MADE IN THE IMAGE OF GOD

Genesis 1:27 ESV
So God created man in his own image,
in the image of God he created him;
male and female he created them.

Just as the heavens and
the earth weren’t the result
of just a random big bang,
Adam and Eve did not
EVOLVE
from molecules, an ameba, or an ape. amphibian,
ape, ameba, nor a duck.
Adam and Eve were
CREATED
by God.

God created man

in the image of God
he created him

male and female
he created them

In one verse God
has repeated the word
created three times.

Man and woman are not
the result of a
random act of chance;
they were the crowning
work of God’s
masterful and magnificent
creation!
This opening poetic
outpouring of Moses
reaches it’s crescendo in jubilant
praise as he meditates
and contemplates
his maker–God’s work
and God’s power
and GOD’S GLORY!

Elohim’s creative word!
Yahweh’s almighty power!
Jehovah’s supreme intelligence!
As Moses writes he exalts our
awesome God who is
worthy of all of our
worship and all of our praise
and he proclaims His
mighty deeds
and His character.
Adam and Eve were not
some random act of chance,
an experiment,
a pawn on a chessboard,
or just two of an insignificant
number of millions of humans
to come.

Adam and Eve were made to
be in relationship with their maker.
God made humanity to know Him.
God made you in his
image to glorify Him
and to enjoy Him.

You are fearfully
and wonderfully made.
He formed you in your mother’s
womb.

Do we believe that God is God?
That He created ALL THINGS?
That He is LORD OF ALL?
That He created us to
know and love Him?

Taking the Gospel to Heart
and Bringing It to Life

We really want to
take these truths to heart
and ask God to establish them
so that we will live
according to them.

God created us to know Him.
Therefore we want to know Him!
We want to live out our
relationship with Him.

Take each thought to heart
and carefully consider what
you believe. Live
according to fact not fiction.

We want to proclaim the
truth and worship the
Author of Life in all we think, feel,
say, and do.
Our words and our actions
are the outpouring of
what is on our mind and in
our heart.

Let us worship our God,
our creator, our Lord,
with all of our heart,
soul, and mind!

Close in prayer and worship
with the following Psalm.

Psalm 139:1-18
O Lord, you have searched me
and known me!
2  You know when I sit down
and when I rise up;
you discern my thoughts from afar.
3  You search out my path
and my lying down
and are acquainted
with all my ways.
4  Even before a word is
on my tongue,
behold, O Lord,
you know it altogether.
5  You hem me in,
behind and before,
and lay your hand upon me.
6 Such knowledge is too
wonderful for me;
it is high; I cannot attain it.
7 Where shall I go from your Spirit?
Or where shall I flee from
your presence?
8 If I ascend to heaven,
you are there!
If I make my bed in Sheol,
you are there!
9  If I take the wings of
the morning and dwell in
the uttermost parts of the sea,
10  even there your hand shall lead me,
and your right hand shall hold me.
11  If I say, “Surely the
darkness shall cover me,
and the light about me be night,”
12 even the darkness is
not dark to you;
the night is bright as the day,
for darkness is as light with you.
13  For you formed my inward parts;
you knitted me together
in my mother’s womb.
14  I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.
Wonderful are your works;
my soul knows it very well.
15 My frame was not hidden from you,
when I was being made in secret,
intricately woven in the
depths of the earth.
16  Your eyes saw my unformed
substance; in your book were
written, every one of them,
the days that were formed for me,
when as yet there was none of them.
17  How precious to me are
your thoughts, O God!
How vast is the sum of them!
18 If I would count them,
they are more than the sand.
I awake, and I am still with you.

In Jesus’ Name,
Amen.

 

CREATOR GOD

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

I think we need to hear this
truth yet one more time . . .
What does it mean
to really believe something?
We know that we believe
when we live it.

Do we believe that God is God?
That He created ALL THINGS?
That He is LORD OF ALL?

We really want to
take this truth to heart
and ask God to establish it
so that we will live
according to it.

What happens when
what we believe
affects our thinking
our deeds
our decisions
our words
our feelings…?

Today may not be the
day that we feel discouraged,
weak, wounded,
or overwhelmed…
but the challenge will come.
We are in a season when we
will be tested from one side
or another.

We want to reflect
the truths of the gospel with
our lips and with our lives.
If we believe that God
created the heavens
and the earth
and He is Lord of all things…
Where will we put our hope?
Where will we place our trust?

If God is God-
where will we put our focus?

