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We're looking at Genesis 1, verses 1 to

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31.

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In the beginning, God created the heavens and

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the earth.

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Now the earth was formless and empty.

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Darkness was over the surface of the deep,

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and the spirit of God was hovering over

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the waters.

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And God said, let there be light, and

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there was light.

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God saw that the light was good, and

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he separated the light from the darkness.

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God called the light day, and the darkness

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he called night.

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And there was evening, and there was morning,

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the first day.

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And God said, let there be an expanse

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between the waters to separate water from water.

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So God made the expanse and separated the

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water under the expanse from the water above

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it, and it was so.

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God called the expanse sky, and there was

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evening, and there was morning, the second day.

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And God said, let the water under the

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sky be gathered to one place, and let

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dry ground appear.

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And it was so.

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God called the dry ground land, and the

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gathered waters he called seas.

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And God saw that it was good.

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Then God said, let the land produce vegetation,

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seed-bearing plants, and trees on the land

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that bear fruit with seed in it, according

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to their various kinds.

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And it was so.

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The land produced vegetation, plants bearing seed according

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to their kinds, and trees bearing fruit with

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seed in it according to their kinds.

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And God saw that it was good.

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And there was evening, and there was morning,

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the third day.

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And God said, let there be lights in

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the expanse of the sky to separate the

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day from the night, and let them serve

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as signs to mark seasons, and days, and

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years.

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And let them be lights in the expanse

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of the sky to give light on the

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earth.

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And it was so.

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God made two great lights, the greater light

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to govern the day and the lesser light

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to govern the night.

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He also made the stars.

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God set them in the expanse of the

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sky to give light on the earth, to

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govern the day and the night, and to

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separate light from darkness.

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And God saw that it was good.

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And there was evening, and there was morning,

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the fourth day.

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And God said, let the water team with

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living creatures, and let birds fly above the

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earth across the expanse of the sky.

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So God created the great creatures of the

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sea and every living and moving thing with

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which the water teams according to their kinds,

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and every winged bird according to its kind.

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And God saw that it was good.

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God blessed them and said, be fruitful and

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increase in number and fill the water and

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the seas, and let the birds increase on

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the earth.

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And there was evening, and there was morning,

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the fifth day.

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And God said, let the land produce living

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creatures according to their kinds, livestock, creatures that

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move along the ground, the wild animals, each

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according to its kind.

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And it was so.

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God made the wild animals according to their

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kinds, the livestock according to their kinds, and

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all the creatures that move along the ground

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according to their kinds.

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And God saw that it was good.

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Then God said, let us make man in

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our image, in our likeness, and let them

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rule over the fish of the sea and

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the birds of the air, over the livestock,

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over all the earth, and over all the

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creatures that move along the ground.

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So God created man in his own image.

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In the image of God, he created him.

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Male and female, he created them.

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God blessed them and said to them, be

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fruitful and increase in number.

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Fill the earth and subdue it.

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Rule over the fish of the sea and

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the birds of the air, and over every

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living creature that moves on the ground.

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Then God said, I give you every seed

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-bearing plant on the face of the whole

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earth, and every tree that has its fruit

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with seed in it, they will be yours

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for food.

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And to all the beast of the earth

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and all the birds of the air, and

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all the creatures that move on the ground,

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everything that has the breath of life in

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it, I give every green plant for food.

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And it was so.

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God saw all that he had made, and

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it was very good.

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And there was evening, and there was morning,

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the sixth day.

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And I'd be grateful if you'd have your

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Bibles open at that particular reading, that majestic

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statement of the way God created the heavens

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and the earth.

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I was so unspiritual as to be thinking

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driving into the tab of a song that

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started off, let's start at the very beginning,

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the very good place to start.

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Was that Julie Andrews and Sound of Music

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or something like that?

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Let's start at the very beginning.

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Well, yes, a very good place to start

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because as far as we're concerned this morning,

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it's the book of Genesis.

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It's in the opening statement.

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Somebody has said, we can never know who

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or what we are till we know at

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least something of what God is.

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And that's the reason why I've decided in

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this new series when alas, I'll not be

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helped by my competent colleague, Tim Saunders, to

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come right back to the opening statements of

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the Bible and to lift out something of

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the theology that is contained within these early

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chapters.

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And don't let the word theology put you

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off because it would be true to say

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that the heart of all reasoning is theological.

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The heart of all understanding stems from God.

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Now, Tim Saunders, you need to know about

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God to be able to understand yourself and

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the reason for this life.

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If God does not exist, then you have

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no point.

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But that's why it could be well argued

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that the opening statement of the Bible is

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a summary of all that is to come.

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Let me approach that another way.

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If you understand the first verse of the

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Bible, then you have grasped the immensities and

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the profundities that follow in the pages that

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are yet to be.

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Genesis chapter one occupies one page and it

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is the prologue, the preface to the 1

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,000 or so pages which are to follow.

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In the beginning, God.

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This statement and the successive active creation is

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a curtain raiser and as we go through

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it right now, you will see something of

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the wonder of God at the beginning and

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be quickened to realize that that very God

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who was active at the beginning is still

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active in the 20th century.

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In the beginning, Professor Dawkins was not an

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accidental Big Bang.

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In the beginning was not hydrogen.

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In the beginning was not some amoeba, some

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simple form of life.

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In the beginning was and is God.

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And this Bible that we look at is

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first of all, primarily, a book about God.

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Not about man, not about science, not about

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any of the several disciplines like cosmology or

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history or geography.

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They're there.

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I'm not in any way arguing against that

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but what I am saying is that the

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Bible is a book about God and its

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first statement is pivotal to all that is

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to come and if you have no grasp

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at all of the significance of the first

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statement, I lovingly but critically say, you have

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little grasp, if any, of the reason for

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life.

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So within these verses, this first chapter of

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Genesis, there is what I have called the

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person of God and some description of him

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and also the purpose of God.

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So under those two headings, we'll make our

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way through this passage.

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The person of God?

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Let's subdivide that because it seems to me

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that what you have to gather from what

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is taught just within this first verse is

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that God is necessary.

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He is necessary to an understanding of life.

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In these verses, 35 references are made to

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the name of God himself.

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In the beginning, God.

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That puts flight immediately to the concept of

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atheism, the teaching there is no God.

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In the beginning, God.

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That deals with the notion of two good

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gods and an evil God warring against one

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another.

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That is not what the Bible teaches.

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In the beginning, God.

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Not polytheism, not a range of gods.

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In the beginning, God.

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Not nihilism, which says life makes no sense

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at all.

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In the beginning, God.

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Not therefore materialism.

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For the Lord as spirit came before the

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earth as matter.

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In the beginning, God.

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And therefore astrology becomes a useless occupation to

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follow.

