Exclusive by Dr. Abidan Shah

September 26, 2021 By in Uncategorized Leave a comment

EXCLUSIVE by Dr. Shah, Clearview Church, Henderson, NC

Introduction: The year was somewhere around 1979-80. I was in my dad’s library, and I saw this magazine with pictures of a movie that had come out a few years earlier. It was a space movie with spaceships and weird creatures from outer space. The movie was “Star Wars.” I was mesmerized! Since then, it has become a multimedia franchise with a total value of over $70 billion. Personally, I’m more of a Flash Gordon guy (Dale Arden, Dr. Zarkov, and Ming the Merciless, ruler of Mongo)! The point is that human beings have been fascinated with space since in ancient times. We want to know what’s out there and how it is connected to us. Unfortunately, it has taken on a very different turn in the past 100 years or so where it is believed that there is life out there. As you know, we are in our series on apologetics titled “CONTEND,” and some of the questions that came through the questionnaires were – “Is there life on other planets?” “Do you believe in aliens?” “What do you think about UFO sightings?” Here’s what we believe: God has exclusively designed the Earth to sustain and nurture life. Also, God has exclusively designed human beings to inhabit the earth and enjoy this world. Belief in alien life not only distorts the truth about creation, but it also devalues us and distracts us from the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Genesis 1     16 Then God made two great lights: the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night. He made the stars also. 17 God set them in the firmament of the heavens to give light on the earth, 18 and to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness. And God saw that it was good. 19 So the evening and the morning were the fourth day.

Context: In last weekend’s message, we learned how glorious the sun, the moon, and the stars are, and how they testify to the coming glorious resurrection for all of us. In today’s message, we’re going to learn how glorious the earth is in relation to the sun, the moon, and the stars. In other words, there is no place like home, our planet Earth. When people talk about life on other planets, its partly because they have not truly understood how amazing the Earth is (Paul Garner, Gary Bates, Sarfati):

  1. The Earth is unique compared to all the other planets in our solar system:
  • Jupiter is so big that it holds on to lighter toxic gases along with wind speeds of 435 m/h.
  • Mars (red planet) does not have enough mass to hold on to the atmosphere.
  • Venus is the Earth’s size but because of the thick layers of CO2, it is a hostile world for life
  • Mercury has temperature between – 173° F and 427°
  • Saturn (known for its ring systems) has density less than water. It would float on water. The Earth has the right size for gravity. Too much and we would get crushed. Too little and we would float away.
  • The Earth alone has the right atmosphere with the right mixture of oxygen and nitrogen. It also protects us from the billions of meteors and ultraviolet rays.
  1. The Earth is not too hot or too cold (like Goldilocks!). It is the right distance from the sun, and the oceans help regulate the seasonal temperature. 10% closer and we will be in a furnace. 10% farther and we would have icy deserts.
  2. The Earth is spinning at the perfect speed. Any faster or slower, the temperature would be unbearable and even produce violent weather.
  3. The Earth’s axis is titled to an angle of 5°. This gives us the 4 seasons. From April to September, the northern hemisphere is pointed towards the sun and from October to March the southern hemisphere is pointed towards the sun. If the tilt were more, polar ice would melt and cause mass flooding.
  4. The Earth is about 2/3 from the center of the Milky Way. Any closer and it would be too bright. Any farther and it would be too dark at night.
  5. The Earth is covered 70% by water. There are 70 billion gallons of water for every single person! It is perfect for us, the animals, and the plants. It allows for the hydrological cycle because it can exist as ice, liquid, and vapor. The Earth also has a lot of natural resources such as metals and wood.

I can go on and on, but the point is that as of 2016, scientists and astronomers have found about 2000 extrasolar planets and none of them can sustain and nurture life like our earth. But people have raised some objections to this fact:

  1. What is the purpose of the vast space?

If the universe is billions of light years across, it seems like an awful lot of wasted space. Isaiah 55        8 “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways,” says the LORD. 9 “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts.” Just like a baby sees his mom and dad as that familiar face who loves on him/her, plays with him/her, and takes care of him/her. The baby doesn’t realize there is so much more to the mom and dad. They may be professionals. They may have jobs and businesses. They may have advanced degrees. Although being a parent is at the top of the list, there is a lot more to them. We tend to see God within the confines of our life and our world. The vastness of the universe is to teach us that God is so much more. Although being our heavenly father is at the top of the list, there is a lot more to God.

