Why Were You Born? Part 1

Say thank you for those who are here today. Understand that we have a young lady here, 98 years young with us. And I thought watching the other evening that Mrs. McCain was young, McCain's mother who was in the stands watching. So she's just a kid compared to you because I think she's only 96. But anyway, what a blessing and what a joy to have all of you. Come on in, glad to have you with us today. We have another guest coming with us. And I want to welcome everybody. What is an open house about? In the United Church of God, saying that we're having an open house service is kind of a misnomer, isn't it? Because really, every Sabbath our doors are open. Every Sabbath our Bibles ought be open. And every Sabbath our hearts should be open receiving the Word of God, the Spirit of Christ in us, and anybody that comes to hear the Word of God. That's what we're all about. That's why God has the ecclesia that Mr. Coel informed us about in the opening message. And we are going to be talking about today what is your destiny, not only to you, but we're going to be talking to a broader audience as this will be recorded and we'll be going on our home page later on. And others will be listening to this in the course of time, be it to months, years, or who knows when. It's a message that I never tire of giving. I've given it for over 30 years. I give it to new people. I give it to older people. I give it to people that have maybe heard it before. And I give it to people that maybe have heard it again and again and again. But all of a sudden, God's Spirit begins working on individual. And they begin to say, you know, I have been hearing this all of my life. I've heard it since I was a teenager. I've heard it since we were a young couple in this way of life. A lot like Job, who, you know, at the end of his life, said, I've heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees you. And maybe you know, in a sense, why you were born. Maybe you've heard messages on why you were born. But are you acting and are you living day by day before God above and his Christ as if you really believe it?

And that's why we're talking about it today. Not only to those that are new amongst us, but also our regular members and those that will be hearing this message.

Because why you were born and knowing the destiny that God has in store of each and every one of us can indeed change our lives. It's a phrase that is very common in our language within the Church of God. We've had booklets written about why you were born.

It's interesting when we think of why were you born that it goes right back to our birth. We go back to wherever we were born. I was born in Burwin, Illinois. If you don't know where that is, get out of map. It's a suburb of Chicago. But whether you were born in Burwin like I was, or wherever you might have been born, all birth certificates have something in common.

They will tell you who you were born to. They will tell you where you were born. They will also tell when you were born. That's why we have birthdays. But the most important item that we need to know as human beings is missing from that certificate. Do you know what that is? It's not the who. It's not the where. And it's not the when. The biggest thing that is missing is why were you born?

To be frank, most people just don't think about it. Basically, they just never sat down and pondered the question of why do I exist? Why am I who I am? How did this all begin?

And where is it all going? Basically, because as people stuck in this world of time and space, we just simply don't allot ourselves the time. But let's take the time for a moment. You join me for a moment, and we'll be those reporters, the ones that kind of stick the microphone up in somebody's face and say, you know, kind of get a gotcha moment as they're scurrying to and fro. We're at that proverbial corner of 6th and Broadway, and it could be in any downtown or Main Street, downtown on the East Coast, West Coast, or in a Main Street in the Midwest or down south. And you have your microphone, and you're doing your man-on-the-street interviews, and you go up to somebody and say, do you know why you were born? And probably most of the answers that will come back is, I don't know, or haven't recently thought about it, or you know what, I've never been asked, or I missed that program on Oprah, or I missed that series on CNN, and hopefully that'll come up, and maybe I'll learn something. Because that's basically the day you're laughing, but as you know, that's how a lot of people receive their information and education today through the mass media. Some people say, just haven't had time to think about it, and you know what, that's a good question, but I gotta go. And off they go. Now, it might be every other person that you meet on that proverbial street corner of 6th and Broadway, well, they come from a religious background, so you're with me, you still have your microphone up there, don't you? And you're asking them, do you know why you were born? And they say, yes, we do. I'm going to be an angel one day, and or I'm going to be a part of the heavenly choir, that's what my preacher tells me every Sunday.

Or, you know what, it's been explained to me that I'm going to kind of just be a blip in this vast beatific glow up above beyond the pearly gates, and forever I'll be this blip in this beatific glow, and it will be, oh, so wonderful. Others will honestly say, I don't know. Those of a religious background. But boy, when I get there, it's going to be great. But right now, I'm in a hurry. Bye-bye. Everybody seems to be in a hurry. So much in a hurry that they have not asked themselves the most basic of questions that a human being can ask. Why were you born? You know, friends, there's a reason for this, so let's open up our Bibles. Join me if you would in the Old Testament. As Mr. Coe well mentioned in the first message, in the Church of God, we use both Testaments. We look at the Bible as one revelation. It's only man that has divided it up. Join me in Daniel 12, and this is going to give us a glimpse of the world that you and I live in today. Daniel 12, and let's pick up the thought in. I said, verse 1, pardon me, let's go to Daniel 12, and we'll focus on verse 4. Notice what the prophet says here. But you, Daniel, shut up the words and seal the book until the time of the end. And then notice what it says. Many, not just a few, but many, are going to be just running to and fro. The world is just going to be speeded up.

