Hebrews: Hall of Faith

John chapter 1 versus 1 to 5. And then if you could go to our series book or our series chapter which is Hebrews chapter 11 and verses 1 to 3. So John chapter 1 versus 1 to 5, then straight over to Hebrews 11, and then we're going to sing and Tom will come and preach to us. John chapter 1, in the beginning was the word And the word was with God and the word was God.

He was with God in the beginning. Through him, all things were made, without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind the light shines in the darkness. And the darkness has not overcome it. Hebrews 11 verse 1.

Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see. This is what the ancients were commended for. By faith, we understand that the universe was formed at God's command. So that what is seen was not made out of what was visible. And very warm welcome from me.

Good morning. My name is Tom Sweetman. I'm 1 of the pastors here at the church, and it's lovely to welcome you. Let's turn back to Hebrews chapter 11 and we'll reread our text for this morning versus 1 to 3. Hebrews chapter 11.

Now faith is confidence in what we hope for. And assurance about what we do not see. This is what the ancients were commended for. By faith, we understand that the universe was formed at God's command. So that what is seen was not made out of what was visible.

Let's bowheads and pray together. We pray that you would help us, father not to underestimate what we are doing here this morning. That we are gathered as your people in the name of our Triune God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. That we are only alive because you have created us by the power of your word and that you are sustaining our every heartbeat by the power of that same word. And for those of us in this room who know Jesus Christ as Lord, That has only become possible for us because of your life giving powerful words which spoke life and light into our dark hearts and caused us to see the preciousness of your son his death and his resurrection for us.

And we pray that as we turn now to this same word, the word by which the world was made. The word to which we owe our salvation that you would give us ears to hear it. And that we might listen, truly listen and be changed by it. And we ask this in Jesus name. Our men.

Well, as Pete said, this is a a new series that we began last week in the book of Hebrews, specifically in Hebrews chapter 11. And this book was written to a group of Christians who had received the Word of God. So, they had been told the gospel, the good news of Jesus Christ, They had come to hear that Jesus was the greatest being imaginable, that he was superior to all the prophets that had gone before, that he was superior even to the greatest of angels, that he is the 1 in whom God's fullness dwells, that he is the exact representation of the being of God, that when we gaze on Christ, We see the face of God. They had come to hear and to understand that because of Jesus Christ final once and for all sacrifice on a cross, they now needed no future sacrifices. They needed nothing else now to be right with God.

They did not need to return to or revert back to any previous religion. They had what they needed in Christ, their final sacrifice in their great high priests who could make them right with God. They needed nobody else. To go before them, to stand in their place, to make them 1 with God. They had Christ.

And yet the question for them and we saw this last week and if you haven't listened to last week, I would recommend that you do so over the next few days. The question for them now is will they continue in that fight? They've heard it and they've trusted it, will they continue in that faith? Will they persevere Or are they now going to shrink back? Are they going to start giving up?

Are they gonna start going back now that life has become difficult? And that persecutions have come. And that difficulties have arisen. Where are they get what are they gonna go back to now that life has become difficult? And Hebrews chapter 11, this chapter in which we're gonna be spending our summer mornings throughout the throughout the summer.

This book is written to say that true faith perseveres. It keeps going. It doesn't give up, it doesn't shrink back. It continues to welcome the promises of God and trust in God even when life is difficult. And Hebrews 11 is basically just a long list of people who by the grace of God did exactly that.

They persevered. Even when life was difficult, they overcame by the grace of God. They continued to welcome the promises of God from afar. They didn't shrink back. They kept going and the world was not worthy of them, and they overcame because they trusted in the promises of God.

And the application of that for us today and for these first readers, we actually find when we get into Hebrews chapter 12. Verse 1 and 2. So if you've got a bible, it won't be on the screen, you need to be able to see a bible, whether it's a hard copy or 1 on your phone. This is Hebrews chapter 12. This is the application of those 40 verses, and it says this.

Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, Let us throw off everything that hinders, and the sin that so easily entangles and let us run with perseverance without shrinking back. The race marked out for us fixing our eyes on Jesus. The pioneer and the perfecter of faith. Or as some other translations have it, the author and the finisher. Of our faith, fixing our eyes on Jesus, pioneer, author, perfector, finisher of the faith.

