My Fathers Eyes

Raise your hand if you enjoying making things. Making a mess, doesn’t count!

Making food. Story of Forever Young.

Making things out of wood or metal.

Some enjoy making things out of paper, or out of cloth.

When was the last time you made something out of thin air?

Today’s word is found in:

Genesis 1:26-31 (Turn there if you will. We will get there in a couple of minutes)

Years ago, I had a conversation with a good friend, and it began with him saying “We were created to create”.

He brought up this passage in Genesis. We had a great discussion about our Creator.

I walked away with this:

Since we were created in His image, part of that image, is being a creator. However, we are not a creator of things from thin air!

We are creators of things created by the Creator.

In that respect, creating brings us joy.

Can you imagine the joy He received in creating us in His image?

Stand with me as we honor God while reading His word.

(Gen. 1:26–27). Unlike the angels and the animals, humans can have a very special relationship with God. He not only gave us personality—minds to think with, emotions to feel with, and wills for making decisions—but He also gave us an inner spiritual nature that enables us to know Him and worship Him.

Warren W. Wiersbe

A quick overview of Genesis and this passage:

First of 5 books written by Moses:

The word Genesis is the Hebrew transliteration of “in the beginning”.

Written to the people of Israel.

Written in the wilderness, during Israels wanderings, somewhere in the Sinai peninsula

Written around 1440 b.c.

Tells the creation story

The creation story is the 1st of 7 stories told in Genesis.

In that creation story, we are going to look at Day 6.

God "spoke" His creation into existence.

In the first chapter "then God said" 10 times and entire heaven and earths and all created things came into existence.

Although there are 5 reasoned scholarly views of this passage, 2 of which are ludicrous in my opinion, and only 1 of the remaining 3 makes the most sense.

That view is image or likeness in character. This is the perspective from today’s message.

Story of Shaye asking “why did God make us real”.

Should have been prepared, but was seriously caught off guard. This was a 4-5 year old y’all.

Answer: God made us real so we could worship and glorify Him.

Ok, sermon over. Go enjoy your day!

JK.

Over the last 3 weeks or so, we’ve not had a message involving Scriptural Gymnastics. So we are due!

For the most part, there is not a need to turn to each scripture, but I will ask you to find a few of these passages today.

Turn with me to:

Romans 8:29 “For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren.”

Today, I’d like us to consider what it means to be conformed to His image.

Obviously, after we accept salvation from our Lord and Savior, then the lifelong process of sanctification begins.

We are to strive daily, to be conformed to His image, His character.

This side of glory, we cannot be perfectly conformed to His image.

But in that striving to be conformed, we build His kingdom by showing others who He is.

The title of today’s message is: MY FATHER’S EYES

I want people to see My Fathers’s Eyes in how I speak, and how I treat others.

Call me selfish, but I want to hear “Well done, good and faithful servant”!

And that brings us to our first character trait:

To be a Servant. Jesus said in Matthew 20:28 “just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.””

Here are a few other character traits that reflect His image:

To love. Jesus said in John 13:34 “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another.”

To forgive. Matthew 6:14–15 ““For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.”

Be humble. Philippians 2:3 “Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself.”

Picking up our cross. Luke 9:23 “Then He said to them all, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me.”

Taking up our crosses represents:

Suffering

Scorn

Persecution

and the fact that we must: