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Heat. Oh, hey. Hey.

Heat. Well, good morning church. It's good to see you this morning.

Let's stand as we sing this little song. of let it rise and stand. Let the glory of the Lord rise among us.

Let the glory of the Lord rise among us. Let the praises of the king rise among us. Let it rise.

Let the glory of the Lord rise among us. Let the glory of the Lord rise among us. Let the praises of the king rise among us.

Let it rise. Oh, let it rise. Let the power of the Lord.

Let the power of the Lord rise among us. Let the power of the Lord rise among us. Let the praises of our king rise among us.

Let the power of the Lord rise among us. Let the power of the Lord rise among us. Heat.

Oh, let him. Let the songs of the Lord rise among us. Let the songs of the Lord rise among us.

Let the joy of the king rise among us. Let the songs of the Lord rise among us. Let the songs of the Lord rise among us.

Let the joy of the king rise among us. Yeah. Heat.

Oh, let I stand in the presence of Jesus the Nazary and wonder how he could love me. I sing my soul shall ever be marvelous, how wonderful is my son for me. He took my sins and my sorrows.

He made him his very own. He bore the word to calary and suffer and die alone. Lift your voice and search.

How marvelous, how wonderful my song shall ever be. How marvelous, how wonderful is my Savior's love for me. With victory, ransoming glory, his face I at last shall see will be my joy through the aes to sing of his love for me.

Sing how marvelous, how wonderful and my song shall ever be. How marvelous, how wonderful is my savior's glory. singing, "How marvelous, how wonderful my soul shall ever be.

How marvelous, how wonderful is thyior." >> Let's give him praise for all he's done for us this morning. Thank you. You may be seated.

Well, good morning, church. How are you doing this morning? Amen.

It's Father's Day. I hope all the fathers had breakfast in bed. I didn't.

And uh but uh they have taken care of you and they're going to take care of you this afternoon. So, uh it's good to have all of our fathers here. But what I would like to do right now, we're going to uh honor all of our fathers, but all of our men, if you will just please stand.

Everybody, all our fathers and men, please stand. Hey, let's give all of them a great big hand. All right.

Amen. Now, remain standing. Here's what we want to do.

We have something for you this morning. And uh here's where we would like to start it. If uh if you have a child or somebody here that would would if they will come up here on either side of the po of podium up here, we have something for you.

So if the children will come and get your parents a or get your dad one of these and give it back give it to them we would really appreciate. Now deacons listen up there are some for example my mine my my child is not here he's at another church you know but uh so you can come and give me one. So, uh, so deacons, if you will, if you'll come.

Also, come on, guys. Uh, children, come on up. Y'all get come get your your parents, uh, your dad.

Come get your dad a gift. And deacons, if you will, come and help them. If you see a man that's standing, will you please make sure they get one of our gifts?

Some of our deacons. Thank you. Amen.

And men, please remain standing until you get one. If you please remain standing until you get a gift. That way, we will know that we need to get you one.

Deacons, look around. Look around, deacons, and make sure that everybody gets one. Amen.

Yep. >> All right. Please remain standing.

There we go. We about got them. Look around, deacons.

We got several standing up. All of our deacons, please help. There you go.

Good job. Thank you guys. Yes.

Some of our young people, y'all want to help? That'll be great. Got a few more.

Few more standing up. Amen. Everybody up top get one.

All right. Any others right here? If one of young people can Okay, everybody back there at the back.

All right. back here at the back. We don't want to forget Bart back there.

There you go. Amen. All right, all the men.

Did you get one? We good? All right, let's give them a big hand again.

Amen. Thank you so much, fathers, for being here for men of the church. Thank you so much and what you mean to us.

And uh just a a couple of announcements really quick. uh do want to remind you that vacation Bible school starts tomorrow night and so we're looking forward to having a great time. Bring your children, grandchildren, great grandchildren and let them experience a good time that we're going to have a meal for you uh at the beginning of it and uh that way you don't have to worry about have providing supper and trying to rush and get all that.

Just come on to church. Amen. And just bring your children with you.

And also this coming Wednesday evening, please be reminded Wednesday evening we will have no services here in the uh sanctuary. We will be concentrating on vacation bible school. So please take note of that.

All right. Uh be much in prayer for again our pastor and also uh DJ uh Jackson is uh Dennis Jackson's in our in the hospital at this time. So be much in prayer for him.

And let's go to the Lord in prayer and let's just have a wonderful time of worship this morning. Amen. I tell it's already been good.

Thank y'all. Thank you so much for your spirit. And so, let's now just join our hearts together.

Lord, we are just um amazed at your grace, at your love towards us. Father, thank you for the lesson that we had in Sunday school this morning. Lord, thank you, Lord, for everyone that's here, all of our guests that are worshiping with us this morning.

We're so grateful that you send people our way. And Lord, I thank you for them. And Lord, just let us again worship you with with all that we have, with all of our might, with all of our strength, Lord, to worship you because you so richly deserve it.

Lord, we pray for our, like I said, our our pastor and brother DJ, Lord, that you'll be with them and and Lord, that you now will be with us in this service as we continue to worship with our with our praise team, Father, our choir, and musicians, sound media, every aspect, Lord. And Lord, thank you again for just being with us. Now, let us worship.

In Jesus name we do pray. And all God's people said, "Amen, guys. Miss Shirley asked me to tell you this.

If you'll look on the back of that little measure you have there, there's a little white tab. In order to get that light to work, you got to pull that white tab." All right. All right.

The choir is going to sing a song. It's called Chain Breaker. And uh you know, you might be in here today going through struggles in your life.

Just remember, he's a chain breaker. If you've been walking the same old road for miles and miles. If you've been hearing the same old voice of the same old lies.

If you're trying to fill the same old holes inside, there's a better life. There's a better life if you got a rain taker. If you feel lost, he's a way maker.

If you need freedom or saving, he's a prison saving savior and you got change. He's a chain breaker. >> We've all searched for the light of day and the dead of night, but we've all found ourselves worn out from the same old fight.

We've all run to things we know that just ain't right. There's a better life. And there's a better life.

If you got He's a pain. If you feel lost, he's a way maker. If you need freedom saving, he's a prison shaking savior.

You got change. He's a chain breaker. If you believe it, if you receive it, if you can feel it, somebody testify.

If you believe it, if you receive it, if you can feel it, somebody testify. Testify. If you believe it, if you receive it, if you can feel it, somebody testify.

If you believe it, if you receive it, if you can feel it, somebody testify, testify, testify. If you got pain, he's a painaker. If you feel lost, he's a way maker.

If you need freedom or saving, he's a prison shaking savior. You got change. He's a chain breaker.

You got He's a rain maker. If you feel lost, he's a way maker. You need freedom for saving.

He's a prison shaking savior. You got change. He's a chain breaker.

You need freedom. Sing. He's a prison shaking savior.

You got change. He's a chain breaker. He's a chain breaker.

Amen. Well, let's stand as we continue worship this morning as we sing we fall down. We fall down.

We lay our crowns at the feet of Jesus. The greatness of his mercy and love and the feet of Jesus. And we cry holy, holy, holy.

And we cry holy, holy, holy. We cry holy, holy, holy is the lamb. Let's sing that one more time.

We for God. We lay our grounds at the feet of Jesus. The greatness of his mercy and love at the feet of Jesus.

And we cry holy, holy, holy. We cry holy, holy, holy. And we cry holy, holy, holy is the lamb.

We cry holy and we cry holy, holy, holy and we cry holy, holy, holy and we cry holy, holy, holy is light of the You step down into darkness. Open my eyes. Let me see.

>> Beauty and this heart adore you. Love with you. So here I am to worship.

Here I am to bow down. Here I am to say you're my God. You're all together loveing.

Allto together worthy, allto together wonderful to me. King of all kings, oh so mighty exalted, glorious in heaven above. Only you came to the earth you created.

All for love's sake behold. >> So here I am to worship. Here I am to bow down.

Here I am to say that you're my God. You're all together loving. All together worthy.

All together wonderful to me. And I'll never know how much it cost to see my sore cross. I'll never know how much it cost to see my sin upon that cross.

>> So here I am to worship. Here I am to bow down. Here I am to say you're my God.

You're all together loveing, allto together worthy, allto together wonderful to me. So here I am to worship. Here I am to bow down.

Here I am to say that you're my God. You're all together loveing. Allto together worthy.

Allto together wonderful to be. >> Can we give him praise and thank him this morning? Thank you so much.

You can be seated. Y on a hill called Calary. Jesus my Lord suffered for me.

Carried the cross all the way my sins to atone. Then they nailed him to the cross. Great was the pain and the loss.

He suffered it all because he loved me because he loved me. My Savior died on the cross was crucified. No greater love by mortal men has ever been known.

Oh, praise his dear name. He loves me so. Now I am his.

He's mine. I know. He suffered it all because he loved me.

Then they carried him away, placed him in a lonely grave. Surely they thought that this would be the end of this man. But on that third and glorious day, God came and rolled the stone away.

He rose from the dead because he loved me. Because he loved me. My savior died on the cross was crucified.

No greater love by mortal men has ever been known. Oh, praise his dear name. He loves me so.

Now I am his. He's mine. I know.

He suffered it all. Because he loved me. Oh, praise his dear name.

He loves me so now I am his. He's mine. I know.

He suffered it all because he loved me. Because he loved me. grace upon grace.

Hallelu. Even though I don't deserve it, you did it. Even though I couldn't earn it, you gful.

I'm just grateful for you. right here by you. I'm just grateful for you.

>> Holy, holy, there's only glory. Even though I don't deserve it, you did it. Yes, you did.

Even though I could give it. Come on, church. Oh, you're my God.

I'm just grateful for you. I'm just grateful for you. All my life you just am that you give me your grateful for you.

All my life you be right here by my side. >> Amen. We're super grateful to God.

Uh that's our youth mission trip. We just got back this Wednesday evening and uh we had an incredible time. If you see a student or a leader, um, ask them, "Hey, what was your highlight?" Um, those pictures don't do justice.

But one of the things we got to do last Sunday morning, uh, kind of while you guys were finishing up in here, uh, was we got to be a part of their church service. Uh, so they're in the West Virginia mountains. Their culture is completely different than what we have here.

And so, uh, Sunday school started at 11:30. Um, might might get some of you out of bed if we did that. uh 12:30 uh was our worship time and uh and we worshiped from about 12:30 to nearly 2:30 and uh so we were in church for three hours.

Our students uh got the opportunity uh to lead uh one of our leaders Judah uh got the opportunity to preach. But one of the things we realized in that Sunday morning service before the vacation Bible school that evening and before you know the songs we were going to do is um is they didn't know any of our worship songs and we didn't know any of theirs and like we realized that like we were playing worship songs like that we would play in our student worship. Pastor David plays over here.

Um, and like the pastor, he would sing like one or two of them. And I was like, he knows those, but that was it. And I'm like, if the pastor does not know these songs, and I'm looking around, nobody else knew them either.

And then the pastor would lead some songs. Um, and all of our students were just looking around and our leaders because we didn't know them. But we figured out real quick there was one song that they knew and that we knew.

So I'm going to have all my students come up. Y'all stand up and they're going to lead. This is became our VBS song.

Okay. Y stand on up. The rest of you come on up.

I know a lot of them are not here uh this morning. They're going to come. Y'all need to spread out a little bit and make you some some place.

Now remember this is our VBS vacation Bible school song. Okay. All right.

All good. I was going to say y'all head down that way. And uh and here's what I encourage you.

I encourage you to sing along um as they lead us. Oh, y'all sing now. Oh, come on now.

Some glad morning when this life is over, I'll fly away to a oh God celestial soul. I'll fly away. I'll fly away.

Oh glory, I'll fly away. When I die, hallelujah, fly by and by, I'll fly away. When the shadows of this life have gone, I'll fly away like a from prison bars as thorn.

I'll fly away. Oh, I'll fly away. Oh Lord, I fly away when I die.

Hallelujah. I'll fly away just for weary days and day. I'll fly away to a where joy shall never be.

I All right, y'all sing out now. Here we go. I'll fly away.

Oh, glory. I'll fly away. I fly.

Hallelujah. My fly away. So, thank you as a church for supporting them and being a part of that.

But, um, I figured you might recognize that song. And so, that became, uh, the theme song for our VBS there, uh, up in the West Virginia mountains. On Sunday evening, we started out, there are 58 of us total.

Uh, by Monday, we grew it to 81. And by time we closed out on uh, Tuesday, there were 87 of us there in that small West Virginia mountain church. And so we praise God for it.

Um we had multiple students, kids were sharing the gospel. One of the things I challenged our students with, they all got a bracelet that you would probably make uh in your VBS. I get it's the colorcoded bracelet that shares the gospel.

And uh every single student before they left here uh was challenged to give their bracelet uh to somebody and not just give it to them to take the time to care about them and share the truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ with them. And uh so I had students by by literally we got there on Saturday by Saturday afternoon they're like hey I need more bracelets because they had already shared it at the gas station and other places uh with their work with other people that they had encountered and uh so just a great trip. Uh we're glad to be home.

Thank you for as always a lot of people are always asking how can we help. Um there's in the envelopes when you when you give your tithe the next generation fund that goes our kids are going to camp here in just a few weeks. Uh we'll use that for scholarship money.

Every time we go on a mission trip we use that money. And so anytime that you want to just say hey I want to give to the next generation uh you are welcome to do that. So, uh, this morning, invite you to, uh, open your Bible up to, uh, to Genesis chapter number one.

Is right before Exodus if you can't find it. Um, but, uh, Genesis chapter number one is where we will begin this morning. And, uh, instead of, uh, doing a a super exogetical um, interpretation here in the scripture, uh, I want to kind of reveal or kind of talk to you about a theme that that happens throughout scripture.

There's a lot of ways that you and I can study scripture. Uh we can study scripture verse by verse and uh things that jump out, things that stand out, and we can really dive in uh to why the writer is writing this under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit and that sort of thing. Another way that you can study scripture um is by uh like men and women of the Bible.

And so you can go and find uh a a man in the Bible or a woman in the Bible and you can study that way. um you can study um you know through the the whole book of the Bible, however it is. But one of the things that also jumps out is when things are repeated in scripture.

All right, that's something I need to like the I am statements and stuff like that. All right, that's jumping out. Why is that?

And then there's also themes that go throughout scripture. And so this morning, we're going to kind of focus on a theme uh that literally begins here in Genesis chapter number one and goes all the way through the book of Revelation and even until our day and time here. And so if you're taking notes, the subject that I've written down for this morning is simply this, the God who trusts.

The God who trusts. And so we'll begin reading Genesis chapter number one. And uh we'll begin verse number 26.

Uh scripture says this, "The God said, "Let us make man in our image, according to our likeness, uh and let them rule over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the sky, and over the cattle, and over the earth, and over the every creeping thing that creeps on the earth." God created man in his own image. And in the image of God, he created him, male and female, he created them. God blessed them and God said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply and and fill the earth and subdue it and rule over the fish in the sea and over the birds of the sky and over every living thing that comes that moves over the earth." Then God said, "Behold, I've given you every plant yielding seed that is on the surface of all the earth, and every tree which has fruit uh yielding seed, it shall be good for you.

and to every beast of the earth and every bird of the sky and to every thing that moves and on the pl earth which was life which has life I've given you every green plant for food and it was good and so God saw that all that he had made and behold for the very first time in Genesis chapter number one God says and it was very good and there was evening And there is mourning on the sixth day. You and I know this passage of scripture in the context in chapter number one uh as the days of creation uh where where the the triune God is is is met together and had counsel and they've they've create literally created the world from nothing and they've brought life into existence. And so they're beginning uh with with the the creation of the earth and the animals and all that.

And then here on day six, the triune God waited on day six, the last and final day of creation for their most prized creation. And that was you and I as humans. That was you and I as man and as woman.

And and one of the things that that I want you to understand in this creation is is this. In this moment in time, as creation begins to form, this is before sin has entered into the world. This is before darkness had known to exist in a lot of ways.

And and so some of the things that we're going to kind of unpack this morning um is God's trust on humanity before sin ever stepped in. And so one of the first things I want to kind of point out to you um that's recognized here and it's found in verse uh 26 and verse number 27 is the first thing that God trusts you and I with is that you and I are to be imagebearers of God. We're to reflect God.

Read again with me verse number 26 says then God said let us make man in our image and according to our likeness. Then you jump down to verse number 27. It says, "And God created man in his own image and in the image of God he created him male and female." And so the very first responsibility, the very first thing that God is he is breathing life and humanity into existence.

The very first thing that he trusts us with is that we would reflect his image. That we would be image bearsers. That the God of love, that we would be the the people of love.

the the God that had character um and he had um patience and he had forgiveness and he had all the things that that that come into who God is is that you and I would be a reflection of that. You get up every morning, you see a reflection of you in the mirror. It's not actually you, but it's a reflection of who you are.

And you can see all the details of who you are through that reflection. One of our kids' favorite things to do, and I know I've mentioned this before, but I think it's rightly fitting, is that we go to Sam's sometimes, and our kids um like one of the things where they have all these stands at Sam's so that you can go around and eat these these uh samples of food. But the very first time I took our kids there, one of our kids, I don't remember if it was Tucker or Micah.

Um, they said like it was later we went and then we come back and then next time they're like, "Dad, can we go to Sam's to see the examples?" And that's always stuck with me because they're 100% right. Like it wasn't it's the examples of the real thing, right? It's it's a small portion a small piece of what's in the freezer or what's in the in the cooler or what's in the on the shelf and and it's a reflection of that.

And that's what God's saying here in the very beginning of Genesis as he is creating humanity. He's saying listen I want you to be a reflection. I want you to be an example of God.

And so that's that's easy in a lot of ways as as we think about it, but it's hard to live out. I want you to notice God brings this in this idea into you and I being examples and image bearsers of God before anything's ever accomplished by man. Before there's ever been an achievement by man, God saying, "Be my image bearer." before humans had ever done anything to have a impact.

You say, "Michael, what are you saying?" Well, here because a lot of times we live our life and we even raise our kids and we've even been raised on the idea of this. In order to have a responsibility, in order to be trusted, we've got to do something. That's why a lot of times we were trying to work to get into something.

We're trying to work to achieve something. We're trying to work to approve something. are we we thrive on achievements.

We we try we thrive on scores and awards and all that sort of things. But God saying, "Hey, before you've ever achieved anything in life, before you've ever won anything, before you've ever accomplished anything, before you've ever done anything, I want you to bear my image." And if you and I would soak in on that just for a moment, we would no longer feel unqualified. We would no longer feel unworthy to be a man or a woman of God.

Why? Because a lot of our unworthiness comes from our our poor choices. A lot of our unworthiness comes from us feeling like we haven't lived up to the standard that we haven't achieved the things that maybe the the pastors have achieved or the deacons or Sunday school teacher achieved.

But God's saying, "Hey, before you could ever achieve anything, God created you in my image to be an image bearer, to be an example of who I am." And the second thing that God uh shows us here in the first couple of verses of creation is that you and I are called to produce life. Verse number 28 says it this way. God blessed them and God said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth." You see here, we could sit here and say, "Well, hey, says be fruitful, multiply." That means that we need to come together, man, as a family.

And yes, you're right in that that that maybe we're to have kids and and yeah, that that's definitely a possibility and and that could be seen here. But the the the root of what the writer is saying is actually deeper than that. It it's actually carrying the idea that you and I are to live a life that produces fruit, that produces results, that produces abundance.

And so that could be through the church family, that could be through your individual church, that could be through you being uh uh fruitful in your workplace, that could be you being fruitful in your hobby or wherever it may be. But the fruitfulness is the quality that God is calling you and I to. He's saying, "Hey, I I want you to to to bear some fruit.

I want you to be fruitful in in in in this life that I've given you, that I've created you for." And then the multiplication, uh, the idea that we're to multiply, that's the quantity. That means it's not supposed to just stay with you. That that means it's not supposed to just stay in your home.

That means God has called you to produce and to multiply what? His image, right? Jesus.

And and how do we do that? We got outside the walls. We tell people about Jesus.

We live it on a daily basis. We prioritize things. You see, God didn't call us to simply exist.

He entrusted them with this ginormous responsibility. I mean, it would have been easy if God would have just said created Adam and Eve and created humanity and it's like, "All right, that's it." But now, God's a God who trusts. And he entrusted them with the responsibility to be imagebearers of Christ and to be fruitful and to multiply, to produce, to grow.

It's garden season right now. Nobody wants their garden to die. I I've had an apple tree uh that we planted several years ago and uh and and again this year uh that apple tree began to to to produce fruit about a month ago and I was so excited because this was going to be the year that like I really got to see an apple like and actually eat it off off our own tree and that sort of thing.

Uh and then about a week ago I noticed all the leaves are dying on that tree. I don't know what's happened. All of a sudden that apple tree that was supposed to be producing me some good old apples is now dead.

All right. And and that's a problem, right? Like we see that we're like like I looked at immediately like the leaves are dying.

I'm like it's not fall yet. Like we haven't even got really through summer yet. Why?

Like like I wanted that tree to produce fruit. And and God is saying the same thing to you and I. Whenever you and I are consumed and busy with everything else under the world, but we are not producing life is what is what the text here is saying.

He's saying, "Hey, I I don't want you to exist. I don't want you just to be and I don't want you just to accumulate and and to achieve in the world. I want you to produce life." I mean, Jesus even said that he's come to give us life and life abundant.

And that's kind of the idea of being image bearsers of God. And and we can look at an apple tree that's dying and realize, hey, that's not right. But sometimes we give ourselves a pass whenever we're men and women who are just going through the motions of life and work and wherever we got to go and wherever we got to be and we're not producing life and somehow we give ourselves a pass.

Genesis 1, God's saying, "Hey, you're to be image bearsers. You're you're to show people who I am and what I'm about and you're to produce life." Third thing he calls us to in the text that we read today is simply we're to be good stewards of life. Read with me verse number 26, halfway do through it says this.

and let them rule over the earth, over the fish, over the sea, and over the blue the birds of the sky, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth. Verse 28 through30 says this, "And God blessed them, and God said to them, be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth." And what? Here it is again.

Subdue them, rule over the fish, and the sea, and the birds of the sky, and every living thing, and the things that move on the earth. And then God said, "Behold, I've given you every plant uh seed yielding seed that is on the surface of the earth. Um, and every tree which has fruit, that's my apple tree.

I got to do something about it. Um, it shall be food for you. And to every beast of the earth, and to every bird of the sky, and to everything that moves on the earth, which has life, I've given you every green plant for food." Literally, he's literally just saying, "Hey, I want you to be good stewards of everything that I've given you." You know, sometimes we can be good stewards of uh maybe our loan.

We could be good stewards of our finance. We could be good stewards of things, right? Maybe it's uh uh good steward of watching our favorite team or playing our favorite sport or or our our education or whatever may be.

And there's nothing wrong with those things at all. But as a whole, God is saying, "Hey, I want you to be good stewards of the life and the things that I've blessed you with and that I've given you." Some of those things are tangible. Some of those things are untangible.

Some of those things are things like fruit trees and seeds and grass and that sort of thing. And then some of those things are spiritual things. Some of those things are our children, the people that God has entrusted us with, that we might be good stewards of how we we navigate this life with them, that we don't overindulge in some areas and underindulge in other areas.

That we prioritize the things that need to be prioritized. That's being a good steward. That's that's having a God focus and a God- centered life.

And this is what's happening in the text. And and God saying in the in the in creation, in the creation story, before sin, before children, before sports, before education, before the things ever come in, he's saying, "Listen, these are the things that need to be prioritized. These are the things that I'm trusting you with that you might be good stewards of this life." And then it's incredible to see as you reflect on these things.

I mentioned earlier that this is a theme that is carried throughout scripture that God trusts his people. That God constantly over and over. And so if you were to take time and read through all 60 books of the Bible, over 40 authors written over 1500 uh years span of time, over 300 stories, over 3,000 individuals.

You'll see this theme over and over and over and that God begins to trust and be he begins to to to rely on people to carry out his will and his mission and to begin to redeem the world as sin comes in and and and and that's continuing even until this day. I want you to just take a moment just to listen because I think it's worth mentioning that and this is just only a snapshot of the individuals, men and women that God has trusted all throughout scripture with the principles that I've just given you. Start with Adam and Eve.

God entrusted them with the things that we just talked about. Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, Aaron, Joshua, Caleb, Deborah, Gideon, Samson, Ruth, Samuel, Saul, David, Solomon, Elijah, Elisha, Josiah, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, Esther, Ezar, Nehemiah. Then you jump over into the New Testament.

Again, that's just covers just a a a airplane view of the Old Testament. men and women that God constantly entrusted with his mission, with his will to be imagebearers to to be fruitful and to multiply. Then you jump into the New Testament, got people like Mary, John the Baptist, the 12 disciples, Peter, the 72, the apostles, Steven, Philip, Paul, Barnabas, Timothy, and Titus, and John.

Literally from Genesis to the book of Revelation, there's this reoccurring thing over and over and over again that God trusts us with his will, with his plan, with his purpose. And and he's entrusted us this certain way that we're to live life. And it would be great for us if it ended in the book of Revelation.

like, "Hey, that's great, Michael." Like, you know, from Genesis, Revelation, like they took care of it. We're good to go. We can live life however we want to.

We can have priorities. We can have our own personal feelings rise up and all those sorts of things. But that's not how it worked.

God had Jesus to establish the church and then the church was to continue to carry out the will and the mission of God to do what? To be image bearsers. to multiply to be good stewards of what God has blessed us with financially and physically and relationally like like so that mission continues and it has continued for all these years that God in his providence and his sovereignty would choose somebody like you and somebody like me to entrust to to continue to carry out the mission of some of the great men and women in scripture.

I mean, I don't know about you, but a lot of times I'm like, I I I couldn't do that. I'm not worthy of that. I know my imperfections.

I know my shortfallings. I know the things that I struggle with in life. But yet, God's saying, "No, before you ever have a resume or a lack of a resume.

I gave you a job responsibility." And that's what he's called every single one of us. The Bible is full of men and women who God has entrusted. in this room is full of men and women who God has entrusted.

And if you began to unpack that and realize that if God didn't entrust people with his will and his mission that you and I number one wouldn't be here in existence today, number two, you wouldn't be a part of a local church if men and women for all these years didn't continue to carry the banner. I mean, you think about just the last 12 generations of your family. Maybe some of you have done like a family tree thing and you've tried to trace back, but just the last 12 generations of your family, biological, adopted, whatever it may be, you had two parents, four grandparents, eight great grandparents, 16 great uh second great grandparents, 32 third great grandparents, 64 uh fourth great grandparents, 128 fifth greatgrparents, 256 uh sixth great grandparents, 5127th greatgrandparents, 1,024 eighth great grandparents, 2408 ninth greatgrandparents in the last 12 years or the last 12 generations of your family, which covered the last 400ish years.

You've had over 4,094 people that are responsible for you being in existence for the the purpose of the church to continue and the mission of the church to be what it is today. And then you you put a pause on that and you begin to reflect, oh my goodness, the stories that those 4,000 could tell, the trials that those 4,000 could tell. the tribulations, the moments that they want to give up, the moments that they they didn't think that they were worthy or that they were good enough, the the battles, the difficulties, the sadness, the death, the tears, the love stories, the heartbreaks, the expressions for a hope of a future and all that.

And that's just in the last 400 years. But you think about from the very beginning of time, the men and women that had to continue the gospel of Jesus. Hopefully that's not my notes.

Oh, that's my other note. That's good. Actually, I am going to need that because I got a little thing because this is I felt that this might uh be appropriate for us because here's what I understand sometimes.

Just because we're here on Sunday morning doesn't mean we've been good stewards of what God's entrusted us with. It doesn't mean that that we've been a very good image bearer. It doesn't mean that that we have been fruitful in the life that he's given us.

And and I would say this and somebody mentioned me, Miss Charles mentioned me this morning. Father's Day is supposedly the third least attended Sunday of the year. Thankfully, that doesn't seem to be true here, but but most mostly.

And if you go back and look at the no the the names that I read out, 88% of them were men. Let me say that again. It's not that men it's not that women are not used in scripture.

That is clearly not the truth. But we went from this phase in the stage of life where for for much of scripture, God constantly used men and women, but mostly men. Again, 88% of the men were used to to be entrusted in this, to be highlighted, if you would.

And yet, I I look, this coming week, we get to uh do our VBS. Um I hope you're excited about I hope you're praying about it. Um if you haven't been over there across the road, um like you're missing out.

Uh I know some of you, a lot of you have been through our judgment house where we transform uh like every room over there. Um like it's that and some like everything on that side of the road has been totally transformed with these kids. People have been working diligently uh week in day out uh to make sure that when those kids show up tomorrow evening uh that they've got a place that's going to that's that's going to show them image barriers of God and that's going to uh produce life and that sort of thing.

And that's incredible. We're we're really excited about and I don't want to rain on that parade um at all. Um, but uh 28% of our volunteers are men and that's historically true in the church.

I mean, I know this. If my finances dropped 60% this week on income, I'd be hitting the panic button. I already hit the panic button when I ride by the gas station.

Um, but but what you're saying, Mike, I'm saying specifically for the men in the room, one of the greatest Father's Day gift that you could give your children, your family, your wife, is that you begin to be an image bearer of God. Maybe at one time in your life, you were maybe um for whatever reason that's taken a backseat. But God's giving you an opportunity to have a fresh start.

It doesn't matter what you've done, where you've been, or what's been going on in your life. God's inviting you. He's entrusting you.

The God of creation, the God of heaven, the alpha and the omega, the beginning and the end, the the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords has reached down and he's looked at you and he says, "I I entrust you. I've created you for this purpose. I didn't create you just to be and to exist and go to your workplace and make money and and and to do whatever, man.

I've got this this plan and this this blueprint if you would so that the impact that you and I make if we make it in the right way and we steward this life well and we become be image bearsers of God that it would last for generations to generations. You know, a lot of times we think of maybe it's a collection you have or maybe it's the bank account that you have. Well, I want to save up for my kids and I'm going to save up for this thing.

You know what's going to happen when you give your kids that bank account? They're going to spend it all like it's going to be gone probably next week, right? Yeah.

Some of you don't want to admit that. But God is saying, "Listen, when you began to impact people with the image of God and be image bearsers and and to be fruitful and to multiply life, man, that doesn't die with the next generation. That doesn't die with the next week, the next month, whatever that continues.

As a matter of fact, this is the only thing that's going to continue. They're going to forget about your grandkids and great grandkids are going to probably forget about anything and everything that you've ever accomplished in life. But you know what they will remember?

Were you a man of God? Were you a woman of God? That you bear the image.

That the only thing that they knew that brought brought them life. Wasn't the things that they did on the fields. It wasn't what they did in the classroom.

It wasn't the money that they make. They could always say, "You know what? My daddy, my mama, they brought me life." Why?

Because they were image bearsers of Jesus Christ. And that's what God has called you and I to this this responsibility. And that's what he's given here to Adam and Eve.

It gives them this this freedom to choose. And yet we know this as you continue to read beyond the first chapter of Genesis. Failure comes in, sin comes in.

And then you see the thing that God gave you and I, he also gave to his son Jesus, a responsibility to be an image bearer of God. He was God. to be fruitful, to come here on this earth.

He didn't just show up on the day he was to die on the cross and be like, "All right, I did my job. Peace out." No, he spent 33 and a half years here. He spent three years in ministry.

Why? So that he could be so he could bring life to those around him. So that he could take these young men under his wing and that he could breathe life into them.

More than a job, more than a career. You see, Adam failed in the garden. Jesus obeyed in the garden.

Israel is a part of Israel's as God's plan to to carry out his will and the mission. They failed to be God's servant. Jesus succeeded in being God's ultimate servant.

Humanity, we failed to reflect the image of God. Jesus never failed to reflect God's image. From the very beginning, God has entrusted you and I with his creation, his purpose, his mission.

And yes, the story of of the Bible is about and could be seen that that we failed as humans that Israel has failed that great men and women that I named on this list that many of them in their own ways failed. But that's not the real story of scripture. The real story in scripture is in spite of God giving us entrusting us with a responsibility and a life to live and to steward it well that we totally failed him.

But he didn't give up on us. And in our sin, in our darkness, in our shame, God sent his son to reme remedy the problem that you and I had messed up. And so, like, that's the fix.

Like God fixed a problem that you and I created. You walked in here today and you've got a problem. It's called a sin problem.

You've had it ever since you were born. That sin problem has been competing for all this time and all these years for God's will and God's purpose and God's plan for your life. But God did something about it.

I don't know about you, but maybe you're like me and I'm often thinking about ways that we can fix stuff. And sometimes it's really dumb. um like that we could just fix simple things like nobody in here likes to change their clocks twice a year, right?

Nobody. I mean, if you are you're you're different and you need to repent of that differentness. Um but nobody likes that, right?

And so the simple solution to that is what? To leave it alone. Like like buy 30 minutes somewhere in the middle and leave it alone.

Like there's other simple things. Um, like why do you have to have so many different charger cords for all your charging devices? Why couldn't we just have one charging cord for every device?

That would fix half of our problems, right? All right. Um, another thing that that I'm seeing here lately and a lot uh is you ride down the interstate and you see these signs that have folded over, right?

They've they've broken the the the steel beams on them. They're holding these big signs have broken and yet they keep putting new signs up without changing anything. And a simple solution to fixing that sign is what?

Put holes through the sign so the wind will blow through it and won't blow it down. I don't know, maybe a DOT will hire me after this. I don't know.

But it's a really simple solution. And the same thing was true when it came to Jesus and the cross. Like in some ways we can look at the blood of the lamb and and all the things in the Old Testament and we can say, you know what, that that was really No, it was really really simple.

Like God saw us dead in our sin, in our trespasses. God sees you here this morning. It doesn't matter what you've achieved.

Doesn't matter what you've done. It doesn't matter um if you've been baptized, if you prayed a prayer, whatever it is, he saw you in your darkness and he sent his son Jesus to take care of it. And like that's the good news of the gospel.

I mean, the Roman road tells us in in in Romans 3:23 that all have sinned and fallen short of God's glory. That means every single man and woman in this room has sinned and fallen short of God's glory. And because his glory is so good, he had to distance himself because of us as sinners.

But he didn't be like, "Okay, like they've got a problem. They've got to figure it out." No, he said, "They've got a problem. I'll figure it out and I'll fix it." And that was the plan of Jesus from the very beginning of time.

Romans 5'8 says that God demonstrates his love to us. That while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Yes, you were not worthy of Christ's death.

Yes, you did not earn Christ death, but yet he did it anyway. And then Romans 10:9 tells us, if we confess with our mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in our heart that God raised him from the dead. Then what happens?

That you and I could be saved. You see, that's our hope. That's why we do VBS.

That's why we're here as a church. So that men and women can come to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. And and I want you to notice in in Romans 10:9, it didn't say if you you say a prayer, you'll be saved.

And hear me out because this is a reflection of my own heart and my own life. And I I think that that as I deal with students and parents and and people alike that this is repetitive thing throughout life. Is there a lot of men and women in this room that have said a prayer with their mouth but not with their heart?

You say, "Well, Michael, how do I know the difference?" Has your life ever been changed? I don't know about you, the reason I show up and reason I hope that I'll never be a statistic, the reason I show up on Sundays is not because it's a job or responsibility. It's because God changed my life.

so dramatically. I said a prayer at 10 years old and nothing happened. As a matter of fact, from that moment on, my life just got worse and and I made poor and poor decisions from that.

But the moment that God stepped in when I was 20 years old on my birthday, right beside my bed, he stepped in and I surrendered my life to him for the first time. I said, "Jesus is Lord with my heart instead of just my mouth." And I don't know all that transpired in that moment. Scripture says that I became a new life in Christ, but my life radically changed.

And I've never been the same since. And I've never gotten over it since. And that's why you'll see me always a part of God's local bride because I've been changed.

The greatest gift, sir, that you can give your family today is to surrender your life to Christ and to be changed. That's why God has brought you here. Same to you, mom.

Same to you, grandma. Same to you, young man, young lady. And so, what I want to do in this moment, I want you to bow your heads and close your eyes as we begin to go into a time of invitation.

And when you look at what we've read about, when you look at from the very beginning of creation, that God has trusted us. And yet we messed it up. We we fell short.

But God re redeemed that plan for us through the his son Jesus Christ. And I'm here to tell you that you and I cannot be imagebearers of God. We cannot produce life and we cannot be the men and women that are good stewards of what God has entrusted us with without his help.

And that's more than saying your prayers before you go to bed. That's more than showing up on Sunday. That that is the Holy Spirit of God living within you.

And if you're here this morning, I don't have to convince you whether or not the Holy Spirit of God lives within you. Because if the Holy Spirit of God has ever moved taken up resonance in your life and in your heart, you know the difference because there is a BC a before Christ in your life and then there is an after of your life in Christ. And if you're here in the room and you know that you've never had a a a a moment in your life where you've surrendered your heart and life to Jesus, we heard this just the other week.

This may be the last opportunity that you get to choose Jesus. And it would be a failure on my part to get if I didn't give you that opportunity. And so right where you're at, God's word is so clear that you and I just need to recognize and to realize that we are sinners.

That all have fallen short of God's glory. Yet because of the goodness of God that in in in the midst of our sin and while we were sinners, he still went to the cross and died on the cross for us. And three l days later he rose from the grave and defeated death, hell in the grave.

And because of that, you and I can confess Jesus as Lord. We can repent of our sin and we can have a heart change. To acknowledge Jesus as Lord in our life is a heart change.

And just like I did all by myself on my 20th birthday right beside my bed, you could do right now. God, I give up. God, I'm tired of running.

This could be the one simple fix that you've been running from for years. This could be the one moment that you know would change everything. Yet, for some reason, you're afraid.

Don't be. God, I give you my life. Lord, I confess my sin.

I confess you as savior. I believe in my heart for the very first time that you died on the cross, that you rose from the grave. God, I surrender my life to you.

That's it. If you've prayed that prayer, it's more than just praying the prayer. It's a heart change.

I want I ask you just to do one thing here in just a moment. Would you come down to the altar to let Pastor Roger and myself know that? Would you grab the loved one by your hand that's standing beside you and bring them with you?

Why? Because we want to help you. We want to pray for you.

And we want to celebrate the greatest Father's Day that you could ever have. For the rest of us in the room, this altar could be an altar in the place of prayer. Why?

To confess we haven't been good image bearsers of God. Why? To say, "Hey, we need to be steward good stewards and to produce life.

and to ask God for God's help. You see, sometimes we're afraid of this altar. This altar is actually a place that we can get on our knees and we as broken, sinful men and women that fall short of God's glory, can cry out to God and say, "God, I need your help.

I can't do this." And there's not a person in this room that doesn't need that. Father, we entrust the rest of this service to you. God, you you've trusted us and you've given us so much.

God, may these young men, these women, these moms and dads respond as you see fit. It's your name we pray. Amen.

Won't you stand up and say, "Liz, and worship." It's a place of prayer. It's a place of confession. It is so sweet to trust in Jesus just to take it at his word.

Just to rest upon his promise. Just to know the soul. Jesus.

Jesus. How I trust him, how I prove him more and more. Jesus, Jesus, preious Jesus.

Oh, to trust him, Lord. Oh, how sweet to trust in Jesus. Just to trust his willing blood.

Just in to punch me. He died before. Jesus.

Jesus. How I trust him. How I prove him more and more.

Jesus, Jesus, precious Jesus. Oh, for grace to trust him more. I'm so glad I learned to trust thee, precious Jesus, Savior, friend.

And I know that thou art with me. Built with me to thee. Jesus.

Jesus. How I trust him. How I worship him more and more.

Jesus. Jesus. Precious Jesus.

Oh, for grace to trust him more. Taste so sweet to trust in Jesus. Just to take you at his word.

Just to wish his promise. us to know. Thus said the Lord.

Jesus. Jesus. How I trust him.

How I prove him more and more. Jesus. Jesus.

Preious Jesus. Oh, for grace to trust him more. Thank you so much for uh being good listeners for the kids being over here today.

Um if we were in West Virginia, we'd just be getting started and uh and and not only that, the pastor would would go and and people would share testimonies and then he'd sing a song. Anybody else testimony? Share a song.

And then uh and then at the end of it, he'd say, "All hearts and heads clear." And so hopefully your heart and head is clear. And if it's not, let me encourage you. Um, if you need to surrender your life to Christ, as Pastor Roger said this many times, like God God's gonna chase you down until he doesn't.

And if he's knocking on your door, whether that's in your car on the way home or or at home or wherever he is, do not continue to run from that. I hope you have a great Father's Day. Again, don't be here Wednesday.

Pray for our VBS this week. Thank you.