Shane Idleman emphasizes the vital role of the Holy Spirit in the life of believers, asserting that true hope and peace come from grace and the Spirit's guidance. He discusses the importance of understanding the triune nature of God and the necessity of spiritual awakening in the church and nation. Idleman encourages questioning and seeking truth, particularly in relation to science and faith, while also stressing the significance of character over mere words. He highlights the creation narrative in Genesis, asserting that order cannot arise from chaos and that God is the ultimate creator. The sermon concludes with a call to recognize our identity as beings made in God's image and the importance of living out that truth in a world filled with confusion.

Hope is yours to take. Peace is found in grace. I've been prompted this morning to maybe share this, but why these songs about the Holy Spirit? Well, you have to realize that the Holy Spirit leads, the Holy Spirit directs, the Holy Spirit convicts, the Holy Spirit regenerates, the Holy Spirit fills, the Holy Spirit converts. I don't understand quite how it all works, just like I don't understand how my truck works, but it works. And you know, and I know, you need the Holy Spirit's power, the Holy Spirit's fire, quenching the Spirit, grieving the Spirit, surrendering to the Spirit, being led of the Spirit. So we look at the triune nature of God. God is one, but He reveals Himself as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. And so we're not overemphasizing that doctrine per se, but we recognize that that is our only hope. God has to fill His church with the Spirit and bring a spiritual awakening. If you're wondering what is it going to take to get America back on track, and that's what it's going to take. And I'm not necessarily convinced that, you know, we will get back on track. It could just be a spiritual battle from here on out. When God is working, so is the enemy. But I'm very encouraged when God is working because He's in control. The enemy is not in control. So I am excited to start the very first message in this series going through the entire Bible. Now, what that looks like is anyone's guess, because I'm not doing verse by verse by verse. Even though I could, it would take about eight years to ten years to do it that way. I'm just being honest. That's about what it takes. Sometimes in Genesis, yes, and other chapters, verse by verse for sure. But when you get to Proverbs, that's a little difficult. You know, He's all over the place. And when you get to the minor prophets, sometimes here's what Hosea said, here's what he spoke to. And you can key verses. You don't have to necessarily go through every single verse. So I'm going to be open to what God wants to do. But here's a few key reminders, and I might remind you about this from time to time. We need to always ask, who is thinking for me? Because you're not necessarily thinking for yourself. It's okay, you can check your phones now, make sure they don't vibrate. You're not always, we think, oh, I'm thinking for myself. You're either being influenced by God and His Word and His principles, or you're being influenced by the pull of the world and the world system. We're not neutral. We're led one way or the other. So listen to Wednesday's message that I just gave. I'm not sure how much longer it's going to be on YouTube. I would just tell you that right now. I've been warned from a few people that that's probably coming down. And so listen to Wednesday's message that's on YouTube on who thinks for you. And the reason it's so important is because there is a civil war of ideas being fought. Right now, the civil war in our nation that is being fought is a war of ideas. How world views, how people think. And I like what, I don't know who it is necessarily, but I saw on Facebook, Christy Johnston. I don't know if she goes here, the name sounds familiar. May it never be said of me that I was silent in the face of fear, and in doing so, I passed the battle on to my children. And so it's a key reminder, and I know it's difficult. I'm in the fight, like you are. Not everyone likes what I do. I know it's hard to believe, but there is quite a bit of criticism, quite a bit of demonic attack, quite a bit, especially when you get political. You know, you hit hot button issues. Boy, oh boy, this is a loaded gun. We live in this world and everything, what you say seems to be like a loaded gun all the time. And then also we need to keep this in mind. Who you are speaks so loud that what you say can't always be heard. So remember, it's about who we are, our character. Our character, who we are, how we act. Not about quoting scriptures all the time, but living out the scriptures. And then when we speak them, it gives it a lot more weight. And then as we're in Genesis especially, questioning science is science. Never forget that. Questioning science is science. And one of the issues out there, you know, if you know me, I like to speak on what's going on. And I don't have all the answers. Christians have a good pulse on things, but we don't have a perfect pulse. We've been wrong before. That's why I'm a lot more careful now to just kind of, let's pray about certain things. Let's make sure that news story's correct, amen. But science, so it's going on with the vaccines or masks and different things. It's good to, it demands questions. And when they want to silence questions, it makes you really wonder what is going on. And so science, question science, it always has over the years. It always, especially I remember it was 150 AD, I believe it was. One scientist, I think it was, I don't remember his name. I think I've ever written it down. He recorded, and they taught, and they believed there were exactly 1,022 stars. But what happened, something was invented called the telescope, and we learned a lot more. They