Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Well, I grew up in Red Oak, texas, a little town
about 30 minutes south of Dallas, and I, from like kindergarten
to halfway through sixth grade,went to a small Christian
charter school named LifeCharter School.
And in sixth grade wetransferred out because my
sister she had some learningissues at the time and the
(00:20):
school wasn't really meeting theneeds that she had, and so they
transferred her.
My parents took her out and puther in Red Oak High School,
which was the public high schoolnearby, and I decided that I
wanted to go to just because,right, let's go ahead and change
that right.
It was not the best decision.
So my parents take me out andthey put me in Red Oak
(00:41):
Intermediate School.
Back when, like, intermediateschool was a thing.
It was fifth and sixth gradeand then you had seventh and
eighth and then you had highschool.
And so I remember my first dayextremely vividly.
I remember going to thecounselor's office.
I remember walking down thehallways that felt a little bit
more like a hospital or like amental asylum, like school
hallways typically do.
And then I remember walkinginto the cafeteria with like
(01:02):
just that janky, like schoolpizza smell.
You know what I'm talking about.
Y'all remember that at all.
Yeah, so, and I sat down at atable that had some people that
I thought looked friendly and,to my surprise, as I started to
try and join in in conversation,I learned a lot of cuss words
that I did not know existed,like did not know they were in
the vocabulary, had no clue,they were a thing, it was like
(01:24):
F-bomb every other word.
And so sweet little shelteredme, you know, said exactly what
anybody would say, right, I waslike hey, guys, I don't know if
we should really talk like that.
And they looked at me about theway you would expect them to
look at me.
And one kid goes well, why not?
I was like well, at church,they tell me that you're not
(01:45):
supposed to cuss.
And the other kid was like yeah, you know what, you're right,
I'm going to stop cussing.
No, that's not what he said atall.
Right?
He said well, that's dumb.
He said I don't go to churchand I don't believe in God.
In fact, my dad tells me that Ishouldn't ever let anybody tell
me what to do.
And in that moment, shelteredsixth grade me realized that me
and this kid had completelydifferent beliefs about the
(02:08):
world that we lived in and ourrole in it, and there were a lot
of people out there that hadcompletely different views of
the world than I did, and,whether I realized it or not,
those beliefs shaped what he andI thought was right or wrong.
Why am I telling you thistonight?
Well, because whether werealize it or not, that
statement is true for everysingle one of us.
(02:30):
We all have something we wouldcall a worldview, a way that we
understand the universe that welive in and our place in it.
It's how you answer these bigquestions.
If you're taking those, theseare good questions to write down
.
One where did we come from?
Are we just the result ofrandom chance, one in a million
(02:50):
odds, or were we intentionallydesigned?
Two who am I?
Am I just another animal?
Am I a mammal, a clump of cellsproduct of millions of years of
evolution, or am I made withunique value and purpose?
Why am I here?
What is life about?
(03:11):
Is it about survival, right,just make it to the end.
Is it about pleasure, aboutself-fulfillment, living your
best life?
Or is it about somethinggreater?
How should you live?
Who or what decides right andwrong?
Who gets to write those rules?
What happens after we die.
Is it just the end, the lightscut off and that's it.
(03:33):
Or is there life after death?
So again, those five questions,if you're taking notes where did
we come from?
Who am I, why am I here, howshould I live?
And what happens after we die?
And whether you realize it ornot, every single one of you has
answers to those questions, andthose answers are shaping how
(03:56):
you live right now.
And the reverse is true how youlive right now also shows what
you truly believe.
The answers to those questionsare not just the right answers
that you know you're supposed tosay to your parents, your
friends, or to your pastor orsmall group leader at church.
Your life will show thoseanswers.
(04:16):
Your life will show what youthink about the world around you
, about what you think aboutyour role, what the purpose of
life is.
Your actions show that.
And so here's the importantthing to know about worldviews
they're not all created equal.
In the world we live in today,it's popular to say something
and claim that truth is relative, meaning that we can all
believe whatever we want.
Right, you do you, I'm gonna dome, I'm gonna live my truth,
(04:38):
you're gonna live your truth,and everything works out great,
but it doesn't work that way.
I've told the silly story abunch of.
If my truth is that I can flylike a pretty little butterfly
and I jump off the Tower ofAmerica, it's like how's that
gonna end?
