehensive 526 00:34:32,680 --> 00:34:35,400 enough to compare with the real light. 527 00:34:35,400 --> 00:34:37,360 When the sun comes up, I see everything. 528 00:34:37,360 --> 00:34:39,000 I see every tree, every animal. 529 00:34:39,000 --> 00:34:40,520 I see every crack in the sidewalk. 530 00:34:40,520 --> 00:34:45,080 I can see everything because God's light is always sufficient to guide us through everything 531 00:34:45,080 --> 00:34:46,880 that we need on the planet. 532 00:34:46,880 --> 00:34:49,240 Now listen, I love light. 533 00:34:49,240 --> 00:34:50,440 I love the light of the sun. 534 00:34:50,440 --> 00:34:54,880 I love the light that God has placed in front of us and he gives us this light, this amazing 535 00:34:54,880 --> 00:35:00,000 light, this powerful light from all these luminaries and with it he makes a grand statement. 536 00:35:00,000 --> 00:35:04,640 Here's the statement, God is the source of light. 537 00:35:04,640 --> 00:35:06,440 He's the source. 538 00:35:06,440 --> 00:35:11,160 You're going to be living in darkness without the light that God gives us and I do not just 539 00:35:11,160 --> 00:35:15,920 mean physically in the dark. 540 00:35:15,920 --> 00:35:21,080 You know, it was ancient civilizations, pagan civilizations that sometimes worship the sun, 541 00:35:21,080 --> 00:35:24,000 the moon, and the stars and some of them still do. 542 00:35:24,000 --> 00:35:26,800 They were so impressed by what they saw. 543 00:35:26,800 --> 00:35:33,840 But we should look at the stars and the sun and the moon and be on them because God puts 544 00:35:33,840 --> 00:35:38,160 them there and we should look at the God who made them there. 545 00:35:38,160 --> 00:35:44,040 He's the true light and he gives light to those who want the light. 546 00:35:44,040 --> 00:35:49,760 You know, one of the disciples of Jesus, his name is John, he wrote the Gospel of John, 547 00:35:49,760 --> 00:35:54,520 also wrote the epistles of John, three letters, pastoral letters of John. 548 00:35:54,520 --> 00:35:56,920 And here's what he said in 1 John chapter one verse five. 549 00:35:56,920 --> 00:36:02,120 He said, this is the message that we have heard from him and announced to you. 550 00:36:02,120 --> 00:36:08,880 He says, God is light and in him is no darkness at all. 551 00:36:08,880 --> 00:36:10,120 God is light. 552 00:36:10,120 --> 00:36:12,480 In him is no darkness at all. 553 00:36:12,480 --> 00:36:18,440 One of the darkest places in the world, physically and spiritually, is a place called India. 554 00:36:18,440 --> 00:36:21,000 I've been many times. 555 00:36:21,000 --> 00:36:24,360 At night, India is truly dark, physically speaking. 556 00:36:24,360 --> 00:36:29,960 There's just no light anywhere in the cities and the villages that I've gone to. 557 00:36:29,960 --> 00:36:33,440 It's dark physically, but it's also dark spiritually. 558 00:36:33,440 --> 00:36:37,120 If you're in India, for any amount of time, you know that many are searching for answers 559 00:36:37,120 --> 00:36:39,640 and they're really hungry for light. 560 00:36:39,640 --> 00:36:44,160 But some of those that would point them in certain directions, religiously, don't really 561 00:36:44,160 --> 00:36:45,960 have light. 562 00:36:45,960 --> 00:36:48,920 And the Indian people really want light from God. 563 00:36:48,920 --> 00:36:50,860 They want life about life. 564 00:36:50,860 --> 00:36:52,640 They want light about the future. 565 00:36:52,640 --> 00:36:54,160 They want light about salvation. 566 00:36:54,160 --> 00:37:00,140 I remember being gathered in a Colosseum type event years ago and there were very few lights 567 00:37:00,140 --> 00:37:05,600 in the city that were on that night, but there was a pretty broadly lit stage. 568 00:37:05,600 --> 00:37:08,120 I could barely see the people that I was preaching to. 569 00:37:08,120 --> 00:37:11,160 About 20,000 people had gathered. 570 00:37:11,160 --> 00:37:15,880 I remember being led to go to John chapter one and verses one through nine. 571 00:37:15,880 --> 00:37:21,360 I'm going to read to you what I read to them that night and saw an amazing response from 572 00:37:21,360 --> 00:37:23,080 people who were hungry for light. 573 00:37:23,080 --> 00:37:24,880 Here's what it says. 574 00:37:24,880 --> 00:37:30,280 Then the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God. 575 00:37:30,280 --> 00:37:33,040 He was in the beginning with God. 576 00:37:33,040 --> 00:37:37,280 All things came into being through Him and apart from Him, nothing came into being that 577 00:37:37,280 --> 00:37:39,960 has come into being. 578 00:37:39,960 --> 00:37:45,440 In Him was life and the life was the light of men. 579 00:37:45,440 --> 00:37:50,200 And the light shines in the darkness and the darkness did not comprehend it. 580 00:37:50,200 --> 00:37:54,340 There came a man sent from God whose name was John, referring to John the Baptist. 581 00:37:54,340 --> 00:37:59,640 He came as a witness to testify about the light so that all might believe through Him. 582 00:37:59,640 --> 00:38:03,560 He was not the light, but he came to testify about the light. 583 00:38:03,560 --> 00:38:09,080 And then he says there was the true light which coming into the world enlightens every 584 00:38:09,080 --> 00:38:10,360 man. 585 00:38:10,360 --> 00:38:14,920 You know who that refers to of course is Jesus Christ. 