Day Four: Sun, Moon, Stars, Time | Genesis 1:14–19 | Pastor Andrew Coleman | 10/11/2026

Really?

I love you.

What up there?

Well, good morning church family. We're

going to get started here in about 30

seconds. Come on in, get your seat, and

we'll get started very shortly.

Okay.

Well, one of the things that I love

about our church family is every morning

you guys are all talking together,

spending time together, talking about

your weeks, and that's the way the

church should be. We're a family

together. And uh so I want to welcome

you to the the living room of our of our

home here. I want to invite you to stand

and we're going to look at the

scriptures together as we begin this

morning. We always start every one of

our services with God's word. And today

we're going to start with Psalm 138:es 1

and 2. And listen to what this says. It

says, "I give thanks, O Lord, with my

whole heart." And then David says,

"Before the gods, I sing your praise."

This is not him saying, "I believe that

there are other gods." He's saying, "I

am speaking out the fact that my God

stands above every other being that

anyone else would declare to be a God."

In verse two, he says, "I bow down

toward your holy temple, and I give

thanks to your name for your steadfast

love and your faithfulness, for you have

exalted above all things, your name and

your word." And that's what we are here

to do today, to celebrate God's great

character, to rejoice in his word, to be

fed from his word in just a little bit.

So, I want to invite you to join me in

prayer as we begin our service this

morning. Father in heaven, we praise you

that you are the great king above all

gods. We do bow down towards you this

morning. We do give thanks to you for

your steadfast love and for your

faithfulness. And with our with our

words this morning, we sing to you about

the way that you are our king and you

are worthy of every ounce of praise that

we have within us. So we sing together

with bold voices to you today. We ask

this in Jesus name. Amen. Let's sing

together.

I can see [music] with my whole heart. I

have [singing] all I need. In Jesus

[music] my savior. My joy is complete.

Onward [singing] to glory. [music]

And here I will wait. I will trust in

Christ [singing] every step by day.

>> [music]

>> I am sure of your promise

[music and singing]

to guide me each day. Though some may

oppose [music] me, I won't be ashamed.

[singing]

Whatever I face, Lord, [music] it won't

be a vain. I will trust in Christ every

step by day. [music]

For all of my days [music and singing]

I would live for your glory. Running

with courage [music] and strength.

The prize [singing] of my journey. The

joy of salvation to meet [music] my king

face [singing] to face.

So I'm looking [music] to Jesus,

perfector of faith. My heart set [music]

on heaven where treasure awaits. All my

endurance [music] to finish [singing]

the race, I will trust in Christ. Every

step I take.

Sing it [music] out.

For all [singing] of my days, I will

live for your glory. [music]

with courage and

the price [music and singing] of my

journey. The joy of salvation to me

might be face to [music] face.

I will I will rejoice.

Whatever [music] comes [singing] my way,

God, you're faithful to save.

I will I will rejoice.

I know that God is with me always.

[music]

I will, I will rejoice.

Whatever comes my way, God, [music]

you're faithful to say,

I [singing] will, I will rejoice.

[music]

I know that God is with me always.

[music and singing]

For [music] all of [singing] my days I

will live for your glory. Running

[music] with courage and

so [music] my journey the joy of

salvation to me might be [singing] face

to face.

To me [music]

face to face.

to meet [music] my king [singing] face

to face.

Amen. That's the that's the desire of

our hearts is to meet our king face to

face one day in eternity, right? And

[music] all of this comes back to the

gospel of Jesus Christ. the fact that

Christ has come to die for sinners, to

pay for our sin debt, to help us to be

able to surrender to him, to grow us in

who he is. And in in fact, this is

really what drives our hope as followers

of Christ is the [music] fact that

Christ has already paid it all. He's

already done everything that is of value

for us spiritually. [music] My salvation

didn't come about by any effort of my

own. In fact, it came only through what

Christ has gifted to me. And so I don't

have to worry about whether I'm going to

spend eternity with heaven because it's

not leaning on me one ounce. It's

completely 110% [music]

banked on Christ and what he's done.

That's where our blessed assurance comes

from is Jesus. [music] So we're going to

sing a new song this morning. It's

called Blessed Assurance. And I want you

to look at the lyrics of the chorus with

me. It says, "What blessed assurance

I've found in you.

>> In you, not in me, in you. I found in

you. I found in you. So I won't be

shaken. I will not be moved. How

steadfast is

your strong hand. It's keeping me. And

so I won't be shaken. I won't be moved.

This is my blessed assurance. So our

praise team is going to sing through the

chorus so you get a feel for how it

goes. And then we'll sing it again. You

can jump in with us at that point. Okay.

Amen.

>> What blessed [music and singing]

assurance

I found in you. I found

[music and singing] in you. I won't be

shen. I will not be moved. [music]

How steadfast

your strong [music and singing] hand is

keeping me. is keeping

[music and singing]

me.

I won't be shen. I will not be [music]

moved.

Oh blessed asssurance.

Now it's your turn. Let's sing together.

What blessed. What blessed

[music and singing]

assurance

I found [music] in [singing] you. I

found in you. I won't

[music and singing] be shen. I will not

be moved. [music]

>> How steadfast

how steadfast

your strong hand [music]

is keeping [singing]

me. is keeping me. I won't

[music and singing] be shen. I will not

be.

[music]

Oh, blessed [singing] assurance.

>> Here's how the verse [music] goes.

All my attempts to be [music] satisfied

were pain and

until the moment [music] you rescued me

and your love filled [music]

me.

My soul sings [music]

now. My soul sings.

What [music] blessed

asssurance

I found [singing] in you. I found in

[music] you. I will be sh. I will not

[singing] be.

[music] I'm steadfast.

Your strong hand [singing] is keeping

me. Is keeping me. [music and singing]

I won't be shen. I will not be moved.

Oh, blessed. [music]

No other [music] love.

No other love that [singing] I ever

known compares [music]

to you.

No [music] other love that I ever found

has done.

[music]

My soul sings

[music] now. My soul sings.

A blessing [music and singing]

assurance

I found [singing] in you. I [music]

found in you. I will be sh I will not be

[music]

standing. [music]

He's keeping me. is keeping [music] me.

I won't be shamed. [singing] I will not

be

blessed. [music]

Ever my [music] anchor,

ever my [singing] anger,

ever my strength, [music]

ever my portion [music]

and all my

ever my healing,

[music]

ever [singing]

my healing,

ever my home. [music]

Ever the true God lead me [music]

home

that [singing] leads me home.

[music] What a blessing [singing]

assurance

I found in you. [music]

I found in you. I won't be [singing]

shen. I will not be moved. [music]

How ste

[music]

I won't be sh [singing] I will not be

[music]

what [music] blessing

assurance

I found in [music] you. I [singing]

found in you. I won't be sh I [music]

will not be

[music] stand

strong.

[music]

I won't be shen. I [music] will

[singing] not be moved.

Oh, blessed [music]

asssurance.

[music]

Amen. Amen. [applause] You may be

seated. And I just have to commend you.

