The Village Church
"Own The Vision: Beautiful People" - Genesis 1:26-31 - 2024/09/08 - 2024/09/08 - Video
You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You Good morning, everybody. Thank you for coming to worship with us today on this chilly morning. Welcome to the village church where it's our mission to know, enjoy and glorify Jesus. First time guest, thank you for being with us here today. Please scan the QR code on the front of your worship guide. That will take you to our link tree. And you can fill out the guest information form. And that allows us to connect with you. Our announcements this Sunday. The church office will be closed on September 2nd. During the worship service on Sunday, September, you know, I see it doesn't have a date here. So during a worship service on a Sunday coming up. Pastor Alex will begin a new sermon series. There will be a ministry moment today given by Kayla couch. Our church calendar year has started and there are many events Sunday equipping classes for all ages begin September 8th. Please see the back of your worship guide for more information. There will be a worship team interest meeting on Sunday, September 8th. So that's today immediately following the church service. Our communion will now be held every fourth Sunday of the month followed by a potluck lunch, except for the month of December. More information is on the back of your worship guide. TBC is beginning a new Bible study. It's village Bible studies. The schedule and more information is listed on the back of your worship guide. And it's important that we become church family and not just church acquaintances. The women's ministry is currently forming life groups. And that's going to help us create closer bonds, hold each other accountable and sharpen our spiritual lives. So please see Susan, Tish or Alia for more information on that. And there's going to be a flock note email coming out this week for signups. At the village church, we believe giving ties and offering is worship. You can give in three ways to support our village, our vision online through our website, mailing a check to our address or using the offering box at the back of the sanctuary. Thank you. Good morning, TBC. Good morning, church family. How's everybody doing this morning? So at this time, let us prepare our hearts with silent preparation as we prepare our minds and our hearts to have an experience with the Holy Spirit this morning. Let's pray within ourselves as we continue to take our seats and just have an atmosphere and a mind for worship. Dear Heavenly Father, God, we thank you first and foremost for waking us up this morning, God, and bringing us here to your house to worship you, Father. So now as we take this time to have an experience with your Spirit, God, I pray that you be with those who are on their way. God, I pray that you be with those who don't have the pleasure, God, the chance to just worship you freely, God. We have this opportunity here, God, and we don't take it for granted. God, I pray that you be with those who are sick, who are alone, God, who might not be able to feel love by other people, God. I pray that you pour out your love, not just for your people, God, but for everybody, because we are all your people, God, here to worship you, here to serve you, God, here to make disciples for your kingdom, God. So I thank you again for this opportunity, God, I thank you for this church family, and I pray that as we experience your Holy Spirit on this morning, God, the day that you have created, that we will rejoice, that we will be glad in it, Father, and that we will spread this love and spread your message, God, to all the world. In Jesus' name I pray, amen. Let us all stand for our call to worship this morning taken from Exodus 34, 6 through 7A and 10. Our call to worship this morning, Exodus 37, 6 through 7, Exodus 34, 6 through 7A and 10. I will read the leader portion and you guys will agree with me, the people portion, and God's word says the Lord passed before him, Moses, and proclaimed, the Lord, the Lord, a God, merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding and steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands. And he said, "Behold, I am making a covenant before all your people, I will do marvels, such as have not been created in all the earth or in any nation, and all the people among whom you shall see the work of the Lord, for it is an awesome thing that I will do with you." Amen, praise be to God. So this morning our song of worship will be, "All the glory belongs to you." How many of us believe that all the glory belongs to God this morning? All the glory, all the honors, a simple song that might be new, but it just says, "All the glory belongs to you, Jesus, you're our Yahweh, you're our King." How do we get to your name? Oh, we bless your name this morning, Jesus, 'cause you deserve all the glory. Hallelujah. All the glory belongs to you, all the glory belongs to you, oh God, the simple song, church, that's all it says, sing all the glory, all the glory belongs to you, oh God. Yeah, come on, sing it out, all the glory, all the glory belongs to you, all the glory belongs to you, oh God. Yeah, yeah, yeah, all the glory belongs to you, all the glory belongs to you, oh God. Let's work with me this next part, this is hallelujah. Say hallelujah, say hallelujah, say hallelujah, say hallelujah, say hallelujah, say hallelujah. That's the whole song, one more time, oh, say hallelujah, say hallelujah, say hallelujah, say hallelujah. Let's try to give up the top, sing all the glory, all the glory belongs to you, oh, the glory belongs to you, oh, God. We bless your name this morning Jesus, yeah, oh, the glory belongs to you, oh, the glory belongs to you, oh, God, oh, lift up your voice, we say hallelujah, say hallelujah, say hallelujah, say hallelujah. We praise your name Jesus one more time, say hallelujah, say hallelujah, say hallelujah, say hallelujah. We just give the highest praise to God, say hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah, we give you glory, hallelujah, hallelujah, it is the highest praise it is, the highest praise, hallelujah, let's just keep singing our praise for God, say hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah, it is the highest praise it is, the highest praise it belongs to you, oh, the glory belongs to you, oh, God, let's give him glory this morning, a more time church, oh, oh, the glory belongs to you, oh, God, we clap our hands this morning for Jesus and he deserves the glory and all the