Identity | Find Your Way Home Week 1 | Anywhere Service

Who am I? Many of us spend our whole lives wrestling with that question of identity. To make it worse, every voice in our world is relentlessly screaming an opinion at us. So how do we answer it? We have to go back to the beginning—to our origin. Join us today as Brian talks about where we came from, and what that means for where we’re headed.

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    We're all on a journey in life.
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    Some people know where they're going
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    and some people don't.
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    The difference?
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    It's knowing your origin story
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    and finding your way home.
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    You have to know where you came from
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    if you're going to know where you're going.
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    We believe that there is a God
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    and He made you for a journey, a life of adventure.
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    Crossroads exists to help you get there,
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    and we're going to go all the way back
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    to the beginning of the story in Genesis
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    to find our way home to identity.
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    When we know where we come from,
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    it helps us to know where we're going.
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    Gosh, that sounds like a lot
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    like a Matthew McConaughey commercial.
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    But why am I here? What's my purpose?
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    What's the point of all this? Who am I supposed to be?
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    How am I supposed to be that?
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    We all wrestle with questions of meaning,
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    identity and value, and the whole reason
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    we're doing this series is to help us start
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    to answer those questions.
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    Welcome to Crossroads
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    and welcome to the Garden of Eden.
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    My name is Brian.
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    Today, I want to help you know where you come from.
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    Yes, we all know that when a mommy loves a daddy
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    and they're married, they come together.
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    We all know that, we know how that goes.
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    But what I'm talking about is a little deeper.
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    I want you to know who created you and why.
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    Today, I want to help you find your way home.
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    And today we're going to find our way home to identity,
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    going all the way back to the Book of Genesis.
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    All the way back to this old book,
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    all the way to the very first book in the Bible,
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    the very first chapter of the first book in the Bible.
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    It unlocks for us all kinds of secrets
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    and insights about who we are, who God is,
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    and why life works the way it does.
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    And over the next six weeks, we're unpacking
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    a lot of the crazy, confusing,
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    and sometimes downright awful moments.
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    Some are stories you've heard
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    and some you likely haven't.
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    But if you hang through, you're going to understand
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    more of where you came from
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    and why the book of Genesis is crucial
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    to our understanding of God.
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    Now I know you're already kind of hung up.
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    You're like, Whoa, whoa, the Book of Genesis,
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    the beginning. I know this part.
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    This is like creation.
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    This is like where science and religion collide.
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    This is where I'm supposed to believe fairy tales
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    like 6,000 year Earth and in 24 hour literal days,
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    or at least some people believe those are fairy tales,
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    and some people have very deeply held convictions
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    that that's the way it was.
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    Here's the deal.
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    I know you're going to judge me today.
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    I know it, because it's part of our national pastime.
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    We love judging one another, especially
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    when it comes to things like this
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    in the Book of Genesis.
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    Because we all have our opinions.
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    I've never heard anybody go,
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    "Hey, I'm really an open slate
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    on what happened in creation.
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    Tell me how it happened."
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    We all know what we believe,
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    and we're looking for someone to verify what we believe
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    and just help us feel better about ourselves.
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    I might do that today, I might not do that today,
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    but no matter where we are, what we think,
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    I think you're going to see some things about God
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    you haven't seen before
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    and some things about yourself and his creation.
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    So let's try to dig in. Here we go.
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    Genesis 1:1,
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    There's actually a lot going on here already.
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    Here's the biggest thing, it says right at the beginning,
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    in the beginning, God.
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    Before we get into in the beginning,
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    God created the heavens and the earth.
