The Message Creation Proclaims

When a magician stands before a crowded room of children and just before his next trick asks, “Kids, what’s the magic words?”   What’s the answer? Come on, I know you are thinking the word so go ahead and say it out loud.  Ready….Abracadabra!!!!

Abracadabra is an Aramaic word and means, “to create something from nothing. ‘I will create as I speak.’”  It is also a companion to a word we find in the first verse of the Bible.  Genesis 1:1 says, “In the beginning God BARA (created)…” Bara is defined as “Created from Nothing.”

In Physics we learn of the Law of Conservation of Energy.  It states that energy cannot be created nor destroyed.  The Universe could not have created itself without some outside infinite power source.  .  Science is based on observation and can only study that which already exists. Since energy cannot be created, a source of unimaginable power from outside of nature was required for life to begin…that power is GOD.

8 Times in Genesis chapter 1 it states, “God said…” and something was created.

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The Prize of Creation

What is the prize of creation?  Read these verses from the Word of God and then watch this sermon video.  Allow the love of God to fill your heart on this Valentines Day.

Jesus said, "This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. 13 Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends. 14 You are My friends if you do whatever I command you." (John 15: 12-14)

"But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us." (Romans 5:8).

"The Lord has appeared of old to me, saying:
“Yes, I have loved you with an everlasting love;" (Jeremiah 31:3).

The most important issue of our day..."In the Beginning....GOD"

Genesis 1:1 is arguably the most read verse in all of the Bible.  Have you read it?  You can most likely quote it from memory as
easy as stating your own name, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.”

Today, there seems to be a war on God.  It has been stated from various sources that the new religion in America is to not believe in God.  And if you are going to believe in God, just don’t believe in the God of the Bible.  It’s interesting to note that every culture in recorded history has had some conception of a god, some source beyond ourselves that directly affected the beginning of life as we know it.

Why is that?  It seems that in our very make-up as humans we are created to look for answers outside of ourselves.  The French Philosopher Pascal said in the heart of every man there is a "God-shaped vacuum.”  Augustine said, “Lord, you have made us for yourself.  Our hearts are restless until they find rest in you.”

The Song Creation Sings

"The heavens declare the glory of God;

And the firmament shows His handiwork." - Psalm 19:1

More than 3000 years ago, a man named David looked at the stars and as his emotions were caught up in the beauty and majesty of what he saw he proclaimed that the heavens themselves declare the glory of God.

Day after day we are surrounded by creation's song.  Listen carefully and you will hear the glory of God being declared by the chirping of the birds, by the whistling of the wind, by the splash of the fish.  The beautiful melody of our creator can be heard in every warm ray of sunshine, every blossoming flower, every leaf that changes color in the Fall and every snowflake that cascades to the ground.  

Creation declares that our God is Glorious!

Creation also declares that our God is Beautiful.

Have you ever looked at a picture of earth that was taken from outer space?

 Absolutely breathtaking.

Genesis 1:1, "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth."

Why does God specifically mention the earth in the very first verse of the Bible?

Psalm 115: 16 declares, “The heaven, even the heavens, are the Lord’s; But the earth He has given to the children of men."

Floating in space, the earth itself sings about God our creator.  There is no other planet in our solar system like our planet.  Earth is covered with green vegetation, enourmous blue-green oceans containing over a million islands, hundreds of thousands of streams, rivers, and huge land masses, mountains, ice caps and deserts.  Some form of life is found in every ecological niche on the earth’s surface.

The earth is 93 million miles from the sun, if it traveled faster on its 584-million mile orbit, the orbit would become larger and life would not be able to sustain.  If the earth moved closer to the sun, life would not be able to be sustained.

