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00:00:03 uh good morning everybody sorry yeah take a b of water for before we start I I just want to in case some of you don't realize uh how was supposed to speak last week but I was diagnosed as having covid-19 so I need to I need to do some confession uh few weeks ago I had a cough you know being mCP like me I told my wife more like cough chair cough chair so you know eat here eat too much Chinese new cookies all that rubbish so I slap it off nothing happened so I thought nothing about it uh then few days later
00:00:41 my wife started to cough then I thought he my wife rely coughs so then my wife did a test and then she found out she was positive on the rtk so I did it then I found out I was RK I say chalot then I did the PCR and so I was I think it was I fortly positive a while ago so so I anyway uh I want to thank everybody there's a lot of Grace uh given to me uh the last week I'm generally what you call as symptomatic I I don't have any symptoms um um my wife caught it for me I really have to apologize to that to my
00:01:20 wife and uh I just want to thank people there were a lot of prayers a lot of thankfulness people brought food uh people brought vitamin C I don't uh embarrass them but I want to say it's times like this that you're very thankful you're in FBC I I was shown a lot of Christian love and I want to sincerely thank everybody for their prayer so thank you very much God bless all of you okay we're going to go today to uh the message he didn't show this before uh he had uh the the privilege of being to the uh 16th chapel in the
00:01:54 Vatican City I have not but uh this is this is uh Michelangelo Center piece it's one of the most famous paintings in the world in particular a lot of debate has been made on the hand gasture okay and as you know the painting shows Adam this is what we call the Imago day or the image of God painting and you have God basically reaching out and breathing life into Adam and those of you who might know your art uh the Adam is depicted very similarly to another series of sculptures in the medic Chapel
00:02:31 it's called dust and Dawn and basically Adam is waking up for slumber and God is giving him his image now the question is what is God giving him and if you look at the painting what's interesting in the depiction of God it isn't just God as an old man there are 12 characters around him in the swirl and what's who's that around the arms of God is that uh Eve is that the madona because Michelangelo was devoutly Catholic who are the 11 characters around there what is the symbolism of the 12 so a lot of
00:03:10 theories have been brought up about what is the image of God which God gave to Adam is it his Consciousness is it the soul is it a higher intelligence everybody waited in Thomas a queenas wait in the Catholic church have a statement of it one of the more interesting uh uh recent developments if you follow Netflix westw is that if you follow the shape of it it's the shape of a brain you know because Michelangelo is very well known for dissecting bodies you know because he's very very into Anatomy so but today we want to ask a
00:03:50 question and the question is this uh the Bible says we are made in the image of God this is the series in the Family series what exactly does that mean and we're going to follow this through and we're looking at larger picture so the first part of today's sermon we going look at it generally because this is a very large scope but the second part of it we go into application in families and and this is a major theme in the New Testament especially among what we call Pauline literature is huge so we're going to
00:04:22 look at this and I I pray that um it gives us a bit of understanding on how God wants us to be like like family members all right both spiritually and biologically so let's come before God In Prayer Lord we ask today as um this family Sunday we ask that you speak and not me I come in humility and trembling and Lord I pray that if anything I say is not correct I'm open to correction we ask for your spirit to move powerfully your anointing to be released and the cross be Center and that we be victorious in Jesus name
00:05:04 we say this amen okay so we are looking at uh we're going to continue this because this happen once a month so let me recap the last time we spoke a lot of people come to church come to church because they want to go to heaven that's the normal narrative you're religious because you die you want to go to heaven but the biblical narrative is the opposite the emphasis of scripture is that Heaven is coming to Earth and not you going to heaven that is the entire biblical narrative or to be more accurate is
00:05:39 about the kingdom of God invading every part of your life and in particularly we're going to look at how the kingdom of God invades your family space and this is the message from Genesis all the way to Revelations and then there's the idea of the overlapping space between God's space my space what we call the Sacred Space and we found that in firstly in the Garden of Eden and then the Tabernacle and then Jesus and then the church so the church is where you see where Heaven and Earth overlap I want you to pick that up because we're
00:06:18 going to develop that today so I'm going to say that again the church is where we see Heaven and Earth overlap or basically you see a bit of heaven and its fullness will be when Jesus comes again now this text of the image of God everyone knows we've done it before Genesis one let me give you the context about it of course in day five I want read it to you God creates basically creatures living creatures and thing now understand this Hebrew poetry right this Hebrew poetry and what happened you notice I I'll put
