So many questions they're all having to do with this thing we call the spiritual journey, right? And so the, what does that mean? Spiritual 'cause that's a, that's an interesting word, isn't it? I mean, we, we want clarity. We want hope. We want peace. Spiritual means that we think there's more to this life than just like the physical, tangible, flesh and blood. There is that, but there's more than what we can hear and see and taste and touch and smell there. There's more to this life. But when we say spiritual, what does that mean? It was a survey a couple of years ago that said, uh, uh, I think it was , % of people, it, by the way, the number goes up, the younger you get, who will classify themselves now as spiritual, not religious. And some of you're like, oh, yeah, I don't even, uh, no. First of all, I understand. I understand the failures of organized religion. I understand the institutional failures that we have seen in organized religion. Uh, it leaves hurt, it leaves doubt. It leaves distrust. I get that. And so in one level, it seems safer to say, well, I'll just be spiritual, not religious. But what does the word mean? Like, what does it mean to be spiritual? We don't want it to be an empty term. We don't want it to be all squishy and generic. We wanna get someplace on this journey. We wanna get some answers. So let's start asking some questions. And I think this one, this one could get us started. Okay, here it is. Are we alone in the universe? Ooh, really? We're going there. Yeah. Here it is. You ready? Are we alone in the universe? The answer is no. And some of you're like, I knew it. I knew it. I saw those photos. I watched that thing on YouTube. Greg, I've been to New Mexico. I know things. Hang on. I think you went way down a road that I wasn't going down yet. If we have time, we'll talk about that for just a second, okay? For just a second. I think it's a legit question to ask, but that's not it. I'm asking a bigger question with a bigger answer. Are we alone in the universe? The answer is no. How can I say that? Because the central, like the, the, the first confession of the Christian faith is also the first confession of the Hebrew faith. It's in Torah in the beginning, God, you see, before there was time, before there was motion, before there was matter, before there was anything like that, there was an eternal God. I think we have to start here. But if you're joining us either here at Fenton, mid Rivers Grants Trail, if you're joining us online, first of all, welcome. We're so thrilled you're with us today. Those of you at each of our sites, uh, way to be a hearty people. If you're watching from around the world, it's still winter in the loo. Yay. Uh, but, but let's just say this. Let's just say this. Uh, when, when you're here and you're kind of trying to figure this out, but you're a little agnostic about it, you're a little skeptical about it. And I start to say stuff like, well, there's a creator. Some of you are going to, to think well, like, who are you, pal? Like, how, how do, how do you, that's just your opinion, right? And we've all got opinions. We've all got opinions. Just like, gimme a minute and I'll come up with an opinion about everything, right? In fact, to make that point, why don't you just turn to the people next to you real quickly and tell 'em your favorite commercial from the Super Bowl. Go ahead, just tell him real quickly, Okay? All right. So I don't know what your answer is, but, but let me ask you, why was it your answer? Why was that your favorite commercial? Was it because it was funny? Was it because it was clever, it was creative. Maybe it moved you, maybe it just began to distract you from the game too soon. Uh, there's all sorts of reasons, but I'll tell you what it was. It was your opinion. Like you don't have any quantifiable evidence to go, no, this is technically the greatest commercial. No, it's your opinion, right? And so now we're gonna talk about things that really matter way beyond commercials. Like this stuff matters what we're gonna go through. But the question you could be asking is like, how do I know it's not just your opinion? I mean, like, who are you Greg, to, to, to say these things? Well, let me just help with that part first. Like, I'm somebody who doesn't have it figured out, and I'm trying to, to learn more, okay? I'm trying to do my homework. I'm trying to, to learn from people, read from people, listen to other pastors and wisdom on this staff, uh, research evidence, people way smarter than me in the world that can explain some of these things. That's, that's, that's what we're trying to do. And by the way, that's not some, uh, attempt at fake humility, all right? I mean, that's just the truth. I'm trying to tell you. I don't have it figured out because if you had a cup of coffee with me, you'd get halfway through that cup of coffee and go, oh, no, he really doesn't have it figured out. But I want you to know something that will happen every weekend, whether it's me or one of our other pastors. We just went through this in the previous series. We will go through it in the next series. It doesn't matter who is up here. I guarantee you, every weekend we gather, we will open this book and we will look at what scripture says. You see, I do believe, and we do believe that the Bible offers us verifiable, understandable words from God. The writer of Hebrews puts it like this. The word of God is alive and active, sharper than any double-edged sword. It penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow. It judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. Now, some of you know what I'm talking about. 