Jesus Story | Adam and Eve

[Music] canvas church is so good to be with you my name is phil and today we get to hang together online for a gathering this week we celebrate kickoff weekend at canvas church well i want to give you a couple of ways that you can connect with us online during our gatherings first we encourage you to engage with us in a variety of ways feel free to drop where you're watching from in the comments section we love seeing people join us from all over the united states and even from other countries during our gathering if you need prayer make sure you hit that prayer icon we'll have an online host chat with you and see how they can pray with you right there next you can fill out a connection card do this at the end of the gathering it's a great way to respond to the message that you hear and you can also invite friends to watch along with you if you're feeling a worship song or love and a lyric hit the praise hands emoji if you're laughing at one of kevin's jokes hit the laugh emoji or if you agree with the point in the message you can hit a variety of emojis that express what you're feeling we just want you to know that you can engage our online host will connect with all of us and let us know if there's anything coming in the gathering like a baptism or communion well this week we kick off a new series entitled the jesus story where we take a look at jesus and a story woven throughout the entire bible well let's kick off episode one with pastor kevin bringing a message entitled creation [Music] hey good morning everybody how's everybody doing this morning come on let's stand up come on let's worship our god god's gonna do great things in this place this morning let's believe that let's know that let's worship our god here we go [Music] oh come let us worship our king come let us power at his feet he has done great things see what our savior is dying see how his love overcomes he has done great things yes he has he has done great things [Music] the grave you free every captive and break every chain of god you have done great things [Music] oh jesus [Music] you've been faithful through every storm you'll be faithful forevermore you have done great things [Music] and i know you will do it again for your promise is amen you will do great things [Music] [Music] [Music] oh jesus [Music] [Music] hallelujah [Music] [Applause] [Music] yes [Music] [Applause] [Music] you've done a great day [Music] you conquered the grave you free every captive and break every chain oh god [Music] oh jesus oh god [Music] oh come on would you lift up your voice thank you jesus well hey canvas it's so good to worship with you thanks for being with us this weekend my name is phil one of the pastors here and i just want to give you a couple ways that you can connect here at canvas this is your first or second time here we would love to connect with you right after this gathering in our lobby come out to the info station we have a gift for you want to learn your name learn a little bit about you and just say hi and want to say thanks for being with us this weekend if you're looking to connect this fall anywhere we have stage of life connect groups and connect events that are taking place our pastors are going to be in the lobby you'll see big signs with the different stages of life we encourage you to come sign up out there we'll let you know all that's taking place this fall but we were made for connection and we would love to help you connect this fall another thing that has the word connection in it that we rave about here is those connection cards every week we encourage you to fill one of those out it's available on our canvas church app there's one in the seat back in front of you or you can send that code right in the seat back in front of you that'll take you right to that connection card but at the end of the gathering you'll be able to respond to some of the truths that you hear from god's word today and we encourage you to do that our staff reads these each week and are able to respond to them as well and we'd appreciate you doing that well i don't know about you but i'm pretty sure we've all been called different names in our life right and some we like some we don't but one of the names that we can really lean into is that we are children of god and i just want to encourage you we're going to continue to worship in just a moment here and as we do lean into the fact that we are children of god god has his hand on us and we get to worship him today so i'm gonna encourage you to do that with this cameras come on [Music] [Music] who am i [Music] i was lost but he brought me [Music] a child of god [Music] [Applause] [Music] relax he has [Music] jesus [Music] [Applause] [Music] is [Music] is [Applause] [Music] i am [Music] oh [Music] [Applause] [Music] is [Music] [Applause] [Music] there's a place for me i'm a child of god [Music] i chose [Music] i am you are for [Music] [Music] i [Music] [Applause] i am [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] is [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] and church would you pray with me father we need you lord we belong to you we belong to you father we're grateful that we get to come freely in this place and worship you just as we talked last week father the bible says over and over and over to lift our hands to the heavens to lift our hands up in praise of you in worship of you so god in this place wake us up to embrace the moment of worship in this house right now to worship you to glorify you to lift you up to honor you with our songs to honor you with our worship lord because we belong to you as children of god we worship you our good good father we love you lord so [Music] i've heard a thousand stories a while they think your life but that you're pleasing that i'm never alone you're a good good father it's who you are [Music] [Music] is [Music] is perfect [Music] you are perfect [Music] to us [Music] love so undeniably [Music] [Music] i can hardly think as you call me deeper still as you call me the deeper still as you call me deeper still [Music] is [Music] [Music] oh we celebrate you following this place god you're good and church let's just do this for a moment if you would close your eyes everybody across this place and in a moment of reflection before we take communion together it's so important that we reflect on our own hearts before we do this communion is for us as believers to remember what jesus did for us on the cross but also to reflect have a moment of transparency with ourselves and look deep within inside our heart and go lord am i serving you am i living for you am i giving you everything i have so over the next 30 seconds i just want you to do that just reflect on your relationship with jesus christ if you grab those communion elements begin to unwrap them [Music] communion is something the bible has asked us to do when we come together to remember our savior to remember jesus and the price that he paid for us for our salvation the love that he has for each and every one of you in this place remember that as we take this to this morning remember that he loved you so much that he died for your sins i'm going to read out of first corinthians chapter 11 it's a verse we read a lot during communion but it tells the story so well and what we're instructed to do in this moment and it says in verse 23 on the night when he was betrayed the lord jesus took some bread and gave thanks to god for it then he broke it into pieces and said this is my body which is given for you do this in remembrance pray father in this moment as we've looked inside of ourselves [Music] as we reflected on what you've done by sending your son jesus jesus for what you did for us the turmoil that you went through on going to the cross your body that was broken your body that was beaten a crown of thorns put upon your head your side pierced for all of our transgressions and god in this moment as we hold this piece of bread a bread that represents your body that was broken jesus that cross we say thank you for what you did for us we love you so much and we're thankful that you loved us so much to do what you have done for us and we take this bread in remembrance of what you did go ahead you grab that cup verse 25 it says in the same way he took the cup of wine after supper saying this cup is the new covenant between god and his people an agreement confirmed with my blood do this in remembrance of me as often as you drink it jesus created a way for us church by the blood that he shed for us on the cross he created a way to heaven for us by believing in what he has done believing in him by believing in jesus christ and all that he is he created a way through the cross by his death we have life remember that this morning the sacrifice that was paid for each and every one of us let's pray father thank you for the blood that your son jesus christ shed for us on the cross that covers our transgressions covers our past covers who we used to be we are a new creation we are new in you we this morning we believe that you did so much for us and in this moment of remembrance we do remember the blood that was shed for us on that cross [Music] and we take this together in gratitude and thanks for what you have done jesus go ahead everybody come on jesus is worthy of our praise in this place come on this morning come on he is good he is so so good to us i want you to sing this last song i want you to lift your hands come on this is our moment to worship to celebrate the goodness of our god here we go [Music] i love you [Music] [Music] wow oh [Music] that i am [Music] [Music] know [Music] the goodness [Music] [Music] [Music] every breath that i am oh i will say [Music] give you everything [Applause] [Music] is [Music] [Applause] every day [Music] [Music] oh [Music] i [Music] oh i will say the goodness of god [Music] me [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] that i am [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] oh [Applause] [Music] i can't think of a more timely song for us to sing as a church in the season that our valley finds itself in that in seasons of tragedy that there would be a people who still sing about the goodness of our god because here's the reality the goodness of our god is not dictated by the art our set of circumstances that we find ourselves in people all the time allow difficult seasons of their lives to define how good god is for them but when i look at scripture how i see the goodness of god in every season is his response to us in our seasons of pain i love how his word says that god draws near to the brokenhearted that in this season of tragedy of of things that are out of our control that bring pain into our life of of god why is that we see his response is to run towards us not away from us i see in psalm 23 that our shepherd does not leave us in the in the season when we walk through the valley of the shadow of death but he he leads us through it he becomes personal in it and it's his rod and his staff that comfort and protect us and the second way that i see the goodness of god in every season especially seasons of tragedy is the response of people who believe in jesus the in seasons of darkness our light shines brightest when we step forward and walk with people in seasons of pain and canvas our valley is hurting and it's our responsibility as the church to shine bright for jesus today [Applause] so here's what i want us to do i want us to lift up our voices i want us to declare the goodness of god over our valley i want us to declare the love of jesus over our valley that he would be our comforter he says it's like it says in second corinthians chapter one that god is our source of comfort and the amount of comfort that you have received is the amount of comfort that you're supposed to comfort others with that we would be a church that leans in to the pain that leans into the darkness and shines bright and displays the goodness and glory of our god in every season would you lift them up with me lord we thank you that in every season you are good in every season you are faithful lord right now i pray that you would draw near to the families that are dealing with lost in our valley lord with the friends who are asking the question god why or or or how did this happen why did this happen lord we know that ultimately you are in control and we find our peace in our comfort that jesus you care for us that you love us that you walk with us so lord i pray as canvas church that we would be a church that shines bright in the darkest of seasons lord that we would be people of hope and light to the world around us so lord i pray that as we hear your word today that we would be encouraged to live out our faith to the world around us i pray in jesus name amen can we just give god praise this morning go ahead and grab a seat i was there we created life we created man in the image of ourselves we looked upon all that was formed and called it good i stood with the man in the garden i brought him companionship i saw when they were tempted when they fell and i cast them out for the darkness within them could not live with our glory i was there as they descended into darkness shedding the blood of their kin and living in the curse of evil i was there when we depravity drowning all the one family for the lineage of humanity i was there when the great city was built we confused their language and i watched as the people scattered across the earth waiting for the day that they would return and be reunited with us [Music] i was there in the garden well hey i want to welcome you to canvas i'm so glad that you decided to make church a part of your weekend we are in episode two of chapter one of a series that we've entitled the jesus story and what we're doing is that we are going through the entirety of scripture from genesis to revelation that even though there are 66 books a lot of different authors it's broken up into the old testament and new testament this entire word from god is about one person and his name is jesus and what we've recognized is that in the our world today is that there is a lack of biblical literacy in fact last