Missionary Kevin Craesmeyer

[0:00] So, we'll be sharing about the ministry later, so everybody can hear it. I'm not an old man yet, so I don't like to speak the same thing twice.

[0:13] Just kidding. Good morning. It's a pleasure to be here. You might know my mom and dad, as Pastor Nathan was saying.

[0:26] I'm a teen. There's seven of us boys that were raised in Brazil, and no girls. So, I don't have sisters. Just sisters-in-law.

[0:39] It's like, well... Anyway, I heard a rumor that Roger was doing a series in Genesis, and I was like, hmm, that's my favorite book to talk about.

[0:56] And I heard he's already in Abraham or something, so I'm like, well, let's go back to the beginning a little bit more, because my favorite chapters are 1 through 3, but I think 1 through 11 are very important for us, because in this world of today, those are the most denied chapters of the Bible.

[1:23] But before we open in Genesis, let's start in 2 Timothy 3. So, in 2 Timothy 3, we all have heard or read or memorized this verse, maybe, verses 16 and 17.

[1:46] And they're essential for understanding the Bible and what the Bible talks about.

[1:58] 2 Timothy 3, verse 16 says, All Scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.

[2:20] What is the core principle that is being taught in these two verses? It's not a rhetorical question.

[2:35] What does it mean that this is breathed by God?

[2:52] Is he talking about the King James Version? What does it mean? 1611. No. What does it mean that it's breathed by God?

[3:03] The Scripture is breathed by God. That he sniffed the Scriptures? When it was complete, he was like, Oh.

[3:14] Is that what it means? Is that what it means? So, when we talk, we need something very important for our vocal cords to act, and that is breath, right?

[3:41] So, when it's speaking of breath, it was breathed of God, it means that he has spoken it. And some people, in some translations, translate the Bible with the ideas, right?

[3:56] They read the words, and they translate the idea. And that's great for reading it fast, right? But when you're studying the Bible, you have to understand each word and its context and the original languages and see what they mean.

[4:14] And here it's talking how God breathed, or it's given by inspiration of God, every single word. So, in essence, everything that is written in our Bibles was breathed out by God.

[4:29] He spoke it, and some man wrote it. One of the 40 authors, 40 plus authors wrote it down, right? So, that's what it means that it's inspired by God.

[4:43] It's breathed out. It's spoken by God. And every single word is spoken by God. Now, why is that important? When we are talking about the Bible, why is it important to understand that?

[4:59] Is this a novel? So, this is a little bit about our Bible.

[5:10] It was written in a period of over 1,500 years, 40 different authors, and they all have one very single theme. It is always talking about the character of God and how he worked through man to fulfill his will, right?

[5:26] And it's interesting that we have to understand that it's God breathed because what it says, it means.

[5:37] In other words, if God said it, that's the truth. He's not playing around and, you know, making ideologies or... It doesn't mean that God doesn't use figures of speech, but when he says what it says, it is what it is, right?

[5:54] And if we interpret the Bible in a different way, what are we doing with the Word of God? We are twisting it, right? How many interpretations does the Bible have?

[6:08] One, right? Who has the correct interpretation of the Bible? God. What is our job? To read it, study it, and understand what is God's interpretation of his Word.

[6:26] It's not our job to come up with our interpretation of God's Word. Oh, this is how I see Scripture. Who cares about how you see it? If it's not what God says, it's wrong.

[6:39] And, unfortunately, in our society today, we see many churches where that is the reality. People are interpreting it according to their own will.

[6:52] They're putting things where they're not supposed to be and taking out things that aren't supposed to be there or that are there. We have a very strong exhortation from the book of Revelation.

[7:10] In the last chapter, verse 18, it says, For I testify to everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book, if anyone adds to these things, God will add to them the plagues that are written in this book.

[7:24] And if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part from the book of life, from the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book.

