How To Be A Spiritual Friend Series

How To Be A ‘Spiritual’ Friend

The Faith Factor – part 7

IF – you have your bibles… TURN – to Genesis chapter 1;

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of

God was hovering over the waters. And God said, "Let there be light," and there was light. Gen 1:1-3

CIRCLE - God created… the Spirit of God was hovering… God said

QUESTION – do you see it? DO – you see it right there tucked away in the first 3 verses of the bible?

UNDERSTAND - the essence of the entire universe, the essence of all existence, the essence of life – IS right there in those 10 words God created… the Spirit of God was hovering… God said… LISTEN - when we boil it all down the essence of all of life can be summed up in just one word, ‘community.’ UNDERSTAND - community has been around long before creation and is more foundational then the universe itself.

AND - right here in Gen 1 we see that divine community working together. THE Father creating, the Spirit hovering and the Son speaking… An eternal, perfect relationship – connected together, working together…creating together…. ONENESS – in it’s purest form…

Understand – God has always existed. AND - God the Father, God the Son and God the Spirit have always been in perfect community… In fact they are the very definition of oneness and selflessness. LISTEN - when you look at the community of the father, Son and Spirit – you do not find them focusing on themselves but rather on each other.

The Spirit points to Jesus and says; “Look at him; listen to him, learn from him, follow him, worship him, be devoted to him, serve him, love him, be preoccupied with him.

And when we look at the Son, oddly enough we see that he didn’t walk around saying, “I’m the greatest!” rather Jesus said, “If I glorify myself, my glory means nothing.” He said, “he came not to be served but to serve.” AND - according to Mark, Jesus submitted to the Spirit when the Spirit drove him into the wilderness, and He told the father during his climatic struggle, :Not my will, but your be done,”

Then there is the Father. Twice in the gospels we hear His voice say; “this is my Son in whom I am well pleased listen to Him…” Note The Father didn’t say ‘listen to me first then listen to him’ or ‘listen to him, only if what he says agrees with me…’

OKAY – the essence of all of life can be summed up in just one word… AND – what is that one word? ‘community.’ NOW – not only do we (the divine community) in genesis one… BUT – we also see God getting busy creating this incredible universe and world that we live in…

AND NOTICE – after placing billions galaxies full of billions of stars in the heavens, after creating both time and space… God zeroed in on His pet project. A small planet on the outer fringes of one of those immense galaxies – the 3rd rock from the sun…earth.

AND – God pumped incredible beauty (towering snow capped mountains; fast flowing rapids, roaring waters falls, vast canyons; wide oceans, jagged cliffs and breathe-taking sunrises and sunsets).. and He poured life into this planet.. YOU KNOW – it’s amazing that NASA has and will continue to spend billions to try to uncover even the most remote or primitive life form on mars or some other distant planet (no luck so far)… BUT – on the other hand, earth is FULL of life… I MEAN - it’s everywhere. Put a shovel of dirt or a cup of water under a microscope and you will see that it is teeming with life… Earth is most definitely God’s pet project…

AND – then on day 6 of this creative process God finally (with a huge smile of his faces, no doubt) got down to what was the purpose of everything that he had spoken into existence.

“Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, in our likeness…” - Genesis 1:26

CIRCLE - in our image, in our likeness..

QUESTION - what does that mean? NOW – obviously God could not reproduce himself and create another God since He is absolute and therefore unique… BUT – God did the next best thing… He created beings in his own image… AND – to be in God’s image and likeness (involves many things… LIKE – being able to think, reason, plan, dream, feel, choose, create) BUT LISTEN – I am ABSOLUTELY convinced that at it’s core being made in God’s image and likeness IS ABOUT relationships… is about connecting with AND enjoying that awesome divine community and connecting with and enjoying each other…