00:06:54 it to you in rate from verse 20 onwards to verse 25 when it comes to plants and animals you have this repetition of the word according to their kind meaning there's many on the fifth day and so in contrast the biblical author of Genesis is trying to contrast day five and day six so two things you see in day five the repetition of this word according to the kind and then it is good when you come to day seven there are two things there is no more according to the kind there is only one mankind one not many types one it is not
00:07:47 good it is very good so the biblical author here is contrasting the five and day six simple English humanity is a Masterpiece humanity is God's handywork to use the words of paulicians 1 you and I above everything created on this Earth You and I are special to God I want you have to pick this up because this is the story of the Bible not the story of Genesis 1 now the term image of God what we don't understand or what we don't realize is a term very familiar with Olden cultures you must understand in in
00:08:42 the days of when Genesis was written the principal audience were the Hebrews who came out of Egypt So when you say image of God is Not foreign to them it's foreign to us here's a picture a statue of the Pharaoh and this is the the principal God called Rah there few Gods Osirus is the king God and under Osirus who's the father you have Rah now notice rah rah is made he's a bird the faraoh doesn't look like a bird so so when OD day cult say image of God they they don't see that you have to look like God
00:09:20 but what you see very obviously in the depiction of RA is the head gear and it's the same head gear of the faroh so in Egyptian culture image of God doesn't mean you look like God it means you have the authority of God and it was obviously two authorities one you had dominion over every living creature number two you are to multiply and you find if you read the encyclopedia britanica anything from the early Mesopotamian Egyptian all the way down from Babylonian all the way down to all the filistini cultures right down to
00:10:05 Roman Emperor worship up to Japanese worship at World War I the king was the image of God Chinese culture African culture is a global phenomenon even locally you know if you follow early Malaysian history the King was the image of God and the King had two Powers he he had dominion over every living creature and he had a rule to multiply his Empire and now here's where scripture is interesting because that very same mandate isn't given to Kings but in the biblical account is given to all of us let's read it 28 let us make
00:10:52 mankind of image and our likeness so that a they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky over the lifestyle all the W animals over all the creatures that move along the ground that's Dominion we call it the creation mandate given to who verse 27 so God created mankind his own image that's the refrain again instead of our is his now because there Divine counsel language in verse 26 27 is Yahweh in the image of God he created them male and female sorry that's Elohim for those you know your
00:11:28 Hebrew so it's to every everybody and then verse 28 God blessed them and here's the multiplication mandate be fruitful increase in number and then Dominion again fill the Earth subdue it and then there's a repetition of verse 26 rule over the fish and the Sea and the birds the sky you are King now this is very radical because in Olden culture this was only given to the king and from the start in the Bible the Bible is telling us you know what all of you you are meant to be Kings you and I are meant to be Kings to
00:12:06 be more accurate you meant to be Priestly Kings that's how Genesis 2 picks it up so keep this in your mind as we go on so this is what Genesis let me give you a big road map what you're telling us number one human beings are special above all of God's creation number two you are to fulfill the creation mandate and there are two parts to it one Dominion two multiplication you pick that up three that is fulfilled in families you find it especially in Genesis 3 when you hear about the seed of the woman who will walk in the seed
00:12:44 of The Serpent and then the abrahamic Covenant that's where it takes his real fulfillment we have to build families and most importantly you have to walk with God in Genesis 3 God banishes you because mankind disobeys your wired to walk with God you're wired to obey God because only God has knowledge of Good and Evil every human being Christian or otherwise the biblical position is you are wired and when you deny what you are wired trouble starts this is your inherent DNA and even though man has sinned
00:13:25 scripture tells us he keeps on with this image is been tainted but he there you find it in Psalms 9 when he says God has made men a little lower than the Angels but he given him to be rulers over the earth now pick that up again as we're going to continue so uh this is what you say all of you are Kings hey give me my scepter give me my scepter I'm King King Anor and God says here's your scepter H give you a spade give you a spade yeah where's my kingdom now here's your kingdom now it's called Garden of Eden
00:14:00 start planting that's what God did start planting and so in this little garden where this ecological Paradise mankind ruled as king below the king of kings and he ruled over all livestock he named the livestock he named the livestock in the same way God named the stars and the moon and he named every day he said it was good man kind named every animals and it was good there's a repetition of it that's Hebrew poetry for you and God saw paradise and this is the world that was meant to be ecologically safe balance
00:14:47 men and woman in harmony no abuse of animals clean air no weather like the way we seeing right now 26° in the morning 36° in the afternoon no freak thunderstorm this is the biblical story and and Revelations repeat repeats the same motive of the garden all right pick up a little bit of this and the idea is multiply and build communities by families and fill the Earth with more Gardens of Edens but man decided you know what I'm I I think they listen to a little fellow called The Snake and say you know what I