And not only that, but with that, it says that knowledge shall increase. If that doesn't describe our day and age, friends, if this doesn't describe it, what does? But beyond the description, may I ask you a question? And while I'm sure that we appreciate the instrumentation that I'm going to share with you in a moment, it comes with some problems. But here's the question. Today, we have computers, we have internet, we have cell phones, we have blackberries. Just hang around. Next year, it'll be strawberries with wiring. We have text messaging that keeps us in the know and keeps us in touch with one another. But should we equate being busier and more information coming into our noggins and more buttons? Should this be associated with progress? This is what we have to ask ourselves. We're all on this planet, but are we living in the right world? Because so much so often can be coming our way that we just don't grapple and stop ourselves and ask ourselves, is there a purpose that's being worked out here below? I'll tell you what, friends, that takes a courageous man, that takes a dedicated woman, that takes a team that is being led by God's Spirit to come to that determination. Because so often we are just people that follow along. Everybody else is doing it, so we get on the hamster wheel with everybody else here. We've all seen a hamster cage before. We've all looked at that cute little hamster with the little puffy cheeks.

And he's right on that wheel. And you know that hamster thinks he's going someplace, or he wouldn't be on that wheel. But at the end of the time, and after that wheel going around and around, what has he done? He's gone nowhere. And that's how people are sometimes. Just like a hamster. You're saying, who? Me? Yeah, I'm talking about you. And I'm talking about me, because we have not stopped that wheel and asked ourselves the most important question. The one, the answer, that is missing on our birth certificate. Not where we were born, not when we were born, not who we were born to, but why we were born. There's a missing dimension in our existence. And that's what we want to talk about today. And it moves simply beyond, you know, kind of touching and feeling yourself and saying, I am here. You know Descartes, the famous philosopher figured that out. He said, I think, therefore I am. Go, wow! I learned that in college. That really sounds heavy, doesn't it? I think, therefore I am. If you don't think you are, just pinch yourself for a moment. I'll stop talking. Just make sure you're alive. Make sure you're well. Feel the pain a little bit. You're thinking, you are. But Descartes, what he did basically was, that's information. That is not knowledge.

That is not the missing dimension that I want to take you to today, which is one of understanding.

Join me, if you would, for a moment in Psalms 8. Long ago, nearly what? 3,000 years ago. Because this is a question that has been on thinking people's minds, those that will stop. It has been on their mind for 3,000 years. Notice what David says in the book of Psalm, Psalms 8.

And let's pick up the thought in verse 4.

And you know, you think about it for a moment. Here's David probably on the outskirts of Bethlehem.

In an agrarian, rural society. And our world is so far away from this, it robs us the opportunity. It robs us of the time to sit underneath a tree.

And to look out without anything coming into our ear, or anything up in the sky like a jet, and just being in God's creation, and asking God a question. Because of the rush in the world, of the urban life that is all around us. But David asks this, what is man that you, speaking to God, are mindful of him and the Son of Man? That you are mindful of him.

That Son of Man that you might visit him. We're going to talk about that mindfulness and the remainder of this message. And that's important for each and every one of us. Why do we want to talk about it? Why do we want to stop for a little bit during this hour to discuss this important subject? Let's understand something. Let's think about it this way. Every step that we take in our life is moving us in a certain direction, in a specific direction.

And so often people spend all of their lives climbing the ladder of success, step by step by step, all going in a certain direction, step by step by step, only to find that when they've gotten to the top, guess what? Are you with me? It's leaning on the wrong building.

Because they didn't stop and ask themselves, why was I born? Why is it that God might be mindful of man? And what is my purpose on life? Well, we're going to talk about that. We're going to talk about that gift, and we're going to go right into it. Because allow me to bring it right up front to you. God has offered each and every one of us that are listening to this message today an incredible destiny. And the destiny is so incredible and so wonderful that this and this alone is why Jesus Christ lived, why he died, and why he yet lives, that we might each receive this gift. The biblical reality, the very loud message, may I put it this way, the very loud message that comes out of the Bible that is before you is simply this, that God is establishing a family, a divine family, his own family, and wants you to be a part of it. That is why you were born. You said, why are you that, Mr. Weber? Well, stay on board because we're going to go right through Scripture because we're going to magnify that. We're going to define that in a way that maybe you have never heard before. So where do we begin to define that purpose? Why we were born? Where do we go? Where would you start? Well, God starts in the beginning, and that's why he gave us a book in the Bible called Beginnings. It's the book of Genesis. Would you join with me in the book of Genesis? I invite you to open up your Bible if you haven't yet on this day of worship.

I invite you to come with me to Genesis 1. Let's take a look at it. Now, why Genesis?

Many in this audience will know why Genesis. Some of you that are listening to this message in the future might say, Genesis? What? I haven't been back there for years and years and years.

But Genesis is where the Gospel starts. Yeah, I said Gospel. You know, most people, when the word Gospel is mentioned, they think of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, the first four books of the New Testament. But did you realize that the Apostle Paul, who followed along later on in his epistle, said that the Gospel was preached to Abraham? The Gospel was preached to Abraham.

The good news has been around since the very beginning of time. And the reason why we go back to the beginning is, well, let me put it this way. How many of you like walking into the middle of a movie? Nobody likes walking into the middle of a movie because you don't know what's going on.

And unfortunately, that's what a lot of people do sometimes, is in their Bible study and in receiving the word, they go to the middle of the story rather than going right to the foundation. Because it's all laid out there in the book of Genesis of what God's purpose was for humanity.