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There is no such thing as fatalism because

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right at the very beginning, there is God

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who has all power, the necessity of God.

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I move forward.

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The originality of God.

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What do I mean by that?

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Well, if you were to read in John's

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gospel, it tells you in the first verse

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there, in the beginning was the word.

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And going on, all things were made by

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him and without him was nothing made that

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was made.

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God is original.

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You can't get behind God.

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There is no one like God.

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God is utterly unique.

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He is a necessity.

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He is original.

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And the knowledge of God is not one

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that the Bible endeavors to prove by some

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logical flow of argument.

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There was a lady in the Old Testament

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whose husband was called fool.

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Some other ladies might well have thought that

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that would be a description of the person

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that they have lived with.

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Nabal, who was the husband of Nabal.

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The husband of a great woman in the

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Old Testament.

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The fool has said in his heart, there

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is no God.

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Twice the Psalmist makes that declaration in terms

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of the atheist who tells you that he

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does not believe that there is such a

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person as a divine being.

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The Bible says that in your guts, you

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know.

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It's intuitive.

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It's there in every man, every woman.

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You may deny it.

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You may say that you don't believe it.

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But in your heart of hearts, when the

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chips are down and you are facing the

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awful abyss of death, you will find your

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atheism a very difficult thing to cling on

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to.

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The heavens declare the glory of God.

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The flowers dictate that God is.

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My mentor, Lloyd-Jones, would say that the

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human eye, and here he would use the

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words in inverted commas, so to speak, is

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proof for the existence of God.

276
00:13:40,300 --> 00:13:44,740
That delicate organism that gives you sight.

277
00:13:45,540 --> 00:13:48,400
To try to suggest that that came about

278
00:13:48,400 --> 00:13:52,940
by some fluke evolutionary process, even granted millions

279
00:13:52,940 --> 00:13:56,440
of years, is utterly ridiculous.

280
00:13:59,080 --> 00:14:02,000
The originality of God.

281
00:14:03,140 --> 00:14:09,240
When I consider the heavens, the stars, the

282
00:14:09,240 --> 00:14:13,840
moon, which your hand has made, says David,

283
00:14:14,640 --> 00:14:20,480
echoing his creatureliness, I wonder that such a

284
00:14:20,480 --> 00:14:24,920
being as you has anything to do with

285
00:14:24,920 --> 00:14:28,360
a person so insignificant as I am.

286
00:14:29,300 --> 00:14:31,780
You go to the desert of Turkana, which

287
00:14:31,780 --> 00:14:35,400
is encroaching from the Sudan into the northern

288
00:14:35,400 --> 00:14:36,920
reaches of Kenya.

289
00:14:37,900 --> 00:14:42,000
Stand there in a moonlit night and look

290
00:14:42,000 --> 00:14:46,940
out to a landscape made yellow by the

291
00:14:46,940 --> 00:14:47,300
moon.

292
00:14:48,060 --> 00:14:49,740
Hear the noise of the animals.

293
00:14:50,580 --> 00:14:52,380
Hear the noise of the insects.

294
00:14:52,880 --> 00:14:55,920
Look up into the starry sky and tell

295
00:14:55,920 --> 00:14:58,340
yourself that this happened by chance.

296
00:14:58,980 --> 00:15:02,200
And you butcher your intellect.

297
00:15:03,400 --> 00:15:06,000
The originality of God.

298
00:15:06,840 --> 00:15:09,120
In the beginning, God.

299
00:15:09,740 --> 00:15:13,160
You can't get behind him because there is

300
00:15:13,160 --> 00:15:15,000
no behind to get to.

301
00:15:15,540 --> 00:15:20,960
He is God, the eternity of God.

302
00:15:22,720 --> 00:15:24,020
Think away if you can.

303
00:15:24,460 --> 00:15:25,680
Let's try a little experiment.

304
00:15:26,000 --> 00:15:28,100
This is not an easy subject to broach

305
00:15:28,100 --> 00:15:31,620
this morning, but I have an unusually competent

306
00:15:31,620 --> 00:15:35,260
congregation and I'm not being patronizing.

307
00:15:36,980 --> 00:15:38,900
Think away your own life for a moment.

308
00:15:38,900 --> 00:15:39,100
Think away your own thought.

309
00:15:40,200 --> 00:15:42,600
Think away England.

310
00:15:43,780 --> 00:15:45,300
Think away Europe.

311
00:15:46,280 --> 00:15:48,540
Think away all the land mass.

312
00:15:50,020 --> 00:15:51,120
Now think away the oceans.

313
00:15:52,400 --> 00:15:53,540
Think away the fish.

314
00:15:54,840 --> 00:15:58,320
Think away the sun, the moon, the planets.

315
00:15:59,400 --> 00:16:00,680
The Milky Way.

316
00:16:02,400 --> 00:16:05,140
Think out of existence this universe.

317
00:16:06,060 --> 00:16:11,020
Think out of existence the universes behind this

318
00:16:11,020 --> 00:16:11,600
universe.

319
00:16:12,120 --> 00:16:16,300
There's nothing in time or space.

320
00:16:17,580 --> 00:16:18,920
But there is God.

321
00:16:20,080 --> 00:16:27,760
Timeless, spaceless, single, lonely, yet sublimely three.

322
00:16:28,960 --> 00:16:32,420
Thou art grandly always only God in unity,

323
00:16:32,870 --> 00:16:35,360
lone in grandeur, lone in glory.

324
00:16:35,560 --> 00:16:38,500
Who shall tell thy wondrous story?

325
00:16:39,320 --> 00:16:41,740
Awful trinity.

326
00:16:43,200 --> 00:16:45,900
No age can heap its outward thought on

327
00:16:45,900 --> 00:16:46,200
thee.

328
00:16:47,260 --> 00:16:51,720
Dear God, thou art thyself, thine own eternity.

329
00:16:52,940 --> 00:16:55,840
Existing, self-fulfilled.

330
00:16:56,680 --> 00:17:01,320
No need for anything or anyone else is

331
00:17:01,320 --> 00:17:01,820
God.

332
00:17:02,420 --> 00:17:07,319
Eternal, from everlasting to everlasting.

333
00:17:08,160 --> 00:17:11,800
From vanishing point to vanishing point.

334
00:17:12,680 --> 00:17:17,760
God, whole, entire, fulfilled.

335
00:17:19,180 --> 00:17:25,180
That is who the Bible refers to when

336
00:17:25,180 --> 00:17:29,280
it says in the beginning, God.

337
00:17:30,100 --> 00:17:33,340
The necessity of God, the originality of God,

338
00:17:33,460 --> 00:17:36,560
the eternity of God, the plurality of God.