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    Let's go, in the beginning, God, that is the point.
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    God, he is before you. He precedes you.
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    He has created you however he chose to do it.
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    Now, when we take a look at things in the Bible,
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    just in their immediate context, sometimes
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    we go all the way further into it,
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    we can see other things and it all strings together
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    and starts to make sense.
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    The Book of John 1:1, it's in the New Testament
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    portion of the Bible after Jesus came around.
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    Here's what it says:
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    This says that Jesus is the spoken word.
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    Actually, Jesus was present in creation
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    because Jesus is God.
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    We see the Trinity here.
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    The Trinity isn't fully mapped out
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    in the Book of Genesis
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    that God exists in three persons as one person.
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    Crazy, I can't give us definitive explanation
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    on everything we look at today, but the Trinity,
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    God is the father, the son, and the Holy Spirit,
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    co-existence, co-eternal, co-substant,
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    all the same substance.
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    All three members are here in creation.
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    Remember it said the spirit of God
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    was hovering over the waters?
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    Ok, there's the spirit.
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    The father is creating and he's speaking creation.
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    And when he speaks creation,
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    Jesus is the actual word itself.
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    In the beginning, God.
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    You know, every voice in culture today
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    has something to say about who we are
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    and what our real identity is and what we should do.
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    And here is probably the most powerful reading
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    of Genesis 1 that's ever taken place.
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    - While orbiting the moon on Christmas Eve,
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    December 24th, 1968, the crew of Apollo 8,
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    Bill Anders, Jim Lovell and Frank Borman
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    read of the creation account from the Book of Genesis.
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    - Too many people are missing the point
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    of our origin story.
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    Our success in the future depends on
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    our firm grasp of our origin story.
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    We should ask ourselves questions of
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    when, how, why, by who, for what,
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    when it comes to our beginnings.
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    But too many people are hyper focused on
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    the wrong questions when it comes to our origin story.
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    The point is not when, but what.
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    What is the point? What does it mean to me?
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    What is God? Who is God?
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    As much as I would like to stay talking about God,
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    you won't let me, will you? You won't.
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    You're just wondering when I'm going to declare myself,
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    what I'm going to say about science versus faith.
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    What I'm going to say about Genesis 1.
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    So, okay, I'll go there right now.
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    You know, we talk very little about God
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    when we read the creation account in Genesis.
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    Instead, we want to talk about these debatable areas,
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    like: Are these literal twenty four hour days?
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    How long ago did this happen? Was it 6,000 years ago?
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    Was that hyper millennia, hyper eons and eons ago?
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    What about the dinosaurs?
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    Did Adam and Eve have a pet brontosaurus?
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    All these burning questions?
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    The Bible needs to be taken holistically.
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    We need to let things in the Bible
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    interpret other things in the Bible.
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    In the Book of Hebrews 11, written long, long, long,
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    long, long, long, long, long after
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    whatever happened in Genesis 1, it says this:
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    What's the key word there? By faith.
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    It doesn't say by fact, it doesn't say by science,
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    it doesn't say by verification.
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    I'm great with fact. I'm great with science.
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    I'm great verification.
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    But you're just not going to get a lot of that
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    as it relates to Genesis Chapter one.
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    It takes a level of faith to believe that God
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    did something to create what we're in right now.
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    It's a matter of our faith in God,
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    not a matter of understanding science,
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    though it's great to understanding science
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    and we should try to understand science.
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    Now I'm going to give my understanding
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    that you can take or leave.
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    You're not a bad person if you don't agree with me,
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    and I hope you'll believe I'm not a bad person
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    if I disagree with you.