And that last bit there in verse 2 is absolutely critical to understand this whole section. You see, who is the real hero of Hebrews 11 and 12? Of all the names that are listed there, Who is the real hero? Well, undoubtedly, people like Abraham and Moses and Samsung and some of the other names that are listed in that chapter. They had their spiritual high points but they also had some very depressing low points.

You think about Abraham, the serial liar, who was willing to throw his wife under a bus on multiple different occasions in order to try to preserve himself. You think about Moses who when he was called by God was initially timid and unbelieving and reluctant But at some other points in his life, he was angry and violent and grumbling towards God. And you think about Samsung, I mean, his life, it's like watching a car crash in very slow motion. Samsung, if you know his story, would not fit into most of our hall of faith categories. They had their ups, and they had their downs, and do you know left to themselves, even those heroes would have given up long ago.

And left to themselves These Christians that this letter was written to would have given up long ago, and left to ourselves We will give up. We will give up. We will shrink back. But for the grace of God, You may have heard that expression. There's no such thing as great men.

Only men and a great God. He is the hero of this section. Hebrews 11 is sometimes called the Hall of faith or the Heroes of faith but it's better understand and understood as the heroic God who gives saving persevering faith even to people who don't deserve it. And so where does chapter 3 or rather where does verse 3 fit in with this argument. Well, verse 3 of Hebrews 11 from 1 angle, it is just a statement about creation.

It tells us why there is something and not nothing. It tells us how this world came to be. But actually, it serves a much bigger purpose than that in the chapter. Because verse 3 is here to say, that this is the God. We worship the God who makes glorious things out of nothing.

That's what he does. So you might ask, what is the connection between persevering faith and creation? What's the connection between those 2 things? God makes them happen. Both of those things, saving faith and creation are wonderful works of a majestic God that would not exist unless he spoke them into being.

He speaks creation into being, and he speaks faith into being because he is the God who calls into being the things which are not. He's our creator, and he's our sustainer, and he is the giver of our faith. And so there's 3 things that we're gonna look at this morning. It's only 1 verse and these 3 things aren't even going to be neatly divided. They're just sort of 3 things that we're gonna look at and they're weaving and out of each other.

We're gonna look at what verse 3 teaches us about creation. We're gonna see what creation teaches us about Jesus, and we're gonna see what all of that teaches about faith. And how we are to trust in trust in him. So let's have a look together at verses 1 to 3 again. Now faith is confidence in what we hope for an assurance about what we do not see.

This is what the ancients were commended for. By faith, we understand that the universe was formed at God's command, so that what is seen was not made out of what is what was visible. Now, you will know that the question of origins has been a question that has united humanity all across history. That question of, where did we come from? How did we get here?

I know that it had something to do with my mom and dad, and that had something to do with their mom and dad. And back and back, it goes. But bigger than that, more than that, where did we come from? Why are we here? Why is there something and not nothing?

And of course, depending on the time and history in which you live and the culture in which you find us yourself. People have tried to answer that question in all kinds of different ways. They have proposed many different theories. They have adopted many different religions. In order to explain that most fundamental of all questions, where did we come from?

And it's way beyond the scope of this morning sermon, to try to understand all of those. But today, in our secular, largely secular part of the west, The idea is that we came or we are here or we are the product of just accidental, chaotic, fortune, and chance. That's that's how we got here. And so if we were to go back in time 13800000000.0 years or whatever whatever it is. We would find or we would see an epic explosion and then given enough time and given enough chance and given the right climat climate, then we've sort of popped out the other end.

But that largely that is what we are, the product of accident and chaos and chance. But before that even, before what is called the big bang. There would have been nothing at all. Or maybe atoms flying around and protons and neutrons. And before that, They might have been dark energy or something that we don't quite understand.

And before that, then maybe something else. Before that, well, we don't quite we don't even know. From nothing really from nothing. And this is where the bible is so interesting. Because verse 3, yes, that says yes, that there is a sense in which we can affirm that.

We we came from nothing. We did come from nothing, but not from absolute nothing. Not from true nothing. Have a look what he says in verse 3. By faith, we understand the universe was formed at God's command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible.

Now what's he saying there? He's saying that the creation, the world in which we live, was not made out of pre existent material. So it's not like there was a tree, and a mountain, and a river floating around in the ether. And at some point, God decided to sort of reassemble that, and take that which was visible and already there and make it into the universe. It's not like he had a big lump of clay that was floating around in space.