339
00:17:37,700 --> 00:17:38,680
Plurality, yes.

340
00:17:39,720 --> 00:17:41,520
And here I get technical, but not so

341
00:17:41,520 --> 00:17:43,260
technical you can't understand me.

342
00:17:44,780 --> 00:17:46,640
If you were to give a plural to

343
00:17:46,640 --> 00:17:49,980
the word fox, you put ES on foxes.

344
00:17:50,560 --> 00:17:52,360
If you were to give a plural to

345
00:17:52,360 --> 00:17:55,820
the word boy, you put S on boys.

346
00:17:56,820 --> 00:17:59,780
If in the Hebrew language you make a

347
00:17:59,780 --> 00:18:04,440
singular into a plural, then using our language

348
00:18:04,440 --> 00:18:08,140
to illustrate, you put IM on.

349
00:18:08,940 --> 00:18:12,180
So El becomes Elohim.

350
00:18:12,880 --> 00:18:16,200
In the beginning, Elohim created the heavens and

351
00:18:16,200 --> 00:18:16,700
the earth.

352
00:18:17,940 --> 00:18:19,940
Do you remember Margaret Thatcher?

353
00:18:22,100 --> 00:18:24,680
Do you remember when Mrs. Thatcher became a

354
00:18:24,680 --> 00:18:25,180
grandmother?

355
00:18:26,340 --> 00:18:28,160
We are pleased.

356
00:18:29,400 --> 00:18:32,660
And the press ripped her apart for daring

357
00:18:32,660 --> 00:18:35,880
to use a plural to describe herself.

358
00:18:36,580 --> 00:18:41,440
Only the majesty, the queen, can do that.

359
00:18:42,500 --> 00:18:47,180
Here is God linking his name as a

360
00:18:47,180 --> 00:18:49,240
plural to singular verbs.

361
00:18:50,060 --> 00:18:53,220
Tucked into this account, God created the heavens

362
00:18:53,220 --> 00:18:55,820
and the earth, is this concept of the

363
00:18:55,820 --> 00:18:58,700
bi-unity, of the tri-unity of God.

364
00:18:59,000 --> 00:19:03,120
God eternally existent, but God never lonely in

365
00:19:03,120 --> 00:19:04,920
the sense of the poem which I read

366
00:19:04,920 --> 00:19:07,040
out to you, though the poetry and the

367
00:19:07,040 --> 00:19:09,240
theology on the whole are good.

368
00:19:10,200 --> 00:19:12,620
When our Lord Jesus comes into the world,

369
00:19:12,920 --> 00:19:16,340
he takes that plurality that's embedded in the

370
00:19:16,340 --> 00:19:18,600
Hebrew term for God, and he makes it

371
00:19:18,600 --> 00:19:19,100
plain.

372
00:19:20,400 --> 00:19:22,500
Show us the Father, Jesus.

373
00:19:23,880 --> 00:19:25,960
And Jesus says to the disciples, how have

374
00:19:25,960 --> 00:19:27,040
I been with you so long?

375
00:19:28,020 --> 00:19:29,240
Do you haven't known me?

376
00:19:29,900 --> 00:19:32,300
And in John's gospel, he predicts the coming

377
00:19:32,300 --> 00:19:36,220
of the Holy Spirit and his departure, the

378
00:19:36,220 --> 00:19:37,460
Lord Jesus' departure.

379
00:19:37,740 --> 00:19:40,160
But then he says, but we will come

380
00:19:40,160 --> 00:19:47,000
to you, this God, this self-sufficient, this

381
00:19:47,000 --> 00:19:56,440
unity, existing eternally, complete, satisfied, and yet, and

382
00:19:56,440 --> 00:20:00,020
yet within the person of God, we discover

383
00:20:00,020 --> 00:20:04,560
there is a purpose, for God has a

384
00:20:04,560 --> 00:20:06,980
plan beyond himself.

385
00:20:07,920 --> 00:20:11,600
God will speak out from this, from the

386
00:20:11,600 --> 00:20:15,440
eternity that was, and you discover this in

387
00:20:15,440 --> 00:20:19,400
the third verse of this chapter, and God

388
00:20:19,400 --> 00:20:24,720
said, let there be light, and there was

389
00:20:24,720 --> 00:20:25,160
light.

390
00:20:26,200 --> 00:20:28,920
In the beginning is the goodness of God.

391
00:20:29,200 --> 00:20:31,040
You see it in all of his attributes.

392
00:20:31,680 --> 00:20:34,400
He is good in what he is, and

393
00:20:34,400 --> 00:20:36,260
don't you see he is good in what

394
00:20:36,260 --> 00:20:36,940
he does?

395
00:20:37,480 --> 00:20:39,660
And when he decides to do something, he

396
00:20:39,660 --> 00:20:42,200
does it to perfection, because that is his

397
00:20:42,200 --> 00:20:42,760
character.

398
00:20:45,440 --> 00:20:46,080
Why?

399
00:20:46,080 --> 00:20:46,200
Why?

400
00:20:47,900 --> 00:20:49,120
Why does God create?

401
00:20:50,340 --> 00:20:53,160
There is no answer given to that question

402
00:20:53,160 --> 00:20:54,720
in scripture.

403
00:20:55,500 --> 00:20:56,240
How?

404
00:20:57,100 --> 00:20:58,580
How does God create?

405
00:20:59,520 --> 00:21:04,140
The answer is by his word, and if

406
00:21:04,140 --> 00:21:07,540
that seems to be difficult, think it through,

407
00:21:08,220 --> 00:21:11,740
and it is not impossible to comprehend that

408
00:21:11,740 --> 00:21:13,600
words compel actions.

409
00:21:14,920 --> 00:21:19,080
If I, for example, was to say to

410
00:21:19,080 --> 00:21:23,840
you, please turn to hymn 231, the majority

411
00:21:23,840 --> 00:21:25,760
of you would do so.

412
00:21:26,620 --> 00:21:31,180
My word has excited a reaction.

413
00:21:32,120 --> 00:21:35,060
If you're a good parent, and you've got

414
00:21:35,060 --> 00:21:39,380
obedient kids, tell them to do something, and

415
00:21:39,380 --> 00:21:40,660
they will do it.

416
00:21:41,300 --> 00:21:45,320
Words have force, even within a human context,

417
00:21:45,640 --> 00:21:47,140
but this is not a human context.

418
00:21:47,560 --> 00:21:51,200
This is the eternally existing God, complete in

419
00:21:51,200 --> 00:21:55,600
himself, at peace with himself, but he speaks,

420
00:21:55,940 --> 00:21:58,520
and he speaks out these words, let there

421
00:21:58,520 --> 00:22:06,560
be light, and there was light, and until

422
00:22:06,560 --> 00:22:09,920
God spoke, nothing existed.