70% of the earth is covered in water.  The vast amounts of water on the earth help sustain life.  Water can absorb enormous amounts of heat without alteration.  Its absorption level is about 10 times as great as steel.  During the day, the earth’s bodies of water rapidly soak up enormous amounts of heat, helping to cool the earths temperature.  At night, the waters release the heat and when mixed with the atmosphere, helps keep most of the earth’s surface from freezing solid at night.  If it weren’t for the large masses of water on the planet, the earth’s temperature would rise and fall to levels that life could not exists.

The earth is orbited by one moon that is 1/4^th its size.  The moon helps establish our atmosphere, gravity and the axis the earth rotates on, all the while, protecting us from a barrage of meteorites. 

Understand this, Creation is proclaiming that our incredible God is a God of Beauty and of Order.

Think about the planets that rotate the sun near us.  Mercury is the closest planet to the sun.  Temperatures rise to more than 800’ on the side facing the sun, and the side facing away will drop t -298’ below zero.

Venus is hotter than Mercury, yet farther away from the sun.  Its atmosphere is 90 times thicker than earth’s and heat is trapped in the clouds.  Venus can be as hot as 931’F.

Mars is most similar to earth, but its warmest day is a mere 67’F but with two small moons it has very little gravity and cannot sustain a large enough atmosphere.

One of the great scientific minds in history was mathematician and physicists, Sir Isaac Newton (1642-1727).  He is known for deriving the Law of Gravity and inventing a branch of mathematics called Calculus.  I still haven't figured that one out yet :).

Newton had a large model of our Solar System built for him.  A story is told that one day another scientist came by to visit Newton and saw the model.  The friend did not believe in Biblical creation and said, “Oh MY! What an exquisite thing this is!  Who made it for you?”  Newton answered, “Nobody.”  The other man said, “Oh? Evidently you did not understand my question.  I asked, who made this?”  Newton replied again, “Nobody.”  “You must think I’m a fool!” the visitor replied. “Of course somebody made it, and he is a genius and I would like to know who he is.”

Newton firmly said, “This thing is but a puny imitation of a much grander system whose laws you know, and I am not able to convince you that this mere toy is without a designer and maker; yet you profess to believe that the great original from which the design is taken has come into being without either designer or maker! Now tell me by what sort of reasoning do you reach such an incongruous conclusion?”

Friend, creation itself is a masterpiece declaring the majesty of the composer - God.  Creation sings that God is glorious, that He is beautiful, that He is orderly and that He is faithful. 

You can have a Living Hope

A song writer once wrote that each of us have a God-shaped hole in our heart and nothing can fill that void accept a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. Bill Fay would agree with that.  He was born to an upper middle class family.  His father was the president of General Foods and introduced a frozen food line called “Bird’s eye.”  There’s a good chance you have purchased some of their product at your local grocery store.

Bill admits he grew up with a silver spoon in his mouth.  He never did without whatever he wanted.  Sadly, his father’s spending habits caused him to die penny-less in a veteran’s hospital.  Bill decided that he would not die that way.  He would live life to the fullest, thinking of no one else but himself.

At age 16, he got a girl pregnant and married her.  He went off to college after High School.  In college he met a man who taught him to be a professional gambler.  Bill put himself through college by playing card games.  After graduation he divorced his wife and walked away from his daughter so he could advance his career.  Bill met and married another woman and at age 22 he was hired by an Atlanta corporation and quickly became their number 1 salesman. 

Shortly afterwards, he was invited to Las Vegas where he was enamored by the power, money and women.  He said; “If I can just get connected into all this, my life will be fine.”  On that trip that he met a man at a card table who lost $200,000 in just 20 minutes and acted as if it was nothing.  Bill was impressed.  The man invited him to play a game and in just fifteen minutes, Bill won over $250,000.

Despite the money and power he was gaining, he was still miserable.  One day, Bill was talking to a woman on the telephone.  He asked her, “What do you want out of life?”  She replied; “Money and power.”  This captivated Bill and he left his second wife of 12 years and married this other woman.  The new couple moved to Denver and he became the CEO of a multimillion-dollar Corporation.  One afternoon he stood in his office, looked over his mahogany desk, had his chauffeur-driven limousine outside, had an unlimited expense account, diamond rings, Rolexes, gold jewelry and he thought; “What’s next?  I have both legal and illegal money.  I have power, both corporately and illegally, yet something is missing.”

