The Message

It is wonderful to be able to share with you a message that I believe will uplift and motivate you, and inspire you to realize the uniqueness you have as a special creation by God. We truly have been created by a Creator for a purpose and for a reason. There are six billion people on planet earth, every single one of us totally and completely unique, handpicked, hand created, hand carved, and shaped by God Himself. In recent messages we have looked at Genesis 1 and we have seen it is not a scientific explanation of how the world began as much as it is a spiritual realization of the sovereignty of God. God in His immensity and in His sovereignty was able to separate the light from the darkness. He was able to separate the lands and the waters. He was able to create an atmosphere. He was able to create vegetation. All that God created, He created for you and for me.

On days five and six in Genesis 1, we read that God created all of the life in the sea, all of the life in the air, and all of the life on the land. Then He specifically made Adam and Eve. I think about all the life in the air and then I think of the fact that if I were God, there are a couple creatures I probably wouldn't have made. I would be absolutely tickled pink if I didn’t have to deal with mosquitoes, especially at night; but, I am sure God knew what He was doing! God created all of the flying things. Then He created all of the things in the sea. If we look at the ocean and experience what is in the sea it is absolutely amazing. I love the ocean. It is the place where I go to experience the wilderness. I went to college in Holland, Michigan and I became head over heels in love with the wilderness. When I was in Michigan I would go to this huge wilderness park and I could throw a canoe in the river and I’d paddle up the Kalamazoo River and I would be a million miles from no where and it was absolutely beautiful and pristine and I loved that wilderness! After four years I knew that I had to come to Pasadena, California to get my graduate degree because I wanted to go to Fuller Seminary. When I came back to California, I discovered that I was very close to a different kind of wilderness. It is right off shore and it's called the Pacific Ocean. If you go two miles off shore you will see that it is a big ocean!

I love to see the life in the ocean. The best way to see life in the ocean is to go out there at night. If you go out in the ocean at night when it is pitch black, and hang a submersible light over the side of a boat it won't take very long and the first thing that will show up will be what we call the bugs. They look like a bunch of little worms and they look like bugs. They start off with a few hundred and then a few thousand and then it gets so thick it looks like you could just pick them up out of the water with your hand. It is absolutely amazing how thick they can get. Then, holy mackerel, guess what comes next? The mackerel, and they come and they start feeding on these little bugs; or, sometimes it might be the squid who come and feed on the bugs. Then, out in the darkness you hear a big splash. Occasionally all of a sudden, out from the water will come something leaping into the boat and it'll slam against the side of the boat and there it is laying in the light, a flying fish. He flies out of the water because the seals are chasing him. Sometimes there are sharks and who knows what else might show up, it is just amazing. It’s a wilderness!

I look at the sea that God has made, I look at the flying creatures and the amount of life on this planet and it is absolutely amazing. How many billions upon billions upon billions of insects and gnats and ants and bugs and sea life exist to this very moment? Then God created the land animals. He created all of the great things. He put the cattle in the hills and the cats in the jungles, it is all beautiful. God created all these wonderful creatures both great and small and what did He make them for? He made them for you and me! He made them so we can enjoy them. He made them so we could have dominion over them. He made this entire planet, this entire globe and everything on it and then He made Adam and He made Eve and He said, "This is my gift to you." The whole thing. My gift to you.

God created Adam and He created Eve. He created this incredible universe and He placed them in the center of it and said, "this is yours." We look at our lives and where we are today and we think "for Adam and Eve that was a great gift but now here we are. There are six billion people on planet earth, what makes me unique? Why would God care about me?" Let me take you back to the ocean on the boat at night. All of that life, billions of little insects, just in one little spot. Think about how many creatures there are on planet earth this very moment. For ten billion creatures on planet earth, there is one human being created by God. God created us with a special gift, a unique gift. That unique gift is what Michael Guillen calls SQ. Spiritual Quotient. Not only do we have the highest IQ intelligence quotient, but we are the only creature on planet earth built with SQ, a spiritual quotient. God gave us that quotient, the ability to be able to live in such a way that, out of thankfulness for everything He has given to us, and the responsibility that entails, we have the ability to worship and to thank Him. How do we worship and thank God? What is it that our lives are intended to do? What is it that God asks us to do? He asks us to "love one another as I have loved you."

Today I challenge you to love your neighbor as yourself. Do for others as you would have them do unto you. Care for this globe. As Christ said, "Care for the least of these, my children." God created the heavens and the earth. He put us here and He has given it to us. Thank You God, for we love You Lord, Amen.

Dear Heavenly Father we thank You that You have established the heavens and the earth. That You have established us as Your children, that You have established the universe and all that is within it because You have a plan for our lives. So help us to see and to believe and to move according to Your will to realize Your presence here today and always, Amen.