Created For Glory | Genesis 1:26-28 | Pastor Julian Solis

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Amen.

Let's pray together.

Heavenly Father, we are reminded from this past weekend of our freedom as a country, and we're thankful for that.

But today we're reminded of the freedom that is offered to us through Jesus Christ our Lord.

And so, Lord, it's through Him that we come to you today.

It's because of Him that we are able to gather into worship.

And Lord, we are so thankful that you called us out of death into your life.

And so, Father, we pray that as we open your word here this morning, that God, you would remind us of your goodness and of your grace and how you created us, Lord, in your likeness for your glory.

So, Lord, help us to see our makeup, our design, our identity, our purpose, our value before you.

And God, may you open us that we might see ourselves never the same again.

Help us to see the world through your eyes, and may we never see it the same way again.

We pray all this in the precious name of Christ.

And everyone said, Amen.

Amen.

Well, good morning, everyone.

It is good to see you.

My name is Julian Silise.

I'm the Spiritual Formation pastor here at Grant Parkway.

And uh we're thankful that you're here to worship the Lord with us.

I hope that you had a great 4th of July.

I'm glad to see that you have all your fingers, and that's good news.

Um, I'm also just mindful of our neighbors uh down the road who experience a terrible flooding.

And so as I think about them, I just think it'd be good just to pray real quick for them.

Let's uh go to the Lord in prayer one more time.

Father, we're also reminded, Lord, of our friends and our neighbors who are grieving today.

And Father, we just pray that you'd be with those families that uh have lost loved ones and who are still searching for loved ones.

And so, Lord, may your comfort be with them in a special way this morning.

May you be near to them in a way that only you can.

God, we ask this in the name of Christ.

Amen.

Amen.

If you have a Bible, turn to Genesis chapter one.

We're gonna be in verse one, and uh, it will be in verse uh 26 here shortly, but the first book of the Bible, first chapter, uh we're gonna be looking at a very important text there uh shortly.

As you're making your way there, I want to ask you to use your imagination.

What if you were at your grandparents' house?

And what if you went up to the attic?

And what if you were rummaging around and you came across a strange chest?

Well, what if you open that chest and as you're looking, you see some letters and you see some pictures, and then you begin to find out that your present parents are not your biological parents, they're your adopted parents.

And what is what if you continue to search and you begin to find out that you come from royalty?

Your biological parents were a king and a queen, and you actually come from royalty.

Wouldn't that be amazing?

Well, in that moment, your life would never be the same.

You would never see yourself the same way, you could never see your past the same way, you could never see your future the same way.

Because your identity would be redefined.

You know, when I think about identity, I think about how I struggled with identity in high school.

I don't know if anybody else has gone through this, but in high school, I'm trying to figure out, you know, who I am.

Do I look at uh my parents or my family to find out who I am?

Or maybe do I look into my friend group, my peer group?

Do they help define who I am?

Or maybe it's the sports that I was best in.

Maybe that will help give me definition to who I am and my identity.

Or maybe I just put it all off and I wait till I go to college and get a career.

Maybe, maybe that would define me, right?

I'm glad we only struggle with that in high school and never in our adult lives.

Uh but but the question of identity, the question of who am I is something I think that we all can wrestle with.

And listen, we can wrestle with this in every season of life.

Even if you think you figured it out in one part of your life, you enter maybe a next season and you struggle with those same questions again.

Just ask your friend who's going through a midlife crisis.

Or just ask the retiree whose work no longer defines them or gives them value.

Or maybe the mother who sees their last child leave home.

What then will define us, right?

We're always asking these questions.

Who am I?

What am I worth?

What's my purpose?

What's my reason for living and being here in this life?

I think those are questions that we all wrestle with.

You know, and there's times I think that that um it seems more confusing, more perplexing than other times in our lives.

I think we live in an age where a lot of us are asking those same questions.

Who are we as a people?

Who am I?

What's our purpose?

What's my value in this life?

And there's a lot of voices that will want to help answer that question, but amidst the confusion, amidst the corruption that we see in our world, I believe that the Bible can speak.

