Origins, Images & Mirrors

Pacific Church

English - May 15, 2023 13:00 - 42 minutes - 39.3 MB - ★★★★★ - 8 ratings
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Three things to remember about your place in HIS story.

1. Your Origin Matters Gen 1:27-28a; 31a NRSV

So God created humankind in his image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them. 28 God blessed them, 31 God saw everything that he had made, and indeed, it was very good.

Genesis 5:1b-2 NRSV

When God created humankind, he made them in the likeness of God. 2 Male and female he created them and he blessed them and named them “Humankind” when they were created. Image: something that contains the essence of something else. Likeness: substance; expressing a resemblance

Colossians 1:15

The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.

2. Keep God at the Center

Acts 17: 26-29 NIV

26 From one man he made all the nations, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he marked out their appointed times in history and the boundaries of their lands. 27God did this so that they would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from any one of us. 28 ‘For in him we live and move and have our being.’ As some of your own poets have said, ‘We are his offspring.’ 29 “Therefore since we are God’s offspring, we should not think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone—an image made by human design and skill.

I Corinthians 15:49 NRSV

Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust we will also bear the image of the man of heaven.

Ephesians 2:10

For we are what he has made us, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand to be our way of life.

I Corinthians 15:57-58 NIV

But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. 58 Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.

John 14:12 NLT

'I tell you the truth, anyone who believes in me will do the same works I have done, and even greater works, because I am going to be with the Father.

Ephesians 4:24 NLT

Since you have heard about Jesus and have learned the truth that comes from him, 22 throw off your old sinful nature and your former way of life, 23 Instead, let the Spirit renew your thoughts and attitudes. 24 Put on your new nature, created to be like God—truly righteous and holy.

James 1:23-24 NIV

23 Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like someone who looks at his face in a mirror 24 and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like.

3. We Can Trust GOD and HIS Process I

Corinthians 13:12 NIV

For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.

Ezekiel 36:26-27 NIV

I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. 27 And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws.

2 Corinthians 3:17-18 NRSV

Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is there is freedom. 18 And all of us, with unveiled faces, seeing the glory of the Lord as though reflected in a mirror, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another; for this comes from the Lord, the Spirit.

Matthew 28:18-20 NRSV

And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and of the Holy Spirit and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always , to the end of the age.”

Questions

1. How does knowing you are made in the image and likeness of God affect how you view your natural origin story?

2. Have you ever had a season in your life when you felt distracted or off course? What would be the benefit of centering God in those moments?

3. Share an example of a time when you have trusted God and His process. How did it change your view of who He is in your life?