Who am I?
The Fundamentals • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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· 3 viewsAll of the philosophical question of life are answered in creation and the nature of man. Who are we? Why are we here? What is the purpose of life?
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In Albania
on 1 year mission
in market
introduced to nice man.
Asks me to talk
want to discuss philosophy.
Who is man?
What is conscienceless?
How did we get here?
What is our purpose?
Is the universe real?
What is morality?
Can we really know anything?
Is moral ethics a construct of religion?
At 23,
I thought I knew it all
but this man was able
to quickly deconstruct
my entire worldview.
The truth is,
his questions
are good question.
These are the
questions of life.
We must be able
to answer them.
I believe,
the Bible answers
all of them clearly.
To answer these question
we have to go back
to the beginning
of the bible.
Creation
Creation
Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”
So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”
There is a lot packed in here.
Let’s focus on first point.
Then God said, “Let us make man in our image...
What does it mean
to be made in the:
Image of God
Image of God
Your first question may be:
Who is God?
If so, don’t worry
that was the title
of my last sermon.
(Go to YouTube).
We were created in
the image of God.
What does it mean
to be made
in the likeness of God?
How are we like God?
physically
emotionally
mentally
in terms of procreation
in aspect of dominion
yes
all of these are true
to one degree or another.
But the image of God
is most evident in
God’s spiritual nature.
More specifically:
God’s Character.
We were made
with a character like God.
A spiritual nature
of love
and goodness.
Paul describes
what likeness to God
is actually like:
to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.
What does it mean
to be like God?
Simple, To Be:
righteous
and holy.
To be like God
is to have His
character and heart.
In fact,
the bible describes
another being that was
made exactly like the Father.
Who was it?
Jesus Christ.
He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high,
Jesus was the
imprint of God’s nature.
NKJV actually says:
who being the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power, when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high,
Jesus has the
exact image of
the Father.
But the
Father
Son
Spirit
agree to make us
in the likeness of
their image.
Take some time
to let that sink in...
What a grand calling.
What an amazing purpose.
What profound identity
that we have!!!!
We were made
to be like God!!!
We have deep value
in the eyes of God!
Each of us are special
and intentionally created
A missionary in a Muslim-majority country had been working for year to help his Muslim friends see God more as a loving and caring God rather than a harsh judge.
One day, he got a call from his wife. Their local house-helper (a common practice in that country) had accidentally dropped and broken their glass pot from the coffee maker. (Coffee isn’t common in that country – everyone drinks tea. So, the coffee pot was considered precious.)
The missionary’s wife called to tell him in advance, not that the coffee pot was broken, but that the house-helper was terrified to tell him. Because women are not valued highly in that culture, she probably expected to be fired or even struck when the “man of the house” got home.
The husband understood why his wife warned him. When he came home, he made sure his reaction showed the house-helper that she was more important than a coffee pot.
Relationships matter and none more than that relationship Christ has with the Church.
By living the love of Jesus, the missionaries displayed God's love to a woman in a way which simple words could not.
He endeavored to show the image of God, through his actions.
The danger of Evolution
is diabolically evil
in many ways.
Robs God of Kingship
Robs God of Power
Robs Humans of Infinite Value
I hate shows and tours
talking about “millions of years.”
I think it is Satan’s
plan to get us used to
subconsciously agreeing
with his lies about
God
Us.
Fight Satan
Fight Lies
Fight Normalizing Fallacy
The Creation of Humanity
The Creation of Humanity
The fall of Lucifer was
connected to the creation
of humanity.
The Story of Redemption Chapter 2—The Creation
After the earth was created, and the beasts upon it, the Father and Son carried out their purpose, which was designed before the fall of Satan, to make man in their own image.
Lucifer had not fallen,
was not kicked out of heaven,
until after the plan to
create humanity.
This was part
of his jealousy.
Early Writings Supplement
But when God said to His Son, “Let us make man in our image,” Satan was jealous of Jesus. He wished to be consulted concerning the formation of man, and because he was not, he was filled with envy, jealousy, and hatred.
Satan was upset,
God was embarking on
something new
something profound
something important
a new creation in the image of God
and he was not invited
to the discussion.
