God is Forever | A Sermon on Psalm 115:8 & Revelation 21-22

Introduction
I feel like I have a tall order in my sermon today. Because, this weekend, we celebrated the 250th anniversary of the founding of our great nation–the land that I love. But, we are also working our way through the themes for our upcoming Vacation Bible School, which will be July 13-17 from 6:30-8:30. 

But God is good, and I believe He’s given me just the right Word to share this morning. But in order to make this work, I sensed God wanting me to skip ahead and preach on the Day 5 theme for VBS today and then do Day 4 next Sunday. So I flip-flopped my original plans, because I want to be obedient to the Holy Spirit’s direction. 

The title for Day 5 of VBS is God is Forever.  The Memory verse for the lesson is Psalm 115:8. But to give a broader context for this pass, lets read verses 1-9. 

Psalm 115:1-9
1 Not to us, O Lord, not to us, but to your name goes all the glory for your unfailing love and faithfulness. 2 Why let the nations say, “Where is their God?” 3 Our God is in the heavens, and he does as he wishes. 4 Their idols are merely things of silver and gold, shaped by human hands. 5 They have mouths but cannot speak, and eyes but cannot see. 6 They have ears but cannot hear, and noses but cannot smell. 7 They have hands but cannot feel, and feet but cannot walk, and throats but cannot make a sound. 8 And those who make idols are just like them, as are all who trust in them. 9 O Israel, trust the Lord! He is your helper and your shield.   

The Book of Revelation
In addition to the memory verse in Psalm, our VBS lesson teaches about John’s vision of Heaven in the Book of Revelation. That’s pretty bold! Revelation 7:17 - For the Lamb on the throne will be their Shepherd. He will lead them to springs of life-giving water. And God will wipe every tear from their eyes. 

People often think the point of Revelation is to predict the future. But the purpose of Revelation’s more than that. (By the way, there is no “S” in Revelation) 

In Revelation, God shows John what’s really going on in his world–things we can’t see. Now, John (one of Jesus’ 12 Disciples) lives in a world dominated by the Roman empire. Rome is the superpower that controls John’s world (and all the Christians in it). It is a pagan world, unchristian to its core, and the Romans empire is anti-Christian. Christians are this tiny, persecuted minority, with no political power, seemingly at the mercy of Rome and everyone else. Because they believed in Jesus, Christians were often ostracized. Their businesses failed because often no one wanted to do business with "those Christians".  For the same reasons, they often can’t find work. They are kicked out of synagogues and they sometimes even lose their homes or are driven out of town. 

And Christians often became scapegoats who got the blame for any disaster that befell a town. When a terrible fire destroyed much of Rome, emperor Nero blamed Christians.  Many historians (even Roman ones) believe it was actually Nero who started the fire.  So Nero had to do something.  He had many arrested and doused in pitch, tied to stakes, and turned into human torches to light the streets of Rome--all in a effort to divert the blame from himself.  

And so these Christians were asking, “What’s the point of being a follower of Christ?” It is into this world of hurt that God gives the Apostle John his Revelation. And Revelation isn’t just a vision about what’s going to happen at the end of time (why would the hurting people reading Revelation in the 1st century care; tell me how this helps me NOW). 

Revelation Pulls Back the Curtain
God gave Revelation to pull back the curtain on their CURRENT events and show Christians: there is way more going on around you than what you can see. Everyone thinks Rome is a mighty empire, that it’s permanent, but it’s not. It will soon be gone. But the Kingdom of God is forever. And you are citizens in God’s Kingdom that will last forever. 

Think about all the things people back then thought were so important and would last forever. The Temple. Caesar. The Roman Empire. Their own suffering. But God pulls back the curtain in Revelation and says, “These things are temporary. But My Kingdom lasts forever. And ultimately, all the empires of this world will fall, and all the rulers of this world will cease, and every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord of all.” 

And here’s the thing, God’s Kingdom isn’t just something we look forward to in the future. No. God’s Kingdom is now. It starts for us the moment we say YES to Jesus and it exists behind the curtain of what we can see. It’s not just coming; it’s here now. And when we follow Christ faithfully, we participate in God’s Kingdom. 

