Introduction
Let me begin with a discipleship question: will we trust and obey Jesus in the real decisions of everyday life? Christ forms us through truth received, repentance practiced, and obedience lived out.
Main Points
Grace and Justification
how many of you were here wednesday by the way just so about this half of the room and a couple of this half uh what i love about tom velasco and his ability to teach is that he does two seemingly impossible things at once in one sense he makes very complex truth so simple that you can just know it and understand it he can teach to any audience but the other thing that he does is he makes you leave there no longer feeling like a newborn in christ but feeling like a genius it's like wow i have some i have some ammo in my ability to communicate what i know about god and who god is and so let me share that ammo with you guys know if you were there wednesday but he gave us a word to really meditate on and this word was so foundational in what we can draw from the book of genesis it's a greek word so you don't hear me quote the greek often but tom does and the word was talos and talos is essentially this greek concept that looks for intrinsically the ultimate purpose in whatever you're studying what is the foundational thing that something was meant for or what is its ultimate achievement when will it finally arrive and throughout the book of genesis what we find is the telos of god that he will reveal to us in the book of the beginnings from the beginning of creation to the beginning of people that are set apart for him to the beginning of his intentions for mankind why god is doing what he's doing and i think that is so important for us to remember and receive that god does reveal himself through purpose in such a time as this and this is why i believe we're going from psalms which was worship and know god to genesis which we will find more and more the foundational truth upon which we stand as a church as people who want to know god more and follow him there is a reason that god has made us has called us and there is a reason that god has placed us where we are today and i love how tom drew this out he said the book of genesis is where the purpose is revealed and the bible gives us the purpose at the beginning and the perfection at the end so as we study through the book of genesis more and more and more will read and say this is why god does what he does and we're going to look at that specifically this morning and then by the time you get to the unfolding of the book as you read through the book of the bible and you find that common thread of who god is who he intended man to be and his redemptive power to perfect the purposes of the beginning this is where perfection happens is at the end so as we look to the end more and more in the day and age we live in is this the end is what's god doing is he setting the stage for something we're looking for the perfection of the purpose so now we study what will be perfected in the end what will be perfected as christ returns what is the perfection of this gathering what is the perfection of your life well it's all rooted in what you were made for so that's what we look at today the design of your life will draw some things from genesis 2 that are revealed in this book of the beginnings that were for the original design of course this wednesday we'll talk about how that design gets broken but as we study the design we realize how god is redeeming us back to his intended purpose for who we are so it says in genesis chapter 2 thus the heavens and earth and all of the host of them were finished and on the seventh day god ended his work which he had done and he rested on the seventh day from all of his work which he had done genesis chapter 1 an expose day by day of the creative power of god and as we look at that here is the great reminder of church this morning god is the one who puts it all into motion elementary but so important for us as we look for the foundation of purpose the first purpose that is revealed as you study the beginning is that god wants to be known that when you study the very first sentence it says in the beginning god when you think about your life and looking for purpose it begins and it also ends with the reality that it is god who makes everything god made the heaven and the earth god made everything that fills us and as we'll continue to read the writer moses will we'll talk about god resting sanctifying a day of rest setting into forth a model for us to build our lives that there is a day and a rhythm of rest to our life but then we continue on in verse 7. it says in verse 7 and the lord god formed man of the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life and man became a living being this is a foundational principle for the beginning of you not only seeking god with your life but also opening your heart to the reason that you were created here it is god made everything that we observable matter he made the heavens and the earth he put it all into motion and he filled it day by day saying this is a good creation everything god did day by day it is good and then he comes to the pinnacle of creation the final day the moment where the masterpiece will be completed and it says that god made man god made man to have life and i want i want you to look at the collision that exists in verse seven there is a great scientific statement that is given to us in the book of genesis it's not intended to be a science book but revealed in our design are all sorts of ways that we get insight into how god created the earth and creation reveals his creative power one of them god created man from dust our bodies as we now know scientifically are made up of the same chemical compounds that you find in the earth that what the book of the beginning says is that god created the earth and from the earth he takes man that's why we have a relationship that we have with the earth that we're there's something that we are connected to the earth in it's good for us to be part of nature it's good for us to express our pursuit of god by looking around us and seeing that he's placed us in a place that