  1. Does intelligent life in space contradict the Bible?

Three things here: first, if there were intelligent life out there, there should have been some contact by now; second, our radio signals through SETI (Search for Extra Terrestrial Intelligence) have only resulted in total silence; third, listen to David in Psalm 8        3 “When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, the moon and the stars, which You have ordained, 4 What is man that You are mindful of him, and the son of man that You visit him?5 For You have made him a little lower than the angels, and You have crowned him with glory and honor.” If human beings are created a little lower than the angels, then we are the next in ranking order. Some might claim that there may be inferior life forms like bacteria somewhere in space. No evidence thus far. In fact, when they were sending the Curiosityrover to Mars, swabs to the surface found 65 species of bacteria after a sterilization process. One of the administrators of the project said, “We know there’s life on Mars already because we sent it there!

  1. How about all the UFO sightings and alien encounters?

In the past 100 years or so, so many claims have been made regarding UFOs and aliens. I don’t have time to go into details. A great resource is Gary Bates, “Alien Intrusion.” These sightings and encounters are a combination of 3 things:

  • Hoax: Most of the stories, pictures, and videos have been proven to be lies. Some of the pictures of spaceships were cake pans and hubcaps. It’s about money and 15 minutes of fame.
  • Misidentification: Planet Venus, Meteors, Satellites, Space Shuttles, Weather Balloons, Northern and Southern Lights, Birds, Aircraft, Sun’s reflection, car headlights, streetlights, kites, insect swarms, and especially government military aircraft that hasn’t been made public. The last one was especially crucial through the Cold War years.
  • Truth: Not all these alien encounters were lies. Some were actually telling the truth, but they were not aliens. They were demonic forces who were tormenting and terrorizing them. Those who became Christians realized that it was the Enemy who was deceiving them. It happened because they opened their mind to evil – Ouija boards, dark activities, music, drugs, abuse, etc. What is the solution? Acts 16:18 And this she did for many days. But Paul, greatly annoyed, turned and said to the spirit, “I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her.” And he came out that very hour.
  1. Is the root cause science fiction?

No. The root cause is evolution. Think of C. S. Lewis writing the Chronicles of Narnia or Tolkien writing “The Lord of the Rings.” There is nothing wrong using imagination, but evolution goes far beyond imagination to false reality.

  • It devalues the creation account in the Bible.
  • It devalues human beings.
  • It devalues the impact of sin on the whole creation/universe. Romans 8 19 “For the earnest expectation of the creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of God. 20 For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it in hope; 21 because the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God.”
  • It devalues the sacrifice of Jesus once and for all. Romans 6:10 “For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God.”
  • It devalues the coming plan of God to remake the heavens and the earth. 2 Peter 3 12 looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be dissolved, being on fire, and the elements will melt with fervent heat? 13 Nevertheless we, according to His promise, look for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells. Revelation 21:1 “Now I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away.”

Invitation: Do you realize how exclusive you are? Do you realize how exclusive is the plan of salvation? Do you realize that this is the way, and it is through Jesus Christ?

Brightness by Dr. Abidan Shah

September 17, 2021 By in 2021, Age, America, Apologetics, application, Authority, Bible, Biblical convictions, Bitterness, born again, children, Christ, Christian Life, Church, Discouragement, Doctrine, Encouragement, Eternal Life, Faith, Fellowship, Forgiveness, Glory, God the Father, God's will, gospel, Grace, healing, Hermeneutics, History, Holy Spirit, Hope, Humility, Integrity, Jesus, Judge, King Jesus, Law, Life of Christ, Light, Logic, love, mercy, Millennials, Mind, ministry, Mother, Pastor, Patience, Peace, People, Prayer, Pride, religion, repentance, rest, Resurrection, Revival, Sacrifice, Salvation, Savior, scripture, sermon, Sorrow, Stress, Time Management, Together, Translation, Truth, Uncategorized, Unity, Values, Wisdom, young people Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