honor, give him praise this morning and we know that in this life there's nothing we can do, there's nothing we can think or imagine or just experience without God, this song says it's nothing without you, nothing without you Jesus, hallelujah we bless your name Father, says this in him, do I live, move and have my being? in him, do I live, move and have my being, Jesus because I'm nothing without you, yes, I'm nothing without you, oh, I'm nothing without you, yes, I'm nothing without you, that's the whole song church repeat after me, in him, do I live, move and have my being in him, that's the whole song church say in him, do I live, move and have my being, y'all don't wanna sing it out because I'm nothing without you, yes, I'm nothing without you, nothing without, say I'm nothing without you, I'm nothing without you, say I'm nothing without you, yeah, I'm nothing without you, yes, I'm nothing without you, yeah, I'm nothing without you, this next project says this, so breathe through me, Jesus, and live in me, and that's your glory reign, indeed that's your prayer this morning, just sing it out, say breathe through me, breathe through me, and live in me, and let your glory reign, and be through this, you know, one more time, tell me say breathe through me, I'll start prayer this morning, Jesus, so live in me, and let your glory reign, and be, so we're nothing to say, because I'm nothing without you, yes, I'm nothing without you, oh, I'm nothing without you, yes, I'm nothing without you, yeah, I'm nothing, I'm nothing, yes, I'm nothing without you, yes, I'm nothing without you, cuz in him, do I live, move and have my being, sing it out, say in him, do I live, move and have my being, sports from this morning say I'm nothing without you, oh, I'm nothing without you, oh, I'm nothing without you, I'm nothing without you, we bless your name this morning father, and we know because we're nothing without him, can we just give him our reckless love, this next song this is reckless love, and sometimes I think we just realize how much God loves us when we're down in our pain, when we're struggling, when we're stressed, but he loves us all the time, God loves you all no matter what it is, no matter where you've been, no matter what you've done, his reckless love has chasin' after you, hallelujah. Oh, we thank you, Jesus, for your love for us, hallelujah. For I spoke a word, you were singing over me, you have been so, so good to me, thank you, for I took a breath, you breathe your life in me, you have been so, so kind to me, can we just take it out, and oh, the overwhelm me never, and the reckless love of God, y'all know it, oh, it chases me down, fights till I've found peace and I deny, I couldn't earn it, I don't deserve it, still you give yourself away, and don't be overwhelmed, the never ending reckless love of God, oh, we blessed your name this morning, father, for your reckless love, try to give you a time, church, when I was your fool, still your love fought for me, you've been so, so good to me, hallelujah. Sing it out, church, when I found no word, you paid it all for me, you have been so, so kind to me, yeah, and oh, the overwhelm me never, and the reckless love of God, oh, it chases me down, fights till I've found peace and I deny, I couldn't earn it, I don't deserve it, still you give yourself away, know the overwhelm me never, and the reckless love of God, let's not be praised or worshiped this morning, oh, you're at this love, you're at this love, this next partnership that chases after you, hallelujah, there's no shadow, you won't light up, mountain, you won't climb up, coming down to me, hallelujah, there's no wall, you won't kick down, lie, you won't tear down, coming down to me, there's no shadow, you won't light up, mountain, you won't climb up, coming down to me, thank you, Jesus, there's no wall, you won't kick down, lie, you won't tear down, coming down to me, there's no shadow, you won't light up, mountain, you won't climb up, coming down to me, there's no wall, you won't kick down, lie, you won't tear down, coming down to me, over time church, there's no shadow, you won't light up, mountain, you won't climb up, coming down to me, there's no wall, you won't kick down, lie, you won't tear down, coming down to me, oh, the overwhelm me, never, and the reckless love of God, and no, it chases me down, lies till I'm found, leaves are died and I, I could earn it, I don't deserve it, still you give yourself away, no, the overwhelm me, never, and the reckless love of God, yeah, we bless your name, Jesus, we give you all the glory, oh, let's just do that part one more time, there's no shadow church, sing it out, oh, there's no shadow, you won't light up, mountain, you won't climb up, coming down to me, there's no wall, you won't kick down, lie, you won't tear down, coming down to me, there's no shadow, you won't light up, mountain, you won't climb up, coming down to me, thank you, Jesus, there's no wall, you won't kick down, lie, you won't tear down, coming down to me, oh, the overwhelm me, never, and the reckless love of God, no, it chases me down, lies till I'm found, leaves are died and I, I could earn it, I don't deserve it, still you give yourself away, oh, the overwhelm me, never, and the reckless love of God, hallelujah to your name, Jesus, he prays you because you're worthy, and to give you all the glory, he may be seated. Good morning church, oh y'all sound so beautiful, loud, you, and everyone in here look beautiful, yes, this is a time when we take an opportunity to reflect, to meditate, calm down everything you're thinking about through the course of the week that's passed and what's coming up, we're going to open up with a prayer of praise and then we're going to the confession of faith, let us pray, Lord, you are good and your mercy endures forever, Lord, you are good and your mercy endures forever for throughout eternity, Lord, we thankful today, you thank your Lord God for our early mornings rising, we thank you Lord that our temperature gauge is in place, Lord God, we're not feverish, we in good health, Lord, we thank you Lord God that you have set your word in our heart for us to believe, for you say you shall be our God and we shall be your people and you'll put your word in our heart, the question is what Pastor Alex always says, but do we truly believe it? So Lord, I thank you this morning, the Lord that is not up to us to believe in Lord, you put it there, all we got to do is just respond, Lord, some of us coming here with heavy hearts, Lord, with a lot of