gives us revelation to who he is we are made of the same stuff as the earth that is a scientific fact that's a recent scientific fact in light of how long we've been around but the middle ages this was a scientific dark moment so the bible gives us insight into some truth that has always been there according to god's plan now it's a collision though because so often people uh want to find our purpose and our design simply by studying the science of our bodies and oftentimes you'll see people go astray by trying to remove god from the solution of how we got here but you can't and here's why it says that we are made from dust there is something to be studied about our scientific body that point us to our origins but then it says this and god breathed into the nostrils the breath of life this is something that you won't find under a microscope and this is something that you will not find in your pursuit of life apart from god because it doesn't exist we have not figured out that as far back as you can trace history and the code of the genome you will not find out what made the lump of clay of man turn into life you cannot find the spark of life outside of the divine breath that is given to man which means you cannot remove god from the pursuit of knowing yourself you can't remove god from the pursuit of trying to figure out where the beginning came from the spark of life comes from god he breathed it into man and god made us we not ourselves we think back to psalm 100 when we began our study in the psalms and now we look at it as we've ended our study in the psalms but what does it say we are the sheep of his pasture god made us we did not make ourselves for that reason let us enter into his gates with rejoicing in our hearts one of the challenges of the day and age we live in is that we find all sorts of answers to the problem and the conflicts of our life that do not begin and end with the reality of a creator god at the very beginning in the very middle and at the very end when you remove the pursuit of god for your pursuit of purpose and meaning you remove the one that brings life you didn't make yourself in fact even as you listen to me expose the scripture right now you are breathing god's air your god is causing your heart to beat in ways that you really can't control and god has a number of each one of us for the days that he's allowed us to live appointed each one of us to die and then comes judgment we do not get to decide how much time is on the meter and we don't get to decide the breath that's in our lungs and the heart that beats inside of us these are all god's gifts to us and as the psalmist says once you realize that no matter where you come from in the circumstances of this morning you come with reason to rejoice why because you're alive you're not alive because you made yourself alive you're alive because god allows you to keep breathing his air and keep enjoying the life that he gives you to live in your physical bodies and one of the gospel messages that we will preach this morning is there's a second life that all of us get an opportunity to live that's a breath that comes from the power of god's spirit that goes beyond the physical life but for right now we say rejoice and be glad and come into this place with reason to rejoice why because you can because once you're in the grave you don't rejoice and you have breath right now this is so foundational you came to church this morning and you're hearing this god's alive and so are you're thinking wow thanks i just came to church i got to scribble these notes so fast shockingly this is where we begin to stray so often in all of our lives we forget that we don't get to call the shots of our own life because it's not your life the new testament writers will go on to say that you've actually been purchased with a price your life is not your own and yet we lose the foundation of the beginnings because somehow when we come to an age that doesn't take long i think it comes at about 12 or 13. we tell our parents that we no longer need their advice and we're grateful the house that we live in but we can do everything better on our own that's a stage in life that comes physically to show us that it's a matter of time before it comes spiritually before we say you know i don't even know if there is a god i don't even know if i believe in god i don't know if i need god in my life because now that i'm enlightened as to who i am and what i'm capable of and the mind that i have by god i can do whatever i want you can't you've been bought with a price and your life is not your own uh there's the scottish uh reform pastor who has a quote about this that i'll share with you now because i think we really are at another fork in the road of the culture do we believe this is this something that we actually believe in the way that we live our lives and the way that we answer this question will define the future of our nation the future of our churches the future of your family and the future of your own pursuits of god here's what colin smith says when people come to believe that life is mean a meaningless accident as millions have in the last 100 years then human life becomes cheap and when it is cheap it becomes disposable whenever it is convenient first the unborn then the disabled then the elderly then those who are labeled a drain to society then those of the wrong color the wrong race and the wrong religion the kind of society that you will leave lead in the next century if christ doesn't come will we be determined by whether or not the next generation chooses to believe that we are accidents of history or that we are actually the special creation of an almighty god that is the that's the difference between a thriving church a thriving family a thriving nation a thriving generation and one that will go more and more and more towards meaningless despair which do we choose and the answer of that question is how you worship how do you worship the god that made you psalm 100 said if god is the shepherd and you are the sheep if you didn't make your life rejoice and be glad and serve him with gladness because he gave you the life that you