BRIGHTER by Dr. Shah, Clearview Church, Henderson, NC

Introduction: It was on July 20, 1969, when two American astronauts Neill Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin walked on the moon. This was part of the Space Race between the United States and USSR. After several attempts and setbacks, Apollo 11 took off from the Kennedy Space Center and travelled 240,000 miles in 76 hours as hundreds of millions of people were watching. Anybody remembers the words of Armstrong – “That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.” The whole Apollo program cost about $24 billion dollars (That’s about $100 billion in today’s money) and incredible manpower. Even recently, the Solar Dynamics Observatory has been launching semi-autonomous spacecrafts into space to capture solar variability and its impact on the earth. It takes pictures and studies Sun’s magnetic field and energy. Then there is the Solar Orbiter, the joint mission between the European Space Agency and NASA. Its goal is to figure out how the sun creates and controls the heliosphere, the outermost atmospheric layer of the sun. Finally, how many of you have heard of Elon Musk’s SpaceX. Just yesterday, 4 non-astronauts returned to earth after 3 days in space. Wow! I can go on and on. Here’s the point: Ever since the beginning of time, human beings have been fascinated by space, especially the sun, the moon, and the stars. God has made them to give us light, signs, and seasons, and time. They testify to his benevolence and mercy, even towards those who reject him. They even remind us of the glorious resurrection coming for each of us.

Genesis 1       14 Then God said, “Let there be lights in the firmament of the heavens to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs and seasons, and for days and years; 15 and let them be for lights in the firmament of the heavens to give light on the earth”; and it was so. 16 Then God made two great lights: the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night. He made the stars also.

Context: We now come to Day 4 of Creation week. So far, God has created the earth from the watery matrix followed by space (atmosphere and outer space) and light. Then, he created land and separated the seas. After this, he created the plant life. Now, he turned his attention to the expanse above. He started by making two great lights (one is greater than the other) and the stars. Let’s focus on each of these for a moment (Sarfati):

  1. Greater Light to Rule the Day – SUN

Typically, those who don’t believe in creation, they like to say that the Sun is nothing special. It is just a star in the spiral arm of the Milky Way Galaxy. Not true.

  • It is big. Its volume is over 1 million times that of the earth, which means over 1 million earths can fit inside the sun. (Compare it to the earth and then other stars.)
  • It is not too big or else it would swallow all the inner planets. By the way, it is a single star compared to the mostly multiple star systems.
  • It is bright. Its surface temperature is 10,000°F and its core temperature is 28,000,000°F. But, if it stopped shining, everything would start freezing in a few hours. The atmosphere would “condense, liquify, and freeze to entomb the entire Earth with a thirty-foot casing of solid air at the temperature of deep space, about 400 degrees Fahrenheit below zero” (Unruh).
  • It is not too bright like the blue-white supergiant Rigel which is about 120,000 brighter than the sun.
  • It is powerful. It is like a gigantic hydrogen bomb, converting 4 million tons of matter into energy every second.
  • It is an exceptionally stable star, despite the periodic flares. Some stars fluctuate between 10% to 150,000%. Also, the sunspot activity may be responsible for the climate change, if any, rather than the greenhouse gases. We will see this later.
  • It is in the right position in the Galaxy. If it were too near the inner galaxy, it would be exposed to supernovae (star explosion).
  • It is only about 6000 years old. If the earth was 4.5 billion years old, then the sun would be 25% brighter today than back then. Also, the earth would have been –3° C at that time. That was not the case.
  • It is white in color. It is all colors mixed but can be separated into a rainbow. “When the sun is low in the sky, at sunrise or sunset, it may appear red, orange, or yellow, because its outer (shorter wavelength) colors are scattered by the earth’s atmosphere and only the red, orange, or yellow get through the atmosphere for us to see” (Sarfati).
  1. Lesser Light to Rule the Night – Moon

Again, some people try to minimize the special nature of the moon by addressing the satellites of other planets as moons. That is not true. It refers to the earth’s natural satellite:

  • It has no light of its own. It is mostly because it is covered in basalt. This also helps it shine brightly.
  • Its diameter is 1/4th that of the earth. It is the perfect night light.
  • It orbits the earth once a month. Hence, we have the regular cycle of phases (new moon, first quarter, full moon, last/third quarter).
  • It keeps the oceans If you’ve been to the ocean, you know that the levels fall and rise twice a day. As the moon orbits the earth and the earth orbits the moon, the earth pulls on the moon and so does the moon pull on the earth. This is called differential force. It stretches both the earth and the moon along the imaginary line connecting the center of the two bodies. This results in high tides on both sides of the earth. It is not the moon’s gravity that is pulling the water. If that were the case, all our ponds, lakes, and bathtubs would also have water rising. Instead, the force is parallel to the surface and not very strong. But, when you multiply the force over a large body of water like the ocean, it is noticeable. The sun also causes tides but since it is far away, it is only half as powerful. Overall, tides keep the oceans shorelines clean and circulate oxygen and nutrients in shallow seas.

It is often claimed that the moon was formed by a chunk breaking off from the earth or it was captured by the earth’s gravitational pull as it was floating through the solar system or it came out of a dust cloud or it was the result of an impact on the earth. How foolish!

  1. STARS

We will go over this later in another message. Here, it will suffice to note that the estimate for the number of stars is somewhere about 1022. According to Sarfati, “the number is so vast that even using a computer that could count a trillion of these every second, it would take over 300 years to count this high.” The nearest one is 26 trillion miles away. If we go by light years, it is 4.3 light years away. Each one is unique.

Is it any wonder that human beings have been fascinated by the Sun, Moon, and Stars! Every ancient culture had some form of solar worship. The Egyptians referred to the sun as the god Khepri, Re, Atum, Aton, and Amon-Re. He was looked upon as the creator and judge who could see everything and knew everything. Among the Mesopotamians, the sun was the god Shamash, the god of justice. Similar worship is also found in the Ugaritic and Canaanite pantheons. In Sanskrit (Ancient Indian language), the Sun is referred to as “Mitra” or “Friend” to represent the warmth, the sustenance, and optimism its light brings to mankind. So also, the Aztecs, Chinese, Japanese, Persians, and Romans worshipped the sun. In fact, the Romans named each day of the week after their gods and matched them with the sun, moon, and five planets. This system was adapted by the Germanic people who substituted the Roman gods with their own. The Europeans worshipped Sól (Old Norse), which was known as Sun or Sunna in Old High German. Hence, the first day of the week is “Sunday,” literally “sun’s day.”

The Hebrews, the Children of Israel, and the Jewish people knew better. Right from Genesis, God had told his people that the sun, moon, and stars were his creation. He even did signs to prove that he was the Creator – Joshua ordered the sun and the moon to stay in the battle against the Amorites, and King Hezekiah got a sign of the sun going back ten degrees as a promise that God would heal him. Nonetheless, God’s people fell into the same trap as the pagan world. 2 Kings 23:5 Then he (Hilkiah the high priest on King Josiah’s command) removed the idolatrous priests whom the kings of Judah had ordained to burn incense on the high places in the cities of Judah and in the places all around Jerusalem, and those who burned incense to Baal, to the sun, to the moon, to the constellations, and to all the host of heaven.” Because of worshipping these heavenly bodies, God’s judgment came upon them, and they were exiled. Later in the Gospels, Jesus (the Creator of the Trinity) also prophesied the future of his creation: Matthew 24:29 “Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken.”

Bottom Line: Each of these heavenly bodies are not only unique, but they have their unique purpose and function.

