Fundamental Belief

An old booklet that actually goes back before we had Corporate Worldwide Church of God. It would go back in the days of Radio Church of God, and it was simply titled, Why Were You Born? I want to speak on a fundamental belief with you today that is related to that. You, of course, by now have a handout, and so I have probably lost you for now because you're reading the handout. But in a little bit, we will read the belief statement and the last sentence of the belief statement I want to focus on with you with respect to why human beings exist, what God is doing.

Now, as most of you are aware, I do or I'm a part of the rotation for answering the personal correspondence questions that are sent in by email to the home office. Sadly, it is quite common we receive questions where a person is wanting to make more of a statement than ask a question.

It's been probably a month ago that I received one that was from a person who was questioning the existence of God, Jesus, questioning the purposeful religion altogether. And the person stated that religion is just made up anyhow, that it is a ploy of the educated, the elite, he called them, to control the masses. And then he wrote, to make his statement, we are the blind searching the wilderness for some sustenance of divinity. He went on and explained that we now have science that gives us all the answers. You don't agree with that either, do you? We have science, therefore we no longer need to search for religion, for answers.

But in his statement, he said, religion is dying people in all for the better. Religion has done nothing but brought harm to millions, death and destruction in the names of Christ, Allah, and whomever else we wanted to create. Jesus never even existed. Oh, the shame of it all.

Well, sadly, he has no idea why we're here. I want to read just a little bit of the answer I sent back a page and a half, but I did challenge him because he questions and he's pretty certain there is no God. And his statement reminded me of that often quoted statement of Karl Marx about religion. He said, religion is the opium of the people, or as it's translated in the German, sometimes you'll see it. Religion is the opiate of the people. That just appeases them and controls the masses. So I said it is good to consider the teachings of man's premier atheists, but should we not give God equal time? I went on and said the Bible opens abruptly by stating that God created the heavens and the earth. Have you ever tried to prove whether there is divine design behind what we experience in the world around us? It is healthy to get away from the man-made cities that humans have created and consider the intricate architecture of the natural world. How can anyone stand and listen to the crashing waves of the surf at Big Sur, California, and deep down in their heart of hearts say, all of this just happened? How could a person stand at the summit of Mount Whitney, California, and look to the west across the John Muir Wilderness area and imagine that all of this just came into existence on its own? I went on and mentioned hiking the Appalachian Trail and the times when you'll follow a trail that meanders through forests of pine, oak, fir, hemlock, and mountain laurel. Gardens planted by no human are filled with Catabarona dendron, wild blueberries, ferns, and flame azalea. I mentioned the example if you don't have the opportunity to get out and look at the natural world. You can look at a rosebud and you can watch how it opens up and smell the fragrance if you have an old-time rose before man improved them, and that the fragrance is something that no human being can duplicate. Try as we may.

The later I wrote, the existence of order and harmony in nature speaks of design by a mind beyond man's comprehension. To seriously think that the intricacies of the world around us just spontaneously appeared is beyond my ability to believe. It takes tremendous faith. It takes a tremendous amount of blind faith to be an atheist, but I prefer to objectively and fairly look at what is.

I mentioned the scripture in Hebrews 11.1 about faith being the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen, and said that I wrote that belief in God involves faith. But this is not a blind faith since there is ample evidence that can be examined. Creation is proof of a Creator. And the process of disintegration demonstrated by radioactivity shows that there has been no past eternity of matter. There has to be a point of beginning for the universe, and this requires a Creator. The existence of laws by which the universe is governed demands a lawgiver, and the existence of life requires a life giver, and I won't go any further than that. We have a fundamental belief statement. You are familiar with our booklet, Fundamental Beliefs of the United Church of God. That was something that years ago we pastors were encouraged from time to time to cover these topics. We need to always go back, check the foundation, go back to the basics, because it's only a matter of time if somebody will come along trying to sell us a bill of goods and get us away from the trunk of the tree. And so I have highlighted in orange and yellow different topics that we've covered, and other men have covered other related topics. And the 16th one, as 20 are listed, the 16th one is God's purpose for mankind. And there is a purpose for humanity. Not long ago we passed another anniversary of the events of Pearl Harbor. Sadly, as time goes on, humans stop to remember it a little less all the time. It's kind of like this week we passed the 70th anniversary of the Russian forces liberating those who were at Auschwitz. But it's been a long time, but it's something we have to remember. Sir Winston Churchill came to this country in late December 1941. Our country had just entered the war that Britain, France, and others had been embroiled in for some time.