That may be the very best you've ever

done on a new song. I really believe

that. Would you say that, Pastor Pastor

Way? Without question. Yeah. Um, you all

did great on that. What a blessed

assurance Jesus gives us. It's not about

us. It's all about him. And we see the

source of it. It's right here in front

of us. The table of the Lord that

represents his death and his burial and

his resurrection to us. We welcome you

to Sheridan Hills this morning. Some of

you are new to us and I want you to know

we do. We sing the gospel. We remember

the gospel. We pay attention to the

lyrics we sing. We're not looking for a

fleeting feeling. We're looking for an

eternal truth. And that is what makes

all the difference. If you're new to us,

fill out that little card. Let us know

that you're here today. Um you can drop

it in one of the boxes uh by the doors

in the back or come give it to me after

the service or one of the pastors. We

would we'd really love to meet you. Um,

but if you would, I know that we're

about to go into a time in just a little

bit at the end of the service, uh, where

we want to be reflective and be quiet.

And so, I want to ask you if you would

to go ahead and take out your cell phone

and make sure that that's silenced. We

often say that to visitors, especially

because you may not be used to doing

that. Most of our home folks

automatically do that, but if you're a

guest today, uh, we don't want you to be

um, put on the spot. Go ahead and, uh,

silence your cell phone if you would.

Um, singles game day had a huge group

here this weekend. They had a great

time. Had a lot of fun. A lot of games,

a lot of other activities and that kind

of thing. Listen to this.

Today, this week, we are celebrating

Jack and Virginia Goodfellow's 50th

wedding anniversary. Isn't that awesome?

[applause]

I am really, really thankful whenever we

have a 50 and above uh wedding

anniversary. And uh for those of you who

sometimes are struggling, wondering are

we going to make it? There's plenty of

people in this room that have gone way

past 50. And uh we we commend the good

fellows. And uh we commend you as well

with that. Community groups have been

meeting all around the city and um

they've had a big time this week. If

your community group hasn't met, go

ahead and make a plan today to do that.

This is where the church is the church.

This is where we be the church to one

another. we care for one another and

take care of one another. Those are good

times. This coming Saturday is October

uh campus care day. We're going to have

a blast doing that. Got a lot of work to

do. This is a great way for you to come

serve and uh save the church actually a

lot of money. Uh we do a lot of work and

um it's a great way for kids to learn

about serving. And so bring your kids.

We'll we'll hand them a chainsaw and uh

they'll do great. They'll learn early.

So they drive golf carts. They do

chainsaws. We They can clean the leaves

off the roof, too. So, um, but, uh, we

have a good time with that. Pizza with

the pastors next week. So, if you're new

to us and you've never gone to a pizza

with the pastors, we invite you. It's a

20 minute lunch, very brief. Soon as the

service is over, you go right out those

doors and the pastors will be over

there. And, uh, we just would love to

meet you. That's next um, Sunday. We

invite you to that. There's many people

that we meet for the first time. Um, so

come on out of the balcony if you're in

the balcony and uh go to pizza next

week. So, Reformation Celebration is a

really big deal. We celebrate it every

year. Wednesday nights, we're actually

talking about why we celebrate it. And

uh if you've missed that, I want to

encourage you to come. But save the

date. This is October 30th. Now, it's a

lot cheaper to do it right now to sign

up now because the cook team has to get

ready um for the meals. And so, go ahead

and sign up today for that. Invite

friends. If you're going to invite

friends, make sure they know about

either buy them a ticket or invite them.

Send them the link so that they can go

buy their tickets. Um, but it's a it's a

great great Friday night. We're going to

have a blast. Bunch of there's a program

that is very very brief but very

powerful that the school puts on and

then we have a great meal together and

uh just lots of games and everything

else. Now, it wouldn't be the end of

October without candy. So, we do need

more candy. There are boxes around. You

can bring candy to on Wednesday night or

you can drop it by the church office.

There's a big box over at the church

office. You can do that during the week.

But we need tons of candy just because

that's somehow part of the festive time

of the year, right? Um, but uh do that.

We also need volunteers. We're going to

have over 800 people here for dinner and

uh we need help in the kitchen. We need

help with the setup. we need help with

the games. And so I want to encourage

you to be a part of that team. Um, just

maybe you're brand new to us. You don't

know anybody. Sign up to help out and

you'll get to know a bunch of people.

It's a lot of fun. The last thing I'm

going to mention is pancake breakfast.

Pancake breakfast is a blast. Um, it is

on Thanksgiving morning. Men cook,

ladies enjoy, and uh, you're out of the

building um, before 10:00. Um, so you're

on your way home, but we have a great

time of worship that morning. Very brief

worship service. Before the worship

service, the Charlie Brown video is

shown. And if you've never seen this,

it's awesome. It tells the true story of

the pilgrims. And so at 8:30, so if you

have kids, come early and feed them

breakfast at 8. And then at 8:30 that

film starts. It's exactly 30 minutes.

And then at 9:00 sharp, we start the

worship service. And it's a brief

worship service. We do need some

volunteers. Where is Brian Hughes?

Brian, would you please stand up? Um

there's Brian in the yellow shirt. He is

in charge of the men's pancake

breakfast. If you're new here and you

want to help out with panc pancake

breakfast. Um go see Brian, that guy

right there. Um he is the pancake

extraordinaire guy and um uh you can

really help us out by that.

Um, I [snorts] just want to say I praise

the Lord for so many miracles that are

around us. Um, one of the miracles is

quite honestly medication. Um, it's

amazing that God would give us

medication. Another miracle is surgery.

It's amazing that God gives us the grace

of having things that would have taken

our lives before. Now our lives can be

saved. Um, two weeks ago, Chad Defalco

had triple bypass surgery and he is

faithfully up in the balcony right there

and uh, praise the Lord for that.

[applause]

He

serves um, as an usher and he helps out

in a lot of different ways, but here he

is two weeks after triple bypass open

heart surgery and he's here worshiping

with us. So, um, I just want to

encourage you with that. And I want to

encourage those of you that are joining

us online. Um, I want to encourage you.

It's great that you're online, but if

it's possible for you to be in this

room, follow Chad's example and get in

the car and come on over. Um, we got

another song or two. We'll wait on you

um before the service, before the sermon

starts, but um come on over because

worship in person is there's no

comparison. Uh now there's some who

can't be here and we lo we love them and

we pray for them but those of who can be

here it's we need the body of Christ.

Amen.

>> Um well this morning uh Pastor William

is going to lead us in prayer and I just

want to remind you that there's a lot of

things going on in our world. There's a

lot of things that we as Christians pray

for. Um I am concerned um about the

different affairs that are going on

around the world, different wars and

different crisises that are everywhere,

but also the crisis in our own country.

I mean many of you know Marcy and I live

for many years in France. We love France

and we love the people of France and we

love Germany and we love Brussels and uh

Belgium. We love those cities. It's hard

to see the great unrest that is there.

Um, but this is what happens when we

drift away um from our foundings. And um

I just want to say a couple of weeks ago

I shared with you um or yes, two weeks

ago the biblical and moral issues

concerning our voting. Um and I remind

you that these are biblical moral

issues. These are not political issues.

Go ahead and put all three all four of

them up there. Um I want you to see that

these are important. The issues around

socialism and communism, it's a great

ungodliness.

Abortion of unborn children, a great

ungodliness. LGBTQ movement twisting

what we're about to study even in

Genesis, a great ungodliness. In this

thing of anti-semitism, any racism in

any direction is a great ungodliness.