1 Corinthians 15      12 Now if Christ is preached that He has been raised from the dead, how do some among you say that there is no resurrection of the dead?…In the early church, there were some who were beginning to doubt whether there was going to be a resurrection. Paul wrote to encourage and reason with them why this was a must. Let’s drop down to verse 38 where something very interesting and pertinent to our message is mentioned – 38But God gives it a body as He pleases, and to each seed its own body. For starters, the giving of a new resurrected body is because of God’s goodness. 39 All flesh is not the same flesh, but there is one kind of flesh of men, another flesh of animals, another of fish, and another of birds. It is appropriate and natural to us. There is nothing odd and weird here. 40 There are also celestial bodies and terrestrial bodies; but the glory of the celestial is one, and the glory of the terrestrial is another. It is a glorious body that cannot be compared with anything down here. 41 There is one glory of the sun, another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars; for one star differs from another star in glory. Paul appeals to the analogy from creation. Even though the sun, moon, and stars are all celestial bodies, their glory (specialty, purpose, luster) is different. So also, our glory will be different now. 42 So also is the resurrection of the dead. The body is sown in corruption, it is raised in incorruption. 43 It is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness, it is raised in power. 44 It is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body. 45 And so it is written, “The first man Adam became a living being.” The last Adam became a life-giving spirit. If you want to see a pattern of what is coming for us, look to Jesus.

Malachi 4       1 “For behold, the day is coming, burning like an oven, and all the proud, yes, all who do wickedly will be stubble. And the day which is coming shall burn them up,” says the LORD of hosts, “That will leave them neither root nor branch. 2 But to you who fear My name the Sun of Righteousness shall arise with healing in His wings; and you shall go out and grow fat like stall-fed calves.

Matthew 17      1 “Now after six days Jesus took Peter, James, and John his brother, led them up on a high mountain by themselves; 2 and He was transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun, and His clothes became as white as the light.”

Revelation 1       14 “His head and hair were white like wool, as white as snow, and His eyes like a flame of fire; 15 His feet were like fine brass, as if refined in a furnace, and His voice as the sound of many waters; 16 He had in His right hand seven stars, out of His mouth went a sharp two-edged sword, and His countenance was like the sun shining in its strength.”

Every time we step out and see the Sun in the daytime or the moon and the stars in the nighttime, they should remind us of the glory that is coming for us through Jesus Christ. Sometimes, we feel so worthless and pale considering our struggles and weaknesses. Look to the stars and remind yourself of the glory that is coming for you.

C. S. Lewis – “Each day we are becoming a creature of splendid glory or one of unthinkable horror” (Mere Christianity). “It is a serious thing to live in a society of possible gods and goddesses, to remember that the dullest and most uninteresting person you can talk to may one day be a creature which, if you saw it now, you would be strongly tempted to worship, or else a horror and a corruption such as you now meet, if at all, only in a nightmare. All day long we are, in some degree, helping each other to one or other of these destinations. It is in the light of these overwhelming possibilities, it is with the awe and the circumspection proper to them, that we should conduct all our deal- ings with one another, all friendships, all loves, all play, all politics. There are no ordinary people. You have never met a mere mortal. Nations, cultures, arts, civilizations—these are mortal, and their life is to ours as the life of a gnat. But it is immortals whom we joke with, work with, marry, snub, and exploit—immortal horrors or everlasting splendours” (The Weight of Glory)

Invitation: How do you see the creation in the sky? How do you see yourself? How do you see others? How do you see Jesus?

Reflection by Dr. Abidan Shah

September 10, 2021 By in 9/11, America, Christian Life, God's will, Life, United States of America Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

REFLECTION by Dr. Shah, Clearview Church, Henderson, NC

Introduction: This weekend, it has been 20 years since September 11, 2001. Anytime people talk about what took place on that day, they always add where they were that morning – “I was on my way to work and the radio was on,” or “I was getting breakfast at a restaurant and the TV was on,” or “I was asleep and my family/friend called me and told me to turn the TV on,” and on and on. How many of you remember what you were doing that morning? Personally, it was a busy morning in our home. My dad was visiting with us. In fact, he was preaching revival meetings at our church in Henderson, which was in a different location at that time. Nicole’s mom had also come to help us. Nicole had just returned from taking Rebecca to school. My dad was watching the news on TV and there was something about a plane hitting the North Tower of the World Trade Center. We didn’t think much of it until 17 minutes later another plane hit the South Tower. Then the most chilling words that I’ve ever heard came from the TV announcer – “Ladies and Gentlemen, I believe we are under attack. America is under attack.” I also remember my dad saying, “That is the work of Bin Ladin.” I had never heard that name before, none of us had, but it didn’t stop there. At 9:37 am, a third plane hit the West Side of the Pentagon, where our very own David and Evelyn Woodson were working. They narrowly escaped. Finally, about 10:03 am, Flight 93 crashed into a field near Shanksville, Pennsylvnia. It was probably targeted towards the White House or the Capitol Building. Through the heroic efforts of the passengers, the plan of the hijackers was foiled. Altogether, about 2,977 people died, among them were 340 firefighters and 72 police officers. Thousands were injured and billions of dollars were lost in damages. It was the deadliest terrorist attack in history. The attack was on much more than life and property. It was on our American way of life, a life that our founding fathers envisioned, and many gave their lives for it. Before I preach this message titled “REFLECTION,” let’s stand together for a moment of silence.