And he decided at some point in history, do you know I think I might make something out of that and and form it? There was no pre existent material. The universe was made from nothing, he's saying. Not out of the things that we can see, but not absolute nothing, because it was formed, how in verse 3, by God's command. And so there was a God And there was 1 who was eternal, and there was 1 who spoke and through the power of his word He bought into being things that were not.

It wasn't absolute nothing. There was a father, son, holy spirit, 1 Triune God who created everything by the power of his word. And you know that is the testimony of the whole bible. The bible is united on that point of doctrine. That God created by the power of his word.

If you have a look at a verse like Romans Romans chapter 1, maybe we can get that on the screen. Am I controlling this? Here we go. This is Romans 1 verse verse 20. For since the creation of the world, God's invisible qualities, his eternal power and divine nature have been clearly seen being understood from what has been made so that people are without excuse.

Very interesting, isn't it? He's saying that everybody, everywhere, knows stuff about God. There is nobody who has ever existed who knows nothing about the true God. And what can they all tell from the world in which they live? They can tell that there is 1 with eternal power.

It's a lot of information, isn't it? You look at creation, and you can see there must be 1 who is eternal. That the 1 who made all of this is not subject to decay and time in the way that everything that is visible is. He's different from it. He must be, eternal, ever existing.

He's powerful, He has a divine nature. And what's he saying there? He's saying that from the things that have been made from this universe, We can tell that there is 1 with a divine nature. In other words, nobody anywhere can say, I'm gonna make a statue of a crocodile, and I'm gonna claim that that crocodile made the world. I'm gonna bow down to it and worship it.

We know that's not right from creation. We know that there must be a divine 1, a a God who has breathed all of this into existence. And it's interesting how he puts it, isn't it? For since the creation of the world, God's invisible qualities these things that can't be seen have been seen. Hold on a minute.

His invisible qualities, the things that you cannot see, have been seen. You can see. In other words, when anybody looks around at creation, they see from what he has made. The invisible God who is eternally powerful and divine and brought it all into being. We can see the invisible from the world around.

That's what Verse 3 is saying. Of Psalm 19, here's a poetic way of saying the same thing. The heavens declare the glory of God The skies proclaim the work of his hands. Day after day, they pour forth speech. Night after night, they reveal knowledge.

They have no speech. Hold on. They're speaking. They use no words. No sound is heard from them.

And yet their voice goes into all the earth, their words to the end of the world, in the heavens, God has pitched a tent for the sun. See how he describes it. This creation in which we live. When you look up at the skies and when you look up at the stars in the evening, It's like you're looking at a giant pair of lips, of divine lips that are preaching the glory of God to you. This was made by the hands of God, and this is here to display the glory of God.

And although they don't actually speak or say anything, their voice is heard. You can hear from what has been made and from what you can see. And John 1, which we had read to us as well, is saying the exact same thing. It is saying that in the beginning, was not just a divine force, but in the beginning was the word. And the word was with God and the word was God.

And he goes on to say that through this word, Jesus Christ, everything was made. And without him nothing was made that has been made. At the heart of the universe, is a divine nature, an eternal power, a living word of God, Jesus Christ, and through Him. Everything was made. Every person is without excuse because we can see from what has been made that there is a creator.

And you can see, can't you? How this teaching confronts our culture. It head butts our culture. Bertrand Russell who was a an atheist of the last century and is often quoted by by non Christians and by Christians, I would guess. And was a was a spokesman in some way for for atheistic thought He said this and it's what lots of people do believe if we can get that up.

He said that faith is a firm belief for which there is no evidence. Faith is a firm belief for which there is no evidence. And that's still today, even though he wrote that in an essay, I think, in in the fifties. That still today is a very common objection, isn't it? And you may have heard something like that.

If you've ever tried to invite a neighbor to come to church with you or you've spoken to a colleague about your Christian faith. They may reply by saying something like, look, I'm really pleased that you've got a faith but I'm more into evidence. I'm more of a scientific mind. That's how I construct the world around me by by evidence. I had a housemate when I was at university, who who spoke like that all the time.

That the reason he couldn't be a Christian. The reason he couldn't come to church is because he was an evidence man. He was a man of reason and science, and only things that could be seen and sensed were the things that were real And you know, for him, verse 1 of Hebrews 11 was like the main problem with Christianity. This little sentence here At the end of verse 1, assurance about what we do not see. Yeah, that's exactly your problem.