I'm gonna hit the reality ofgravity splat, and that's
(05:02):
example.
But when you start to actuallythink about how this plays out
in everyday life, it starts tobecome really, really important
to know you believe the rightthings.
Because if your worldview isthat you don't need anybody,
that you can protect yourself bykeeping people at arm's length,
you can live that way, but youwill never know the joy of being
fully known and fully loved.
You will hide because you'reafraid of being exposed, because
you're afraid that if anybodyknew the real you, they would
reject you.
But by hiding you'll be robbingyourself of the very thing you
(05:24):
are known for love, fully known,all your junk, and loved
anyways.
You might be safe, but you'llbe alone.
Or if your worldview is thatthe goal of life is to be as
happy and comfortable aspossible, you might get little
glimmers of that here and there,but that happiness is going to
wear off and sooner or laterthat high will fade and you're
going to be left empty, chasingthe next thing.
(05:47):
Or if your worldview is thatyou have to earn your worth
through your performance,whether it's grades, sports,
looks, money.
You can live that way, buteventually you will fail.
You will hit the reality checkof failure.
And what then?
Your identity is going tocrumble and you'll be in this
constant state of anxietybecause what you tried to find
(06:08):
hope in, vanished.
And so the point here is notall worldviews are equal.
They will not all take youwhere you want to go.
In fact, all of them, otherthan one, will take you
somewhere you don't want to go.
So the question is which one isright?
Well, my argument tonight isthat the book, the Christian
Bible, is God's word, and itreveals the perfect truth about
(06:32):
where we come from, who we are,why we're here, how we should
live and what happens after wedie.
That the Bible is not just someancient, dusty book, but
instead it reveals everythingabout God and everything we need
to know about the world that welive in.
And the funny thing is, eventhough a lot of us are familiar
with our Bibles, we're notfamiliar with its answer to
(06:53):
those questions.
What I mean by this is we mightknow that the Bible has a bunch
of cool stories David andGoliath or King Saul, or you
might know Noah's Ark, this bigflood and all these sorts of
things.
You might know some storiesabout Jesus, maybe even a
parable or two.
But the thing is, the Bible isso much more than just a
(07:14):
collection of stories and abunch of rules on what to do and
what not to do.
And that's what brings us tothe new series that we're going
to be starting this fall andthat we are introducing tonight.
Tonight's a little bit different.
We're just introducing it,we're not diving in yet, and the
series that we're going to bewalking through this fall is
titled Eden, because we're goingto be walking through Genesis,
(07:34):
chapter 1 through 11, becausethose first pages of the Bible,
those first 11 chapters, tellyou so much about those
important questions.
And I truly believe that howyou understand Genesis 1 through
11 will unlock how youunderstand the entire rest of
the Bible.
If you understand those fewchapters, so much more is going
(07:55):
to make sense.
And if you don't understandthose chapters, on the other
side you're always going to havea little bit of confusion as
you read your Bible, because onthe surface, the beginning of
Genesis kind of seems weirdright, I'm talking snake fruit,
cain and Abel, like dude killsthem over some veggies and some
sheep and like.
Then there's this like Noah'sArk, really big flood and
animals two by two and there'sreally tall tower like what's
(08:17):
going on.
But it actually tells useverything we need to know about
those big questions, and sowe're going to jump into this
series next week.
But with the little time thatwe have left, I just want to
walk through three things that,as we study the book of Genesis,
I want to keep in mind, andthis is also good for how you
study the Bible as a whole, andwe're going to move through
these really quick because we'regoing to small groups here in
(08:39):
just a couple of minutes.
First point Genesis is nottrying to explain when the
universe was made or exactly howGod built it, not saying that
it doesn't have true facts aboutthose things.
But that's not the primarypoint of Genesis and it's
important to know because a lotof times when you read the first
part of the book of Genesis inyour Bible, we get hung up on
(09:00):
the creation account.
Right, was it in six days?
How long ago was it made?
Were there gaps between thedays how long is a day?
And really the reason thishappens is because the Bible's
creation account doesn't seem toline up with the one that you
might have been taught in school.
And look, I could spend a lot oftime going in on all sorts of
evidence to believe the Bible'screation narrative, and there's
(09:21):
a lot of evidence and facts toback it up and a lot of reasons
to doubt what the currentscientific consensus is.