It wasn’t long until his third wife left and Bill met and married his fourth wife. He decided he would help men with their loneliness and opened Fantasy Island in Lakewood, Colorado, one of the largest houses of prostitution in the Unites States.  Sounds like a movie doesn’t it?  But it isn’t, it is the life of Bill Fay.

There are many people living like Bill Fay.  They may not have the power or money, but they are searching for love, searching for hope, and searching for what is missing in their heart.  They are asking; “Is this all there is?  I Want More!”

In 1 Peter chapter 1, the Apostle Peter is writing to Christians who were the opposite of men like Bill Fay.  These early Christ-followers had been driven from their home in Jerusalem through persecution.  They had no power, no money, and no homeland.  Yet they have what Bill Fay and many people today are longing for, they had a Hope that was Alive in their Soul.

“Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead”   1 Peter 1:3

Look at how Peter expresses himself in reference to the living hope we receive in Christ Jesus.  He writes, “Praise be to God….he has given us new birth...a living hope…”  Understand this, when the Peter states that those who surrender to Christ receive a living hope, he is not referring to hope the way many of us do. 

We consider hope as something we want to happen but are not sure if it will.  That is not what the word hope means in this verse.  Hope here means, “a certain expectation.”  Here is the good news about this living hope, when we surrender our lives to Jesus Christ, we receive the promise that we have peace with God and are as assured of heaven as if we were already there! 

If you have surrendered your life to Christ, you have this living hope in your NOW.

You also have this living hope for your TOMORROWS.  Look at what Peter writes next.

“and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. This inheritance is kept in heaven for you…” 1 Peter 1:4

One day Albert Einstein boarded a train from Princeton. The conductor came by asking to punch the tickets.  Einstein was brilliant man, but a little absent minded.  Einstein could not find his ticket; he looked in his pockets, through his luggage, and could not find his ticket.  The conductor said; “It’s alright Mr. Einstein, I know who you are.”  Then the conductor turned and walked away.  He looked back and saw Einstein looking under his seat.  The conductor came back and said; “Mr. Einstein, I don’t need your ticket, I know who you are.”  Einstein said; “I know who I am too, but I need to know where I’m going.”

Do you know where you’re going when your time on this Earth is done?  Peter says we can have a Living Hope in Christ and know beyond any doubt that we have Eternal Life in Heaven.  Look at how Peter describes it. Our inheritance in Christ will never perish, never spoil and never fade away!

Now let me finish the story of Bill Fay.  Bill loved racquetball.  One day while coming into the gym he met a guy named Paul. Bill began to ridicule him because he was a Christian.  Shortly after that, Bill and his fourth wife took a trip to Las Vegas.  While there, his attorney called and told him the prostitution house had been raided and there was a warrant for his arrest.  Soon the media caught the news and Bill was devastated.  The only person who ever called and checked on him was Paul.  One day Bill was sitting at his kitchen table crying uncontrollably.  His non-believing wife suggested they go see the man who had married them.  Bill did not want to go see him, but the Holy Spirit would not stop working on Bill’s heart.  He called the pastor and said that he wanted inner peace in his life.   The next day, he drove 85 miles to a little country church.  At 10:00 a.m. on March 4, 1981, Bill Fay met Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior and He received the Living Hope that he had always longed for.

What about you?

Will you…

• Believe in Jesus Christ as the Son of God, His death, burial and resurrection?
• Trust Him to take away your sins and forgive you?
• Invite Him to be Your Lord and receive a Living Hope?