things on our mind, but Lord, I pray that you will give him a rest this morning, that you remove that issue out the way so we can focus on the true God, the one and only true God, which is Jesus Christ, Lord, I pray God you'll circumcise anything that's not like you this morning, whatever is weighing us down, whatever burden we have Lord God that you remove it, Lord, did you give us a, we do our minds Lord God, did you give us a good healthy spirit right now? Lord, I thank you Lord God for the food on the table, the lights, the hot showers, the simple things Lord that you always provide us for, that we're privileged to have, we thank you Lord God for Jesus, for without him Lord we have no hope, we thank you Lord God for the resurrection, we thank you Lord for the grace when we don't deserve it, we thank you Lord God you see past our faults and see our need for more of you, thank you Lord God for you dying for us and Lord for teaching us how to die to ourselves in our own flesh the desires, so Lord I thank you Lord God that you reign supreme, that there's nothing above you Lord God, thank you so much for every soul that's in this room, thank you Lord they have our opportunity to heal your gospel today and if someone doesn't know you Lord they can come to you in a saving knowledge of you, they don't have to be turnily separated, that you can be known, there is truth and we can pursue it this morning, thank you Lord God for Lord God just our children, the way you provide for them, how you protected them, there was a shooting in Georgia but Lord our kids are safe, Lord I pray for those who are going through hardship through that process, Lord I pray that you'll reach the individual who did the senseless act and that he would they would come to know you and the partner of that sin, they can have hope, Lord God thank you Lord God that you that you are forgiven of sin, the sins that we committed Lord I pray that you forgive us and with thankful Lord you sure the word says we can best out sins, that you are faithful and just to forgive us, what a blessing that we have in Jesus Christ and that great atonement that covered all our sins past, present, in the future, so that for that we say thank you Lord, Lord we thank you Lord God for the deacons and elders and the leaders of this church, we pray Lord you continue to give us wisdom as you always have and blessing us Lord God we pray for our finances that you continue to cross overflow, thank you for the blessing that you Lord God and providing in that area about about church Lord, thank you Lord God for our leaders and ministry Lord God and a ministry of music, thank you Lord God that we know that we're not thing without you but Lord we know we can do all things through you thank you Lord God your real words that you do all not some things but all things will thank you Lord God for this day thank you for the sun, Lord God thank you for the winter that's coming in this hot heat is going away for a minute thank you for that Lord I thank you for this time thank you for this time and prayer in Jesus name we do pray amen amen now we get to focus on more of our sin that God gonna forgive us for in our confessional faith and I will read how did God create mankind after God had made all the other creatures he created mankind male and female he formed a body of the man of the dust of the ground and of the woman of the rib of the man he endowed them with living reasoning and immortal souls and he made them in his own image in knowledge righteousness and in holiness having the law God ridden in their hearts and the power to affiliate with dominion over the creatures yet subject to fall but let's take time just to reflect wow amen now we will have a song of reflection this song just says Jesus at the center of it all and we just read it in his word he made man he made all the creatures he formed the body of the man of the dust of the ground and we find this theme not only consistent creation we find it in our everyday lives no matter what it is he's at the center of it all let's give him praise this one Jesus at the center of it all Jesus at the center of it all from beginning to the end it will always be it's always been you Jesus Jesus Jesus at the center of my life Jesus at the center of my life we're beginning to the end it will always be it's always been you Jesus Jesus nothing else matters nothing in this world will do the pleasure made Jesus because Jesus you're the center everything we've all around you Jesus you're the center of your church and Jesus be the center of this church hallelujah and every knee will bow and every tongue shall confess you Jesus we'll just sing it out and Jesus nothing else matters nothing in this world will do oh we praise your name Father your center of our lives hallelujah Jesus you're the center everything revolves around you Jesus you know nothing else matters nothing in this world will do hallelujah oh because Jesus you're the center everything revolves around you Jesus you this next part of says this to my heart from my heart to the heavens Jesus be the center it's all about you yes it's all about you from my heart to the heavens Jesus be the center it's all about you yes it's all about you from my heart to the heavens Jesus be the center it's all about you yes it's all about for my time church from my heart to the heavens Jesus be the center it's all about you yes it's all about you Jesus the center of it all hallelujah to Jesus Jesus the center of it all from beginning to the end it will always be and it's always been you Jesus who just take that out one more time Jesus nothing else matters hallelujah nothing in this world will do nothing compares to you father Jesus you're the center and everything revolves around you Jesus you nothing else church nothing else matters nothing in this world will do hallelujah Jesus you're the center hallelujah everything revolves around you Jesus you we take that second verse one more time and Jesus be the center of your church be the center in this place Jesus make it personal Jesus be the center of this church hallelujah and every need and every need will bow and every tongue shall confess you Jesus Jesus hallelujah be bless your name father good morning church man it's good to be back here i haven't been here in a few weeks and having seen all your beautiful faces so it's really good to see you guys again especially the andersons in the back they just came back from Florida and it's like van they went and they had three kids they come back they got four don't go to Florida