Participants: Pr. Dwight Nelson
Series Code: NP
Program Code: NP102409
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00:42 God, who stretched
00:44 The spangled heavens 00:47 Infinite in time and space 00:50 Flung the suns in burning radiance 00:54 Through the silent fields of space 00:58 We, your children, in Your likeness 01:03 Share inventive powers with You 01:06 Great Creator, still creating 01:11 Show us what we yet may do 01:17 We have ventured worlds undreamed of 01:21 Since the childhood of our race 01:25 Know the ecstasy of winging 01:29 Through untraveled realms of space 01:33 Probed the secrets of the atom 01:37 Yielding unimagined power 01:41 Facing us with life's destruction 01:45 Or our most triumphant hour 01:52 As each far horizon beckons 01:56 May it challenge us anew 02:00 Children of creative purpose 02:04 Serving others, honoring You 02:09 May our dreams prove rich with promise 02:13 Each endeavor well begun 02:17 Great Creator, give us guidance 02:22 Till our goals and Yours are one 02:31 Psalm 19:1-4 says this, 02:34 "The heavens declare the glory of God, 02:36 the skies proclaim the work of his hands. 02:39 Day after day they pour forth speech, 02:42 night after night they display knowledge. 02:45 There is no speech or language where their voice is not heard. 02:48 Their voice goes out into all the earth, 02:50 their words to the ends of the world." 02:54 They proclaimed this is our father's world. 02:59 That's our next song this morning, 03:00 "This is our Father's world." 03:20 This is my Father's world 03:25 And to my listening ears 03:30 All nature sings, and round me rings 03:36 The music of the spheres 03:40 This is my Father's world 03:45 I rest me in the thought 03:50 Of rocks and trees, of skies and seas 03:55 His hand the wonders wrought 04:02 This is my Father's world 04:07 The birds their carols raise 04:11 The morning light, the lily white 04:17 Declare their maker's praise 04:22 This is my Father's world 04:26 He shines in all that's fair 04:32 In the rustling grass, I hear Him pass 04:37 He speaks to me everywhere 04:43 This is my Father's world 04:48 O let me ne'er forget 04:53 That though the wrong seems oft so strong 04:58 God is the ruler yet 05:03 This is my Father's world 05:08 Why should my heart be sad? 05:13 The Lord is King 05:16 Let the heavens ring! 05:18 God reigns, let the earth be glad! 05:28 Amen, you maybe seated. 05:32 The Book of Psalms is just rich 05:35 with creative descriptions of creation, 05:42 and Psalm 33:6-9 says this. 05:44 "By the word of the Lord the heavens were made, 05:48 their starry host by the breath of his mouth. 05:55 He gathers the waters of the sea into jars, 05:58 he puts the deep into storehouses. 06:01 Let all the earth fear the Lord, 06:03 let all the people of the world revere him. 06:05 For he spoke, and it came to be, 06:09 he commanded, and it stood firm." 06:29 From the highest of heights 06:31 To the depths of the sea 06:38 Creation's revealing Your majesty 06:46 From the colors of Fall to the fragrance of Spring 06:54 Ev'ry creature unique in the song that it sings 07:00 All exclaiming 07:03 Indescribable, uncontainable, 07:06 You placed the stars in the sky 07:09 And You know them by name 07:13 You are amazing God 07:19 All powerful, untameable 07:23 Awestruck we fall to our knees 07:26 As we humbly proclaim 07:29 You are amazing God 07:36 Who has told ev'ry lightning bolt 07:39 Where it should go 07:44 Or seen heavenly storehouses 07:47 Laden with snow? 07:53 Who imagined the sun 07:55 And gives source to its light? 08:01 Yet conceals it to bring us the coolness of night? 08:06 None can fathom 08:09 Indescribable, uncontainable 08:13 You place the stars in the sky 08:16 And You know them by name 08:19 You are amazing God 08:26 All powerful, untameable 08:30 Awestruck we fall to our knees 08:32 As we humbly proclaim 08:36 You are amazing God 08:42 Indescribable, uncontainable, 08:46 You place the stars in the sky 08:49 And you know them by name 08:52 You are amazing God 08:59 Incomparable, unchangeable 09:03 You see the depths of my heart 09:05 And You love me the same 09:09 You are amazing God 09:17 You are amazing God 09:32 Lord of all creation 09:39 Of water, earth and sky 09:45 The heavens are Your tabernacle 09:52 Glory to the Lord on high! 09:58 God of wonders beyond our galaxy 10:04 You are holy, holy 10:12 The universe declares Your majesty 10:18 You are holy, holy 10:26 Lord of heaven and earth 10:33 Lord of heaven and earth 10:41 Early in the morning 10:47 I will celebrate the light 10:54 When I stumble in the darkness 11:01 I will call Your name by night 11:07 God of wonders beyond our galaxy 11:12 You are holy, holy 11:20 The universe declares Your majesty 11:26 You are holy, holy 11:34 Lord of heaven and earth 11:41 Lord of heaven and earth 11:48 Hallelujah to the Lord of heaven and earth 11:55 Hallelujah to the Lord of heaven and earth 12:02 Hallelujah to the Lord of heaven and earth 12:08 God of wonders beyond our galaxy 12:13 You are holy, holy 12:21 The universe declares Your majesty 12:27 You are holy, holy 12:34 Lord of heaven and earth 12:41 Lord of heaven and earth 13:17 O, my sister and my brother 13:22 All who walk upon this earth 13:27 Fold to your hearts each other 13:35 Where mercy dwells 13:37 The peace of the Lord is there 13:46 To live rightly is to love one another 13:53 Each kindness a gift 13:58 Each deed a prayer 14:06 O, my sister and my brother 14:11 Fold to your hearts each other 14:19 Listen, listen to one another. 