But even to get into thatargument would kind of miss the
point of what Genesis is about,because Genesis is not trying to
give you the little details andthe nuts and bolts of how God
created everything.
That's not anything.
(09:43):
That's not the aim of thepeople who wrote it, and when we
read a book we have to payattention to the aim of the
author and what the purpose was.
In fact, a good chunk of thefirst part of Genesis is poetry,
and that doesn't mean it's allsymbolic, but it does mean that
it's trying to show yousomething that's beyond just
stats and facts.
We don't want to read Genesislike we're reading a textbook,
and when you do, you're going toget confused, you're going to
(10:03):
get frustrated because you'retrying to find answers that
aren't there, not that Goddoesn't know, not that God
doesn't have, and there might bea lot of things that you can
pull from that, but we want tofocus on the main thing.
So then the question is what isthe main thing?
The second point is that Genesisis trying to explain the
meaning and the purpose behindthe universe.
It's not trying to explain whenit was made or how it was made,
(10:25):
but it's showing us who made it, what the world is really like,
why everything you look atexists and how we can know God
and understand our place ineverything that he made.
And, as you see, there's thingsthat are at surface level might
make sense, but they're deeplysymbolic about how life works.
(10:48):
Even today, as a teenager inBernie, texas, like I will read
Genesis 1 through 11, like theLord really opened my eyes to
these chapters recently and Iread them now, and this is my
favorite part of the Biblebecause it's so accurately
describes life.
It just describes it in a waythat we're not necessarily used
to.
It has the answers to the factthat God made the universe, he
(11:10):
made everything in it, he gaveit order, he created it to work
a certain way, he called it andmade it good, and he made us, in
his image, to be his statues,visible representations of an
invisible God, to have arelationship with him that leads
us to reflect him in the worldaround us.
And sin comes in and it breaksthat relationship and it's the
(11:31):
cause of all the hurt and painand suffering and death that you
see in the world today.
But then, even in that moment,god already had a plan to mend
it, to make it whole, to wipeevery tear from every eye and to
bring us back into therelationship with him that we
were made for.
That is the point of Genesis,and when you understand that, it
(11:52):
gets a lot easier to let therest of the details work
themselves out.
And then point three Genesis wasnot written to you, but it was
written for you, and you couldactually substitute literally
any book of the Bible in thispoint, because the Bible was not
written to a 21st centuryteenager in Bernie Texas.
They were written thousands ofyears ago.
(12:14):
All of the books of the Biblewere written thousands of years
ago and they were written to aspecific audience, meaning when
they were writing, they weren'tlike.
How is Gillian Slayton going tounderstand this?
And Bernie Texas.
One day they were writing toactual people who had actual
life circumstances and thingsthat they were going through.
You ever wonder why, like, everymetaphor in the New Testament
is about farming?
Because they were farmers.
That's what they understood.
(12:35):
And so when there's metaphorsand illustrations and things
being used, it's communicated ina way that would have made
sense to the original audience.
And so what happens is sometimeswe come to the Bible with our
own assumptions, with our ownunderstanding of ways, and it's
different than it was thousandsof years ago, and we kind of
unconsciously think, oh, I'msmarter than these people.
Right, they don't really knowwhat they're talking about.
(12:57):
Like they didn't even like knowabout like space and stuff, and
like they can't they don't knowwhat they're talking about.
But to do that is to completelymiss the point, because God
decided to reveal these truthsthrough these people at this
time, and he did that on purpose, and they're going to
communicate it in a way that'scompletely different than we
might understand it.
But that doesn't mean that thetruth that they're communicating
(13:20):
is wrong.
It's just explained differently.
Think about it.
That's why you don't seegravity or the solar system
spelled out in detail in Genesis, because the guy who wrote
Genesis didn't have a grasp ofall of that.
That doesn't mean what he wassaying wasn't true.
That's just not how he'dexplain it.
Just like we love all thescientific details, that's not
how they thought or communicated.
(13:42):
And so we have to do our best tocome to it without our own
assumptions or biases oranything like that, and ask okay
, let me put myself in thesepeople's shoes and read it like
they read it, and then take thatmeaning and apply it to our
lives, because it was for you.
All of scripture isGod-breathed and good for
teaching, rebuke, encouragement,like it is God's word for us.