What he wanted to do with them. And so that's why we want to go there and take a look.

And as we take a look, and as we start in Genesis, we're going to move beyond Genesis, but let's recognize something very important. God never changes his mind or purpose of what he wants to do with you and with me. We worship a Savior who the author of the book of Hebrews says is the same yesterday, today, and forever. So let's go back to many yesterdays, even before there was a man on earth as we go to Genesis 1. And let's pick up the thought in verse 26. Then God, Genesis 1, 26, said, let us make man in our image according to our likeness and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth. They say, thank you, but I've been there, and you know what? I'm a creationist. I believe in creation. I don't believe that we're just simply the end result of two lovesick amoeba in a slimy pond that got a little jolt of photosynthesis and came alive.

So why are we going to the book of Genesis? Because there's more than maybe you've ever seen or even imagined that comes out of Genesis 1, 26. This is the first bit of information that we need to understand. Notice, if you just want to poke your eyes there in the Bible for a moment, verse 26, says, let us. Now, this is very important, and you don't need to know Hebrew and Greek to be saved by God through Jesus Christ, but I'll tell you what, it helps a little bit along the way to understand the story. And we need to understand that the word us there is very important. The word there is eloim, which means more than one, or you might want to use this phraseology if you're taking notes, it means uni-plural. Now, let's understand, let's look down there for a moment. It says, let us. Does us mean one, or does it mean at least two?

I don't know what I'm talking about.

Us just arrived. No, there's something happening here. Let's talk. Let's put it this way. There's a conversation happening here. There's a conversation that is occurring that a lot of people have over- sincere people, but they've overlooked. There's something happening here. There's a talk. It says, let us, notice what it says, make man in our image. Now, who is the us? Now, this is the next important part. Some people will say, well, God's talking to the heavenly choir.

He's talking to the angels. But the angels are not us. The angels are not a part of the Godhead.

The angels are created. They're created. They had a beginning. God has no beginning.

So, this is not just a conversation that God is having with the heavenly host.

He's having a conversation with somebody that's very important to understand.

Let's take it a step deeper. This is not angels.

We understand as we get the jargon of Genesis that cattle were made after the cattle kind, birds were made after the bird kind, even before this physical creation. The angels, spirit beings, yes, but created, yes, had been made after they were kind. So, there's something else happening here.

When we begin to understand the term Elohim, uni-plural, and understand the nature of God and what comprises God, we begin to understand that this conversation is between God and the one who in John 1 of the Gospels is revealed to as the Word. In other words, we have the one that would later on become known as the Father, and at the same time we have the one that is known as the pre-incarnate or the pre-fleshly Christ, the Word. Notice what's happening here, because something is reserved for last in the creation, profoundly unique. And it says, Let us make man in our image according to our likeness. Image and likeness. Join me now in verse 27. So, God created man in his own image, and in the image of God he created him, male and female, he created them. It's often been said that if God says something just once, we better pay attention. But you see, in a sense, a repetition for emphasis, almost like the hammer of the blacksmith going down on the anvil for reason. A thought, a revelation, is being molded and shaped for us to understand. The terms that come out of the Hebrew that we use in the English as image and or likeness come from terms, are you ready, that bring us this conveyance? Something that is cut out of and or denoting strong resemblance to God. It's also born out of another Hebrew word meaning likeness or similarity. Now, as we bring all of this together, we gain this double emphasis, because it keeps on talking about image and likeness and image and image. We gain the sense in, friends, that what we're looking at is a creation that is cut out of the same bolt of cloth as none other than the divine. And that is what God is wanting us to understand.

Now, God from the very beginning makes no illusion about what he wanted to do with humanity from the beginning. He was creating a creation that is in his image and in his likeness, not in totality. We'll talk about that later. And it was only a beginning and not an end. It was a process, but God makes no mistake by the very strong language that he reveals through his God-breeze statements that man was cut out of the same bolt for a purpose. This initial statement, and maybe you've never heard this before, and I'm glad you're here to hear it today. So you're going to hear it right now. Genesis 1, 26 through 27 is the specific purpose statement, or you might want to say the specific purpose scripture of the entirety of scripture. Everything else hangs on what is being spoken here as to the purpose of God in establishing this unique creation called humanity, made in his image and likeness. The rest of scripture will be about how he brings that glorious process about. Now, it's interesting, maybe you've never seen the scripture. That's good. That's why you come to church or you're listening to this message. Join me, if you would, now over in the Gospels, Luke 3 for a moment, Luke 3, 38. In Luke 3 and verse 38. Because this has never been lost on God. He loves to tell this story as to the relationship and the family that he is creating down here below. Sometimes you can get lost in these chronologies. You know, so-and-so had so-and-so and so-and-so knew so-and-so, and so-and-so and so-and-so, and pretty soon you think the names are so-and-so. But notice what happens here as we build up. We're into the genealogy of Marian. Let's just pick it up in verse 37. We'll leap past the...we'll leapfrog over about 100 people. The son of Methuselah, the son of Enoch, the son of Jared, the son of Mahaliel, the son of Canaan. Now it really gets neat. The son of Enosh, the son of Seth, the son of Adam. And then notice, if you would, friends, how Adam is referred to.

Adam is referred to as the son of God.