Faith that Works

Recently, in the Bible study group that my wife and I enjoy each week, our discussion on authentic Christianity turned to the topics of grace and works.  If you want to get a theological firestorm started, just get a debate going on the role grace and works play in one’s eternal salvation.  Personally, I am very thankful that the gift of Salvation is just that, a gift.  Forgiveness of sin, being made righteous before a holy God, and having the confidence of eternal life is nothing short of the undeserved favor (grace) that God pours upon the soul of a sinner who finally realizes his or her utter spiritual depravity and calls out to Jesus.  He alone can bring peace between sinful mankind and Holy God.

As the song writer penned, “My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus blood and righteousness.”

The Scriptures declare, “He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love, ¹⁴ in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins.” (Colossians 1: 13-14, NIV).

I know you will join me in giving praise to the Lord for His grace.  Yet, in our thanksgiving for God’s indescribable gift, we cannot forget that following grace must be a transformed life that declares through our actions that we have indeed received grace. In reading 1 Thessalonians, we get a glimpse of the power of the Gospel as it is displayed with both grace and works in the life of a believer.

“We remember before our God and Father your work produced by faith, your labor prompted by love, and your endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.” (1 Thessalonians 1: 3, NIV)

The writer, Paul, was moved by the genuineness of the faith in these Thessalonian believers.  They had received the message of redemption through Christ and that knowledge had traveled 18 inches south from their ears to their heart.  They did not simply hear the Gospel, it transformed them.  Paul remarks, “We remember your WORK, your LABOR, and your ENDURANCE.” 

A few verses later, Paul states that he did not even have to write about their works of faith because the whole community was talking about them.  He said, “For they themselves report what kind of reception you gave us. They tell how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God, ¹⁰ and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead—Jesus, who rescues us from the coming wrath.” (1 Thessalonians 1: 9-10, NIV)

The Apostle James writes, “as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead.” (James 2: 26, NIV).

Even Jesus taught, “…a tree is recognized by its fruit.” (Matthew 12:33, NIV).

Life Application:

Are you a follower of Jesus?  If so, have you stopped to give thanks to God today for the incredible grace He offers you through Jesus?  As you give Him praise, ask Him to empower you to live out your faith so that others will believe your testimony by your actions.  Show others through your life that change Jesus makes.

Give Yourself Permission to Smile

It is stated that the wisest man in history was the great King Solomon of Israel.  To this day, his wise proverbs inspire us, challenge us, help guide us down a road of self-improvement and draw us closer to God.  In addition to the book of Proverbs recorded in the Bible, the book of Ecclesiastes is also attributed to him.  Written toward the end of his life, Ecclesiastes has a different feel than his Proverbs, but is no less beneficial to our  life and faith.

When you begin reading Ecclesiastes, you are struck with the author's dark, depressive tone.  Though a man given wisdom from above, like all of us, Solomon did not always yield to heavenly wisdom and made many mistakes.  In Ecclesiastes, he writes from a reflective point of view as if he is looking back over his life and asking the questions "Why did I do that?" "Was that important?" "Where did my focus get off track?"  Over and over again he repeats the words, "Everything is meaningless!" and "Chasing after the wind."

hen reading Ecclesiastes, It's tempting to close the book and open to a different section of the Bible. We are more comfortable with lighter, more uplifting texts of Scripture.  Truth is, some of

Backstage Christianity

But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, ⁴ so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.  – Matthew 6: 3-4

He was one of the toughest men I have ever met.  Still laying brick and block a decade past the age most men retire, he reveled in watching twenty-year-old brick-layers sitting exhausted on the sidelines while he continued working. The product of years of hard labor and a horrible accident as a toddler, his hands were like vice grips.  When he approached you for a handshake he would say, “Give me three fingers.”  I learned early on to only give him two fingers because if you gave him three, he would break the one in the middle.  Wow! He was strong.