14:23 Listen, listen to one another. 14:26 Walk with reverence in the steps 14:30 of those who have gone before 14:35 Where forgiveness and wisdom has stood 14:42 So shall the wide earth become our temple 14:50 Each loving life a psalm of gratitude 14:55 Each life a psalm of gratitude 14:58 Walk with reverence 15:01 Where forgiveness and wisdom has stood 15:09 Listen, listen 15:10 Listen to one another 15:12 Listen, listen 15:14 Listen to one another 15:15 Listen, listen 15:17 Listen to one another 15:18 Listen, listen 15:20 Listen to one another 15:21 Listen, listen 15:23 Listen, listen 15:25 Listen, listen 15:27 Listen to one another 15:29 Listen to one another 15:30 Listen to one another 15:31 Listen to one another 15:37 Shackles fall 15:41 The violence of war 15:43 Over the earth shall cease 15:47 Love shall tread out the fire of anger 15:53 And in its ashes 15:56 Plant a tree of peace 16:01 Then shall the shackles fall 16:06 O, my sister and my brother 16:11 The violence of war 16:13 Over the earth shall cease 16:16 Fold to your hearts each other 16:21 Love shall tread out the fire of anger 16:26 Where mercy dwells the Lord is there 16:33 Plant a tree of peace 16:35 Plant a tree of peace 16:38 Plant a tree of peace 16:45 Ah, Ah, Ah, Ah, 16:50 Ah, Ah, Ah, Ah, 16:55 Love shall tread out the fire of anger 17:01 And in its ashes 17:04 Plant a tree 17:09 Of peace 17:19 Plant a tree of peace 17:22 Plant a tree of peace 17:27 Plant a tree of peace 17:31 Listen, listen to one another 17:36 Listen, listen to one another 17:42 Listen to one another 17:43 Listen to one another 17:55 Plant a tree 18:01 Of peace 18:19 So I went to Google, the mighty search engine 18:21 and I asked it a question, how big is the universe? 18:27 In 0.9 seconds, 900's of a second, 18:30 it fired an answer back with these words. 18:35 The answer to your question can be seen in 18:38 "on of the most profound 18:40 and humbling images in all of human history." 18:46 I'd like to share that image with your right now. 18:51 It's called the Hubble Ultra Deep Field display. 18:55 There's a picture assembled by a team of astronomers 18:58 for the use of the Hubble Telescope, 19:00 a photographic image displaying 19:01 the farthest known reach of our universe. 19:08 Rather than showing you a still photograph of it, 19:10 I want you to watch a breathtaking video, 19:15 three-dimensional presentation. 19:19 I'll tell you where you can find this in a moment, 19:21 but ponder quietly now what rolls on our screens. 19:31 Astronomers, in 1996, 19:34 attempted to do something extraordinary. 19:37 They pointed the Hubble Space Telescope 19:39 into a part of the sky that seemed utterly empty, 19:41 a patch devoid of any planets, stars and galaxies, 19:46 this area was close to the Big Dipper, 19:48 a very familiar constellation. 19:50 And the patch of sky was no bigger 19:51 than a grain of sand held out at arms length. 19:55 This was a somewhat risky move by the scientists. 19:58 After all, observing time on this telescope 20:00 is in very high demand and some questioned 20:02 whether it would be wasted trying to look at nothing. 20:05 There was a real risk that the images returned 20:07 would be as black as the space at which it was being pointed. 20:11 Nevertheless, they opened the telescope and slowly, 20:14 over the course of 10 full days, 20:17 photons that had been traveling for over 13 billion years 20:21 finally ended their journey on the detector 20:23 of humanities most powerful telescope, 20:26 their feeble signal collected almost one by one. 20:32 When the telescope was finally closed, 20:35 and the images were processed 20:37 the light from over 3,000 galaxies 20:39 had covered the detector, 20:41 producing one of the most profound 20:42 and humbling images in all of human history, 20:45 every single spot, smear, and dot was an entire galaxy, 20:50 and each one containing hundreds of billions of stars. 20:57 Later, in 2004, they did it again, 21:00 this time pointing the telescope 21:02 towards an area near the constellation Orion. 21:06 They opened the shutter for over 11 days 21:08 and 400 complete orbits around the Earth. 21:12 Using detectors with increased sensitivity 21:14 and filters that allowed more light through than ever before, 21:18 over 10,000 galaxies appeared in what became known 21:21 as the Ultra Deep Field, 21:24 an image that represented the farthest 21:25 we've ever seen into the universe. 