And he spoke to the combined Congress, and he spoke of all the missed chances we had had for 20 years, since the end of what he called the Great War, World War I, that we did not enforce the terms of disarmament that the armistice had called for. And now we're facing an in-brough and war once again. Toward the end of the speech, Churchill made that famous statement. He said, he must indeed have a blind soul who cannot see that some great purpose and design is being worked out here below, of which we have the honor to be the faithful servants. But then he said, it is not given to us to peer into the mysteries of the future. As much as I agree with his first statement that there is a purpose and a design, I think what he could see was limited. But the people of God, those of us who've been given the eyes with which to see can peer into the mysteries of what God has in store for us in the future. Fundamental Belief Statement. Let's read the opening paragraph that is in bold.

We believe God's purpose for mankind is to prepare those whom he calls, and those who elect through a life of overcoming sin, developing righteous character and growing in grace and knowledge, to possess God's kingdom and become kings and priests reigning with Christ at his return.

We believe that the reason for mankind's existence is literally to be born as spirit beings into the family of God. I won't read the verses that are mentioned there, and then the rest is an explanation, and you can have that to look at at another time, or in case the sermon gets boring, you can read it. You're already reading it. Okay, good. We cannot address the entire scope of that belief statement, but I want to focus on the latter part that speaks of the reason for mankind's existence is literally to be born as spirit families into the family of God. Let's turn to Genesis chapter 1.

Most times when I turn to Genesis 1, back in my mind there is this memory of something that took place when I was a teenager. We had the Apollo program going on. We had a series of capsules that were sent up. The Apollo missions carried three men in the capsule. The lunar landing module was not quite ready, but with Apollo 8 the decision was made that we will send it and it will circle the moon. I don't remember how many times, but it circled the moon.

And it was on December 24, 1968, Christmas Eve, which meant a lot to a lot of people on earth, not for those of us who don't observe that because it has nothing to do with the birth of Jesus Christ, not even close to the right day. But as they came around, you see, as they circled, there was about 45 minutes if they were just on their own. No contact with the earth. And as they came around, you had the three men who took turns reading Genesis 1 verses 1 through 10. You first of all had lunar module pilot William Anders, who read verses 1 through 4. They had decided, they wanted, what do we tell the world that we'll be listening to find out did we make it in circling around? So he read the first four verses, and then the lunar module pilot James Lovell read verses 5 through 8. And then Commander Frank Borman read verses 9 and 10. And verse 10 ends by saying that God saw that it was good.

And he ended their address by stating, God bless all of you, all of you on the good earth.

Now, it didn't take long for Madeline Muriel Haer to file a suit. And that suit went on and on. But thankfully, some of the astronauts had a devout belief in God, and they ignored, and they went ahead and read scriptures anyhow. But as we go through Genesis 1, and they would have read that part about, let there be light. And that was the first day. And they read about the second day. And then they began reading part of events of the third day. But notice in verse 11, let the earth bring forth grass, the herb that yields seed, and the fruit tree that yields fruit according to its kind. Let's back up.

Grass, herbs, trees, according to its kind, whose seed is in itself on the earth, and it was so.

Well, the next verse reiterates in the middle part, whose seed is in itself according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. That's the third day.

We have events on the fourth day. We get to the fifth day, verse 20. Then God said, Let the waters abound with an abundance of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the face of the firmament of the heavens. And God created great seed creatures and every living thing that moves with which the waters abounded. So we're largely dealing with life in the waters. And then it goes on to life in the birds, those that fly in the air, every winged bird according to its kind. I skipped the part above after those animals of the water, according to their kind. Then the winged bird according to its kind.