used to practice, I think George Washington, our first president, used this remedy. It was called blood letting, where they would drain your blood to get rid of the disease. I mean, we can talk about DDT on your skin for mosquitoes, right, little kids, and lead-based paint, and it's okay for pregnant women to smoke, and something called, cocaine was in Coca-Cola. You know, we're not perfect. Scientists make mistakes. God doesn't. And so it's okay to question things. And I want to even encourage you, it's fine to question God's word, as long as it comes from a right heart. Okay, let me frame that up here. If you don't have questions, I'd like to talk to you afterwards. If you understand Genesis to Revelation, especially Revelation, no questions whatsoever, you got it down, love to talk to you. It's okay to say, Lord, I don't understand that. I don't, I love you, I appreciate, I just don't understand this, but you're inerrant, you're wise, you're all-knowing, you're sovereign, I trust this. That's actually what happened. Many of you know, but some don't know, that Billy Graham had just a, almost a real, walked away from his faith. Probably, I mean, he's around 30 years old. Someone by the name of Chuck Templeton was much, they said, smarter, better preacher than Billy Graham. But he got educated. Went to university and began to doubt the Bible. Began to doubt things that were in it, began to challenge Billy. How do you know this? Look at this, science proves this. Science says, look at how he, and then he had a, he had a, just a struggle with his faith, he couldn't preach anymore, he was considering going to that same university. And one day he went up to the mountains out by Palm Springs and laid his Bible on the stump of the tree and he said, Lord, I don't understand everything, but by faith, I'm believing that this is your word. And from that day forward, he never had that challenge again. So faith does play a role. We don't check our brains at the door, but we also have faith in who God is and in his word. It doesn't contradict itself, as people think. And then also another thing to remember, again, I'm just giving you these key reminders for this series, it's so important. We must be tolerant, but not tolerate sin. And that is the challenge. You hear that, you're not intolerant, you're intolerable. No, we're very tolerable. And we're tolerant, we understand people struggling, we're tolerant of that, but we can't be tolerant of sin. We can't just throw things under the rug, not talk about it, just tolerate everything. And that's a hard balancing act too, because some things cannot be tolerated by what is happening in our nation, what we're seeing. But other things, people struggling with sin, we have to be tolerant of that and love them through it and help them through it. So it is a hard balance to find, I'm going to seek to find that balance. And then number five, one more, the Old Testament is like a dimly lit room, and the New Testament shines a light on it. So we're going to be using, I'm going to be using both the old and the new, talking, not talking to each other, but shedding this light onto each other. It's all one word, it's all God's word. And if you want to know how do we get our Bible, how is it trustworthy, why do you say this is God's word? And you need to go to our website and look at the message, How We Got Our Bible, What Translation Is Best. That's what it's called, How We Got Our Bible, What Translation Is Best. And I talked about it for an hour on how we actually got the word of God and why we believe it is an Aaron-inspired word of God. And as we go through it, I'm going to talk about each week probably some of the controversy or some of the things in question or some of the questions out there that some of our teens sent in and some of you have sent in. And then finally, I love this one. Spurgeon said it. No authority is more powerful than Scripture for it is not only true, but it has the force to support it. So the word of God, as we're looking at it, and I have, man, I don't know how much to share with you or not because you get in trouble sometimes, but I have pastor friends who actually make, or at least I know that, I wouldn't say they're friends. They say, they make statements like, well, we can't really trust some of Paul's writings. You're already going down, buddy. You're already, you just jumped on the slippery slope and you're heading down. Well, that was back then, Shane. That was the culture of their day. And so, now, there are some things that are cultural. That's why you have to look at the historical context of Scripture, the complete context, the overall context, the historical ramifications. For example, one of the things on the issue of you'll read in the Bible, head coverings, that women must wear head coverings. I personally believe that that was a cultural thing in the Middle East that signified a submission to her husband, like you see now. They're covered up in the Middle East. If I were to say, Morgan, I just read the Scripture, get on that head covering every Sunday. It's not, it wouldn't send the right message. You missed the message. The message is submission. I submit to Christ and die to Christ, love my family, and then the headship that we'll get into in a little bit, too, as we go through Genesis. So, see, that was a cultural thing. It sends a certain message. So, some things I do believe were cultural, but not moral implications, not the moral laws of God's Word never change. They are still the same, and they're still consistent. If God said, Thou shalt not, He's not saying, Thou shalt now. He doesn't change in that area. And so, the title of the message is, Who did this? Who put all this together? Who created all of this? And do you know, there's millions of people, even in America, they teach it in our universities, that it all just happened. It