That's how God looked upon this creation, brought forth from the mud or the dirt of Eden.

As his child, as one that's made in his image. This was not an accident. From the very beginning, we understand that God wanted humanity to live not by accident, but by design, and for a purpose that is very special. Friends, I've got good news for you today. There is a purpose that is being worked out here below, and you're a part of it. And the purpose is that God, in his grace and in his love, has chosen that he wants to create a family of divine children that are going to be offered immortality to forever and ever and ever bear his name, and exist with him for that which is eternity as they move into it through immortality.

And what I just said is a lot. You'll have to sort that out. I don't have time. That's a whole other sermon, but it's awesome. Let's take it a step further here.

Back to Genesis 2, because it all starts right here in the book of Genesis.

We notice something happens. God puts everything forth into the relationship.

He offers humanity everything that he might be a success before him and be a part of his family. We notice in Genesis 2 and verse 8 that, talking about the Garden of Eden, that God planted a garden eastward in Eden. There he put the man whom he had formed, and out of the ground the Lord God made every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. The tree of life was also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil. Now, while there were many, many trees that were in that garden, these two are given definition and something that we need to understand. We pick up the thought that in verse 15, then the Lord God took the man and put him into the garden of Eden to tend it and to keep it. And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, of every tree of the garden you may freely eat, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for the day that you shall eat of it, well then you shall surely die. Now, what we notice here is very interesting, a couple things that are happening. The whole truth was there from the beginning, and to recognize that nothing was kept back from humanity that was not good for them. And it's here that God, right here in the beginning, that's why we go to Genesis, establishes the hallmark of a relationship and what that relationship will be like for man, that he wants to give us, that you and me, everything, anything that is good, that moves us towards his purpose for us. You know, it's very interesting that when you look at it, it says that we may freely eat. Freedom is the basis of our relationship with God. To know God is not about do's and don'ts. It's about freedom. Freedom from self, freedom from sin, freedom from death.

Freedom then to serve God. Freedom then to serve your brother. Freedom then to move about the environment responsibly, recognizing that it's not ours alone, but that God gave it to us for a purpose. Through these two trees, two ways of life were introduced. We might just bring it down to the common denominator and say, on one hand, we had the tree of life. And the tree of life symbolized a way of of give, of outflowing and the outgoing concern away from self. On the other hand, there was this other tree, the tree of good and evil. A tree which basically meant then that symbolizing that it was what you took to yourself, that which you could touch, that which you could taste, that which you could feel through experimentation and trial and error. But this tree of life over here was based on something else, something that Mr. Coel brought out in his first message. Thank you.

We come to God in faith that what He supplies before is represented by this tree of life is sufficient. It is all in all. We do not need to add... God's already thought it out. We don't need to add to it. Neither do we need to subtract from it. It is everything that we need in this tree of life that marriage is then moving from that which of is simply a physical similitude of God to ultimately the spiritual similarity that is of God. Not by how we look, but by how we act, and by how we respond to that which is in our way. And God supplied all of us out here, and He gave mankind a choice. He gave them an opportunity to be a family. Now, when you think about it for a moment...

...think here for a moment...

...you take this whole Garden of Eden thing, experience. What is it really all about? Is it not about much trees? What is it about the relationship? And do you think that God always wanted to do with our ancestors and the community of the people? Because you notice that we are in the heat. We go to Garden of Eden and see things about us. We are very important to our hearts.

We want to walk with us. We want to talk with us. We want to be right in the middle of the Garden of Eden. All God has ever wanted to do. That was His will, His purpose from the beginning.

With His family that He created on that sixth day, He wanted to have a relationship.

A relationship which is more than you have with your goldfish by your kitchen, where it's enclosed and you're just looking at it. This is not the relationship we're talking about. God wanted something that is intimate, that is dynamic, that is personal, that is love-based. He wanted to walk and talk with His creation. But that's what God wanted to do.

And He put within that creation something which is our greatest gift, and yet also the greatest weapon.

Isn't that what it is with instruments? They can either be a weapon or a gift, depending upon how you use them. And you know what that was? He put something else into humanity other than looking like Him. He put in choice. He put in free moral agency. Because God had already made His choice. He made us to be a part of His family. But we've got to make that choice, too. God's already made the choice. But He wanted us to make that choice to walk and to talk with Him always. But somebody came along. Let's go to Genesis 3. Notice what happens. There was somebody else in that garden other than the two trees. This serpent, representative of Satan, was more cunning than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, Has God indeed said, You shall not eat of every tree of the garden? And the woman said to the serpent, We may eat the fruit of the tree of the garden. But the first thing that this gal had going bad for her was, when's the last time you talked to a snake? You know, you know it's going to be a bad day. Nothing good is going to come from this. Right? Are you with me? Susan ran into a, my wife, ran into a rattlesnake about six days ago. Susie, did you carry on a conversation?

They can't hear that. She's nodding no. No, she didn't have that conversation on the ranch. Not my ranch, the guy next to me. To us. No, got something bad going on when you do that, but it's for a purpose. Notice what happens here. She continues talking.

But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die. Then the Lord said to the woman, then the serpent, excuse me, said to the woman, You will not surely die.

For God knows that in the day you eat of it, your eyes will be open, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil. First lie in the Bible.