And God saw that it was good. Then we get to day six with verse 24. And we have God saying, Let the earth bring forth the living creature according to its kind. You see, there's a number of places where you have that phrase, according to its kind, or the old king James after its kind, over and over and over. There is a variety of species, plant and animal, flora and fauna, and they reproduce within their own species. Well, living creatures, cattle, creeping things, beasts of all the earth, each according to its kind, and it was so.

But you see, God wasn't through on day six. Because as we follow this through, we realize all the plant life, all the animal life, all that's fine and good, and all things bright and beautiful, and all that. But there was no one yet after the God kind. And so in verse 26, then God said, let us make man in our image, after our likeness.

Let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle. So everything that had been created up to this point, man was to have ruled dominion over the life of the planet, over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth. So God created man in his own image, in the image of God. He created him male and female. He created them. And man was told, be fruitful and multiply. And that's one command that man has somehow gotten right, because there's seven billion of us critters walking around this earth right now.

But I think it's as far as we need to read right there. Let us make man in our image, according to our likeness. That speaks of this fundamental belief statement, God's purpose for mankind. That man is after the God-kind.

A human being is formed and fashioned according to God and the God-kind. And human beings are distinctly different than the animal world around us. Surely the woods around us are filled with life. And you have plants. There are some that we call squirrels, and they go look for nuts, and they hide their stash. And they build their nest, and the time comes when they know what they're doing. It's wired.

It's programmed within them. It's instinct. There's a genetic code that was preordained and put into them. And before I turned off 278, there's a place where beavers have worked. And beavers do what beavers are designed and programmed to do. But there's something different about human beings. There's a brain, yes. Other animals have larger brains, but there's a non-physical spiritual element. Various places the Bible refers to as the spirit in man. And that spiritual element combined with the human brain allows for the mind of power, and to discover, and to quest, and to search, and to deal with the great questions of life.

Image and likeness speak of the potential a human being has of becoming the eternal spiritual sons and daughters of God. Well, a year and a half after Apollo 8's mission, in July of 1969, we got to Apollo 11, and that's the big one. That's the one where the lunar lander detached from the mothership and actually landed.

It missed the news for the most part, but the first order of the day, you had Neil Armstrong, but you had Buzz Aldrin. And Buzz Aldrin had taken with him in little packages. I don't know if it was grape juice or wine, and a little bit of bread.

And as they landed, he read some scriptures from John 13 that we read on the Passover night, the foot washing, and all the related instruction Christ gave that night. And Buzz Aldrin took communion, as he understood it, from the surface of the moon. Then Armstrong went down the rungs of the ladder. We can see it. We've seen it replayed, or maybe many of us saw it live, and took that giant leap for mankind. But while they were there, Buzz Aldrin also read scripture. And so let's turn to Psalm 8.

Psalm number 8. A psalm of David.

He's psalm that looks up at the universe and asks, Why? Why? What is man that you are mindful of him?

Psalm 8 verse 3.

When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars which you have ordained, what is man that you are mindful of him? And the son of man that you visit him?

You have made him a little lower than the angels. You have crowned him with honor, excuse me, glory and honor. You have made him to have dominion over the works of your hands. You have bid all things under his feet, all sheep and oxen, even the beasts of the field, the birds of the air, the fish of the sea, and pass through the paths of the seas. O Lord, our Lord, how excellent is your name in all the earth! Psalm 8 verse 3. A psalm of David says, you remember the story how Samuel was sent to the household of Jesse.