all right i'll be doing the prayer supplication and supplication means to ask God for help and i know like when i'm at work and people offer me help and through my pride and my arrogance i turn them down thinking okay i can do it all myself and then i end up at the end scrambling to get things done because i didn't get i didn't accept the help that they offered and i'm too pride pro and too arrogant to go back and say could you please help me and that's like our heavenly father does he's offering to actually give us help and through some times of our pride and our arrogance we just turn them down when he should be the first one we should be looking towards so we're just going to take a little time and i just want you to think about some of the things that you probably personally need helping and just take this time and ask God for help while i pray they're heavenly father we just want to thank you for first of all always just being there for us you have shown that how much you love us by sending your son so that he can take care of all our our situ our sins and so that he can bring us into right relationship with you and then he sends his holy spirit to actually help us and guide us through all the things that we need so lord just help us to put our pride and our arrogance and other things aside so that we may actually come to you first for assistance not just try to think that we can actually do it all our own but we can actually come to you and ask you to be the help for us the guidance for us and to be there when we need you which you always are so we thank you and we praise you in Jesus name amen all right would you guys please stand for the reading of the scriptures we'll be reading uh genesis 126 to 31 and it starts and i'll be reading from the esv then god see it let us make man in our own image after our likeness and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth so god created man in his own image in the image god created him male and female he created them and god blessed them and god said to them be fruitful and multiply and feel the earth and subdue it and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth and god said the whole i have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the face of all the earth and every tree with seed in its fruit you shall have them for food and to every beast of the earth and every bird of the heaven and everything that creeps on the earth everything that has breath of life i have given you every green plant for food and it was so and god saw that everything that he made and behold it was very good and there was evening and there was morning the sixth day this is the word of god you may be seated well good morning church my name is uh pastor Alex uh if you are a guest today thank you so much for uh being with us and also on your worship guide there is a QR code there i would love for you to scan there's a guest form there i would love for you to fill out and that's one of the ways in which we can follow up with i guess and also if you have questions about the church or want to get caught with pastor Alex and ask me questions about the church i would love to do that so if you um have your bible please open it to jennison chapter one or if you're in your bible app jennison chapter one as lu say the sermon takes today is 26 through 31 well it's that time of the year again our mission and vision cup needs to be refilled and in light of the assessment the cup might need to be refilled more often because 85 percent of of you don't even know the vision of the church can't recite it from memory maybe the vision is too complex maybe you know it's not even necessary anymore maybe the division that we have no maybe it leaves something out maybe it just doesn't motivate us like it should or like it used to maybe the vision truly hasn't really penetrated our minds and our hearts and maybe we just don't have any emotional connection to to the words that stated each sunday during the announcements broken people coming together to embrace and it's then christ love broken people coming together to embrace and it's then christ love there was a a meme that i saw a few weeks ago on my IG account and it says this reset refocus readjust restart as many times as you need to just never give up these words were applied to our uh vision statement and over the past few weeks and after the assessment a we have we adjusted the vision statement we have we worked the vision statement and and so the new vision that we have for our church is beautiful and broken people connected in Jesus extending his love beautiful and broken people connected in Jesus extending his love i'll be unpacking our refined vision over the next four weeks phrase by phrase and hopefully by God's grace we will end up owning the vision being able to recite the vision for memory and also have a connection to that vision whereas not just words on our website or words in our worship guide but it's actually something that we really believe in our hearts so the sermon text Genesis chapter 1 verses 26 to 31 and the sermon title is beautiful people beautiful people please pray with them for me holy spirit as i often pray each week i pray again today that you will move that you would give us understanding of the preach word that you were minister to our minds our emotions and also our ability to apply the word our ability to live out the word we also need your help in that because we can't do it without you we need your help so will you please give us your help in Christ in my brain amen one of my favorite theologians uh the late Henry Nowan uh said long before we talk about original sin or original rejection we should speak of God's original love long before we talk about original sin or original rejection we should speak of God's original love another another uh late theologian uh Ian Pitt Watson wrote sometimes we're so we're in such a hurry to get to Genesis 3 that we forget that Adam's story begins not in shame but in glory but in glory our refined vision statement takes into account no Nowan's words and and Watson's words because the story of humanity begins in beauty not brokenness our story begins in awesomeness not awesomeness paradise not misery has to any theology has to take into account Genesis 1 and 2 before it gets to Genesis 3 or it's incomplete it's not complete end of beginning our Trinitarian God creates a good beautiful awesome glorious universe out of nothing for his own glory so do we believe that or do we believe it was some big bang it just came out of nothing