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    I am uncomfortable saying
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    these are 24 hour literal days.
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    I think we get into a real, real hard time
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    when we say the Hebrew word "yom"
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    always means 24 hour literal days.
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    I don't think that's important.
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    I don't think that's necessary.
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    St. Augustine, one of the greatest believers
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    in the history of the church and around 400 A.D.
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    he said that this doesn't have to be
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    literal 24 hour days, he said that in 400 A.D.
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    just look in the text.
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    He wasn't trying to combat Darwinism in science.
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    Darwin wasn't born for 1,100 years afterwards.
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    There's also something interesting here
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    about the word create when it says
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    in the beginning, God created, God created.
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    That word that's used is the word, "bara,"
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    in the original language.
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    It can mean and does mean the initial creation,
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    but it also means redemption.
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    It's the same word that's used in the Old Testament
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    for rebuilding the city of Jerusalem.
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    It's a word of re-creation. It's a word of redemption.
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    I find it very compelling knowing that
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    the central theme throughout the entire Bible
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    is one of redemption, that you are meant to be redeemed.
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    There are second chances for you.
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    God doesn't make junk. God doesn't give up on people.
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    God doesn't give up on his creation.
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    Knowing that that's a central thing
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    all the way through the Bible,
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    that the very first story in the Bible
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    is about redemption.
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    Perhaps, and when the initial creation happened
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    before this, I don't know.
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    I think this is a reformatting of the elements,
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    the redeeming of the elements.
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    That verse we read earlier
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    before all the different days happened,
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    it says the spirit of God hovered over the waters.
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    So there's water there already, right?
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    What's -- what's happening there?
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    Let's dive a little deeper.
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    In verse 14 of Genesis 1, it says:
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    God saw that it was good.
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    Why? Because God is good.
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    And you notice this is the fourth day?
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    And how do we know when a day comes and goes,
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    when the sun rises and when the sun sets.
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    It's the Sun that tells us these days.
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    The sun and the rising, the setting,
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    the way we count days is until even the fourth day.
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    So to try to say the first three days
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    or literal twenty 24 blocks,
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    I just find that not necessary personally.
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    The first listeners heard nothing new
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    about the physical universe when they heard this,
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    whenever that was.
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    All the emphasis was on who created the world
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    and who and why he would create humanity
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    and how this being was good, very, very good.
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    To try to get beyond that, try to get beyond
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    the identity of God and dig into deep science questions
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    in Genesis 1 is just not the intent of the text.
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    Verifying Genesis 1 with modern science
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    is like trying to verify everything in the Bible
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    with modern science, and you just can't do that.
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    Let me give you an example.
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    The Book of Psalms 93:1, it says:
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    So if I'm going to take this literally
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    and scientifically, wait,
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    the world's firmly established, it can't be moved?
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    So is this saying the Bible isn't talking about
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    rotating stuff and [indiscernible]?
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    No, it's not saying that.
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    This is poetry here, just talking about,
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    hey, things are established.
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    You can't use science to understand everything
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    about Genesis 1, and you can't use
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    modern knowledge of the cosmos to understand Psalm 93.
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    We've got to take the scientific part scientifically,
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    the faith parts faithfully,
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    the poetic parts poetically.
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    And when we apply that and when we don't
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    is a very delicate dance.
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    And I'm just saying, I think we need to lighten up
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    a little bit on making this a battleground
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    for the Bible and science.
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    There's nothing that I've ever read in the Bible
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    that I believe the contradicts science. Nothing.