21:29 The photons from these galaxies left 21:31 when the universe was only 500 million years old, 21:35 and 13 billion years later, they end their long journey 21:39 as a small blip on a telescope's CCD. 21:43 These galaxies, 21:44 while standing absolutely still are racing away from us, 21:48 in some cases, faster than the speed of light. 21:51 The spacetime between us 21:53 and everything else grows larger by the minute, 21:55 pushing the galaxies in this image 21:56 to a distance of over 47 billion light years. 22:01 And because of universal expansion, 22:03 the farther something is away from us, 22:05 the more it's light is shifted toward the red 22:07 and the faster it appears to be moving. 22:09 Edwin Hubble himself discovered this 22:11 by measuring the redshift of many galaxies. 22:13 And it's a measure of not only speed, 22:16 but distance as well. 22:22 Recently, Hubble scientists put the icing on the cake. 22:26 Using the measured redshifts 22:27 of all the galaxies inside the image, 22:29 they made a 3D model of the Ultra Deep Field. 22:33 This is how it looks when we apply the distances 22:35 of the galaxies in the most important image ever taken. 22:42 There are over 100 billion galaxies in the universe. 22:46 Simply saying that number doesn't really mean much to us 22:49 because it doesn't provide any context. 22:51 Our brains have no way to accurately 22:53 put that in any meaningful perspective. 22:56 When we look at this image however, 22:58 and think about the context of how it was made, 23:01 and really understand what it means, 23:04 we instantly gain the perspective 23:06 and cannot help but be forever changed by it. 23:12 We pointed the most powerful telescope ever built 23:14 by human beings at absolutely nothing, 23:17 for no other reason than because we were curious, 23:20 and discovered that we occupy 23:22 a very tiny place in the heavens. 23:43 Oh, Lord, our Lord how majestic 23:45 is Your name in all the earth, 23:48 when I consider your heavens the work of your fingers 23:50 then moon and the stars which you have set in place, 23:53 what is man that you are mindful of him, 23:55 the son of man that you care for him 24:00 and this creation Sabbath 24:02 and which we celebrate the glories of the creator. 24:06 Let's take a moment and brood over the numbers of God, 24:11 the numbers of Charles Darwin, we know those numbers, 24:13 this year's the 200th anniversary of his birth 24:15 in Shrewsbury, England, on February 12th 1809. 24:19 This year as it happens to be is also the 150th anniversary 24:23 of his magnum opus 'Origin of Species'. 24:27 Well, on this day that is an anniversary for God 24:29 and His creation, on this creation Sabbath, 24:32 we pushed Charles Darwin to the side 24:34 and focus our bright minds instead on the creator. 24:39 Take the numbers you just heard full by us, 24:40 how far is it to the edge of the universe we live in? 24:44 Grab your study guide, we're gonna begin crunching now 24:47 whether you enjoyed algebra and arithmetic in school 24:49 or not whether they were your cup of tea or not, 24:51 let's do the number crunching. 24:53 Take your study guide. Thank you ushers. 24:54 Make sure everybody here gets a chance 24:56 to jot this phenomenal numbers down. 25:00 You listening on the radio, watching on television, 25:02 let me give you our website 25:03 and you can get the same study guide 25:05 put it on the screen for you. 25:07 www. See it there, www.pmchruch.tv. 25:12 You're looking for the series, 'The Temple'. 25:15 The title of today's teaching The Third Temple, 25:18 temple in heaven, body temple this is temple number three, 25:22 the temple of the earth, The Third Temple, 25:24 the anniversary of Charles Darwin and God 25:26 when you find that teaching 25:27 and it says study guide beside a click on there, 25:29 you have the same study guide we've got to go. 25:32 Don't get a cramp in any of those bones in your wrist 25:35 but write fast, here we go. 25:38 What we're looking for is the creator's wow factor, 25:42 the wow factor. 25:44 You never be the same again when numbers like 25:47 these are integrated into your thinking 25:50 the Creator's wow factor. 25:52 Let's look at astronomic numbers first, 25:54 astronomic numbers first. 25:57 The Hubble Ultra Deep Field, keep writing. 25:59 The Hubble Ultra Deep Field images reveal the edge 26:02 of the universe at 47 billion light years away, 26:07 all right, 47 billion light years away, 26:10 keep writing. 26:11 Light travels at a speed of a 186,272 miles per seconds. 26:16 You've learned that in high school 26:19 if you've gotten that far yet, you haven't gotten that far, 26:23 you get that number, jot it down, 186,272, 26:26 so that means that the edge of the universe 26:29 is a 186,000, keep writing 272 miles times how-- 26:34 how many seconds in the earth? 