or was there actually a creator who made all this in design all this he does it by the word of his power says the word and so God is he's like a creative if you know if you have friends who are creatives you know they are highly skilled you know creatives or designers they're artists their storytellers they can be painters and and that's who that's what God is he's a creative and creation is God's art museum and we're part of that museum and in six days he feels his museum with goodness in six days he does that goodness goodness goodness goodness goodness on day one he creates light and on day two he he creates the water and the sky are created on day three God creates the the land and visitation on day four he creates the lights and the heavens and on day five he the fish and the birds are created and on day six the land animals are created and all of that is him filling his museum with goodness goodness you know how it is when you're working on a project and then you step back halfway to review it you're like you're just examining it you're looking at what you painted you're looking at what you built you're examining it you're seeing what tweets may need to be made and use you step back because you are admiring your work you see each day of creation accumulates in God stepping back like this to review into examine into admire his work and what conclusion does the God draw when he steps back and examine his creation what word does he use after each day when he steps back what does he say it's good it's good it's good in the coming to America scene it'll be that boy good he's good he's good and so up to this point God commands things to into existence by the word of his power and there's a phrase that that's repeated says let there be and it was let there be light and it was let there be land and vegetation and it was and all that is good and yet it kind of feels a little impersonal but that's going to change because on the sixth day of creation a significant shift becomes apparent halfway through the day there's a shift in the mood the language and even the pronouns that are used from impersonal to personal you see halfway through the sixth day God steps back again to examine and to admire his work and this time he he speaks to himself there's a conversation within the Godhead within the Trinity it's like there's an executive divine consultation in this time God says let us instead of let there be let us look at verses 26a and 27 says let us make man in our image after our likeness so God created man in his own image in the image of God he created him male and female he created them he made us he created us look at all these that word is used several times he's made he created he created he created so we can get it God did this humanity is the crown of God's creation do you believe that the most excellent of all his creative works as humanity that's us the terms image and likeness pretty much have the the same meaning and one scholar says likeness specifies what kind of image it is it is a likeness of image not simply an image representational not simply representative human beings are the representational image of God on earth we are not the inanimate objects not plants not our animals though I know you love your animals not fish not the trees not the birds not the land animals humanity alone is the amigo dam we are every human being is created as a representational image of God not just human beings in America all human beings not just human beings who are high up on the social status ladder all human beings regardless of the economic level regardless of the income or the educational level all of us are the amigo day and this is true from the womb to the tomb for the womb to the tomb it's true it's a fact of life for the Christian and the non-Christian even the atheist is created in the image of God even the people you don't like it's created in the image of God even the people who do shameful heinous things in our world are created in the image of God it's a reality for the people that we label who are the people that you label good and bad who are the people you label as conservative or progressive who are those people those people all those adjectives and labels you put in front of a person that very person is still created in the image of God just like you just like you now what aspects of ourselves are considered to be the amigo dam what aspects of humanity is it just our intellect is it our emotions what is it just us who we are spiritually what aspects of humanity is the amigo day it's the whole person the whole person is the image of God not bits and pieces of a person the whole person is created in the image of God and I love what another theologian says he says one does well to separate as little as possible the bodily and the spiritual the whole man is created in the image of God another theologian says this image that stands to the whole person while all creatures display traces of God only human beings is the image of God in such totally in soul and body and all its faculties and powers and all conditions and relations all of who we are is the amigo day now what does this mean for the whole person to be the representational image of God if the whole person represents God if the whole person is the image of God then what does that mean in reality it means our personhood is in the image of God it means our gender is in the image of God it means our ethnicity is in the image of God that's why we can't say we don't see color because you deny what God created good so me acknowledging the color it's saying God made you beautiful amigo day the whole person it includes our emotions it includes our will it includes our cognitive life so all these things that makes those human beings you think it's just there by accident it's there because of who God is and how he made us now we're getting to what went wrong but we got to go first thought about what went well Pastor Sean Lucas is a pastor in Memphis Tennessee he says Adam and Eve asked a fountain head of humanity represents all races in themselves while they are not identifiable by race or ethnicity they contain all races and ethnicities all those races and ethnicities that spring from our first parents bear God's image all of them the amigo day connects humanity across the world it connects us that's what we have in common the every human being on the face of the earth those in the womb and those out of the womb are the image of God it's what we have in common we're all image bears when you look at the people you see every