Many Things We Love Are Temporary
God’s Word also reminds us that many of the things we love are temporary. When I was a kid, I used to love swimming in pool.  I would hate it when my parents said, “It’s time to go!” As a parent myself, I tried to soften this with my own kids by giving them a 5 minute warning.  

But we all know that some things we really like don’t last forever. (Vacation ends. Summer break ends. Baseball season ends. Favorite toys break. Pets die.) We even know that houses deteriorate. Careers end. Health fades. Even church buildings don't last forever. And on a wider scale: nations rise and fall. Ancient Egypt lasted 3,000. Greece lasted 600 years. Rome lasted 2,000. But all faded away. 

This weekend we celebrate 250 years of our nation. I'm deeply thankful for America. I love this country. I'm grateful for the freedoms we've enjoyed. But Scripture reminds us that every earthly kingdom—even the greatest ones—are temporary. We can be thankful we live in a great nation, with a proud history. We should be grateful for the patriots who made tremendous sacrifices to build our country and preserve it for 250 years. And we should do our best to honor them by taking care of America the best we can. 

Where Is Your Hope?
Where is your hope? Since we’re in church, we would probably all answer “Jesus!” It sounds good and we know it’s probably the right answer. We should put our hope in Christ. But here’s what I’ve found about myself (and maybe it’s true for you too): Our reaction to world events can reveal where our hope is and, sometimes, how we may need to ask God to help us change our thinking.

Consider: 

If we lose hope because our candidate doesn’t win, it could reveal that we have placed too much hope in a candidate instead of in God. 

If we give up because we see our community or our nation changing in ways we don’t agree with, it might reveal our priorities are misaligned. 

What happens inside you if: The stock market crashes… If your health changes… If life doesn't go the way you hoped… 

If our hope dies because of these things, it is a clue that maybe we’ve put too much hope in the things of this world instead of God. We might not want to hear that, but that’s what God wants us to know. 

By all means, Christians should be actively involved in trying to shape the world around us to match the values of God’s Kingdom. Our prayer is always with Jesus’ in the Lord’s Prayer: “Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth as it is in Heaven…” Yet we don’t put our ultimate hope in the systems, people, governments, or kingdoms of this world. Our hope is in the Lord and our eternity is the Kingdom of Heaven. 

Revelation 21:3-4
Revelation 21 gives the grand vision of God’s heavenly Kingdom. Verse 3-4 says: “I heard a loud shout from the throne, saying, “Look, God’s home is now among his people! He will live with them, and they will be his people. God himself will be with them. He will wipe every tear from their eyes, and there will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain. All these things are gone forever.” 

God’s love never runs out, never changes, never leaves. God’s love is permanent, His promises are unbreakable, and His home is waiting for all who trust Him. That means we don’t need to be afraid of the future. It means we don’t have to lose hope in the present–even if things don’t go our way. We can live with hope, confidence, and joy–because no matter what happens, our “forever” is safe in God’s hands! 

God is Our Safe Space | A Sermon on Psalm 142:5 & 1 Samuel 23-24

Introduction
VBS at Stark is July 13-17.  Kristin has been working diligently to get ready.  There will be crafts, Bible lessons, games, snack.  I heard a rumor the Bible character David will be our guest one day.  I’m excited about this opportunity to serve the kids and families of our community.  And I’m excited to see you pitching in to help with everything.  See Kristin Williams to find out how you can get involved.

As we are previewing the 5 lessons of Rainforest Falls VBS, the title for Day 3 is “God is Our Safe Place”.  The theme for the day is:  You can find comfort and peace.  The Memory verse for the lesson is Psalm 142:5

Psalm 142:5
Then I pray to you, O Lord.  I say, “You are my place of refuge.  You are all I really want in life.

David, Alone, Watching the Sheep
We touched on the life of David from the Bible last week.  God Saw David as a young boy watching the sheep alone; his family overlooked him and took him for granted.  God never takes us for granted.  God knows everything and that He sees our heart, even when no one else does.   

Today, we zoom in on a time in David’s life when he was a fugitive, running for his life while King Saul tried to kill him.  

