PUZZLE PIECES - Pretend each Puzzle piece represents a different part of your life.
1) Business – where work – what you do. Occupation - Big one – Probably 50 hrs of your week is dedicated to this piece(working driving…etc)
168 hrs in a week. most will spend about 50 hrs sleeping – some more some less
{In two things 100 hrs of your 168 is GONE -
That leaves about 68hrs left to do everything else. What else ?
YOUR family – it is also a big one because our families need us to spend time with them.
social life – your friends – friends are important
Recreation – it doesn’t always fit that well. – Hard to make time for that.
YOUR TIME – TV - read the paper – even – smaller – most of us Know – In this life not much time for you time.
LIKE OUTSIDE OF A DONUT: Giant HOLE in the Middle - Why the hole
What is missing from this picture is JESUS
1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God.
3 All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being.
4 In Him was life, and the life was the Light of men.
5 The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.
WHO JESUS IS: 1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God.
1. JESUS IS ETERNAL: In the beginning was the Word
Before there was time / before the earth was created – There was The Word.
The Jewish teachers made it Personal – behind every Perfect thought there is a Perfect Thinker - That is the Logos
John identifies the Logos as Jesus – In the beginning was the Word. He is eternal
Revelation 1:8 "I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End," says the Lord, "who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty."
2. Jesus is Distinct: the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God.
He was with The Father in the Beginning
Jesus is God. “And the Word was God – God was in the Word.”
• WITH – lit means ‘face to face’ Face to face with God
Together from Eternity – Two persons – yet one:
1) Equal in essence, nature, power and substance.
2) their glory equal, their majesty equal co-eternal, and yet their Godhead one. This is a great mystery!
WHAT JESUS HAS DONE: 3 All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being.
1. JESUS IS THE CREATOR:
Creator of Time / space & everything that was made.
Creation is God’s first missionary !
Psalm 19:1-2 The heavens tell of the glory of God. The skies display his marvelous craftsmanship. Day after day they continue to speak; night after night they make him known.
Abraham Lincoln was once quoted as saying “I can see how it might be possible for a man to look down at man on the earth & be an Atheist - seeing man But I can not conceive how a man can look up into the heavens & declare there is no God!”
Earth from an outer space perspective.
The diameter of the Earth around the equator is 7,926.6 miles.
The earth’s circumference is about 25,000 miles.
It weighs an estimated 6,000 million, million, million tons.
And it just hangs there in mid air. Not held up by anything visible to
The earth is spinning 1,000 miles an hour on our axis.
And as it does, it travels through space at 19 miles per second.
66,600 miles per hour.
1,000 times faster than what most of us travel driving down the freeway – Most of you!
At 66,600 miles per hour, the earth flies between 500 & 600 million miles every year
Earth is Huge but not in comparison to the Sun
The Sun’s diameter is 866,000 miles in diameter from one side to the other side, with a circumference of 2,720,106 miles.
So big that 1,300,000 of our earths could fit inside.
But compared to Antares, a star our sun is SMALL
64 of our suns could fit inside of it.
But Antares is a relatively small star in comparison to Hercules
110 million Antares could fit inside the star Hercules.
Betelgeuse and other stars but the numbers get so big it begins to blow the mind.
But all spoken into existence by THE WORD / LOGOS – Jesus Christ – God the Son.
Colossians 1:16-17 “For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him. And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist.”
Consider for a moment: The Milky Way Galaxy that the earth finds itself in.
The Milky Way Galaxy is 15,000 light-years wide at the center and about 100,000 light-years across. That means to travel the length of this Milky Way would take you 100,000 years traveling at 186,000 mps which is the speed of light
There are an estimated 100 Billion stars in the Milky Way galaxy. And the Milky Way Galaxy is just one of an estimated 100 Billion galaxies that Jesus spoke into existence.
Paul tells us that it is all being held together by Jesus.
The Scientist call it – a Mysterious Atomic glue
The Bible calls the glue – Jesus !
Jesus is Powerful – But He is also an artist – CREATION IS BEAUTIFUL
Each new day brings forth an illustration of his artistry. Every new sunset –
WHO ARE YOU?
WHAT JESUS GIVES US: 4 In Him was life, and the life was the Light of men.
* But you know what our Lord’s greatest creation is? – It is You Mankind.
Psalm 139:14 - I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Marvelous are Your works, And that my soul knows very well.
Recent discoveries into DNA have magnified how incredible the Human body is.
DNA code functions like a language based on four chemical "letters."
Each piece of data has to be arranged in a certain order because it spells out specific instructions which the cell will follow.
In one single cell is given the blueprint for the construction and the function of the human body. That means is that every cell in your body contains a coded language that can communicate specific instructions, which that cell will understand and follow.
Every cell in your body contains 3 billion letters of information.
Yet this is only the beginning.
Each cell in our body contains the same DNA and yet some cells decide to become liver cells, others brain cells, others heart cells Why?
Because the genes are differentially turned on and off by factors outside of themselves argues John Wells author of the “Icon’s of evolution” is baffled because the genes are controlled by something OUTSIDE of the Genes
Dr. Richard Swenson speaking at focus on the family. Posed this question.
How many atoms are in a Human Breath? – "
When you take a deep breath you just inhaled 150 million air molecules.
Dr. Swenson "even though our bodies are indeed discrete units, we leak."
We leak a trillion atoms every one millionth of a second!
Every cell has about a trillion atoms, and there are anywhere from 10-100 trillion cells in the human body. And we’re making over a trillion cells every day.