The jealousy and ire
of Satan was kindle
against both
Jesus
and humanity.
Satan hates
creation
humanity
image of God.
If we understand
our identity and value
we see straight through
Satan’s evil plan.
Satan hates God.
But he cannot directly
attack God Himself.
Therefore Satan attacks
the image of God in us.
He wants to break the mirror.
Imagine:
An ancient king wanted to establish his rule in a newly conquered, distant province where he could not physically live.
He did not build massive statues of himself or send an army to occupy the streets. Instead, he minted a new currency stamped with his own face, and he appointed royal ambassadors to walk among the people.
When citizens handled the coin or looked at the ambassador, they knew immediately who the true king was, what he valued, and how authority was exercised in his kingdom.
The Ancient Coin: Every human being is minted with the stamp of the Creator.
Let us not help Satan
attack God by destroying
His precious image.
Don’t let Satan win!
Breathe of Life
Breathe of Life
So God fulfilled
His plan and created
Adam and Eve.
then the Lord God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature.
Adams body was
a pile of dirt until
God breathed into Him the:
Breathe of Life.
Suddenly,
the life-generating power of God
flowed into that
pile of dirt
and made it alive.
This word breathe
is interesting.
There are two primary words
in Hebrew that mean
breath.
נְשָׁמָה
and
רוּחַ
Neshamah means:
breath
to have life
Ruah means:
breath
wind
spirit
Jobs equate the two terms:
The Spirit of God has made me,
and the breath of the Almighty gives me life.
When we have
spirit
breath
we have life.
It is at the core
of what it means
to be human.
Life came through
an intimate exhale of God.
Without that breath
we are nothing again.
Stop regarding man in whose nostrils is breath, for of what account is he?
What is man?
Someone with breath.
With breath
comes life
comes humanity
comes existence.
But in this broken world
without the tree of life
there is fragility
to this breath.
Without breath
we are dead.
After this the son of the woman, the mistress of the house, became ill. And his illness was so severe that there was no breath left in him.
You are one missed breath away
from meeting your Maker.
We are dependent upon god
for every breath we take.
The Illustration: The Glassblower and the Fragile Vessel
The Setup:
Think for a moment about the art of glassblowing. If you’ve ever watched a master artisan work, it is a mesmerizing process. They begin with a lump of dull, cold, formless sand and minerals. It looks like nothing. It has no beauty, no shape, and no utility.
The artisan places it into a furnace of blazing heat until it becomes molten, glowing white-hot. But even then, liquid glass left to itself will simply spill out, fall to the ground, and harden into a useless, distorted puddle.
The Action:
To give it life, the master does something deeply intimate. He takes a long metal pipe, connects it to the molten glass, and dips his head low. He places his lips to the tube. And then, the master breathes.
He exhales his own breath into the formless mass. Suddenly, under the power and pressure of his lungs, the glass expands. It takes shape. It begins to glow from the inside out. What was once formless dust is suddenly transformed into a breathtaking, translucent vessel capable of holding light. It owes its entire shape, existence, and beauty to the very breath of the master.
The Turn (Fragility):
But look closer at that finished masterpiece. As beautiful and intricate as it is, it is made of glass. It is incredibly fragile. If it falls, it shatters into a thousand pieces. It cannot sustain its own structural integrity against a harsh world. More than that, if you seal that glass piece hermetically and take away the air around it, or if it loses its connection to the environment the master intended for it, it becomes hollow and empty.
Our lives are exactly like that glass vessel.
We have beauty and life
only through the
gift of God.
But our life is fragile.
Life can end quickly here.
(Funerals lately).
Be sure to surrender
to the glass makers.
Your
present
future
is secure in His hand.
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Many Christians
try to say that this
spirit
breath
is consciousness
or the eternal soul.
These same Christians say
people are different than animals
because we have a soul
and they do not.
They don’t know their
bible very well.
For what happens to the children of man and what happens to the beasts is the same; as one dies, so dies the other. They all have the same breath, and man has no advantage over the beasts, for all is vanity.
Humans and animals
both have breath of life.
