TODAY’S MESSAGE IS A BIT DIFFERENT
· · It is not so much a lesson on Scripture
· · But on the concept of God’s love for us
I WILL SHOW YOU
· · Irrefutable scientific details
· · That has only been revealed in recent years,
· · And they show what God has done for us
LET’S START WITH GLUE
· · There are many kinds
· · Some glues are stronger than others,
· · But all fail at some point of stress
IS THERE ANY KIND OF GLUE
· · That holds together no matter what ?
· · No man-made glue holds that good
BUT THERE IS ONE KIND
· · That holds no matter what
· · But it isn’t made by man
· · It is made by God
TURN TO COLOSSIANS 1
· · We will come back to that momentarily.
A WOMAN IN WEST VIRGINIA
· · Had some personal experience with glue.
· · She had a blister on the heel of her foot
· · So she put some super-glue on the blister
AND THEN, SHE SAT DOWN AT HER KITCHEN TABLE
· · To have a cup of coffee with a neighbor.
· · While she sat there, the glue ran down her foot
· And stuck her foot to the floor.
SHE ENDED UP HAVING TO CALL 9-1-1
· The glue was strong, but it wasn’t strong enough.
· They had it dissolved in less than an hour.
IT SEEMS EVEN THE STRONGEST OF GLUES
· Don’t work that well
· Under certain conditions.
COLOSSIANS 1:15-17
‘He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by Him, all things were created; things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by Him and for Him.
‘He is before all things, and in Him – all things hold together.’
THIS IS A VERY IMPORTANT PASSAGE
· I want to go over it
· a little slower
· and in more detail
PAUL SAYS JESUS
· Is the image of the invisible God
· Some people think that means
· Jesus & God look like twins
I THINK IT MEANS
· Jesus is the perfect reflection
· Of the “essence” of God
PAUL SAYS JESUS
· Is before all things
· And that He created everything
· That means Jesus always was
GOING BACK TO GENESIS 1:1
· It says that ‘God created the world’.
· The word ‘God’ as it appears in the original text,
· Is the word “Elohim’, which is the word used
· for a plurality of Gods -
· Or more than one God
SO WHO WERE THE GODS
· The original referred to in this verse?
· They were God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit
WE CANNOT COMPREHEND FOREVERNESS
· As humans, we need
· A starting point & a stopping point
NOW THERE IS SOMETHING
· nearly everyone misses
· It is found in the last part of verse 17:
· ‘… and in Him, all things hold together.’
AND THAT IS WHAT
· I want to talk to you about today
· How Jesus literally
· Holds all things together
JESUS DID NOT CREATE THE WORLD
· and then just go away.
· He made it and it is only He
· That sustains the world, even today.
JESUS MADE YOU
· He put you together
· And He continues to hold you together.
· You owe your very life to Him.
HE KNOWS EVERYTHING ABOUT US
· And He STILL loves us!
· he even gave us a promise ----
· If we will trust in Him
· He will stick with us – forever
GOD SHOWS IS HIS POWER IN
PSALM 33:9-10
‘For He spoke, and it came to be; He commanded, and it stood firm. The Lord foils the plans of the nations; He thwarts the purposes of the peoples.’
And after He shows His power, He turns very personal in;
PSALM 33:13-15.
‘From heaven, the Lord looks down and sees all mankind; from His dwelling place, He watches all who live on the earth –He who forms the hearts of all, who knows everything they do.’
AND THEN HE GOES ONE STEP FURTHER
· He gives us a promise
PSALM 33:18-19.
‘But the eyes of the Lord are on those who fear Him, on those whose hope is in His unfailing love, He promises to deliver them from death.’
JESUS IS ALL POWERFUL
· yet with all that power
· He is sensitive to our needs
· He says ….
IF WE PUT OUR HOPE IN HIM,
· He will deliver us
· From eternal spiritual death
JESUS PUT US TOGETHER
· And He continues
· To hold us together
DEEP WITHIN OUR BODIES
· is a small protein molecule called ‘Laminin.’
· let me give you a quick overview
CELLS ORGANIZE INTO CERTAIN STRUCTURES
· and the type of structure it is
· determines the type of protein it is
THERE ARE BETWEEN 10,000 AND 60,000
· Different kinds of proteins are in our bodies
THERE IS ONE TYPE OF CELL-ADHESION PROTEIN
· that tells all the cells what their jobs are
· That cell adhesion protein is called Laminin
IT IS THE SUPER-GLUE THAT KEEPS US TOGETHER
· Without it, we could not live
WHEN THEY POUR CONCRETE
· They use a metal skeleton
· That holds the concrete together
· It is called REBAR
· Laminin is our body’s rebar
WHAT DOES ALL THIS MEAN ?
· You have heard that Jesus
· Is the living Son of the living God
· Today we will see evidence of that.
In COLOSSIANS 1:17, it says,
‘… and through Him (Jesus), all things are held together.’
I AM ABOUT TO SHOW YOU
· What Laminin looks like.
· You are going to see proof
· That Jesus is in us
LOOK AT THIS DRAWING:
· This is what Laminin looks like
· Notice this protein is in the shape of a perfect cross
IS IT A COINCIDENCE
· That the cell which
· Literally holds us together
· Looks like the cross of Calvary ?