586 00:38:14,920 --> 00:38:22,200 John 14 and John 118 it says, and we beheld as glory, glory as of the only begotten of 587 00:38:22,200 --> 00:38:24,280 the Father full of grace and truth. 588 00:38:24,280 --> 00:38:28,840 God sent His light through Jesus Christ. 589 00:38:28,840 --> 00:38:33,240 Greater than the sun, greater than the moon, greater than the solar systems of Milky Way 590 00:38:33,240 --> 00:38:39,360 or anything else is this God in the flesh, Jesus Christ. 591 00:38:39,360 --> 00:38:43,960 Desperate people need to find the light of Jesus Christ. 592 00:38:43,960 --> 00:38:48,200 So as you consider the earth that you stand on, as you look at the sky and the solar system 593 00:38:48,200 --> 00:38:52,240 of the world you live in, as you think about the light that God places in the heavens the 594 00:38:52,240 --> 00:38:56,440 way He has placed in the heaven, just remember He's the source of it all. 595 00:38:56,440 --> 00:39:03,960 And He's doing that so that light can point to Him so that you can have light, light to 596 00:39:03,960 --> 00:39:07,360 live life, the life you need, the light you need. 597 00:39:07,360 --> 00:39:12,480 So you can have light about your life, about your relationships, about your family, about 598 00:39:12,480 --> 00:39:14,600 your vocation, your friends, your choices. 599 00:39:14,600 --> 00:39:17,160 So you can have light about the future. 600 00:39:17,160 --> 00:39:21,840 So you can have light about salvation, light about eternity, light about when He's coming 601 00:39:21,840 --> 00:39:23,840 by all the light. 602 00:39:23,840 --> 00:39:29,680 Since God is the source of light, all the light that we need comes from Him, there's 603 00:39:29,680 --> 00:39:30,680 nowhere else. 604 00:39:30,680 --> 00:39:39,640 In John chapter 8 verse 12 we read this, I am the light, Jesus said, of the world. 605 00:39:39,640 --> 00:39:47,480 He who follows me will not walk in the darkness but will have the light of life. 606 00:39:47,480 --> 00:39:52,400 Man, don't you just want the light of life in your life today? 607 00:39:52,400 --> 00:39:58,720 He who follows me will not walk in darkness but will have the light of life. 608 00:39:58,720 --> 00:40:02,000 I want you to have the light of life today. 609 00:40:02,000 --> 00:40:04,680 Christ wants you to have the light of life today. 610 00:40:04,680 --> 00:40:08,960 God, who created the heavens and the earth and the light that you see wants you to have 611 00:40:08,960 --> 00:40:14,160 the light of life, more important than the sun, the moon, the stars, is the light of 612 00:40:14,160 --> 00:40:15,160 life. 613 00:40:15,160 --> 00:40:18,880 In just a few moments I'm going to lead you into prayer, I want to encourage you. 614 00:40:18,880 --> 00:40:24,640 If you're not sure that you put your faith and trust in Jesus Christ, to be sure today, 615 00:40:24,640 --> 00:40:27,240 don't leave without making that decision. 616 00:40:27,240 --> 00:40:32,040 We have decision stations that are placed conveniently for you that at the conclusion 617 00:40:32,040 --> 00:40:35,440 of our service you can stop by and talk to someone. 618 00:40:35,440 --> 00:40:36,920 So I encourage you to do that today. 619 00:40:36,920 --> 00:40:39,980 Ask any question you want to ask, they're ready to try to answer those questions for 620 00:40:39,980 --> 00:40:40,980 you with the Bible. 621 00:40:40,980 --> 00:40:45,760 They're ready to help you see how Jesus can be the light of your life and the salvation 622 00:40:45,760 --> 00:40:47,480 of your life. 623 00:40:47,480 --> 00:40:50,000 After our service we have a guest reception center that's open. 624 00:40:50,000 --> 00:40:53,000 I would love to visit with you there if you're a guest today. 625 00:40:53,000 --> 00:40:54,000 Drop by and see me. 626 00:40:54,000 --> 00:40:58,040 It will be really important for you also to know this. 627 00:40:58,040 --> 00:41:02,680 Invite others to come with you next week as we continue to look at God's creation, day 628 00:41:02,680 --> 00:41:09,540 five, then day six, then day seven, where God reveals more and more about himself and 629 00:41:09,540 --> 00:41:10,720 his plan for us. 630 00:41:10,720 --> 00:41:17,240 Would you stand with me as I pray? 631 00:41:17,240 --> 00:41:23,360 Father today I'm so thankful for your word, so thankful that you reveal so much about 632 00:41:23,360 --> 00:41:28,920 yourself in every day of creation, every verse of the scripture, and we learn about you. 633 00:41:28,920 --> 00:41:35,320 Thank you that you're eternal, you're timeless, you're powerful, you're authoritative, you 634 00:41:35,320 --> 00:41:36,800 have a design in mind. 635 00:41:36,800 --> 00:41:39,120 Thank you that you know us and you love us. 636 00:41:39,120 --> 00:41:43,500 Father today my prayer is that not one person will leave this room today without coming 637 00:41:43,500 --> 00:41:46,040 to know you personally. 638 00:41:46,040 --> 00:41:50,240 But I want them to have a relationship with you, and I know you desire that. 639 00:41:50,240 --> 00:41:55,600 So Father today I pray that each person will have the boldness and the courage to take 640 00:41:55,600 --> 00:42:00,400 that step of faith and place their trust and confidence in you. 641 00:42:00,400 --> 00:42:01,400 Thank you Father. 642 00:42:01,400 --> 00:42:17,040 In Jesus' name, Amen.