Micah 4:4 “But everyone shall sit under his vine and under his fig tree, and no one shall make them afraid; For the mouth of the LORD of hosts has spoken.”

Context: This verse was a very important verse in the founding of these United States. In fact, it contains the ideals that make us a great nation, and the solution to how to get them back. Before we see why that is, we need to understand its original context. Micah was a prophet of the southern kingdom of Judah who lived around the same time (740 BC – 690 BC) as Isaiah. Although he primarily preached to the southern kingdom, he also prophesied to the northern kingdom. In particular, he addressed the royal cities of Samaria (north) and Jerusalem (south). The problem was on two fronts: moral decadence inside and military invasion outside. Spiritually, it was very bad in the north, but the south was not too far behind. Some prophets were promising that God was going to come through and everything will be fine, but they were false prophets (Micah 1:3-7). Micah warned the people that God’s judgement was on the way. He told the southern kingdom not to try to build an alliance with Assyria. The Assyrian army under Tiglath Pileser was going to march south against Israel in the north. Once they were done destroying them, they were going to come after the south. Just as prophesied by Micah and others, the Assyrians came down Israel’s coastal plain into Philistia and one by one captured every city along with way, starting with Damascus in Syria and then Galilee. Then, he died, and people thought that it will be all good, but his son, Shalmaneser, came to power. He put down the rebellion and deported the people of the north into exile (722 BC). This was the Assyrian Exile. Now, the remaining southern kingdom tried to make a deal with Egypt and then with Babylon, even though God had warned them not to go here nor there but turn to him. After Shalmaneser came Sargon and after Sargon came Sennacherib. He was ruthless. He laid siege to 46 strong cities and countless villages along the path. In fact, in a place called Lachish, archaeologist found a huge pit where the Assyrians dumped some 1500 bodies, throwing pig bones and trash on them and covering it up. Next, he turned towards Jerusalem and had Hezekiah hemmed in as a “bird in a cage.” He bragged about it on his prism which is now in the British museum. Jerusalem was overrun with refugees and had become about 3-4 times its size. Micah 2:12 “I will surely assemble all of you, O Jacob, I will surely gather the remnant of Israel; I will put them together like sheep of the fold, Like a flock in the midst of their pasture; They shall make a loud noise because of so many people.”

Application: Can you imagine what the south, especially Jerusalem, must have been like? Can you imagine how the people must have felt? Can you imagine how they must have looked back to the glory days of David and Solomon? Can you see the parallels?

Then, King Hezekiah repented. Listen to his prayer – 2 Kings 19      15 Then Hezekiah prayed before the LORD, and said: “O LORD God of Israel, the One who dwells between the cherubim, You are God, You alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth. You have made heaven and earth. 16 Incline Your ear, O LORD, and hear; open Your eyes, O LORD, and see; and hear the words of Sennacherib, which he has sent to reproach the living God. 17 Truly, LORD, the kings of Assyria have laid waste the nations and their lands, 18 and have cast their gods into the fire; for they were not gods, but the work of men’s hands—wood and stone. Therefore they destroyed them. 19 Now therefore, O LORD our God, I pray, save us from his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that You are the LORD God, You alone.” Listen to God’s answer – 2 Kings 19      32 “Therefore thus says the LORD concerning the king of Assyria: ‘He shall not come into this city, Nor shoot an arrow there,Nor come before it with shield, Nor build a siege mound against it. 33 By the way that he came, By the same shall he return; And he shall not come into this city,’ Says the LORD. 34“For I will defend this city, to save it For My own sake and for My servant David’s sake.’ ” 35And it came to pass on a certain night that the angel of the LORD went out, and killed in the camp of the Assyrians one hundred and eighty-five thousand; and when people arose early in the morning, there were the corpses—all dead. 36 So Sennacherib king of Assyria departed and went away, returned home, and remained at Nineveh.” His own sons killed him as he was worshipping in the temple of Nisroch, his god. According to Herodotus (Greek historian from the 5th century BC), Pharaoh Sethos of Egypt had a dream that a deity was going to fight Sennacherib and that night an army of field mice got into the Assyrian camp and destroyed their weapons. More than likely, this was the bubonic plague.

