"Keeping Life In Perspective"
Stand In Awe...Of God • Sermon • Submitted
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Fact #1, Man is a creature...
Fact #1, Man is a creature...
Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness. They will rule the fish of the sea, the birds of the sky, the livestock, all the earth, and the creatures that crawl on the earth.”
So God created man in His own image;
He created him in the image of God;
He created them male and female.
God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth, and subdue it. Rule the fish of the sea, the birds of the sky, and every creature that crawls on the earth.”
God also said, “Look, I have given you every seed-bearing plant on the surface of the entire earth and every tree whose fruit contains seed. This food will be for you,
for all the wildlife of the earth, for every bird of the sky, and for every creature that crawls on the earth—everything having the breath of life in it. I have given every green plant for food.” And it was so.
God saw all that He had made, and it was very good. Evening came and then morning: the sixth day.
Hard fact #2, People are temporary
Hard fact #2, People are temporary
But remember this: wise men must die;
stupid men, brutish men, all perish.
The grave is their eternal home,
their dwelling for all time to come;
they may give their own names to estates,
but they must leave their riches to others.
For men are like oxen whose life cannot last,
they are like cattle whose time is short.
The Psalmist isn’t done...
The Psalmist isn’t done...
Man’s days are like the grass;
he blossoms like the flowers of the field:
a wind passes over them, and they cease to be,
and their place knows them no more.
Harder fact #3, life is pretty grim.
Harder fact #3, life is pretty grim.
For God’s wrath is revealed from heaven against all godlessness and unrighteousness of people who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth,
since what can be known about God is evident among them, because God has shown it to them.
For His invisible attributes, that is, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen since the creation of the world, being understood through what He has made. As a result, people are without excuse.
For though they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God or show gratitude. Instead, their thinking became nonsense, and their senseless minds were darkened.
Claiming to be wise, they became fools
and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man, birds, four-footed animals, and reptiles.
That’s just the beginning, it gets worse from there.
That’s just the beginning, it gets worse from there.
For Jesus followers…just keeping life in perspective...
For Jesus followers…just keeping life in perspective...
For we know that if our temporary, earthly dwelling is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal dwelling in the heavens, not made with hands.
Indeed, we groan in this body, desiring to put on our dwelling from heaven,
since, when we are clothed, we will not be found naked.
Indeed, we groan while we are in this tent, burdened as we are, because we do not want to be unclothed but clothed, so that mortality may be swallowed up by life.
And the One who prepared us for this very purpose is God, who gave us the Spirit as a down payment.
So, we are always confident and know that while we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord.
For we walk by faith, not by sight,
and we are confident and satisfied to be out of the body and at home with the Lord.
Therefore, whether we are at home or away, we make it our aim to be pleasing to Him.
For we must all appear before the tribunal of Christ, so that each may be repaid for what he has done in the body, whether good or worthless.
Therefore, because we know the fear of the Lord, we seek to persuade people. We are completely open before God, and I hope we are completely open to your consciences as well.
We are not commending ourselves to you again, but giving you an opportunity to be proud of us, so that you may have a reply for those who take pride in the outward appearance rather than in the heart.
For if we are out of our mind, it is for God; if we have a sound mind, it is for you.
For Christ’s love compels us, since we have reached this conclusion: If One died for all, then all died.
And He died for all so that those who live should no longer live for themselves, but for the One who died for them and was raised.
Perspective...
Perspective...
It changes things, doesn’t it?
It changes things, doesn’t it?
Why?
Why?
When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.
Perspective, because of Jesus…the Ministry of Reconciliation
Perspective, because of Jesus…the Ministry of Reconciliation
From now on, then, we do not know anyone in a purely human way. Even if we have known Christ in a purely human way, yet now we no longer know Him in this way.
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away, and look, new things have come.
Everything is from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation:
That is, in Christ, God was reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and He has committed the message of reconciliation to us.
Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, certain that God is appealing through us. We plead on Christ’s behalf, “Be reconciled to God.”
He made the One who did not know sin to be sin for us, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.
Jesus alongside.
Jesus alongside.