We can get so down
on ourselves.
We can feel so defeated
when we lose our perspective,
when we forget God is God and
we are not.
The enemy presses in on one
point and doesn’t give up.
Like the bully next door
he taunts, he teases,
he torments…
pounding us about
our failures,
our weaknesses,
our sins,
turning all the focus
inward and downward to
SELF.
We get bogged down.
We believe the lies.
He finds another flaw,
casts doubt,
points,
accuses,
then
zooms in…
and we hear the jabs begin.
We know the truth
but it as if we can hear nothing
of truth when he
begins to whisper…
FAILURE
FAILURE
FAILURE
he pauses and whispers again…
FAILURE
FAILURE
FAILURE
he pauses again and then…
SINNER
SINNER
SINNER

We can confess and confess our sin
but as long as we have our eyes
focused on self we will remain
engulfed…

God the Father is LORD
of creation, and this truth
establishes who is in control
and Lord of ALL.
He is King over all kings,
Lord over all lords,
the Alpha,
the Omega,
the Beginning,
and the End.
Remember,
no matter how dark it gets
He is LORD of all.

Nehemiah 9:6-7
“You are the Lord,
you alone.
You have made heaven,
the heaven of heavens,
with all their host,
the earth and all that is on it,
the seas and all that is in them;
and you preserve all of them;
and the host of heaven
worships you.
You are the Lord,
the God who chose Abram
and brought him out of Ur
of the Chaldeans and gave
him the name Abraham.”

In Christ we too
have been chosen
by God to be holy
and blameless.
God is GOD
and He is worthy of all
of our praise
and all of our worship.
Let’s worship Him
by proclaiming He is creator
and Lord of all by our love,
joy, peace, patience,
kindness, goodness,
faithfulness, gentleness, and
self-control in the midst of
a world ruled by the
Prince of the Power of the Air.

Taking the Gospel to Heart
and Bringing It to Life

Take each thought to heart
and carefully consider what
you believe. Live
according to faith
not fear.

Close in prayer and worship
with the following Psalm.

Psalm 22:23-31
23 You who fear the Lord,
praise him!
All you offspring of Jacob,
glorify him,
and stand in awe of him,
all you offspring of Israel!
24 For he has not despised or
abhorred the affliction
of the afflicted,
and he has not hidden his
face from him,
but has heard,
when he cried to him.
25 From you comes my praise
in the great congregation;
my vows I will perform
before those who fear him.
26 The afflicted shall eat
and be satisfied;
those who seek him shall
praise the Lord!
May your hearts live forever!
27 All the ends of the
earth shall remember and
turn to the Lord, and all
the families of the nations
shall worship before you.

28 For kingship belongs
to the Lord,
and he rules over the nations.
29 All the prosperous of the
earth eat and worship;
before him shall bow all
who go down to the dust,
even the one who could
not keep himself alive.

30 Posterity shall serve him;
it shall be told of the Lord
to the coming generation;
31 they shall come and proclaim
his righteousness
to a people yet unborn,
that he has done it.

In Jesus’ Name,
Amen.

 

CREATOR GOD

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

If God’s Word
begins with
this clear defining
statement that
GOD created the heavens
and the earth,
it is no surprise then
that the enemy has gone
after this truth
with full force.

God is LORD
of creation,
and this truth
establishes who is
in control
and
Lord of ALL.

How vehemently then
does Satan
want to oppose this?

Vehemently!
He longs to be
lord of all and to be
in control of you.
He will use guilt, shame,
accusation, and lies,
anything to
overwhelm, confuse, and
discourage …
whatever will work
to bring you under
his control.

So don’t feel guilty or
beat yourself up when you
encounter resistance
from the enemy or
even from your flesh
as if there was something
wrong with you.
God has experienced
opposition from the very
beginning.
You may feel weak,
wounded, or worthless,
but that is exactly
what the enemy of God
wants you to focus upon.
He hates God.
He hates those who love God.
He HATES the truth!

But,
we know the truth
and the truth will set us free.

Speak the truth to your heart.
Take the gospel to heart.
God is creator
and Lord of all.
Remember that
this life we live is on
a battlefield and we will
experience great resistance.
We are not in heaven yet.

Taking the Gospel to Heart
and Bringing It to Life

Take each thought to heart
and carefully consider what
you believe.
Guard your mind from lies,
hold fast to what is true:
God created the heavens
and the earth.
He is Lord of ALL.
If you are in Christ
He is your Lord.

Close in prayer and worship
with the following Psalm.

Psalm 136:1-9
Give thanks to the Lord,
for he is good,
for his steadfast love
endures forever.
2  Give thanks to the God of gods,
for his steadfast love
endures forever.
3  Give thanks to the
Lord of lords,
for his steadfast love
endures forever;
4  to him who alone does
great wonders,
for his steadfast
love endures forever;
5  to him who by understanding
made the heavens,
for his steadfast love
endures forever;
6  to him who spread out
the earth above the waters,
for his steadfast love endures forever;
7  to him who made the great lights,
for his steadfast love endures forever;
8  the sun to rule over the day,
for his steadfast love
endures forever;
9  the moon and stars to rule
over the night,
for his steadfast love
endures forever;

In Jesus’ Name,

Amen.