423
00:22:10,660 --> 00:22:13,500
In the way that you and I, no

424
00:22:13,500 --> 00:22:14,020
existence.

425
00:22:15,140 --> 00:22:18,020
In other words, coming back to my opening

426
00:22:18,020 --> 00:22:23,300
sally, my opening argument, outside of God, you

427
00:22:23,300 --> 00:22:24,040
have no meaning.

428
00:22:25,260 --> 00:22:28,300
Outside of God, you have no existence.

429
00:22:29,660 --> 00:22:34,960
Therefore, you see how important it is that

430
00:22:34,960 --> 00:22:37,860
we Christians, far from blushing about what Genesis

431
00:22:37,860 --> 00:22:39,920
says, we are to glory in it.

432
00:22:40,530 --> 00:22:41,960
Here is an explanation.

433
00:22:42,340 --> 00:22:45,400
It satisfies you, not only intellectually, even though

434
00:22:45,400 --> 00:22:48,460
it leaves some questions unanswered, as will always

435
00:22:48,460 --> 00:22:50,340
be the case, because your mind is finite,

436
00:22:51,780 --> 00:22:53,440
but it satisfies you emotionally.

437
00:22:54,260 --> 00:22:57,780
There is an intuitive element in receiving knowledge,

438
00:22:57,980 --> 00:23:01,640
and you know within your guts that this

439
00:23:01,640 --> 00:23:04,580
is right, that this makes sense in the

440
00:23:04,580 --> 00:23:08,880
deepest wells of your personality, to use a

441
00:23:08,880 --> 00:23:12,480
more eloquent description, you are aware that there

442
00:23:12,480 --> 00:23:15,560
is out there someone greater than you, and

443
00:23:15,560 --> 00:23:17,820
that you have a purpose because of him,

444
00:23:17,860 --> 00:23:25,920
and so the Bible speaks about this God,

445
00:23:26,820 --> 00:23:32,200
and his purpose, and his personal involvement in

446
00:23:32,200 --> 00:23:32,980
this world.

447
00:23:33,740 --> 00:23:35,460
God said, let there be light, and there

448
00:23:35,460 --> 00:23:35,980
was light.

449
00:23:35,980 --> 00:23:37,920
God saw that the light was good, and

450
00:23:37,920 --> 00:23:39,940
he separated the light from the darkness.

451
00:23:42,500 --> 00:23:45,100
But when you take the earlier verse, the

452
00:23:45,100 --> 00:23:48,500
second verse, you find reference made to the

453
00:23:48,500 --> 00:23:49,680
spirit of God.

454
00:23:50,460 --> 00:23:53,960
Here is the beginning of creation, and the

455
00:23:53,960 --> 00:23:56,440
spirit of God, we are told, was hovering

456
00:23:56,440 --> 00:23:57,460
over the waters.

457
00:23:58,860 --> 00:24:01,460
I preached an address over at Enfield a

458
00:24:01,460 --> 00:24:05,360
couple of, three weeks ago, where I used

459
00:24:05,360 --> 00:24:08,040
material that I had employed at Lansing Tabernacle,

460
00:24:08,360 --> 00:24:10,780
and had used at the tab 15 years

461
00:24:10,780 --> 00:24:13,180
or so ago, it was an address on

462
00:24:13,180 --> 00:24:14,060
the eagle.

463
00:24:15,060 --> 00:24:17,340
You find reference to the eagle in the

464
00:24:17,340 --> 00:24:20,620
first five books of the Bible, several references,

465
00:24:21,040 --> 00:24:23,120
and in Deuteronomy, the idea is of the

466
00:24:23,120 --> 00:24:26,380
eagle, the divine eagle, hovering over the nest,

467
00:24:26,720 --> 00:24:29,660
making things uncomfortable for the little eaglets, so

468
00:24:29,660 --> 00:24:31,740
that she coaxes them into flight.

469
00:24:32,230 --> 00:24:34,240
But she has a concern for the young

470
00:24:34,240 --> 00:24:37,680
eaglets, who clumsily flap their wings, and instead

471
00:24:37,680 --> 00:24:39,380
of taking off, spiral downwards.

472
00:24:39,760 --> 00:24:40,900
What does mother eagle do?

473
00:24:41,140 --> 00:24:44,020
She hovers over, she'll spread her wings under

474
00:24:44,020 --> 00:24:44,240
them.

475
00:24:44,440 --> 00:24:46,440
If necessary, she'll even catch them.

476
00:24:46,680 --> 00:24:47,600
She will coax them.

477
00:24:47,780 --> 00:24:49,820
Her eyes will always be upon her young.

478
00:24:51,080 --> 00:24:53,260
So the Bible teaches about creation.

479
00:24:54,320 --> 00:24:57,480
He's not removed, he's like the eagle.

480
00:24:58,160 --> 00:25:02,460
He creates, and he watches each successive stage,

481
00:25:02,820 --> 00:25:05,520
for this is his creation, and he is

482
00:25:05,520 --> 00:25:07,980
bound up inexorably to his creation.

483
00:25:08,300 --> 00:25:11,000
That is why it should be proclaimed across

484
00:25:11,000 --> 00:25:13,160
the city of London, not just in the

485
00:25:13,160 --> 00:25:16,080
stock exchange, the earth is the Lord's, and

486
00:25:16,080 --> 00:25:19,560
the fullness thereof, and Christian people who do

487
00:25:19,560 --> 00:25:20,420
not protest.

488
00:25:22,040 --> 00:25:27,200
When God's earth is polluted by man's greed,

489
00:25:27,840 --> 00:25:32,140
by man's foolishness, I say we are falling

490
00:25:32,140 --> 00:25:38,980
foul of our responsibilities to our creator, who

491
00:25:38,980 --> 00:25:43,000
in successive stages brought this world into being,

492
00:25:43,740 --> 00:25:48,680
and is always personally involved with her, even

493
00:25:48,680 --> 00:25:51,060
after the fall.

494
00:25:51,980 --> 00:25:55,480
His personal involvement, his orderly method.

495
00:25:56,340 --> 00:25:59,140
The earth was formless, an empty verse too.

496
00:25:59,840 --> 00:26:03,220
Darkness was over the surface of the deep.

497
00:26:03,820 --> 00:26:05,520
That's a most interesting verse.

498
00:26:06,360 --> 00:26:10,360
There are older theologians who believe that actually

499
00:26:10,360 --> 00:26:13,760
that verse might even refer to a previous

500
00:26:13,760 --> 00:26:18,880
creation, where things went damnably wrong, and some

501
00:26:18,880 --> 00:26:21,560
of the references to Lucifer, and the fall

502
00:26:21,560 --> 00:26:24,700
of Lucifer, and something of the longevity of

503
00:26:24,700 --> 00:26:29,800
this earth might well have as its explanation

504
00:26:30,400 --> 00:26:36,660
this concept of a previous creation going into

505
00:26:36,660 --> 00:26:40,620
chaos and darkness.