I believe the Bible can speak and answer life's most important questions.

And today I want you to look uh with me in this text and begin to see how the Bible answers the questions.

Today I want to talk to you about being created for glory.

You are created for glory.

In fact, you are created for God's glory.

And to help answer those questions, I want to look at a classical Christian teaching on who mankind is, what mankind is.

And Vice President J.D.

Vance, if you're listening, you would want to know the Latin phrase, which is the Imago Dei, the Imago Dei, which simply means the image of God.

You are created for glory.

You are made in God's likeness, and you bear in your being the very image of God.

From the moment you were born to your last day upon life, you were made with God's image and God's likeness.

And so we want to anticipate God's word to speak today.

We want to let God's word shape our identity, our value, and our purpose this morning.

So if we're to believe that we are created for God's glory, then number one, we should embrace dignity.

We should embrace dignity.

And I think we see that here in Genesis chapter one, beginning in verse 26.

Read with me, verses 26 through 28.

Then God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness, and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the heavens, and over the livestock, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.

So God created man in his own image.

In the image of God, he created him.

Male and female, he created them.

And God blessed them, and God said to them, Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.

This is the word of God for the people of God.

Amen.

So as Moses is speaking, he's speaking to Israel.

And this is important because he's telling Israel, hey, this is your origin story.

You need to know this about yourselves because remember how God just rescued you from the Egyptians?

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Well, you remember how all the Egyptian gods, the Egyptians worship those gods?

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Remember that.

Those are not your gods.

And we're heading somewhere.

We're going to the land of Canaan.

And as we go to Canaan, you're gonna see that they worship the Canaanite gods over there.

But listen, those gods are not your gods either.

Your God is the one true God, Yahweh.

And Yahweh created all things, and he made things good, and he made you, he made your parents, your forefathers, Adam and Eve.

He created them with dignity and value and purpose.

And in God's good world, he made them in a world without sin.

And listen, Israel, you're to know that he made them in their likeness, in God's likeness, in God's image, he made them, both male and female.

So listen, it's not just kings or the wealthy that have dignity.

No, it's all people that have within themselves inherent dignity, men and women, rich, poor, Jew, non-Jew, all are created in the likeness of God and have within themselves this inherent dignity.

I believe this verse, it helps us to see that we were created with purpose, with purpose to fill the earth and to govern over lower creation.

You see it as in verse 26 or 28, that God said to them, Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it and have dominion over all the creatures.

Think about it.

If man, Adam and Eve, if they're made in the likeness and image of God, as they populate and fill the earth, these image bearers, these representatives of God, these little icons, as they fill the earth, they fill the earth with God's glory.

And after they ruled over the earth and take stewardship over the earth, after they have families and work and govern, they're ruling under the supreme ruler, and they're living out their purpose as they exist in harmony with God, in harmony with one another, in harmony over creation, as they fulfill the purpose that God gives them.

And so when Moses is speaking to Israel, he's showing them that they're made originally good.

They're made in the image and likeness of Yahweh, their creator.

They're made with great purpose and calling.

But hmm, something lost.

Something was lost.

And we feel that even here today.

Because even though we realize that we have so much great potential, we have something special about us that's different than any other creature in this world.

Yet, why do we feel the weight of corruption and confusion with us here today?

I'm gonna use this word fall a lot in this sermon.

And what I mean by the fall is that Adam and Eve rebelled against God.

Adam and Eve disobeyed the Lord.

And when they disobeyed, they brought disorder into God's well-ordered world.

When they disobeyed and rebelled against God, they brought in death when there was no death.

They brought in the curse in God's blessed world.

And here's the thing about sin.

When they sin and when we sin, what we're saying to God is that it's not enough to be like God, but I must become God.

You see, in sin, we move away from God's authority and we look to establish our own authority.

We look to move away from our original design and to be something else.

Something else that we were never meant to be.

It's not enough to become like God, but we look to become God.

And regarding the likeness of God, of how we're originally made in God's likeness, I think something is important here to address.

And that is this there are some attributes, there are some qualities that God has and that God alone has.

For example, he is self-existent, he is eternal, he is unchangeable.