And so, uh, I want to encourage you to

vote carefully. Um, there is, in fact,

some voting guides. In fact, the

statement that we made as pastors last

Sunday, um, is actually on the front

pew, um, that is here. If you missed

that and you would like that, it looks

like this. Um, has some highlights on

it. Um, that's on the front pew. You're

welcome to get that after the service.

And as well there are some candidate

questionnaires about these issues um

that are there and those are in both

forers and uh you can pick those up if

you're wondering where candidates stand

on various issues. That's very very

important. So I'm going to ask if you

would to please stand with me. We're

going to pray. Pastor Williams is going

to lead us in prayer and then we're

going to sing again before we come to

God's word. But um this morning I just

want to encourage you. You are in the

right place. I don't know what all

brought you here. And I don't know what

all you're dealing with in your life, in

your heart, how close you are to God or

how far away you are to God, but I want

you to know that you're in the right

place this morning. And we uh look

forward to hearing from his word. So if

you would join Pastor William in prayer.

Let's pray together.

Father in heaven, great and amazing are

your deeds, oh Lord God, the Almighty.

Just and true are your ways, O King of

the nations.

We truly stand amazed at the work that

you've done in our lives. When we think

about the salvation that you have

brought about in so many of our lives

here in this room, we [music] we marvel

from the very beginning of our lives. We

stood as enemies against you.

And Paul describes us as being children

deserving of your wrath and spiritually

dead. We had nothing good to offer even

on our best day. Our attempts at

righteousness were like filthy rags in

your sight. And yet for years we sought

to earn our own way to you or perhaps to

avoid you altogether.

We think about the hopelessness of where

[music] we once stood, of the weight of

our sins, the extent of our rebellion,

and the gravity of the eternal

separation from you. [music] And then by

contrast, the great salvation that

you've gifted to us. [music] It seems

impossible, almost like a dream.

Father, many of us in this room, we

remember a day when we finally saw our

sins for what they were. We remember

turning to you and repenting.

We recall clinging to Christ's work on

the cross as our only hope. And we think

back to the weight that was finally

lifted. The relationship with you

finally restored. The joy of receiving

your Holy Spirit and the wonder of godly

fruit beginning to sprout up in our

lives. This work that you have

accomplished, Father, is nothing less

than a miracle.

Father, we thank you that because of the

entirety of our righteousness and our

salvation has come from you, that we

need never worry about you following

through with our salvation until the day

of Christ Jesus. We thank you that

according to your great mercy, you have

caused us to be born again to a living

hope through the resurrection of Jesus

Christ from the dead, to an inheritance

that is imperishable

and undefiled and unfading, kept in

heaven for us. Father, we worship you

for what you have done and for what you

are continuing to do in our lives.

And so with that in mind, we pray for

our church. Father, we ask of you that

you would help us as the body of Christ

[music] to grow in godliness.

Help us to consistently be putting sin

to death in order that we might grow in

holiness.

We know with clarity that this is what

your will is for our lives in Christ

Jesus. And Father, we ask that you might

be increasing a spirit of unity and love

within our church. May there be a

heartbeat of forgiveness [music] among

us as we seek to forgive those who have

sinned against us in the very same way

that you have forgiven us above and

beyond.

Would you please give us an increasing

hunger for your word such that the

overflow of our speech toward others

ends up being an extension of what you

have been pouring into us through the

scriptures. [music]

And father, we're mindful of those in

our church family who are suffering. We

pray for Donna Durnberg, Shirley

Ericson, both of whom are dealing with

pain postsurgery.

Please help these women to cling to you

and grow in trust of you even in their

pain. And we do ask that if you would

that you would ease their pain if that's

your will. We also pray for Becky

Morgado specifically that you would open

doors for her to get the adrenal vein

sampling treatment that she needs.

[music]

Father, we know that you work all of

these things together in order that you

might receive glory and also that we

might be built up spiritually. And so

we're asking that you'd do both of these

things even this morning. We pray this

in the mighty name of our savior Jesus.

Amen.

>> [music]

>> I have seen my father's [music]

glores

and the more that I [music and singing]

behold him the more he sisfies [music]

when I gaze upon his beauty when I see

as [music] I should. Then my eyes are

lifted upward for his glory [singing]

and my good

everyone. [music and singing]

He will turn my heart towards him and

help me [singing] bear the stor. [music]

So today I follow Jesus on the road not

unerstood.

For I know [music and singing]

he is working for his glory and my good.

To our [music] God [singing] be the

glory. To our God be praise. He alone

the [music] name above all.

I will boast ever [music]

in the Lord my God. [singing] For I know

his glory is my good.

See the open arms [music] of Jesus

upon the cross that day. What they

understood as weakness

deserves my every [music and singing]

grace for the charge that was against

me. It was to [music] the world. Yes, I

know that [singing] he has saved me for

his glory [music] and my good.

To our God be [singing] the glory. To

our God [music] be praise. He alone

the name [music and singing] above all

name.

I will ever only [music and singing] in

the Lord my God for I know his glory is

my [singing]

[music]

>> [music]

>> that Christ would be made [music] more.

Would I seek the only [singing] kingom

that far aways them all? [music]

I will stand before [singing]

my father where the faithful saints

[music] have stood and with joy

[singing] my heart shall praise him for

his glory [music] and my good and with

joy my heart shall [singing] praise him

for his glory [music] and my good

to our God be the glory to our God be

[singing] praise he alone [music]

the name of all [singing] things.

I will boast [music]

ever [singing] in the Lord my God. For I

[music] know his glory [singing] is my

good.

To [music] our God be the [singing]

glory. To our God be [music] praise. He

alone

the name [singing]

above all [music] names.

I will boast

[singing] only in the Lord my [music]

God. For I know his glory [singing]

is mine.

>> Yes, I know.

>> Yes, I know his [singing and music]

glory is my good.

[applause]

Amen. [music]

Indeed. You may be seated. And we come

to the time where we focus on God's

word. What a great privilege it is for

us to return to Genesis. If you don't

have a sermon outline, lift your hand

and these guys will be glad to give one

to you. We study the Bible here in the

life of our church. I was reminded by

somebody who recently uh came to our

church for the first time and uh she

said I was shocked at what happened. She

said I had never seen that before at

church where there's an outline and

where there's actually studying

something and um she said I was trying

to figure it out. I wasn't even sure if

I liked it. And uh she said now I've

come to realize I love it. So, uh, many

of you have had that same experience

first time you were here. And I just

want to encourage you if you're new to

us. Keep your seatelt on. Don't go

anywhere. Uh, you'll see what we're

doing. And it is our prayer that God

will speak to you through his word as we

diligently study it. So, um, on

Wednesday nights, we are studying the

Reformation story. This is a little

advertisement for this coming Wednesday

night. We're going to be telling that

story some more. Last Wednesday night,

we had this incredible historical

overview of where did we come from as

Christians and how did we get here to

2026 as believers. And so we looked all

the way back through the centuries,

looked all the way back to, in fact, the

cross and what happened after that. If

you missed that, I'm sorry you missed

that. Um, I want to encourage you to be

here this coming Wednesday night as we

continue that story, as we look at the

Reformation story. um why are we not

having church this morning in Latin? Why

are we not doing that? Um after each

prayer and so forth, why do we not cross

ourselves that we're telling the story

of what happened and what changed um in

the issue of Europe and that would

eventually even affect America. So I

want to encourage you that. But now we

come again to our series on the first 11

chapters of the book of Genesis. The God

of everything. We've just been singing

about his greatness and his goodness.