506
00:26:41,740 --> 00:26:45,300
Be that as it may, an interesting theory.

507
00:26:46,400 --> 00:26:47,680
The point is this.

508
00:26:48,340 --> 00:26:52,040
Here in the second verse, you have chaos,

509
00:26:52,640 --> 00:26:53,640
disorderliness.

510
00:26:54,540 --> 00:26:56,760
From the third verse to the end of

511
00:26:56,760 --> 00:27:01,180
the chapter, you have successive activities on the

512
00:27:01,180 --> 00:27:04,760
part of God bringing cosmos out of chaos.

513
00:27:06,380 --> 00:27:09,300
Orderliness out of disorderliness.

514
00:27:10,780 --> 00:27:15,720
You see, our God is always orderly in

515
00:27:15,720 --> 00:27:16,360
his method.

516
00:27:17,160 --> 00:27:19,380
Isaiah 45, 18 says that God does not

517
00:27:19,380 --> 00:27:23,140
leave the world formless and empty.

518
00:27:24,640 --> 00:27:27,900
One theologian puts it, his thought has shaped

519
00:27:27,900 --> 00:27:31,060
it to the least cell and atom.

520
00:27:32,820 --> 00:27:36,800
He is in his world in the sense

521
00:27:36,800 --> 00:27:39,900
of brooding over it.

522
00:27:41,120 --> 00:27:43,520
You see, this is not just a statement

523
00:27:43,520 --> 00:27:45,040
in terms of Genesis 1.

524
00:27:45,040 --> 00:27:46,820
It's a principle that you find throughout the

525
00:27:46,820 --> 00:27:48,900
whole of the Old Testament and on into

526
00:27:48,900 --> 00:27:49,320
the New.

527
00:27:50,220 --> 00:27:51,560
Take it in the political sense.

528
00:27:51,640 --> 00:27:53,480
When was Israel in a terrible state?

529
00:27:53,560 --> 00:27:55,500
Well, when she had no government.

530
00:27:56,360 --> 00:27:58,420
The end book of the last chapter, the

531
00:27:58,420 --> 00:27:59,820
last verse of the book of Judges, what

532
00:27:59,820 --> 00:28:00,100
do you find?

533
00:28:00,300 --> 00:28:01,780
Every man does what is right in his

534
00:28:01,780 --> 00:28:02,260
own eyes.

535
00:28:02,460 --> 00:28:03,240
It's disorderly.

536
00:28:04,120 --> 00:28:05,300
Here is our beloved Lord.

537
00:28:05,400 --> 00:28:07,260
He's had thousands of people following him.

538
00:28:07,320 --> 00:28:08,020
They need to be fed.

539
00:28:08,060 --> 00:28:08,580
What does he do?

540
00:28:08,800 --> 00:28:10,360
He sits them down in companies of 100,

541
00:28:10,740 --> 00:28:12,380
and he gets his disciples to feed them.

542
00:28:12,640 --> 00:28:13,040
Orderliness.

543
00:28:14,420 --> 00:28:16,880
When the tabernacle is made, which was the

544
00:28:16,880 --> 00:28:19,380
prefigurement of the temple, a plan is given,

545
00:28:19,580 --> 00:28:20,560
and it's done to order.

546
00:28:20,860 --> 00:28:22,960
Even the capitals, that is the chapters, the

547
00:28:22,960 --> 00:28:25,060
columns of the temple, when it is built,

548
00:28:25,280 --> 00:28:26,820
even at the top, when nobody could see

549
00:28:26,820 --> 00:28:27,060
them.

550
00:28:27,740 --> 00:28:30,120
The lily work is perfectly engraved.

551
00:28:30,200 --> 00:28:30,400
Why?

552
00:28:30,620 --> 00:28:33,160
Because this is God's house, and God has

553
00:28:33,160 --> 00:28:33,880
a plan.

554
00:28:35,100 --> 00:28:36,400
There's some of you who think I'm neurotic

555
00:28:36,980 --> 00:28:39,400
about keeping this place reasonably clean and tidy.

556
00:28:40,340 --> 00:28:41,680
You look at the Old Testament, if you

557
00:28:41,680 --> 00:28:43,600
want my justification for my iniquity, I'm neurosis.

558
00:28:44,680 --> 00:28:47,300
It's right to think and to act in

559
00:28:47,300 --> 00:28:49,560
an orderly fashion because this is a creative

560
00:28:49,560 --> 00:28:50,100
principle.

561
00:28:50,420 --> 00:28:52,280
This is what you find embedded in the

562
00:28:52,280 --> 00:28:54,620
saga of Genesis 1.

563
00:28:55,840 --> 00:28:58,460
His orderly method.

564
00:28:59,220 --> 00:29:01,440
He divides the light from the darkness.

565
00:29:02,540 --> 00:29:05,020
The darkness is part of what is good.

566
00:29:05,700 --> 00:29:06,660
It's not abolished.

567
00:29:06,740 --> 00:29:07,520
It's subordinated.

568
00:29:08,380 --> 00:29:08,960
There's evening.

569
00:29:09,260 --> 00:29:09,980
There's morning.

570
00:29:10,760 --> 00:29:13,140
Here you find, as you read through this

571
00:29:13,140 --> 00:29:17,500
lavish poetry come history, this depiction of God

572
00:29:17,500 --> 00:29:21,020
in action, this eternally existing God who speaks

573
00:29:21,020 --> 00:29:26,600
into being, our world, and you find that

574
00:29:26,600 --> 00:29:30,360
orderliness pervades the whole.

575
00:29:31,280 --> 00:29:34,180
The earth is empowered to bring forth what

576
00:29:34,180 --> 00:29:35,700
is proper to it, verse 11.

577
00:29:36,540 --> 00:29:39,140
Literally translated, the Hebrew is, let the earth

578
00:29:39,140 --> 00:29:40,760
vegetate vegetation.

579
00:29:41,480 --> 00:29:44,960
Let the herb seeding seed, the fruit tree

580
00:29:44,960 --> 00:29:46,180
making fruit.

581
00:29:47,040 --> 00:29:50,580
God binds all his creatures together in a

582
00:29:50,580 --> 00:29:52,340
common interdependence.

583
00:29:52,620 --> 00:29:53,440
This is symmetry.

584
00:29:53,840 --> 00:29:54,560
This is beauty.

585
00:29:54,820 --> 00:29:56,220
This is the mind of an architect.