Now, David had been faithful to King Saul and served him well.  David was an honest man and a valiant warrior fighting the enemies of King Saul and Israel.  But Saul was jealous.  Saul was not following God and he knew God favored David.  Saul grew paranoid and felt threatened by David’s popularity, even though David was faithful.  So, Saul tried to kill David.

David fled into the wilderness of Judah, the rugged desert region east and south of Hebron overlooking the Dead Sea.  I have been to Israel, to the place where David hid from Saul. 

The Wilderness of Judea
To the left is a picture from 2008 when I traveled to Israel and we made a stop in the Judean wilderness.  As you can see, it is a desolate place with crags and crevasses, cliffs and caves.  It isn’t a very hospitable, but it’s a great place to hide out.
This particular place is overlooks “The Valley of the Shadow of Death”.  It is thought to be the inspiration for David’s famous words in Psalm 23. 
Can you imagine David hiding out here while Saul and his army hunt for him, trying to kill him?  And David prays, “Yeah though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for Thou art with me…” 

It would be one thing for David to be all alone, hiding from Saul in the wilderness.  But since King Saul was an unjust ruler who was going mad with paranoia, there quickly grew up a large number of people fleeing from his tyrannical rule.  

And do you know where they often fled?  To David in the wilderness.  There were soon about 600 people who fled to David in the wilderness.   And though he didn’t ask for it, they looked to David for leadership.  So he didn’t just have to worry about his own safety, he was now responsible for there’s too.

I have reflected on something quite often as a husband and a father.  I’m a survivor.  I survived a lot in my life.  In my childhood, things were rough at home and we lived in rough neighborhoods, but I learned to survive.  And as I grew into adulthood, I always had confidence I coudl survive just about anything.  I can sleep in my care or on the floor, I can eat just about anything, I'm fit, and now how to adapt.  I can survive--even if life is tough.  

But as a husband and then later as a father, I'm charged with providing for my family, protecting them.  And I realized, it's a lot harder to survive when you have a family to take care of.  I can't expect my wife or kids to endure the hardships I would endure on my own.  So, I can survive, but how can I ensure my family survives?

And then as a pastor, I don’t just have to look out for my family, I also to look out for my flock.  These people are in my care and I need to protect them and help them.  Life get's a lot more complicated when it's not only yourself you need to look after.

And here is David, hiding out in the wilderness, but now he is also responsible for 600 people looking to him for leadership.  That's a heavy responsibility--something too big for David to carry all on his own.

So today, God’s reminder to me—to all of us—is a great comfort.  God is our safe place.  Repeatedly, the Scriptures remind us, “God is our refuge and strength…” (Ps 46:1).  “The Lord is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer; my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold." (Ps 18:2)  It is God who keeps us safe.  He is our fortress and shield.

1 Samuel 23:14 - "David now stayed in the strongholds of the wilderness and in the hill country of Ziph. Saul hunted him day after day, but God didn’t let Saul find him."

Saul and his army of 3,000 elite troops were hunting David and his small band of 600.  Saul was on one side of the mountain and David was on the other side.  And then Saul had to leave before he found David.  God is the one who kept Saul from finding David, because God is our refuge.

The Cave Story
Another time, Saul was chasing David in the wilderness and David and his men hid in a cave.

These caves weren't little holes in the rock. The caves around En Gedi were like natural underground rooms with twisting passages and hidden chambers. The entrances may have been small, but then they opened up into large chambers with high ceilings where many men could hide and feel safe.  David and his men were deep in the darkness while Saul unknowingly walked into the entrance unguarded. The cave that looked like David's hiding place became the place where God protected him.

David’s men urged David to take advantage of the situation and kill Saul, but David refused to kill Saul because Saul was still the king of Israel.  Instead, David snuck up and cut off a piece of Saul’s robe. 

