CAPITAL BIBLE CHURCH January 11, The Breath of Life! Genesis 2:7

Transcription

1 CAPITAL BIBLE CHURCH January 11, 2015 SERMON NOTES PASTOR BILL HAKEN Intro: The value of Life Just how valuable is Life? The Breath of Life! Genesis 2:7 On September 11, 2001 over 3000 lives were killed in terrorist attacks. Every day in America there are over 3000 unborn babies whose lives are taken in what is called prochoice. On September 11, 200, when terrorists killed over 3000 people the outcry for justice was great, the cry of pain was heard throughout our Nation. Swift and accurate justice was demanded. Yet 3000 unborn babies are being taken every day, but there is little weeping, no anger, no outcry for justice and no one seems to care. Some say that this is a political issue and should not be discussed in church. Not true! It s a spiritual issue. God is Pro Life! Did you get that? God is Pro Life! Here s our problem, we need to get back to basics. Like famed football coach of the Green Bay Packers, Vince Lombardi, who said to his teams each year Gentlemen, this is a football. People, this is the Word of God. The Word of God says: 1. God created everything. Genesis 1:1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. 31 God saw everything that He had made, and indeed it was very good. So the evening and the morning were the sixth day. 2. God made mankind in His own image. Genesis 1:27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. 3. God breathed into man the breath of life. Genesis 2:7 And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being. 4. God placed man over/above all the animals. Psalm 8:3 asks an interesting question: what is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him?

2 What is man? According to evolution, man is the end product of a chance collision of molecules. Mankind came into existence purely because of a mindless and unplanned accident of nature. Someone has referred to this kind of thinking as being From Goo To You by Way of the Zoo or Some people believe they come from monkeys, so they live like pigs, and die like dogs! According to this kind of thinking you and I are not that much different that birds in the sky or fish in the sea, or the slug in the mud, or an amoeba in the waters. We re all pretty much the result of the same purposeless interaction of atoms. Thus we really have no intrinsic value. No value to really speak of that sets us apart from the rest of the world. And there may be times we might agree with that evaluation. There are times we don t think we re worth very much. Times we think that we ve messed up so badly that no one could want us around. Times when we wonder if anybody would even miss us if we were gone. Sometimes we may even wonder if it matters that we even exist. But the Bible doesn t agree with that. The Bible teaches that you that you are NOT an accident YOU were planned. YOU have purpose And YOU have value all because God says YOU do. Little boy is saying: I know I m special, cause God don t make no junk! And Psalm 8 agrees. It not only asks the question: what is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him? BUT it answers that question: You made him a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory and honor. You made him ruler over the works of your hands; you put everything under his feet: all flocks and herds, and the beasts of the field, the birds of the air, and the fish of the sea, all that swim the paths of the seas. Psalm 8:4 8 Allen Webster interprets this passage this way: Evolution sees man as one step above apes. Scripture sees him as one step beneath angels That s how important you are! And that is the primary message from Genesis chapters 1 and 2.

3 God makes it very clear that everything in creation was made for us. 5. All human life is valuable/sacred and should be protected. Jeremiah 1:5 "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations." Psalm 139:13 You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body and knit me together in my mother s womb. Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex! Your workmanship is marvelous how well I know it. You watched me as I was being formed in utter seclusion, as I was woven together in the dark of the womb. You saw me before I was born. Every day of my life was recorded in your book. Every moment was laid out before a single day had passed. I d like to share now a story by a lady I read who had one of the most powerful testimonies that I have ever read about. She and Her Husband tried having a baby for years They went through all the treatments and all seemed to fail. They had found an adoption agency and were looking into adoption but could not afford it when all of sudden she became pregnant. You can imagine the joy, but something went wrong and she had a miscarriage. She lost the child after all the prayers and efforts her child died in her womb. It was an extremely difficult time for her and her husband, but they had a supporting church and they got through it. Then God opened up her womb and she became pregnant a second time and again she miss carried, but she never gave up hope. And she became pregnant for the third time. The pregnancy was a difficult one but in the end God gave her a beautiful girl. This girl grew up and got around the wrong crowd. She met a boy that her mom bitterly despised and at age 15 she became pregnant. The first thing the mother did was call Family Planning and schedule an appointment for her daughter to have an abortion. Her daughter was 15 years old The Father of the Child was a bum and she knew that he would never be around and this mistake would destroy her daughter s life She was scared and didn t know where to turn She was even scared that the church would find out and she was the church organist and adult Sunday School teacher. What would the Church think to know that her daughter was pregnant What kind of a mother was she that her daughter would end up pregnant at the age of 15 She was desperate and wanted to get rid of the problem so her daughter could get on with her life and deep down she knew that it was not right deep down she knew that God doesn t make mistakes But she was scared. Her daughter refused to go and decided to have the baby Some of the older ladies from church found out and they took the young girl and her mom and loved her and were there for her The baby was born and was a cute little guy running around the church.