week i was at southeastern university i'm doing my master's in ministry leadership and one of our we brought they brought in a leadership guru his name's dr sam chan and we got to spend an afternoon with him asking him a bunch of questions about where he thinks the church is going about leadership and one of my fellow students asked him he said dr sam what do you think is the greatest threat to the church today and he said i think the greatest threat to the american church today is that the people sitting in the chairs that go to church don't know what the bible says that the lack of biblic biblical literacy in the church is the scariest thing that people that attend church know as much about the bible as people who don't attend church that we got to get back to understanding who god is and letting god define who he is and who we are in him because this is the reality good theology a good understanding of who god is leads to good decisions in our life that we unders when we understand who god is and who he says we are we live differently we live out of the way what we believe about god and so we've said we're going to go through scripture and we're going to be looking for jesus throughout the entirety of scripture and we're telling you we have no idea how long this is going to take and it's going to be an incredible journey as we begin to understand and look at who jesus is in the entirety of scripture i'm excited about it kevin kicked it off last weekend in genesis chapter 1 verse 1 which it says this in the beginning god created the heavens and the earth and automatically when it comes to scripture we want to put ourselves in the center of scripture and we want to ask questions like well how did god do that but genesis isn't as much about a how as it is about who and kevin spent time unpacking who god is that god is three in one he works as father son and holy spirit in perfect community and in perfect unity and god created everything and then he gets to us mankind in genesis chapter 1 verses 26 and 27 and i'm excited to jump in today we sang a couple songs here today that we declared i am who god says i am we declare to god that this is who you are and this is who we are because you are a good father i have good news for you today that how much god loves you and the value he places on your life has nothing to do with you it has everything to do with how he created you in genesis chapter one so we're gonna open up our bibles genesis chapter 1 verse 26 and 27 and it says this then god said let us make human beings in our image i want to take a timeout right there because immediately we're seeing the trinity in action in genesis chapter 1 when god is interacting as father son and holy spirit and they're speaking about creating you and i and it says this that we that we're made in our image to be like us it says that they will reign over the fish in the sea the birds in the sky the livestock all of the wild animals on the earth and the small animals that scurry along the ground so the lord god created human beings in his own image in the image of god he created them male and female he created them now there's a lot to unpack when it comes to being made in the image of god and we could spend hours because i spent hours studying this and i could talk does this mean that we we are physically look like god does it mean it's more spiritual how we have a soul compared to the rest of creation is it that we have the capacity for intellect for emotions for community with one another that we can communicate with one another i think it could be a mixture of all that i don't have all of the answers but i think i've boiled it down to three things of what does it mean that we are made in the image of god and the rest of this message i want to unpack what i what i believe that god is saying to us through his word when we're made in the image of god the first thing that we need to know for what it means for us as the created made in the image of god the first thing is this is that you are loved by god that the intentionality that god created mankind with the difference and we're going to look at the difference between us and the rest of creation that we see that god created you and i for a relationship that from the very beginning he pursued mankind differently than he did the rest of creation that god loves you and i and it's not based on your performance it's not based on your mistakes it's simply based on that he created you in his image and he desires a relationship with you the first thing you are loved the second thing you need to know is that your life has intrinsic worth and value that every single person on this earth regardless of the color of their skin where they were born the the decisions they've made have intrinsic worth and value why because every single one of us has been made in the image of our creator and the third thing we need to know when it comes to being made in the image of god is that every single one of us has the exact same purpose that we were created on purpose for a purpose and we're made in the image of god and we're going to take the next 30 minutes and we're going to unpack what does it mean that you are loved that you are valued and that god has a purpose for your life and what does it mean that we're made in the image of god so as we unpack this what we need to see is the difference in the intentionality of god's design for mankind separate from the rest of creation you be immediately you see in genesis chapter one that god in day one says let there be light and there was light and he says that it was good and he goes throughout the next five days creating everything that we see around us and then he gets to mankind and we see that there's a difference that he has a conversation with father son holy spirit and perfect unity and community saying let's create mankind in our image that there's this separation between us and the rest of creation and what that shows us from the get-go genesis chapter one is this is that god uniquely made man as the pinnacle of his creation that we are the crown of god's creation and often here's the temptation often the way that you and i feel about ourselves is actually the exact opposite of what god says about us you ever feel like you're the pinnacle of god's creation no because when you look in the mirror you see all the faults that you have you see all the imperfections you know the things that you could do better it's easy on friday i was driving through glacier national park i went up to going to the sun road i thought perhaps you know it's september that all of the tourists would be gone and i could find a parking spot i found myself driving to the other side to st mary because there was no parking spots at 10 o'clock in the morning on friday but as i was taking in god's creation it's easy to look at glacier national park and be like man that's a masterpiece man that's the crown jewel of the continent god that is incredible but often when we look at ourselves we don't feel that way but when you read scripture you begin to see how much god loves