586
00:29:56,540 --> 00:29:58,160
This is the mind of a genius, but

587
00:29:58,160 --> 00:29:58,960
that's what you expect.

588
00:29:59,080 --> 00:30:00,160
It's the mind of God.

589
00:30:01,580 --> 00:30:02,700
His personal involvement.

590
00:30:03,960 --> 00:30:06,120
His orderly method.

591
00:30:06,750 --> 00:30:08,460
The sun and moon on the fourth day.

592
00:30:08,840 --> 00:30:10,380
They speak as signs for God.

593
00:30:10,640 --> 00:30:11,860
They divide the seasons.

594
00:30:12,260 --> 00:30:13,440
They're not to control fate.

595
00:30:14,800 --> 00:30:19,020
This is a common judgment on the 20th

596
00:30:19,020 --> 00:30:22,500
century of our country, the United Kingdom, and

597
00:30:22,500 --> 00:30:23,800
I'm a patriotic person.

598
00:30:24,620 --> 00:30:25,280
Take the mail.

599
00:30:25,460 --> 00:30:26,000
Take the express.

600
00:30:26,180 --> 00:30:27,260
Take the popular newspapers.

601
00:30:27,400 --> 00:30:27,940
What do you find?

602
00:30:28,080 --> 00:30:30,660
One page given up to astrology every day,

603
00:30:30,740 --> 00:30:31,040
virtually.

604
00:30:31,240 --> 00:30:31,660
Not so?

605
00:30:32,740 --> 00:30:35,200
Do you find an equal amount of room

606
00:30:35,200 --> 00:30:38,080
given for some explanation, some exposition of the

607
00:30:38,080 --> 00:30:38,540
word of God?

608
00:30:38,660 --> 00:30:39,420
And the answer is no.

609
00:30:41,240 --> 00:30:44,800
And here at the very beginning, God is

610
00:30:44,800 --> 00:30:46,820
saying that the sun and the moon and

611
00:30:46,820 --> 00:30:50,280
the planets, they're there for his glory, and

612
00:30:50,280 --> 00:30:52,580
their positioning helps to govern the climate in

613
00:30:52,580 --> 00:30:56,200
our world and bring about our seasons.

614
00:30:57,380 --> 00:30:58,780
His personal involvement.

615
00:30:59,140 --> 00:31:00,020
His orderly method.

616
00:31:00,620 --> 00:31:02,420
His sequential approval.

617
00:31:03,140 --> 00:31:04,920
Everything that he does in each stage, he

618
00:31:04,920 --> 00:31:05,720
says it's good.

619
00:31:06,300 --> 00:31:07,560
Look at the 10th verse.

620
00:31:07,720 --> 00:31:09,980
And God saw that it was good.

621
00:31:10,440 --> 00:31:12,040
Look at the 12th verse.

622
00:31:12,400 --> 00:31:15,780
After vegetation has come about, and God saw

623
00:31:15,780 --> 00:31:17,660
that it was good.

624
00:31:18,160 --> 00:31:20,200
And so you go on, verse 18, verse

625
00:31:20,200 --> 00:31:21,780
21, verse 25.

626
00:31:22,120 --> 00:31:24,480
Whatever God does, he does well, and he

627
00:31:24,480 --> 00:31:25,560
delights in his will.

628
00:31:29,620 --> 00:31:33,660
I got fairly rough handling on one critique

629
00:31:33,660 --> 00:31:35,500
of my recent book.

630
00:31:35,640 --> 00:31:38,040
I'm quite happy to take criticism, but criticism

631
00:31:38,040 --> 00:31:39,860
that's rational, please.

632
00:31:41,400 --> 00:31:47,080
And the criticism seemed to imply that I

633
00:31:47,080 --> 00:31:49,860
put too much emphasis on the realm of

634
00:31:49,860 --> 00:31:50,240
nature.

635
00:31:51,180 --> 00:31:53,140
I defended nature too much.

636
00:31:53,960 --> 00:31:57,320
Well, I mean, this is clear craziness.

637
00:31:57,880 --> 00:32:01,380
Of course one defends nature inasmuch as behind

638
00:32:01,380 --> 00:32:02,600
nature is God.

639
00:32:03,080 --> 00:32:06,000
And the interference at a radical level with

640
00:32:06,000 --> 00:32:08,620
nature disturbs the very principles that God has

641
00:32:08,620 --> 00:32:09,600
built into his world.

642
00:32:10,260 --> 00:32:12,560
And that's why we have our ecological problem.

643
00:32:13,340 --> 00:32:16,400
So no, I don't apologize for advocating that

644
00:32:16,400 --> 00:32:19,380
biblical principles that govern creation are here for

645
00:32:19,380 --> 00:32:20,180
all time.

646
00:32:20,420 --> 00:32:22,440
And if you deny or break those principles,

647
00:32:22,780 --> 00:32:24,300
nature has a way of kicking back on

648
00:32:24,300 --> 00:32:26,400
you and creating these disturbances.

649
00:32:26,760 --> 00:32:28,700
And one of the reasons why the desert

650
00:32:28,700 --> 00:32:33,120
is encroaching onto agricultural land in East Africa

651
00:32:33,120 --> 00:32:34,900
is because of the way that we pollute

652
00:32:34,900 --> 00:32:35,680
our environment.

653
00:32:36,640 --> 00:32:38,540
This cannot be argued against.

654
00:32:39,540 --> 00:32:43,180
Therefore, to criticize someone who says that behind

655
00:32:43,180 --> 00:32:45,960
nature are the principles of God and they

656
00:32:45,960 --> 00:32:49,140
need to continually be applied is utter absurdity.

657
00:32:49,740 --> 00:32:52,780
In the beginning, God, here are principles by

658
00:32:52,780 --> 00:32:56,280
which God created his world, principles which we

659
00:32:56,280 --> 00:32:59,560
isolate and are to live to and fashion

660
00:32:59,560 --> 00:33:02,680
our tenancy of this world on.

661
00:33:03,740 --> 00:33:06,600
God says, it's good, good.

662
00:33:07,120 --> 00:33:10,220
Job, you're not feeling very well today, Job.

663
00:33:10,540 --> 00:33:12,240
All right, let me lift you out of

664
00:33:12,240 --> 00:33:12,780
your depression.

665
00:33:12,920 --> 00:33:14,480
No, put down your book of Freud.

666
00:33:14,660 --> 00:33:15,760
Don't read your psychiatrist.

667
00:33:16,140 --> 00:33:16,840
Come to me, Job.

668
00:33:16,860 --> 00:33:17,880
Let me take you a tour.

669
00:33:18,120 --> 00:33:18,740
And he does.

670
00:33:19,060 --> 00:33:20,420
God takes him a tour of the world.