And it all starts here. The serpent, Lucifer, the adversary, the opponent of God, has this conversation with our first parents, our mother, and basically says, You know, what can you do tomorrow, and you will not be drunk before. I'm going to teach you a new kind of math. Now, I know over the last decade we've heard of fuzzy math. We go back a few elections, and we're in the election year, but fuzzy math was not introduced in this decade. It was introduced back in the garden of Eden. You know that? Basically, what the serpent told Eve is simply this. One plus two equals two. One plus two equals two. Now, is that a two-singer? What was that? How many times do you have to put that in a book? No. No. One plus one equals what?

Two. What we get to is what? One plus one. You don't get to kind of make your own numerical figures You know, isn't that a lot about what life is today, even in modern day America?

Which, in our society, says, in God we trust. It's music on our 20s, but not in our hearts.

And we have all of this question for someone around us. What we go about and do our own thing.

We go with the one, and we all want the same result at the end. You know, nice family, nice wife, nice children, nice bank account, and you can fill in the rest.

But we don't want to equate it that way. We want to put in our numbers. We want to put one plus three, one plus four, one plus a hundred, and still get the two. God, from the very beginning, and throughout the Bible, says one plus one equals two. If you do this, you'll get that. For every cause, there is a result. For every cause, there is an effect. God calls them blessings and cursings. But the servant comes along and says, by the way, you will not die.

What is that about? You have an immortal soul. No matter what you do, you will not die. And by the way, at the same time, you can take this fruit that is in your grasp, and you can take it upon yourself, and you can work yourself up to being God.

And you don't have to worry about it. A lot of things are introduced right here. The first lie, the concept of the immortal soul, the concept that you are not responsible for your own actions, and the aspect of that somehow you can work yourself up into a godly state of salvation, but not get it from the other side from whence it comes, which is God the Father and Jesus Christ.

You know, and I know, that she not only bit into the fruit, but she bit into that lie, and things have been happening ever since. Now, to not leave Eve off.

So, no one take her off the path. Only she starts to talk to us. Oh, how could she do that?

Can you imagine? No, she said one plus three equals two, and she talked to the people.

But it's not all of us by what we bring into our life, or allow into our life, that we think that we can outrun the result.

And so what he did, he goes up to the 10-story building, and he gets on the 10-story building, he's going to test gravity. And so he sort of jumps, but any experiment, and he knows he's going to be a great time-tackler and have observations, so he plans to keep along the way, and we're down along the way to the 10-story-6-story. So finally, the big day comes. His experiment is ready. This is my sport, and we are here, and we are ready now to put down the possibility of a parachute on the 10-story-6-story wall. He's going down, and the monitors are there.

And how's it going? He says, so far, so good. He's not going down. He goes to the fifth floor. Well, how's it going? So far, so good. I'm a bird! He gets down to the first floor. How's it going?

Now he's near the end of the experiment. How's it going? So far, so good.

What do you think happened on the sidewalk? Anybody want to hazard? But isn't that what we do sometimes, friends, in our own lives, just like Mother Eve? As we bite into that apple, and we forget why we were born, and we want to do the same math that the serpent offered her, one plus three equals two. We want the two, but we want to put our part into it, and we partake of that.

That's what we've got to learn. What's very important to understand, friends, is that life in humanity is not self-inherent. Join me if you would in Romans 6, 23. In Romans 6, verse 23, is a profound scripture. It was not written yet, but all of its attributes were there at Eden. Romans 6, 23. And I read this to you, lest we make the mistake that Mother Eve did.

For the wages of sin is death. Wages. That's your reward. That's your check coming in every two weeks after what you have worked for. For what you have worked for, the wages of sin is death. It's not immortal life. It's not just being kind of an amorphous blip in the great immortal blob in this nebulous world that was basically introduced not out of the Bible, but from Egypt and from Greece. You will not find that terminology immortal and soul side-by-side in the Bible. But the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus, our Lord. So this is where it all began. And a thought that I'd like to share with all of you, which is very important as this, is to recognize that in seminary they will often teach you a terminology called the fall of man. It's a theological term going back to Eden. But I submit to you, and just think about it for a moment, as much as we can grasp from the account is that humanity never fell. The account basically is allowed in that humanity never climbed up on the rock of God's way of life to even take a spill.

That from the very, very beginning humanity rejected this gift. What is the gift? Relationship. What is the gift? To be family. What is the gift? To be in God's image and after his likeness.

What happened here? And it's very important for us to understand.

Do you know, do you know this?

And you will never, are you looking? You will never have a different relationship with God the Father and Jesus Christ. So you just have that person to be with God.

Now there are no, you want to say, the Bible. You are a hershey, a pro-al guy. And God does give law and he does give commandments. But if we only focus on the do's and the don'ts, and we don't understand why they are and what they are for, and who they are from, and what God is trying to do with us to give us his family, we're not going to go anywhere. That God is calling us to a relationship.

If your postcard of life only is pictured and colored with do's and don'ts, it's not going to go anywhere. You have to have the stamp of relationship. And understand that we have a Father in heaven that loves you, and wants you so much to be a part of his family that he gave his only son, that we might inherit what he wants to give us.

God had to proceed out of Eden. Later on, he called this man named Abram. What man? Sometimes it's the first person. He named Abram a man from the earth and he put the test on Abram. He said, here's what I want you to do. Genesis 12, verse 1 through 3, I've got an idea for you. Simply this. Get out of dodge.