have and we go on to realize that within the life that he has given us god doesn't do anything in the unfolding of the creation that he puts into motion by accident everything that he makes he says that is good in other words he says that it has a purpose we'll find that the creation has a purpose to be given to man that we would have dominion over it and that through the creation we would know god and we would find productivity and the and in this we find that man has a purpose to the creation you are here breathing heart beating listening learning not simply so that you can feel more comforted in your theology and then live a life that is somewhat meaningless until you get to the real payoff which is heaven you are here with a purpose and we find that as god breathes life into the first man and he breathes life into him and then does some very specific next steps for him to follow in the purpose that god designed for his life to live look what it says the lord god planted a garden eastward in eden and then he put the man whom he had formed in the garden it goes on to describe the details of that garden for the geographers among us the students of history you study this and you have to wonder where was this where was the garden that god made where was the original design of this it's worth finding out because it says that in this land there's really good gold it's kind of a parenthetical but if you can find it there's amazing gold there so if you do find it come back and share but it says something very important it says again in verse 15 then the lord god took the man and put him in the garden part of the description of the land and then twice the author says that the lord prepares the land and then puts the man in it part of the design part of the talos of man first man and of every single one of us here is to realize that god prepares a place for us to live and then he lovingly places us in us for us to do something he says he puts us he put man in the garden and in the garden of eden he gave it to him to tend it and to keep it so now we are finding within the original design some of the ways that we are encouraged to take part in the restorative design that god wants us to experience in a way that reflects the first design so first of all god puts us places i read that and i didn't plan on it but i read that and i thought amen to my design because so often as part of my own example of not really giving god credit for making my life sustaining my life providing for my life and ultimately owning my life i love to look around and think of all the places i'd like to put myself in physical ways i married daniela and she is from colombia and in colombia it is the land of 70 degree weather so every christmas or every winter i get around i'm like all right i got to get down to columbia full time 70 degrees all the time i want to go there we do that in the same way with the way that god puts us into certain occupations places gifts and talents we say this is where god has placed me but this is where i want to be here's part of your design god has prepared somewhere for man to live and to thrive and it's a place that he prepared and it's a place that you almost get a picture of god placing adam into when it was ready god has placed you god has placed all of us 2020 boise idaho calvary boise for such a time as this and why has he placed us here well he's got a design for our lives that includes some version of restoring the garden of his glory in this city for your life for now and that's ever shifting according to the call of god on your life i use habil as an example because as you'll read in the card that we pass out he went from iraq where god won his heart to jordan where god lifted built him up and trained him in the word to san diego where he began to pastor to boise idaho and many of you this morning can understand the san diego to boise planting right many of you have gone from southern california and god places you in a new garden and so here you are why god has placed us in the place of his choosing it says as he said to the first man to tend it and to keep it we are made to work we're made to receive the life that god has given us and then to look around and see that god has placed us somewhere very specific to tend and to keep the thing that god has surrounded us in so we're going to talk for just a second about the amazing gift of work that god gives us it's a joy when you find the work that god has for you to tend and to keep and to enjoy you are doing your you're doing your design you're doing that thing that god made you to do but we can't get ahead of ourselves because some of you know that you're called to work in an unhealthy way or too much in fact in this culture you don't really have to tell people to work we've got we've all got this desire in us to be busy and to do well and to and to work hard and the american dream is about working hard and your own pick yourself by your bootstraps and get the job done but look at the model that god has put in forth the lord wants us to work in the garden that he planted i often miss that part when you hear the sunday school version of adam in the garden in verse 8 it says the lord god planted the garden the lord made the garden grow it says he put trees and all sorts of fruit-bearing plants he has prepared the garden he is the one that turned the soil on the garden he is the one that made the garden grow not adam and then he says to adam take care of the work that i started this is a model that we find also in the genesis 1 creation account of god preparing the creation for five days and then giving man the final masterpiece of the crowning jewel of his creation the sixth day and then what happens on the seventh i don't think i can explain it better than watchmen knee this comes from an excerpt in his book sit walk stand where he's talking about the call of god in our lives to walk with the lord and stand up for christ but it starts with sitting and we find that our design comes in the very beginning that rest must precede work look what washmani says in the creation god worked from the first to the sixth day and rested on the