During [snorts] starting point this

morning, we looked at the four key words

that outline the whole Bible. Creation,

which is where we're studying now. Fall,

which is where we're going to study in a

few weeks from now. Both of these come

in Genesis, redemption,

and then glory or restoration. The whole

Bible can be reduced to those four

words. And so, um, this is the exciting

time where we get to see what God wants

us to see and understand concerning

creation so that we may know him better.

It's not about knowing how he did

everything, but it's about knowing the

one who did it. And so, in our very

first uh week, we looked at day one, let

there be light. Um, and then we went to

day two. This is preparing for life. We

see that there is this the the the

waters is there and the darkness is

there. But over the surface of the of

the waters in the darkness, there was

something very important over the

surface of the waters in the darkness.

What was there?

>> That's right. The spirit of God was over

the waters. So even there before light

was created, before any of that, when

there was darkness and water, the earth

was not yet formed. We see that God is

very careful to tell us that the Holy

Spirit was there in the middle of it.

And then we see God form the land and he

separates the land from the seas. And

then he comes and he g vegetation. And

so that was day three. And now this

morning we come to day four, the sun,

moon, stars, and times. And um I have to

confess to you, I am a space freak. I

enjoy space. I enjoy NASA. My dad was an

engineer from Georgia Tech. Um he worked

on missiles um before I was born. And so

my dad just already as a kid growing up,

I would hear him talk about space. I

would hear him talk about um all types

of different propulsion systems. his

friends from Georgia Tech were also part

of the NASA program. In fact, his very

best friend from Georgia Tech, um Dr.

Harold Whitesides was just here to see

us in and see my mom and dad recently.

Of course, he's retired, but after the

space shuttle Challenger had its

horrific explosion, one of the solid

propellant boosters blew up um and

killed everybody on board. Um, many of

you remember the day the Challenger blew

up. How many of you remember the day

that the Challenger exploded? Okay,

about half the room. There's some of you

that um you're just too young to

remember that you weren't born yet. Um,

well, Dr. Whitesides, Harold Whitesides,

my dad's best friend from Georgia Tech,

was tasked by Ronald Reagan to fix it.

He was put in charge of fixing the

problem. And uh he said, "Of course, we

already knew what the problem was. We

have been warning that it would go

wrong. We had been warning that this

would happen." And he was the one that

was in charge of fixing it after that

happened. So I kind of grew up thinking

about space. I grew up seeing that. And

then of course Star Trek came along and

I love Star Trek and that was fun. Then

Star Wars of course that was great,

right? And a few others um the part of

it. But you know, humanity has always

been enamored

with the heavens,

the heavens. And quite honestly,

it's not until the last hundred years

that

there if it weren't for television and

programming that would maybe talk about

the heavens and show the idea of space

travel and so forth. If it wasn't for

that, we would largely forget the

heavens.

Why is that? Because so many

in this modern day live under city

lights.

We live in places where there's so much

light that we can hardly see the

heavens.

We can hardly see the stars.

But if you were to take time to get away

from the city, to get far away from the

city, and to get in certain places of

America or anywhere around the world,

and you look up toward the heavens, you

see something very majestic.

Now I want you to think about the fact

that before Galileo

invented his telescope

that still humanity had paid attention

to the sun, to the moon, and to the

stars. And so there was a lot going on

in the early years of humanity in

looking to this one because there was no

because there were no street lights but

two because we see that these are

powerful [snorts] figures for us that

many many different ideas had come

along. So when God was inspiring Moses

to record his creation,

God is not only telling us what we need

to know about him being the creator and

what he has done in a basic order of it,

but God is refuting

many false ideas that came from creation

and came from the world. What I want us

to do is I want us to remember and

review a little bit. So, if you're new

to us this morning, um what we do is we

do a little bit of a review to kind of

help get the juices flowing again.

Remember where we were last week. Look

what it says there. As part of the

review, day one, God set God created

light and separated light from darkness.

If you go back and read um verse two,

you will see that he separated light and

darkness. Day two, he separated the

waters from the sky or the waters from

the expanse. And so he's he's in this

process of forming things. Day three,

what we studied last week, he separated

the land and the sea and he made

vegetation. And now we come to day four,

he separates the day from the night. And

I've put on here time because here we

begin to see more reference to the

regulation

of time. And I'll just say this, much

more could be said about that aspect

than we're going going to look at this

morning. We'll mention it some, but

there's a lot about God bringing into

the equation of our existence the issue

of time. So look at this other repeated

statements. Now, what verse are we

starting with this morning? What verse

is that? What number is that?

>> 14.

>> 14. So, we've looked at 13 verses so

far. And [snorts] in the 13 verses,

there's a bunch of statements that

repeat. And so, let's look at those that

we've seen so far and that we will see

this morning. This is important for you

to to kind of dive into the text, kind

of start seeing what is here. And what

is God saying to us? The way he records

us, the way he tells his story. Look

what it says. Um, we said

[clears throat] we we have noticed that

over and over again it says, "And God

said." So that we're seeing God's

sovereign command. So when in the

creation process, "And God said," comes

up several times. In fact, look at verse

14. How does it begin? And God said,

okay, we also see that over and over

again, we see that God says, "Let there

be something." So this is his creative

decree. It's not just diverse creative

type thing. It is this is his creating.

[snorts] He's making things. He's

causing them to come into existence. So

he says, "Let there be." And then we see

the response to let there be over and

over again throughout these 14 verses.

We see and it was so. And so we see the

certainty of his will. Um let there be

is his will. And then we see the

certainty and the fruition of it is that

and it was so. And then we see God made.

We also see God separated. We also see

God called. So each one of these we see

has a repeating theme for us to see.

God's direct creative action. He's

actively involved with it. God's

purposeful ordering. We He didn't just

do it and and do it all at once. He

ordered things so that we might be

seeing what he does a little bit. And

then we see God's authority to name

things. He called these things and then

we see God's perfection. We see his

perfection. He calls it all into being.

Notice the statement below that. We have

seen God create light, separate waters,

establish the land and the seas, cover

the earth with vegetation. Now on day

four, God inspires Moses to direct our

attention

upward. Upward to what? The heavens.

Upward to the heavens. And we're going

to see this that that can either bring

great glory

or that can bring great condemnation.

We're going to see this this morning

that what we see when we look to the

heavens is very very important. Look

with me in the box on the page right

there in front of you um or on the

screens behind me. Look at verse 14. And

God said, "Let there be lights in the

expanse of the heavens to separate the

day from the night." So the word heavens

is not merely the earthly sky, but it is

the space beyond our sky. And how do we

know that? Because now we see that the

word expanse is being used to describe

that which is outside our atmosphere and

going up to where we see lights from

somewhere else. So look at verse 14. And

God said, "Let there be lights in the

expanse of the heavens to separate the

day from the night." So before it was

separating light from darkness, but now

it's getting more specific. To separate

the day from the night. And let them be

signs

for the seasons and for days and years.

Verse 15. And let them be light. and let

them be lights in the expanse of the

heavens to give light upon the earth. So

it has a purpose to give light upon the

earth. And then read with me the last

sentence of verse 15. And it was so. So

there's again that certainty of his

will. He said, "Let these things be."

