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Series Code: AU
Program Code: AU000100S
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00:01 - What would it be like to suddenly discover
00:02 that your life has an incredibly meaningful place 00:05 in the story of the entire universe, 00:08 that you're not just some kind of cosmic accident, 00:10 but might have a very specific role to play. 00:13 What would that mean for you? 00:15 [upbeat music] 00:36 The impact that Charles Darwin had on the Western world 00:39 is really pretty hard to underestimate. 00:41 I mean, it's still the prevailing theory 00:43 of human origins taught in classrooms to this day. 00:47 Even though there was actually 00:48 very little original material in Darwin's thinking, 00:51 at least when it came to the idea of evolution, 00:54 he still gets credit for assembling it 00:56 in such a way that most people started thinking 00:58 in terms of survival of the fittest. 01:00 And unless you've been hiding under a rock, 01:02 you know the basics of what Darwin taught, 01:05 organisms change and adapt over time. 01:08 And the very best mutations, 01:10 the ones that prove to be beneficial, 01:12 give some creatures distinct advantages. 01:15 So those creatures take over the gene pool. 01:17 And there's a bit of irony in using the word creature too, 01:20 because, well, what's a creature? 01:22 It's something that's created, but I digress. 01:25 I've always found it curious that Darwin's first essay 01:28 on this subject came out in 1844, 01:31 right at the end of the Second Great Awakening. 01:34 And in the same year that a Baptist preacher 01:36 named William Miller was generating an awful lot of interest 01:38 in the subject of the second coming. 01:41 This was a time of deep spiritual revival here in America. 01:45 And even though Darwin was in England, 01:47 I can't help but think that the widespread adoption 01:50 of his theory at that time might not be a coincidence. 01:54 Somehow, like everything else, 01:55 his thoughts were somewhat shaped 01:58 by the times in which he lived. 02:00 Here in the United States, 02:01 the 19th century was a very unsettled time. 02:05 Not only did we have the Second Great Awakening, 02:07 which scholars usually date 02:09 from the 1790s through the 1840s, 02:12 but a few years after that the dream that was America 02:14 was suddenly torn in half by a brutal civil war 02:17 that took hundreds of thousands of lives. 02:20 I've seen estimates from 600 to 720,000. 02:25 Of course, the impact of that conflict 02:27 is really hard to overestimate. 02:29 And in many ways, Americans are still living 02:32 in the wake of the Civil War. 02:34 But as Randall Fuller points out, 02:36 the Civil War was not the only major upheaval going on 02:40 in American culture at that time. 02:43 One single copy of Darwin's book on the origin of species 02:47 had a very big influence on the American mind. 02:51 And here's how Mr. Fuller describes it. 02:54 "One copy of the Origin 02:56 made a disproportionately large impact on American culture. 03:00 That copy, which today resides at Harvard University, 03:03 was sent by its authors to Asa Gray, 03:06 a botanist who soon championed the new theory 03:09 to general and scientific audiences throughout America." 03:13 So, in other words, it took just one academic 03:16 with a single copy of Darwin's book 03:19 to make his theory take root all across this nation. 03:23 It almost sounds like one of those stories you hear 03:25 about missionaries who smuggle a single copy 03:27 of the Bible into a forbidden zone, 03:30 and then that Bible launches a huge revival. 03:34 I would argue that Darwin's work 03:36 also triggered a spiritual revival of sorts, 03:38 but from where I sit, it was the wrong kind. 03:41 And actually the word revival isn't really the right word. 03:44 I should probably call it a spiritual revolution. 03:47 And I know there are people listening 03:49 who will not like the idea that Darwin 03:51 was some kind of spiritual leader because, 03:53 man, he was obviously a man of secular thought and science. 03:58 But to suggest that Darwin's theory 04:00 didn't have a spiritual impact, 04:02 that's either dishonest or naive. 04:04 For starters, he was challenging 04:06 the traditional anthropology and cosmology 04:09 of the entire Judeo-Christian West. 04:12 Our understanding of who we are as human beings shifted 04:15 under Darwin's tutelage. 04:17 Instead of thinking about ourselves 04:18 as creatures made in the image of God, 04:20 we started to believe that we were the product 04:22 of time plus chance. 04:25 And of course, the way you choose to live 04:26 can be profoundly influenced by your understanding 04:29 of who you are and where you come from. 04:33 What happened when Darwin's work took root 04:35 is a shift away from thinking about humanity 04:38 as the apex of biological life. 04:42 Up to his point, most people believed 04:44 that humanity was the point of creation, 04:46 frankly, the reason for this planet. 04:49 In fact, there were people who believed 04:51 that you and I are the very center of the whole universe, 04:55 not just metaphorically speaking, but literally. 04:58 They believed the earth was located 05:00 at the very center of the cosmos. 05:03 Of course there's nothing in the Bible to affirm that, 05:06 but the way we tend to think, 05:08 being placed at the center of something, 05:10 like the center of the universe, 05:12 is a way of emphasizing its importance. 05:15 That's why we got a little pushback when people like Galileo 05:18 or Copernicus started to ask some really good questions. 05:22 Church leaders, and by no means all of them, 05:24 but some church leaders were afraid 05:27 that telling people the earth was not at the center 05:30 would be a demotion for the human race. 05:33 But then after we accepted those ideas, 05:35 Darwin came along and said that maybe we aren't the apex, 05:38 the point of biology either. 05:41 We'd always believed, always sense that human beings 05:44 are somehow different from the animals, 05:46 but Darwin's work now said we were nothing but animals. 05:51 Successful animals to be sure, but still just animals. 05:55 And now we were no longer special, 05:56 no longer made in the image of God, 05:58 and we were no longer the point of this world's existence. 06:02 Now, oddly enough, in recent years, 06:05 there's been some scientific pushback 06:07 on the idea that you and I are not special 06:09 because there's now a very small, but growing movement 06:12 that preaches something known as biocentrism. 06:15 And it's a return to the idea that the universe appears 06:18 to exist for our benefit. 06:20 At least one science author I've read 06:22 makes the case that parts of this universe appear 06:26 to respond to our observation 06:29 as if they know we're watching. 06:32 You'll find this in the world of quantum physics 06:34 where we've discovered that some tiny, tiny particles 06:37 have no reliable location until we measure them. 06:41 In other words, the behavior of quantum particles 06:43 actually changes when we're looking. 06:45 How do they know we're looking? 06:47 It's kind of mind blowing, 06:49 but it's also not really what we're driving at today. 06:51 Right now, our primary interest 06:53 is to think about the difference 06:54 between this new Darwinian paradigm 06:56 and the way the Bible talks about the importance 06:59 and the nature of humanity. 07:01 And what we're going to look at isn't really anchored 07:04 in the tension between creation and evolution 07:06 because there have been plenty of discussions about that. 07:09 What I want to explore is how our understanding 07:13 of who we are impacts the way we live. 07:16 Does it make a difference if you have a noble concept 07:19 of what a human is versus the radical devaluation 07:23 of humanity that came through Darwin? 07:25 So, if you've got a copy of the Bible 07:28 somewhere in your house, you might want to grab it 07:30 because we're gonna look at a few key passages 07:32 from the Book of Genesis. 07:34 And while I'm obviously gonna read them to you, 07:36 you're still gonna get more out of this if you follow along. 07:40 How does the Bible position humanity? 07:42 What does it say about who we are, what we're worth, 07:45 and why we seem to be broken? 07:48 Of course, it's an enormous subject 07:49 and there's no way we're gonna cover it in the time we have, 07:52 but I do want to give you some things to think about. 07:55 And hopefully, you'll discover a path 07:57 toward a more authentic human existence. 08:01 The disciples of Darwin would tell you 08:02 that an authentic human life is rooted in basic biology. 08:06 As long as you're eating, sleeping, drinking, reproducing, 08:10 as long as you're functioning as a basic biological unit, 08:12 then that's the authentic life. 08:14 There's no more to it. 08:16 Of course, some of them will admit 08:18 that a purely materialistic view of the universe 08:20 can rob your life of any transcendence. 08:23 It takes away your meaning. 08:24 And so, you'll find any number of them trying 08:26 to instill a sense of wonder into their new cosmology, 08:30 suggesting that the so-called miracle of evolution 08:33 is the meaning of life. 08:34 Just count yourself lucky to be here, 08:36 and that's all the wonder you need. 08:39 But what I've noticed 08:40 is that most people find that pretty empty. 08:43 I'll be right back after this. 08:45 [upbeat music] 08:48 - [Narrator] Here at the Voice of Prophecy, 08:49 we're committed to creating top quality programming 08:52 for the whole family. 08:53 Like our audio adventure series, Discovery Mountain. 08:57 Discovery Mountain is a Bible-based program 08:59 for kids of all ages and backgrounds. 09:01 Your family will enjoy the faith building stories 09:04 from this small mountain summer camp pent down. 09:07 With 24 seasonal episodes every year 09:09 and fresh content every week, 09:12 there's always a new adventure just on the horizon. 09:18 - When the western world entered the 19th century, 09:20 it was still popular to believe in harmony 09:22 with the first chapter of the Book of Romans 09:25 that by studying nature 09:26 you could discover the truth about God. 09:29 Science, as you and I think about it, 09:31 didn't really exist yet. 09:32 Yeah, the scientific method, 09:34 yeah, that was already there 09:35 and it was starting to bear some remarkable fruit. 09:38 But the idea of a professional career scientist 09:41 who takes measurements all day long, 09:43 that didn't really exist yet. 09:45 Instead, people who were interested 09:46 in studying the natural world 09:48 did it under two broad categories, 09:50 either natural history or natural philosophy. 09:54 Natural history was the study of essential facts. 09:57 That's the part where you explore the world 09:58 and take all those measurements. 10:00 Natural philosophy was the study of the laws 10:04 of the universe that governed the facts. 10:06 The famous astronomer, William Herschel, 10:08 summed it up by saying that he thought there was quote, 10:10 "a power and intelligence 10:12 that held the natural world together, 10:14 pulling it all together in all departments 10:17 through which one spirit reigns 10:19 and one method of inquiry applies." 10:22 There was this widespread understanding 10:24 that made studying the natural world something 10:26 of a religious exercise. 10:29 And of course, to study God is ultimately to study yourself 10:32 because the scriptures teach 10:34 that you and I were made in God's image, 10:36 not that we are equivalent to God, 10:38 but we are the product of His heart and mind. 10:41 To study the natural world 10:43 was like studying your own ancestry. 10:45 If God made this place and He made me, 10:48 then what can I learn about the nature 10:50 of what it means to be human? 10:52 But then the new survival of the fittest paradigm 10:54 kind of stripped the meaning away from those studies. 10:57 Now, we started to study the world 10:59 from a purely mechanistic perspective. 11:01 The universe still looked 11:02 like a carefully organized machine, 11:05 but now without an intelligence behind it. 11:08 So what in the world did it mean? 11:10 The appearance of design, they said, was just a coincidence. 11:12 Give the universe enough time 11:14 and eventually the random activity of particles 11:16 will land on just the right formula and give us all of this. 11:22 But now let's consider the way the Book of Genesis describes 11:24 the birth of humanity 11:25 because it's really kind of remarkable. 11:27 I know that some of you think Genesis 11:29 is just another ancient myth, 11:30 a feeble attempt to explain who we are 11:33 that was produced by superstitious people, 11:35 like the origin myths of Egypt, Babylon, and Greece. 11:39 But anybody who actually reads Genesis 11:41 seriously quickly discovers that it doesn't read 11:44 like those other myths, not even a little bit. 11:47 For example, there is no attempt in the Bible 11:50 to explain where God comes from. 11:52 He's just there in the opening verse. 11:54 "In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth." 11:57 By contrast, in the ancient pagan myths, 11:59 you get a much different picture. 12:01 There's almost always an explanation 12:03 of where the Gods came from. 12:05 Part of the reason the Book of Genesis was written 12:08 was to counter those pagan myths 12:10 because that's the world that Moses 12:12 and the nation of Israel were living in at the time. 12:16 Then in Genesis 1:26, we find the Bible's account 12:19 of where we as humans come from. 12:22 Listen to what it says, and I'm gonna read several verses. 12:24 This is important. 12:27 "Then God said, 'Let us make man in our image 12:29 after our likeness. 12:31 And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea 12:33 and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock 12:36 and over all the earth and over every creeping thing 12:38 that creeps on the earth.' 12:40 So God created man in His own image, 12:42 in the image of God, He created him, 12:44 male and female, He created them. 12:46 And God blessed them. 12:48 And God said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply 12:50 and fill the earth and subdue it, 12:52 and have dominion over the fish of the sea 12:54 and over the birds of the heavens 12:56 and over every living thing that moves on the earth.'" 12:59 Now, here's what I want you to notice, the big idea. 13:02 There are six days of creation activity packed 13:04 into the 25 verses that come before this, 13:07 and now the narrative slows way down 13:10 as if it's anticipating something big, 13:12 the pinnacle of creation. 13:15 It's almost like God is about to put that little bride 13:17 and groom on top of a wedding cake, 13:19 as if we are the point of everything 13:21 that comes before this moment. 13:23 God's already cracked the eggs, mix the batter, 13:26 baked it in the oven, covered it with icing, 13:28 and now he's suddenly ready to place us in our new home. 13:33 The Genesis account is clearly anthropocentric, 13:35 making humanity after God himself, the star of creation. 13:39 And what's really remarkable is the fact 13:42 that God appears to be taking a huge, huge risk. 13:45 I mean, just think about this. 13:47 If you were in charge of the universe, 13:49 would you put us in charge of anything? 13:52 Knowing what you know about our essential human character, 13:55 would you actually put us in charge of a planet? 13:59 But that's exactly what God did. 14:01 "Let them have dominion," He said. 14:03 Dominion of course would imply 14:05 that you and I have the ability 14:06 to make meaningful decisions. 14:08 After all, that's what it means to be in charge. 14:11 If you have a factory run by robots, 14:12 it's fair to say that the robots are functioning 14:14 and getting the job done, but there's really no sense 14:18 in which you could say the robots are running the place 14:20 or that they would have dominion. 14:23 Although there are people now wondering 14:25 if AI isn't gonna give us machines 14:27 that have the gift of consciousness. 14:29 Personally, I don't think that's ever gonna happen. 14:32 You and I though were given the gift of consciousness. 14:35 We have the ability to live above our basic animal instinct 14:39 because we have the capacity 14:40 to consider moral and ethical questions, 14:43 something that appears to differentiate us from the animals. 14:47 We communicate with logical propositions. 14:51 We can anticipate the long range future 14:53 and make plans about it, even though our thought process 14:56 is really very tragically flawed, 14:58 and we often botch it leading to unintended consequences. 15:03 Kind of like that brilliant idea, 15:05 somebody had to bring cane toads to Australia. 15:08 The idea was that cane toads could control the beetles 15:11 who were destroying the sugar cane crop, 15:13 but instead of controlling the pests, 15:16 the toads themselves to this day are an uncontrollable pest. 15:22 We don't always think clearly, but all that aside, 15:24 the fact that we can consider such things 15:27 really makes us different from the animals. 15:29 We've discovered that animals can be very intelligent. 15:32 Some of them can even use language, 15:34 but what we never seem to find them doing 15:36 is grappling with logical propositions. 15:39 And the Genesis story seems to agree with that. 15:42 You and I are fundamentally different, 15:43 made in the image of God. 15:46 and from this point in the story forward, 15:49 the Bible really becomes the story 15:51 of the creator interacting with the human race. 15:54 It's not really the story of God intervening in nature, 15:57 even though we'll find a few accounts 15:59 where He does change the weather, or floods the earth, 16:02 or even makes time appear to stop. 16:05 But all of those things are still the story 16:07 of God interacting with us, 16:09 and He's redirecting the natural world 16:11 at a particular moment because of our needs, 16:14 or because of our behavior. 16:17 It might be useful to think about this passage in Genesis 16:20 as the opening credits to a very big movie, 16:22 one of those big three hour epics. 16:26 Back in the old days, 16:27 you might remember when people had more patience. 16:29 The opening credits were just about as long 16:31 and detailed as the closing credits. 16:34 Before the story ever started, 16:35 you knew who directed the movie, 16:37 you knew who the actors were, you even some of the plot. 16:40 And then when the story begins, 16:42 you expect that story to follow a logical course. 16:46 It's not gonna be a series of unrelated random incidents 16:49 that have nothing to do with each other. 16:50 It's going to follow a plot line. 16:53 It's gonna take you somewhere. 16:55 And that's kind of how the human race appears 16:57 in the Book of Genesis. 16:58 It's setting the table for a long and meaningful story 17:01 about the nature of humanity, our redemption, 17:04 and our relationship to the creator. 17:07 This is where you come from, the Bible says, 17:10 and it creates a level of expectation 17:12 and teases you with some really good questions. 17:15 What does it mean to be created in the image of God? 17:19 Why exactly did God put us here? 17:21 What is the purpose of human life? 17:24 There's a lot of philosophy buried 17:25 in these opening chapters of Genesis 17:27 because they deal with just about every big question 17:31 the human race has ever asked. 17:34 And now, it's time for a break. 17:35 So I'll be right back after this. 17:38 [upbeat music] 17:42 - [Narrator 1] Dragons, beasts, cryptic statues, 17:46 Bible prophecy can be incredibly vivid and confusing. 17:50 If you've ever read Daniel or Revelation 17:53 and come away scratching your head, you are not alone. 17:56 Our free focus on prophecy guides 17:58 are designed to help you unlock the mysteries of the Bible 18:01 and deepen your understanding of God's plan 18:03 for you and our world. 18:05 Study online or request them by mail 18:07 and start bringing prophecy into focus today. 18:11 - Just a few moments ago, I mentioned this idea 18:13 that God took an incredible risk 18:14 when He put us in charge of this place 18:16 because He created us with the ability to choose. 18:20 Remember, to have dominion is to have meaningful choice. 18:24 And God was willing to risk the fact 18:26 that we might actually make the wrong choice, 18:28 or even turn against Him. 18:30 Why would He do that? 18:32 Well, because if you don't have a choice, 18:34 it's impossible to have an actual relationship. 18:38 And so, in the Bible's account of human origins, 18:40 it almost feels like God pauses to take this deep breath. 18:44 And then He says with great expectation, 18:46 "Let us make man in our image." 18:49 It's the moment He took a chance on us. 18:51 It's the moment He took a chance on you. 18:54 So let's imagine again that this is the opening sequence 18:57 to a major dramatic movie, like "The 10 Commandments", 19:00 or "Gone with the Wind". 19:02 And instead of thinking about the Garden of Eden, 19:04 let's think about you because if this book is right 19:08 and I'm convinced it is, 19:10 then you've got to expect that the whole narrative 19:12 is unfolding the way it does for a very specific reason. 19:16 This is not the story of random chance. 19:19 Some modern Darwinist might explain your existence 19:22 as a coincidence or even a cosmic mistake, 19:25 but the author of this story was writing an account 19:28 with a definite direction and a definite purpose. 19:31 This is not going to be a collection 19:33 of random meaningless thoughts. 19:35 And of course, you and I make our appearance 19:37 toward the very end of this story. 19:40 And what I want you to consider is the possibility 19:42 that you are not just an extra some random person pulled 19:46 into the story to help fill out some crowd scene. 19:49 Instead, consider the possibility 19:52 that the writer of this story actually planned for you. 19:56 Maybe your name's even in the opening credits. 19:59 It's an idea I've been thinking about 20:00 based on something you find in the Book of Jeremiah 20:03 where God tells the weeping prophet 20:06 that He planned for his existence. 20:08 Here's what it says. 20:10 "Now, the word of the Lord came to me, saying, 20:13 'Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you, 20:15 and before you were born, I consecrated you, 20:17 I appointed you a prophet to the nations.'" 20:20 Now, of course, Jeremiah played a major role 20:23 in the story of God's interaction with humanity. 20:25 You might even say he's one of the leading men, 20:28 but why shouldn't you be? 20:30 Who's to say that your existence is an unimportant sidebar 20:33 to this incredible drama? 20:37 I actually got the idea for comparing human existence 20:38 to a screenplay from the Lutheran preacher, 20:41 Helmut Thielicke, who had a remarkable and poetic gift 20:44 for helping people contemplate 20:46 the major themes of the Bible. 20:48 And at one point, this is what he wrote, 20:50 "Can I tread the stage of my life 20:52 without facing the question, what am I really going to play? 20:56 Or do I propose to go blindly on stage 20:58 and begin to babble away, 20:59 depending on the prompting of the moment 21:00 to tell me what to say? 21:02 If that is so, then when the curtain of our life 21:05 finally falls at our last hour, 21:07 we can only make our exit with the vapid feeling 21:09 that it was all a mistake. 21:10 We have indulged in a lot of foolish talk, 21:12 we have turned somersaults, 21:14 lounged on sofas, rummaged in filing cabinets, 21:17 we have engaged in quarrelsome dialogues, 21:19 and even played a variety of love scenes, 21:22 but it was all a disconnected tutti-frutti 21:24 and had no direction and no style." 21:27 So, let ask you this, 21:29 what difference would it make if you discovered 21:32 that you're a leading role, your life is not an accident? 21:36 What if you knew there was a divine drama 21:38 being played out on this planet 21:39 and that God has a role for you? 21:42 How would that affect your decision-making process? 21:45 How would that impact the decisions 21:46 you're making right now today? 21:48 Consider this statement found in Hebrews chapter 12, 21:51 where the author creates this incredible metaphor, 21:53 suggesting that you and I are standing 21:56 at the end of a long line of faithful people 21:58 who have already played their parts. 22:00 He says, "Therefore, since we are surrounded 22:02 by so great a cloud of witnesses, 22:04 let us also lay aside every weight, 22:06 and sin which clings so closely, 22:08 and let us run with endurance the race 22:10 that is set before us." 22:12 Now, of course, the Bible also tells us that 22:14 that aren't actually watching us. 22:16 Ecclesiastes 9 says, 22:18 "They have no more share in all that is done under the sun." 22:21 So, Hebrews is really just a metaphor, 22:23 and it's telling us to think of life 22:25 as if you and I have just entered an arena to compete, 22:28 and the entire human race from the past 22:31 is watching to see how we run. 22:33 William Shakespeare once said something really similar, 22:35 using the theater instead of a stadium. 22:38 You probably remember this from high school. 22:40 "All the world's a stage, 22:42 and all the men and women merely players. 22:44 They have their exits and their entrances. 22:46 And one man in his time plays many parts. 22:49 His acts being seven ages. 22:51 Now, I really don't know if Shakespeare 22:53 was the inspiration for Pastor Thielicke, 22:55 but that is a useful metaphor. 22:57 You are gonna get one moment on the stage of life, 23:01 and you should be asking yourself 23:02 if you're playing your part the way it was written. 23:06 If the Bible is accurate, 23:07 and you and I are actually here by design, 23:10 then you've got to expect that your moment on stage 23:12 is just as important as anybody else's. 23:14 You've got a choice. 23:16 Will your life be part of the creator's narrative or not? 23:20 I'll be right back, right after this. 23:23 [upbeat music] 23:27 - [Narrator 2] Life can throw a lot at us. 23:29 Sometimes we don't have all the answers, 23:32 but that's where the Bible comes in. 23:35 It's our guide to a more fulfilling life. 23:38 Here at the Voice of Prophecy, 23:39 we've created the discover Bible guides 23:42 to be your guide to the Bible. 23:43 They're designed to be simple, easy to use, 23:46 and provide answers to many of life's toughest questions, 23:49 and they're absolutely free. 23:51 So jump online now or give us a call 23:53 and start your journey of discovery. 23:56 - All right, I'm looking at the clock on the wall 23:58 and I'm seriously running out of time yet again, 24:01 but let me just read you the rest of that passage 24:04 from Hebrews chapter 12, 24:06 right after the author says that you and I are competing 24:09 in the arena of humanity, 24:11 taking our turn in front of our ancestors, 24:14 he tells us how you might be able to do this successfully. 24:17 Listen to this. 24:18 "Let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, 24:22 looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, 24:26 who for the joy that was set before Him, 24:28 endured the cross, despising the shame, 24:32 and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God." 24:35 You know, in another spot in the New Testament, 24:37 Peter actually suggests that even the angels 24:41 are watching us. 24:42 They're studying how God interacts with us. 24:44 They're trying to understand the character of God better. 24:47 The plan of salvation, 24:49 they've been audience to that as well. 24:52 But now let's head back to Genesis 24:54 where we find that awful historical moment 24:57 when the human race rejected its original commission 25:01 and compromised its moral fidelity. 25:04 It's the fall of humanity. 25:06 And at that moment, what does God do? 25:11 He promises Messiah, a man who would be the only, 25:15 the only example of a truly authentic uncompromised, 25:20 unsinful life. 25:21 If you wanna learn your lines for your part, God says, 25:24 if you wanna play your part the way that I wrote it, 25:28 then have a look at my son. 25:29 Look at Jesus, pattern yourself after that. 25:34 So now you and I are faced with a choice. 25:37 We can live a meaningless life. 25:40 The way it's been proposed to us 25:41 since we were in high school, 25:43 it doesn't mean anything, you're just an animal. 25:45 You can live a meaningless life. 25:47 You can allow the arbitrary winds of fortune to drive you 25:50 from one pointless moment of living to the next, 25:53 and it just never means anything. 25:57 Or we can refuse to learn the plot, 26:01 refuse to study what our role should be in this world. 26:05 We can wander out onto the stage of life 26:07 and leave the audience wondering, 26:09 why in the world the casting director included us? 26:12 Why would God put that person here? 26:15 Or we can find our place in the grand narrative 26:20 by studying this book, reading it for real, 26:23 not just reading what people say about it, 26:25 but reading it for yourself to discover 26:28 that our lives really do have purpose. 26:31 You have a role to play. 26:33 And it's not inconsequential, it's important. 26:36 God took a chance when He created us. 26:39 And at this very moment right now, 26:42 as you're listening to voice, 26:44 you need to know He's also taking a chance on you. 26:48 You can choose to play your life in such a way 26:49 that nobody will ever believe 26:51 that you know the author of this book, 26:53 or you can choose to play the part so well 26:56 that everybody looks at your life and says, 26:58 you know what, that makes sense. 27:01 That's how you would expect a real God to write this story. 27:06 And just in case you think it doesn't matter, 27:08 maybe consider just how often you've heard somebody point 27:10 to irrational or evil behavior and say, 27:13 how in the world could God ever allow that to happen? 27:17 Tell me you've never done that. 27:19 So, what would it look like if you knew, 27:21 you believed that you were here on purpose? 27:24 No matter what your past might suggest, 27:26 no matter what other people have told you, 27:29 what if your existence could become 27:31 one of those human lives that everybody marvels at? 27:34 The kind of life that actually dares people to believe 27:38 that none of us is really here by accident? 27:41 What if you spend every day anticipating the moment 27:43 when God himself will put that laurel wreath on your head 27:46 and speak those incredible words, 27:48 well done, thou good and faithful servant? 27:52 Imagine what that would be like. 27:54 So maybe go get yourself a copy of this book 27:56 and see if it isn't gonna help you memorize your lines. 28:00 Thanks for joining me. 28:01 I'm Shawn Boonstra. 28:02 This has been another episode of Authentic. 28:06 [upbeat music] |
Revised 2024-05-08