A bit earlier, 1 Samuel told the story of how Saul, by his disobedience, had disqualified himself. And God said, you know, I would have established your family, your kingdom forever. But now I've rejected you, and I'm going to go find a man who has a heart after mine, who will do my will. So, Samuel came that day to the household of Jesse, and you remember the story from Eliab to Abinadab to Shammah to the next four. And he wants to know, is there anybody else? Because God turned down each one of those. And Jesse told him, well, there's the lad out there keeping the sheep. David spent, who knows how many times, how many nights? That was in kind of a semi-arid region. And maybe a lot of times he just stayed with the flock and laid down at night and looked up at the stars, looked up and wandered and pondered and dreamed. And no wonder he turned into a philosopher and said, what is man that you're mindful of him? He did that. You and I do that. And walked out this morning early and looked toward the west. And yep, no, that was last night. Last night, just this month, just after sunset, you could look to the, I'm turned around in here, look to the west and you can see a bright light. Don't even see any stars yet, but that was Venus. It'll be passing soon. Walked out early this morning, looked around as the clouds were starting to get a rosy glow to the east. And you know, it just reminds us how small we are, how puny, how tiny, how insignificant we are. Let's turn to Ephesians chapter 3. Ephesians chapter 3. We know that the Bible tells us that the secret things belong to God. There is a mystery, a mystery of God, a mystery about God, that most people have no clue. Jesus spoke in parables. He told the disciples that, you know, to you it is given. And we're the modern-day disciples. The scales have been removed. Our eyes have been anointed with the salve that opens them. Ephesians 3 verse 8. Paul writing, this is one of his prison epistles, to me who am less than the least of all the saints this grace was given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ. And to make all see what is the fellowship of the mystery. So there is that mystery that has been communicated to us, which from the beginning of the ages has been hidden in God, who created all things through Jesus Christ. To the intent that now the manifold wisdom of God might be made known by the church to the principalities and powers in the heavenly places, according to the eternal purpose which he accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord, in whom we have boldness and access with confidence through faith in Him. Therefore, I ask that you do not lose heart at my tribulations for you, which is your glory.

There is an eternal purpose that God has. We read of a physical creation back in Genesis 1, but Jesus Christ came and through what He went through and through His death and then resurrection, the spiritual creation was commenced. Long ago, God made a statement to David that Paul expanded upon. It's right at the end of 2 Corinthians 6, where He says, I'll be your father. I'll be a father unto you, and you'll be my sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty.

And that's what the purpose of mankind is, to be the eternal spiritual sons and daughters of God. Sharing in the business of whatever it is God does, and God does a lot of things.

Isaiah 64. Let's go back there. This is a chapter that talks about the potter and the clay. Isaiah 64. And we'll read portions of verses 1 through 8. Isaiah 64 verse 1 now. O that you would ram the heavens, that you would come down, that the mountains might shake at your presence, as fire burns brush wood, as fire causes water to boil, to make your name known to your adversaries, that the nations may tremble at your presence. You and I live at a time where we could cry out the same prayer of Isaiah, because we live in the midst of a world of nations that have no fear of God's Word, have no fear of God's law. Verse 3, When you did awesome things for which we did not look, you came down the mountains shook at your presence. For since the beginning of the world, men have not heard nor perceived by the ear. And yes, this passage is quoted by Paul in 1 Corinthians. Nor has the eye seen any God beside you who acts for the one who waits for him. Well, let us be among those who wait on God. You meet him who rejoices and does righteousness, who remembers you in your ways. You are indeed angry, for we have all sinned.

In these ways we continue, and we need to be saved. We're like an unclean thing. All our righteousnesses are like filthy rags. We fade like a leaf, and our iniquities like the wind have taken us away. There's no one who calls on your name, who stirs himself up to take hold of you, for you have hidden your face from us and have consumed us because of your iniquities. But now, O Lord, you are our Father. We the clay and you are potter, for we all we are the work of your hand. For 6,000 years, the vast majority of human beings have lived and died and had no knowledge of what their purpose was, why they were here. They lived and died without even being aware of the name of Jesus Christ, which Acts 4 tells us is the only name under heaven and earth by which men can be saved. The earth today, so few. You have, what, 1.6 billion people over in China and a little bit of impact of modern Christianity, but very little and across Soviet Russia, little pockets, but most have no knowledge of Bible, God, Church, Christ, anything like that. Let's go to 2 Peter 3 and we'll read verse 9. 2 Peter 3 and in verse 9, The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some count slackness, but is long suffering toward us, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.