'cause like you've, you, you've read the word of God. You've, you've put yourself in a position to hear the word of God, and it's kind of gotten up under your defenses a little bit. It's kind of pulling things apart, and you're thinking differently. Now. You're noticing things differently. Now, if you give it half a chance, the word of God will begin. Now, this is supernatural gang. This is supernatural stuff I'm talking about. But the word of God will, will, will speak to you about this life you're trying to live. You want to talk about the spiritual life. There you go. And some of you know what I'm talking about. I would, you have to give it half a chance. Like if you close yourself off to it, you won't see what I'm talking about. Like, we all have opinions. We just admitted that. I've been thinking this week looking at that scripture, which a lot of us know. And I was just thinking about how many opinions I have about things like, man, I, I I can share my opinions, you know? And there are times that it's like, I'll notice myself and it's like, oh boy, here you go. You're getting on the soapbox. There you are. You're about to tell everybody your opinion. Well, where did those opinions come from? Well, they get shaped by lots of things. They get shaped by our experience, by what we've seen and observed in the world. Sometimes it's like where we get our information. We, we've talked about echo chambers before we all kind of drift into them. So we'll hear things and we start to form opinions. Sometimes it's somebody in our world that like is really cranked up about a particular topic. So they're sending us all sorts of, of links and stuff to look at. And so there's that. There may be somebody in your family that is very, very opinionated about a particular issue, and they seem to have done the homework. And you're like, Ooh, I don't have time to, I'll just go with what they think. There's all sorts of things that go on. My point is this, I started thinking this week, I wonder how many of my opinions are infused with and informed by the word of God. It doesn't mean the word of God's gonna give me chapter and verse on what do I wear? What do I eat? Which team do I root for? I don't mean that, but does the word of God affect me and the way I'm navigating this life? Now, that one was for free. What I want you to know is as we go through this series, we are going to appeal to the word of God. If you are a skeptic and you're here, I would be asking the question, well, who says that's the word of God? Just because the Bible says it's the word, word of God, doesn't mean it's the word of God. That's circular reasoning. Okay? We, we've admitted that before. And if you're new here, I want you to know there's evidence outside of scripture that we can look at and we can show you where you can begin to see that this book's different. It's different. So if we can help with that, let us know. But this is kind of now how we're gonna navigate this. We're gonna do this together. We'll ask some questions, we'll answer those questions, it'll lead to more questions. And there you go. We'll start having a conversation, but we'll always come back to this book. So let's pray we'll get started on some things. Oh yeah. And by the way, if you're somebody in the next, I don't know, let's say seconds, when you find out where we're starting this conversation, if you go, I don't wanna talk about that. Like, if you're tempted to go, Greg, just preach the word, brother. I don't need to know that. I want you to hear something. I get it. You may already have an answer there, but you have people around you, you're going to school with him, you're going to work with them. They live in your family, and they are wrestling with this particular topic. And Peter, in one of his letters said, y'all better be ready to give a reason for the hope that is within you and do it with gentleness and respect. So I want us to all be able to have these conversations. So let's pray and then we'll get started. Father, we come before you. Now we're asking that on this cold wintry morning that you would warm things up in our homes, in our buildings, God made these conversations that we now start to have. May they, may they leak into our week. May it not just be a theoretical intellectual moment. God, speak to us through your word and speak to us throughout this week because I believe you're that good and you're that close. So we ask all of this now, the name of Jesus, amen. Okay? I don't know if you what it is that gets you ready for things. I hope you had your coffee, your red bull, your mountain dew, your protein shake, whatever it is. But here we go. The Bible says that God is spirit. We'll come back to that. But what does that mean? It means he is invisible. He's invisible. He's everywhere, but he's invisible. And so how, what am I supposed to do with that? Like, how do I know there's a God if, right? Paul anticipates that question in Romans chapter one, and he says, creation itself will point to the eternal nature of God, the divine nature of God, the, the eternal power of God creation itself. Now, creation isn't God. We don't worship creation. But all through the story, it's as if God is saying to us, Hey, get a load of this. It didn't happen by accident. I'm right here. You are not alone. There's a reason for all of this. You see, I want some of you to know that when we start to talk about the existence of God, you don't have to be embarrassed about that with your friends. You don't have to go, oh boy, this is one of those, the really smart guy in the room doesn't think there's a God. Listen, generalness and respect. But I want you to know there's a reasonable like reason. There's an, there's an argument, there's a, there's a case to be made for the existence of God. Now, we're not gonna go over all of these, don't worry. There's a, there's a philosophy Professor. He was at, uh, Boston College. Peter Kreeft wrote a book years ago. And in that book, he, he like explains in depth different arguments for the existence of God, using words like cosmological and ontological and, and, uh, teleological. And I just need y'all to know we're not going over any of those. Okay? So together, can the church collectively just say, hallelujah. Hallelujah. Yeah. Yeah, we're not doing that. But I do wanna give you one that we've gone over before that I think it can stick. I think it's one that'll make sense to you. So let's just real quickly, one more time. Here it is, the universe is impossibly fine tuned for life. And when I say impossibly fine tuned, I mean, there's a, there's a physicist named, uh, Robin Collins that says, there are all of these variables and constants, and they have to be just right or there's no chance for life. I'll give you just a couple of examples and we could give you many, like without gravity, there are no planets. Like nothing holds together. So without a, uh, electromagnetic force, there's no chemistry. Like things don't hold together. I could just go over each of these. I, I love the way, uh, one, uh, writer said, think of like a panel with all like a dashboard with hundreds of, of gauges on it, right? You've got hundreds of things. And each one of these has to be fine tuned, like to the perfect nth degree. Everything has to be just right for there to even be the possibility of life in the universe. Guess what universe you live in? Now, the question is, did this happen by accident? I mean, I guess theoretically you could say, yeah, it could, but that's not a very likely explanation for this. It's called the fine tuning of the universe. And there are some scientists, I read one from MIT this past week. Uh, this was years ago. He wrote the article, but I read it recently. And he calls it the problem of fine tuning. Because when you look at a universe that, that looks like it didn't happen by accident, it starts to, you start to go, oh boy, was there a god? Is there a creator? Well, there are some in science who will not allow that to even be in the discussion. So what they came up with is something called the multiverse. Now, what's the multiverse? You take a little bit of theoretical physics, a little bit of science fiction and mix in a little bit of the Marvel universe. And you get to the multiverse. Now, what is it? Okay, think of it this way. It's as if, 'cause what we're trying to do is to even the odds, if we're saying this is so unlikely, what are the odds this could happen? Oh, let's just say there were a gazillion universes. That all happened at once, and you can't see them or observe them 'cause they're in different dimensions. Go watch, you know, uh, Dr. Strange movies, you, you, you'll see what I'm saying. But it's like you got all of these universes, and in so many of them, nothing works. So no life. But if we have a gazillion universes that are exploding into existence at once, maybe there's one that has the Goldilocks moment. There's one that's, that's not too hot, not too cold, it's just right. Does that seem like a reasonable explanation? Because there's a, there's a philosopher named Alvin Ika who, uh, says, I don't think so. He says, I want you to imagine that there, you're in the old West, you're in Texas, okay, y'all there, you're in a saloon. There's some playing poker. And there's a guy who deals himself, uh, four ACEs, okay? And he does it not once, but, but twice, three times, six times. He deals himself four ACEs times in a row. What's the reaction to the rest of the players? Well, remember, we're in Texas, in the Old West. So the six shooters are on the table now, and they're not just looking suspicious at him. They think they know what's going on, but what he says to them, this is planted as illustration. I just wanna make sure that I, that i, that I say it the way he said it. I know this looks suspicious, but what if there's an infinite succession of universes so that for any possible distribution of poker hands, there's one universe in which this possibility is realized. We just happen to live in the one universe where I always deal myself four ACEs and I'm not cheating. That sounds reasonable, doesn't it, fellas? Nah, they're gonna shoot him. Why? Because there's a better explanation. I mean, I guess you could say that, but that's all. You got a zillion different universes. And we happen to be in the one where you always win with four ACEs. There's a better explanation. Now, I want you to hear, if you're having trouble believing any of this, I'm not suggesting to you that, uh, a fine tuned universe proves the existence of God. There's still an element of faith to it, but there's gonna be an element of faith if you go the other way too. You see, it's just a reasonable explanation for what's going on. So let's say there is a God. Well, if there is a God, and he was there at the beginning, then he was there at before the beginning, which means God is timeless. He, Isaiah says that God created day and night before there was day. God was, what does that mean? It means he's not bound by time. It means that God is eternal. Now, if we really started to kind of, uh, try to, to put, to put words to this, okay, so like, uh, so this, let's just say that that's the universe. Uh, God is above. He's transcendent, above the universe. He's not bound by any of this. 'cause He created all of it. Now, I keep saying he, we should probably talk about that for a second. I say he, because that masculine pronoun is used in the scriptures to refer to God. But remember, God is spirit. So God doesn't fit in any of our categories. The reason we use that term is because that's what's used in the scripture. But we're using human language to try to describe a God that is beyond description. So if you wanna talk more about that, let's talk more about that. But this God doesn't fit in any categories. He's so much more than we could imagine through the prophet Isaiah. He says, I am God and there is no other. I am God. And there is none like me. I make known the end from the beginning, from ancient times, what is still to come. I say, my purpose will stand, and I will do all that. I please. You know what this says, God's in charge. We good with that. Like if you had to put it on a scale right now and weigh like, like where you are with God, being God and this eternal, magnificent God, and, and acknowledging him, maybe even sensing him in your life. Like, give yourself a number right now, one to . One is stone cold. Like you really don't even know that there's a God. And if there is a God, you just barely, barely willing to admit that things are so hot and so vibrant with like, you might as well be Moses. Okay? So one to , where are you? Just, you don't have to share this with anybody, but where are you right now? And by the way, don't, don't pick five. Don't pick five. Where are you? We fluctuate on this, don't we? I mean, we do. If you're down in that two and three range, I want you to know that there are times that we go through dry seasons. And there are many, many reasons why, many reasons why you may be going through something. You may not want God to be close. But there's a lot of reasons why if you're in that , , range, you give God the glory, man, lean in, enjoy worship. Listen. But I wanna share something with you now about the spiritual journey. And I've just noticed this over the years. It's not foolproof, it's not an antidote, it's not a cure all. But I just wanna share something with you, like the, the three things that I think could keep us moving in the right direction when it comes to our, uh, spiritual journey these days. So I want you to just, just, just look at the person sitting next to you and say, listen, this is gonna be so good. And he's about to get a little personal. So just tell, just say that to the person next to you. It's gonna be good. But he's about to get personal. All right? So here it is. This is not deep. It's just true. Three things that I think, uh, that, that, that, that, that we can do. Okay? You ready for the first one? Here it is. Come to church. Wow. Really? That's what you came up with. Come to church, listen to me, listen to me. When we come to church, we gather. We open God's word. We worship, but we do this together. We do this together. There's a reason the writer of Hebrews says, do not forsake the gathering together of believers. Don't turn your back on community. Encourage one another until the day of the Lord. This is something we will do right up until Jesus returns. This is what we do. Salvation is intensely personal. It's private, but spiritual growth is community. It just is. When you look at the Bible, we, we do this together. We encourage each other. We help each other. That's the way it works. Now, gang, I want you to understand a couple of things. Nobody's taking attendance here, okay? Nobody kind of matches up. Who matters, who doesn't? We, we don't know. I don't know. I just know that I've talked with people throughout the years and sometimes they'll come up to me and go, you know, I just don't feel connected. Or they'll say things like, I, I feel like I'm a half step behind everybody, or I just don't seem to have the juice you guys do. Now, again, there's many reasons for this, but more times than not, people have not made the investment of saying, you know what? I'm gonna be there. Now. I know that we get sick. I know that there's weather. Y'all spring's coming. I know you don't feel it, but spring is coming. It's not gonna be here this week if you're in St. Louis, but it's coming. So I know there's weather, I know there's car problems. I know kids get sick, I know all sorts of things, right? But if we can over these next few weeks, like let's just say between now and Easter, some of the stuff that we're gonna be talking about, if you wanna catch some traction, come to church. Let's do this together. Second thing, because we do this together, here's one, invite a friend. If this really is the good news that we keep saying it is, then this is for non-believers and believers alike. Let's invite a friend. Let's do this together. You know, somebody in your life right now who needs the good news of the gospel and it makes, it makes the rest of the week more interesting. 'cause you get to talk about this stuff. You get to kind of unpack it together. Right? Now, some of us, I talked to somebody in a previous service who said, I started praying for a friend that would come to church with me. And, and God answered it almost immediately. And this has made it so much more interesting. I think we should ask him, who, who do you want me to have a conversation with? Some people are gonna say no to you, and some people are gonna say yes. So let's do this together. So we come to church, we invite a friend, and then this one just take the next step. When I say take a step, I mean take a step into what God is doing. Uh, here it might be joining a class, a group. It might just be hanging out with somebody. It might be making an appointment with a pastor and saying, I need you to know my story 'cause I'm here. It might be that you have some incredible, uh, uh, skillset that, that could be used for the kingdom. And we have no idea. You might have some idea, and you just need to, to let us know and say, Hey, put me in coach, but let's do these three things and watch how God leans in. Watch how God does this. Why? 'cause you're not alone in the universe. Now, uh, when I say that, that that, uh, that there is this transcendent God who is outside the craziness of the world and, and he's just all he's in charge. The other part of it that gives me great comfort is he's not just above it all. He's not just more than we imagined. He's closer than we imagined. So yes, John four says that he's spirit. And so it is so difficult for us to imagine, but God is everywhere. God is He's, he's omnipresent. But God is also up close. Like Job says that God sustains life. But Acts says that he's closer to you than you imagined. He's not far from each of us. You know what that means? That means this supreme, all powerful God who thought the universe up and sustains life actually knows what woke you up in the middle of the night. He actually knows that appointment that you have this week that is churning in your gut. He actually knows about that fear that you're afraid to tell anybody else about. He knows what's going on at work. He knows that big decision that you're needing to make in your family. God knows and he cares. And he cares so much that he wants to be involved with you. He's not watching this from afar. He's up close and personal. He wants a relationship with you, which gets us to Jesus, the son of God. He said, we're really gonna talk about the transcend of God. If we're gonna talk about how big God is, we're gonna talk about how close God is. We have to talk about how much he loves you. And Jesus is the Son of God and Jesus has come for you. Now, what am I saying? So there's Jesus, the Son of God, and he prays to the Father, but he also tells us that the spirit is gonna, how many Gods are there? We should ask this out loud. How many Gods are there? There's one God, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. The God of Israel is the one true God. This is what we confess. We go back to the Hebrew scriptures. There is one God, but because of the nature of Jesus' life, because of what he did on the cross, because of the miracle of the resurrection, we will stand with those early eyewitnesses, thoroughly Jewish people, orthodox Jewish men and women who putting all of this together said, there is one God, but we are somehow going to proclaim that this one God came to us and we saw him in the flesh. He is the Son of God, and we proclaim Jesus as the Lord of all creation. And then because of Pentecost and the personal nature of the power and presence of God, we, we can't deny the Holy Spirit. So we will stand with the early church in saying the Holy Spirit is also God. How many Gods are there? There's one God, but there are three persons in this one. God is your head hurting? Yet it's a mystery. I I don't expect to understand all of this because I only perceive three dimensions plus time. God is more than I can imagine. He's a category buster. But What gives me great comfort in this one God, not three gods, he's too unified for that three persons in the one God who each have their own unique personalities and their unique roles in the universe. What gives me such great comfort? Why would we even talk about this mystery now? Because us before there was time, before there was matter, before there was energy, before there was motion, before there was a universe, there was God, right? So we said that, here's the rest of it. That means that there was love, because God is love. If you look at the scriptures, the Father loves the son. The son loves the Father. The spirit loves the son, the spirit loves the, the, the, the the Father, the the Jesus celebrates this. I mean, it's just, they're loving each other all the way through. So what do I want you to hear? There's a God who did all of this. Not because he's lonely, not because he needs to be noticed. He created out of love and he still responds to us out of love. Not a squishy love, not a soft kind of, you know, let's all get in a group hug and sing kumbaya love. I'm talking about the kind of love where you, you like, you sacrifice the kind of love that champions, the kind of love that fights for you. The kind of love that says, I will rescue you from disaster Love. For God so loved the world that he gives his one and only son. And the writer of Philippians says, in one of the most magnificent passages about, about Jesus, in, in chapter two, let me just read this to you. Let's see if we can't worship, uh, knowing this, this Jesus who is equal with God. This Jesus humbled himself, made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant. And somehow some way was made in human likeness. And in this being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death, even death on a cross. Therefore now already, therefore, God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name. That at the name of Jesus, every knee should bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth. That's a supernatural statement there. That's saying throughout the spiritual realm and the physical realm, everyone will come to a moment where they say, it's Jesus. It's Jesus who is king. I don't know if that does something in the deepest parts of your soul, but that's my king we're talking about here. And it says, every tongue will acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. Do you believe that? Do you find any comfort in that? Do you find the, the, the, the spirit moving and saying, wait, no, pay attention. You see, this is why we worship. This is the one we worship. Y'all ready to do that? Let's try One with God. Lord, you're glory and creation now Christ singing out. What a beautiful name it is. What a beautiful name. It is the name of Jesus Christ. What a beautiful name. Nothing. This what a beautiful name. The name of Jesus death could not hold you. The told before you. You silence the most of angry, the heaven, the glory for you. You have, you have no, you have no equal. Now, in yours is the, yours is the glory. Yours is the name. Say what a powerful name is. We believe what a powerful name is the name. What a powerful name it is nothing, nothing can stand against. What a powerful name it is. Name. See what a powerful name. What a powerful name. It is the name. Oh God, what a powerful, what a powerful name. It is the name of Jesus Heaven's a roaring the praise of his glory. That's a supernatural statement. That is something that is happening in the spiritual realm right now. I believe that to be true because he has no rival and he has no equal. I needed you to know as we started to move into these conversations about the spiritual life, I needed you to know who sits on the throne. It all starts and ends with the eternal God. And this Jesus is the king of glory. That's what we remember. But then you open the scriptures and you do see there are other beings in this universe, which means we should talk for just a minute before we leave. And I mean, just a minute about angels. Do you believe in angels? Some of you do, some of you don't. Survey said, yeah, y'all can sit down if you want. Some, some, some. There was a survey that said seven outta Americans believe in angels. Now, I don't know if you do or you don't, but would you help the people around you now? 'cause we're just gonna show some things. Try to stir your thoughts a little bit. Which of these best describes the angel in your mind when you think of angels? Go ahead, just tell the people around you. Any of these look familiar? Angel flying. Don't always say with angel eyes. There are angels among I've been seeing angels. Yeah. Okay, alright. Okay. So listen, I don't know where you are with angels. I dunno if you believe in angels, but, but, but there's, when we talk about the spiritual realm, it is something that comes up. Now, we've talked about this before, so this will be in review and it'll be really quick, but I wanted to give you a chance here. Like, and let's see at the sites, if it, if it matches up, anybody got a question about angels? Like anybody? Like, it's like, well, yeah, if we're gonna talk about 'em, anybody got anything? Where do they come? Like, where do they come from? Uh, well first of all, they are created by God. They're not infinite. Okay? Only God is eternal. And so you see that, God, I would say again, out of love, created them. Uh, you'll see places like in Genesis you'll see some, some mention of a little bit more in Job Ezekiel, and then of course in Revelation. But they, they are created by God. They're not eternal, but they're created by God. Anybody else got anything? For what purpose? And then somebody over here said something. How much do they have? How much do they know? Well, uh, again, they're, and I'm coming back to you. Uh, they're not who said that? I just wanna know where I'm staring. Okay? Yeah. There, you're, uh, so, so they don't know everything. Like if you were with us, uh, before Christmas, they, uh, they long to look into the salvation of man. So they are still so intrigued with how God is rescuing us, but they are not, uh, they're not God. So they don't know everything. They're not everywhere. Uh, they, they will know what God reveals to them and they see and experience things that we don't see and experience. Maybe we should talk about that. And your question was, why are they here? What do they do? I forget what was, where are you? For what purpose? For what purpose are they created? Well, uh, I think there are many things that we see about angels. One of them is, uh, that they, they they are to give God glory right now, y'all, I started with this idea that God created out of love and not loneliness and not insecurity. You gotta remember that God didn't create these beings just to like tell him how great he is. God doesn't need anything, but they can't help but worship God. So you guys have Psalm . I thought this might come up. So let's just put that one up here. Praise the Lord from the heavens. Praise him in the heights above. Praise him. All his angels. Praise him. All his heavenly hosts. This is what they do. You can see it in Isaiah, you can see it in the Psalms, you can see it. They will give glory to God. So never forget that they will do the bidding of God, but they're always gonna be looking and pointing towards the greatness of God. It's what they do. Anybody else got a question? Yes ma'am. Or are they on earth? So are they on Earth? I'm sorry, say the rest of it. Yes. So Is an angel walking Among us? Yes. So is an angel walking among us? Uh, pretty freaky question. Uh, maybe the book of Hebrews tells us that there are times that we could entertain and host angels and we don't even, we're not even aware of it. Oh, wait, what? Yeah, I don't know. I don't know. It's kind of crazy stuff. But there are times, which by the way, just for the record, means that like even in the scriptures, you don't see every angel walking around with wings. Okay? So it's just like that may not be how they appear. Now, there are certain angels that do, let's just talk about this. So angels can enter into like a space and around where we can see things, but they also function in a different realm, that spirit realm that we, we can't see. So what do they do? They protect all God's bidding. They protect, oh wait, do we have guardian angels? I don't know. Well then why did you bring it up? Yeah. Uh, like, I don't know. You can go to places like Psalm and Matthew , and there are hints of this, but it's not enough to build like a whole doctrine out. So I don't know. I don't know. Uh, I think that there is in the scriptures a teaching that there's a pl plurality of angels that do the bidding of God and some of the bidding of God is to serve and to minister and to protect and to deliver messages. We see that in the Christmas story, right? We see that in the Easter story. By the time you get to the Book of Revelation, they help execute God's judgment. These, these, these are impressive, uh, beings that every time they seem to come into contact with human beings, human beings are terrified. So there's something to that. I mean, oftentimes, anyway, but what else do they do in the spirit realm? They wage war against the forces of evil. What if they are created beings? You were asking that if they are created beings, then there are created beings who long ago, according to the scriptures, fell away from God, chose to rebel against God and now they follow a fallen angel who is the enemy of God, who works against the people of God and the purpose of God. Do I really believe that stuff? I do? We'll talk about it a little bit more in this series that comes up after this one. Because the closer Jesus gets to the cross, the more spiritual warfare there is. Okay? I just want you to hear me now 'cause we're kind of at the end of this thing. I want you to hear me. I believe in those forces of darkness. I don't believe in them. I believe in their existence, but I do not believe that they win because of the cross and the power of the resurrection. We know that Jesus has already defeated evil and the New Testament tells us that greater is he that is in me than he that is in the world. So I don't take it lightly. I don't roll my eyes at evil, but I will, I'll, I'll, I'll trust that Jesus has got me and I will trust that there are things happening in the heavenlies that, that that, that I won't understand this side of eternity. But I can tell you in my life, when I look at the world, I see darkness and light at war. I see good and evil at war. And I'm telling you, Jesus wins. Now, is there more to all of this? Of course there is. Sometimes people will say to me, well is is my loved one an angel now? 'cause I feel like they are and they, and they're with me and they watch over me. I wanna say this as clearly and as carefully as I can. I understand the, the, I understand how grief just gets to the deepest parts of our hearts. But your loved one and my loved ones who have departed don't become angels. If we wanna get all technical about it, those are two different orders of created beings. When you and I die, we don't become angels. Okay? We go, if you believe Jesus, you go to be with Jesus. We'll talk about that next week. I understand that we get comfort from that, but we should take our comfort from the God who has protected those loved ones. Okay? So that's a little bit of what angels are, but I will just tell you, is it okay to be in like curious about them? Sure. Should we be obsessed with them? I don't think so. Should we take comfort from the fact that God loves us so much that he actually does in wage we can probably never even see protect? Yes. But I want you to remember, angels do the bidding of God and angels point everyone to the greatness of God. You still with me? If an angel was standing right here, I guarantee you what that angel would say to you is Jesus is king. What he would say to you is, you are not alone in the universe. We good? Yeah, that's it. You're like, well wait a minute, is that it? You didn't even get to the question. You said you were gonna get to Greg. With all of those pseudo documentaries and things that the government is hiding from us regarding UFOs and I saw movies and there's aliens and what do we do with all of that? Well, what do we do with that? Lemme tell you this much. The Bible doesn't speak to that. So we gotta be really careful to not speculate. Okay? But y'all, if we were doing this together these last few minutes, we now have a framework with which to even approach that. Think about it. There is a creator of the whole universe and he's in charge and he did this out of love and he loves you. Start there. Start there. Yeah. But Greg, if something happens and all of a sudden we discover intelligent life, doesn't that blow Christianity to bits? No. Why? See previous comments on there is a creator. He's in charge of everything. CS Lewis probably doesn't surprise some of you. CS Lewis actually wrote about this in an article called Religion and Rocketry. I love it. Uh, and what he said is, if something like this ever happened, like you would, you would get to a place where, uh, there'd just be things that we don't know. Like would these beings have a sinful nature? Would they need to be evangelized? Do they need to be redeemed? I don't know. Did God reconcile him in his own? We don't know. The answer is we don't know. And to talk much further about that is just speculation. What I love is what he says next. What we do know is we are told to focus on reaching the lost and building up the church. We focus on what the Bible tells us to do. This is what we do. We're gonna follow Jesus into the story. So am I gonna live in fear of this? No. No. Why? Because God's in charge and he did all of this out of love. You know what that means? Even if you find someday that the universe is bigger and more mysterious than you even thought, do you know what never changes God's love for you? Listen to me. You are the beloved. I mean, this is where it starts. God did this for you. Now I understand in a world that's chaotic sometimes and unstable, we look for comfort in other places like supernatural beings. Angels, man, we, we, we, we think we could get comfort from that gang. I want you to hear me take comfort from the one that they focus on. Take comfort from the one who's bidding. They do. You look at Jesus, you go to God. That's what it is. I understand why some people would go, oh, but man, what if there's an intelligent life out there and they could solve things for us? Listen, I understand the spiritual hunger and thirst to say, Ooh, I want more answers. I get that. Pay attention to that thirst. But I would respectfully suggest, look for hope in a different direction. 'cause there is one God, there is one to hope. And he's got you. He's he's, he's doing everything he can to get your attention. Stanley Grant is a theologian who said, way back when, whatever, whoever is out there, I need you to know there's still creatures of the great creator. God did all of this. There is one hope, one piece there is one God. And that means you're not alone in the universe. That's good news people. I understand why some of you are spiritual and not religious because of the failures and the embarrassments of of established religion. And you're done with it, man, I get it. I get it. And for you to even take a step into this church, it's gonna be a very careful measured step. I understand all of that. I understand that it's difficult for you to trust. I just want you to know there is a God who is more than you can imagine. And he is closer than you can imagine. And you can trust him. Start there. Trust him. We'll figure out our relationship later. But you trust him. You see, in a world where darkness and light wage against each other, there is one who has no rival, who has no equal. And I really do believe that the praises, the heavens are roaring with the praise of his glory. And his name is Jesus. His name is Jesus. And he did all of this out of love. There was a moment when Jesus steps into the story as one of us. How does that even happen? And he bears our sin on the cross. And with the empty tomb, love secures our hope. And at Pentecost love equips the church and the spirit of God moves into our life. And we get to do things now until Jesus returns. And on that day, love will make all things new. Is that me just trying to make myself think of a happy ending story? It just kind of, and they all lived happily ever after. No, I really do believe that you're not alone. There is a God who will have the last word. And if you haven't trusted him yet, I want you to consider what it would be like to turn to him in your own way, in your own words, wherever you are, you could pray this prayer. Jesus, you are who you say you are. And I trust you and I need you. I don't need religion. I need you. Will you forgive me? Will you be my king? Will you lead me? Will you move into my life? And Jesus will hear that prayer. And I'm telling you, things take off. Things change. And if that happens for you, you gotta let us know so that we can celebrate with you. But if you already believe in Jesus, if you already walk with Jesus, I need y'all to hear something as you leave here, you have a history with God. He has been there for you and he will be there for you. So celebrate that. Celebrate the transcendent, all powerful God who is so close. He knows what you're dealing with tomorrow. Celebrate that raucously, quietly, tearfully, joyfully with the spirit, empowering you. Celebrate that. And then this. Go outta here and get stuff done. For the glory of God, the kingdom is on the move. And I believe God is up to something in our midst. Romans , these are our closing words. This is all the more urgent for you know how late it is. Time is running out. Wake up for our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed. The night is almost gone. The day of salvation will soon be here. So remove your dark deeds like dirty clothes and put on the shining armor of right living because we belong to the day we must live decent lives for all to see. Father, if there are those in our midst who need to turn to you, I pray that you will meet them in that step that they take God, give us wisdom to know how to come alongside them. Give them courage to now respond to your offer of a life eternal God. For those of us who are sons and daughters of the King, remind us now that you're not finished with us. We are children of the dawn. May we live now in a way where we proclaim your glorious good news. And we will do this for your good. And we will do this for your glory and the people of God together said, amen. Y'all, we're gonna be at this next week, we're gonna talk about a thing that I think every one of us need to talk about the afterlife. So you come back, invite a friend and we'll see you then.