When all land animals died
during the flood
Bible says:
And all flesh died that moved on the earth, birds, livestock, beasts, all swarming creatures that swarm on the earth, and all mankind. Everything on the dry land in whose nostrils was the breath of life died.
The animals also
had the breath of life.
Therefore this breath of life
is not a
eternal soul
consciousness
personality
humanness.
The breath is just
God’s life giving power.
That is why Solomon can say
that when we die:
and the dust returns to the earth as it was, and the spirit returns to God who gave it.
We are human
We are alive
We breath
because God gave
life to us
at creation.
What an amazing God
and creator we serve!
What does it mean
to be human?
We are composed of
pile of dirt
life-power of God.
But we are more
than just dirt.
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After making people
God looked at His creation
And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.
God created people to be:
Very Good
Very Good
We are not
an afterthought
failed plan
good idea gone awry
We are the fulfillment
of God’s great plan
to make something
someone
perfect
special
“good.”
Testimonies for the Church, Volume 4 Number Thirty—Testimony for the Church
[We] would learn from the Inspired Record that God has placed a high value upon the human family. The works of His creation upon each successive day were called good; but man, formed in the image of his Creator, was pronounced “very good.” No other creature that God has made has called forth such exhibitions of His love.
Our pre-fall nature
was very good.
There was nothing
within us to
desire evil
want something more.
There was no
resentment
jealousy
shame
antagonism.
We were perfect,
in God’s image.
But we had a
choice to make.
Free
Free
God gave us choice.
...choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve... But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”
Love had to be chosen.
Tree of knowledge of good and evil.
And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”
We chose evil.
The Fall
The Fall
Through the fall
Satan destroyed
all we were made to be.
We were made to
have life
have breath.
Through sin,
Satan brought death.
but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”
We were created to be good.
Satan’s leadership brought
us to a life of evil.
Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned—
We were created in
the image of God.
(to be righteous).
Through sin the:
Image was Broken
Image was Broken
We were created to
be like God in all ways.
The fall made us
like lucifer.
Evil not Good
Living but Doomed to Die.
(spiritually dead).
The image of God
could hardly be seen
only a few generations later.
The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.
After 10 generations
1,656 years
We were no longer
reflecting God’s character.
Satan had succeed in
nearly obliterating
the image of God
that was within us.
Defacing $100 Bill
We were reflecting our:
Fallen Nature
Fallen Nature
Our fallen nature
makes us bent toward
choosing evil.
This nature we are
now born with.
Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me.
As an unregenerate sinner
we are naturally inclined
to seek sin and selfishness.
In the words of Paul
We:
… were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.
Thankfully
God had a plan.
He had seen it all
and was ready to
save us lost humans.
even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love
God had a plan
which he had made
before creation
to restore the
image of God in us.
He would come to:
Redeem Us
Redeem Us
This redemption was not
just legal justification.
This is not about God
simply saying:
I forgive you.
It is okay.
You are not guilty.
You are judged innocent.
God cannot just
proclaim us righteous again.
He must somehow
make us righteous again.
Yes, He forgives us.
But even more,
through sanctification
He works to restore us by:
Restoring the Image of God.
Restoring the Image of God.
Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator.
How can we have the image
of our creator again?
God leads us through
a daily and life-long
process of of
putting off old self
putting on new self
renewing our mind
to be like Jesus.
This is the result
of daily surrender
indwelling of the Holy Spirit.
In 1972, a man walked into St. Peter's Basilica in Rome and attacked Michelangelo’s famous Pieta statue with a hammer, shattering Mary's arm, nose, and veil. The world was devastated. The museum didn't throw the broken pieces away. Instead, they brought in master art restorers.
True art restoration is an incredibly tedious process. The restorers don't paint their own ideas over the damage. They don't try to reinvent the piece. Instead, they meticulously scrape away the modern dirt, dissolve the foreign chemicals, and seamlessly bind the broken fragments back together. Their entire goal is to submerge their own ego and allow the original creator's handiwork to shine through again.
Appeal
Appeal
Let God recreate His
image within our lives.
How is the process working
in your life?
Are you taking time
to pray, study, and surrender?
Up and Down?
Is God’s image being
remade in your life?
We need to make this
our life priority.