But there's a little bit ofwork for us to get to understand
(14:03):
that meaning and we'll do thatevery single week.
But just have that in mind.
And so we're about to close.
Tonight's a little bitdifferent.
We were just introducing thisseries and just setting the the
stage as everything like dinnersand all that sort of stuff
kicks off down there.
Next week we're going to jumpin straight up with creation.
I'm super excited, but we'reabout to go to groups.
But real quick, I just want allof us to practice.
Go ahead and close your eyes,take a deep breath, relax.
It's been a long week.
(14:23):
I just want you to close youreyes and think.
What is your worldview?
How would you answer thosequestions?
Where did you come from?
How did we get here?
(14:44):
Like humans not like youspecifically, but human humanity
how did we get here?
Who are you?
What is your identity?
Why are you here?
What were you made to do?
What is the point of life?
Is it to just go through schooland get a bunch of grades, try
(15:04):
to graduate, make a lot of moneyso you can retire at 38 or Gulf
Shores or wherever?
Or is there something more tolife than the rat race that
we're all on?
How should you live?
Who decides right and wrong?
Is it you?
Is it your mom, your dad, yourteacher?
(15:27):
Is it the God who createdeverything?
And then ask yourself thinkabout all the answers you just
gave.
Is your life saying that you'relying about those answers?
How would your life, youractions, answer those questions?
Because you can say that youbelieve God determines right and
wrong, but if every time you'regiven that choice and you want
(15:50):
to do what's wrong, you dowhat's wrong, that says you
might have a different view ofthings and there's grace.
But grace means repentance andturning from that.
And so, look, I know that in aroom this size, not every single
one of you is a follower ofJesus, and if you're not, I want
to talk to you here for amoment.
I am glad you are here.
Keep coming back.
(16:12):
Jesus loves you right now, evenas you may not have anything to
do with him.
God is good, he cares about you.
He wants a relationship withyou.
In fact, he wants arelationship with you so much
that the way he decided to makea way for that relationship was
to send his son to die for you,and he is glad you are here.
You are not an outcast.
You are not looked down upon.
(16:32):
You are in good company offellow sinners.
There are just those of us whofound grace and forgiveness and
healing and hope in Jesus andare now his children, and that
invitation is open to you too.
And so maybe you showed uptonight.
You're real skeptical about allthis.
Just show up, just keep askingquestions.
We're going to walk throughwhat the Bible says about all
this stuff this week, next week,and so just come, taste and see
(16:57):
, learn with an open mind.
It's the least that I can askof you.
We'll play games, we'll feedyou stuff, we'll have fun.
The only thing I ask in returnis that you just have an open
mind, test out what we learnabout what the Bible says, and I
know if you do with an honestand open heart, you will find it
to be true and to be life.
Let's pray, lord.
(17:18):
God, we thank you so much fortonight and the opportunity to
be here, worship you, gathertogether.
We love you so much and wethank you for your word.
And we just pray right now,over these next few weeks, as we
walk through this series onGenesis 1 through 11, that even
now, you would prepare ourhearts and our minds to do
business with you, to ask thetough questions, to be
(17:38):
vulnerable and honest in groups,to tear off the facade that we
all live behind in this town andto just come here open-minded,
open-hearted, to see what youmight have for us.
And, lord, that we would leavehere tonight and every week
closer to you, looking more likeyou, and that we'd see the
miracle of salvation.
Lord, that we would leave heretonight and every week closer to
you, looking more like you, andthat we'd see the miracle of
salvation.
Lord, we pray a big prayerbecause we believe you can
(18:00):
answer them.
But, lord, that even by the endof this series, every unsaved
soul under the sound of my voicetonight will be saved.
Lord, we pray that you'd saveas many as you desire, as many
as can God.
We love you, we praise you, weas many as can God.
We love you, we praise you, wepray all these things in your
son, jesus' name.
Amen.
We love you.
Guys, let's go to groups.
Those rooms are going to be uphere on the screen.
(18:21):
I know we have some new classesand such, but these are going
to be our rooms.
Find your teacher.
If you have any questions, goask either me or Andrew or one
of the leaders.
I promise Aaron that was thereis.
(19:10):
Thank you.
Well, I grew up in Red Oak, texas, a little town
about 30 minutes south of Dallas, and I, from like kindergarten
to halfway through sixth grade,went to a small Christian
charter school named LifeCharter School.