all just happened. That's like me saying, they're all going to put themselves in order. A nice straight line. Okay? It's going to go back to, anybody want to see? It's going to make a nice, straight, orderly line. Alright, let's do this. Let's pick it up and keep trying until it does. Anyone want to stick around? Why? Order cannot come from chaos. There has to be a, I need those back guys. So, that's the point. Who did this? Who created all? It just did not come from nothing. Something comes from nothing. Order comes from chaos. Let's just use our mind. And when you talk to people who, like you've watched videos with Hitchens, or Hawkins, or these famous atheists, they are just mad at God. But there's no God. So what are you mad at? So, it's an issue of the heart. It's not really an issue of facts. It's an issue of the heart. I don't want there to be a God. Because this is absolutely, I mean, I told Pastor Abram this week, this is the most exhausting sermon series I've ever done. Because you could just camp out at Genesis 1 for three weeks. When I started to look at, just the, you can Google all this. Make sure you find the right page though. But, the probability of life on Earth, what has to happen with the nitrogen level, and the oxygen level, and the atmospheric pressure, and I'm just like, it just boggles your, all these perfect little things that have to happen to support life. If it's even off balance, at one percent, there's no life. And so, so all that, come on. Come on. Who's really foolish here? They think Christians are foolish. Oh, you check your brains at the door, you don't use intellect. No, you don't. You think all this just happened. That's, you have greater faith actually. You have greater faith than I do. So who did this? Hebrews 11, now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. So see, there is an element of faith in there. I don't hide away from that. Of course, you take wisdom, common sense, look at what God has given us, creation screams creator, and then you place a faith in what God has done and is doing. Science and faith, what I have found, they don't confirm each other. They don't disagree. Why are there seashells on the top of mountains? Global flood? Oh no, that could have never happened. Was the earth ever connected? Do you notice how the connection? And then great cataclysmic event and the deeps were open and mountains were formed. I mean, I have no other explanation. Even one of the top atheists, when he was pressured, it was either Hawkins or Hitchens, I don't remember. Somebody was pressing him. It's pressing him. Where did it come from? And he finally just said, like, we came on the, well, maybe we came on the back of crystals from aliens. Okay, who made the aliens? It's just, it's, but they hate God. They hate the concept of God. They hate morality. They hate anything to do with God because the darkness has bound them and they hate the light. It's a battle. It's a battle. even Darwinism, if you research that and most scientists even now are saying, how could this be possible? They can't, there's no, what they call the missing link, right? You don't see how, you don't see species changing from, you don't catch that in the fossil record. You catch nothing. You see a, what you see in the fossil record, I talked to atheists about this before and they agree. You see a mass, mass extinction in the fossil record. Just billions of animals laid out. Okay, well, where did that happen? Where, how did that, maybe a flood? And so there is, the science and faith, granted there are some things that don't line up. I mean, don't line up, I shouldn't say that. We just don't quite understand. But there is so much there that where faith and science agree. And so we're not reckless in this belief. There is evidence. I just saw this on Facebook, a quote, when scientists cannot accurately predict the weather in their local community, how can they tell us with assurance what happened in another galaxy four billion years away? And now, so I don't come across too critical. We love scientists. We need scientists. I think there's some scientists that come here. Maybe a rocket scientist once came. And so we love it, we appreciate it, but you have to understand that they're infallible. I'm sorry, they're fallible. God is infallible. They are with error. We make mistakes. If you look at what heart surgeons, or what they used to do with hearts and different things 100 years ago, and what they recommend now, and you see that we're progressing, we're learning certain things. And with even Einstein, what is that, E equals MC squared energy equals mass, something times, you guys know. The smart ones know out there. But even that, he was challenged by certain people, and we're still learning, that's all I'm saying. And so, there's been carbon dating, testing, where they said, this is like a billion years old, and they come to find out it was formed by a volcano about 300 years ago. And so my point is, we cannot trust in science. We can glean from it, we can learn from it, but I put it into the filter of God's word, not the other way around. And to me, God's word makes complete sense in light of science. Oh, I was mentioning, his name is Claudius, who recorded 1,022 stars in 1850, and that was the standard. That's what they, because what did they do? They saw. Do not trust in your own understanding. Do not trust in your own understanding. Lean not on your own understanding, but in all your ways, acknowledge God. Because we, here's the thing with faith, faith is the evidence of things that God has not seen. So this, see, I see something. How many of us are saying right now, this is not going to work out well, Lord. I see. I'm not too hopeful on September 14th. If you can rig a national election, you can probably, you know, you can probably play some games with the state election too. Sorry, I