God the Creator Reigns
Notes
Transcript
On September 5, 1977, the Voyager I space probe was launched from Cape Canaveral aboard a Titan-Centaur rocket. It has been speeding through space at an average speed of thirty-eight thousand miles per hour ever since, almost a million miles per day. Voyager I is the first spacecraft to travel beyond the heliopause into interstellar space, and NASA continuously calculates its distance from Earth. As of this writing, Voyager I is 13,490,006,617 miles from Earth and counting.
That is pretty amazing, isn't it? But not as amazing as you. The Voyager 1 will run out of gas, so to speak, around the year 2025. At that point, it will have traveled more than fifteen billion miles! But guess what? That is less than half the length of the DNA strand(s) in your body if (they) were stretched end to end. The cumulative length of DNA in all the cells in your body is about twice the diameter of the solar system (over 32 billion miles)! In the words of the psalmist, you are “fearfully and wonderfully made.”
“Given infinite time” anything can happen
Big Idea: Our hope starts with God’s good rule of the universe he created.
We have hope because...
God rules over His creation
God rules over His creation
6 On what were its bases sunk, or who laid its cornerstone,
7 when the morning stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy?
22 It is he who sits above the circle of the earth, and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers; who stretches out the heavens like a curtain, and spreads them like a tent to dwell in;
9 “As I looked, thrones were placed, and the Ancient of Days took his seat; his clothing was white as snow, and the hair of his head like pure wool; his throne was fiery flames; its wheels were burning fire.
Beauty
God’s people - Israel and the Church
All knowledge of His creation
All ability to rule his creation
Not a story of a King deposed regaining his throne
Nor a story of rebels overthrowing a King but definitely creatures attempting to usurp God’s throne
Nor a story of a hero helping the King regain his throne
God’s Holiness puts Him above His creation
God’s Holiness puts Him above His creation
15 Ah, you who hide deep from the Lord your counsel, whose deeds are in the dark, and who say, “Who sees us? Who knows us?”
16 You turn things upside down! Shall the potter be regarded as the clay, that the thing made should say of its maker, “He did not make me”; or the thing formed say of him who formed it, “He has no understanding”?
8 “Shower, O heavens, from above, and let the clouds rain down righteousness; let the earth open, that salvation and righteousness may bear fruit; let the earth cause them both to sprout; I the Lord have created it.
9 “Woe to him who strives with him who formed him, a pot among earthen pots! Does the clay say to him who forms it, ‘What are you making?’ or ‘Your work has no handles’?
8 But now, O Lord, you are our Father; we are the clay, and you are our potter; we are all the work of your hand.
God is above us. You won’t find God in creation. There is no “God” discovery you can make.
You can’t manipulate God.
You can’t make Him like you.
You can’t fully predict Him.
25 As indeed he says in Hosea, “Those who were not my people I will call ‘my people,’ and her who was not beloved I will call ‘beloved.’ ”
26 “And in the very place where it was said to them, ‘You are not my people,’ there they will be called ‘sons of the living God.’ ”
This is hope…because...It’s not because someone else who has the secret formula or the better offering or the better possessions. It’s by grace.
Inerrancy is about God speaking truth. Not men making up what they feel is a good version of God.
God doesn’t need you. He invites you into His rule and grace.
We have hope because God rules and that rule is holy. We also have hope because it’s a good rule and deserves praise.
God’s creation deserves praise
God’s creation deserves praise
Glory,
Honor
Power
One of the most astonishing discoveries astrophysicists have made in recent decades is that if gravity were just 0.000000000001 (one-trillionth of one) percent stronger, our universe would have reversed course long ago. It would have collapsed catastrophically, ending in a big crunch, the opposite of the big bang. Likewise, if gravity were just 0.000000000001 (one-trillionth of one) percent weaker, our universe would have flown apart so rapidly that planets, stars, galaxies—all the basic constituents of the universe—would never have had a chance to coalesce. We'd all be dust in the wind.
Is it an accident that everything turned out so well? That gravity is not too strong, not too weak, but just right?
Sir Fred Hoyle, the late University of Cambridge astronomer and avowed atheist, didn't think so, not for a second. After doing innumerable computations, Hoyle discovered that the odds of our being accidents of nature are comparable to the likelihood of a tornado sweeping through a junkyard and assembling scrap metal into a fully functioning Boeing 747. "'So small as to be negligible," he said, following his calculations, "even if a tornado were to blow through enough junkyards to fill the whole universe." Hoyle said, "One arrives at the conclusion that biomaterials with their amazing measure or order must be the outcome of intelligent design."
Source: Adapted from Dr. Michael Guillen, Amazing Truths (Zondervan, 2016), pages 68-69
2 My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth.
8 Our help is in the name of the Lord, who made heaven and earth.
You may dislike your body but it shouts of God’s creative abilities and He made you specifically to declare His praise with your body.
He made you to go out in His world and do creative things to show off His good rule.
We are not headed for the heat death of the universe. We are headed into further and further opportunities to show off God’s creative power, honor, and glory.
Next Steps:
You are a good part of creation. Are you praising God for making you?
Going to church, Parents,take them into nature. Students, your biggest purpose is not to get smart, get a job, produce for 40 years, and then retire. Your biggest purpose is to show off God’s creative power and glory.
Are you honoring the one who made you by obeying Him?
ABFs, Community Groups, Love God and love others… the two greatest commandments. Discipline yourselves to experience His grace
You don’t need to do anything for God but are you using the power He’s given you to do good?
Investment ministries. Are you praying to the God who made you and knows you?
Community Group questions:
What amazes you about creation?
If God’s creation is good, why do we view ourselves negatively? When is that true? When is that not? (We are sinners but we haven’t lost the image of God.)
How can you glorify God as the One who made you?
How can you “give power” to God in what you do? (Not by believing that we are helping Him but serving Him freely with our lives.)
What’s one way you can encourage fellow believers to delight in God’s creative power and glory in their lives?