And in sixth grade wetransferred out because my
sister she had some learningissues at the time and the
(00:20):
school wasn't really meeting theneeds that she had, and so they
transferred her.
My parents took her out and puther in Red Oak High School,
which was the public high schoolnearby, and I decided that I
wanted to go to just because,right, let's go ahead and change
that right.
It was not the best decision.
So my parents take me out andthey put me in Red Oak
(00:41):
Intermediate School.
Back when, like, intermediateschool was a thing.
It was fifth and sixth gradeand then you had seventh and
eighth and then you had highschool.
And so I remember my first dayextremely vividly.
I remember going to thecounselor's office.
I remember walking down thehallways that felt a little bit
more like a hospital or like amental asylum, like school
hallways typically do.
And then I remember walkinginto the cafeteria with like
(01:02):
just that janky, like schoolpizza smell.
You know what I'm talking about.
Y'all remember that at all.
Yeah, so, and I sat down at atable that had some people that
I thought looked friendly and,to my surprise, as I started to
try and join in in conversation,I learned a lot of cuss words
that I did not know existed,like did not know they were in
the vocabulary, had no clue,they were a thing, it was like
(01:24):
F-bomb every other word.
And so sweet little shelteredme, you know, said exactly what
anybody would say, right, I waslike hey, guys, I don't know if
we should really talk like that.
And they looked at me about theway you would expect them to
look at me.
And one kid goes well, why not?
I was like well, at church,they tell me that you're not
(01:45):
supposed to cuss.
And the other kid was like yeah, you know what, you're right,
I'm going to stop cussing.
No, that's not what he said atall.
Right?
He said well, that's dumb.
He said I don't go to churchand I don't believe in God.
In fact, my dad tells me that Ishouldn't ever let anybody tell
me what to do.
And in that moment, shelteredsixth grade me realized that me
and this kid had completelydifferent beliefs about the
(02:08):
world that we lived in and ourrole in it, and there were a lot
of people out there that hadcompletely different views of
the world than I did, and,whether I realized it or not,
those beliefs shaped what he andI thought was right or wrong.
Why am I telling you thistonight?
Well, because whether werealize it or not, that
statement is true for everysingle one of us.
(02:30):
We all have something we wouldcall a worldview, a way that we
understand the universe that welive in and our place in it.
It's how you answer these bigquestions.
If you're taking those, theseare good questions to write down
.
One where did we come from?
Are we just the result ofrandom chance, one in a million
(02:50):
odds, or were we intentionallydesigned?
Two who am I?
Am I just another animal?
Am I a mammal, a clump of cellsproduct of millions of years of
evolution, or am I made withunique value and purpose?
Why am I here?
What is life about?
(03:11):
Is it about survival, right,just make it to the end.
Is it about pleasure, aboutself-fulfillment, living your
best life?
Or is it about somethinggreater?
How should you live?
Who or what decides right andwrong?
Who gets to write those rules?
What happens after we die.
Is it just the end, the lightscut off and that's it.
(03:33):
Or is there life after death?
So again, those five questions,if you're taking notes where did
we come from?
Who am I, why am I here, howshould I live?
And what happens after we die?
And whether you realize it ornot, every single one of you has
answers to those questions, andthose answers are shaping how
(03:56):
you live right now.
And the reverse is true how youlive right now also shows what
you truly believe.
The answers to those questionsare not just the right answers
that you know you're supposed tosay to your parents, your
friends, or to your pastor orsmall group leader at church.
Your life will show thoseanswers.
(04:16):
Your life will show what youthink about the world around you
, about what you think aboutyour role, what the purpose of
life is.
Your actions show that.
And so here's the importantthing to know about worldviews
they're not all created equal.
In the world we live in today,it's popular to say something
and claim that truth is relative, meaning that we can all
believe whatever we want.
Right, you do you, I'm gonna dome, I'm gonna live my truth,
(04:38):
you're gonna live your truth,and everything works out great,
but it doesn't work that way.
I've told the silly story abunch of.
If my truth is that I can flylike a pretty little butterfly
and I jump off the Tower ofAmerica, it's like how's that
gonna end?
I'm gonna hit the reality ofgravity splat, and that's
(05:02):
example.
But when you start to actuallythink about how this plays out
in everyday life, it starts tobecome really, really important
to know you believe the rightthings.