Get out of dodge. Get out of earth. I want to take you where everybody has been collected in the river valleys of Mesopotamia. And I've got a plan for you. You're going to have to go out into the wilderness. I don't know if I can do that. Not too many people out there. I don't know if there's a McDonald's between here and Haran.

But Abram, the man of faith, did not add to God's word, did not subtract from God's word, took God at his word, and did that which Eve and Adam never got around to. That God is sufficient. That God is sufficient. And we don't need to go looking anywhere else when God has given us his revelation. Now, later on in Abram's life, he became Abraham because he had the son of promise named Isaac. But once again... God's name is David. David? David? Yeah, Lord. That son that I gave you, I'm ready to repeat to you, God. I want to respect your Christ. Your son, your son of promise, right? The rest of the God. I want you to sacrifice that one. The one that's really special to you. Again, Abraham, the man of faith, the man that did not have the fruit in his hand, was not able to get out of the vehicle he was great around, but maybe he was campground with God. He really couldn't touch, smell, or sense it, because it didn't make human sense, because God said that through this seed and through this son will come the promise. Isaac. Yeah, but you want me to kill him. You had any of those equations going around in your life recently? Things that don't make sense? Kind of want to take from that other tree? Kind of want to talk to snakes? Kind of want to talk to serpents?

Kind of want to go back to Ur of the Chaldees? Kind of want to say, God, do you really know what you're doing with me? Do you remember what you promised to me? Do you remember that I learned a long time ago why I was born, but I don't see this as a part of the equation? And God says, what's your name? You were born for a purpose. And that purpose is to have faith that I will never leave you or forsake you, and that you are for a purpose. I want you to be a part of my divine family. Later on, this man's seed would be called Israel. Have you ever thought of what Israel was called in the Bible? They're called the children of God. The children of Israel. Just right there tells you the relationship of family that God wanted to have. And Israel had so much in common with, frankly, the other characters of the Bible.

You know, where Adam and Eve were made out of the clay of Eden, Israel was taken from the mud banks, the mud, the slime, the nothingness of slavery in Egypt. And God said, I'm going to have a relationship with you. I want to walk and I want to talk in your midst. I want to be your God, but you've got to make a choice to be my people. We know what happened with that choice. We know that Israel was taken out of Egypt, but Egypt was not taken out of Israel. And they, like Mother Eve and Father Adam, ultimately rejected the ways of God. They were bound by the same slavery that Adam and Eve were. I want to ask you a question, please.

It's kind of a whole new part of the Bible. You know that Adam and Eve were bound by slavery, a slavery that bound the children of Israel, even when they were liberated at the time of evening. They were bound by the slavery of that, and they can take touch and feel. Are you bound today by simply that which you can take, touch and feel?

Or do you know why you were born for a purpose that maybe you cannot always see immediately in front of you, but that God never forgets? We know that ultimately one was sent. Join me if you would. And let's go to Matthew. Mark. Excuse me, Mark. One came to offer a return to Eden.

And that's Jesus Christ. Mark 1.

And Jesus came with a proclamation.

You know, a lot of people think that Jesus came to do away with His Father's law. But notice what Jesus says here. Now, after John was put in prison, Jesus came to Galilee preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God, saying, the time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand.

Repent and believe in the gospel.

Right here, to repent means that He was validating His Father's law, and He talks about this kingdom of God. And He talks about the need to believe in it, to understand it, to believe the good news that God revealed initially at Eden of a family relationship, based on one foundation of faith, that God is sufficient and that we don't need to add to Him. But now, through Jesus Christ, it was being expanded, enhanced, especially after man's rejection, be it Adam and Eve, be it Israel of old, or be it people today. And that Jesus came as a tree of life, rooted in surrendered obedience to His Father's will, that He might set an example for each and every one of us.

When you look at this, it says, repent and believe. The belief there is simply this, believe that a new world order is coming and get a mind that fits it. He talks about the kingdom of God. That's very important to appreciate and understand for a moment. What is Jesus saying here? Today, there are people that believe in Jesus Christ. But do we believe in what He said to do? And do we believe in what He said is coming, His kingdom on earth?

That's something a lot of people have never thought about. Even good people that go to Sunday school every Sunday of their life, they learn to be attitudes. One of those be attitudes that kind of just stick out there in my mind is, Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit what? The clouds. Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit what?

A harp. Is that what it says? No. You go to Matthew, it says, Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. See, there is a kingdom of heaven today, but that kingdom of heaven is coming back down to this earth in glory through Jesus Christ. Now, you know, people have made fun about it, and you know a lot of people make fun with God and His Word, unfortunately.

One day God will have a prophet, and He will serve up, and every 90 years He will have a prophet. I can't wait until that day when the meek inherits the earth, so I can watch the unmeek take away from God. But it's going to be a different story, and it's going to be a different day because Emmanuel, have you heard about him in special needs today? God is going to be with us, literally, on this earth, through the agency of Jesus Christ as King of King and Lord of Lords. And His kingdom is going to be extant, and you and I can be a part of that.