Those are things about God and his godness that he alone has.

But yet he makes us in his likeness.

He makes us to image him and to represent him.

That also means that God has qualities and attributes, characteristics that we also have, that we share in his likeness.

There is a creator and a creature distinction, but the creature, mankind, bears reflection of God.

And we do that when we consider that God is a rational, moral, intelligent being.

But again, something went wrong.

Like the way Psalm 8 says it.

Psalm 8 says this in uh beginning in verse 5 yet you have made him a little lower than the heavenly being, speaking of man.

And I love this language here, and crowned him with glory and honor.

You have given him dominion over the works of your hands.

You have put all things under his feet.

God created us in his likeness to bear his image, and he creates us for glory.

He crowns us with glory and honor that we might reflect him and image him.

You see, being made in God's likeness means that we were created with great purpose, with great value and dignity.

And out of our nature, we have capacity, capacity to enjoy this relationship with God.

That's what we were designed to enjoy and to have.

We were designed to enjoy relationships with one another without sin.

We were designed to use our efforts, our work, our governance, um, everything that we were equipped to do to care for the world.

But we rebelled against the Lord and we turned our backs on him, and we turned our backs on that good and noble and high calling, this origin story.

It's not just Israel's origin story, it's our origin story as well.

And here's what I want you to know You, just by existing, you bear in yourself inherent dignity, inherent value, because you are made in the likeness of your creator.

Yet we feel this weight of corruption and confusion that we also carry.

We have these two realities at worth.

Sometimes we feel the weight of our worth, and sometimes we feel the weight of the fallness that we carry like Adam.

Because of the fall, we have this problem.

We have several problems.

One problem is this it's not only that we sin, but people sin against us.

And sometimes people try to steal our dignity.

Some people use their words to tear us down.

Have you ever felt that way before?

Has somebody ever said something to you, made you feel less than you should feel about yourself?

You don't feel very valuable because of someone else's words.

We use our words sometimes and we feel that our dignity and our value is robbed.

We're in need of great help.

And here's the thing, another problem that we have is this.

Well, we know we should encourage one another and help people see their value in their worth.

And so we help them with self-esteem and we help them with self-help.

But here's the thing: if we do not help them with the gospel of Jesus Christ, if their self-help and self-esteem can never deal with sin that plagues them, then it's a band-aid at best.

Because only the good news of Jesus Christ can cure a sin-sick soul.

But not only the world does this, you can find Christian ministries that do this too.

They take those same man-centered concepts and they baptize it with religious jargon.

And if it never deals with sin, then our souls can never be liberated.

But Genesis 1 reminds us that God's word has uh told us here that we are created with dignity, with purpose, with value, created in the image of God.

And we hold in one hand our dignity and value, and also in the other, our fallenness, our need for a savior.

But if we're to believe that that we're created for glory, we must embrace the dignity that is ours according to God's word.

You know, when you look at an eagle, you look at this creature that was designed to fly, and boy, can it fly.

But even if its wings are damaged, it is still an eagle.

It's not less of an eagle.

Now, it's not able to live to its full potential, but yet it's still an eagle, nonetheless.

It has its own respective worth because of its design and because of what it is.

In the same way, I think that when we look at one another, our dignity doesn't come from what we can do or we we can contribute, it's inherent to us.

So when you see the elderly or the handicapped or children, their value doesn't come from what they can do or contribute, their value comes because of what they are made in the image and likeness of God.

And yet we are made with great potential.

When you observe how an eagle flies, you observe another facet of its glory.

When you see a human being act in accordance with its design and makeup as an image-bearer of God, you're observing another facet of its glory.

So how do we make sense of all this potential that is before us and the plague of the curse that's also with us?

Well, we also need to embrace what the Word of God says about the curse.

We not only need to embrace our dignity, we need to confront the curse, confront the curse.

There's two classic texts I want to give you.

I want you to read them with me.

I'll have them for you on the on the screen here.

The first one is gonna be in Genesis 9, in Genesis 9, verse 6.

Genesis 9:6

These are two texts that I think are incredibly helpful for us.