day throughout the week do you see image bears how do you see them how are you going to see the people in November who vote differently than you how are you going to relate to them how are you going to relate to the people that have differences than you how do you rate how do you see them how do you see people from other nations or other countries do you see image bears how do you see them every human being has an innate worth value and dignity that and that comes from the amigo day it has nothing to do with your performance and your productivity and your success and your achievements everybody every human being on the face of the earth because of the amigo day has value self-worth and dignity all of us and that's the reason why we're beautiful because we created in his image and I'm not talking about a worldly or a fleshly beauty that you can with filters on IG or TikTok or makeup or surgery I'm talking about a beauty that goes much deeper it's the innate beauty that comes from the amigo day we are beautiful because we are the representational image of God on earth when God created us when he gave Adam and Eve what we call the creation mandate to to exercise the dominion over the lesser creatures of humanity of the creation we were not created to exercise the million over each other that comes from Genesis 3 so whenever we whenever you see all these things that are happening with with with with with with with with killings and shootings and murder all of those things over the result of Genesis 3 all of those things are exercising the million over another image bear destroying what God created good all that stuff is without the following I know I'm getting ahead of myself but when you see people and here's the thing beloved you can't hold a pagan country like America to this standing if we don't hold ourselves to it we sometimes want our country to own to have our values that this is not a Christian nation there are no such things a Christian nations we the church we don't live this and yet we get mad when the pagan world doesn't come on make it make sense we have to believe this we have to treat people differently we're not doing it but yet we want the government to do it we want people who don't honor Christ to do it and sometimes they even probably do it better than we do which is shame on us we are the representation image of God on earth and as Christians the image of God in us is being restored and and it's being healed so that when we go out we go out with power we go out with hope we go into the broken places we go into the places that are broken and we give hope not judgment the world's already judged the fall happened we're as instruments of God's grace we're here to say there is resurrection coming there is redemption there is hope in the midst of the chaos and the beauty that we have that innate beauty that humanity has we have to also realize that we're going to reflect the image of God differently there is no such thing as uniformity okay there's diversity within God's creation think about the days of creation there's diversity there when you read those six days of creation the diversity of animals even the fruit trees it says that brought the each tree bad fruit of its kind so that means the alpha tree is not going to bear oranges okay so there's diversity in the lesser forms of creation how about the crown of creation without not also be an innate diversity among us it is we we let we let the world hijack things that actually come from God diversity is not a political term it's from creation just as one and two that's where it comes from it's right there in descriptions it's right there within the Godhead that us father son whole spirit made mankind in our image diversity male and female diversity within creation before the fall so that means as image bears there's going to be different languages and all those different languages it might go down personalities nationalities ethnicities physical characteristics we don't have we all don't have the same skin color the hair color shapes of our eyes nose and his head they're all different but they're all beautiful because their reflections are the emago they reflections of the emago they right here in june is one and two I didn't even send you off to to study anthropology it's right here mankind was created not in shame but in glory but do we believe that and and and as the quote said we're so hurt we so in a hurry to get to what's wrong we don't ever have set set in the fact that when God's intent for this world was something much different than what it is now like sometimes you just got to go set inscription set in it I mean meditate on it and remember yes it was good it was good and then it was very good like let's set in that set in it let us make man in our image in our likeness so God created man in his own image in the image of God he created him male and female he created them for his own glory and his own good and they're good to exercise dominion over creation and to exercise dominion that is to care for creation well what did Adam what did God do when he when he created Adam it says what he took the man put him in the garden to do it to work to work sorry work is not a consequence of the following this in Genesis 1 and 2 he took care of the creation he took care of the creation no one should want to take care of the creation more than Christians because it's our God they belong to our God all this is right there relationships marriage all these things we see in the first two chapters of Genesis all before our first parents fell into sin and all of it is good family is good marriage is good relationships are good good things when was the last time we reflected on those good things but the relationship you have the relationship you have in your life they may be hard but there are blessings from God now again we're getting to what goes wrong but I'm right now focusing on the intent of creation was to be beautiful paradise and now we live east of that I came across a wonderful story and one of my devotional books I want you to listen to these words a story is told of a king who went to his garden one morning only to find everything withered and dying he asked the oak tree that stood near the gate what the trouble was the oak tree said it was tired of life and determined to die because it was not tall and beautiful like the pine tree the pine tree was troubled because it could not bear grapes like the grape tree the grape tree was determined to throw its life away because it couldn't stand tall and produce