That is, too, why we were born. But it's not just in a future sense. I'd like to read something, if you allow me. It's short. It's from the Interpreter's Bible, Volume 7, page 656. The kingdom is the reign of God. It is His sovereignty over mind and heart and will and in the world. It is sonship to God and brotherly relationships with men in the future. Oh, so we can just kind of put off our life and not answer the big questions of life.

No, that's not what I'm saying. Allow me to conclude. But whenever a human life is brought into harmony with the Father's purpose, it is present. And it is present in this room and in this message today. As you hear of why you were born, you were born for a purpose. We are not the end result of an accident of evolution. And when you believe that you were born for a purpose, you are going to live with purpose.

Oh, that doesn't mean that we're not going to be at times on a detour because we're human beings. It doesn't mean at times that we won't have some spiritual amnesia because we're human beings. But having that purpose deep down inside of you, down deep, so deep in your heart that neither man or external events can touch it, can reach it. Just as Jesus Christ had the purpose and the will of His Father, so deeply embedded in His heart that He lived it, that He breathed it, that His way of life was not an event that He was moving towards, but it was an existence.

It was everything that was inside of Him.

And that He went to the cross for the joy that was set before Him, that you and I might one day be in glory with God the Father. And I'm not talking about the glory of a sunlit cloud. I'm not talking about the glory of having a part in the heavenly choir. And I'm sure that'll be great one day when it happens. That can be neat, too. I'm not dismissing that.

But there's something far-reaching. I'd like to just put your mind on a few things here for a moment. Join me. A few scriptures just to lock in the family that God is wanting to have you be a part of. Join me in Acts 17, 24. There's no secret in the Bible. Once God's Spirit begins working with your mind and opening your eyes to what's been in the Bible all along, you see that God is calling you to be a part of his family. Acts 17, 24. Here's Paul speaking to the intelligentsia of Athens. And notice what he says in verse 24.

And he has made from one blood of every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, and has determined the pre-appointed times and the boundaries of their dwellings. Now, the Bible told us from the very beginning about the brotherhood of man. You know, up to about two to three hundred years ago, people were still thinking that somehow different races had different blood. That somehow one race was better than another race. They were looking at the differences. Rather than what God said in the very beginning, I have made man in my image and in my likeness for a purpose, to be a family, to have relationship with. So why? So that they should seek the Lord in the hope that they might grow for him and find him, though he is not far from any of us. For in him we live and move and breathe and have our own being, as also some of your own poets have said, for we are also, also his offspring. We're daddy's children. We're not first cousins. I know some of us are first cousins out here. That's nice. But I mean, we're not kissing cousins. We're not recently arrived people that might be in the will. If we smile and send birthday cards every year. He says, we are offspring. Circle that word if you want to. If you want to use your Bible as a living document to change your life and to understand your purpose, you might want to do that. Join me in Romans 8.14. Quickly, please. Romans 8.14. Again, notice what it says here.

People were not having a lot of kids. But when somebody was adopted into the family, they took the family name, and it was if their previous past vanished. They were now a part of a new family. Think back to the movie, Ben Hur. Remember when Judah Ben Hur saves the Roman admiral? The Roman admiral is about to commit Harry Carey because he thinks that they've lost the day. Judah Ben Hur saves him from killing himself. Long story short, that Roman admiral, otherwise known as Jack Hawkins, that doesn't sound very Latin, but the British guy that played the part, is rescued. He finds out that the fleet has carried the day. It's been a magnificent victory. He adopts Judah Ben Hur, who the next thing you know is in a toga with sandals on the chariot, as they're going through the triumph in Rome. With the ring of a Roman admiral, he is now no longer, in that sense, a part of what he was. He is now the son of that admiral. That's what was being spoken of by Paul, talking to the Thracians, and talking to the Athenians, and talking to the Cappadocians as he went around and said, You know why Jesus Christ died for you? That you might be saved. But what is salvation going to be like? What is eternity going to be like? You're going to be a son of God. You're going to be a member of the family of God. You're not just going to be a mother of the intricate radar. You're not just going to be on the second roll of the angelic choir. You are going to be a part of the family of God. It's interesting that the author of Hebrews further defines this. Join me in Hebrews 2. Hebrews 2 and verse 11. Notice what it says here. For both he who sanctifies and those who are being sanctified are all of one family. For which reason he is not ashamed to call them brethren? It's interesting that in the NIV, the NIV actually puts it this way. Those who are being set apart and those who are being sanctified are all of the same family. And it's for that reason that he's not ashamed to call them brethren. He's saying, I will declare your name to my brethren in the midst of the assembly. I will sing praises to them. Again, let's notice Peter's revelation. This is not just one person speaking this way in the Bible. Second Peter. And sometimes we've heard these things. Sometimes we've read over them. But we haven't simply asked, why were we born? Second Peter 1, verse 2. As his divine power is given to us, all things pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who has called us by glory and virtue, by which, having been given to us, exceedingly great and precious promises, notice now that through these promises, you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. We're just not going to be looking on, friends. God is promising us through Peter that we're going to be a part of the divine nature. Again, another apostle, 1 John. Choose your apostle, as it were. 1 John 3, verse 1. 1 John 3, verse 1. Behold what manner of love the fathers bestoweth on us that we should be called. There's the relationship, there's the family, the children of God. And 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 we shall be, but we know that when he is revealed, we shall be like him.