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    And there's things in the Bible some people think
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    is interpreted a certain way that I just don't.
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    The Bible has never, never challenged
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    my understanding of science, and I'm a pro science guy.
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    This isn't the only creation narrative story,
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    but it is the only one where there is a loving God
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    that's actually blessing us and creating a place for us,
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    a beautiful place, the Garden of Eden; Cincinnati, Ohio;
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    Los Angeles, California.
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    Well, Los Angeles, California,
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    yeah, it's kind of beautiful, I guess.
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    The weather's great.
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    The football team I don't like, but the weather's great.
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    The Bible tells us, no, God is good,
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    and he creates a world that is good.
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    He's not competing with anybody.
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    This isn't an accident that came into being.
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    God is good and he created it as good
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    because God is fundamentally good.
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    Our world was initially and fundamentally good,
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    and that creation is made as a result
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    of God's holy space, his goodness,
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    and that means it is designed for you as his creation
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    is to reflect his goodness. That's good.
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    - I hope you're enjoying this episode.
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    I wanted to take a quick moment to share with you
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    something about tithing
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    that I've actually struggled with.
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    This capital T word tithing,
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    it just means giving 10% of what I have to God.
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    And I knew that in the back of my head,
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    so I kind of always just did it.
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    I would put the money in.
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    Never thought about what it meant.
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    And then I was just following the rule.
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    But I learned that it actually is to do
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    a lot with your heart, and there's actually
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    some better things to take place
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    with tithing than just following the rules.
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    - Right. There's a bunch of joy to be found
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    in actually following God, it turns out.
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    It's not about following the rules.
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    And if you're like Hannah and you want to experience
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    something new when it comes to you and giving and God,
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    you can go to Crossroads.net/give for more.
  • 00:18:08
    And we use those funds to make things like this happen,
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    just telling people about the story of God
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    in a language that they can understand.
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    We also use those funds to partner with people
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    all across the world to make change.
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    Here's just one of our partners.
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    - Hey, Crossroads, I'm Stephen Feliciano
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    from Hungry Corp., Crossroads' Reachout partner
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    here in Puerto Rico.
  • 00:18:30
    Because of givers like you, we're able
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    to commit ourselves with the most challenged communities
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    in our city and by building houses,
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    doing legal advocacy, launching small businesses,
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    and rehabilitating our public schools,
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    we're able to dignify the lives of
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    the most vulnerable in our city.
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    So thank you for your generosity.
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    - The whole story builds up to this point.
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    It sets up humanity as the pinnacle of God's creation.
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    That's what we see in Genesis 1:26.
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    Did you catch how it said,
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    our, let us make man in our image?
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    It's another little hint to the Trinity,
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    the triune god present here.
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    Where do we come from?
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    We come from, God. That's where we come from.
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    You were handcrafted as a one off.
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    You haven't been mass produced by Henry Ford
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    or on an assembly line of robots.
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    You've been formed by a personal and relational God.
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    And and we wonder why there's a self-esteem crisis
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    in our world when we're told,
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    "Well, you're just random chance.
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    There was cosmic goo and then there was you.
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    It's survival of the fittest.
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    And if you're not fit right now,
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    you're not going to survive."
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    And we wonder why there is so much despair
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    and anxiety, more than ever before,
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    because we're told that natural selection
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    is the only reason we're here.
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    No, no, no. That's not true.
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    You're here because God put you here
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    because he's good.
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    And there's a higher power who has your back.
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    You're not only on your own, thrown to the wolves.