COULD IT ACTUALLY BE
· That when the Bible says
· We are held together through Jesus
· it really means it ?
A PHOTO OF THAT PROTEIN WILL SHOW
· the same thing.
· But there is something seen in that photo that is peculiar.
· Where Jesus’ head would be on the cross,
· On that same spot on the protein, it is luminescent
· Showing a hi-lighted area.
ONLY IN RECENT YEARS
· Have we had the technology
· To see things like this
THE STUFF THAT HOLDS US TOGETHER
· is in the shape of the cross
· How awesome is that?
COLOSSIANS 1:16-17:
‘For by Him, all things were created; things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by Him and for Him. He is before all things, and in Him – all things hold together.’
I SPOKE OF NEW TECHNOLOGY
· that would let us see things
· never seen before.
WHEN NEW TECHNOLOGY IS USED
· to study or even refute the things of Jesus,
· it always ends up pointing
· to confirm the things of Jesus
BUT THERE IS SOMETHING ELSE, TOO
· some of that technology
· Actually lets us hear things
· That have never been heard before
WE HAVE JUST TALKED ABOUT
· Seeing things with the help of new technology.
· Now, let’s talk about hearing things
· With the help of even newer technology.
IN LUKE 19 WE READ ABOUT
· the Triumphal Entry of Jesus
· where He rode the donkey
· from the Mount of Olives down into Jerusalem
EVERYONE WAS EXCITED
· because they thought Jesus
· was the earthly King they had been waiting for
SCRIPTURE SAYS THEY WERE PRAISING GOD
· in loud voices because of the miracles they had seen
· But some of the Pharisees told Jesus
· to tell them to be quiet
IN LUKE 19:40, JESUS SAYS
· something so profound that only today
· are we beginning to understand its fullness.
HE SAID,
· ‘if they keep quiet, the stones would cry out.’
· What do you think He meant ?
WE NOW HAVE THE EQUIPMENT
· To split the smallest particle known to mankind,
· and in every particle we split
· We have found the same thing!
IN THE VERY CENTER
· We find one sound wave
· A sound that has never been heard before
· And they are all identical.
WHERE DID THAT SOUND COME FROM ?
LET ME READ TO YOU FROM GENESIS 1
· Verse 3 reads, ‘And God said, “Let there be light …”
· Verse 6 reads, ‘And God said, “Let the heavens and water separate”
· Verse 9 reads, ‘And God said, “Let the water be placed in one place”
· Verse 11, ‘God said, “Let the land produce vegetation.”
GOD SPOKE EVERYTHING INTO EXISTENCE
· He used the sound of his voice to create everything
SO, IS IT ANY WONDER
· that everything that exists has sound in it?
· Could it be the sound wave that is in everything
· is actually the very sound
· of God speaking it into existence?
OUR SOLAR SYSTEM IS HUNDREDS OF LIGHT YEARS IN SIZE
· it is so large, that to see all of it
· You’d have to be millions of miles out in space
BUT AS LARGE AS IT IS
· If you backed that far out,
· Earth could not be seen because it is too small
NOW GO OUT
· About a 100-million miles.
· You’d see the Milky Way,
· which measures about 50,000 light years across
· Again, earth is so small we can’t even be seen
IF YOU WERE TO BACK OUT
· A few trillion miles, you’d see the universe
· It is so big that even a large galaxy gets lost
I WANT YOU TO KNOW
· how powerful God is
· and what He has done
I WANT YOU TO UNDERSTAND
· That man’s attempts to change God
· To fit what we think
· Does not work
WE MUST STRIVE TO CHANGE OURSELVES
· To fit what God knows
· That is what works
· God tells us that in -
ISAIAH 55:8-9,
‘For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways”, declares the Lord. “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.”
AS POWERFUL AS GOD IS -
· As far-reaching as He is,
· He still wants a personal relationship
· With each one of us
PSALM 34:15
‘The eyes of the Lord are on the righteous
and His ears are attentive to their cry.’
THE FATHER ASKED HIS SON
· “If there are three frogs sitting on a tree limb
· and one jumps off
· how many frogs would be left?”
THE SON SAID, “TWO”
· The father said ‘Wrong”
· Then the father explained …
JUST BECAUSE ONE DECIDES TO JUMP
· Doesn’t mean it really jumps
· It could sit there forever
· Deciding to jump, but never moving
THE SAME PRINCIPLE HOLDS TRUE WITH US
· Many people want to follow God
· but not enough to give up what they have in the world
· and not enough to accept Jesus as the head of their lives.
WE CAN BE IN THE WORLD
· or we can be in Christ -
· but we cannot be in both places
· any more than you can be in church and at home at the same time.
WHAT DOES GOD WANT FROM YOU ?
· He wants you to want Him
· Enough to accept His Son
· And come to His church
WE ARE HELD TOGETHER
· With the cross of Jesus
WE HAVE BEEN MADE BY GOD
· and are filled with the sound
· Of His voice
SO LET US CHOOSE NOW
· To love Him; to receive His Son
· And to praise His existence in our lives
INVITATION