And it was so. We see that pattern over

and over again. We're learning about

God's creative power. We're learning

about his creative plan. We're learning

about how he himself has done this. Look

at verse 16.

And God made the two great lights,

the greater light to rule the day and

the lesser light to rule the night and

the stars.

Verse 17. And God set them in the

expanse of the heavens to give light on

the earth and to rule over the day and

over the night to separate light from

darkness. And God saw that it was good.

Verse 19. And there was evening and

there was morning,

the fourth day. Now, we're going to

study these verses, but I want to seize

on the last verse for just a moment.

And there was evening and there was

morning the fourth day. Have you ever

noticed

that when God talks about the evening

and the morning that it's not and there

was morning and evening the fourth day?

This it doesn't put morning first. What

does it put first?

>> Evening. There was evening and morning

the first day. That's what made that. So

day begins at sundown.

Now, some of you that are new to

studying the Bible, you may not know

that the feasts of the Old Testament,

the Sabbath of the Old Testament, the

day of worship in the Old Testament, it

begins at sundown. When we see Jewish

people in our neighborhood here walking

to temple

on Friday afternoon,

it's because the day begins, the day of

worship begins at sundown. You say,

"Well, that's just strange. Why would

you do that?" Well, be careful about

calling it strange and be careful about

condemning it at all because your Bible

is the reason they do that.

God's word is the reason that they do

that. The picture is God's word set the

precedent that the day begins. Now, I

know here in Western culture and so

forth and you're not you're not evil for

saying, well, my day began this morning

with, you know, a beautiful sunrise and

somewhere that you're not wrong for

saying that. But I I do think it's

important for us to understand what the

scripture is saying here and see this as

we go forward. So, well, let's look at

God's main actions on this day. So,

let's look at some key things from the

text. For those of you who are new to

us, studying the Bible is a big deal.

One of the things that we do is we look

and see what it actually says. And

that's how we hear from God because

these are his words for us. Notice what

actually says. Number one, notice

[snorts] God's main actions of day

forth. Verse 14 says, or the idea is he

commands, let there be lights. Verse 15,

he declares their purpose. What's their

purpose? To give light upon the earth,

but certainly true of the sun, certainly

true of the moon, um less so of the

stars, but yet still meaningful. There

is things, important things that come

from the stars. um light upon the earth.

Um that we'll talk about that in just a

minute. But look at verse 16. God makes

the two great lights and the stars. He

makes them. He places them. Look what it

says. God set them in the expanse of the

heavens. So they didn't just get flung

out there from a big bang and randomly

find their place in their orbit. God set

them there. It's literally what it says.

Look at verse 18. God assigns their val

their their rule. He assigns their

purpose in this to rule over the day and

over the night. And this is very

interesting as we have been saying that

he is preparing the world for its

inhabitants. He has a plan that's going

to bring him glory. And then in verse 18

and 19, God evaluates

and over and over again we see he

completes. This is what it says. And God

saw that it was good. Now when I make

something um somebody might say, "Oh

yeah, good job." But that is nothing in

comparison to the way God makes

something. God makes things perfect. And

that's exactly what we see in this. Now,

a few weeks ago, we noticed this trend

in verse in days 1 through3. God is

forming. He's forming these things.

Literally says that light and darkness,

sky and waters. Day three, land and

vegetation.

But in days 4 through six, God is doing

something else. He's filling what he

formed. So there's the raw empty

container that is there that he formed

and now he's filling it. When we come to

day four, he's filling the heavens with

sun, moon, and stars. So there's a

purpose in this. There's a progression

in this. And there's a lot of spiritual

lessons that we've already we've already

began to mine out of this for our lives.

why this is important and how God does

things. We [snorts] can learn about how

he works in our lives spiritually as we

see what he did physically.

So we've said that one of the great

dangers

of many churches, pastors, individuals

that study Genesis and the creation

story. They simply run through the

narrative on day this on day this on day

this on day they run through the

narrative. They run through it very

quickly and there's no real reflection

about what's happening here. And we want

to be careful not to do that. We all of

God's word is important. And if he only

gives two highly simplified and highly

condensed chapters to creation

um and the rest of the Bible is about

your spiritual life, we for the most

part we really ought to pay attention to

what is happening there. So we're going

to take a little bit of time to do that

and that's what these sermons are about.

So that's the overview of what he does

on day four. Let's look and let's see

specifically number two. God creates the

sun, the moon, and the stars. This is

amazing. Verse 16. And God made the two

great lights, the greater light to rule

the day, and the lesser light to rule

the night and the stars.

Now, this morning, as I often do, I like

to help you imagine and help you see um

some things that are rather amazing. I'd

like for us to take just a minute and

consider our sun. Um, now, have you ever

have you ever seen pictures of the sun?

Have you ever looked at I mean, it's

very very strange. Some people will

stare at the sun. I'm not sure if you

see people doing that, take them over to

Memorial Hospital and, you know, get

them checked out cuz you're really not

supposed to look at the sun. But

sometimes we have an eclipse and you

have those fancy sunglasses, right? or

you have the piece of paper and another

piece of paper, a little hole in it, and

you can see a projection of the sun, you

can see an eclipse go by. But now with

modern optics and uh modern telescopes

and modern photography um and all of

these various other ways in which to

study um uh heavenly bodies, heavenly uh

uh planets and stars and so forth. It's

amazing. It's amazing what we can learn,

what we can see. Um just astounding and

um it's so very very important. But the

sun is an amazing concept.

Um and the sun, I want to remind you,

was not the source of light in the

universe.

The sun is a source of light created

after light was created. We see that the

first thing that God makes is light.

doesn't mention where it's coming from,

but the concept of light first comes

um in him saying, "Let there be light."

Well, the sun is obviously our main

source of light. And we've said

recently, and some of you probably know

this from your growing up years and your

your class classes growing up, that

there is first of all um the uh distance

of the sun to the earth. How many miles

away is it?

93 million miles away.

And not only that, but the sun is very,

very big.

The sun is 865,000

miles in di in diameter.

865,000

miles. Now, here's a question for you.

Does anybody happen to remember about

how far away the moon is from our from

our planet, from the Earth?

About how far is the moon from Earth?

quarter of a million miles. What this is

showing you is that the sun is so big

that a quarter well a third of it would

not fit between us and the moon.

It's massive. The sun is huge. In fact,

look at this.

over 109

earths [snorts] would fit. If you were

to just line them up like a bead of

chains, you could you would have 109

earths that would go across

um the diameter of the sun.

So, it's it's a very very big entity.

It's a big body. Well, here's another

question. How many earths could fit

inside of our sun? You ready for this?

1,300,000

Earths could fit inside our sun.

The sun is massive

and it's on fire.

um

it is an allconsuming

powerful

um entity that is in the world. Well,

our sun, this is interesting, of just

our solar system holds 99.86%

of the mass of our solar system. So all

the other planets and all the rocks

flying around in space, everything else

in space makes up um less than a quarter

of a percent of the mass of our total

solar system. The sun is huge.

And you know what God said?

Let there be the greater light and let

there be the smaller light. I mean

that's that's how this massive thing

came into being. We already talked about

the idea of how long it takes for light

to get to the Earth. It's how far away

at 93 million miles, it takes light 8

minutes to go 93 million miles.