won't go there. But you can, you see things, I don't see, I don't see there's not a lot of hope. I don't see things aren't going good or your kids aren't walking with the Lord. I don't see. See, we look at how we see and what we think is going to happen. God sees the big picture. That's why he says, trust in me, have faith. Faith is the evidence of things not seen. Lord, I can't see it, but you can. So I trust in you, not in our economy, not in the military, not in the news. I trust in you and you alone. I have faith in you. And then you walk out that faith. And by walking out that faith, you respond to things you don't react. You don't live like the world lives. You don't live in fear. You look to God and his word. And then before I start Genesis 1, the last scripture that is so important, and I love reading the scriptures because a lot of people are really, they don't know the scriptures, so when they see it, really the light comes on. But Romans 1.20 is huge. I did choose the English Standard Version. I've memorized before the New King James and the King James. The invisible attributes are clearly seen. This one though really speaks to the issue as well. For his invisible attributes, God's attributes, who he is, namely his eternal power, meaning what is his eternal power? Creation, his ability to create, and his divine nature have been vaguely perceived. They have been clearly perceived ever since the creation of the world in the things that have been made so that people are without excuse. So here's your answer when people say, what about that poor little boy in the jungles of Africa who've never heard about Jesus? God's invisible attributes are clearly seen. God will reveal himself no matter where a person is. They're without excuse. That's why a person is without excuse because God, it's clear. People with a thinking mind can see I'm not God. I'm a speck of dirt on this planet. I need to know who you are. And that's why God gives visions and dreams to many in the Muslim countries or those in Africa or the jungle. They don't know exactly Jesus' name but they see or God will reveal himself to those who are truly seeking. They're without excuse. But Romans goes on to say, but they suppress the truth in all ungodliness. It's like pushing a ball underwater. Have you ever done that in the pool? And that boy got nailed a couple times right in the chin with a basketball. And so suppressing the truth, the more you begin to suppress the truth, God says, I will give them up to a depraved and corrupted mind. I begin to compare what was on the media 30 years ago to now. And it's demonic and perverted. It's just unbelievable. Think about how far. I mean, let's go 40 years. I love Lucy. Leave it to Beaver. Bathing suits. One piece from neck to ankle. Right? The women wearing an ankle and their little umbrellas. But then they slowly, and now you got Lil Nas X on YouTube saying he's pregnant and putting his blood into his shoes and Billie Eilish or whatever her name, these videos or weekend, whatever. And like I watched 10 seconds. I'm like, how do they want? This is glorified, perverted, illicit sex in a demonic, satanic atmosphere. And we're worshiping it and we're welcoming. People say, why are we so depraved in America? Let me tell you why. God gives them up to a debased and corrupted mind unless they turn back to Him. And so that's the foundation. 20 minutes to get to the Genesis 1. And on Genesis, I think it's important to read a lot of the scriptures that we're going to put them up on the screen. It was a daunting process putting this together because I just don't want to throw something together. I want to be prayed up. Lord, what do you want to speak to us? And probably 15, 20 hours this week just pouring into this and verse by verse in this consent. But then I also have ellipses. Do you know what that is? Those three periods. And that's where maybe I'll take out a couple portions of scripture because it's kind of repetitive. It's just saying the same thing. And so we get to the point a little bit quicker. But Genesis 1 opens with this. Genesis 1.1 In the beginning who? God created the heavens and the earth. So see, it has to start there. That's where most people get off track or on track. If you're off track in the very first verse of the Bible, the rest is going to fall apart. Well, I don't know about that, Shane. You know, I can't quite buy into that. Well, that's a fair question. Take it to God and let Him reveal Himself to you. But in the beginning so there was a that tells me there was a beginning meaning when time started. It wasn't the beginning of God. My daughters like to ask can kids ask the best questions ever? You're like, they stump me more time. I'm like, well, let me get back to you on that one. A while back they said, well, who created God then, Dad? Well, no one. Well, how no one? How did He come? You know, there's a level of faith there. God was always existed. He actually exists outside of time. He's not a timetable. He's not winding down. He's not going to fade away. He lives outside of time. So when He created, in the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. The time clock started. How do I know that? Because they talk about in the end. So with the beginning, you have to have the end. So in the beginning period, whenever that was, God created the heavens and the earth. And then verse two, the earth was without form and void. And I did a Hebrew word study on those. Basically means without shape, without character, without any type of, like we couldn't live on it, that's for sure. It was just this blob of darkness and mass of planets and different things. And so it was without form. It was void. And darkness was on the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God. We just sang about the Spirit of God. It's in the second verse here. The Spirit of God is so important. Don't