Let's also notice 1 Timothy 4. I'm sorry, dyslexia is kicking in here today.

1 Timothy 2 verse 4. 1 Timothy 2 verse 4. The previous verse speaks of God. 2 Timothy 3 and in verse 4, we read, again, God, who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.

That is God's desire, that everyone who is in his image and likeness would be able to be saved, would come to a knowledge of the truth, and would ultimately enter his eternal family.

But, of course, he's in the character business, and that involves making choices.

He has given all of us the power of choice. We make choices every day.

With some, as Jesus said, many are called, but few are chosen.

And he also said, No man can come to me, except the Father in heaven draws him.

But there is a time of receiving, as it were, that invitation to the family of God, just like you might in the mail receive an invitation to a formal event.

But you have to open that, and the calling of God is like an invitation to eternal life. We have to open that envelope. We have to see what it says, and we have to begin taking steps. We begin, perhaps, first of all, pouring over the Holy Scriptures to see if what we're told is right.

And as God opens our minds, we see more. It's a process. It's an ongoing process. We continue, 30, 40 years later, to see things that have been there in black and white all along, but we couldn't see until that point. We may reach a point then when we start wanting to speak to God, to cry out to God. He speaks to us through His word. We speak to Him via prayer. And we begin developing a relationship, and it's one step at a time. Sometimes it's what we can call baby steps. Sometimes we fall down. We have to get back up and step in the right direction once again. Sometimes we take steps the wrong way, and we have to come back and make up for that lost ground. But in God's due time, we come to the point where we're chosen and placed in the very body of Jesus Christ. We begin, and we continue, in a lifetime of repentance, because repentance is not a one-time event. There's a point where there's a beginning, but it's an ongoing process for the rest of life. And we begin walking by faith. We're baptized. We're given God's Spirit. The sins of a lifetime are forgiven. We live the Spirit-led life. Life, as we once knew it, is never quite the same again. And even facing the greatest trials, there is an indescribable joy, because we see where God's plan is going as it unfolds for us.

Let's go to 1 Corinthians 15, commonly called the resurrection chapter, because of the topic of the bulk of the chapter. 1 Corinthians 15.

Actually, the topic begins in verse 12, where Paul was addressing the fact that some there were teaching in Corinth that there is no resurrection. And he made a most eloquent appeal that if there's no resurrection, Christ isn't risen. If He isn't risen, then essentially, what are we wasting our time doing here? But the reality is He is risen, and it makes all the difference in the world. Down to verse 20, but now Christ is risen from the dead and has become the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep. And falling asleep is that beautiful biblical metaphor for death.

You laid down last night. I laid down last night. We slept. Some would have slept longer than others. Maybe you were up and down, and maybe, though, you laid down. The other night, I woke up and realized I didn't even wake up for eight hours. I haven't done that in a long time, usually six, seven hours, and you know, got to get up and get moving. Eight hours, it was wonderful. Didn't know a thing. But that's the point about the metaphor. When you're dead, Ecclesiastes is very clear, the dead know nothing. Psalm 146, put not your trust in princes, etc. In the next verse, there is no memory of them. There's no thought processes in death. It's like we are asleep, and then God wakes us up later on. Well, continuing here. Verse 21, For since by man came death by man, also came the resurrection of the dead. For as an Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made a life. But each one in his own order. There's a step by step. There are increments in the plan of God. Christ was the very first to come and live a flesh and blood existence and overcome Satan in the poles of the flesh and resist sin. And he is now back at the right hand of his father until his father sends him back here to reign.