After Saul left the cave and was a distance away, 1 Samuel 24:9-12 says, “David came out and shouted after him, “My lord the king!” And when Saul looked around, David bowed low before him. “Why do you listen to the people who say I am trying to harm you? This very day you can see with your own eyes it isn’t true. For the Lord placed you at my mercy back there in the cave. Some of my men told me to kill you, but I spared you. For I said, ‘I will never harm the king—he is the Lord’s anointed one.’ Look, my father, at what I have in my hand. It is a piece of the hem of your robe! I cut it off, but I didn’t kill you. This proves that I am not trying to harm you and that I have not sinned against you, even though you have been hunting for me to kill me.  May the Lord judge between us. Perhaps the Lord will punish you for what you are trying to do to me, but I will never harm you.”  And verse 15 – “May the Lord therefore judge which of us is right and punish the guilty one. He is my advocate, and he will rescue me from your power!”

David trusted God to be his advocate, keep him safe, to be a fair judge, and to punish the guilty. 

Who is Your Safe Place?
But what does all of this mean for us?  Most of us have never hidden in a cave while a king hunted us.  But all of us know what it's like to need a safe place.  Some of you are living in a wilderness right now.  
Maybe your wilderness is a doctor's office where you're waiting for test results.
Maybe it's a marriage that feels like it's falling apart.
Maybe it's grief after losing someone you love.
Maybe it's financial pressure that keeps you awake at night.
Maybe it's anxiety, depression, loneliness, or fear about the future.
Maybe you've been treated unfairly like David was. You've been lied about, overlooked, betrayed, or hurt by someone you trusted.
The details are different for each of us, but the feeling is the same.
You wonder, "Where can I go? Where can I find peace? Where will I be safe?"

Our first instinct is usually to run somewhere.
Some people run to money, hoping it will make them feel secure.
Some run to success or achievement.
Some run to entertainment or social media to escape reality for a while.
Some run to alcohol, drugs, pornography, or other addictions to numb the pain.
Some simply keep themselves so busy they never have to think about what's hurting inside.
But none of those places can truly protect us. They're only temporary hiding places.

David eventually learned something remarkable. His refuge wasn't really the cave.  The cave could collapse. Saul could have found the entrance and attacked.  The wilderness itself offered no guarantees.

David’s refuge was God.  That's why David could pray in Psalm 142:5, "You are my refuge. You are all I really want in life."  Notice he doesn't say, "The cave is my refuge" or "My six hundred men are my refuge."  He doesn't say, "One day when I'm king, then I'll finally be safe."

No—while he is still hiding, while Saul is still hunting him, while nothing about his circumstances has changed, David says, "Lord, You are my refuge."

That changes everything.  Because if God is your refuge, you can have peace before your problems are solved.  You can have hope before the diagnosis changes.  You can have courage before the relationship is restored.  You can sleep at night even when the future is uncertain.  Not because life is safe—but because God is.

Invitation
You can come to God as your refuge today.  You can trust God to be your advocate, your safe place, and a mighty warrior to fight for you.  And you don’t have to worry about your sin--even if you’ve done something awful.  Because Jesus already paid the penalty for all our sin.  So we can come to God with a clear conscious, knowing He loves us unconditionally, and welcomes us just as He welcomes His own son, Jesus.  

But each of us has to make a choice.  We must put our faith in Jesus and decide to follow Him as Lord.  Then we will be welcomed into God’s Kingdom—which starts in your life the moment you say yes to Jesus.  Won’t you say yes today?

Today, God is inviting you to run to Him.  If you've never trusted Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, today is the day. Turn away from your sin. Place your faith in Jesus. Tell Him, "Lord, I trust You. I want to follow You."  The Bible says, "Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved."

Maybe you've already trusted Christ, but you've been running somewhere else for your security. Today, it's time to come home. Lay your burdens at His feet. Let Him be your refuge again.  Run to Jesus.   You'll discover that the safest place in all the world isn't a cave.   It's in the arms of your Savior.

God Knows Everything | A Sermon on Psalm 139

Introduction
Vacation Bible School at my church, Stark Methodist Church, is July 13-17.  We’ll step through the mist into Rainforest Falls (by Group Publishing), overflowing with wild waterfalls, towering trees, and colorful creatures. Beneath a canopy of chattering birds and howling monkeys, kids plunge into a lifelong adventure of discovering the nature of God. They’ll explore what it means to be rooted in relationship with God, their creator, a safe place in life’s storms.  If you haven’t done so already, I suggest you talk to Kristin Williams to find out how you can get involved.

