Francis - This week, you started diving into the Old Testament, and you start  with creation. And I get so fired up about this topic, because this is huge to me.  So I'm going to go off for a little bit here for a while, because this is everything. I  mean, you're saying that there's a creator. And you could spend all day talking  about the difference between a creator and a created being the implications of  that. So that means there's someone else who made me. I mean, that's at the  base of everything. I mean, think about that, that means I wouldn't even exist.  So I wouldn't be thinking I wouldn't be talking right now. We wouldn't be  studying, we wouldn't be going through this material right now, if it wasn't for  him. And what does that mean? You could spend all day just talking about, okay, so what right does he have versus the right that you have, you may illustrate  this, you may bring a lump of clay, you know, just like scripture, use that  illustration, okay? The difference between me and this lump of clay, that's  massive, and to say, God, and that's, that's where now the authority of Scripture  and everything else, everything changes, once you have a right view of what it  means to be a created being,  

David - no, like, author implies authority, and to really, so he's the author of  creation, and therefore he has all the rights over our lives. And this is essential  to understanding what it means to be a disciple of Jesus is realizing, alright, my  life is not my own. I belong to another, the one who sustains me at this moment,  The one that gives me breath. And so to really, to focus on with your, the people, your disciple in the person you're descipling, this is massive truth. And this is,  we're so man centered in our thinking, and sort of really help give them from the  very beginning of this journey that's going to walk through the story of Scripture,  a grand picture of God, maybe even to spend some time as your as your spin,  walking through the word with him in this session to say, man, let's just stop and  praise God, our Creator, let's just exalt Him, let's, let's lift him up. Let's thank him for things in creation, and praise Him for all that he has created. We see that all  over scripture, God exalted in these ways. And so maybe even to spend some  devotional time along those lines would be really helpful.  

Francis - Yeah, I would even say, Okay, we don't want to assume that everyone  believes that they were created by God. I mean, that's a big debate for a lot of  people and a lot of them depending on their upbringing, so again, take some  time on that, if you know that this is something they struggle with, because  again, it's foundational. They don't believe they were created. That's, that's  going to cause a problem, so many different areas. You know, Colossians 1:16,  says everything was created by him. And for him, your whole worldview, your  whole existence, like I was made for him. That's huge. And so if they're  struggling, I would also have you consider, you know, Romans 1:20, says that,  you know, ever since God created the world, is invisible qualities in a divine 

nature have been clearly seen through what has been made. And sometimes it's easier to deny the existence of God, at least I found inside a classroom of  drywall and a chalkboard or whatever else, but you get out into creation, what  God created in the Word says, when you look around and you just creation  speaks for itself, like this couldn't have just shown up God's showing his so,  maybe you, you know, this week, or, you know, hey, we're going to, we'll just go  to a park or we'll maybe go backpacking get just get out into nature. There's  something about that environment, where the distractions are gone, leave your  phones at home. Be there in the presence of God, and just to recognize his  transcendence, his greatness,  

David - and then the beauty is when we focus on this, then the wonder of His  love toward us just takes on a whole new meaning. Because we kind of jump to  Oh, God loves you. But let's start with God, God, yes, he's the one who loves  us. Wow, this is an even in Genesis 1 and he made us in His image which sets  us apart from everything else in all creation that we have the capacity to know  God to relate God and so that this beautiful dynamic and balance and tension  blend whatever you want to call it between the greatest of God, and yet the  privilege we have of intimacy with God, there's so much to be explored.  

Francis - Yeah, that's just huge. I mean, as you're saying that right now I'm just  thinking, okay, so God made me to know Him. To find him like like you created  Adam and Eve differently like to commune with Him and thought that that's why  we're here right now. And to get that in your disciples mind to understand, he  wants us to know him.  

David - Don't gloss over that. It's just stay there camp out there and be blessed  with that reality.



Last modified: Friday, July 14, 2023, 2:02 PM