Um, so and that's the fastest thing that

we know of. Well,

now

the next thing is to consider the stars.

This is amazing.

Our Milky Way

um is a beautiful thing. When we look

into the heavens, we see stars. These

these are real photographs

um of the stars. And when we kind of

think about it and we consider the

stars, do you know how many stars are

considered just in our Milky Way?

400 [snorts]

billion. Write that in. 400 billion

stars

just in our galaxy.

Now, these pictures

that come

from amazing telescopes. I've shared

with you before that I've been to the

top of Monaka on the big island of

Hawaii and uh there are 19 telescopes

on the top of Monaka and that telescope

is pretty big. Both of these telescopes

are pretty big. In fact, that's a car

right there. So, that gives you some

idea um of how big that place is. Um,

when we went up there, our vehicle was

right here next to this thing. And those

things can look far, far, far into

space. And when the sun goes down, this

is what you see.

You see the stars. You see the Milky

Way. Um, here's another picture of the

Milky Way from the top of Monaka. Um,

you say, "Well, what in the world? Why

is it so bright?" And um it's the whole

idea of that we have a spiral galaxy.

There's different shapes of different

galaxies. We have realized that ours is

a spiral. It's a flat galaxy that

basically spins.

And all of that light, all of that that

you see there, the vast majority of that

is such a high concentration of stars.

There's 400 billion stars estimated to

be in our galaxy that you're looking in

the bright spot of that in the in the um

sky just like in this one as you look

up. This is from the the telescope down

in Peru. They use laser beams in order

to be able to measure things in order to

be able to see the movement of things.

So most of the large telescopes use

lasers as measurement tools. But that

that band of light is because the galaxy

looks something like this. It is a flat

[snorts] spiral. And so when we're

looking in the flat spiral, that's why

it looks like that. It is thought that

it would possibly look like this. Now,

now no one knows that because we can't

we don't have a spacecraft that would go

that far away. This would be hundreds

and hundreds and hundreds of light years

away.

um as we as we see those. But I just

want you to see that there's an

estimated 400 billion stars just in our

galaxy. And I want you to think about

this as well as we look at the universe

that the universe contains hundreds of

billions of galaxies.

So our galaxy has 400 billion stars, but

there are hundreds of billions of

galaxies.

[snorts] And God

has seen fit in the modern age that we

live in to allow us to figure out how to

build telescopes

so we can look out there and see.

I think that this is a good just like

triple bypass surgery for Chad Defalco

was a great blessing.

I think the telescopes and the

microscopes and the other things that we

have that allow us to see are part of

God's blessing in revealing himself to

us. not just through his written word of

special revelation, but through the

general revelation of creation. And so

here we we have the opportunity to

recognize where all of this is coming

from. Now that number of stars, if you

were to look out across of that and try

to start figuring out how to calculate

those stars, a very rough estimate is 10

to the 22nd power or 10 to the 24th

power of of stars that we know of that

our our telescopes, if you had the time

to sit there and count them, our

telescopes can see this kind of range.

How many numbers is that?

Well, it's if it's 10 to the 24, that

means there's 23 zeros

that are there.

That's quite a few stars, isn't it?

I don't even know how to call that. I

don't even know what you call 10 to the

24th when it comes to a number. Notice

here with me, though, there is a star

out there. It's a red super giant.

That's a classification of a star. Red

super giant. Um, and it's UY Scooty is

the name of it. And the way that they

measure that star is by comparing it to

our sun. And it's somewhere between 900

and,00 what is called solar radi

um of our sun in size. In fact, here's a

picture of that star. It is known as a

biggie.

When you look at it, it is a red super

giant. Its size in itself, not just its

brightness, but its size in itself is

massive. Um, we've taken a picture of

it. They've zoomed in and been able to

see a picture of it. Um, and this is

what it looks like. So, um, so very

similar to our sun in a way, but um, we

we start to see that it's massive.

Now, when you're comparisoning comparing

bodies, let's let's compare a little bit

here in our own solar system before we

get to Scooty. First of all, um look at

Earth. Earth in comparison to Jupiter.

These are to scale. Is Jupiter Jupiter a

little larger than Earth?

Jupiter is massive. It is huge. It's the

largest planet in our solar system.

Well, look at Jupiter in comparison to

the sun.

Though Jupiter is so massive, it's

pretty small in comparison to the sun,

right? Well, we can take pictures of our

sun and we can take pictures of of UI

Scooty and it looks something along

these lines, you know, not in size but

just in appearance. Um, how about this?

Now, this you have to kind of stick with

me here and think about this a little

bit. Here's the sun. That little yellow

dot. There's the sun.

And here is the orbit of Mercury around

the sun. Okay. I want you to see the

next one.

We also see

here is the orbit of Jupiter. So, the

orbit of Mercury is right here. that

picture that we just looked at. The sun

would be in the center. Jupiter is much

further out and it's a long way out.

It's orbiting around the sun, which

would be somewhere about right there.

And this is Scooty.

I'm not sure if you understand what this

is saying.

The star is so massive

it is far larger than the total travel

distance around the sun of Jupiter.

It's one massive star, one huge [snorts]

existing

star that is there.

Check this out.

Here is a comparison of different stars.

Here is Arcturus. Here is Pock. You've

heard of Sirius. Sirius FM. Okay. So,

Sirius, that's a star. Here's our sun.

So, these are all in comparison to size.

So, it's not that that's further away.

It's just much smaller. So, our sun, as

massive as our sun is, Sirius is much

larger. Pix is much larger. Arctus is

much larger. And then look at this.

This is the surface of the idea of

Scooty.

I mean, it's just almost

incomprehensible

to think about bodies that are this

large. So when we when we start to think

of this, I mean the diameter of this

um of this star is 864

million miles across.

Just 86 just to go across the diameter

of it. And when you start to look at at

this, a thousand of our sons could fit

in Scooy's diameter.

A thousand of our sons could be lined

across it. But if you were going to fill

the star scooty with our star, the sun,

listen to this, it would take 1 billion

of our sons

to fill Scooty.

Now,

can we go back and read verse 16?

Notice the astounding statement at the

end of verse 16.

There's no elaborate explanation.

There's no struggle. There's no

competing deity doing this. Look at

verse 16. What does it say? It's right

there underneath that. And God made the

two great lights, the greater light to

rule the day, the lesser light to rule

the night,

and the stars.

I mean, and the stars is just tacked on

there at the end.

And the stars,

all the stars,

all the 10th to the 24th power stars,

including Scooty.

It's It just three words at the end of

the sentence

and the stars.

Are you getting what I'm laying down?

This is amazing.

>> I mean, God is not worried about

explaining how he did everything. He

just wants us to understand that he did

it.

And when we begin to fathom this,

something great begins to happen in our

theology. Look at Psalm 33 in verse 6.

Look what it says. And by the word of

the Lord the heavens were made. And then

I love this. And by the breath of his

mouth all their hosts.

What does that mean? All their hosts.

That means the hosts and hosts and hosts

and hosts. The 10 to the 24th power

number of stars that are out there. You

know what? They just come out of his

mouth like his breath.

Let there be stars.