00:15:28 I think we don't need a king we can be Kings of ourselves and we can build our own communities we we can do our own urbanization and we can go out there and build skyscrapers I can build Manara Ana Lim you know we don't need God thank you very much I think I can be God of my life and so man decides to build his own kingdom and he urbanizes and he pollutes the Earth he doesn't green the Earth he Earths the green and he concretes everything and he destroys the world and that's Genesis 4 onwards because once they
00:16:05 banished what happens mankind the sons of Cain discover music they discover agriculture they discover technology with Metals mankind is very smart you know because they made it in image of God but they discover polygamy they discover violence and revenge Cain is Avenge we will avenge 70 * 7 the sons of Cain they take that which is good and they disto and this is the biblical story and he finds his fulfillment in a place called Babel and you read carefully the narrative in Genesis 10 and 11 the table of Nations a
00:16:47 king called Nimrod in the plains of Shina builds a kingdom called Babylon and the Hebrew word for Babylon is the same as the Tower of Babel because Tower of Babel is telling you what man does without God and when he expands to multiply the Earth and to have dominion he brings about his new world order and Their Kingdoms and the rest of the biblical story is set in the backdrop of firstly amazing human potential you read the Old Testament all right and Mark zuka when his daughter was born said this advancing human potential is about
00:17:28 pushing the boundaries of how great a human life can be the IMO day now isn't God to man is man to man can you learn experience 100 times more than what we do today can Our Generation cure disease so you can live much longer and healthier lives can you biohack your life can you neuralink yourself up to Ai and be remade in the image of the perfect virtu man we don't need God we are made in the image of man that is what man says and scripture tells us let's recreate a new world order and so the Old Testament right
00:18:13 after the New Testament tells you a story of world orders Kingdom after Kingdom after Kingdom I I put it out for you and it's really fascinating and how the biblical account names the Kings name all of them his torically King cus Nebuchadnezzar Herod historical characters and how the kingdom of God invades right through this via families you know from Abraham wow the world builds Empires and the world war for all its smartness shows great cruelty and scripture picks it up you know what's interesting with this diagram you know
00:18:57 what it's a pick because every Empire has a start has a peak and then it declines and then it passes on now here's interesting because this model is what's happening now if you know your history most people don't this is how the history of the world start the Spanish were the largest global Empire the moment the West discovered how to make ships that could go everywhere they conquered the world that's why the West has dominated the world and people don't realize the Dutch were the first multinationals
00:19:29 the Dutch East Trading Company the Dutch were in Mala and then the British fought the Dutch people don't realized New York was called New Amsterdam they fought it they fought four Wars and the British brought their empire throughout the world and after the second world war we have been living with the American domination and ever since 1970 the green bag replaced the gold and everything now is American superiority and so a new Empire coming up and we will see where they go why am I telling you all this because
00:20:05 history repeats itself and the church cannot live its life independent of this you know what's ironic about all of this because outside of China every Kingdom Here professes to be Christian and you know what the Spanish did when they went to Latin America they basically destroyed civilizations in the name of God every other single one after that is Protestant and they have done similarly they went into India and strip M the entire country with the blessings of the church why am I saying all of this what's it
00:20:44 going to do with famili is because all of this has got to do with this when you look at the Ukraine conflict and before we read the standard Narrative of this guy is crazy he you know he has got no justification and is all of that is correct everything is correct you have no right to enter Ukraine this is a battle of World orders because if you put yourself in an average Russian how would you likely if NATO brought his people into a country of 44 million people which border as porous as ever where you have actually a
00:21:26 lane called the where you you basically a Port enters Odessa from from Russia on the left your port on the right and NATO can line the entire area with missiles no Russian will take it but you will not see this in any narrative from Christians denouncing the Ukraine war so I ask you this morning to ponder a bit but this happens because kingdoms of the world even those who call themselves Christian who claim it have forgotten what Genesis tells us then once you take god of the picture when you want to multiply your influence
00:22:07 and you want to have dominion and that's what America wants to do you can do great things but you can do terrible things that destroy lives just see what American wars have created over the last few decades so let me just tell you what scripture is telling us one for all the evident dysfunction of humanity there's something extraordinary about us we are at a peak of civilizations in terms of what mankind can do at the same time we can bring great suffering so so remember that when we go down we look at
00:22:43 families right we can do wonderful things we can do Terrible Things individually and corporately and so the empires arrive at the time of the Roman Empire the biggest Empire at the olden days all Road Little Rome and A Man Called Jesus walks the Earth and he does things which the authorities do not like and here is his linage Luke chapter 3 shows the line of Jesus and links him up with the son of Adam so Luke is intentional to tell you Jesus comes from Adam then Luke inserts one one other verse which is interesting
00:23:31 about Adam Adam is the Son of God or Adam is the image of God that's how the text is trying to connect so bear that in mind and so this Jesus walks the Earth gets arrested goes before ponus Pilate gets whipped bleeds and in John 196 pilate says well this is just a guy behold the man just a man behold the man this is the image of a man behold the man and he doesn't realize behold the man you see pilot sees a man who thinks he is God he does not realize this is God who became man to save us from ourselves the first Adam wanted a crown
00:24:43 he rested it from God and put it on himself the last Adam put on a crown of thorns and died for your sins and my sins so so that we can reclaim our image as God untainted and fulfilled that is the biblical story what does that mean and so Colossians tells us this the son is the image of the invisible God you can read it yourself verse 19 God was pleased to have his fullness dwell in him and through him to reconcile to him all things things on earth in Heaven by making peace through his blood shed on the
00:25:34 cross and on the cross God took his humanity and then Paul tells us in Romans 8 we are being conformed to the image of the son Jesus is the image of God so let me recap Jesus the image of God at the cross he bored himself to create a new human human it that's Ephesians 2 to break away the hostility we as Christians are being conformed daily to the image of Jesus and we'll do this to the day we die how are we conform Holiness purpose suffering and Glory that's Romans 8 why because we cry ABA father he gives us the first fruits of
00:26:24 the spirit and we do it daily okay now we go to practical application after all that heavy Theology and we go down to families because the image of God has got to do with what you think of yourself that's the starting point so let me ask a question if you look at yourself in the mirror do you like what you see a few of you are very confident because you're very successful if you are like the most of us you don't like what you see you either think you're too skinny too fat not pretty enough not successful you didn't have a good
00:26:58 marriage marriage didn't have a good career why can't I be like fill in the blanks correct most of us don't like what we see of ourselves we don't like what we see we look at self we do not like our image let's pick that up a bit there's a old quite old movie called Prometheus it's going to be a classic now this is about the image of God in this movie mankind discovers God and true they are made literally in the image of God literally all right and they find out that God looks like this fascinating
00:27:42 movie it's going to be a cult classic after so many years God looks like this or the Gods in the movie they don't call them gods they call them Engineers so no not offending any Engineers here so engineer created humanity and put their image into Humanity you look like them and you follow the movie in the sequel the engineers put their intelligence into you so the Imago day in this movie is intelligence it's a fascinating movie so let me read you what one critic said he said in short PRI is a story of humans
00:28:18 going to quite literally meet their maker our maker it turns out isn't so much interest in meeting us he's intent on wiping us from the face of the universe and one part a very sick person in the movie whan commands David to ask the Titan this the engineer for the secret to eternal life because this is Genesis 1 God should live forever that's really Genesis 1 mankind should live forever in the face of such HRI the engineer rips David's heads off bashes willing to death EV it the planet they found it turns out is not the gun Eden
00:28:53 but a gigantic bunker weapons of mass destruction they found God God just wants to kill them and so it's a fascinating story why in a play on imod day why would our creators want to destroy their creation this the question really that c the center Prometheus and let me ask you a question why not you see when you look at the history of mankind there's only one thing mankind deserves if there's God Wrath you know why should anyone of us here on our own marit deserve to go to heaven there's nothing and you look at the movie the
00:29:32 movie has a point the point is if there's a God out there he'll press the delete button and delete all of us you are a virus bigger than Corona virus what have you and I done to deserve eternal life nothing that is what secular is telling you and that's what scripture tells us you cannot earn your salvation you do not deserve it you only deserve ra secular people pick it up and that is the story of scripture but here's where scripture turns it because Ephesians say this because of his great love for us
00:30:12 God who is rich in Mercy made us theive with Christ even we were de any transgression is by Grace we be saved you thank God the god of the Bible isn't like the Angus and let us jump to verse eight for his grace you have been saved through faith not for yourself the gift of God not by works so that no one can boast and here's Genesis 1 we are God's handy work you are the imod Day created in Christ Jesus to do good works which God prepared in advance for us to do and Paul doubles down on this Ephesians 4
00:30:47 your t with regards your formal way of life to put off your old self that's the tainted image which is being corrupted in his deceitful desires to be made new the attitude of your minds and put on a new self created to be like God so I want to tell you my view Michelangelo was wrong this isn't the Right image of the image of God you know what's the correct one is Romans 8 is this because God so loved you he sent his one and only begotten son to die for you so that you can have eternal life and if you do not know Jesus this
00:31:36 morning you are visiting us or you're watching online I ask you to seek us out and to reclaim what is yours your god-given image now this has tremendous implications because I don't like what I look at in my mirror you can say Hey you look very confident a lot of actors I tell you a lot of us look at ourselves and we compare ourselves with others there was a point in my life I told myself I was a very bad architect I wish I was like some other architects who did very well and he caus me great insecurity you know what that years ago
00:32:18 I wouldn't even be able to stand up here and tell you this but now because of the grace of God because I'm in the image of God because Christ is in me and to be the image of go to be Christlike I can stand up here and say it and I feel no shame because to be in the image of God means every day I'm trying to be Christlike that I'm not judged because of my talents of my ability to speak here and Mesmerize you guys or the fact that I'm good-looking which I know I'm not or the fact that I got a perfect
00:32:50 family which I know I don't although I really love my wife my daughter we're very blessed so I can stand up here even if I'm divorced if I'm single if I'm struggling with a disease even if I'm poor because it is not me you see you see Christ that's the story of the Bible and you can stand up there and be whoever you want and be and here's one word I wish all of us have in church we can be we can be authentic and we can show our scars and we will not be judged because we are being Christlike and the road to
00:33:31 glory is through suffering through shame and when we see how Christ was shamed we say behold the man and you stand proud because you and I are the image of God and why is this important because if you cannot grapple that you cannot have authentic relationships with anyone including your family members there was a great article by a Christian Author called Mike Frost and this is what he wrote in in family life we have been reading this nothing silences more effectively than shame sadly church people often the most shame people this
00:34:13 could come from Old Church patterns about needing to appear clean and tidy and always winning our church must have taught us never to show the parts of our life that are messy dirty embarrassing I think that might might be because a lot of church unwittingly promote perfectionism which a condition which people constantly ask what will they think what will they think if Arnold says I struggle with this sin what will we say we say that Arnold actually has is not very happy I'm very happy but by the way you know what happens but as
00:34:49 bran Brown says the irony is that we attempt to disown our difficult stories to appear more whole or more acceptable but that what you're trying to say that you want to promote an image of yourself but our wholeness our wholeheartedness actually depends on integration of all experiences including the falls the scars because the cross tells me all my fears all my sorrows all my struggles all my sins I have crucified them on the cross and daily I am being renewed amen amen and you are in the image of God so
00:35:28 when you come to FBC be not afraid to find people to tell them this is who you are and be proud of it because you are in His image you do not need to come to abbc to project a happy life a happy person a perfect life and to hide your shame that's the beauty of being Christian and if you cannot do that you're not authentic and you're not authentic you cannot have meaningful relationships and if you cannot have meaningful relationships how are you going to build family is that's the story of the Bible it took me a long time to sing
00:36:05 that in and I tell you it's very liberating so I stand up here now maybe not very successful architect Lord I'm going to try to be better but I'm not defined by that and maybe I could stand up one day to say you know I have a bad relationship with somebody maybe one day my relationship with some family members would deteriorate but I'm not defined by that I'm defined because I'm trying to be Christlike every day and I pray that you understand that because that is very liberating point two first point get your image right
00:36:43 second Point get your image of others right let me flip it the other way also get the image of what others see of you Michelangelo was given a slab of stone which two other artists looked at sculpture artists refuse to touch Michelangelo is principally a sculptor not a painter two other very famous contemporary sculptors went to the stone and says you know what you can't touch this it's horrible in fact there's a record in in the journals there in the Vatican City about it the stone laid there for almost I think a
00:37:17 decade if I'm not mistaken it was porous it was ugly nobody touched it then a young Michelangelo went to look at it and it says here's that stone is a horrible Stone you know what what he said he looked at the stone he said no he saw the stone he said it's beautiful and everybody said what do you see you know what he saw when he saw that stone he saw his most famous creation the statue of David you see the eyes of Faith do not see a stone which is broken and porous the eyes of Faith see a stone being
00:37:58 conform to be an object of beauty being Sanctified daily daily until Perfection arrives I want you to pick this up you know this is very important and so Paul tells us in Romans 8 such a fantastic chapter he begins about life in the spirit ABA father and then how the spirit is given to us we have not fear and how creation groans and and then he tells us for those God forne he also pred predestined to be conformed to the image of the Son and the Greek language here is a continuous process why because
00:38:40 the next part says so that he might be first born among many brothers and sisters you know what that means firstborn it means you and I take on that and those he predestined he called he called he justified he justified glorified you know what God's going to keep on chipping at that store until one day he sees you face to face all of us are that stone and God tells you when you look at your wife you look at your son your daughter your father your mother you look at them the same way man gets married to his wife because
00:39:20 he wants a trophy wife hot cheek whoa big man has a hanging round of things go around everybody says whoo hot babe you're so lucky who 20 years later hot babe don't look so hot anymore all the BTO doesn't help the bees the lips look like a beast stung them the stomach go up like a big everything's hanging out I won't get more graphic from that and suddenly you with your Mazerati car when you look at your wife you don't see a hot babe you see a stone and we thank God Scripture doesn't teach us that
00:39:59 and so Timothy Keller in his book about the meaning of marriage when you look at your wife or wife looks at a man you see that stone being conformed you don't see them for their faults you see God is trying to change them in the image of God in the same way when she looks at you you are being changed now this is particularly when you don't have a non-Christian spouse or non-Christian family members because non-Christian family members the only Bible they ever read is you you hear that the only Bible your
00:40:32 non-Christian relatives will ever read is you when they see you in your behavior they either see a real pain in their ass which An Li he obnoxious he's loud his hypocritical odyy Christ like Behavior a man struggling with sin a man who's authentic who comes out and says yes I'm not I'm a real jackass I talk too much I interrupt you forgive me I'm trying to change you take my whole lifetime they see Christlike Behavior because the stone is still being chipped away and now that's critical if you want
00:41:08 to have a healthy family life so here's one question I ask all of you how do you view people in your family if you like me something instinctively we you know there's a very strange Line Between Love and Hate isn't it you think of something family members the like the H say you bet he just comes out in space wow all the feeling just come out and they not you but what what scripture tells is when you look at them you must remember God is trying to conform them if they are Christians and so you must have
00:41:48 Grace if they're not Christians they having a hard time tell you this they are looking at you and they must see that you are being conformed because because again you are the only Bible they will ever read until they come closer to the Lord so let me just end with this you know you know some of the most hardest truth to do are the simplest we're going to go back to big picture remember what I told you before mankind is very capable of great things and very evil things and on the individual level you
00:42:25 and I capable of being very very loving in our families very loving in the same thing you don't realize it we can be very hellish in our behavior and we don't see it the psychological term is called being toxic so let me just pull this out for you a bit you know you know in the Genesis text the Hebrew word here is called Salem image you know where you find this you shall not make a salum of me is actually a talk about idolatry and of course the golden Cal is a classic example you know why there is
00:43:06 two points about not making image of God and the golden calf basically is because they hijacked the Cal and said you know what this is the god that took you out Egypt basically they took yahweh's image and replaced it with a calf now there are two reasons one God is Spirit we all know that but here's the other reason which we very often forget you can't make an image of God because you are that image you are the image of God the moment you make an image of God you are shifting your relationship with
00:43:41 God you're distorting that and you're replacing it with an idol or what God wants you to be and that's why so many of us can continue to go to church can be so active in church can be so many things but be really really lousy husbands lousy fathers lousy Sons lousy daughters you know I want to ask you know we we we we we we talk about church activities let's have this activity have that activ I wonder if we we do a course but why don't we try to be more real I wonder how many will turn up why don't we have a a a seminar how
00:44:21 to be better friends in FBC I just wonder how many you turn up because a l lot of this comes because of this Distortion I I give you a simple example about image of God this is Quang Kong Chinese all know this right a man who was made in the image of God and people worship him no do you really think the Chinese actually believe that that is a quangong is the same way do you really think the Jews believe that was an actual C they're just trying to distort God you know you see it isn't quangong they worshiping if you know
00:44:53 your Chinese history the four kingdom is what quangong represent ented because he was known for few qualities one loyal to the day he was he died protecting his friend and two quangong was very Fierce he's loyal he can take pain and he's very Fierce everyone knows who are the people who worship Wang Kong gangsters why because in the gangster family the first thing the gangster does in inii they recreate your identity that means the most important image you must have as a gangster is you must be
00:45:31 Fearless loyal and you can withstand pain because the police will catch you ironically the police also worship Wong Kong is very funny in Hong Kong and because they recreating you that that means in the family of gangster there is only one image you need to have you must be Fearless you must be tough you must withstand pain every other quality is irrelevant the fact that you actually kidnapping women and enslaving them is irrelevant the fact that you're selling drugs is irrelevant the fact that you're
00:46:03 destroying Society irrelevant because they remade God into this images the moment I remake you in your character as de you will treat other people with that and then you will create a family like that that is the biblical story you know let me give it to you in a very simple diagram this is not rocket science firstly what are your family Idol ask yourself that I give you three one you want your family members to conform to your expectations or in today's language this morning sermon language to your
00:46:35 image to your image of what a wife a husband a son a daughter should be to the image of upper class the thirdly the image of happiness I want you to pick this up a little bit and we go back to this diagram you see when Paul talks about wives husbands children brother Yul our chairman is going to give us on uh March 27 you must understand that Paul is sandwiching this text between two verses you know and the two verses talks about putting on something and to be like God put on a new self to be like God he ends the
00:47:17 chapter to put on the armor of God you notice that it's all about God meaning you cannot be a better wife a better husband better children better father mother if you're not putting on your new self either that you're treating the versus in isolation so let me tell you how you flow it my image of myself so let's use the gangster image if I see myself as Fearless as withstanding pain and loyal because I worship one Kong I will project my image to others in my family that means those are the value system I
00:47:59 will filter you with and when I filter you with that that's how my family will be so let me give you a more simpler example if say for example I came from a background where I was abused I developed great hatred for women because my mother really I'm going to be graphic now really make me feel bad I de velop a temper guess what happens when I meet a woman of my life I cannot control my temper but I will try to control her I will love her to bits but I will control her and when she steps out line
00:48:43 I'm going to hit her and then when I build a family those values are going to go in there because I'm going to have a wife who doesn't know when you're going to hit me but boy does he love me that's called being toxic because it kills your ability to think and you are torn and then your children see it and that's why to build any healthy family you start with the image of yourself I give you a simple example you're scared of loneliness you you you just scared your image is you must get married so you find this guy or
00:49:22 this girl and some me these young people they will be anything just to get a guy or a girl you know they went on on it's called coffee and bagel that that chat group The that the ABS okay I'm a bit into all of these things I check and then they find somebody suddenly this person changes you know why because they just want to get married just want to get married but that's why you you're not interested in hockey why are you still interested in hockey because he likes hockey why suddenly you into you're into K-pop why
00:49:52 you into K-pop because she likes K-pop but you don't like K-pop but I I'm trying to conform to the image because she likes K-pop you see where I'm going with this and then you you get married but you're not yourself you're not yourself and so when when that person changes you get insecure you will do man emotional manipulation to pull that person back to your image and guess what happens when you have children you see the biblical story is very simple to understand very hard to do and so scripture pulls us
00:50:24 back get your image right we are made in the image of God be authentic all you young people you're dating don't try to be someone else when you try to cow a girl or a guy tell them you're a geek and you follow gandal because you like lot of rings say and she likes K-pop say deal with it it's true isn't it you got an anger problem don't hide it you tell the girl you know I struggle with this I struggle with all sorts of things and be real but you say by the grace of God God I'm trying to be more Christlike would you look at me
00:51:01 like a slab of stone which God is chipping and then they will look you the same way you will look at them the same way and it will be I and thou you will be like God looking at Adam Adam looking at God before that fall and then you build a relationship and then you will ReDiscover the Garden of Eden you ReDiscover families and then you will go for and multiply and you will make disciples of all Nations and bring them to see what being Christlike is about amen you see this is a truth which is hard to process but very real I want to
00:51:46 I want to ask the worship team to come up and I want us to just I want us to sit on this and I I want I want us maybe this morning to just maybe quieten ourselves down and ask I want to ask you do you do you love who you are because you should you may be skinny you may be lonely you may be divorced you may have come from abused family love yourself you're made the image of God for those few of you who have that perfect little life you're are successful you got three kids in college is your image dead or is your
00:52:22 image Christlike can we have some just some I want us just to quieten now because if you don't get your image right the way you view others you will form relationship they are not authentic and when the other person sees you he will not see Christ he sees a desperate person trying to project an image to be accepted there and I think we need so much more authenticity in FBC and only can we do that can we build authentic bonds among ourselves and our family members so as a as as we quen down I I want us to just look at who we think we
00:53:08 are as the image says and how that affects the way you treat those you [Music] love and then I want us to give a chance quietly to repent and to reclaim that image in Christ and then when people see us they know that's the Bible speaking and walking Lord as we just quieten our hearts sometime truths are just so simple to speak but so hard to do that we can be so capable of such loving Behavior but we are so capable of hiding our insecurities because we don't want people to see that we do that by laughing and smiling but
00:54:00 we don't want we don't want people to know we lonely but and so if you are there we ask you this morning to come out and break free of that shackle don't put on that mask because you're made in the image of God and you reclaim that and you're being conformed and let us walk with you and slowly together we share our pain together perhaps you struggle because you don't really realze it but you practice emotional manipulation you do that because you're scared of losing somebody ask yourself do you use words
00:54:35 to your wife words to your husbands Words which are very subtle but they are painful words that put the other person down because you're scared if you if if if you just scared of losing [Music] them ask yourself are you trying to reconformation to the image of God perhaps some of you on the opposite end you you you think you got it made you see in the image of God but actually the image of yourself you got a successful career got a great life you just want everyone to listen to you has he ever considered that maybe
00:55:21 what you think is right is not what God wants and maybe this morning what the Lord is saying you know what you got to listen to your wife more you got to listen to your children more before you moralize and tell them what to do and tell them it's wrong because you don't realize they're going out there to say that my mom my dad they don't understand me I'm just putting up with this facade and and get the hell out of this place that I'm going to be who I want and if we do not want our next Generation to to to just
00:55:57 depart from us maybe for you you need to listen more but that's being the image of God or maybe you just struggle with violence and you you you you you have demons you you struggle with addictions and you can't get out of it and it affects your relationship and your your wife your husband suffers on it it could be a gambling it could be porn it could be addiction you could hit your wife and you don't want anyone to know and you comes from an insecure place and that image of you projects itself onto your
00:56:34 partner you made in the image of God you are that slab of marble and God is chipping away pick yourself up with the Holy Spirit Lord this morning move in our midst move in a powerful way move in a subtle way move in a way that that that just humbles us and so right right now here while we all seated and you feel the Lord speaks to you I just want you to do one thing and nothing else if the Holy Spirit prompts you would you just raise your hand no one's seeing just raise your hand and I can pray for you
00:57:09 can I just ask you in anything you felt God speak to you would you just raise your hand would you raise your hand please thank you thank you I see your hand thank you I see your hand thank you I see your hand thank you I see your hand at a back I see your hand anyone else you want to be a better husband a better father a better mother a better son would you humble yourself just raise your hand and put it down that's all I ask yes at the back forther back I see you at the back I see you I see you in
00:57:38 the front I see you thank you can put in the middle I see you I see you you can put your hand down Lord we pray we are all broken [Music] creatures we are like this slab of marble the Michel Angelo saw make us to be like the statue of David we claim that promise oh Lord why because scripture says for those who love you Lord we are being conformed to be the image of Jesus Christ and Those whom you have called you have Justified and we who are being justified we are being Sanctified and we are being
00:58:28 Sanctified we are being we will be glorified so we do not lose hope we cry ABA father we ask we become a community that's vulnerable we find out people in the church that walk with us that we can be accountable with we share our pain we don't let the word tell us we are insecure we are useless we are lousy fathers lousy human beings because we are divorced we are alone we not that pretty we a bit fatter we are poor we're not that talented we are made in the image of God and we claim that back and every day we walk to be
00:59:07 Christlike and as we go out there we will multiply and Make Disciples of the world and we will put our mark on this broken World make that our promise make that our goal and we say this in jesus' name amen God bless all of you we all and we will let the worship team take us to a time of responsive singing so let's stand as we respond we reflect upon the work of Christ on the cross we can thank him that although we have marked image of God that he came and he himself was marred he was scarred and
01:00:01 bruised for our shame for all iniquity Christ did it all that we may have new life to be made new to be a new creation So In Christ Alone we stand In Christ Alone we put our [Music] trust Christ Alone my hope is found is my life my strength my song This Cornerstone this Solid Ground through the fiercest TR and storm where hearts of love with deps of Peace when so when striving Seas my comforter My All In All here in the love of Christ I Stand Christ Alone who choke on flesh fullness of God In Hell the
01:01:48 SP this gift of love and righteousness Strong by the he to save to th Cross as Jesus di the of God was satisfied for every on him was here in the death of chist [Music] the [Music] ground L light of the world [Music] Darkness then Worship in Glorious Day up from the grave he rose again and as she sh victory since Cur has lost is bre for me for I am his and he is mine with a precious blood of Christ [Music] [Music] guil to life no fear in death this is the power of Christ in me eyes prescri to final
01:03:44 breath Jesus comms my [Music] destiny no power of hell no stream of man can ever before his hand to be oh behold here in the power of Christ of here in the power of Christ of [Music]