you more than he loves the rest of creation that he set you apart that he looks at you as the crown jewel of his creation and he loves you because he created you in his image in fact in genesis chapter 2 verse 7 another way that we're separated from the rest of creation is that god breathed his breath of life inside of us that god placed his breath of life inside of us giving us life separating us from the rest of creation and immediately we see god's intentionality for his design in creating us in his image and it shows us his care his desire for relationship and the uniqueness of how he wants to relate with us in fact you see this all throughout scripture and in fact i want to encourage this week to read psalm 139 if you don't think god cares for you if you don't think god loves you if you don't think he wants a relationship with you you need to read psalm 139 and reflect on how much god cares about you because when i read psalm 139 i see that god knit me together in my mother's womb that he knows the thoughts that i'm thinking right now he knows the words that i'm gonna say he knows how many cups of coffee you've already had this morning to stay awake he knows the things that are gonna irritate you this afternoon he knows what you're gonna have for lunch today god knows you he cares for you and he desires a relationship with you and he created you in his image on purpose for a purpose and he values you apart from the rest of creation how do you know this stephen well i see it in the creation story genesis chapter one i see day one he said let there be light and there was light and he says that it was good day two he created the firmament i'm just gonna be honest i had to look up what that word meant last week and then he said it was good on day three he created the sky in the waters and he said it is good on day four he created uh he created land and on day five he created the animals and and then on day six he gets to us and he created us in his own image and in verse 31 we see the difference because he says it's good he says it's good he says it's good but he gets to genesis 1 31 and he looks after he created mankind and he says in genesis 1 31 then god looked over all he had made and he saw that it was very good he gets to you and i is like this is where i'm going to stop i don't need to create anything else but i created them in our image in the image of god we are created and from the very beginning god created you and i for a relationship with him and it wasn't for him to meet some need that he was missing he simply created us so that he could be active with his creation and he made us in our image in his image so that we could have a relationship with him god loves you and when you begin to study creation in genesis chapter 1 you have to think about how much god values you you can't miss it that when you look at the creator and how he created you it speaks to the value that god places in us as his creation and when you begin to understand how much god cares for you how much god loves you what it should do inside of those who who have a relationship with god is is a newfound confidence that you don't have to earn his love but he simply loves you because you are his created that you don't have to go find value from the things of this world but simply your life has value because god created you in his image and he desires a relationship with you that as the creator he values his creation you ever made anything that you were proud of before anybody you made something you're like ah i'm proud of that i remember when i was a junior in high school horrible at art like i don't have a creative bone in my body my brother on the other hand the most creative person i've ever met the dude could do a finger painting of mr t and it looks exactly like it i remember i was a junior in high school and my teacher came up to me she said stephen i'm going to have to give you a c in art class and i was like time out i've never gotten a c in my life mrs d it's like you're going to get checked yeah i know you're really good at math and science but your art is horrible and i was like i'm trying as hard as i can and so after that assignment's like you know what i'm going to try as hard as i can on my next assignment in our high school we have these indoor windows that would display all of the art of people who had a great masterpiece and so our teacher would put up everybody's assignments for an entire week to display all of the a's i never got mine in there so i remember this assignment mrs dieks assigned it she says i want you to take van gogh's starry night and i want you to change the foreground i want you to keep the background as starry night but i want you to change the foreground i was like oh i have a great idea i'm gonna do this desert landscape like the grand canyon with a wolf howling at starry night i'm like yes i'm gonna crush this i tricked mrs deeks to doing about 75 of my assignment by simply asking hey mrs deeks can you help me with the shadowing on this part of the project and she kept doing my project but she came back to me at the end of it and she said stephen this is the best piece of art you have done i'm like i know you did 75 percent of it but then she said steven i'm going to give you an a and i'm like yes yes and she goes even better stephen i'm going to hang up your assignment in the window yes for an entire week i'm grabbing every one of my friends walking i did that that's mine a 100 on this assignment but guess what nobody else cared nobody else cared they're like yeah dude there's like 17 other pictures up there but i'm like that one's mine and you need to know something that's the way that god feels about you because you are his creation he sets you apart he knows you he's given you the gifts and talents and passions he knit you together in his in your mother's womb and he loves you not based on your performance not based on the things that you can do but solely because he is proud of his creation and you are made is in his image and he values you here's what you need to know about value is that the created can never add value but only the creator can determine the worth and value of its creation and often what we try to do though we try to take value into our own hands so i want to ask you this question where often do you try and find value and add value to your life we do it all the time we think that if we have the right job title if i can just get that job title put on my desk with my name underneath it i've made it if i can just have that degree sitting on the wall that says that i have a master's degree or i have a doctorate or whatever it is that you're going after and that you try to add value we try to add value in the relationships that we have we try to add value by the kind of cars that we drive by the kind of house that we have by how much money we have in our bank account and we're trying to add value to our life and none of those things are bad in and with of themselves but when you place your value in things that change your value is going to consistently change but when