[7:38] So, are we supposed to be adding things to the Bible? Maybe subtracting it? Oh, I don't really like this verse. Let's just ignore it. Or, this verse really says, da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da.

[7:54] Are we supposed to be doing that? No. Why am I doing this introduction? Because, when we come to Genesis 1 through 11, there's a lot of facts about the world, and what God created, and what does natural man want to do?

[8:16] Ah, it's not really like that. I mean, there's evolution, blah, blah, blah. Right? Let's start with verse 1.

[8:28] Genesis 1.1. It says, In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth, and the earth was without form and void, and darkness was on the face of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.

[8:46] Then God said, Let there be light. And there was light. And God saw the light, and it was good, and God divided the light from the darkness.

[8:58] God called the light day, and the darkness he called night. So the evening and the morning were the first day. Is this day here that is being described in verse 4 and 5, is it talking about a thousand years?

[9:17] Maybe millions of years. Is that what it is? What is it? It's one solar day, right? And the Jewish calendar night always precedes the day, because of principles.

[9:33] But anyway, first the night, then the day. That's a 24-hour day, as we know today, right? That's one day.

[9:44] Day one. What happens in day one? This is a very tricky question. God divided light from the darkness.

[9:57] Okay. That's the obvious answer. What else happened in day one? I can't hear whispers. What did you say?

[10:11] Created heavens and earth. Okay. He created time. And he said it was good. So what are the three things that regiment our life and our existence?

[10:27] We're stuck to them. Space, time, starts with an M. Matter, right?

[10:40] Space, time, and matter. This all happened in day one. Before day one of earth, there was no space. There was no time.

[10:50] There was no matter. Right? Now, did you guys see anywhere here a gap in history?

[11:01] Like millions of years happening before this? Or maybe, no. Day one. This is where matter started. This is where space starts.

[11:14] And this is where time starts. In the beginning, that's time. The earth, that's matter. And I'm forgetting the other one already.

[11:29] Space, time, and matter. Time is the day and night. The light and the darkness. And verse four, it says, it was good.

[11:41] In other words, if God created it, it's good. Now, from verse six until the rest of the chapter, it's going to continue on talking about creation.

[11:59] And then he divides the firmaments and the waters and he calls, and he calls, verse eight says, God called the firmament heaven so the evening and the morning were the second day.

[12:11] once again, is he talking about millions of years here? No. 24 hour day. Then from verse nine to 13, that's day three, where he brings all the herbs into existence and all the grass and the seeds and all the plants come to existence.

[12:35] That's day three. What do the plants need to exist? There's also three things. Water, light, and soil.

[12:49] They're in soil, they are in, they have access to water, and where's the light coming from? The sun, the moon.

[13:01] No? This is day three. the sun hasn't been created yet. Isn't that interesting? What was the light that God made in verse three and four?

[13:15] Who was the light? Ah, isn't that interesting? It was the glory of God that was shining light and separating day and night.

[13:30] Okay, then verse 14 through 19 is the creation of the firmaments and that speaks about the heavens which hold all the millions and billions and billions of stars and galaxies and planets and all of that.

[13:51] That was created in verse 14 through 19 and it says 19, so the evening and morning were the fourth day. So now the sun is created so is there a need of God's glory to be shining day and night?

[14:06] No? So that's what's regimenting day and night. Then verse 20 through 23 it talks about the birds of the sea and the fish of the ocean.

[14:22] So then he creates the winged animals and the sea animals. And verse 23 the evening and morning were the fifth day. Verse 24 through I guess it's all the way through 31 talks about the sixth day.

[14:42] What is created on the sixth day? All the mammals, all the animals that dwell the earth and what is the pinnacle of God's creation? Verse 26 Let us make man.

[14:56] Right? And then why do we have chapter 2? Isn't it confusing? Because you read chapter 1 and it's day 1, day 2, day 3, day 4, day 5, day 6.

[15:11] And chapter 2 starts, Thus the heavens and the earth and all the hosts of them were finished and on the seventh day God ended his work which he had done and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had done.