Uh, they show both how uh the world is cursed with sin, and yet man still retains the image of God.

These verses, they also provide a basis for a Christian view of justice and of ethics.

This is in uh Genesis 9 and also in James uh 3 as well.

These verses they exist because evil exists in God's world, and yet man still retains their dignity and value as image-bearer.

Let's look at Genesis 9, verse 6 together.

Genesis 9:6

It says this whoever sheds the blood of man by man shall his blood be shed.

For God made man in his own image.

Moses is telling Israel here that God gave instructions to Noah after the flood.

And after the flood, God instructed Noah with this verse here.

And here in this verse, we see a couple of things.

One, it forbids murder, but also two, it demands justice.

Demands justice if man's life is taken in murder.

Why?

Because man is created in the image of God.

Created in the image of God.

The second verse, James chapter 3, verse 9, it deals with another facet of evil, but yet it communicates the same thing.

James 3:9

Uh notice how we retain the image of God in our being even after the fall.

It says this though, James chapter 3, verse 9.

James 3:9

With it, the tongue, we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse people who are made in the what?

The likeness of God.

Now, isn't that something?

On the one hand, we can use our tongues to praise God and sing praises to his great name.

And then 30 minutes later, after church, we can use our tongue to curse somebody out.

Now, James, he's writing and he's trying to help the church, and he's saying, Hey, let's be wise and tame the tongue.

Let's acknowledge how God has made us, let's hold our dignity and also weigh out the curse that's before us.

But you need to listen how powerful your tongue is.

With your tongue, you can set the world aflame.

Or you can use your tongue and bless the world with goodness.

That's how powerful the tongue is.

We want to bless the Lord consistently and also bless mankind who is created in the image of God.

We can uh see that there is great potential for us to use um with our tongue and with our hands and with all that we do.

These two verses, by the way, they show us that humans are created in the likeness of God, and therefore they should not be killed nor cursed.

Now consider what this means.

First, killing and cursing, it adds to the corruption and to the confusion that we see in the world.

Killing and cursing, it adds to the corruption and confusion that we see about ourselves, about our identity and our purpose and our value and our worth.

It adds to the corruption of who we truly are before God.

But the Lord, He calls us to something higher, to something better.

And here we see that we're made in the image of God and we're to use all of who we are to bless, to bless the Lord and to bless one another.

Now, some of you may be exonerating yourselves a little too quickly here because you might be thinking, Well, I never killed nobody, uh, I never cursed anybody out, at least for about a couple weeks, you know.

But Jesus would say to you this have you ever hated someone in your hearts?

Maybe you know hey, hating someone in your heart is sin just like murder.

Now, these two sins, they're different, they're of different kind, but they're sin nonetheless that are in need of God's forgiveness.

And though you not have, you may not have killed somebody, but you've hated someone in your heart and you're in need of the Lord's forgiveness.

Well, I've never cursed anybody without leave maybe under my breath, maybe.

Well, even just cursing someone out in your hearts or under your breath, it's still sin before the Lord, and we're in need of forgiveness.

What we need is a heart transplant so that we can act in love in which we are designed to do.

I also want you to see here that these verses show us something that's really interesting.

Even though the fall has taken place, we still have our inherent dignity and worth.

We're still made in the image of God.

It was impacted, but it was not lost.

A better way to say it is the image of God in man, it was defaced, but it was not erased.

It was defaced, but not erased.

Or it was distorted but not destroyed.

Now that's good news for us.

Because even though the fall has taken place, we still have this likeness that we share with our Creator God.

Now, the Lord also has called us and made us to be holy as He is holy, and yet that is what sin has impacted.

We are image bearers of God, and yet we do not carry fully out our divine design.

It's as if our wings are broken, as it were.

You were made to be holy as God was holy.

And yet, when you confront the curse, you're able to say, Man, I am so thankful for the way God has made me.

He's made me his creature and his likeness.

I'm fearfully and wonderfully made.

He's knit me in my mother's womb.

I know that there's purpose for me, but I'm confused as to maybe to what that is.

And I'm in desperate need of God's help.

I'm in desperate need for God to restore what has been lost in the fall.