seventh day first six days it is good it is good sixth day it is very good seventh day as we just read sanctified as the day of rest but he was busy his task that he set himself to was completed and he stopped working but where did adam stand in the relation to the rest of god adam we are told was created on the sixth day clearly then he had no part in those first six days of work for he came into being only at their end god's seventh day was in fact adam's first where god worked six days and enjoyed his sabbath rest adam began his life with sabbath for god works before he rests while man must first enter in to god's rest god works so that we can rest on his finished work god worked for five days and made man on the sixth and then god said it is time to enjoy join me in the rest that i have for the completed work and then god says here's a garden that i've already planted that i've already grown and now i give it to you so that's important for two reasons one we are all called and gifted to work for the mission field that god has placed us in for such a time as this but we must never think that we work our way toward god or that we work because god has given us work so that we can be approved by god we start with rest this is our first day of the week whatever god has planned for you to give him glory tomorrow morning whenever god has weighed a plan for you to have an opportunity to lay down your life as you serve one another and give a defense of the hope within you it comes from a place where you have enjoyed the presence of god where there is the fullness of joy and you've worshipped him you've been encouraged by his word and you've rested on this first day knowing that god has prepared all the work for you to walk in we are created in christ jesus for good works that he has prepared beforehand our job is to worship the lord and from this place of satisfaction and rest that we have in him with an overflow of the goodness of god we set forth to take part in the mission field that he's prepared before him that's the work as a believer but there's also a reason that this is so important to our design when we think about how we became believers when we think about how we became qualified to sit in the sanctuary as the family of god no longer slaves of fear now the spirit of adoption you are all sons and daughters of the king and how did we get here watch money goes on to say moreover it was because of the work on creation was truly complete that adam's life began with rest and here is the gospel that god has gone one stage further and he has completed also the work of redemption and that we need to do nothing whatever to merit it but can enter by faith directly into the values of his finished work on the cross as we continue to study the book of genesis we will find that the design goes awry and that we have been separated by that first primary foundational truth that we exist to acknowledge god as our maker and enjoy the good works that he has prepared for us and because of that we are in need of redemption we're a need to come back to the place of his goodness and how do we come back we finish we rest on the finished work of christ on the cross jesus christ died on the cross so that those of us all of us who have fallen short of god's glory could it change our sin our brokenness of the design for christ's perfection and it is that and that alone that we rest before we work we do not work to get salvation from salvation we work as witnesses to the power of god and then we go on to say within our purpose that there is a amazing work that god has given us that reveals his amazing love for us when uh two weeks ago tom velasco and myself pastor reggie and a few other people came went to medford oregon to uh be with tom during his father's funeral during that time we were able to stop by applegate community fellowship and i see some applegate people what an incredible church that was applegate is where john corson pastor john corson a long time pastor in the calvary chapel church network amazing teacher and we got to go and just sit we just got to rest in the sanctuary and he was teaching about faith hope and love these foundational truths that we all have to just cling to in these times but he said something that really struck me it was in fact one of the only notes that i took as i was listening i had to write that down and i'll share it with you now because in our design as we study this we actually get an amazing expression of the love that god has for every single one of us from this account and so i'll show you the quote that he has that i took from john corson now he says the greatest honor you can ever give someone is to trust them what about saying i love you well that's special in its own way but it isn't as honoring as trust i'm called to love everyone i love my enemies but it doesn't mean i trust them amen to trust someone is the ultimate expression of love to trust someone and isn't it true i mean we don't we get the picture of ultimate expression of humanly love coming up in the end of this chapter genesis chapter 2 when man and woman become one flesh and in our version of celebrating that moment as we watch it unfold between two men and women in our time we look at them as witnesses and we listen to them give a covenant of trust i trust you with my life i will die for you whether you get sick whether you're poor if you're healthy whether whatever happens you can trust that i'll never leave you and i'll never forsake yo
Conclusion
We return to the opening teaching: discipleship is not just information, it is transformation through faith and obedience to Jesus. If we receive His Word and walk it out, He will shape us into people who endure and bear fruit.
Lord Jesus, help me hear Your Word, obey it with faith, and grow as Your disciple. Amen.
Conclusion
We return to the opening teaching: discipleship is not just information, it is transformation through faith and obedience to Jesus. If we receive His Word and walk it out, He will shape us into people who endure and bear fruit.
Closing Prayer
Lord Jesus, help me hear Your Word, obey it with faith, and grow as Your disciple. Amen.