fruit as large as peaches and the geranium was flared of fretting because it was not tall and fragrant like the lilac tree and so it went on throughout the garden disappointment as the king talked to one plant and one tree within his garden and then the king came to a little violet the king found its face bright and happy as ever and said well violet I'm glad to find one brave little flower in the midst of all this discouragement you don't seem to be the least disheartened and violet responds no I'm not I know I'm small yet I thought if you wanted an oak or pine or a peach tree all I like you would have planted one since I knew you wanted a violet I'm determined to be the best violet I can be like this king who planted the violet god created you because he wanted you not what you do not what you produce he wants you and because he wants to know you that's why he created you that's why you're here if he didn't want to know you this is what you want you wouldn't be here so he created you so that he can be in a relationship with you and I'm gonna flesh that out more and so you are beautiful and fearfully and wonderfully made in the image of God don't let social media lie to you ladies those are filters they're not real don't let a lot of you don't let the world lie to you what what is beautiful and what they tell you what is not beautiful I'm telling you're beautiful because of who created you because of who created you the emago dame means every person in this room beautiful fearfully and wonderfully and made and if you are a violet be a violet if you are pond tree be the best pond tree you can be comparison is the day for joy it's a day for your happiness because please know Facebook life social media life ain't real life that stuff is a lot learn to enjoy how God has made you and how he's forming you to be the person he wants you to be for his glory but for your good let us pray Father God the cause of what you did a whole long time ago back in Genesis 1 and 2 humanity regardless of our gender race nationality regardless of those things we are your image on earth and I pray for us as a church that as we deal with one another as we deal with the people in our life this upcoming week on our jobs or school and our sports teams we retreat them with the value and self-worth in dignity that they deserve because they are immigrants and so help us to be able to do that to the people that we really don't jail with people we really don't get along with so I'm not I'm a realist they're just some people we just don't like and we could care less if we don't see them so even for those people help us to have a certain respect towards them because that person is created in your image and you call us to love the people that you have created so watch over us and God us this week and I pray for all of this in Christ's wonderful name amen. Will you please stand thanks Our song our hymn will be holy holy holy holy holy holy holy lord god almighty holy holy holy holy holy holy holy holy holy holy holy holy holy holy holy holy holy holy holy holy holy holy holy holy holy holy holy holy holy holy holy holy holy holy holy holy lord god almighty holy holy in the morning our song shall rise to thee ♪ Holy, holy, holy ♪ ♪ Percy, holy, Percy ♪ ♪ Oh, and mighty ♪ ♪ God, and great ♪ ♪ Christ, our hearts ♪ ♪ The last I tried I'd see ♪ - Amen. You may be seated. - Beloved, we're gonna have a ministry moment from one of our mission partners. I would like to invite Kayla up. She's gonna share with us the time that she spent with Emmett's Bears in Japan this summer. So welcome Kayla. (audience clapping) - I feel really short behind here, so I'm gonna be over here. Hi everyone, my name is Kayla Couch and I work with the Japanese community here in Huntsville. I thought I was just man perfect timing today because I was just thinking about, I grew up not really understanding like some parts of the unique way that I was created as an Asian American. And so I remember coming home from school one day, I think maybe in the first grade, and I was like, mom, the kids were calling me like the Chinese girl, but I'm not Chinese, I'm American. And she was like, okay, we need to talk about ethnicity. So I'm Filipino, Chinese and Japanese in my ethnicity. And when I was in middle school, I saw my dad practicing Japanese characters and I was interested in that. So I started to learn about the Japanese culture and language. And as I learned the Japanese culture and language, I started to understand more things about the way that God had created me. And in college, I started to really wonder like, Lord, how are you gonna use that? Like is it worth spending all this time learning about the language? If I'm not sure how I'm gonna use it. And actually, Kyoko Sears is here this morning, which is awesome. But I, at just the right time, the Lord introduced me to Kyoko Sears who's been faithfully laboring in the Japanese community in Huntsville for I think over 20 years. And I met her, I got to hear her testimony, her story of coming to faith. And she invited me to the Women's Secret Bible Study that she leads. And I went and I heard the gospel in Japanese for the first time. And I thought, wow, this is why I've been learning Japanese. I mean, one, just so that I could hear this, the gospel in Japanese in this moment and be so moved at how there's unique ways that that hits me when it's in Japanese, a little bit different than in English. And so that's part, you know, that's why I'm in Japanese ministry today is I thought, Lord, you prepared me to be part of this and celebrating and understanding the unique ways you have made the Japanese culture and wanting that to be brought to redemption, restoration, you know, to the Lord's design. And I began to learn over time that Japan is actually one of the largest unreached people groups in the world. There's an estimated 0.6% evangelical Christian. So less than 1% Christians and negative annual growth. And so there's one church for every 16,000 people in Japan. That's one missionary for every 64,000 people. And I think maybe one potential reason that Christianity is struggling in Japan is that we just had a guest speaker come yesterday or this past weekend. And one of the things she said is that Japanese people often make decisions not based on what they desire or what they find good, but out of a fear of not belonging. So this can be cultural and familial pressure to conform to a certain set of expectations. And becoming a Christian is not part of those expectations. But God is at work and we got