But when you embrace this dignity, when you confront the curse and you see how you're created for glory, here's what we're able to do.

Here's what we can begin to do.

We can begin to see that we are made to help and to not hurt.

We're made to speak up for the vulnerable, for all life, because all life is sacred.

For the weak who cannot speak up for themselves, we can be a voice for them.

If you look closely enough, if you listen carefully enough, you can hear that they're yearning for that.

They're yearning to know who they are, they're yearning to know their purpose and their call in this life.

I think we see it all over in the arts, in music, in movies, we hear the world crying out for their sense of identity, their sense of worth, their purpose in life.

How many of you guys remember the Barbie movie, which I think is two years ago now, right?

So uh the Barbie movie, there's a song that's associated with it by Billy Eilish, and it was called What Was I Made For?

And I've always appreciated that song.

I think the lyrics profoundly speak even to what we're talking about.

Both this paradox of having inherent worth and value, being God's creatures, and yet feeling the weight of confusion and corruption as well.

But listen to these lyrics.

Listen and see if you can catch the yearning that's being spoken of here.

She says, I used to float, now I just fall down.

I used to know, but I'm not sure now what I was made for.

Taking a drive, I wasn't ideal.

Looks so alive, it turns out I'm not real.

Just something you paid for.

What was I made for?

Because I don't know how to feel, but I want to try.

I don't know how to feel, but someday I might.

Someday I might.

When did it end?

All the enjoyment.

I'm sad again.

Don't tell my boyfriend it's not what he's made for.

What was I made for?

Thank I forgot how to be happy.

Something I'm not, but something I could be.

Something I wait for.

Something I'm made for.

We want to confront the curse here this morning, dear church, with the truth of God's word and the truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

We want to help people see their value and their dignity as image bearers of the Lord, but we also want to help them see that there is a cure.

There's a cure that's found in the good news of Jesus Christ.

It's not just for those who don't know Christ here this morning, it's for us to be reminded as well.

It's for us who are maybe in a new season of life.

Maybe we just forgot who we're made for.

We forgot what we were called to.

And so the third thing, the last thing I want to share with you here this morning is this.

Find restoration in Jesus.

Find restoration in Jesus.

You see, only the Lord can restore to you your identity and your purpose.

Only the Lord can give you your true sense of value and of worth.

Listen to this verse in 1 Corinthians chapter 15, verse 49.

1 Corinthians 15:49

You can read with me on the screen.

Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the man of heaven.

The Apostle Paul here, he's writing to the church in Corinth, and he's wrapping up his letter, and he's concluding by telling them about the resurrection.

And as he concludes his argument for the resurrection, he's contrasting the first man, Adam, with the last man, Christ, the second and last Adam.

And he's saying, consider that because of Adam's fall, we all fell.

And in him we are men and women of dust.

But good friends or dear friends, listen to the good news.

If you are born again in Christ, if you receive him, you could be born anew, recreated, born after the likeness of the man of heaven, that is Jesus Christ.

Paul says it also in Romans 8.29 that we are being conformed to the likeness of Jesus Christ.

Here's God's rescue plan for us.

He sends Christ to rescue us and to restore us and to renew us for the divine purpose that he originally called us to.

We were after the likeness of the man of dust, but through Christ we're after the likeness of the man of heaven.

That's the good news that is for us here today.

Jesus came to pay for your sin with his death.

And three days later, he would rise again.

And the power of the resurrection, the same power that rises Jesus from the dead, is able to give us new life, to recreate us anew, to restore us to the purpose by which he has called, so that you can know through the word, through the gospel, that you are called for the divine purpose that God has given you, to glorify him in all that you do.

The work of Jesus Christ restores our relationship to the Father.

The work of Christ restores our relationship to one another.

The work of Christ allows us to see the world differently so that we can steward God's good creation yet again.

You see, you were created for glory.

So you no longer have to be confused about your identity or your purpose.

You can look to God, you can look to the Word of God, you can see through the gospel of Jesus Christ, and you can find it, you can have it, you can enjoy that, you can let that ennoble you to give you purpose in the direction that He has called you to.