The title for Day 2 of VBS is “God Knows Everything” and the Memory verse for the lesson is Psalm 139:1 

Psalm 139:1
O Lord, you have examined my heart, and know everything about me.

Kids Today
The kids in our community live in a world that constantly watches them.  They have cameras on their phones, pictures on social media, and security cameras in their schools.  Everyone is watching!  In spit of all that attention, many kids still feel unseen, unknown, or misunderstood.

Psalm 139 reassures kids (and us) that God doesn’t just watch them, God knows their hearts—like a loving Father.  God sees their struggles, their dreams, their quiet worries… and God cares. 

God Saw David When No One Else Cared
To illustrate how God sees and knows us and how He cares, our VBS lesson takes us through the life of David.  Before David was a king, he was just a kid who was over looked by his family.

From Scripture, we learn young David was sent out to watch the family’s flock of sheep.  In the cold of night, David looked up into the stars and tried to count them, thinking of the God who made them.  When a Lion or Bear attacked, trying to steal on of the sheep, David trusted God to help him fight off the predator.

And when David was left out in the field while the rest of the family had a feast, God saw David and knew him and knew his heart.  God didn’t forget about David.  God chose him to be a king who was a man after God’s own heart. 

Do You Ever Feel Forgotten?
Kids today, often feel overlooked or forgotten. 
Even if we lavish attention on them, do we just see a little kid?  Or do we see them as the unique individual they really are?  Do we just treat them like a kid?  Or do we take the time to really get to know them and treat them with respect and not just a kid?

 How about you?  Do you ever feel overlooked or forgotten?  

I want you to know, you are more than just a vote to be counted, or a customer to be served, or a number in a database.  God sees you for who you really are.  He sees you and He knows your heart—because He made you.

God Sees When You’re Mistreated
God saw David out in the field and knew his heart and chose him to be the next king of Israel.  But the current king, Saul, was jealous and tried to kill David.  He saw David as a threat.  David had to flee for his life and spent years as a fugitive hiding in caves in the desert.  Even though David had served Saul faithfully, Saul wanted him dead.

But even while David was hiding, God continued to see David.  You can hide from people, but you can’t hide from God.  God saw David. He saw his suffering.  He saw his integrity.  God saw that David tried to do the right thing even when others didn't treat him fairly.  And God never forgot David.  He took care of him and continued to bless him. 

Do you ever feel like you have to hide from people?  Do you ever have to hide your true feelings?  Do you ever keep your mouth shut instead of saying what you really feel?  Sometimes it’s better to stay silent than to say what you really think.  But it never feels good, does it?  Oh that we could always and everywhere just say what’s on our mind.  But that wouldn’t be wise or even necessarily helpful.  So, we bite our tongues sometimes until we nearly bite them off.

But God sees us even when we’re hiding.  He sees us and He knows our heart.  And He knows that sometimes it’s better to silent.  He gave us Proverbs 21:23 which says: “Watch your tongue and keep your mouth shut, and you will stay out of trouble.”

But if you ever feel unseen or unheard because you have to keep your true heart hidden, know this:  God sees you.  God hears you.  God knows your heart.  God knows everything.

God See Our Sin
God sees everything.  But that means God also sees our sin.  But the Good News is, God loves us anyway.  And we see this play out in the life of David too. 

Eventually, David did become king, according to God’s plan.  And David was a good king.  He loved God and he loved God’s people, Israel.  But David was also a human, and humans—even the best ones—are full of sin.

And one day, David committed adultery with a woman named Bathsheba and she became pregnant.  David tried to cover it up.  When he couldn't manipulate Bathsheba's husband, Uriah, into sleeping with to make everyone think it was Uriah's child, David had Uriah murdered by stationing him on the front line in the army when they attacked a city.  Uriah was killed in battle because of David's orders.

David tried to hide his sin so no one would see what he had done.  But God saw it.  God knew David’s sin.  And God sent a prophet to expose David’s sin so he could be held accountable, repent, be forgiven, and be healed.