Because if your worldview isthat you don't need anybody,
that you can protect yourself bykeeping people at arm's length,
you can live that way, but youwill never know the joy of being
fully known and fully loved.
You will hide because you'reafraid of being exposed, because
you're afraid that if anybodyknew the real you, they would
reject you.
But by hiding you'll be robbingyourself of the very thing you
(05:24):
are known for love, fully known,all your junk, and loved
anyways.
You might be safe, but you'llbe alone.
Or if your worldview is thatthe goal of life is to be as
happy and comfortable aspossible, you might get little
glimmers of that here and there,but that happiness is going to
wear off and sooner or laterthat high will fade and you're
going to be left empty, chasingthe next thing.
(05:47):
Or if your worldview is thatyou have to earn your worth
through your performance,whether it's grades, sports,
looks, money.
You can live that way, buteventually you will fail.
You will hit the reality checkof failure.
And what then?
Your identity is going tocrumble and you'll be in this
constant state of anxietybecause what you tried to find
(06:08):
hope in, vanished.
And so the point here is notall worldviews are equal.
They will not all take youwhere you want to go.
In fact, all of them, otherthan one, will take you
somewhere you don't want to go.
So the question is which one isright?
Well, my argument tonight isthat the book, the Christian
Bible, is God's word, and itreveals the perfect truth about
(06:32):
where we come from, who we are,why we're here, how we should
live and what happens after wedie.
That the Bible is not just someancient, dusty book, but
instead it reveals everythingabout God and everything we need
to know about the world that welive in.
And the funny thing is, eventhough a lot of us are familiar
with our Bibles, we're notfamiliar with its answer to
(06:53):
those questions.
What I mean by this is we mightknow that the Bible has a bunch
of cool stories David andGoliath or King Saul, or you
might know Noah's Ark, this bigflood and all these sorts of
things.
You might know some storiesabout Jesus, maybe even a
parable or two.
But the thing is, the Bible isso much more than just a
(07:14):
collection of stories and abunch of rules on what to do and
what not to do.
And that's what brings us tothe new series that we're going
to be starting this fall andthat we are introducing tonight.
Tonight's a little bit different.
We're just introducing it,we're not diving in yet, and the
series that we're going to bewalking through this fall is
titled Eden, because we're goingto be walking through Genesis,
(07:34):
chapter 1 through 11, becausethose first pages of the Bible,
those first 11 chapters, tellyou so much about those
important questions.
And I truly believe that howyou understand Genesis 1 through
11 will unlock how youunderstand the entire rest of
the Bible.
If you understand those fewchapters, so much more is going
(07:55):
to make sense.
And if you don't understandthose chapters, on the other
side you're always going to havea little bit of confusion as
you read your Bible, because onthe surface, the beginning of
Genesis kind of seems weirdright, I'm talking snake fruit,
cain and Abel, like dude killsthem over some veggies and some
sheep and like.
Then there's this like Noah'sArk, really big flood and
animals two by two and there'sreally tall tower like what's
(08:17):
going on.
But it actually tells useverything we need to know about
those big questions, and sowe're going to jump into this
series next week.
But with the little time thatwe have left, I just want to
walk through three things that,as we study the book of Genesis,
I want to keep in mind, andthis is also good for how you
study the Bible as a whole, andwe're going to move through
these really quick because we'regoing to small groups here in
(08:39):
just a couple of minutes.
First point Genesis is nottrying to explain when the
universe was made or exactly howGod built it, not saying that
it doesn't have true facts aboutthose things.
But that's not the primarypoint of Genesis and it's
important to know because a lotof times when you read the first
part of the book of Genesis inyour Bible, we get hung up on
(09:00):
the creation account.
Right, was it in six days?
How long ago was it made?
Were there gaps between thedays how long is a day?
And really the reason thishappens is because the Bible's
creation account doesn't seem toline up with the one that you
might have been taught in school.
And look, I could spend a lot oftime going in on all sorts of
evidence to believe the Bible'screation narrative, and there's
(09:21):
a lot of evidence and facts toback it up and a lot of reasons
to doubt what the currentscientific consensus is.
But even to get into thatargument would kind of miss the
point of what Genesis is about,because Genesis is not trying to
give you the little details andthe nuts and bolts of how God
created everything.
That's not anything.