Afterward, those who are Christ's at his coming, and there are plenty of scriptures. Later in this chapter, and then 1 Thessalonians 3 talks about the last trumpet, the shout of the archangel, the dead in Christ will rise. Later in this chapter, it says, Paul thought he would live till that point. He says, we shall be changed. So there is that time when Christ returns when the dead in Christ and those saints living at that time will be born of spirit. And that's all the way back, I suppose, Abel would be the first one written into the Book of Life. From Abel all the way forward. Now, then comes the end. Now, we could tie in more information from Revelation 20. Revelation 20 talks about the saints living and reigning with Christ for a thousand years, but then it says, the rest of the dead live not till after the thousand years. And then later in Revelation 20, you've got the sea, you've got the graves, giving up the dead who were in them, and they stand there before God, the books are open, and hopefully names are written into the other book, the Book of Life. Each in his own order.

Okay, then comes the end. We read that. When he delivers the kingdom to God the Father, when he puts an end to all rule and all authority and power, for he must reign till he has put all enemies under his feet, the last enemy that will be destroyed is death. And toward the end of Revelation 20, it addresses that as well, that there comes a time when Hades, the grave, and death itself are thrown into the lake of fire because we reach a point as God's plan goes to fruition where everyone has either been born of spirit into the family of God or it does talk about being destroyed in a lake of fire. So we reach a point when Revelation 21 says no more sorrow, no tears, no dying, no death, the former things are passed away. Daniel 12. Daniel 12, right on the heels of this beautiful chapter of prophecy, the sermon that it referred to there at the end of it. Daniel 12.

Verse 1. At that time, Michael. Michael is one of the great powerful angels of God. Jude called him Michael the archangel. Shall stand up the great prince who stands watch over the sons of your people. And therefore we thought probably Michael has the primary charge of watching over the descendants of Israel and the church, spiritual Israel. There should be a time of trouble such as never was since there was a nation even to that time. And at that time your people shall be delivered. Everyone who is found written in the book, many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake some to everlasting life. And we pray the vast majority we pray to everlasting life. Some to shame and everlasting contempt because it's just the reality of the power of Satan the devil and the influence that he has in some lives that they will reach a point that they will reject God and have nothing to do with him. And they'll be destroyed. Verse 3, Those who are wise shall shine like the brightness of the firmament, and those who turn many to righteousness like the stars forever and ever. 1 John 3 1 John 3 And notice verses 1 and 2. 1 John 3 1 And behold, what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us that we should be called children of God. Therefore the world does not know us because it did not know Him. Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not yet been revealed what shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. And not John there too, speaking to the fact that from the very creation, man and woman, men and women, mankind, were created in the image and likeness of God. The time comes, we see Him as He is. For now, if He would appear in His glory, we wouldn't survive.

Ecclesiastes 3 Ecclesiastes 3. This is a chapter that says there's a time for everything. But a little bit later, Ecclesiastes 3, and let's just read verse 11.

Speaking of God, He has made everything beautiful in His time. Also, He has put eternity in their hearts, except that no one can find out the work that God does from beginning to end. But that phrase, He has put eternity in their hearts. Man makes choices. Man plans. Man dreams. Man quests. Man designs. Man creates. It is a marvelous world in many regards. Technology is leaving me behind. It is just phenomenal. You buy some new trinket, and in maybe days, it's obsolete or it's out of date. Hopefully it'll work for a while. But I'm one of those that every so often I have to change computers because they say, well, that processor you have, we aren't supporting that any longer. And I bet I'm not the only one in this crowd. So, anyhow, Mr. Stephen, we are going to need the projector in just a minute. Let's think back to Apollo 11. July 20, 1969. That week, Time Magazine came out, the July 25, 1969 edition. There was a lengthy article. Of course, so much of the magazine revolved around the men standing on the moon, walking on the moon and heading back. Let me read just a little bit, maybe two or three paragraphs from the conclusion of that article.