be afraid of the Holy Spirit. So many people say, I don't want to get weird. No, you don't want to get weird, but you want to get filled. You want to get filled with the Spirit of God. That's biblical. Paul said, Be filled with God's Spirit. Can you imagine the Spirit of God controlling you in these dire times? When you can walk into government officials and stand your ground and say things in love and know that persecution is coming. Know that the times are getting difficult. But because I'm filled with the Spirit of God, the pressure on the outside is not greater than the strength on the inside. I'm able to hold back the tide of darkness because the Spirit of God is residing in those who love Him and are filled with Him. That's how you change the nation. That's how you change the church. You're filled with God's Spirit. And this Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. Now you're ready to get controversial? How old is the earth? Every time I talk about this, people send me books. Either from Ken Ham or Hugh Ross. Thank you. We've talked about this before. So they're both on fully different sides of the spectrum. The age of the earth. And actually, believe it or not, a lot of it has to do with what we just read. There's something called the gap theory. The gap theory. Meaning, is there a gap? Because God lives outside of time. So in the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. He created it. So could it have kept like that for millions of years? Because He lives outside of time. Could it? I mean, you know? You want to know my thoughts? Don't worry, I'm getting there. I'm a little opinionated. Now, I'll just sum it up. How's that? It goes back to the question. Nobody has perfect theology. I mean, the best theologians in the world are divided. Could it be a long period of time in this first verse? I guess it could, sure. In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. But once God starts His creative order, I see literal days. Because on the sixth day, God, seventh day, God rested. And He gives us a seventh day to rest. The evening and the morning were the first day. And so just the reading, I've looked at the Hebrew word yom. Could mean decades, could be a period of time. But I also look at the language, the sentence structure, the order of things. But then you get to the part where Adam named all the animals and couldn't find to help me. It's like, well that, did He name all the animals in one day like that? I mean, you think, you know, there's some thinking that goes on. But in my opinion, okay, sure, there could be a long, long, long period of time here. Do I personally think so? No, I don't personally think so. I think God created the heavens and the earth, and the earth was without form and darkness, and then God began His creative order. However, it's not a hill to die on. And some people have got really mad at me. I'm saying, if you think that, then you're encouraging evolution. No, I'm not. I'm not saying people evolved. I'm just saying, let Scripture speak for itself. And people say, but look at how old the earth looks. Well, how old did Adam look when he was one second old? Let me grab the dust of the earth, breathe in him, became a living being. How old does he look? 30? He doesn't look nine months. Come on, guys. So, God created Adam like that. So, he looks 30. So, if you see him going, no, he's got to be 30 years old. So, I'm not buying that, how it looks. Of course, God creates something, it's not going to look fresh and new, necessarily. It's going to look like His point of creation. So, my point is, those who believe in like a gap theory or the earth could be millions or billions of years old, it's not necessarily hill to die on. Now, if they use it to promote evolution, yeah, that's not good. And that's where Ken Ham always goes. He always thinks that these guys are promoting evolution. And I don't think that. But then I read Hugh Ross and he gets a little out there on some weird stuff. I don't quite understand where he's coming from on a lot of things. And so, we have to realize, both men are fallible, God's word is not. I just take it to mean, in the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. He knows how, who, I mean, what does it got to do with, why do we want to argue about it? The earth was without form and void and darkness was on the face of the earth and the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. Okay. And then, isn't it interesting, Isaiah 40.22 said, the circle of the earth, the circle of the earth. I don't know if I want to touch on this one. Should I touch on this one? You guys know where I'm going, don't you? If I get another flat earth pamphlet mailed to me, my friends work at NASA. NASA is not of the devil. Astronauts have taken pictures. You see current pictures now from Google Earth. You can see it's a spirits round. Do I even need to go any further? Okay. As long as you know where I stand, please do not start watching everything on the YouTube. Earth is flat. George W. Bush planned the Twin Towers. I mean, come on. Give me a break. Job 26.7, God hangs the earth on nothing. Isaiah 40.22, God stretches out the heavens like a curtain and they still think the universe is expanding. Isn't it interesting? The size of the universe. And see, I could have spent another two sermons here. It's just so hard to find out where. Do you know how long it takes light to travel to the moon? 1,001, 1,002. Two seconds. I think it's like 156,000 miles per second. But to get to the end of the universe, I don't remember, I'm not going to say it because it's a crazy number, like 400 million years. Don't quote me, please. I'm just, you know, trying to go off. But the moon's right there, and then how the expansion of the universe, it's just incredible. And so I'm not going to have some scientist who is with air tell me he knows how to measure the speed of light across the entire universe and gauge how old it is. I'm not quite trusting that. I'm going to trust God and say, Lord, whatever it is, I don't know how old it is exactly. Looking at your word, I would assume that these are literal days. When God said, let there be light, verse three, there was light. And God saw the light, and it was good. And God divided the light from the darkness. And God called the light day, and the darkness he called night. So the evening and the morning were, see, I can't put that in a million years. There's just no way I can do that personally. So the evening and the morning were the first day. And again, I already talked to you about this. God gave his example of resting on the seventh day and our example to rest on the Sabbath. So many other things. I mean, I could have spent probably another 15 minutes on the age of the earth, but I don't think it's where we need to spend our time right now. Then verse six, then God said, let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters. And God called the firmament the heavens. So the evening and morning were the second day. So this, nobody's clear either, but it appears that there was some type of canopy, some type of expansion of the sky. There was something different, because even Noah's in the flood, the great deeps, the great deep opened up. There's a cataclysmic type of event that happened. And then God said, let the waters under the heavens, so the waters be gathered together into one place, and then let the dry land appear. So it appears that the waters were one place and the land was one place. Look at a globe. What does it look like? The land was created. So you can't see, and when you take tectonic plates and those plates move on a massive scale, God opens the deep and these plates move, what do they do? They push against each other and form something called mountains, folded mountains or box mountains or different volcanic mountains can form as well. So you see, all this is consistent with creation. That's why, I mean, God's, it's just amazing. For example, let's just take an example. You take the Book of Mormon. You can't find one single location mentioned in the Book of Mormon. Not a piece of weaponry, not a city, nothing. It's almost like it's a fable. And please hear my heart. People get upset. That might upset somebody. Why do you mean to people? That's not mean. That's telling the truth. You better get your definition correct because we are living in times right now where the line of demarcation is being drawn in the sand and we've got to speak the truth in love. That's actually, I believe, it's cowardly not to say anything. If you say it with the right heart, with the right motive, with the right tone, of course you're going to be poking and making fun and that might have came across a little too making fun. But my point is there's nothing to substantiate that. Zero. And they put the Book of Mormon above the Bible. Yet there's nothing in it. And when you go into the teaching, the secret ceremonies of the wedding, that you'll be a god someday, like God, and rule a planet and have celestial sex and have spirit children. That's apostate. That's unbiblical. And so we should speak the truth in love. I want to shock somebody so much they shock them out of that religion because they test it and they check it. Jesus did it. Shane, when? I am the only way. I am the only truth. I am the only life. Nobody, nobody, nobody comes to the Father except through me. Not Buddha, not Muhammad, not Harry Krishna, not Joseph Smith, not Brigham Young. Nobody comes to the Father except through me. Not the papacy, not the Roman Catholic Church. You want me to keep going? I am the only way right there. That's the line of demarcation in the sand. If God would fire you up with the Holy Spirit, you'd be bold as well. Because you have to. You have to tell people the truth. I don't know when it was, but I was thinking it comes up a lot in our conversation with our kids. You know, why I say things. People ask, why do you say things, man? Government's not going to like this. I'd rather die bold and loving the Lord than live a coward. Live all of my life a coward? Now I want to use wisdom. I don't want to go before my time. But I can't live. The Spirit of God will not let you die cowardly. It's a bubbling up. The kids sing that song at VBS. Can't get out of my mind. Bubbling up, bubbling up. It's the Holy Spirit bubbling up inside of you. It comes boldness. And a lot of these stories, you don't know what to believe out there, but there's some reputable sources that entire churches were wiped out in Afghanistan. I don't know if you know this. But there were recordings on the phone of just going in and just shooting them. And they would not deny Jesus Christ. That's boldness. That comes from the filling of the Holy Spirit. The thing that people mock is the thing they need. That filling of the Spirit. And then verse 11. Then God said, Let the earth bring forth. So actually what you see here is three days creating and then three days filling the earth. Or so, close to that. Then God said, Let the earth bring forth grass. Here comes the grass. Here comes the herb. Here comes the yield seed. The fruit trees that yield fruit according to its kind. And so God created all the grass, all the herbs, all the trees, all these things. So the evening and the morning were the third day. Okay, so he's getting it ready. Now here comes the creation. Then God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heavens to divide the day from the night and let them be for signs and seasons. So see, seasons are good. For days and for years. Then God made two great lights. The greater light to rule the day and the lesser night to rule the night. So we have the sun and the moon. So the evening and the morning were the fourth day. Then God