you place your value in who god says you are and who he created you to be you're putting your hope and your value in an unchanging source that can't change so that your value's not going up and down your value is simply in this that god created you in his image and he has a plan and purpose for your life and you are loved not based on the things that you can accomplish or even by your mistakes but you're loved by god because you are his creation and you're uniquely made in his image on purpose for a purpose and here's the beautiful thing about that here's how it changes our relationship with god and our relationship with other people when we know our value is secure in him is that we no longer have to go in this life seeking after value i think most of our time is spent seeking value in other people's opinions and all the things i just mentioned ahead of time but when your value is secure in who jesus says that you are you get to live from value not living for seeking after value and it changes the way that you interact with others it changes the way you treat other people it changes the way that you interact with your creator when you know simply that you're loved and valued because he created you and it's not based on anything you can do and i think often we try to take that into our own control and often what we need to do is give him control because he is the creator and he's trying to do something through our life as his creation we see over and over how important we are to god throughout scripture i wish you could miss this in scripture but if you read throughout scripture you see how much god cares about you in fact i want to read just a little bit of psalm 139 starting in verse 17. here's what god thinks about you and i how precious are your thoughts about me oh god they cannot be outnumbered they cannot be numbered i can't even count them they outnumber the grains of the sand when you read that it's like whoa are you sure like if this wasn't god you might be a little bit freaked out i want to read it again how precious are your thoughts about me oh god they cannot be numbered i can't even count them they outnumber the grains of sin here's what you know god's crazy about you god desires a relationship with you god loves you he values you and i would go as far to say is that god is proud of you but for the majority of you sitting in the stream and those of you watching online that's not the way that you feel about yourself and often it's hard to even accept this as truth because it's not the way that we feel about ourselves and often that's how we interact with god is god i'm trying to earn your love god i'm trying to add value to my life and what you need to know is that when you are made in the image of god that you are loved and your life has value because god says that you are made in his image and he thinks about you he desires a relationship that you can't miss how much god cares for you and when you understand this you can see the creator as this you can see this that god has humanity's best interest at heart isn't that hard to believe sometimes that god really does have his creations best interest at heart that god actually sees and knows every single person in this room and he knows the needs that you have in fact what i love in genesis chapter 1 you see how god sees adam's need in fact genesis chapter 1 verse 18 we see it says then the lord god said it is not good for the man to be alone i will make a helper who is just right for him guys this is when you hit your wife and say amen so god looked at adam and he's like this is not right something is is missing here i need someone to help this guy out and so here's what god does he brings every animal to adam and adam's like uh uh uh uh uh uh and like all the animals come through and like this is not working so god says i'm gonna take one from your rib from your bone and i'm going to create eve i'm going to give you a best friend and everybody said amen thank you god that you saw adam's need in fact even adam feels that way in genesis chapter 1 verse 23 he says at last no more cows no more horses there's one he's like this one is bone from my bone and flesh from my flesh she will be called woman because she was taken from man and all of us like thank you god but here's what you need to know and here's what you can't miss is that god saw adam's need see did adam have other needs yes but god saw adam's most desperate need and god didn't just see the need god stepped in and met the need that's important you're going to see that all throughout scripture man you're definitely going to see that next week in genesis chapter 3 that when god sees mankind's need because we're made in his image and he desires a relationship with and he loves and values us that god will step in and provide for our needs that we have a god who desires what's best for his creation and he knows what's best for his creation because he is the creator and he has humanity's best interest at heart and often what we like to talk about when god meeting our needs is we like to talk about that that meets our need for community but i think what that says about god is the kindness of god towards his creation that he's continually pursuing us that he's continually meeting our needs that he desires a relationship with us that he's active with his creation through mankind and when we acknowledge our identity as his creation that we're set apart that we're the pinnacle that we're the crown of it we can understand that our value is in who god says we are and it changes the way that we relate with god it what if we lived knowing that our our love and our value is simply that we are the created that god loves us not based on the things we can accomplish and the things that we've done wrong but simply because he loves us and created us here's what it should allow us to do first thing it should fill us with confidence the second thing it should allow us to do and it changes the way that we relate to god as this it should allow us to trust the creator should allow us to trust the creator that he really does know best for our life that he has our best interests and our desires at heart in fact a couple weeks a couple months ago my wife called me and she was dropping our kid off at preschool and she calls me says steven my my car will not start like my steering wheel is locked and i'm like okay here we go here's what you do babe all you have to do is just move it like just shake it as hard as you can and if that doesn't work just keep trying to turn the key and if that doesn't work i think you just stomp on the gas or you hit the brake i'm not sure what you do just get it going just like that's all you have to do it's just like it's it's just stuck there and she goes okay i'm gonna try it 20 minutes later she calls me stephen it's not working and i'm like do i need to leave my meeting and come get your steering wheel unstuck so that you can leave the preschool and she's like no i'll i'll get a figure i'm like all you have to do is just shake it as hard as you can and then just turn the key and