We begin to see that being cut out of the same bolt that was mentioned very early on in the book of Genesis. We recognize that when you put the Scriptures together, and the Bible interprets the Bible, we begin to go back to the words of the apostle Paul, talking to the Corinthians.

And basically he was telling the Corinthians, You have forgotten why you were born, otherwise you would be acting the way that you do. Why are you hauling one another off to the courts of man? Why are you all of a sudden becoming so legally intertwined with one another? Don't you know why you were born? Don't you know that one day you are going to not be an angel, but you are going to judge angels. That verse was not only about get off the other guy's back. That is a definition allowing us to understand our future. We are not simply going to be angels, friends. We are not just simply going to be spiritual robots. We are not just simply going to be spiritual pets. God is calling us to be a part of his family and to work under him and to serve God the Father and Jesus Christ. Revelation 5 and verse 10 tells us that I am calling you to be in my kingdom, to be a kingdom of priests and of kings. Sometimes people say, you know, I could see you living forever. At least the first few years might be in your life. I think more. Remember to check out now. I'm going to go around. But that's because we don't understand what eternity is like. Jesus, in a self-exclosure about the Godhead, said, My Father has been working and honest him, working even now. God is a creator, God. He's a sustainer, God. He's a designer. He's a life giver. He is a law giver. He is bringing a kingdom. A kingdom has a king. It has subjects. It has laws to administer. It has territory.

You have entered that territory. Oh, not millions, not billions of people today, but you are responsible for what you are hearing and what you are knowing today, understanding what God is calling us to. It is that important. Now, I must conclude on this point because it's very important when we talk about we're going to be members of the family of God. Let's be very clear in what I am saying. God himself is saying this through Scripture. God is establishing a family of divine children to have immortality and to share that eternity with them that they enter upon the resurrection. That does not mean, hear me, that we are going to be Godhead. The Apostle Paul clearly states that there is only one Father, only one Lord. There is only one name under heaven by which men might be. You hear me? So we're not talking about Godhead because that's what makes God God. God is uncreated. He is all in all. He is forever. He is always. He might just say, He is. But God is adopting us, wanting us to have a relationship, and wanting to have a family. That is what we're talking about. We're being called friends to, I think, something that we've never even dreamed, dared to dream about. You and I are not just simply being called to be spiritual things, but to be the very children, the loved, and sacrificed for children of God. We're not just simply going to be spectators, but participators. Let's conclude with one verse, Ephesians 3. I get so excited talking about this. I can taste it. I can feel it. I can sense it. I know, brethren, why I was born. I know why you were born. I know why God gave His only begotten Son, so that you and I might have a return to Eden. So that you and I might have the privilege forever to have what God initially wanted Adam and Eve to have with Him, to be able to walk and talk with God.

Now, this morning I was out on the ranch behind us about 6.30 in the morning, walking with my Susie. I think that's pretty good stuff. I love doing that. And I don't ever want to give that up. I think that's the best thing going. But you know what? There's something... I don't think pots or pans are coming my way because they know what Susan's heart is like.

God says, I've got something even better with you to walk, to talk with, and even your wife. By the way, she can be there too. I'm not crowding her out. I'm just putting myself in there. I want to walk and I want to talk with you, Robin, Bob Bates, and Victor Howe, and Walter Jordan, and Kevin Kearns, and Marcus, and Sheila. I want to walk with you, and I want to talk with you, and I want to love you, and I want to give you things that your mind cannot even imagine. I'm not talking about being there in the back row with the angels or sitting on a cloud. I want you to be a part of my creative, sustaining, divine team. We've got so much to do. Notice what it says in Ephesians 3.14. You got there by the speed of spirit. I'm still getting there. Pardon me. Ephesians 3, verse 14. For this reason, I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. I bow my knees, brethren, and we ought to be bowing our knees and surrendering our lives every day, because we know now why we were born. Notice what it says. From whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, that he would grant you according to the riches of his glory to be strengthened with might through his spirit and the inner man, that Christ might dwell in your heart through faith, that you being rooted and grounded in love. What kind of love? The love that God would even make us in his image and after his likeness. May be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width, the length, the depth, and the height, and to know the love of Christ, which is better than knowledge. Passes facts. Passes all the words that we can even cobble together up in the Bible by ourselves with our own spirit, until we surrender ourselves that God is sufficient and learn the lesson that Adam and Eve did not learn, that Israel did not learn in the wilderness, and that God wants us to learn by his spirit. That you may be filled with the fullness of God, the fullness that he wants you and me that come from the clay of Eden to go from dust to eternal destiny.

Now to him who is able to exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think according to the power that works in us. It's not our power. It's not our works. It's not our goodness. It's not us cobbling this all together. It is God's Spirit, his God, working in us in relationship. Not because we're good, but because he is good. Not because we thought of this, but because he thought of it from the beginning when he said, Let us make man in our image and after our likeness. Oh, when you hear this and you say to him, Be the glory in the church by Jesus Christ to all generations forever and ever. Amen.

Why were we born? We were born to be members of the family of God by faith, by his grace through that ultimate tree of life, Jesus Christ. If you know, then, why you were born, that is only so much knowledge.

Now you've got the homework, the heart work, the rest of the week. Live it like you know it. Look forward to seeing all of you next week.