said, Let the waters abound with an abundance of living creatures. If you're starting to think too highly of yourself, just keep this in mind. You weren't even created yet. He's creating. Grass comes before us and herbs and trees. But see, he's getting it ready. He's getting the earth completely ready for his creation. It's just amazing if you really ponder everything. All of you need to remember, in case I forget this, you are created in God's image. Let that encourage you. But I've been adopted or I'm in the foster care system or this or that or I just can't, I have suicidal thoughts. You are created in the image and likeness of God Almighty. That should be enough encouragement to see you through because that image of God that is in creation, God's creative work and his redemptive work on the cross, it's just amazing. And then verse 20, Then God said, Let the waters abound with an abundance of living creatures. And let the birds fly above the earth across the face of the firmament of heaven. See, there's a distinction there again. So the evening and the morning were the fifth day. Okay, so everything is getting ready, correct? Then God said, Let the waters abound with an abundance of living creatures, the birds, everything. And this was the fifth day. Verse 24, Let the earth bring forth living creatures according to its kind. Then God said, Let us make man in our image. Wait a minute, what is our image? And see, this is where we see the first hint of the Trinity. All those people say, There is no Trinity. You're teaching false doctrine. God said, Let us make man in our image. Well, how do I know it wasn't a translator? Because you can look at the Hebrew word that is Elohim. And that is the plurality, plural nature of God. You have El, El, single, Ella, dual, and Elohim. God said it, not me. Now, do I understand it? No way. Hear, O Israel, the Lord thy God is one. But let us make man in our image. The Spirit descended, the Father spoke, and the Son was baptized. Three in one. You take it by faith, there is no other way to take it. You don't worship three different gods. You worship God, Elohim. The image is not the original, correct? And according to His likeness, so some type of image of God, His character, maybe His nature, maybe the dominion over the earth. There are so many things. There is an image, that God puts His image in the human race, in the DNA, and if you ever study the human body, have you ever studied kinesiology? Or now, immunology with immune system, and the skeletal system, and the muscular system, and the, it's just, the hormonal system. It's just, the human body is amazing. Absolutely amazing. And God spoke that into existence. And so I've created you in my image. And let them have dominion over the fish, over the birds, over the cattle, over the earth, over everything on the earth. Man is to what? Not dominate, that word dominion, dominate. It is to lead, to be over, to steward. So, when people say, for example, Christians, you're against environmentalists. I'm, Christians should be really good environmentalists, in the right term. The right term. We go up in the high Sierra mountains. I tell the kids, we're going to leave here cleaner than when we got here. You see a little piece of trash, you don't, we take care, we should be the best stewards of God's environment that are, that's out there. Because we understand we have been given dominion over these things. And it's interesting, have you seen any, those clips on, you know those big, big windmills? Like the, the thing is the size of this building almost. And, and when those break, they have to go and bury them in the dirt. And you see a big D10, it's the biggest bulldozer they make, covering all, all of these white, big, what do they call those? Blades? Yeah. Acres and acres and so much for green energy. How is that good? And how much, how much energy it takes to make an electric car? Or the battery? I mean it's just, it's just mind boggling because a lot of these things are an agenda. So just, just be careful. So have dominion over it. So God created man, again, verse 27, he's repeating it, in his own image. In the image of God, he created him male and female. I think that's pretty important. He goes out of his way to say that. So you, are created in God's image. Not the original, which like the Mormon, Mormon church would teach that God was once like us and as he followed certain things, he became God. And they take one scripture that said, when Jesus said, you are gods. And actually in the Bible, it's lowercase g, if you look the word up in the original, it's magistrates. You are, you are less than, even the angels. You are to rule over. So to take these things and make a false doctrine out of it is alarming. And so we represent his nature, his character, and he commands us to rule over it. So I want to, with this closing, I want to encourage you. Be encouraged. Be encouraged. I like what Spurgeon said, oh, the value of a soul when both God and the devil are after it. Be encouraged this morning. Young adults, get this message out to young adults. Put it on TikTok, on Instagram. Let them know you are created in the image of God. Stop listening to this garbage on the TV that tells you you are nothing. You are, you should kill yourself. You are nothing but the product of evolution. And remind them, no, you are created in the image of a living God. And I know, I know for many of us it's hard to embrace that because we say, but I'm damaged goods. You ever feel that way? I've shared before, I don't think I should be up here. But God, I'm damaged. And Norman Geisler, a great theologian, said during the fall, God's image in us was effaced, not erased. So the image has been damaged, but it's not gone. It's been marred. It's been abused. But that image of God, that DNA, something in you, there's that image of God. That's why we believe in