Creator God

Filled with the Spirit

Song “Great Things”

ILLUSTRATION WITH VENUS FLY TRAP:

- Have you ever tried to grow anything?

It’s not as easy as it sounds…

Let me just take a seed and throw it in a pot and I’m good to go.

For Christmas Roman really wanted a venus fly trap…

So I got him a glass bowl and some seeds.

But you know what you had to do.

We had to put the soil in the bowl.

Scatter the seeds.

And then water the soil with a very specific amount of distilled water…

- This is also a specific kind of water you have to buy in a store.

So I did that…

Then you had to wrap the entire bowl in plastic wrap so that the humidity would stay in the bowl and then set the bowl by a window.

We loosely followed directions, but you know what I did wrong?

I literally went and bought the distilled water, but then I forgot in the moment and I put regular tap water in the bowl.

We planted it in January and according to the directions we should start to see a plant by April.

Well guys… It’s April…

no plant.

Now, I don’t know if the distilled water versus tap water was the difference maker here, but it certainly didn’t help.

Out side of my house is not much better.

I’m working hard right now on my garden too which I know will be viciously attacked by bugs come mid-June.

It’s difficult to grow food.

It’s not easy for me to do.

I wish it was…

You know what’s way more difficult…

Creating EARTH!

Can I have a few volunteers read a few verses tonight?

John 1:1–5 “1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was with God in the beginning. 3 Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. 4 In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.”

Jesus created all that is in the world, but he also gave what he created life.

Only the author of life could give life.

Who is the Word?

Someone read John 1:14.

John 1:14 “14 The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.”

Jesus, the one who came in Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John… He is the one who was there creating in Genesis 1.

Genesis 1:1 “1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.”

That’s Jesus!

Colossians 1:15–17 “15 The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. 16 For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him. 17 He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.”

Colossians 1:16 also reaffirms John 1. That Jesus created everything, He is over it, and by His power, He holds it all together.

This is amazing and mind blowing.

The more you think about it, the more it will blow your mind.

It’s kind of like the more you learn about a subject the less you know.

Like, I know my voice speaks into a phone microphone, and then that voice travels through sound waves out my antenna in my phone, through a tower, into someone else’s phone, and then comes out the speaker.

I know that’s “What” happens…

But you could explain it to me for the rest of my life and I don’t think I’d understand “How” that happens.

The Anthropic Principle - the universe is fine-tuned for our existence.

Something created it and where earth is located is specifically conducive for life.

Isn’t that amazing?

When you do the math comparing the diameter of the moon to the diameter of the sun, you will find that the sun is about 400 times bigger than the moon!

However, it’s because of their distance from the earth that make them both appear the same size in our sky.

Here are a few examples of how the earth is unique in the universe relative to the sun and moon.

1. The earth’s atmosphere is made up of many different types of gases.

- If those gases were too much or too little did you know our planet could heat up or cool down to unlivable temperatures?

- Additionally, the sun puts off radiation. If the gases in our atmosphere were not uniquely designed to absorb most of that radiation, we would die.

- The relationship of the earth’s atmosphere to the moon is incredible.

2. The earth’s albedo.

- This is the total amount of light reflected versus amount of light absorbed.

- In other words, the earth is absorbing and reflecting the perfect amount of light to allow life.

- If too much light were absorbed, earth would be too hot and we would die.

- If too much light were reflected, earth would be too cold and we would die.

3. Earth’s placement in the solar system.

- Similarly, if earth were positioned closer to the sun or further away, temperatures could shift to a point human life could not exist.

4. The color of our sun is also important.

If our sun were much redder on one hand or too blue on the other hand, Photosynthesis would not occur in plants, thus they would not live absorbing carbon dioxide and releasing oxygen for us to live.

Isn’t that amazing, the very color of our sun is conducive to plant life which is conducive to human life.

5. The position of the planets in our solar system are also incredible.

the larger planets like Jupiter have a huge gravitational pull and they absorb man meteors and other items in space that were it not for those other planets, those objects could reach and possibly destroy earth.

The planets orbiting around the sun that are farther from the sun than earth are protecting the uniqueness that is life on earth.

This is literally 5 examples of thousands you could find on this topic.

It takes far more faith to believe that we just exploded and ended up here than it does to believe we were created and placed here.

Each time we have unique phenomenons in creation, we should always worship and glorify God and be so thankful for the life he has given us.

Too often we are quick to celebrate ourselves and forget God who has given us all the good things we have.

We should Worship Him and be amazed at how He has fine-turned this world for life… for us.

2. Be filled with His life.

Our response to amazing phenomenon like the eclipse last week, shouldn’t be to think about how great we are.

If that’s your response… uhh… may want to check your ego at the door.

But isn’t our response… “Wow… I am so small”

This cosmos that is out there that earth is a part of is so massive, and I am such a tiny, small, fractional part of it.

And yet…

Ephesians tells us that we are the very thing in all of creation made in the image of God.

We are hand made… God formed us out of the dirt.

We breath his life… “God breathed on Adam…” filled his lungs with the breath of life, and Adam became alive.

Genesis 2:7 “7 Then the Lord God formed a man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.

Ephesians 5:18 “18 Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit,”

APPLICATION:

But we also live in a world where people want to make up their own rules.

Consider this.

We will spend billions upon billions of dollars to try to go to mars. And if we found a single living cell on Mars, we would claim forever that we have discovered life.

And yet here on our planet, a collection of cells growing inside a mother’s womb is the most dangerous place to live in the united states.

We argue forever that that is not a life, when that same life on mars would be the most valued discovery in history.

Years ago, I started writing a science fiction book about this very concept.

Has a baby in a womb ever been anything but a child?

In other words, if there is a “fetus” (hate that word, but we will go with it for now) growing, has there ever been a time where that has the potential to be anything but a human being?

NO!

20 billion out of 20 billion times, a human baby has been born.

So forget for a moment whether or not you believe that is a life inside of a woman…

100% of the time, forever, the potential of growing cells inside of a woman has only been one thing… A human life.

From the complexity of a human being...

To the distance of the sun and moon from the earth.

We serve an incredible God who has designed everything in this cosmos to point back to Him being the designer of it all.

John 1:1–4 “1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was with God in the beginning. 3 Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. 4 In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind.”

Only through Him do we have life.

For those of us that believe, it’s up to us to take that life to those around us.

How are we doing that today?

Let’s pray.