Let there be galaxies. Let there be

black holes. Let there be all that is

there. You see, this is the glorious God

of the word. This is the glorious God of

the universe. Look at Isaiah chapter 40

Isaiah 40 · chapter mention

and verse 21. I love this.

[gasps and sighs]

Do you not know? Do you not hear? Has it

not been told to you? Underline it. From

the beginning. Okay. From the beginning.

Have you not understood from the

underline it the foundations of the

earth? God's word fits together like

lock and key. It Genesis 1 and 2 fits

with the prophecies of Isaiah. Look at

verse 22. It is he who sits above the

circle of the earth and its hab

inhabitants are like grasshoppers.

Who stretches out the heavens like a

curtain and spreads them like a tent to

dwell in. Who brings princes to nothing

and makes the rulers of the earth as

emptiness. You know, so often we're

tempted to be afraid of man.

We're tempted to be afraid

of powerful men.

We're tempted to be afraid of kings and

tyrants and dictators.

And here we see Isaiah saying,

"Wait a minute. Wait a minute. Are you

forgetting who God is?

Are you forgetting that he rules over

all things?" Look at verse 23. I know

some of you turned it over. Now you got

to turn it back over. Look at verse 23.

Who brings princes to nothing and who

makes the rulers of the earth as

emptiness.

You see, this is the God who created the

heavens and the stars. And that's what

he's reminding us. Look at verse 25 on

the next page.

To whom then will you compare me that I

should be like him? Says,

interesting, the holy one.

Do you remember what the word holy

means? It means set apart, not like the

rest. Okay? So, this is the he's the

only one like him. That's what this is

saying. The holy one, the one who is not

like the rest because he's creator

versus created.

Verse 26. Now, the command. Look at

this. Lift up your eyes on high and see

who created these. He who brings out

their host by number, calling them all

by name,

and by the greatness of his might. And

because he is strong in power, not one

is missing.

My friends,

you have a great big God.

It is beyond our ability to comprehend

not only the physical creation that he's

made, but the the power and the

character that it would take for him to

do that by his word. This is a powerful

God. Look at Psalm 147:es 4-5. He

determines the number of the stars. He

gives to all of them their names. Great

is our Lord, underline it, and abundant

in power.

His understanding is beyond measure. So

part of his power is his purpose and his

understanding.

And so we we see this God's not just a

great big powerful being, but we also

see, listen to this, that as he is to

the magnitude of power, he is also, we

find in the scripture to the magnitude

of that power, he is love.

This is amazing.

Um, he is holy. He is righteous. Number

three,

God appoints the heavenly lights to

serve his purposes. I want you to see

this. He appoints us to serve his

purposes. Look at verse 14. Let them be

for signs and for seasons, for days and

years. Let them be lights in the

expanse. So they're signs. They're for

seasons, for days, for years. And they

give light upon the earth. So we see

each of these letter A to separate day

and night. That's what he does. Day one,

light and darkness are separated. But

without the sun, now we see in day two

or excuse me, day four, the sun and the

moon regulate that light of light and

darkness for the earth. God is

progressively establishing the

measurement of time. That's what he's

doing in this creation narrative. It

starts off with in the beginning, he

mentions the first day. He mentions

evening and morning. But now we start to

see day goes into day. A day is called a

day. Look at the next part. Letter B.

Not only separate day and night, but to

establish signs, seasons, days, and

years. The sun's daily movement helps

mark the day. The moon's phases provide

a natural basis for months. For those of

you who haven't ever studied astronomy

at all and understand physical science

of the earth, the moon cycle is part of

what sets [snorts] or or it is the basis

upon which why we have months and it all

works out as it goes. Notice the next

part here. The earth's annual revolution

around the sun provides the year and

then the reoccurring positions of the

sun mark the seasons as the earth tilts

um on its axis. So God is what does all

this mean? God is establishing fill it

in ordered rhythms by which human life

can be lived.

Now to think about

why all this is important. I just want

you to imagine for a minute

if there was no

day and night.

Remember how we imagined no land, just a

water surface. Can can you imagine that?

That that wouldn't have been very good,

right? And we we also imagined a few

other things. We imagined no vegetation

last week. Can you imagine if we we

lived on a planet where there was no

vegetation like Mars?

Well, now I want you to imagine if there

was no day and night. Can you imagine if

there was no night?

It was just day all the time.

Light. The sun never moved. It was

somehow like the moon always in the same

position.

No darkness on the earth.

Well, the Lord knew that that wouldn't

be best. The Lord knew that that would

not be good. Imagine no change in all of

this.

You know, from planting to harvest to

birthdays to anniversaries to feasts and

remembrances, the calendar and seasons

play a huge role in life experience

and maturing.

God in his wisdom has given us time.

He's given us days. He's given us

months. He's given us years. He's he's

in his wisdom has designed the world to

go like this so that we can go and we

can grow. And you know what? There's

there's something very interesting in

Lamentations chapter 3. It says,

Lamentations 3 · chapter mention

"His mercies are new every morning.

Great is his faithfulness." Because, you

know, a lot of times we just need to

start over.

If we never had the chance to stop and

then to start again, we would keep doing

what we're doing most likely. But

there's something that's interesting

happens when you live your day. I was

working outside for a couple of days

this week in the hot sun and I was

really tired and I had my back was

hurting, my hands were hurting, my legs

were hurting. Um, I was all sweated out.

I mean, I just it it was exhausting. And

I was out there kind of working for

hours on end. And then what happened?

I went upstairs. I ate something and I

and I went to sleep. Had the best

night's sleep that I've had in weeks cuz

I was exhausted. And you know what? When

I woke up the next morning, I was

renewed.

I was ready to go again. In fact, I went

back out to do some of the same work I

was doing and I picked up one of the

tools to do it and I thought, "Man, that

was easy."

You know why? Because I had remembered

how exhausted I was the afternoon

before.

I actually had the thought, "Man, this

isn't that bad." Why? Because I had been

renewed. I had been strengthened. And so

when we begin to look at the wisdom of

God in making not only the world and the

stars and the sun, but even making the

schedule upon which we live, God knows

what he's doing, and he's made it to be

that which is good for his people, for

the experience of life and maturing

as we go. I praise God for the

opportunity to start over every day. And

I praise God for Lamentations chapter 3

Lamentations 3 · chapter mention

that tells a sinner like Andrew Coleman

that God's mercies are new in the

morning and I can start over with him.

[clears throat]

>> Because I need that.

Notice here, not only to separate day

and night, not only to establish

signs, days, years, but to also give

light to the earth. All this builds on

day three. Day three was separating land

from the sea and then providing

vegetation. And many of you remember

last week we said why did he do all

that? He did all that preparing the

earth

for to be inhabited.

And so here we see again God is

preparing the earth for animals and

people.

Um he's preparing the way for this

again. Imagine no moon, no light at

night for most of history. Can you

imagine? Okay, look at that. It says

letter C to give light to the earth.

Even the moon is I don't turn the sheet

over yet. Just stick with me here. Don't

keep going. Listen. Can you imagine? And

I know this is not as such a big deal to

you and me because we've grown up in the

modern era with artificial light,

but imagine yourself just a hundred

years ago, a little over a hundred years

ago and all the way back through

history.

The moon's pretty important.