It says, that groping foot encased in a multi-layered boot would remain indelible in the minds of millions who watched it on TV. An assemble of man's determination to step and forever keep stepping toward the unknown. Armstrong and Aldrin stepped down from the ungainly-looking eagle in end of history. It was a moment that would surely survive long after the criticism that has accompanied every step of the space program is forgotten, understandable as that criticism may be in view of the pressing problems back on Earth. It was to a moment that symbolized man's wondrous capacity for questing, then conquering, then questing again for something just beyond his reach. But the black vastness that served as a backdrop for the two astronauts walk on the moon was a reminder of something else. Stargazer, now star reacher, man inhabits a smallish planet of an ordinary sun in a garden-variety galaxy that occupies the tiniest corner of a universe whose scope is beyond comprehension. We're going to look at about four minutes of a clip.

This is titled, The Hubble Ultra Deep Field. It's a video that was put together and narrated by a man whose name is Tony Darnell. Now, you can go to his website www.deepastronomy.com, and he has a link to this video, and there's no copyright problem with it or copyright consideration with it. He said he openly gives permission to use it far and wide. In fact, the website says please feel free to download it, show it to your friends, class, club members, etc. I'm truly honored that you felt it was good enough to share, so by all means do so.

I would say please pardon his use at one point of the euphemism, Darnell.

And also, he strongly feels that you look out at the universe, there have to be many other planets like ours that have life, and I think we understand that God's focus first is here on the earth. So, the ultra-deep field.

I hope you're able to see that well enough. I ran across that a number of years ago. I think he put it together about 06-07. I think two or three years ago it was a feast at the Philippines. I showed it at the two different feast sites, and I had never gotten around to showing it here, but it just blows my mind just to think of what he covers. That they focus, and of course, of late there have been some amazing photos you may have seen on the internet from the Hubble. I mean, it is really putting out. You had that one day there was one of the pillars of creation, and the Crab Nebula. My mind goes tilt somewhere very quickly. But there's a lot out there. There's more out there than we realize.

At any rate, let's turn to Isaiah 45. There's something very important here. You remember from Genesis 1 where it began, in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. And then it said, it became without form and void. There are two Hebrew words there, tohu and bohu.

It became that way, which certainly implies it wasn't created that way. God's the God of order and harmony and beauty. And we've had men who have stood on the moon. We have had probes that have landed on various planets. We've had probes that have gone out into the universe. In every photo I see, up close of a planet or a moon of a planet, they've seen a level of devastation beyond anything we can really imagine. It's pockmarked. If they weren't created that way, that gives us an answer as far as Lucifer's Rebellion. But let's notice here in Isaiah 45 verse 18.

Verse 18, For thus says the Lord, who created the heavens, who is God, who formed the earth and made it, who has established it, who did not create it in vain, the marginal note or empty, a waste. And that's that little Hebrew word, tohu. It says God didn't create it that way.

Who formed it to be inhabited, not just the earth, but the heavens and the earth are mentioned above, formed it to be inhabited, I am the Eternal, there is no other.

All the way back with the opening chapters of Genesis, we have the human family beginning, we have the serpent coming along, the sin that took place that set a pattern for humans for 6,000 years. As God spoke to those involved, He said to the serpent that seed, that a son, a lamb, a savior, was going to come from that woman. And God began His work of bringing many sons and daughters to glory.

Let's back up to Isaiah 9 and we'll wrap it up right back here. Isaiah 9 and let's read verses 6 and 7. Verse 6, the prophecy, For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given, and the government will be upon his shoulder, and his name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

Of the increase of his government and peace, there will be no end upon the throne of David and over his kingdom to order it and establish it with judgment and justice from that time forever, forward even forever. The zeal the Lord of hosts will perform it.

Of the increase of his government, there will be no end.

God has placed eternity in the hearts of human beings. Therefore, our fundamental belief statement reads, in part, we believe that the reason for mankind's existence is literally to be born as spirit beings into the family of God. And then in your handout, and of the last paragraph, the summary paragraph, it says, This then is the purpose for which humanity was created, to share God's divine level of existence forever as his loving, happy family, and to possess with him and rule over the entire vast, created realm. So transcendent is this destiny that we can barely even fathom it.

No wonder David, once upon a time, wrote the words, What is man, that you are mindful of him, the Son of man, that you visit him.

That is our belief statement, God's purpose for mankind.