God sees when we sin.  Even if no one ever finds out, God knows.  And sin breaks His heart and separates us from our loving God. Sin cuts us off from life.  But even when we sin, God never stops loving us.  Romans 5:8 tells us:  “God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners.”

I don’t know what you’ve done—what sins you’ve committed.  But I know you’ve sinned, because we all have.  Romans 3:23 says, “All have sinned and fall short of God’s glorious standard.”  So we are all guilty.  And God knows it. 

Psalm 139:2-3 says:  “You know when I sit down or stand up.  You know my thoughts even when I’m far away.  You see me when I travel and when I rest at home.  You know everything I do.”

And still, “God loved the world so much that He sent His one and only Son so that whoever believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3:16)  Because “the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 6:23)

Jesus already paid the price for our sin.  He took the penalty on himself, even though He was completely innocent.  Jesus offers mercy and forgiveness if we will repent and turn to God through Him.  If you have not done so already, I pray you will repent and turn to Jesus. 

Conclusion
So, in a few weeks, we will welcome a crowd of kids to Stark Methodist for Rainforest Falls VBS.  On day 2, we will teach that God knows everything about them.  Even if they feel unseen by the world, we will remind that that God sees them and cares.   

But today, I want you to know:  God see you.  God knows everything about you—and that’s a good thing!  Because God loves you unconditionally.

God sees your struggles, your dreams, your failures, your quiet struggles… and God cares. 
So put your faith in Jesus Christ.  Don’t hide from Him, don’t run away.
Run to God through Jesus Christ His Son.  Be accepted.  Be forgiven. Be loved.
And then you can go out and love others the way God loves you.

God is Our Creator | A Sermon on Genesis 1

Introduction
Today, we commissioned our River of Life volunteers.  It’s an important ministry God will use to bless homeowners in our community.  It will bless the adult and youth volunteers as we serve too.  The mission starts in just a few days, but we’ve been preparing for this mission for a long time.

We have another mission that is coming up July 13-17 called Vacation Bible School.  So today, I begin a new sermon series that will help us prepare for VBS.  Each Sunday, I will share a message based on the themes from VBS.  And I think the theme today relates to River of Life as well.  Because it’s about our origin story.

It’s about why we are called to serve one another and treat each other with dignity.  It’s about how a person’s worth is not valued by how much money they have, what talents they possess, or even what they can contribute to society.  We are all priceless treasures because we were crafted by God’s ingenious design.  We are the crown of His whole creation.  And each one of us bears the image of God.

Psalm 103:22
Praise the Lord, everything he has created,
    everything in all his kingdom.
Let all that I am praise the Lord.

The Theme of Day 1
The lesson for Day 1 of our upcoming VBS is about the origin story of all creation & humanity.  It takes us all the way back to Genesis 1 and creation and encourages us to praise God who created it all.  This is an important lesson for kids and for all of us, because it reminds us when we believe in God we can also believe in ourselves. Remember the creation story in Gen 1?

Genesis 1:1-2
¹ In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.^{[a] 2} The earth was formless and empty, and darkness covered the deep waters. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the surface of the waters.     

There was a time nothing existed.  But God took nothing and He made something special.  I was blessed as a child to be surrounded by people who encouraged me to believe in myself.  My mom would often tell me, “You can do anything you put your mind to.”  My Grandma said, “God loves you and I love you.”  And though there were sometimes mean people who tried to put me down saying “You’re stupid” or “you’re nothing,” I had enough people I trusted saying “You’re something special!" that I didn’t let the mean people get to me.

I think about that when I see kids nowadays.  You don’t ever know what they are going through or how the people around them make them feel.  What message are they getting?  Do they know they’re loved?  Do they know they are one of God’s most precious creations?  Or do they think their value is tied up in how well they perform, how pretty or handsome they are, or what grades they make in school or how fast they run? 

How about you?  What do you believe about yourself?  Do you realize you’re one of God’s greatest treasures?  I don’t mean do you know that up in your head.  I mean, do you know it deep down in your heart.  I mean look at how beautiful is God’s creation.

On the first day, He said, “Let there be light.  And there was light.”

On the second, He created the sky.  

On the third Day, He made the seas and dry land with all the trees, plants, and seed-bearing fruit. 