[15:24] Right? Okay. Still makes sense. I mean, why would God rest for a day? We don't know. I mean, he didn't need it. He was just giving an example to man here, obviously.

[15:37] We learn that later in time. But, he did rest the seventh day. And then, verse 3 is the explanation.

[15:49] God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it because in it he rested from all his work which God had created and made. Does God need to rest?

[16:03] Has God rested since? So, it's interesting that he did that just to show man a principle. what happens when you work seven days a week, non-stop?

[16:18] Does anybody try that? How is it? It makes you young, right? So, full of energy? No, you're wasted because you're meant to rest.

[16:34] God knew the principle and therefore he created it. And then, verse four is the key to understanding why chapter two exists.

[16:48] Verse four says, this is the history or the story of the heavens and the earth when they were created in the day that the Lord God made the heavens and the earth.

[17:03] What's so important about verse four? four? If we look in chapter one until verse three of chapter two, it's always God.

[17:17] God, God, God. And that demonstrates the entirety of God. Right? God as the three persons, he's creating the earth and everything in it.

[17:32] In verse four it says, in the day that the Lord God made the earth and the heavens. Who is the Lord God? It's Jehovah.

[17:46] Who is Jehovah in the New Testament? Jesus, right? Isn't Jesus Jehovah with us?

[18:00] Christ with us? Here, in chapter two, in the Hebrew, it's already showing that the second person of the Trinity was the one that was at work.

[18:16] God the Father thought it. God the Son made it into reality. We have a witness of that in many other places in our scriptures.

[18:27] Colossians is chapter one is a big one. But here, we already see that the second person of God head is the one that is involved in the creation of everything.

[18:42] Now, in verse seven, it says, the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life. And man became a living being.

[18:56] Who breathed life into Adam? the Lord God, Jesus Christ, the second person of the Trinity breathed life into Adam.

[19:11] The first Adam was created by the second Adam. Isn't that interesting? Now, I wanted to talk about a little thing that is very important and it ties to the beginning.

[19:26] Remember that there is only one interpretation to scripture. Right? What is the natural tendency that we as mankind have as we read the Bible?

[19:44] Let me use an example of glasses. What happens all of you who use glasses? What happens if you take it off? It's blurry, right?

[19:56] Or what happens when it's a really sunny day and you're driving direct into the sun and you don't have sunglasses? It's really bright, right?

[20:10] We often have the tendency to put on the lens, the lenses of our reality and our life when we read the Bible.

[20:21] Right? And that's dangerous. because we assume things according to maybe something we've heard in the past or something we learned in Sunday school or something that we picked up from some mythical thing along our childhood or whatever it may be.

[20:49] We have lenses. Or maybe we heard a great pastor with a great sermon and he made an illustration and you took that for your life. You are using the lenses that are compromised in a sense.

[21:07] What are we called to do by God in regards to his word?

[21:21] What are we called to do search it? Search it daily to see if those things are so. Right?

[21:32] It's interesting when we read the word of God in English we have we already have a lens there. Right?

[21:44] Because we are being impaired by our language in a sense. Who of you gets the scrolls out and reads it in Hebrew?

[21:56] Yeah, we chuckle about it because we don't. We don't know Hebrew. And even if we did, we don't understand the culture that Moses had when he wrote it many times.

[22:09] Right? Or those that were under the law had when they received this information. So we have to take all of those things into account when we read scripture.

[22:24] It's very important. Now we're talking about the creation here. And why is the creation pivotal for our understanding of scripture?

[22:37] What is the creation witnessing? the power of God.

[22:48] What? Yes. So, and many other things of the character of God. Right?

[23:00] Creation speaks of the character of God. Why is that so important? It's very important because when we assume things, when we allow lenses that are natural to us to impair our judgment about God's word, what are we doing with the character of God?

[23:26] We're changing it. Yeah. We're somewhat putting mud on God's character, right?