The DNA of a single cell is about 5 ft long. If you take all the DNA from all the cells in your body, it would stretch about 10 billion miles.
10 billion miles of information in just the cells in your body.
The lining of your gastrointestinal tract turns over about every two days – faster if you eat Mexican food.
The lining of your skin turns over every two to four weeks, the average human being sheds 40 pounds of skin in a lifetime. I guess that’s why old couches weigh so much.
Now Because of the staggering complexity of DNA, researchers have abandoned chance theories of life's origin.
These are guys on the cutting edge of technology – they know that there is no way that slime can become a molecule and that a molecule can become a fish, fish a lizard, lizard a Monkey and a Monkey a Person.
Because there is a distinct language written there.
There is a distinct language that is written there and the language is not just distinct to the human being – but to each human being. Own distinct Genetic Code.
WHAT it implies is that Creator is alive today is He was intimately involved in the formation of every human being sitting here in this room today when they were in their mothers womb.
Paul said in Colossians you were made By Him and for Him.
God does not exist for you but you exist for Him
Why did He make you? 4 reasons. - 4 things that are Unique to People above all the created beings in all the Universe.
1. Made for Friendship with God. - We are unique creatures in God’s creation who have been given the capacity of Friendship w/ God
• God has declared I am going to allow you to get to know me. Experience life with me. / Communion
• God uses metaphors like walking & being on a journey & even marriage to describe our friendship with Him
James 2:23 And the Scripture was fulfilled which says, "Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness." And he was called the friend of God.
He was declared to be the friend of God because he embraced the promise of God thru faith. That is how we come into friendship with God.
• The rest of creation responds to God as His creation - But with Man – he has given us a choice to know Him to walk with Him to be his friend.
He has given the unique privilege of being eternal.
• Heaven and earth and all that are in them are going to be dissolved but Man alone has been given the Privilege of being eternal
2. Uniquely designed by God to have a choice to Glorify Him.
• The Stars / the Galaxies – they give glory to God by their simple existence.
The Caterpillar brings Glory to God in the way it is transformed into a Beautiful Butterfly. All of those things have been designed by God to happen naturally
Man ALONE –has been given the Choice to Glorify God or Not to Glorify God.
• Man has been made with a Natural instinct for worship – But we are given the unique ability to choose WHO OR WHAT we are going to worship!
• God doesn’t need our worship – but He Knows it is good and right for us – to forget about ourselves –
Worship = Proscuno it means to turn and to Kiss
Expression of intimacy and Love.
Love the Lord with all of our heart / soul / mind / strength
Our worship of God is to be Authentic
3. We were made for Service.
Eph 2:10 - For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.
Workmanship = Masterpiece – Poema !
• Unique Creature: Gifts / talents / drives / interest / abilities – God has given you the unique Privilege of using all of those things to SERVE HIM.
• Unique family – Family of God. THE CHURCH - Meant to function in this family - In this family we serve - together as a Church – make up the masterpiece of God (WE ARE not YOU ARE)
• Blending – of our gifts talents and abilities in order to bless / build up each other. God wants you to have a ministry in his Church
4. His Ambassadors - The fruit of our lives our Witness! Ambassadors – Represent their Country / King their Leader
• Unique opportunity of Representing him here on earth
• Unique privilege of being – His Mouth pieces
• Unique Blessing – Testifying of His Faithfulness, grace love and mercy
Not Angels / Stars / Not Animals – Us –
Fearfully and Wonderfully Made for a Unique Purpose –
1)Friend of God
2) Bring Him Glory – Worship
3) Service – Lives – serving in the Family of God
4) Ambassador – Represent him to those who are outside the family
Where are you today?
That is why you exist ?
Too busy – Pursuing – Work / Rec / Family / You time / Friendship relationships
Giant Hole – Neglected the most important relationship! JESUS
WHAT THE WORLD THINKS OF JESUS: 5 The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.
A farmer years ago was trying to teach his son the ways of life on a farm. So, he took his son out to the hen house, grabbed a chicken and said, "Son, your Mama wants a chicken for dinner, so you know what we have to do." With that he cut the chicken's head off, and the chicken began to flop around on the ground. Well, the little boy's eyes got wide with amazement, and he said, "Daddy, look at that. That there chicken is dead and don’t even know it." That is exactly the way lost people are, Eph. 2:1-3.)
It has been said that “three things make life worth living: a self fit to live with; a faith fit to live by; and a purpose fit to live for.”
Only Jesus Christ can give you all three,
John 10:10! He gives live and He gives it abundantly! The word “abundantly” means “superior, extraordinary, surpassing, uncommon”.
That is the kind of life He came to give! He gives life purpose!
I heard about a drunk that was down on all fours late one night under a street light. He was groping around the ground, feeling the cement, trying to find something. A friend walked up to him and said, "Sam, what are doing you there?" He said, "Well, I've lost my wallet.”
So this friend gets down on his hands and knees and they both start looking for this man's wallet.
Neither one can find it, and finally the friend says to his drunk buddy: "Are you sure you lost the wallet here?" "Well no. In fact, I dropped it a half a block back over there."
"Well then why are we looking here?" "Because there's no street light over there.
THE WORLD is going to look for purpose under lights that have nothing to offer and will come away empty. STUFF – PARTIES & CELEBRATIONS – HAPPY SONGS –FAMILY GET TOGETHERS WITHOUT GOD AT THE CENTER….Walk away empty handed again concerning what really matters for eternity. ARE YOU?
WHO ARE YOU? WHO IS JESUS?