then just stomp on the gas i'm just trying to figure it out people i don't even i don't know much about cars and so finally 30 minutes into sugar i finally got it and then she said the words that every person hates hearing i'm gonna take it to the mechanic she takes it to the mechanic mechanic calls her back and says oh it's an easy fix which is what everybody wants to hear at the mechanic it's not very expensive but here's what our mechanic told us he goes the reason that your car your steering wheel is locking is because the key that you're using is not from the manufacturer but it's a copy of the the what the manufacturer created for your vehicle so after a while the copy key will eventually the ignition will recognize that it's not the original manufactured key and the anti-theft system will go into place or your steering wheel will lock so what you need is toyota to send you three keys that were created and designed for your vehicle so that you can continue to drive your vehicle and it's the same thing when it comes to our relationship with god that often we want to define what's best for us that i know it's what's best but how many of you know that the creator knows what's best for you and desires what's best for you and that we need to live within his plan because what we think is that getting it being able to do whatever we want to do brings freedom but actually living the way that the creator designed us to live brings freedom and endurance in our walk with him you see that with jesus of how much he desires what's best for us and he wants to meet your needs we see jesus say this in matthew chapter 7 verse 9 through 11. he says you parents if your children ask for a loaf of bread do you give them a stone instead or if they ask for a fish do you give them a snake if you are a parent right now i'm going to reread this for you so you can understand this passage because my kids do not eat fish or bread so i'll read it again you parents if your children ask for a fruit snack do you give them a stone instead or if they ask for mini muffins do you give them a snake of course not so if you sinful people know how to give good gifts to your children how much more will your heavenly father excuse me give good gifts to those who ask him what's jesus saying i know how to give good gifts to my kids why because i created them i know what's best for you i desire what's best for you and i'm going to give good gifts because why i love you and i value you and simply because you're mine i will give you good gifts why because i care for you i love you and i designed what's best for you and it is this interaction it's this participation that sets christianity apart from the rest of the world's religions you don't see the other gods in other world religions interacting with their with their creation in fact in every other religion how you have a right standing relationship with god is that you have to do all your good works you have to earn your way you got to work your way into right standing with god but with our god he sent his only son jesus into the world to interact with us to become like us to understand us so that we could relate with him and this active participation in his creation sets jesus apart from every other false god that jesus is the only one who wants to be a part of his creation and desires what's best for his creation because that we are made in his image and so often we look at god's directives in scripture and think that's unfair you ever feel that way when you read god's word and you're like you tell me to forgive this person but god do you really know my circumstances right now do you know what that person said about me do you know how much i trusted that person and they broke the trust like god i i can forgive somebody that that wants like reconciliation i'll ask for forgiveness if that person comes to me first and jesus like no i got a better way for you because if you hold on to that bitterness all it's going to do is rot you to the core that it's the poison pill that you swallow hoping it kills the other person and and often we're like i'm gonna do it on my own i know what's best for me god and jesus is like no i created you i know you and i know what's best for you and if you will follow me and my words and my teaching i'm going to bring you a blessing and i'm going to bring you freedom because i designed my creation and i know what's best for it isn't it amazing that when you forgive someone how it doesn't get like always let them off the hook but it sets you free inside but it's like god's word really is something that we can study and understand and follow because he created us and knows what's best for us and he desires for us to walk in freedom with him why because he created us he loves us he values us and he knows what's best for us that we can trust our creator and i know that we often we say what is best and what that does is it shows a lack of trust in god when i think that i know what's best for my life i'm telling the creator that no i got it i got it figured out i got a better way for this situation but often i need to remind myself god i need to trust in you i'll give you this illustration if god created you to be a jeep you're probably going to get towed by chevy but if god created you to be a ferrari he created you to stay on the pavement to go fast but if a ferrari goes off-road you're gonna have a bad time if god created you to be a jeep you're supposed to go off trail you're not it's not you're not meant for the highway you're meant for the mountains and often when we look at ourselves like god i gotta figure it out i'm gonna do it my way i got this and god's like no i love you and i value you would you please just follow my commands so as followers of jesus what we need to do as we trust him is the second thing as we understand that this that we need to study his design and live it out god how did you design me and how did you design this race that you've set before me how do i need to run within it so i can live in freedom and run a race of endurance as i follow you so the question that we should be asking is god what is your intent and design for who i am and the way that i'm supposed to live here's the beautiful thing god gives us a set of instructions now for many of you you've probably had to assemble some furniture in your life when my wife and i lived in the seattle area my wife loved ikea ikea doesn't sell any furniture that you can just throw in the back of your car and not assemble it everything from ikea you have to assemble i learned very early on in marriage that i wasn't very handy but here's what i would do why because i went to a semester of engineering classes okay i got this figured out i don't need directions okay and i'm gonna do it on my own someone look at the picture i'm gonna grab all the parts i'm gonna do it on my own i'm gonna show i'm gonna i'm gonna be the husband right two minutes later i have to ask myself hey can you grab the instructions can you help me because you're way more handy than i am a couple weeks ago my wife bought a bunk bed