671
00:33:20,620 --> 00:33:22,900
He shows him the waters cascading down the

672
00:33:22,900 --> 00:33:23,520
waterfalls.

673
00:33:23,520 --> 00:33:25,400
He shows him the mighty oceans.

674
00:33:25,680 --> 00:33:26,740
He takes him to the whales.

675
00:33:26,960 --> 00:33:28,060
He takes him to the animals.

676
00:33:28,280 --> 00:33:29,420
He takes him to the vegetation.

677
00:33:29,680 --> 00:33:31,080
He takes him to the flowers.

678
00:33:32,580 --> 00:33:33,580
And Job says, I know what you're getting

679
00:33:33,580 --> 00:33:33,960
at, God.

680
00:33:35,620 --> 00:33:38,180
My little problem is really quite insignificant compared

681
00:33:38,180 --> 00:33:38,680
with this.

682
00:33:39,560 --> 00:33:40,800
Hey, Job, don't you know that I've got

683
00:33:40,800 --> 00:33:41,960
the whole thing in control?

684
00:33:43,600 --> 00:33:45,040
You see, you have the same problem as

685
00:33:45,040 --> 00:33:45,460
I do.

686
00:33:46,260 --> 00:33:47,720
You don't think that God is a trinity.

687
00:33:47,800 --> 00:33:49,160
You think that God is a quartet.

688
00:33:50,340 --> 00:33:51,600
He needs your input.

689
00:33:51,680 --> 00:33:52,480
He doesn't.

690
00:33:53,520 --> 00:33:54,400
He is God.

691
00:33:54,720 --> 00:33:56,060
And when he says the earth is good,

692
00:33:56,120 --> 00:33:57,800
he means it's good, and he rejoices in

693
00:33:57,800 --> 00:33:58,220
the earth.

694
00:33:58,400 --> 00:34:00,300
He watches a whale as it frolics.

695
00:34:00,500 --> 00:34:02,600
He takes delight in the creatures that he

696
00:34:02,600 --> 00:34:03,300
has made.

697
00:34:06,760 --> 00:34:09,000
And God does not only just pronounce each

698
00:34:09,000 --> 00:34:11,179
of the five stages of creation good, but

699
00:34:11,179 --> 00:34:13,360
eventually he comes to his piece de resistance,

700
00:34:14,179 --> 00:34:14,540
man.

701
00:34:16,239 --> 00:34:18,260
And he makes man on the same day

702
00:34:18,260 --> 00:34:19,239
as he makes the animals.

703
00:34:19,500 --> 00:34:22,219
To one extent, animals are half man's context.

704
00:34:22,900 --> 00:34:24,820
The breath of life that goes through man

705
00:34:24,820 --> 00:34:25,800
goes through the animals.

706
00:34:26,179 --> 00:34:27,800
They have bodies, they have feelings, they have

707
00:34:27,800 --> 00:34:28,840
blood, they have nerves.

708
00:34:29,040 --> 00:34:32,060
But there is an infinite distinction between man

709
00:34:32,060 --> 00:34:32,659
and the animals.

710
00:34:34,320 --> 00:34:37,920
And we read here that God says, let

711
00:34:37,920 --> 00:34:39,880
us make man.

712
00:34:40,679 --> 00:34:42,880
This is the self-communing of God.

713
00:34:43,159 --> 00:34:44,860
You see, previously he said, let the earth

714
00:34:44,860 --> 00:34:45,440
bring forth.

715
00:34:45,679 --> 00:34:46,679
Let the earth do this.

716
00:34:46,860 --> 00:34:47,900
Let the earth do the other.

717
00:34:48,000 --> 00:34:50,980
But when he comes to his peak, he

718
00:34:50,980 --> 00:34:55,540
says, let us make man in our own

719
00:34:55,540 --> 00:34:58,320
image, in our own likeness.

720
00:34:58,700 --> 00:35:01,040
And image and likeness are together in the

721
00:35:01,040 --> 00:35:01,260
Hebrew.

722
00:35:01,520 --> 00:35:03,900
There is no conjunction whatsoever.

723
00:35:04,520 --> 00:35:07,240
The image of God, the likeness of God,

724
00:35:07,680 --> 00:35:11,380
there will be that in man which bespeaks

725
00:35:11,380 --> 00:35:12,760
God.

726
00:35:13,580 --> 00:35:17,160
And when God looks down on his creation,

727
00:35:17,500 --> 00:35:21,780
he says not just it's good, he says

728
00:35:21,780 --> 00:35:24,280
it's very good.

729
00:35:25,140 --> 00:35:26,780
I've gone to the top.

730
00:35:27,940 --> 00:35:30,860
This is the masterpiece.

731
00:35:32,200 --> 00:35:35,220
Everything is in place.

732
00:35:36,100 --> 00:35:38,900
The framework, it's wonderful.

733
00:35:39,980 --> 00:35:45,040
God who existed eternally through his creative word

734
00:35:45,040 --> 00:35:48,400
has brought into being that which was not.

735
00:35:48,600 --> 00:35:51,560
And he has engaged in self-examination.

736
00:35:51,880 --> 00:35:55,200
Good, good, good, good, good, very good.

737
00:35:56,880 --> 00:36:01,320
And that is the beginning of the human

738
00:36:01,320 --> 00:36:01,780
race.

739
00:36:02,780 --> 00:36:07,360
You cannot, I say, understand it outside of

740
00:36:07,360 --> 00:36:07,940
those contexts.

741
00:36:09,920 --> 00:36:12,100
And one of the reasons why the world

742
00:36:12,100 --> 00:36:14,120
is in the state that it is in

743
00:36:14,120 --> 00:36:18,980
today is because man does not recognize the

744
00:36:18,980 --> 00:36:25,520
creativity of God and the tenancy agreement by

745
00:36:25,520 --> 00:36:27,600
which man occupies this world.

746
00:36:28,600 --> 00:36:31,080
God did not make man the owner.

747
00:36:32,220 --> 00:36:35,900
God gave to man certain things in which

748
00:36:35,900 --> 00:36:36,720
he was to engage.

749
00:36:36,960 --> 00:36:40,040
Here is Adam, this perfection of God's creative

750
00:36:40,040 --> 00:36:40,560
handiwork.

751
00:36:40,900 --> 00:36:42,120
There is that of God in him.

752
00:36:42,120 --> 00:36:44,280
He has ability to reason, so he becomes

753
00:36:44,280 --> 00:36:44,940
a botanist.

754
00:36:45,100 --> 00:36:46,080
He is a zoologist.

755
00:36:46,300 --> 00:36:47,860
Here you are, Adam, here is a garden.

756
00:36:48,280 --> 00:36:49,320
Categorize the animals.