I mean, otherwise there was nothing that

could happen at night. But by moonlight,

you can do a lot of things. I mean, I

I just

it's hard to describe

how beautiful God's plan is in providing

for us in all of this. The light upon

the earth was important. Okay. Finally,

on the last page, I want you to see this

number four.

God creates the heavenly bodies. It says

to rule

but never to be worshiped.

>> God creates the heavenly bodies to rule.

And so what do we mean by rule? Um

that's an important question here. Look

at verse 16. And God made the two great

lights, the greater light to rule the

day and the lesser light to rule the

night and the stars. And God set them in

the expanse of the heavens to give light

on the earth. Verse 18. and to rule over

day and over night. Think of a ruler.

You see, it measures it out. A ruler

measures something. And that's what we

see here is that there's there's a

ruler. It's a giving of a time that is

set.

So notice this. God does not lead Moses

to use the common names of the sun and

the moon of the pagans around them

because he could have said Rah. God gave

Rah. That's the greater light for the

sun. And then God gave the moon and and

he could have named the pagan words for

the Canaanite gods or the Egyptian gods.

Two different every civilization had

their names for the sun and for the

moon. And they believe them to be gods.

So they're worshiping the creation. And

God does not do that. He just calls it

the greater light and the lesser light.

So there's no confusion here. These

aren't gods. These are simply bodies

that I have created to give light to the

earth.

And so there would be no sun and moon to

be worshiped as deities

because God is saying I am the only

deity.

>> God makes extremely clear that he

created them. God makes clear that he

created them with purposes and God gives

them a functional rule, not a divine

rule.

Now

that is important not only for the

ancient peoples of the earth but that's

important for us because

while we don't usually people in this

room run around worshiping

the sun or worshiping the moon though I

do remember there was a prominent couple

in the life of this church many years

ago

that their son

went away from the Christian faith

and they went to

astrology

and they went to worshiping the heavens.

And this family would go see their son

and his wife.

And they were greatly heartbroken

because their whole house was decorated

around

the orbits of the moon and the planets.

And they had a whole belief system by

which they would do these things. And

they would sit out in their backyard and

look up in the heavens and chant.

And the people in our church

were loving and caring, but they were

heartbroken

that they had gone back to ancient

worship. Now, we're not usually tempted

to do that

in large number in this crowd. But we

can be tempted to do it in other ways.

We can worship the creation. We can

worship the things that are created

in other ways.

And this is an age-old warning from

Moses. So later in Moses's writing,

remember he wrote Genesis, Exodus,

Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy.

Look at Deuteronomy 4 and verse 15-20.

Moses gives warnings against what?

>> Idolatry.

>> Idolatry. Idolatry is setting up

anything other than God as God.

Look what he says in verse 15. And I'

I've bolded it here. You underline it.

Circle it. Do whatever you want. But

emphasize this. Therefore, watch

yourselves carefully

since you saw no form on the day that

the Lord spoke to you at Horeb or out of

the midst of the fire. So, the idea is

he's saying you you didn't see God in

any other manifestation. You didn't see

that, but you heard his voice.

So he's saying, "Beware lest you act

corruptly by making a carved image for

yourselves in the form of any figure,

the likeness of male or female, the

likeness of any animal that is on the

earth, the likeness of any winged bird

that flies in the air." Verse 18, the

likeness of anything that creeps on the

ground. The likeness of any fish that is

in the water under the earth. It's

pretty much covering it. He's saying

don't make a graven image, not of wood,

not of stone, not of a sketch that

you're going to worship. Verse 19. And

beware,

here it is. Lest you raise your eyes to

where?

>> To heaven. And when you see the sun and

the moon and the stars and all the hosts

of heaven, you be drawn away and bowed

down to them and serve them

things that the Lord your God has

allotted to all peoples under the whole

heaven. He's saying, look, God has given

these things to everyone, and you're not

to worship them. They're not special

gods to you.

Verse 20. But the Lord has taken you and

brought you out of the iron furnace out

of Egypt to a people of his own

inheritance as you are this day. Now

verse 20 is amazing. Put out there a

statement of love.

God is saying, "I delivered you from the

Egyptians.

I delivered you from bondage.

Don't go worship some other god that

didn't deliver you.

He's telling his people, he's telling

the Jewish people, you don't go worship

what all the pagans are worshiping.

And we could say to the Christians in

this room, you don't go worship

everything that everybody else is

worshiping.

You don't worship the cars. You don't

worship the houses. You don't worship

the vacations. You don't worship the

music. You don't worship the sports. You

don't worship all of the other hobbies.

You don't worship the status. You don't

worship the bank account. You don't

worship the things that the world is

worshiping. You worship God alone.

Beware. Don't set them up as gods.

Look at Jeremiah 10:2.

Jeremiah 10:2

Do not learn the way of the nations, nor

be dismayed at the signs of the heavens,

because the nations are dismayed at

them. So the signs of the heavens, this

is talking about astrology.

This is talking about don't be you know

I I watched the brink of war the other

night which is a film about Ronald

Reagan and Miguel Gorbashoff and I

highly recommend it. It's the story of

what happened in Rekavik Iceland

that ended the Cold War.

But it was interesting there was just a

little piece of it. Nancy Reagan was

back in Washington. He was in Reikovic

and they would talk on the phone and

some of that was kind of humorous. And

at one point she pulls up a big graphic

of the solar system and she said, "Well,

at least the moon is waning and Mars is

descending, so we got that going for

us."

Nancy Reagan was an astrologer.

And Reagan, as I understood, said,

"Yeah, okay." You know, I mean, because

he had said, "I'm not into it like Nancy

is."

But you see friends, it's in our world.

And Jeremiah 10 is saying, "Don't do

that."

Throughout the scriptures, God fully

condemns astrology. Young people, God

condemns astrology.

High school students, college students,

don't pay attention to astrology.

Middle-aged people, I don't know if

anybody ever told you all that. You

don't read the horoscope.

>> That's astrology.

You don't worry about what sign you are.

I'm not kidding. If you have that stuff

in your house, you should go home and

throw it away. You should burn it. Don't

give it away. Throw it away.

I mean, these things are evil. This is

what God says. No, I'm the only God. I'm

the one who who determines these things,

not anyone or anything else.

The stars are not divine authorities

determining your personality, your

destiny, or your future.

You don't need to go to an astrologer.

You already have

the God of the universe who determines

beautifully all things. You see,

astrology is occult worship.

The word occult means hidden or secret.

Hidden or secret. And what's amazing is

is that God has given us this great big

glorious beautiful word that unveils who

he is. [snorts]

We even have a book of the Bible called

Revelation

where it reveals who he is and what his

plan is. [snorts]

Okay. How do we apply this?

God's creation of the heavens can

enhance your relationship with him. If

you will think about the heavens, if you

will appreciate what Genesis says that

God has made the heavens, here's how

your life can be blessed. Number one,

look up to the heavens. Look up to the

sun, moon, and the stars and worship

him. Don't worship them. Worship him.

>> Look up and worship him. today. This is

the mighty God who created something as

glorious as our son and took care of the

earth and providing all that the earth

needs through the sun in the in this way

that the things that sustain us. Look up

not only and worship him but look up and

trust him. If he can create all these

things, he can take care of you. He can

take care of your eternity.

and don't only worship him and trust

him, but look up and obey him.

>> Obey him. What he's interested in is not

people who just say that they know him,

but do not do what he says. Jesus said,