for our boys so they can share a room and she was at work and i was like you know saturday i'm going to use this day i'm going to help my wife out i'm going to clean the boys room i'm going to put their bunk bed together she's going to come home it's going to be all cute and it's gonna be great right and so i i pull apart the box i start putting all the pieces to the side and and for like 20 minutes i'm scrambling looking for the instructions i'm like oh i gotta find these instructions so i had a choice to make do i try and look at the picture and create this thing on my own and do this thing on my own or do i call the manufacturer for the instructions they could email them to me you better bet that i called the manufacturer spent 45 minutes on the phone so that i could get this out of instructions why because i couldn't do without the instructions and often that's how we treat god's word i know that's what your word says god i got this i got it i'm gonna do it on my own i'm gonna try and figure it out and we try to do it on our own that's why god has given us his word as a set of instructions for how to run this race and live a life as part of being made in the image of god so that people would see jesus in the way that we live our life that he's given us his word to be a lamp into our feet and enlightened to our path that how does a young person keep their way up here by hiding god's word in their heart that god has given us even better god gave us the blueprint for how to live this life and his son jesus that jesus came down he was 100 man but he lived a perfect sinless life and he is our blueprint for how we're supposed to live this life if we want to know how to study god's design and live it out you need to look at the life of jesus in fact this last summer we did an entire series looking at the rhythms of jesus why because we want our life to reflect who jesus is to the world around us that i need to study and understand this design that the creator created for me to live and why because he desires freedom for my life he desires that i would walk with him with as much pain and as less pain as possible through this life why that i could trust the creator i could study his design and i could live it out so the question we have to ask ask ourselves is am i letting the creator show me how to live am i allowing him to speak into my life to show me the areas of my life where i'm not trusting him in fact if you read psalm 139 this week what you're going to find is that's how david closes out that psalm he talks about how much god knows him and then he has the revelation that he doesn't know himself very well that he has some blind spots so in psalm 139 23 says this search my heart oh god test my anxious thoughts reveal to me any area of my life that is offensive to you and lead me to life ever lasting why because god knows us better than we know ourselves and often we try to take it into our own hands and we want to align god's word to our truth but what we need to learn how to do is say god no you search my heart and i need to align my life with your truth because you know what's best for my life i need to trust the creator i need to study his design and i need to live it out and here's the problem with it is that you can know scripture but it's another thing to live out scripture one of the things that i love that kevin says all the time is that depth comes from doing man isn't it one thing to know the creator says to pray for your enemies it's a whole nother thing to pray for your enemies and it's not to pray to smite them or for god to take them out or for god to do his justice it's that god would bless them but when you do when you do pray for your enemies here's what it does that bitterness begins to go and you begin to walk in freedom man it's one thing to know that the creator says to cast your cares on him because he cares for you it's a whole other thing because often what we want to do is we want to carry the burden on our own we just want to suffer we just i it's all on my back i got this i'm going to do it myself and my own strength and my own understanding but when you do cast your cares on him what begins to happen is you begin to experience the peace that god has for you it's one thing to know that the creator says fix your eyes on me the author and perfecter of your faith but it's a whole nother thing in the busyness and the chaos of life to slow down enough to spend time with your creator and fix your eyes on him and allow him to search your heart but when you do he reveals things to the power of his holy spirit that you're holding on to that you need to let go of because he desires what's best for your life because he loves you and he values you and when you choose to trust him and surrender to him and fix your eyes on him you begin to walk in a newfound confidence and freedom that's only found in him it's one thing to know that you can ask god for wisdom in a situation but often you try and do it in your own understanding in your own timing but when you pray to god that you need wisdom it says that he will generously give it to those who ask and you experience his wisdom working in your situation there's depth that comes from doing that when you understand that we would live differently as made in the image of god if we could leave this place today knowing that god loves us that god values us and it's not based on our performance it's not based on our accomplishments it's not based on our mistakes but solely because we are made in his image he loves and he values us which allows us to change the way we relate with him that i can trust my creator that i can study his design and live it out and and here is the big thing when it comes to being made in the image of god if you could understand that you are loved and you have value this third thing is a natural byproduct of knowing these things is that you would live out my purpose as god's creation see often in life what we begin to think we need to do is i need to find my purpose i need to find my purpose and often people struggle and and they work so hard i need to know what i'm created for i need to know what my purpose is i need to know how what god has put me on this earth for you want to know what god's put you on this earth for it's found in genesis chapter 1 verse 26 and 27 that you are made in the image of god and as an image bearer of the king the your life is a canvas to the world that should shine bright the love and the glory and the grace and the redemption and the hope and the light of who jesus is to the world around you you want to know what your purpose is it's to be an angled mirror you ever seen an angled mirror before remember growing up my grandma had an angled mirror in her basement that i would push and it would just what it means to be made in the image of god is that we are loved and we have value and what we're supposed to do as being made in his image is to live a life as an angled mirror that we would allow god's glory that we would allow god's love that we would allow his story that we would allow his light