757
00:36:50,200 --> 00:36:53,360
Can you imagine the enormous nature of that

758
00:36:53,360 --> 00:36:54,080
assignment?

759
00:36:55,360 --> 00:36:58,420
I mean, we have university departments that are

760
00:36:58,420 --> 00:37:00,800
split into several factors to be able to

761
00:37:00,800 --> 00:37:03,580
cope with what God gives Adam to do.

762
00:37:04,460 --> 00:37:05,540
Adam is no mere robot.

763
00:37:06,540 --> 00:37:08,260
Adam is a man who to some degree

764
00:37:08,260 --> 00:37:11,140
resembles God and has ability, not a creative

765
00:37:11,140 --> 00:37:13,820
ability in the essential sense, but he has

766
00:37:13,820 --> 00:37:17,220
an ability to reason, to categorize, to make

767
00:37:17,220 --> 00:37:17,620
decisions.

768
00:37:17,820 --> 00:37:20,280
Here is this man born in the image

769
00:37:20,280 --> 00:37:22,840
of God, so precious to God that at

770
00:37:22,840 --> 00:37:24,480
the cool of the day, God comes down

771
00:37:24,480 --> 00:37:26,800
and he converses with this man, and they

772
00:37:26,800 --> 00:37:27,460
are at one.

773
00:37:29,000 --> 00:37:31,100
But alas, the image was to be broken,

774
00:37:31,940 --> 00:37:33,540
but not obliterated.

775
00:37:34,680 --> 00:37:38,280
The image will only be repaired when a

776
00:37:38,280 --> 00:37:41,500
second Adam will come to undo the damage

777
00:37:41,500 --> 00:37:43,000
inflicted by the first Adam.

778
00:37:43,800 --> 00:37:45,540
But I anticipate the story.

779
00:37:46,800 --> 00:37:50,500
Here is God in all his grandeur, in

780
00:37:50,500 --> 00:37:54,580
all his splendor, and the seventh day comes.

781
00:37:55,620 --> 00:37:56,600
And what does he do?

782
00:37:57,320 --> 00:37:58,120
He rests.

783
00:37:59,120 --> 00:38:00,680
The rest of inactivity, no.

784
00:38:01,760 --> 00:38:03,360
The rest of achievement.

785
00:38:04,580 --> 00:38:08,020
He's done what he set out to do.

786
00:38:09,510 --> 00:38:16,140
And when his son, centuries later, hangs on

787
00:38:16,140 --> 00:38:20,540
the cross, is raised for the sins of

788
00:38:20,540 --> 00:38:23,500
the world, having died for them, raised to

789
00:38:23,500 --> 00:38:27,020
show that sins have been forgiven, he ascends

790
00:38:27,020 --> 00:38:28,340
eventually back into heaven.

791
00:38:29,320 --> 00:38:30,240
And what does he do?

792
00:38:31,200 --> 00:38:32,220
He sits down.

793
00:38:33,120 --> 00:38:36,340
He rests at the right hand of God,

794
00:38:37,020 --> 00:38:41,460
not the rest of inactivity, but the rest

795
00:38:41,460 --> 00:38:43,480
of achievement.

796
00:38:44,760 --> 00:38:48,300
Let's start at the very beginning.

797
00:38:49,400 --> 00:38:52,780
It's a very good place to start.

798
00:38:53,540 --> 00:38:56,080
When you begin here with the A, B,

799
00:38:56,320 --> 00:39:00,160
C, you begin to grasp something of the

800
00:39:00,160 --> 00:39:04,040
measure of the power and the ability of

801
00:39:04,040 --> 00:39:04,640
this God.

802
00:39:05,640 --> 00:39:10,640
He could have been, throughout eternity, ever fulfilled.

803
00:39:12,640 --> 00:39:17,180
But the divine will was to speak forth

804
00:39:17,180 --> 00:39:18,340
the creative word.

805
00:39:19,280 --> 00:39:22,660
And as a result, you have your existence.

806
00:39:23,680 --> 00:39:25,040
What happened to that world?

807
00:39:25,800 --> 00:39:26,800
What went wrong?

808
00:39:27,700 --> 00:39:29,660
And how God starts to piece it back

809
00:39:29,660 --> 00:39:34,880
together, we look at next Sunday, as well

810
00:39:34,880 --> 00:39:37,320
as touching on this evening.

811
00:39:38,020 --> 00:39:41,520
But let's bow our heads right now in

812
00:39:41,520 --> 00:39:46,340
the presence of this holy and majestic creator.

813
00:39:59,550 --> 00:40:04,950
Almighty God, our heavenly father, we have sinned

814
00:40:04,950 --> 00:40:10,830
against you, against your world, and against our

815
00:40:10,830 --> 00:40:16,030
fellow men, in thought and word and deed,

816
00:40:17,010 --> 00:40:21,810
through negligence, through weakness, through our own deliberate

817
00:40:21,810 --> 00:40:22,410
fault.

818
00:40:23,390 --> 00:40:24,750
We are truly sorry.

819
00:40:26,410 --> 00:40:29,450
Sorry for the demise of many species of

820
00:40:29,450 --> 00:40:29,970
plants.

821
00:40:31,330 --> 00:40:34,830
Sorry for the demise of many species of

822
00:40:34,830 --> 00:40:35,250
animals.

823
00:40:37,150 --> 00:40:41,710
Sorry for the death of many human beings,

824
00:40:42,590 --> 00:40:45,810
as a result of their hunger and our

825
00:40:45,810 --> 00:40:47,310
inability to meet their need.

826
00:40:48,490 --> 00:40:50,290
Sorry for the pollution of your world.

827
00:40:51,450 --> 00:40:52,650
We are truly sorry.

828
00:40:53,590 --> 00:40:57,430
And repent of all our sins, for the

829
00:40:57,430 --> 00:40:59,730
sake of your son, Jesus Christ, who died

830
00:40:59,730 --> 00:41:00,390
for us.

831
00:41:01,390 --> 00:41:03,510
Lord God, forgive us the damage we did

832
00:41:03,510 --> 00:41:06,830
in the past, and grant that with intelligent

833
00:41:06,830 --> 00:41:11,690
service and renewed devotion, we may now live

834
00:41:11,690 --> 00:41:15,470
for you a new way of life, bringing

835
00:41:15,470 --> 00:41:20,810
glory to your name, bringing relief to humankind,

836
00:41:21,850 --> 00:41:24,690
and endeavoring to repair some of the damage

837
00:41:25,330 --> 00:41:29,230
that we have done at an ecological level.

838
00:41:30,670 --> 00:41:31,670
Amen.

839
00:41:31,670 --> 00:41:34,030
And I'll see you in the next one.