That's exactly your problem. Assurance about what you do not see. Certainty about things that you have never laid eyes on. It's as if there are these 2 planets. And on this planet here, live the people who are into free inquiry and scientific evidence and only believe what they can see and sense.

That's 1 planet. And over here, We've got planet superstition, we'll call it, or planet myth. And on this planet, live everybody who just want to believe things, even though there's no evidence at all. They're irrational. They're illogical.

They're people of faith and superstition and myth and legend. And there are these 2 planets and guess what, you cannot be a citizen of both. K? You cannot have dual citizenship. You either must choose.

Are you gonna live on planet evidence? Or are you gonna live on planet myth? Or to change the illustration, it's like there's 2 libraries in the same town. In 1 library, you've got the the science fiction the fantasy, the mythology, and all the fiction, the stories. And in this library over here, you've got the encyclopedias.

And the evidence and the fact books and the history books. And guess what? You cannot hold a library card for both. You have to choose 1. Either you're going to be into evidence and reason and science or you're going to be into faith and superstition and religion.

Now, is that true? Is that true? Is that is that what we have to say when people ask us for a reason for the hope which is in us. Why do you believe? Well, to be honest with you, I haven't got any good reason.

I just put the blindfold on, and I step out into the dark, and I hope that there's something on the other side. If you've read the Harry Potter books, that's what I'm like. You know, there's I'm at Kings Cross Station. There's platform 9 here. This platform 10 here, and I'm running at the wall, and I'm scrunching up my eyes, and I'm hoping that there's something on the other side.

I don't know for sure, but that's what I hope. I've been told there's a platform 9 and 3 quarters somewhere. And I'm gonna run at the wall, and I'm just gonna hope there's something on the other side. Is that what we have to believe? Must we accept that objection?

Well, no. No. That is not the case at all. The reason that we can believe in the things that we do not see is because God has given us a universe full of evidence, which we can say. We can see from the things that he has made, who he is, and we can trust his promises.

The bible is full of this kind of thinking. Have a look at Luke chapter 1 with me. If you've ever read Luke, this is the opening to Luke's gospel. And he says, with this in mind, this is Luke Writing, since I myself have carefully investigated everything from the beginning. I too decided to write an orderly account for you, most excellent theophilus, so that you may know the certainty of the things you have been taught.

That's very interesting, isn't it? Because we don't really know, to be honest, who theophilus was. Look at a big moth, isn't it? That's declaring the glory of God to you. Everybody right there.

It can't speak. It can't say anything, but look at it. Or kill it if you're a canita. That's 1 way of doing it. Yeah.

It's an x moth now, I think. But you see what he's saying there. Come back me to loop 1. Okay? Forget them off.

Come back me to loop 1. So theophagus, it's very hard to know who he actually who he actually was and what he actually witnessed. But you notice what Luke is saying. I have gathered together this orderly account I have done the investigation, I have done the research, and I have put this account together so that you may know for certain The things that you have been taught. You see, he may not have witnessed Jesus Christ, taking the 5 loaves and the 2 fish.

And feeding the multitudes. He may not have seen Jesus riding out onto the storm and stilling it with a word But Luke seems to think that he can know for certain that these things happened because of the evidence which has been researched and compiled. Theophilus, he's saying, there are clear, persuasive historical reasons that you can know for certain that even the bits you did not see are true, and they can hold the weight of your faith. You can trust. And the same is true when it comes to creation.

Creation is like the smoking gun at the crime scene. It is the piece of evidence that reveals to us that there is an eternally powerful divine living word of God. That's the argument of verse 3, isn't it? By faith, we understand that the universe was formed at God's command. So that what is seen was not made out of what was visible.

In other words, he's saying, when we look around, and we study the universe that we live in. We we we know, and we do really know that this is not just the product of accidental chaotic fortune. That this is not just protons that had a car crash, and then we popped out the other end. We we know we know. That we live in a world that bears all the hallmarks of a designed created universe.

You see, I'll tell you where you see this. You see this when people hold a newborn baby for the first time. You see this when they take an infant in their arm. And they might be the most entrenched atheistic thinker that you've ever met. But when they see those little fingernails for the first time or when they see their big index finger being enclosed by 5 tiny new fingers.

They know. They know what we all know. Yes, there is a biological explanation. There was pre existent material that led to led but we we know that behind this, and behind our universe is the designing, intelligent programming, loving, word of God. Now I know what some people say, and you might be here.