(09:43):
That's not the aim of thepeople who wrote it, and when we
read a book we have to payattention to the aim of the
author and what the purpose was.
In fact, a good chunk of thefirst part of Genesis is poetry,
and that doesn't mean it's allsymbolic, but it does mean that
it's trying to show yousomething that's beyond just
stats and facts.
We don't want to read Genesislike we're reading a textbook,
and when you do, you're going toget confused, you're going to
(10:03):
get frustrated because you'retrying to find answers that
aren't there, not that Goddoesn't know, not that God
doesn't have, and there might bea lot of things that you can
pull from that, but we want tofocus on the main thing.
So then the question is what isthe main thing?
The second point is that Genesisis trying to explain the
meaning and the purpose behindthe universe.
It's not trying to explain whenit was made or how it was made,
(10:25):
but it's showing us who made it, what the world is really like,
why everything you look atexists and how we can know God
and understand our place ineverything that he made.
And, as you see, there's thingsthat are at surface level might
make sense, but they're deeplysymbolic about how life works.
(10:48):
Even today, as a teenager inBernie, texas, like I will read
Genesis 1 through 11, like theLord really opened my eyes to
these chapters recently and Iread them now, and this is my
favorite part of the Biblebecause it's so accurately
describes life.
It just describes it in a waythat we're not necessarily used
to.
It has the answers to the factthat God made the universe, he
(11:10):
made everything in it, he gaveit order, he created it to work
a certain way, he called it andmade it good, and he made us, in
his image, to be his statues,visible representations of an
invisible God, to have arelationship with him that leads
us to reflect him in the worldaround us.
And sin comes in and it breaksthat relationship and it's the
(11:31):
cause of all the hurt and painand suffering and death that you
see in the world today.
But then, even in that moment,god already had a plan to mend
it, to make it whole, to wipeevery tear from every eye and to
bring us back into therelationship with him that we
were made for.
That is the point of Genesis,and when you understand that, it
(11:52):
gets a lot easier to let therest of the details work
themselves out.
And then point three Genesis wasnot written to you, but it was
written for you, and you couldactually substitute literally
any book of the Bible in thispoint, because the Bible was not
written to a 21st centuryteenager in Bernie Texas.
They were written thousands ofyears ago.
(12:14):
All of the books of the Biblewere written thousands of years
ago and they were written to aspecific audience, meaning when
they were writing, they weren'tlike.
How is Gillian Slayton going tounderstand this?
And Bernie Texas.
One day they were writing toactual people who had actual
life circumstances and thingsthat they were going through.
You ever wonder why, like, everymetaphor in the New Testament
is about farming?
Because they were farmers.
That's what they understood.
(12:35):
And so when there's metaphorsand illustrations and things
being used, it's communicated ina way that would have made
sense to the original audience.
And so what happens is sometimeswe come to the Bible with our
own assumptions, with our ownunderstanding of ways, and it's
different than it was thousandsof years ago, and we kind of
unconsciously think, oh, I'msmarter than these people.
Right, they don't really knowwhat they're talking about.
(12:57):
Like they didn't even like knowabout like space and stuff, and
like they can't they don't knowwhat they're talking about.
But to do that is to completelymiss the point, because God
decided to reveal these truthsthrough these people at this
time, and he did that on purpose, and they're going to
communicate it in a way that'scompletely different than we
might understand it.
But that doesn't mean that thetruth that they're communicating
(13:20):
is wrong.
It's just explained differently.
Think about it.
That's why you don't seegravity or the solar system
spelled out in detail in Genesis, because the guy who wrote
Genesis didn't have a grasp ofall of that.
That doesn't mean what he wassaying wasn't true.
That's just not how he'dexplain it.
Just like we love all thescientific details, that's not
how they thought or communicated.
(13:42):
And so we have to do our best tocome to it without our own
assumptions or biases oranything like that, and ask okay
, let me put myself in thesepeople's shoes and read it like
they read it, and then take thatmeaning and apply it to our
lives, because it was for you.
All of scripture isGod-breathed and good for
teaching, rebuke, encouragement,like it is God's word for us.
But there's a little bit ofwork for us to get to understand
(14:03):
that meaning and we'll do thatevery single week.
But just have that in mind.
And so we're about to close.
Tonight's a little bitdifferent.