[23:39] What is the whole intention of the evolutionist idea? Change the character of God.

[23:50] Oh, you didn't create us. We blurbed into existence and we evolved because we're super smart. smart. A lot of people today say that we are really smart because we have computers and technology.

[24:09] You know what computers and technology are demonstrating? A sign of our stupidity and dumbness.

[24:19] computers and computers and computers and computers and computers and computers. Because back in the 1500s or the 800s or the 400s or the 1700s before Christ, did they need computers?

[24:38] Do you think they had the capacity to create them? Absolutely. Did they need it? Nope. We don't need that tool. We have learned it.

[24:49] We don't have to go search and Google. We learned it from our grandparents. So, in a sense, computer actually demonstrates how dependent we are on the stored intelligence.

[25:07] Now, what is this all saying? It's all reflecting back to the character of God. Because when we come to chapter 3, what is happening in chapter 3 of Genesis?

[25:26] The fall of mankind, right? So, God made commands in chapter 2. He shows the garden to Adam and tells him what he has to do.

[25:42] And then in verse 16 in chapter 2, it says, of every tree of the garden you may eat freely, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat. For in the day that you eat of it, you shall surely die.

[25:55] That was the command that God gave Adam. How many rules did Adam have to follow? One.

[26:05] God said, was there liberty for Adam? Was God being a tyrant towards Adam? No.

[26:16] He said, from every tree of the garden. How many trees do you know? you only live in the U.S. There's the rest of the world. There's many, many, many trees.

[26:29] And in the garden of Eden, they were all there. God said, from every tree of the garden you can have. And from every fruit of the ground you can have.

[26:42] Except for this one. Oh, and by the way, there's also this tree over here. What was this tree over here called? The Tree of Life.

[26:55] What was that tree all about? Was it the fountain of youth? No. Why did God kick Adam and Eve out of the garden after they partook of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil?

[27:19] So they couldn't get to the tree of life. Why? Why? So they wouldn't eternally live in sin.

[27:36] So if Adam and Eve partook of the tree of life before that, what, in what status would they live forever? an innocence, right?

[27:51] Because they were innocent up to the point they weren't. But if they had partook of the tree of life, they would be innocent for the rest of their lives.

[28:04] They would be in the presence of God for the rest of their lives. life. Now, we see here that it only needed one command for man to fall.

[28:21] The many religions speak of what is the cardinal sin that was practiced in the garden. some defend it was lust.

[28:32] Some say it's whatever, right? What is the sin that happened in the garden? What? Yes, but what sin is that?

[28:47] Disobedience. Our children do it all the time, right? That's why we're called sons of disobedience. I mean, mankind in general.

[28:59] It was the sin of disobedience. They lost fellowship with God because they disobeyed his command.

[29:11] Not because they ate of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. It's because they disobeyed his command. What happens when you disobey your parent?

[29:24] It's very interesting to observe this in a two-year-old. What does a two-year-old do when they mess up? They always look for dad or mom immediately.

[29:38] Why? Because the conscience is there to accuse him. What did Adam and Eve do? As soon as they disobeyed, they looked for God.

[29:50] Oh, he's not here. But then they heard his voice and what did they do? They hear like right?

[30:03] It's interesting in our day-to-day life, we can have an intense fellowship with people in three different levels.

[30:16] in the soul, in the spirit, and in our body. Well, the body is exclusive to one, hopefully, which is your spouse, right?

[30:28] But we can have the best friend that's a soul. We can have a great mentor that's in the spirit, somebody that's pouring into your spiritual life. But there's only one for the body, right?

[30:42] you only feel comfortable getting naked in front of your spouse, hopefully, right? We're not walking in the street naked, right?

[30:53] Especially in this weather, anyway. Why? Because there's a perfect relationship there. There's a commitment there. Why did chapter 2, verse 24, 25 says, and they, speaking of Adam and Eve, were both naked, the man and his wife, and they were not ashamed.