26:35 31,536,000 seconds times 47 billion years 26:41 or light years equals, right this number down 26:44 2.76090868 times 10 to the 23rd. 26:52 Now you hardly get that down before I give you the number 26:54 as it actually looks or where you see it right there 26:56 or right the number down you'll need 15 zeros 27:00 to right this number it's sextillion 276 sextillion, 27:04 90 quintillions, 868 quadrillion, 27:09 and then 27:12 Now listen, to help you understand how far that is. 27:14 If you decided to drive this distance in you 27:17 fuel efficient compact car, 27:20 and you kept the pedal to the metal 27:21 at 60 miles an hour, 27:23 you could drive to the edge of our universe 27:26 in 532 quadrillion, 27:28 582 trillions, 693 billion years. 27:33 You probably have to stop for lunch, 27:36 all right, that's how far it is 27:38 and if you could travel at the speed of light, 27:40 how far is it? 27:41 How long would it take you at the speed of light? 27:43 47 billion years to get across this universe, 47 billion. 27:49 What's more, keep writing, 27:50 The Hubble Ultra Deep Field also reveals 27:52 that there are over 100, did you hear that? 27:55 Billion galaxies in our universe 27:58 each one with hundreds of billions of stars, 28:03 planets, black holes, white dwarfs, moons, 28:10 in that 3D rendition and that is what 28:12 so inspiring to me that 3D, the ending to that clip 28:15 and I put the website there for you to get it. 28:17 The every smudge moving by you, 28:20 every dot, every spot is an entire galaxy. 28:23 We live in one of those 100 billion galaxies, 28:26 our home galaxy is called the Milky Way 28:28 and NASA took this picture over Devils Tower. 28:30 I want you to look at that. 28:31 I've made it my screensaver that is so good. 28:34 Look at that, that's Devils Tower 28:36 and the Milky Way spread, that's our home galaxy, 28:39 we live near the edge of this galaxy. 28:42 Oh, when you crunch the astronomic numbers, 28:44 ladies and gentlemen, there is only one suitable 28:46 expression to make and that is Wow! 28:49 Jot it down, Psalm 19:1 28:51 "The heavens declare the glory of God, 28:53 the skies proclaim the work of his hands." 28:57 How can you possibly preside over a kingdom 29:00 47 billion light years across? 29:03 You can't do it unless you're God. 29:07 You can't do it unless you're God. 29:09 So we've looked at astronomic numbers. 29:11 Now, let us look at atomic numbers. 29:13 Jot that down please, atomic numbers. 29:16 Keep writing, Steven Weinberg, 29:17 high energy physicist Nobel Laureate 29:19 has concluded that our universe 29:20 is so finely tuned and so intricately wired 29:23 that an energy variation of one part in 10 to the 120th, 29:29 in its formation would have resulted in no life 29:32 anywhere in the universe, 29:33 that's a variation of one part 29:34 out of the number one followed by a 120 zeros. 29:38 That small a variation no life. 29:41 It's called the anthropic principle. 29:43 This universe has been wired from man, 29:47 Anthropas in the Greek, 29:49 it's been wired for the human race. 29:53 Oxford University, 29:54 Professor Roger Penrose has written a book 29:56 'The Large, the Small and the Human Mind'. 29:59 Jot this down, by calculating the entropy of black holes, 30:02 Penrose has concluded 30:03 that the probability of a life-supporting universe 30:06 is 1 in10 to the 10th to the 123rd, 30:09 now you got to write this correctly. 30:12 Our master producer have to work hard to get it. 30:15 You've got multiple exponents there, all right, 30:17 1 times 10 to the 10th and then 10th is to the 123rd, 30:22 that number ladies and gentlemen 30:23 is beyond human comprehension. 30:25 In fact, jot this down, 30:27 if you were to simply write 10 to the 10th to the 3rd, 30:30 it would be written as 10 followed by 999 zeros, 30:34 all right, write those down. 30:35 Now, to write 10 to the 10th to the 123rd in one line 30:40 would extend beyond the bounds of the universe. 30:43 The numbers would go beyond the bounds of the universe. 30:45 That's how big the number is, 30:47 the chances of life creating itself in this universe. 30:56 The latest issue of Adventist World 30:58 contains a piece by George T. Javor, 31:02 biochemist for years at Loma Linda University, 31:03 you'll jot this line down, 31:05 the quotation will continue on the screen, 31:06 "It is estimated" Javor writes, 31:08 "that there are between 10 to the 50th 31:09 to 10 to the 80th atoms in the observable universe." 31:16 Now go to the screen for the rest of the quote. 31:18 "If these were only hydrogen atoms" 31:20 the lightest of all elements, 31:21 "it would have required a minimum of 31:22 3.6 times 10 to the 39th to 3.6 times 10 to the 69th 31:27 calories of energy to create." 31:29 By comparison the world's total electricity consumption 31:32 for the year 2005 was 1.4 times 10 to the 19 infantisable, 31:39 compared with the massive number. 31:42 "While all matters, he goes on, 31:43 came from the hand of a Creator, 31:45 it was a gift to His creatures. 