We were just introducing thisseries and just setting the the
stage as everything like dinnersand all that sort of stuff
kicks off down there.
Next week we're going to jumpin straight up with creation.
I'm super excited, but we'reabout to go to groups.
But real quick, I just want allof us to practice.
Go ahead and close your eyes,take a deep breath, relax.
It's been a long week.
(14:23):
I just want you to close youreyes and think.
What is your worldview?
How would you answer thosequestions?
Where did you come from?
How did we get here?
(14:44):
Like humans not like youspecifically, but human humanity
how did we get here?
Who are you?
What is your identity?
Why are you here?
What were you made to do?
What is the point of life?
Is it to just go through schooland get a bunch of grades, try
(15:04):
to graduate, make a lot of moneyso you can retire at 38 or Gulf
Shores or wherever?
Or is there something more tolife than the rat race that
we're all on?
How should you live?
Who decides right and wrong?
Is it you?
Is it your mom, your dad, yourteacher?
(15:27):
Is it the God who createdeverything?
And then ask yourself thinkabout all the answers you just
gave.
Is your life saying that you'relying about those answers?
How would your life, youractions, answer those questions?
Because you can say that youbelieve God determines right and
wrong, but if every time you'regiven that choice and you want
(15:50):
to do what's wrong, you dowhat's wrong, that says you
might have a different view ofthings and there's grace.
But grace means repentance andturning from that.
And so, look, I know that in aroom this size, not every single
one of you is a follower ofJesus, and if you're not, I want
to talk to you here for amoment.
I am glad you are here.
Keep coming back.
(16:12):
Jesus loves you right now, evenas you may not have anything to
do with him.
God is good, he cares about you.
He wants a relationship withyou.
In fact, he wants arelationship with you so much
that the way he decided to makea way for that relationship was
to send his son to die for you,and he is glad you are here.
You are not an outcast.
You are not looked down upon.
(16:32):
You are in good company offellow sinners.
There are just those of us whofound grace and forgiveness and
healing and hope in Jesus andare now his children, and that
invitation is open to you too.
And so maybe you showed uptonight.
You're real skeptical about allthis.
Just show up, just keep askingquestions.
We're going to walk throughwhat the Bible says about all
this stuff this week, next week,and so just come, taste and see
(16:57):
, learn with an open mind.
It's the least that I can askof you.
We'll play games, we'll feedyou stuff, we'll have fun.
The only thing I ask in returnis that you just have an open
mind, test out what we learnabout what the Bible says, and I
know if you do with an honestand open heart, you will find it
to be true and to be life.
Let's pray, lord.
(17:18):
God, we thank you so much fortonight and the opportunity to
be here, worship you, gathertogether.
We love you so much and wethank you for your word.
And we just pray right now,over these next few weeks, as we
walk through this series onGenesis 1 through 11, that even
now, you would prepare ourhearts and our minds to do
business with you, to ask thetough questions, to be
(17:38):
vulnerable and honest in groups,to tear off the facade that we
all live behind in this town andto just come here open-minded,
open-hearted, to see what youmight have for us.
And, lord, that we would leavehere tonight and every week
closer to you, looking more likeyou, and that we'd see the
miracle of salvation.
Lord, that we would leave heretonight and every week closer to
you, looking more like you, andthat we'd see the miracle of
salvation.
Lord, we pray a big prayerbecause we believe you can
(18:00):
answer them.
But, lord, that even by the endof this series, every unsaved
soul under the sound of my voicetonight will be saved.
Lord, we pray that you'd saveas many as you desire, as many
as can God.
We love you, we praise you, weas many as can God.
We love you, we praise you, wepray all these things in your
son, jesus' name.
Amen.
We love you.
Guys, let's go to groups.
Those rooms are going to be uphere on the screen.
(18:21):
I know we have some new classesand such, but these are going
to be our rooms.
Find your teacher.
If you have any questions, goask either me or Andrew or one
of the leaders.
I promise Aaron that was thereis.
(19:10):
Thank you.
Popular Podcasts
NFL Daily with Gregg Rosenthal
Gregg Rosenthal and a rotating crew of elite NFL Media co-hosts, including Patrick Claybon, Colleen Wolfe, Steve Wyche, Nick Shook and Jourdan Rodrigue of The Athletic get you caught up daily on all the NFL news and analysis you need to be smarter and funnier than your friends.
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com