[31:17] Why was this status granted? Because they had a perfect relationship with their creator. What is the first thing they notice when they sin?

[31:28] That they're naked. Because the perfect relationship now has death, has separation, right? Isn't that interesting?

[31:42] Now, chapter 3, the first seven verses talk about the fall of man, and that's a whole series that I don't have time to jump into. But, verse 7 speaks of then, the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked.

[32:00] And then they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves coverings. they put on the spring fashion, right? What is so important about verse 7?

[32:19] Was the leaf coverings enough? Was it? How do we know it wasn't enough?

[32:36] Verse 21 says, Also, for Adam and his wife, the Lord God made tunics of skin and clothed them. Now, do you know any trees that raise tunics of skin?

[32:52] Where does the tunics of skin come from? Animals. animals. What is God showing? What is the Lord God showing Adam and Eve here?

[33:03] What is the price to pay for their sin? Shedding of blood. Right?

[33:14] It's the death of an animal. What did the sheep have to do with Adam and Eve's sin? Nothing at all. What did Christ have to do with Adam and Eve's sin?

[33:29] Nothing at all. It's the shedding of blood of the innocent. Exemplified here in chapter 3, fulfilled 4,000 years later, give or take.

[33:46] Isn't that interesting? The price for sin is blood.

[33:57] We see that chapters later, especially when Noah comes out of the ark. He already is exemplified with that.

[34:07] And then God establishes the human government. And then the human government says, an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, a life for a life. If you kill, you shall be killed.

[34:19] And God says, the life of man is precious. And it's in the blood that resides the life of man. Now, why am I talking about all of these things?

[34:35] What happens in chapter 4? Cain and Abel. Why was Cain mad at God?

[34:49] You can read. Let's read. Chapter 4, verse 1 says, Adam knew Eve his wife and conceived and bore Cain and said, I have acquired a man from the Lord.

[35:01] Then she bore again this time his brother Abel. Now Abel was a keeper of sheep, but Cain was a tiller of the ground. And in the process of time it came to pass that Cain brought an offering of the fruit of the ground to the Lord.

[35:17] And Abel also brought of the firstborn of his flock and of their fat. And the Lord respected Abel and his offering, but he did not respect Cain and his offering.

[35:30] And Cain was very angry and his countenance fell. What is this talking about? What is this offering all about? Why was God not accepting the offering of Cain?

[35:47] Cain? Cain didn't bring blood. He brought the fruit of the ground. He brought vegetables. Is God against vegetables?

[36:01] Is God a carnivore? Is that what this is all about? No. How do we know that it was because of blood? God? So, could Cain say to God, what do you want from me?

[36:27] Can he say that? No. Because his dad knew exactly what was necessary when you messed up.

[36:38] What was it? Blood of animals. Right? Later we see in the book of Job what happens in Job in the first chapters. Not the fact that Satan takes away his possessions and all.

[36:53] What is the witness of Job's life? What was he doing for his sons and daughters while they partied? He was offering sacrifices.

[37:06] Why? In case they had sinned. Isn't that interesting? If Job knew that, he learned it from somebody. Who was it?

[37:17] Did God give him a direct revelation? No. God had imputed and demonstrated unto Adam and this was passed on generation by generation.

[37:33] Right? this is nothing new that came on with the law of Moses. This is day one here. I mean, whatever day it was when they sinned.

[37:46] But they knew that when they sinned they had to offer sacrifice. How did they know that they sinned? Who was telling them that? What?

[38:00] The conscience. Right? Before sin, we were in the age of innocence. They didn't do anything wrong. They're fine. The next age is the age of conscience.

[38:12] Who was accusing them of their sin? Their conscience. Why is Cain angry? It's because God told him, I didn't like that.

[38:24] Is that what happened? No, his conscience was accusing him of his sin. Again. He wasn't offering vegetables because he was fine and dandy, didn't do anything wrong, and said, oh, Lord, here's my wheat and my corn and whatever.