31:46 God is not in matter." 31:47 Please note, only the Creator is eternal, 31:49 matter is not eternal. 31:50 Only the Creator is eternal, but He created matter for us. 31:53 "Nonetheless, the Creator is aware 31:54 of every aspect of His creation," 31:56 I love this, "down to its smallest, 31:58 subatomic level. 31:59 The Lord knows the location 32:01 and function of every one of His 10 to the 80th atoms. 32:04 This much may be inferred from the reference 32:06 Jesus made to God's awareness 32:08 of the smallest entities of the physical realm." 32:10 And then he quotes Matthew 10:29, 30 32:15 and here is-- here's how it goes, Jesus said 32:18 "Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? 32:21 Yet not one of them tumbles to the ground 32:23 but your father does not know. 32:25 "The smallest particles. 32:28 Oh, the Creator's wow factor, astronomic numbers, 32:32 atomic numbers and now finally anatomic, 32:35 write that in, anatomic numbers, 32:37 I'm gonna bring our buddy Kelly up to the pulpit with me now. 32:40 Anatomic numbers, so here's the skeleton, 32:47 the reason I want Kelly to stand before us 32:48 as I want you to marvel at the numbers, 32:50 incredible numbers right here. 32:52 There are 206 parts, this is a 206 parts system, 32:56 all right, so how many ways 32:59 can you put a 206 parts system together 33:01 if it just happened by random, 33:02 how many ways can you put it together? 33:04 One-- if it were only 1 part it would be 1 times 1 is 1, 33:07 If it were 2 parts, it's 1 times 2 is 2. 33:09 If it's 3 parts it's 1 times 2 times 3 is 6. 33:12 If it's 4 parts it's one times 33:14 2 times 3 times 4 is 24 and so on. 33:16 If you did those numbers all the up to 206, 33:19 it's called-- its called 206 factorial, 33:23 you write it 206 with an exclamation mark after the 6! 33:27 Here's the number, jot it down. 33:28 The number of ways a 206 part human skeleton 33:31 can be assembled is 1 x 2 x 3 x 4 times 33:33 and all the way up to 206 or 10 to the 388, 33:39 that's a 1 with a 388 zeroes following it. 33:42 You would need that many tries to get this right, 33:45 and by the way to get it right it's just to connect the parts 33:47 it's not necessarily to have them 33:49 right set up or upside down, that doesn't matter, 33:50 just to get the parts to touch the right parts of touch. 33:56 So how long would it take us to get the human skeleton 33:58 if it were done by random? 33:59 A scientist Jerry Bergman, 34:00 Northwest State College in Archbold, Ohio, 34:03 his second PhD in human biology 34:04 as he notes in an essay I read, jot this down please. 34:07 If you could complete one new random 34:09 trial arrangements of this 206 bones every second, 34:12 so seconds--, try another, 34:15 oh, now we got the skull at the feet come on, 34:16 do that better, 34:18 if you did it every second, notice what he writes. 34:21 "For every single second available 34:23 in all of the estimated 34:24 evolutionary view of astronomic time 34:26 which is between 10 to 20 billion years, 34:29 using the most conservative estimate... 34:31 the chances that the correct general position, 34:34 just general will be obtained by random 34:35 is less than once in 10 billion years." 34:39 So that's how we got it, we got the one, 34:42 my friend that's not in them, 34:44 they're in the right position within the connection, 34:46 that's just getting the connections 34:49 and then Bergman's goes on... 34:50 "For all practical purposes, a zero possibility exists 34:53 that the correct general position of only 206 parts 34:55 could be obtained simultaneously by chance 34:57 and the average human..." 34:58 now, you want to factor something else in, 35:00 "75 trillion cells!..." 35:02 You also got to put those 75 trillion together. 35:08 "This illustration indicates 35:09 that the argument commonly used by evolutionists-- 35:11 'given enough time anything is possible'-- is wanting." 35:15 Write it in, it doesn't-- it doesn't hold up." 35:20 Jot it down, will you? 35:21 Psalm 139:13-14, 35:24 "For you created my inmost being, 35:26 you knit me together in my mother's womb." 35:28 Isn't that fascinating? 35:30 About that little baby score, 35:31 you already knew that, didn't you? 35:32 But that score was carefully put together 35:34 so that it could get out and then grow. 35:37 "You knit me together in my mother's tummy, 35:40 I praise you because I am fearfully 35:43 and wonderfully, hallelujah, made." 35:48 Amazing. 35:49 Listen, the next time you're feeling down on yourself, 35:52 you're feeling little blue, 35:53 the next time here's what I want you to do. 35:56 Just hold your hand out in front of your face. 35:58 Just hold you hand out in front of your face 35:59 and just wiggle these, just wiggle these, 36:02 just stare at that and ask yourself, 36:04 what's up with this? 36:06 When your fingers wiggle in front of your eyes, 36:08 you will see that you are a priceless marvel 36:10 by an infinite maker. 