Broken Opportunities (And Harry Potter, Too)

Broken Opportunities

Genesis 1, 3

Good morning!

· It’s a blessing to be back to share with you again. The last time I was here I took you through the whole Bible. Where do you go from there?

· Genesis, chapter 1.

Genesis 1: God’s image

· In the first statement in Genesis, God is seen as the sovereign creator of the universe.

· v.26-31: Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground." So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. God blessed them and said to them, "Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground." Then God said, "I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food. And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds of the air and all the creatures that move on the ground—everything that has the breath of life in it—I give every green plant for food." And it was so. God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning—the sixth day.

A few observations:

· Before mankind comes on the scene (or any other part of creation), God is already there.

o Any kind of initiation of life happens because He is the first one to create the very cycle of creation to begin with.

o Think about that for a moment – there is nothing in all of creation that is not in some way linked back to God.

o Even if you can’t see it or if it’s blurry, the link is there.

· God takes that which is dark, formless and void and creates new and wonderful life. He does this first with the earth, and then life.

· What God creates in mankind is “very good” because humans are made in the image and character of God Himself.

o Being made in His image means that on some level God has chosen to show what He is like by the means of man.

o Kind of like how a quarter shows an image of Washington. God chooses man to image himself in this world.

This past weekend I was in the Chicago area and happened to have some free time on my hands.

· I wanted to bring back a surprise for my boys, so I thought I’d stop by Barnes and Noble to pick up a book for them. As I pulled into the parking lot, though, I found it harder to find a place to park than I originally thought. It was around 10:30pm, Friday night, and yet as I looked around I saw several people getting out of their cars to head into the store. And not just adults, but kids… many of them dressed in their pajamas. And then it hit me – this was the release night for the latest Harry Potter book!

If you’re out of the loop on this phenomenon, here’s a bit of Harry Potter 101:

· The first book in the series finds a young boy named Harry who is trying to figure out how to cope with living with his horrible aunt and uncle. This all changes, though, when a mysterious letter arrives by an owl messenger, inviting Harry to attend a magical school of wizards and witches where he tries to find his identity, make friends, and learn how to overcome obstacles. Each year a new book comes out, it represents one year of Harry at school.

This past week the sixth book in the installment came out, which was met by more than 5,000 nationwide midnight parties where fans could wait at a local bookstore and countdown to buy the book at 12:01am.

· More than 8.9 million copies were sold in the first 24 hours. That’s 370,833 copies an hour.

o “No book has ever sold so many copies in so little time. We’ll sell 50,000 copies an hour - less than one per cent of books sell 50,000 copies in their lifetime," said Steve Riggio, the chief executive of Barnes & Noble.

· There are 270 million of J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter books in print, 80 million in the United States.

· The Potter books have been translated into more than 60 languages.