[38:42] Right? He was doing it because of his conscience. But then he's like, well, I'm going to do it my way. And then he knew because of his conscience he wasn't going to be accepted.

[38:55] And then he was angry. angry. He was angry because he couldn't do it his way. Right? And then what does he do? He sheds the blood of an animal?

[39:08] No. He kills his brother. What does Abel have to do with this all? What has Abel done wrong? Nothing at all.

[39:19] On the contrary, he has followed instruction of God. He has been obedient. Once again, somewhat of a picture of Christ.

[39:31] He comes, he lives in obedience, but still is killed. It's interesting, this is all at the core of the culture of man, and also at the core of the culture of the nation of Israel.

[39:50] They understood why the law demanded all those things, because it was established day one in Genesis.

[40:01] Now, what does the world today preach? Follow God? Is that what the world says? No.

[40:13] The words of today is, seek out your own happiness. Go do what makes you happy. Where does that end up in?

[40:23] happen? Is the world happy? The world is happy.

[40:33] You know what happiness is? It's something that happens in a split second. It's a feeling. Right? How long does happiness last?

[40:45] Who knows? happiness? It's like you finally get your big paycheck. You're happy. Yay. But then you see all the taxes that come with it.

[40:55] And then you're not happy anymore. Right? The world seeks happiness. Something that will happen in a blip of a second and then it's like, ah, okay, we're back to real life and it's super annoying.

[41:11] Right? What does God desire from us? That we seek our own happiness? Does God want the worst for us or the best for us?

[41:26] the best. When God says, sin no more, is he seeking out to antagonize us or he is seeking out the best?

[41:41] Let's turn to Romans chapter 6. We all use this verse, hopefully, when we are sharing the gospel. And it's a very key verse for understanding sin and the consequence of that, but we often use it only with the lenses, again, of evangelizing.

[42:08] It says, for the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. We use this verse to explain when you are a sinner, you messed up, the consequence, the payment for that is separation from God eternally.

[42:28] Right? That's what we use that verse for. It's chapter 6 talking about reaching the unsaved. Is it?

[42:42] Let's freedom from being at the grasp of sin. Does sin have power over us as a believer in Christ Jesus according to God's word?

[42:59] Absolutely not. Verse 6, or verse 1 of Romans 6 says, what shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound?

[43:11] Verse 2, certainly not. How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it? And then at the end of the chapter it says, for the wage of sin is death.

[43:26] Does God, who has saved you, who has paid for all your sins, who has forgiven you, who has identified you with Christ, his son, his perfect son, does he want you and I to dwell in sin?

[43:47] No. Because why? Because the wage of sin is death. Can we be separated from God after we believe in him as our savior?

[44:01] Can we? No. There's nothing in this world that can separate us from God. We read that in chapter 8, the closing verses.

[44:12] Nothing at all. What does verse 23 say from chapter 6? The wage of sin is death. What is death?

[44:24] Separation. When you sin, how do you feel, what does your conscience tell you that your relationship with God is? Fine and dandy?

[44:35] Rock and roll? Right? No. What does sin bring? Shame, guilt. It's like you sin and you're like, hey God, what's up?

[44:48] How's it going? Right? No, you're like, please Lord, I messed up again. Does God want the best for us or not?

[45:02] the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus, our Lord. When is eternal life made available unto us?

[45:14] After we die, wait for thousands of years until we get to nobody? Is that when? Right now.

[45:26] Eternity is available for us right now. the wage of sin is death. God does not want us to be separating us from him over and over and over.

[45:42] Because he knows that death is not fun. And he wants the best for us. When God tells us go and sin no more, he's not doing that to pull our leg.

[46:00] or to prank us. Right? I know you can't do that, but I'm still going to tell you that. He's doing it for our own good.

[46:12] He desires that we live in the fullness of our identity with him. And what is our identity in him? It's the image of Christ.