He was dedicated to his tasks, dedicated to his family, and dedicated to his faith in God.  He was a man’s man. Yet, as I was driving through the Kentucky

GPS - God Positions your Steps

“The steps of a good man are ordered by the LORD, and He delights in his way.” – Psalm 37: 23

Like most men, my friend has a one–track mind when it comes to travel.  He likes to go from point A to point B, no detours, no alternate routes, minimal stops, just get in the car, put it into drive and get there.  One year, he and his wife were planning a trip to the Great Smokey Mountains of East Tennessee.  They had been there several times before and had their route memorized.  This particular year they decided to invite another couple to join them.  Shortly after leaving their home

Monday Morning Devotional

The Molding Hand of Correction

“…so that the fear of God will be with you to keep you from sinning.”

                                                                                Exodus 20:20

“I’m going to take you to the woodshed!”  If that statement was ever directed towards you, it wasn’t a happy time.  I can say that I never doubted the love my parents have for me.  I’ve always had  peace knowing that they love me, that they would care for me, that they would feed me (which has never been a small task), and even when I objected when they said “no” as we walked through the Toy section of the department store, down deep I knew my needs would always be met.

I have always known that they love me, however, I have also always known that correction awaited me when I was disobedient or defiant.   One night after a “moment of correction”, my mother sat beside me and said, “If I didn’t love you, I wouldn’t correct you.”  That was a little hard to swallow at the moment, but as time passed I came to understand.

My behavior has been molded by both..a hand of love…and a hand of correction.  The writer of Hebrews states, “…the Lord disciplines those He loves”…(ch. 12:6). Like a loving parent, God is molding us into the people He created us to be.   He molds us with both a hand of love and a hand of correction.

The author writes, “My son, do not make light of the Lord’s discipline, and do not lose heart when he rebukes you, ⁶ because the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and he chastens everyone he accepts as his son” (Hebrews 12: 5-6).

Ultimately, God is shaping you to be like the Lord Jesus.

The Voice Behind You...

Could anything be better than spending your days walking alongside the creator of the Universe?  Think about the questions you could ask.  Imagine looking into eyes of the one who flung the stars into place and gave life to all creation.  If someone came up to you with a problem, you simply look over to Jesus and say, “He can handle this one.”  How incredible!

Surprisingly though, just hours before His betrayal and crucifixion, Jesus says to His disciples, “But I tell you the truth, it is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away the Helper will not come to you; but if I go, I will send Him to you” (John 16:7, NASB).

Can you imagine the look on their faces?  “To our advantage?  How can anything be better than having you here with us?”  But it really is to our advantage.  You see, when Jesus walked this earth,

You are a Piece of Art

He seemed almost erratic as he bounced from side to side on the stage splashing bright paints of various colors upon a large canvas.  Lisa and I had joined several thousand others at a Contemporary Christian concert and were caught in awe as the artist, dressed in a black robe, created his masterpiece before our eyes as the band filled the room with music and praise.

One minute passed, then two, then three and to be honest, we still couldn’t make out what the image was going to be.  Finally, the artist stepped back as to unveil to the crowd his work of art and it still made no sense at all.  Then he walked up to the canvas and turned it 180’ and what we beheld sent a hush over the entire crowd, it was an incredible portrait of the face of Jesus.

We have been blessed over the ages with some very talented artist whose works have often left us breathless.  Still yet, their creativity pales when compared to the true Master Artist – God.  On a

The Faces of Hope

Their names are ordinary. Names like Herbert, Pearl, Ron, Bryan, Joe, Lola, Winnie, yet their stories are anything but. Each face comes with a story, a history of tragedy, pain, fear, and loss.  They are the remnant of a land torn apart by war and disease.  They are the orphans of West Africa.

You wouldn’t know their past by simply looking in their eyes. They are not filled with tears, but with beams of light.  Nor would you gather that some of these children have suffered a lifetime of sadness in their few short years by watching their actions.  They sing.  They dance.  They laugh.  They giggle with a joy that the world cannot give and the world surely cannot take away.

They understand the feelings of abandonment.  Some of these little ones were left at the hospital just hours after their birth, while others, lost their entire families, their mothers and fathers, sisters