And if you're not a Christian and you're looking in on these things, Some people will say, yeah. And it's all very well using an illustration like that. But the world that we live in is not all nice newborn babies, is it? It's not a postcard world. It's not just the blue dot from space, all looking idyllic and wonderful and peaceful.

This world is full of suffering, and it is full of evil. And it is full of creation, even devouring the people who live on it. How do we make sense of that? And this, you know, this is why Hebrews 11 deserves our full attention. Because in verse 3, the writer says that this is a created world that we live in.

But what sort of world has it become according to Hebrews 11? It is a world where brothers murder each other and shed blood. It is a world of prostitution, Rayhab. It is a world of slavery. It is a world of child genocide.

Under pharaoh in Egypt. It is a world of torture and exile and people being sawn in 2. It You read Hebrews 11, and you think how do these verses go together? The universe was formed by God's command and all that we've seen. But look at the state of it, and I think that's the point of the chapter.

To say that this world is not what it was made to be, And it is not what it will 1 day be, but nonetheless, even through the corruption and the evil, It bears the marks and the prints of a designer. The 1 doesn't negate the other. My grandmother before she died. She used to volunteer at Bristol Bristol Museum. And she would sit in the basement of that museum for hours after she was retired and she was something of an amateur archaeologist and so she would just spend her time just dusting off artifacts that had been found.

And she probably brushed more Roman coins and more Roman pottery than I would think any other retired person who's ever lived Okay? She she loved to do that with her free time. And of course we know, don't we? That when something like that is discovered, under the earth, when a when a row a hoard of Roman treasure or when a Roman coin surfaces. It doesn't matter how marred or how mishandled or how dirty it has become.

We know that it's still bears the mark of a designer, that there is something qualitatively different about it than the rocks in which it was found. They are not the same thing. However, disgusting and dirty it looks and however restored it needs to be, it still bears the print. It still bears the press. It was designed and it was made.

And so it is with this world. However, corrupt it has become because of our sin. It still bears the marks of a designer that it was made, John 1, by the word who was in the beginning and who made everything. And so what does this all mean for us. Well, here's just a couple of things.

Verse 3, what are we to do with it? How can we put it into action? Well, if you are a Christian here this morning, we need to remember the overall context of Hebrews 11 and 12. The message of it is that Christians who have received Christ as Lord must not shrink back and must not give up. They must keep going.

But how do they do it? How are we gonna do it? Do we just have to be like Moses or be like Abraham or read these great examples of the faith and say, I just need to try as hard as I can to imitate them because they seem to be the heroes. Well, fine. But when should we imitate them?

At what point? When they're throwing the wives under the bus in Egypt, when they're lying, when they're grumbling. Should we are we supposed to imitate them then? Is that when they are example? No.

No. It's Hebrews 12 verse 2, isn't it? You can have a look at that again. This is the call. Fixing our eyes on Jesus.

The pioneer and perfecter of our faith. That is who we are called to look upon. We are to gaze upon Jesus Christ, who is the author and the finisher of our faith, Hebrews 12 verse 2, and Hebrews 11 verse 3, we are to fix our eyes on God, who by his powerful word created this universe. That's how we've got to do it. God is in the business of taking nothing and making something glorious out of it.

That's what he does. And so for us to not shrink back, we must look to him and keep trusting him and know that he will bring us home. But also, do you see how verse 3 helps us with so many other difficulties that we face today? You will know that the big question of our age at the moment is what is a man and what is a woman. That that what is a woman is like the ethical test of the day.

How you answer that question? Defines whether you are a moral acceptable person or not. Every politician cannot do a radio show or an interview. Without at some stage being asked, what is a woman? It is the question of the day.

Now how are we to answer that? In order to answer that question, do I just have to look at the things which are visible? The things which have been made. In other words, do I have to just look at what my culture says, a man or a woman is and take my definition from there? Or worse still, do I have to look inside myself and see if I can discover what it is to be a man or a woman?

Or is there a higher holier, healthier reference point for me to go to? Is there someone somewhere that I can look to who will give me definition and clarity and understanding on all these other issues. Hebrews 11 verse 3 says, yes, there is. You go back to the God who by his command formed the universe. And you made it all.

And you will find that if you can believe verse 3, you will gain clarity. On all those other issues. Such a core doctrine. Well, you think about the person and we were praying for 1 earlier in the service. Who's been diagnosed with a life limiting or life threatening cancer.