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    When this idea of God creating us
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    and us being important and him having our back,
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    when this sunk into my mind first as a young man,
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    15, 16 years old, I've got to tell you,
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    this changed everything about my future.
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    It gave me an x factor of knowing that
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    there was something I could never quite quantify
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    or even defend to you that was present in my life
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    and backstopping my life.
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    And as I've looked at peers who've
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    never understood this truth of being created
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    in the image of God, being a reflection of God,
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    God caring about us, God pouring into us.
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    When I take a look at how my life
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    is contrasted to theirs, so frequently
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    they're caught up in endless pursuit of either
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    trying to find purpose, what their point is,
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    or trying to find meaning in things and materialism
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    and just getting caught up in the flavor of the day
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    as opposed to the blessing of going,
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    "I don't know exactly what my life holds in the future,
  • 00:21:32
    but one thing I know, God holds my life
  • 00:21:35
    because I'm important to him and he is good."
  • 00:21:39
    God in contrast to everything else in his creation,
  • 00:21:43
    He creates mankind in his own image
  • 00:21:46
    and he puts his own breath inside of their lungs,
  • 00:21:49
    our lungs.
  • 00:21:50
    Mankind is created according to Latin,
  • 00:21:52
    the phrase is Imago Day, which means literally
  • 00:21:56
    we are made to be an idol.
  • 00:21:58
    Now I know it sounds really weird,
  • 00:22:01
    especially when there's a part in the Bible
  • 00:22:03
    that says we're not supposed to have any idols,
  • 00:22:05
    but we're a representation of God's will, of his heart,
  • 00:22:09
    of his character and of his power in this world.
  • 00:22:11
    We are the presence of God physically in this world.
  • 00:22:15
    This is why maybe God told his people
  • 00:22:17
    not to make idols of him because he'd already done it.
  • 00:22:21
    He created us as mankind, an image, a reflection of him.
  • 00:22:27
    When we know her origin story,
  • 00:22:28
    it's going to help us ask the right questions
  • 00:22:30
    about our existence, like: how, why, when.
  • 00:22:35
    All these things become less important
  • 00:22:38
    and questions instead, like: What do I do?
  • 00:22:40
    Who do I worship?
  • 00:22:42
    These things come to the forefront.
  • 00:22:45
    We have creative capacities in common with God
  • 00:22:48
    that nothing else has.
  • 00:22:49
    God feels about us the way he doesn't feel
  • 00:22:52
    about any other creative thing.
  • 00:22:54
    I love my dog, Peanut. You would too.
  • 00:22:56
    Everybody who meets Peanut, loves Peanut.
  • 00:22:57
    She's fantastic. I love Peanut.
  • 00:23:00
    And I like my friend cat, my cat Frank.
  • 00:23:04
    I like him. I like him.
  • 00:23:07
    As cool as those creatures are,
  • 00:23:10
    they're not loved by God the way God loves you.
  • 00:23:14
    And as powerful as they may be in their own right,
  • 00:23:16
    they're not powerful the way you and I are.
  • 00:23:21
    They don't create anything.
  • 00:23:22
    We, as humans, we can create because God creates
  • 00:23:26
    and we're made in his image.
  • 00:23:29
    If God created you, then words uniquely apply to you,
  • 00:23:31
    like justice.
  • 00:23:33
    There's no justice in the animal kingdom.
  • 00:23:35
    Purpose. Frank isn't trying to figure out
  • 00:23:37
    purpose for his life.
  • 00:23:38
    Service to others, kindness, and creativity.
  • 00:23:43
    These aren't just abstract terms.
  • 00:23:45
    We're the only ones who fully represent them.
  • 00:23:47
    We're the only ones who fully create.
  • 00:23:49
    You might say, "Well, you know, a beaver creates a dam."
  • 00:23:52
    Okay, they do.
  • 00:23:53
    But beaver beavers don't jump into
  • 00:23:56
    a whole different quadrant and say,
  • 00:23:57
    "Now let's work on the microprocessor."
  • 00:24:00
    It's human beings that can figure out how to fly
  • 00:24:03
    when we haven't been created to fly
  • 00:24:05
    because we have creative capacities of God.
  • 00:24:07
    You have creative capacities.
  • 00:24:09
    You have potency in who you are
  • 00:24:12
    simply because God is good
  • 00:24:14
    and he's chosen to create you.
  • 00:24:16
    If this kind of invigorates you, you've got to know
  • 00:24:19
    these are the kind of truths that are
  • 00:24:22
    set against our world that is increasingly nihilistic
  • 00:24:27
    and is increasingly cynical and pessimistic.
  • 00:24:30
    These kind of truths that are all throughout this book.
  • 00:24:33
    This is why we're in 2022 doing the Bible Challenge.
  • 00:24:37
    And I want you to just enter the Bible Challenge
  • 00:24:40
    with me, get into a Bible, get into the Crossroads App
  • 00:24:43
    and read with me and a bunch of others a chapter a day.
  • 00:24:48
    And maybe you want to journal your thoughts in it.
  • 00:24:50
    And maybe you'll learn from others
  • 00:24:52
    or learn from reading the Bible yourself,
  • 00:24:53
    what God thinks of you
  • 00:24:55
    and what God might want you to do today,
  • 00:24:58
    not just with your life, today.
  • 00:25:05
    - Do you know where you're going?
  • 00:25:08
    To get different results in life,
  • 00:25:10
    you're going to have to do some different things.
  • 00:25:13
    And if you're up for an adventure this year,
  • 00:25:16
    do the Bible Challenge with me.
  • 00:25:18
    Read every day, get inspired,
  • 00:25:21
    and see what others are saying.
  • 00:25:24
    I believe the Bible is more than a book
  • 00:25:27
    that's meant to sit on a shelf and just collect dust.
  • 00:25:30
    It's meant to take you somewhere in life.
  • 00:25:33
    What about you? Where are you going?
  • 00:25:36
    Download the Crossroads App
  • 00:25:38
    and do the Bible Challenge today.
  • 00:25:46
    - Hey, you know that Bible Challenge
  • 00:25:48
    that Brian mentioned, you can actually do it
  • 00:25:50
    in the palm of your hand.
  • 00:25:52
    It all happens in the Crossroads App right here.
  • 00:25:55
    You read and you journal and then you've done it.
  • 00:25:59
    That's pretty simple.
  • 00:26:00
    And you can join Kyle and I there.
  • 00:26:01
    - Yeah. - We both journal in the app
  • 00:26:03
    and you can see what we're up to.
  • 00:26:04
    - We'd love you to join us.
  • 00:26:05
    And we've also got this for you.
  • 00:26:07
    This is kind of a guidebook on Genesis.
  • 00:26:09
    It turns out that there's some helpful context
  • 00:26:12
    and history even beyond what you find in these episodes
  • 00:26:14
    that you're going to want as you engage
  • 00:26:16
    in the Book of Genesis.
  • 00:26:18
    So you can get this for complete free,
  • 00:26:19
    we'll mail it to your house
  • 00:26:20
    by going to Crossroads.net/BibleChallenge.
  • 00:26:23
    - We'll see you next time on Crossroads.
  • 00:26:26
    You know, people ask you when you're young, like,
  • 00:26:29
    what you want to be when you grow up.
  • 00:26:31
    And I think more than anything, I knew that I wanted
  • 00:26:34
    to be liked and loved and accepted.
  • 00:26:39
    And so as someone who's always sought
  • 00:26:41
    and strived for acceptance,
  • 00:26:43
    God use this wild creation story
  • 00:26:47
    to show me something different.
  • 00:26:49
    And I want to share it with you.