to see that in Tokyo, which I shared about a few weeks ago or a few months ago. And he's also at work here in Huntsville. He's bringing people here where they have a vastly greater chance of getting to build a relationship with a Christian and to hear the gospel. I teach at an ESL class here in town. And the majority of our students here are Japanese. So we have a lot of people coming here and they already know, okay, I'm gonna need to learn things about a culture that's different for me. And so they're more open to talking about things that are maybe not within the set of expectations in Japan. But also maybe people can struggle with belonging when they're in a different way, when they're, you know, they're adjusting to a new culture. So I work for Cruz City and I work with the Huntsville Japanese Ministry here in town. And we have a goal of creating a community of belonging as people adjust to a new culture, new language, new way of living while they're here in the United States. And one of the major tools that we use is called finding home again. And it's designed to help families process this kind of transition because wives may be, you know, processing their transition differently from their husbands. And the parents may be processing that differently from their kids who are in school and so helping families to understand each other and to know that they're not alone. And as we build trust within the community by helping meet needs for connection and community and cultural understanding, we're also able to engage with the spiritually curious. And many people are curious. There, maybe they're used to religion being tied to asking, people asking them for money or people asking them for something, right? And so there may be some suspicion. And when they see, oh, Christians volunteer, they're time to help for free. I get to learn English for free or this artist is gonna come teach us how to make beautiful art for free. And that is because of God's love. That makes people really curious. So we get to have a lot of beautiful conversations because of that. And so I meet one-on-one with those who are spiritually curious. And then also we get to invite them into things like the Bible study that is going on. And then the Lord, oh, yes, he's at work in people's hearts. I've been so moved to see that just in this past year that I've been doing this more full-time as part of my ministry focus. Our friend Yuna, I'm gonna call her Yuna, has been in the U.S. for a few years. And others have been pouring into her life since before I met her. But when I met her, I could quickly tell, oh, she's spiritually curious. And we had a lot of conversations about Jesus as well. She brought me her questions. And yeah, I was so honored to just help be one of the people who watered the seeds that had been planted in her life. And she became a good friend. And her family became a good friends with our family. And she has been a person of peace in the community. So when we started our finding home again group, she and her husband sat down with me and they were eager to help me process, okay, what cultural insights do I need to know as I start this group? What are potential barriers to people coming that we can address? What are the best times and locations for families? And what are the ways they might be hesitant that we can make sure to let people know it's okay to come? And then they even said, we're gonna spread the word to all our friends. And that is so significant, I think, because there's pressure to stand out or not to stand out, but they were willing to stand out for us. And not even being Christian yet. And so yesterday, we hosted a special event of that very same discussion group finding home again in the fellowship hall because we had a guest speaker and uni pray to receive Christ into her life. (audience applauding) - Yes. Yes, praise the word with me. We had just been praying the night before. We're a little sad because we have this wonderful women in ministry driving from Atlanta to come visit us and to give a special message. And we had invited many people. And you know it was maybe one of the only people who was gonna come, who's not a believer. And so we were praying like what are maybe things we need to? Are there more barriers for people coming than we need to consider? But it was the Lord's plan that there was a smaller group because we got to have just an intimate time together with her and a rejoice with her in her new life. Yes, so please be in prayer for Una. She and her family are moving back to Japan actually in less than a month. And so there's a lot of transitioning happening, all at once for her. And it can be difficult to transition by itself, but then spiritually as she is a new Christian and a building Christian community there. And her husband is not a believer yet. Yeah, please pray for her. And I'd love for you to pray also just for the ministry here. Pray for those of us who are laboring among the Japanese community that we would work from a place of rest, from a place of peace, that we would have guidance for vision for some new steps. As we were praying on Friday, we felt, yeah, I think it's time to clarify our vision. It's also just really funny timing the sermon today. But yeah, pray for guidance for us as we clarify that vision together. And we're actually starting a group to pray together monthly in person for Japan and for Japanese ministry here. So if you're interested in that, I'm gonna be out in the lobby with some materials and some pictures. And yeah, feel free to talk to me if you're interested in hearing more or you're interested in praying with us or for us. Thank you. - All right, there. Thank you so much. The angels of heaven are rejoicing right now. So please, I encourage you to talk with Kayla and the four-year, learn more about her ministry here in TJ. And like I said, they are mission partners with us. And I would love to see how we as a body can be more connected with her and what the Lord is doing in her ministry. So will you please stand for the benediction? Also after the serve, after the benediction, if you are interested in the music ministry, all would be up here. And so please come up front right after the benediction. And the adults, ACC, would be in the war room today because of the music ministry meeting. All right, now here's God's benediction. Let me see if I can find it. There we go. Now, may the Lord of peace himself give you peace at all times and in every way, the Lord be with you all. And all God's people said, amen. [BLANK_AUDIO]