that we would allow who god is shine down on us and be reflected to the world around us that's why we call our church campus church that your life is a canvas that god would write his story of hope and love and light to the world around you but here's the problem often we like to take the paintbrush and begin to paint our own story god i know what's best for my story i know what's best for my life you ever seen a toddler paint before a couple weeks ago my three-year-old got into our paint stuff when his mom and i weren't paying attention great parenting moment he took a blank piece of paper to our table he got as much water as possible in the paint threw it down on the table grabbed a paintbrush he completely missed the piece of paper he painted all over our table that's what our life often looks like is we take the paintbrush from the creator and the artist and we try to add value to our canvas and what god so often wants us to do is for us to give back that paintbrush so that he can write a story and create a masterpiece through the way that you live your life that all of the mistakes all of the things that you've done wrong all the things that you've accomplished it doesn't mean anything unless you give it back to the creator so that he can write his story through you that you would know that you are loved that you have value and that your purpose is to reflect his glory through the canvas that he has given you in fact i want to close with this verse ephesians chapter 2 verse 10. this is the apostle paul right in the church of ephesus i think this is the heartbeat of this entire message paul starts this way for we are god's masterpiece this word for masterpiece is the greek word poema sound familiar but the creator of the universe wants to write his story through your life he's saying for you are god's masterpiece and he says this he has created us anew in christ jesus that when you believe in jesus that when you have faith you are saved by his grace and then when you are made new here's a byproduct so when you understand your value as his masterpiece when you understand the love that jesus has for you here's what the byproduct is so we can do the good things he planned first long ago another translation would say this that you could do the good works that he planned before the foundations of the earth canvas church i'm here to tell you today that god had your life in mind before he said let there be light he knew that you would be here for such a time as this to hear a message about the love and value he places over you as his creation and the byproduct of knowing that you are loved and that you have value is living out the plan to reflect his goodness in love and grace and redemption that god would write his story through your life but here's what has to happen you've got to give him back his paintbrush and you got to ask the question god what are the areas of my life that i'm not reflecting you but i'm reflecting me and god once again through your grace i want to reflect you and i want you to be the author of my life because it is the jesus story not my story and i want the canvas of my life as made in your image to reflect that image so i choose to surrender to you would you grab that connection card every single week we have four responses on the back of that card the first one says this i choose to follow jesus and maybe you're here today and you've never heard that god loves you not based on your performance but simply because he created you maybe you didn't know that your value isn't in the things that you've accomplished or the things that you've messed up but it's solely in the fact that you're made in the image of god that he says that you are his masterpiece and right now you're recognizing that god is speaking to you that you've never surrendered to him and he is saying give me the paintbrush and watch the story i want to paint through your life and you mark that box i choose to follow jesus secondly maybe you realize that you don't realize how valuable you are to god and you check that box third box says i want god's love for me to shape how i live that solely because i am his creation and he desires what's best i want to live that way that i would trust my creator study his design and live it out and lastly i commit to spend my life honoring my creator i want to reflect his goodness and his glory and his light to the world around the canvas would you stand with me we're gonna take one more worship song here's what i want us to do we're going to sing a song that's titled great are you lord in this moment as we've been talking about god's love and god's value over our life maybe this is just a moment that you would surrender you'd give the the author the creator back the paintbrush of your life and you would surrender to him and tell him how great he is that you would worship him why because you were created to worship him because he loves you and values you and that you would just surrender him so jesus i pray in this moment that all across this place and all those watching online that they would simply know that you love them that you're pursuing them in this moment that you desire a relationship with your creation lord i pray that people would understand what you truly say about them that they are chosen they are loved they're accepted lord that they are enough because of what you've done jesus and lord i pray that we would live not seeking after valley but live from the value as made in your image and that we would display that to the world around us so lord in this moment we choose to surrender to you and give back to you the paintbrush of our life and say have your way in jesus name amen let's worship together [Music] [Music] [Music] you restore every heart that is [Music] [Music] so we pour out our praise [Music] you bring life to the darkness [Music] [Music] [Applause] so [Music] your [Music] me [Music] the monsters all the earth when we lift it up together we sing will shout your praise our hearts will cry these bones will sing come on [Music] [Music] these [Music] [Applause] [Music] is [Music] is [Music] is [Music] hmm [Music] thank you so much for joining us today if you'll take a moment to fill out that connection card this is a great way to respond to the truths we heard today there are four ways we can take next steps the first is i choose to follow jesus the second is i don't understand but i'm open to learning the third is i believe in the creator who is beyond my understanding and the fourth is i'm committed to the jesus story journey you can find all that is happening right here at canvas through our canvas church app you can give through the app to the ministry of canvas church or through the website at canvas.church i'm praying that this week god will continue to move in our lives may you not miss a beat and find your rhythm with god canvas we love you we're praying for you and i look forward to being with you next week [Music] you

Channel: Canvas Church

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Length: 85min 14sec (5114 seconds)

Published: Sun Sep 19 2021