[46:26] Right? When God looks to you and me, who does he see? his perfect son, who never sinned, who was humble and obedient to the point of death on the cross.

[46:41] When we sin, does God want us to be begging for forgiveness before him? Does he?

[46:52] No! He already took care of that! Why would God want to be reminded day after day that you have sinned? He's like, Lord, please forgive me for this one too.

[47:06] He's like, I already took care of that 2,000 years ago. Come on, get over it! Right? He doesn't want us to dwell in sin and be chained up by sin.

[47:19] But that lens that we sometimes put in front of our eyes and how we read the word and how we maybe think of the character of God.

[47:32] We think that we have to please him in everything that we do. And if we are a good servant, he's going to tap us in the back and say, good job, you did good today.

[47:45] Who is he dwelling on? Who are we being identified with? who is doing all the work in our lives? Who is he equating our image to?

[48:01] Christ. What are we here for? Are we just living life to seek our own pleasures and go to church on Sunday?

[48:15] Is that it? Let's turn to Ephesians chapter 3. How much time do I have?

[48:32] Okay. I'm two minutes over. That's okay. Ephesians chapter 3. Let's read verse 9 and 10.

[48:43] We all know this, these verses that talk about the dispensation of the mystery brought unto Paul. all of that that involves and then verse 9 it says and to make all see which is the fellowship of the mystery 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 Jesus Christ our Lord.

[49:24] Who or what are we doing here on earth? why did God choose us Gentiles to make manifold or to demonstrate the many many different facets of his wisdom through the church unto principalities and powers?

[49:59] We the church are the ones to be demonstrating unto all the angels the manifold wisdom of God. And you may be thinking how is that even possible?

[50:15] Right? Because God in his entirety of his wisdom is using us frail people to do his and fulfill his wisdom and demonstrate unto the whole universe his wisdom.

[50:40] Now is God acting in the church through what we are doing? is God demonstrating his manifold wisdom with what I want to do?

[50:56] Or how I want to serve the Lord? Is that how he's doing that? Yeah.

[51:09] How can a Christian transform his life? is it through his own will power and hard work and constant prayer and all these works?

[51:23] Is that how it works? No. It's through the transformation that comes through the reading of the word and the working of the Holy Spirit.

[51:35] That's why being a pastor and a missionary is super hard because people have problems and who can fix those problems?

[51:46] It's not us. It's them. It's God working in their lives. They can come week after week, right, pastor? Tell you the problems and you give them counsel in the word and then you step back and say, okay, now it's you and God.

[52:05] Figure it out. And then next week they're there with the same problem again. and then next week again. And then eventually they get over that problem but then they have another one.

[52:19] And then next week it's the constant work of the Holy Spirit in our lives. If we want to let the Lord do great things in our lives, we have to get out of the way.

[52:34] Lord, let your will be done, not mine. Now, that's simple, right? Piece of cake. That's why everybody does it, right?

[52:47] That's my exhortation for us today, that we may be reading his word and seeking his interpretation so that we can allow him to work in our lives and that his working in our lives can manifest his wisdom unto this world.

[53:08] Let's close in prayer. Dear Lord, we are thankful for your word that demonstrates unto us the manifold wisdom that you have, even though in our finite mind we are even capable to grasp a fraction of that and how that all entails.

[53:30] Even to understand who you are, we understand the concept but not what it really means. Lord, we pray that we may grow closer and closer to you and that our relationship with you may grow and in that that we may be getting closer to you and manifesting your wisdom through the transformation that is happening in our lives.

[54:02] Let our testimony work towards the bringing souls into your realm of believers that we may be sharing the gospel not only with our words but with our lives.

[54:22] Let we be ambassadors of you in our life and our day to day. In all these things we praise you for what you have done on that cross and the great sacrifice that you took upon yourself so that we could be eternally in your presence.

[54:39] In all these things we praise and thank you. Amen. Amen.