the sanctity of life. That's why I believe in those who have no voice. And remember, some of the best hymns, we sing them from time to time, some of the best hymns come from damaged goods. I don't know why, and it just blows my mind, but God often uses the damaged goods more than the goods that think they've got it all together. Oh, I've graduated highest in my class, and I've got this, and I don't do anything. God says, I'm looking for the damaged goods, and that's where the hymns come from. That's where powerful worship comes from. That's where powerful sermons come from. That's where powerful ministries come from. They come from damaged goods, and Creator bringing them back. What about the hymn Amazing Grace? How sweet the sound. The what? That saved a wretch like me. John Newton was a slave trader. He killed men. He abused men. Yet he sat there on that massive vessel, and years later, wrote, I was blind, but now I see. I was lost, but now I am found. Oh, Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me. And those amazing hymns. It is well, it is well with my soul. Do you ever sing that one? It is well. As sea billows roll, it is well, it is well with my soul. Do you know he penned those lines over the Atlantic Ocean, right where the vessel went down that took his four daughters? Or prone to wander, Lord, I feel it prone to leave the God I love. Written by, written by Robert Robinson. He was a drunk. He was a prodigal. He left the Lord after he wrote that hymn. And he was on a stagecoach. And this lady was all excited and go, listen, you got to read these lyrics. Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it. And he began weeping. She's like, what's wrong? He said, lady, I'm the unhappy fellow who wrote those lyrics. Oh, if I could just come back to the Savior. If I could come back to him again. Oh, what can wash away my sin? Nothing but the blood of Jesus. We got to get back to the old truths. The passion, the call. And I spoke earlier of Charles Templeton, Billy Graham, who walked away from the Lord. It was interesting, interesting that Lee Strobel interviewed him near the end of his life. And they began to talk about Jesus. He began to cry. And this hardened agnostic said, but I do miss him. But I do miss him. All the way my Savior leads me. You know, that's a hymn too. All the way my Savior leads me. Fanny Crosby, blind since birth, wrote it along with 7,000 other hymns. 100 a year for 70 years. All the way my Savior leads me. Cheers each winding path I tread. Gives me grace for every trial. Feeds me with living bread. Though my weary steps may falter and my soul a thirst may be, gushing from the rock before me a spring of joy I see. The greatest weapon you have often is your brokenness and your damaged goods. Take that to God and let Him rebuild it. He rebuilds it stronger. So you must answer this question this morning. Who did this? Who put all this together? I don't know where you're at this morning, but you've got to make that decision. If you've drifted from God, it's time to come home. Don't live in that prodigal state. If you've never made that decision, make it today. How in the world did all this just happen? Something the size of our planet just hangs in the universe. Just enough distance from the sun so we're warm, but not an iceberg. If it was a little closer, a little closer, we'd be just, everyone would be fried. Literally. Just a little further, we couldn't support life. Who holds that together? And you're going to fear the government? You're going to fear what's going on? Begin to get at 6 a.m. morning worship. That should be the busiest service of the day. I'm just telling you the truth. I'm just shooting you straight. Or Wednesdays, get into God's house and begin to worship Him. They sang a song, Just Be. And it said, Just be, just be here at your feet. I just had this spot of being under, can you imagine being there under the cross at Calvary? And you watch, you watch Calvary's blood run down. You watch the Savior's blood run down on the ground, on the cross. Can you imagine being at that scene? I can't even comprehend it. The weeping that would happen. And that's what we do at a time of communion. We remember the cross. This is a time where believers or those making a profession of faith today, the Bible says, repent and believe in the gospel. Repent. Don't just, don't intellectual knowledge. Repent. Heart knowledge. Repent and believe in the gospel. Remembering. The blood was shed for me. Remembering the body that was broken. And something that I want to ask God someday, maybe, I don't know, but why, why couldn't He just die quickly? Without the shedding of blood, there's no remission of sin. Just shed the blood. But there was a bruising. There was a beating. There was a denying. There was a mocking. There was a slapping. There was a spitting on. There was a whipping. His creation is killing the Creator. His body was broken for our transgressions, bruised for us. And so as we go into that communion, that's a time to remember, get our hearts right. Paul says, don't take it in an unworthy manner. Make sure the heart is right. Make sure that there's full repentance. Last thing you want to do is take communion and say, I'm going to continue in my sin. That's blasphemous. And that's why Paul said, many of you are sick or dead because you take the Lord's Supper without examining your heart. We come up and we say, thank you, Lord, for dying for me and for shedding your blood for my sin, but I'm going to go home and not change a thing. How sad it is. But be encouraged. Nobody goes home perfect, including me. But there's a difference. We've seen somebody says, Lord, help me. I want to stop. It's like the pig and the lamb both find their way to the mud. The lamb hates it and cries out in its miserable condition. The pig loves it and wallows in the sin. That's the difference.