It's Him who creates us and it's Him who can recreate us.

So if someone was to ask you, Who are you?

I'm an image bearer of God, created in God's likeness, created for God's glory.

What about the fall?

Does that take away from your worth and your value and your identity?

No.

I'm still created in the image of God, and yet God loved me so much that He sent Christ to rescue me.

What is your purpose?

To follow Jesus Christ and to bless the world.

He's called me, he's rescued me, and he restores me that I might live out the purpose that he intends for me.

How many of you have you uh have you heard of um the story of Don Quixote?

Anyone here read that story?

When I was in high school, I was assigned to read that.

I wish I had the maturity to appreciate it then, uh, but I do appreciate it now.

Um there's a uh uh Tim Keller, who's a hero of mine, he uh reintroduced that story to me.

Uh now he recommended this movie.

It's called uh Man of La Mancha, not Man of Mancha, that's something you drink.

Man of La Mancha is a place.

But uh but this story it is so great in so many different ways.

And the movie is a little different because it's um made after the play that uh that was made.

So, so but it's still the same.

The movie, I think it came out in 1972, so it's pretty old.

I think dinosaurs are still roaming around that time.

But uh, but uh the story is about a man who read so much about the chivalry of medieval knights that he became mad.

And so he not only sees himself as a knight, you know, he was the nobleman uh Alonzo, but now he sees himself as Don Quixote, the knight errant, who's in search of adventure and of glory.

So he not only sees himself, though, uh, through this lens of medieval knights, he sees all the world through that lens.

And so he has this bony old horse.

He says, That's not an old horse, that's my noble steed, Rosinante, who I'm going to ride into victory.

He has a friend who's a town peasant.

His name is Sancho, and Sancho is not a town peasant, he's my noble squire who's going to accompany me in all of my adventures of glory.

Well, then he comes to an inn.

And of course, he doesn't see it as an old, run-down, dirty inn.

He says, That's a castle.

And in that castle, he comes across a night worker.

Well, that night worker, her name is Aldanza.

But when he sees her, he's taken away by her beauty, and he says, You are Dulcinea, my fair lady, whom I dedicate all of my uh work to.

Well, this lady, she's not used to being talking to that way.

But he speaks so gently with her, so kind to her with respect, and he esteems her.

And so she thinks, You're just making fun of me, right?

Like, what are you doing?

Uh, and then she says, Well, what do you want?

Because Amen wants something, but Amin wants something.

But no, he continues and is persistent.

He continues to speak kind of words to her, he continues to esteem her.

And his speaking to her changes her.

Changes the way she sees herself, it changes the way that she sees the world.

Because of the power of his word, she can never be the same.

Unfortunately, at the end of the movie, his relatives come, Don Quixote, and he says, Hey, you're not Don Quixote, uh, you're a nobleman.

Your name is Alonzo.

And after a period of time, he comes out of his madness and into his proper mind.

Well, he's on his deathbed.

And there, as he's uh lying there, Sancho comes to visit and tries to encourage him, has some final words.

And then Aldanza comes and she looks to him and she recognizes that he doesn't recognize her.

In a moment of desperation, she says, Who am I?

You know my name.

Say it.

Who am I?

What does she want?

What does she want in that moment of desperation?

He she wants him to speak over her of who she truly is.

She wants to be reminded of who she truly is, who he knows her to be.

Friends, you and I are no different.

We want someone to speak over us.

We want someone to tell us who we truly are, who we are meant to be.

And I want to tell you, when Jesus Christ speaks over you, his words will change you.

You'll never see yourself the same, you'll never see the world the same.

And when he speaks, you're forever changed.

Can I get an amen, somebody?

So what if you were at your grandparents' house?

And what if you went to your grandparents' attic?

And what if you found a mysterious chest there?

And in that chest, what if you found a Bible?

What if you opened it to Genesis chapter 1 and you begin reading and you find out your true origin story?

Genesis 1 · chapter mention

You come from royalty.

You're made in the image and the likeness of God.

And what if you keep reading and you find out that God loved you so much that he sent someone to rescue you, to restore who you truly are in him?