36:16 Oh, Lord, our Lord, how majestic 36:20 is Your name in all the earth. 36:24 When we crunch God's numbers, His astronomic numbers, 36:26 His atomic numbers, His anatomic numbers, 36:28 we are confronted with the Creator's wow factor. 36:32 I want to end with this, jot it down please. 36:33 What is the Creator's wow factor? 36:36 The W stands for Wonder. 36:38 Write it down. Wonder. 36:41 In his book 'The Tangled Wing' 36:42 Melvin Konner describes wonder is "The hallmark of our species 36:46 and the central feature of the human spirit." 36:49 Nobody else can wonder like you. 36:51 I have a treasure little book in my library 36:53 that I read again and again. 36:54 In fact we took it to Switzerland this summer 36:55 so I can read it with Karen, 36:56 Arthur Gordon's delightful inspiration, 36:59 "A Touch of Wonder" 37:00 an invitation to fall in love with life. 37:03 His premise is simple and stark. 37:05 We are too much too hurried, 37:11 and as a consequence we miss the greatest pleasures 37:14 and the deepest wonders in life. 37:16 The scratchy lick of a dog, the fiery glory of a sunset, 37:24 the wet kiss of a child, 37:28 the fragrance and crunch of autumn's falling leaves, 37:33 the cold biting silver of the milky way in winter. 37:40 Stop, look and wonder. Wonder. 37:46 And when you wonder, Christian, when you wonder, pray. 37:53 Pray to the God of the universe who made it all possible, 37:58 pray to the Creator, oh the wonder of it all. 38:05 Look at that psalm, our theme psalm today. 38:08 I've been quoting it, now let's read it together. 38:09 Psalm 8, Psalm 8 page, 38:13 grab your pew Bible if you don't have a Bible, 38:15 will be page 370 in your pew Bible. 38:18 I'll read just a line from this great Psalm of David's. 38:23 Psalm 8, I'm in the NIV, verse 1. 38:26 "O Lord, our Lord, how majestic 38:29 is your name in all the earth!" 38:31 Verse 3, "When I consider your heavens, 38:34 the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, 38:36 which you have set in place. 38:38 What is man, what is woman that you are mindful of us, 38:41 the son and daughter of humanity 38:43 that you care for us?" 38:45 I don't understand this guy. 38:48 47 billion light years in Your kingdom 38:52 and this peck, and you care it all. 38:59 Oh, the wonder of it all, the wonder of it all 39:02 just to think that God loves me. 39:06 The great Creator's wow factor, 39:09 the W is Wonder, the O is Observe. 39:13 If wonder is an emotional response to creation, 39:16 observe is an intellectual response. 39:18 Write that in. 39:20 Observation is what 39:21 this university teaches as well to do. 39:25 Got a great university, great scientist, 39:28 observe, think, 39:30 that's the point Paul is making, 39:32 I'll put it on the screen for you, 39:33 fill it in, Romans 1:20. 39:34 "For since the creation of the world 39:36 God's invisible qualities, his eternal power 39:39 and divine nature have been clearly seen," 39:42 notice that, seen... 39:46 not imagined, not imagined, 39:49 they've been "seen, 39:52 being understood from what has been made, 39:54 so that men and women are without excuse." 39:58 Paul writes it if we used our eyes 39:59 in careful thoughtful observation, 40:01 there is enough evidence and wondering nature itself 40:03 to convince or at least convict the human spirit 40:06 that an omnipotent creator exists. 40:12 Without reading a single word of scripture, 40:14 through observation I believe, 40:15 through observation it is possible to conclude 40:18 that the preponderance of nature's witness 40:20 is of a care filled, thought filled, 40:23 power filled being who not only 40:26 design the cosmos but superintended 40:28 its continuing existence toward his desired 40:30 and universal harmony and symbioses-- 40:34 symbioses through out his generation, 40:35 how do Paul put it, 40:37 "Since the creation of the world 40:40 God's invisible qualities-- have been clearly seen..." 40:45 Stop looking wonder, wonder observe the last W, 40:50 worship the wow factor, worship, 40:53 it's a last letter of wow 40:54 that summons the creature to respond to its creator. 40:58 For you and for me for us to believe, 41:01 worship becomes our highest expression of adoration 41:04 in thanks giving to the creator. 41:07 Psalm 95:6, jot this down, will you, 41:10 "Come, let us bow down in worship, 41:14 let us kneel before the Lord our Maker." 41:17 You see worship and maker always go together. 41:19 Worship and maker go together, that's the Old Testament. 41:21 Take a look at the New Testament, 41:23 Revelation 4:11, "You are worthy--," 41:25 the old English for worship is worthy sheep, 41:28 worship means worthy sheep in English. 41:31 "You are worthy, our Lord and God, 41:34 to receive glory and honor and power, 41:36 for you created all things, 41:38 and by your will they were created 41:40 and have their being." 