Yeah. What does verse 3 say to them? Well, it may not give them all the answers as to why they've got to go through this particular trial. But it says to them, that God formed the universe by his command, that there is a creator. And if there is a creator, there is design, and there is intention, and there is purpose, and there is future, and it means that you can trust even in your cancer.

You see, if that is not true, and that we are really just the product of chaos and accident and darkness. And what is the message for that person? I mean, I don't wanna be inflammatory, but really, there's no difference between them and the cancer cells within them. Is there really? But if verse 3 is true, it means there is a creator and there is a designer in whom they can trust.

See verse 3 is a core doctrine, not only for our identity, but it's the way in which we will endure the storms of life like that. By knowing that we have been made. And then lastly, if you're not a Christian here this morning and This is all very new to you. It's it is lovely to have you dropping in. And let me just put to you from all of this.

What what story fits. What story fits. None of us were there at the beginning. None of us were there at the moment of creation. And therefore, we must all construct a story And in that story, we must live.

And from that story, we must make sense of our lives. Even the person who says, look, I'm agnostic on the issue. You know, I just don't know, but I I trust that at some point science will advance to such a place that it will be able to tell me, but don't you see that is a faith system to live within? That is a faith system to adopt. That 1 day a profit called science is gonna speak a word and it's gonna open up all of these issues.

Does it fit? Does it fit? I was listening to and I'll finish with this. I was listening to an interview recently and you can find it for yourself if you Google it or YouTube it, between Christopher Hitchens who was another famous atheist who's who's died now and Douglas Wilson who's a Christian pastor and writer and they're in the back of the car. They're in the back of the car, and they are driving away from a debate that they've just had.

And Christopher Hetchens puts a question to himself which he then goes on to answer. He says, what is the what is the most difficult objection to my position, to the atheistic position? What is the question or the reality that gives us most pause for thought? The biggest problem for atheists. And he says, it is the fine tuning of the universe.

The fine tuning of the universe is the 1 that gets us all, he says. The fact that there is something and not nothing and the fact that that thing is so finely tuned and wired for life, to the extent that 1 degree closer to the sun and we would be consumed in a raging fireball, and 1 degree further away, and we would become an ice planet that that the conditions for life are so on a knife edge and remain so is the problem that gives us most pause for thoughts. And then he says, but that doesn't mean there's a designer. Of course. I'm not saying there's a designer.

Doesn't mean I believe in design. You don't need a designer for that. It's just the thing that gives us And you know, that's the problem, isn't it? That basically, we are left with 2 choices from verse 3. Either we have to suppress That which is plain to us all.

And we've all done it. Either we have to look at this world around us, and squash down the reality which screams at us. That there isn't a God, that it came from nothing. And that I must forge my own way, or we recognize what verse 3 is saying. That there is a God and that by his command, the universe was formed and the worlds were framed.

And that which we now see was made out of that which we don't. And we recognize that that same God took flesh 2000 years ago. And he came into the world which he had created to die the death that we deserved for suppressing the truth constantly. That this same designer bore our sin upon the cross, that his own creation threw him up to the nails, and he died for you and he died for me, but the third day he rose again. And that all who trust in him can be forgiven of their God suppressing sin.

And they can find a new life in Christ. Those are the options we're left with. Do we suppress or do we submit to this God? And you know brothers and sisters, I think it is easier now than ever before to believe what verse 3 is saying. Our world would say, it's harder now than ever before to believe verse 3.

I think it's easier than ever before. With all the window into the world that science has given us, every discovery just proclaims the glory of God. And we understand by faith that this world was made by God's command. Let's pray together. Father, we thank you so much that you, in the beginning, spoke this universe into existence by the power of your word.

And we thank you that that doctrine brings life and clarity to every other issue that we can know who we truly are because we have a creator who made us, that we can walk through the most difficult seasons of life. Because we have a creator who loves us, and that our own sin can be forgiven. Because that same creating word took flesh and died and rose for us. We thank you that you have not left us in this world without evidence. But rather you have put us into a universe that engages our every sense all the time.

And preaches to us day by day and night by night that there is a God and that he is glorious and that he is loving and that he is to be trusted and followed. And we pray that in this age where this particular truth is so under attack that you might help us to hold onto it with more conviction and more passion than ever before. And we ask it in Jesus' name. Oh, man.