Let's pray.

Father, I thank you, Lord, for this morning.

I thank you, Lord, for the opportunity you've given us to open your word.

And Father, I pray for your grace here today, that God, you would speak over us.

May you tell us who we truly are.

May we no longer find who we are, seek who we are in a world that can never give us any answers.

But Lord, help us to see that through your word and through the good news of Christ, you define who we are as men and women created in your image, having value and dignity because of who you made us to be.

Father God, I pray that you'd help us to receive Christ, the man of heaven, and help us to see how you're creating us to be like him.

So help us, Lord, to take our next steps here this morning to do and to be all that you called us to be in him.

And so, Lord, even now, will you speak?

On the screen here, we have just some questions that we want to want you to read.

Take a moment and just read these questions and ask the Lord to continue to speak to you here this morning.

Amen.

Lord, we are so thankful for your word which speaks over us, kindness and mercy.

Father, thank you that you dispel away the confusion.

You give us hope in the midst of corruption.

And Father, we pray that you would continue to speak over us and lead us on.

We are yours, and it is you that we will follow.

We give you praise and glory today.

Amen.

Amen.

We want to provide for you some announcements, and we do that by uh the video uh here.

So uh would you turn your attention to the screen?

Here's what's happening at Graham Parkway Baptist Church.

Our next men's breakfast is Tuesday, July 8th in the student building.

Plan to join us for a hearty breakfast and meaningful connection.

Our speaker will be Ike Akenwande.

Ike has a heart for encouraging people with biblical wisdom and is committed to serving in leadership here at Graham Parkway and in the community.

We believe the Bible loves to see us proclaim God's goodness from one generation to the next.

Join us for the first ever convergence of women and students at Graham Parkway on Sunday, July 20th at 6 p.m.

in the gathering room.

We'll eat, laugh, and talk about what matters.

For more information or to register for these events, please visit our website at grandparkway.org.

If you have any questions or want someone to pray for you, find one of our pastors or elders at the front of the stage at the conclusion of our service.

Good morning, church.

My name is Barkley Peshel.

I'm one of the elders here at Grand Parkway.

Want to let you know about a new class that we're going to be starting on August 17th over in the adult building.

It's targeted for those in their 40s and 50s, and it'll be during the second service hour.

We invite y'all to come starting on August 17th.

Here at Grand Park, one of our core values is community.

And we don't just emphasize that for our kids, it's for adults also.

And so we do that in several ways to help build community.

And it just doesn't happen if you come to the service.

We do that with adult Bible studies here on Sunday mornings during the 9:30 and the 10:30 hour.

We also do it outside the walls of East Church for midweeks on Wednesday nights in the fall and the spring, also with community groups and D groups.

So we have classes, whether you're in the 20s or in your senior, excuse me, your varsity years.

We invite y'all to join us.

So again, this new class will start in the middle of August on the 17th, and it'll be across the way in the adult building.

We invite you to join us.

Thanks.

Thank you, Barkley.

Appreciate that.

Um, one of the things I have the privilege of doing is helping oversee our uh adult Bible studies, as Barclay mentioned, and we're excited about his starting in August the 17th.

We'll have another one starting in the spring as well.

When uh the bridge gets an opportunity to be in their new building, that gathering space in the adult building will open up.

So we'll have a large Bible studies there as well.

And so exciting times to get involved and be a part of community at Grand Parkway.

Um, so a couple of more things.

If you're visiting with us here today, we would love to have a record of your visit.

If you could just text the word welcome to the number on the screen, we would love to know that you were here, uh, you and your family as well.

Uh, for those of you who are be worshiping and giving today, we have our offering boxes there in the back, um, or you can give online as well.

We thank you for um your giving to the Lord in tithes and offerings.

But if we can stand to our feet, we can conclude our service.

We'd like to conclude with a spoken word of blessing.

So if you can hold your hands out like this, dear friends, you are fearfully and wonderfully made.

You're created for glory.

And even though the Fall would seek to rob us of that glory, Christ came to rescue you and to restore you.

Go now and live and glorify your Father in heaven.

In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.