41:41 You see worship and creator are twin realities, 41:44 they always go together, they're bound eternally 41:47 in the grateful heart of all creation. 41:52 Classics Steps to Christ puts it this way, 41:54 put it on the screen for you. 41:55 I want you to jot this page number down, 41:57 "God is love" is written upon every opening bud," 42:02 I got to tell you about my dad. 42:05 Dad used to this all the time when we were kids. 42:08 We'd be walking long in Sabbath afternoon, 42:10 or driving along who knows where. 42:14 And he'd see, he'd see a little flower, 42:16 along the walk, he sees a little flower 42:17 and he say hey boys, 42:21 you know what that flower saying? 42:23 What dad? 42:25 God is love, they walk little farther 42:28 and some birds go tweeting over head, 42:31 hey, girl, you know what that bird is singing? 42:36 God is love, every time he'd say, 42:39 finally we got-- we just knew, God is love, 42:40 we'd all pipe up, God is love, it's true. 42:45 Look at this quotation 42:46 "God is love' is written upon every opening bud, 42:49 upon every spire of springing grass. 42:51 The lovely birds making the air vocal 42:53 with their happy songs, the delicately tinted flowers 42:55 in their perfection perfuming the air, 42:57 the lofty trees of the forest 42:59 with their rich foliage of living green -- 43:01 all testify to the tender, fatherly care of our God 43:05 and to His desire to make His children happy." 43:10 Worship, what we are doing right now. 43:15 Worship is the grateful response 43:17 of the creation to the creator, 43:20 but all on you'll see this-- this is truly, 43:22 I mean this is the greatest wow in the history of the universe, 43:27 can you believe this? 43:30 Listen up, the creator of the universe, 43:33 we are talking about all 47 billion 43:35 light years of the universe, 43:37 all right, the 100 billion galaxies. 43:40 Get this, the creator of this universe 43:43 presiding over it all as the reigning monarch, 43:47 the creator of this universe 43:50 came down to the speck of a planet, 43:54 the edge of the milky way 43:57 and it became one of the human race, 44:00 shrunken bones, a brain affected by... 44:09 genetics, He came down. 44:15 Became one with the human race, 44:18 so that we might see a picture of the God 44:22 who rules the cosmos, 44:24 not just so that we might see however a picture 44:28 so that he might die our death. 44:34 That we might have his life, 44:38 in a perfect creation one day forever and ever, amen. 44:44 That's-- name your better wow. Give me a bigger wow. 44:48 Give me any number you want, make it bigger than that, 44:51 you can't do it, you can't do it, 44:55 'cause the biggest wow of all is the wonder of it all. 44:59 Just to think that God loves me. 45:02 Steps to Christ put it back on the screen for you. 45:03 "It was to redeem us that Jesus our Creator lived 45:07 and suffered and died. 45:09 But this great sacrifice was not made 45:10 in order to create in the Father's heart 45:12 a love for man and woman, 45:13 not to make Him willing to save. 45:15 No, no! 45:16 'God so loved the world, 45:17 that He gave His only-begotten Son. 45:19 The Father loves us, 45:20 not because of the great sacrifice, 45:22 but He provided the sacrifice because He loves us." 45:26 Wow, wow, wow that's what worship is, 45:33 when your heart says wow, could it be true. 45:41 There are times when I worship, 45:47 sometimes right here on this platform in first church. 45:52 Spend a whole lot of time worshiping in the front pew 45:54 and second church. 45:57 Sometimes when I'm worshiping all alone in my prayer closet, 45:59 there are times when I worship 46:01 when it feels as if my heart is going to burst. 46:08 I'll kneel there, I'll sit here, 46:12 and while the choir is soaring as it did today, 46:18 or the organ is crescendoing 46:22 while the prays team song-- 46:24 songs are just ascending into heaven, 46:29 I'll sit here and I try to imagine, 46:34 what would it be like, 46:36 if right now the doors to the throne room 46:41 of the temple of the universe swell open. 46:47 And I see the choir and I hear that majestic straight 46:51 what would it be like, 46:54 if I could be ushered in to the very presence 47:00 of almighty God Himself, I'm sitting here, 47:04 I'm imagining this while we're singing. 47:13 I think to myself, if these walls fell away 47:18 and I were there and he was here visible, 47:24 I know what I'd do, I know myself well enough, 47:29 I know I'd fall to my face, 47:31 and I know I would burst into tears, 47:34 I just know I would. 