Process, journal or discuss the themes of this article - here's a few questions to get the ball rolling...

Welcome to the Weekend-Follow Up This is the group part of the Bible Challenge, so your questions are based on specific Bible passages from the weekend message. Each week, your group will discover what God might be saying to you, and how you can respond through a group discussion.

  1. What origin story (from a movie, TV, or book) do you identify with the most? What about it do you connect with?

  2. What stood out to you most from the message?

  3. What gives you the most meaning and purpose when you get up each morning?

  4. Read Genesis 1:26-27. What emotions come to mind when you think about being created in God’s image? Is it intimidating, honoring, too hard to believe, or make you more curious? Share anything that comes to mind.

  5. Brainstorm characteristics, qualities and skills you think you have that reflect God’s image (i.e. you like to create, bring things from chaos to order, show love when it’s hard, etc.) Then share where you see those traits most on display in your life, or where you’d like to see them more.

  6. What’s one thing you could do this week to live more fully how God created you?

  7. After each person shares, bless them in their identity as an image-bearer. Pray something like, “God, thank you for making (person’s name) to be (something they shared). May they walk more confidently and completely in who you made them to be this week.”

More from the Weekend

Bonus Questions Check these out if you’re on a roll and want to go a little deeper!

  • What’s the biggest thing holding you back from living as an image bearer of God?

  • Read Psalm 8:3-8. What does this say about God? What does it say about me and my relationship with God?

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(This stuff helps us figure out how many fruitcakes to make come December)

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Feb 21, 2022 26 mins 56 sec

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