On the fourth day, God created the heavenly bodies to mark the seasons, days, and years and to govern day and night. 

On the fifth day, God created fish and birds to govern the sea and the sky.  

And it was all good.  God said it was good.  And we see it is so, so good. So beautiful!  

But then something was still missing.  Something else was needed. So on the sixth day, God made people, male and female, in His image, to be like Him. 

He made us to be caretakers of everything He had already made–the fish, the sea, the birds, the sky, the animals, the earth.

He said, reign over it all (on His behalf).

And then, and only then, did God say, “it was all very good.”  
It was so good, God decided to take the seventh day off just to rest and enjoy it all.

Now, I don’t know if you realize just how special you are, but you are.  As beautiful and precious as creation is, you are the crowning jewel of it all.

God loves you.  In Genesis 2:7, it says he made the first man from the dust of the ground–imagine the mighty hands of God sculpting a human out of clay.  Then, it says, “He breathed the breath of life into the man’s nostrils, and the man became a living person.”  Oh my!  The Creator God who formed a billion trillion stars and carved out the grand canyon, knelt down to earth and breathed His spirit breath into the nostrils of His dirt man!  That is how we–God’s image bearers–came to be.

Made in the Image of God
And when I look at you today, that’s what I see.  I see people who bear the image of God.  I see people God loves so, so dearly.  He loved you so much, as Jeff preached last Sunday, “He sent His one and only Son so that whoever believes in [Him] will not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3:16)

 

But we don’t always see ourselves the way God sees us.  Even though we hear His Word.  Even though we may have people–preachers or teachers or parents–who tell us: “You're precious.  You're a treasure.  You’re not nothing, you’re something special!”

And the people we serve this week at River of Life, they’re something special too.  That’s why we serve them.  They are made in the priceless image of God.  God loves them so much, He sent Jesus to die on the cross for them too, just like us.  And so we go to serve these precious people and I pray God gives us eyes to see them like God sees them.

And in a few weeks, we will host Vacation Bible School here.  And we have the wonderful privilege on the very first day, to tell the kids how God created us, and how they can find confidence in knowing they are crafted by God’s ingenious design.

Closing
Kids often hear (we all do) we need to make something of ourselves–be smarter, cooler, more successful.  But God’s Word flips that script.  Before we ever tried to prove our worth, God already designed us with purpose and love.  This truth changes everything!  We don’t need to chase approval or compete for value.  We already matter because the creator of the universe formed us intentionally, in His image. 

So you can walk with confidence, knowing you belong, you hold value, and you have been created for something extraordinary.  And whenever you look around and notice how wonderful is the world God created, you can give praise and celebrate God’s goodness and creativity.  You can join with the psalmist “Praise the Lord, everything he has created, everything in all his kingdom!  Let all that I am praise the Lord.” (Psalm 103:22)

So first, I want you to realize your precious worth as a bearer of God’s image.  Let this sink in today, like you never have before.  You are loved.  You are special. You are important to God and this world.  You are a person of priceless worth who bears God’s holy image.

Second, I want you see that the people all around us–the pretty ones, the ugly ones, the young and old, the rich the poor, and even the ones who smell bad, are also made in God’s image. He loves them and wants them in His eternal Kingdom.  And He is sending us to serve some of them this week at River of Life.

Third, I want you to be thinking ahead to VBS.  We will have the great privilege of serving those kids and telling them and showing them that they are precious and special and that God loves them and so do we.  It's something really important we need to do. VBS isn't just a tradition we do every year. And it's not just a way for us to attract more kids, more you families to our church (though that would be nice). But what we're doing is so much more. We get to tell these kids, show them, God loves them and we do too. Not because they're cute. Not because they're smart. Not because they're young. They are special and they are loved because God made them with His own hands, in His image. 

And you need to know that today too. God loves you. Not because of whatbyou have or what you can do or who you know or what family you came from or your history or your heritage or anything like that. God loves you because you bear His image. You're His son, His daughter. You're His masterpiece. And that makes you special.

So, Praise the Lord, everything he has created, everything in all his kingdom.  Let all that you are praise the Lord.