4 She praises God that her daughter did not follow her advice. Was it hard to raise a child at 15 absolutely as a matter of fact for the first 2 years the child was raised by the grandmother But now the daughter has met a young man, a Christian Boy, They have gotten married and he has adopted the Boy. But the question remains what would have happened if the daughter would have taken her mother s advice? Praise God we will never know. Let me warn you though straight up, Don t condemn the Grandmother, until you have walked in her shoes. The other reason why this is a happy story is because the church never condemned the Grandma or the granddaughter they only loved them and helped them through it. Ladies and Gentlemen: WE NEED TO MAKE THE CHURCH A SAFE HOUSE AGAIN! A place where people come to get healing. A place that shows love to our brothers and sisters. A place that when someone comes and asks for prayer we understand that they are asking us for prayer and it is not a point of gossip. It is not a point that we use against them. We need to show one another the Love that Christ showed us. We have to believe in spite of 4,000 babies killed every day we can make a difference. How? So you may be sitting there asking yourself, what difference can I make anyway? I m just one person. Let me tell you a story. A young man was walking along the seashore. Far ahead of him, he saw a distant figure: someone who, like him, was walking, but who paused every few steps, stooped down, and seemed to be throwing something into the sea. His curiosity aroused, the young man hurried forward, his feet awkward in the sand, as he tried to catch up with the man. As he came closer, he saw that it was an old man, and the reason that he would stop every step or two was to pick up a starfish and fling it into the ocean. It was only then that the young man noticed the thousands of starfish that littered the beach for miles, stranded there by the tide. The young man felt a rising sense of anger. What the old man was doing seemed so pointless, and he couldn t wait to catch up with him to tell him so. By the time the young man came abreast of the older man, he was out of breath. "Why are you doing this?" he gasped. "You can t save all of these starfish! It s useless! What does it matter?" The old man paused for a moment, looking down at the crusty starfish he d just picked up. He turned it over slowly, then answered. "It matters to this one," he said, as with a slow deliberate motion he tossed it back into the sea, into life. Much in the same manner as the old man in this story, we can make a difference by getting involved. Despite what you may think, you can make a difference because you were created by God with a purpose to bring glory and honor to Him. CLOSE: It comes down to recognizing WHO we are and WHO we were born to be. The story s told of a preacher that was traveling with his wife and stopped at a restaurant for a meal. They just wanted to eat and be on their way.

5 But an older gentleman walked over to their table and wanted to talk. They really didn t want to talk but they were too polite to say so. What do you do for a living the older man asked. I m a preacher, was the reply. Well then, I have a story you may find interesting. My mother wasn t married when I was born. When I started to school my classmates had a name for me, and it wasn t a very nice name. I used to go off by myself both at recess and during lunch time because of the taunts of my playmates, which cut me deeply. What was worse was going downtown on Saturday afternoon and feeling every eye burning a hole through you. They were all wondering who my real father was. When I was about 12, a new preacher came to our church. I would always go in LATE and slip out EARLY. But one day the preacher said the benediction so fast I got caught and had to walk out with the crowd. I could feel every eye in church on me. Just about the time I got to the door I looked up and the preacher was looking right at me. Who are you, son? Whose boy are you? I felt the old weight come upon me. It was like a big, black cloud. Even the preacher was putting me down, I thought. But as the preacher looked down at me, studying my face he began a big smile of recognition. Wait a minute, he said, I know who you are. I see the family resemblance. You are a son of God! With that, he slapped me across the back and said, Boy, you ve got a great inheritance. Go and claim it. At that, the old man got up and left their table. When the preacher and his wife finished their meal they went to the cash register to pay their bill. The waitress said: Do you know who that old man was that was speaking to you? That was Ben Hooper, the 31st governor of the state of Tennessee. This is his home town, and he retired here a few years ago. Just a few words from a preacher telling this young man he was made in the image of God changed his life. And it can change yours too. That s why we offer an invitation at the end of every service. God says you can be adopted into His family: Ephesians 1:5 says, He predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will.