47:36 I've to keep my head 47:37 at certain angle on the front pew 47:38 so that the people around me don't see me, 47:42 I would just start crying 47:46 and when the choirs of angels hushed 47:50 and the silence in the throne room, 47:53 and the one seated on that white throne high 47:55 and lifted up looks down 47:56 at this speck of the human being 47:59 and he quietly asked, why are you here? 48:21 I know, 48:26 that when I could find my voice, 48:31 in a torrent of words, 48:34 I would try to tell him that I'm here, 48:40 because you are the greatest God 48:43 I have ever met in my life 48:47 and I want to give my life to you. 48:53 Sometimes in the quite of my prayer room, 48:58 sometimes in the glory of worship right here 49:04 that's what my hearts want to say to him, 49:06 if only I could find the words but I can't. 49:13 A few decades ago someone finally 49:17 found the words to say and wrote a song, 49:22 it has become a glorious tribute to our creator. 49:27 I was in the stadium 49:28 once filled with 45,000 Christian men 49:32 singing this hymn, at the top of our lungs. 49:37 Oh, Lord, my God, 49:43 when I in awesome wonder, 49:48 wonder consider all the words thy hands have made. 49:56 I see the stars, I hear the rolling thunder, 50:01 thy power throughout the universe display 50:06 then sings my sole, 50:10 my savior God to the how great thou art. 50:17 Ladies and gentlemen, that's what worship is, 50:22 singing to him, how great you are. 50:28 Let's stand to our feet and sing all four stances. 51:07 O Lord, my God 51:10 When I in awesome wonder 51:15 Consider all the worlds 51:19 Thy hands hath made 51:22 I see the stars 51:26 I hear the rolling thunder 51:31 Thy power throughout 51:34 The universe displayed 51:39 Then sings my soul 51:42 My Savior God, to Thee 51:48 How great Thou art 51:52 How great Thou art 51:56 Then sings my soul 51:59 My Savior God, to Thee 52:05 How great Thou art 52:10 How great Thou art! 52:18 When through the woods 52:21 And forest glades I wander 52:26 And hear the birds sing 52:30 Sweetly in the trees 52:35 When I look down 52:38 From lofty mountain grandeur 52:43 And see the brook 52:47 And feel the gentle breeze 52:52 Then sings my soul 52:56 My Savior God, to Thee 53:01 How great Thou art 53:05 How great Thou art 53:09 Then sings my soul 53:13 My Savior God, to Thee 53:18 How great Thou art 53:23 How great Thou art! 53:31 And when I think 53:35 that God His Son not sparing 53:40 Sent Him to die 53:44 I scarce can take it in 53:50 That on the Cross 53:53 My burden gladly bearing 54:00 He bled and died 54:03 To take away my sin 54:08 Then sings my soul 54:13 My Savior God, to Thee 54:18 How great Thou art 54:22 How great Thou art 54:26 Then sings my soul 54:30 My Savior God, to Thee 54:35 How great Thou art! 54:40 How great Thou art! 54:47 When Christ shall come 54:51 With shout of acclamation 54:55 And take me home 54:59 What joy shall fill my heart! 55:03 Then shall I bow 55:07 in humble adoration 55:13 And then proclaim 55:16 My God, how great Thou art! 55:22 Then sings my soul 55:26 My Savior God, to Thee 55:32 How great Thou art 55:37 How great Thou art! 55:41 Then sings my soul 55:45 My Savior God, to Thee 55:50 How great Thou art! 55:55 How great Thou art! 56:09 Oh, God, thank you from the bottom of our hearts, 56:16 through Jesus Christ our Lord, amen. 56:22 I'd like to take a moment here at the end of the service 56:24 to tell you about one of the most important 56:26 groups of people that make this ministry possible. 56:30 There are team of people, 56:31 they're not afraid to get down into the thick of life itself, 56:35 which is why you're gonna find them, 56:36 you will find them, moving forward on their knees. 56:39 They are prayer partners. 56:41 A group of men and women and young adults 56:44 who believe that this humble television ministry 56:47 has been raised up by God for such a time as this 56:49 and so they pray earnestly that God will use the preacher, 56:53 that God will use me, 56:54 that God will use the countless other volunteers 56:56 to spread the everlasting gospel 56:59 and the word of God and ways 57:00 we could never have imagined before. 57:02 They are the ones who are praying 57:04 that God is gonna open up the hearts of people, 57:07 open up the hearts of viewers 57:08 around the world for the message, 57:10 the critical message for this end time generation. 57:14 And what I like to do is ask you, 57:17 would you be willing to be a prayer partner with us? 57:19 A prayer partner with new perceptions. 57:21 You don't have to call the toll free number. 57:23 You don't have to go online to register. 57:25 All I need to know is that you would be willing 57:27 to lift this little ministry up day after day after day. 57:33 Pray that somehow through radio and television and the web, 57:37 God will open up new doors, new regions on earth 57:42 where the everlasting gospel can be proclaimed. 57:44 There is no question the power of prayer 57:47 has potential to take this ministry to places 57:49 we could never have imagined before. 57:52 So that's it. 57:53 Would you please be willing to partner with me in prayer? 57:56 The times are urgent. 57:58 The need is critical and I hope you will say yes. 58:02 Till we're together next time, may the prayer answering God 58:06 accompany you every step of the way. |
Revised 2015-02-12