Application: With all the craziness happening in our country and our world, are we stopping to ask what is God trying to tell us? Could it be that God is bringing us to a point where we are like a “bird in a cage?” Are we going to repent like Hezekiah?

When we truly repent, then God gives us a message of hope. After there was repentance, God gave Micah a vision of the New Jerusalem. Micah 4        1 Now it shall come to pass in the latter days That the mountain of the LORD’S house Shall be established on the top of the mountains, And shall be exalted above the hills; And peoples shall flow to it. 2 Many nations shall come and say, “Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, To the house of the God of Jacob; He will teach us His ways, And we shall walk in His paths.” For out of Zion the law shall go forth, And the word of the LORD from Jerusalem. 3 He shall judge between many peoples, And rebuke strong nations afar off; They shall beat their swords into plowshares, And their spears into pruning hooks; Nation shall not lift up sword against nation, Neither shall they learn war anymore. 4 But everyone shall sit under his vine and under his fig tree, And no one shall make them afraid; For the mouth of the LORD of hosts has spoken.”

The Vine and the Fig Tree – It is found 2 other times in the Old Testament. First one is the past glory under Solomon in 1 Kings 4:25 “And Judah and Israel dwelt safely, each man under his vine and his fig tree, from Dan as far as Beersheba, all the days of Solomon.”Second one is like Micah about the future New Jerusalem in Zechariah 3:10 In that day,’ says the LORD of hosts, “Everyone will invite his neighbor Under his vine and under his fig tree.’ ” These two things (Vine and Fig Tree) were symbols of life, vitality, and fertility (Daniel Dreisbach). They both take years of patience and cultivation. They are symbols of peace and security.

Micah 4:4 was George Washington’s favorite Bible verse. He quoted it as much as 50 times, especially in the last half of his life. People often question his faith because he did not say much in public about Jesus Christ. Most of the time, he used vague terms like Providence (270 times), The Governor of the Universe, Higher Cause, Great Ruler of Events, All Wise Creator, The Great Spirit, and the Supreme Dispenser of all Good (Thomas Fea). Sometimes, clergy would try to pin him down, but he would always wiggle his way out. Hence, some claim that he was a deist or a 17th century Anglican or a Latitudinarian. What is the truth? Washington was a very wise man. He was operating from a Christian perspective and there were many Christians denominations at that time. He wanted to make sure that all of us would have the freedom to exercise the faith according to our conscience. In his personal letters and church involvement, you find out that he was a very religious person who knew Jesus Christ as his Savior. What is the connection to Micah 4:4? He knew the peril that we were in as a newly formed nation. He knew that without God we were doomed. His hope was to help create a nation that would exemplify what the New Jerusalem would look like one day (from Lillbach):

  • To Marquis de Lafayette, June 19, 1788: “…every one (under his own vine and fig-tree) shall begin to taste the fruits of freedom…”
  • To the Hebrew congregation of Newport, August 17, 1790: “…every one shall sit in safety under his own vine and fig-tree, and there shall be none to make him afraid.”
  • To Landon Carter, October 17, 1796: “…in the shades of Mount Vernon under my Vine and Fig Tree; where at all times I should be glad to see you.”
  • Doctor James Anderson, April 7, 1797: “I am once more seated under my own Vine and Fig tree, and hope to spend the remainder of my days…”
  • To the Secretary of the Treasury, May 15, 1797: “…if ever this happens it must be under my own Vine and Fig tree as I do not think it probable that I shall go beyond the radius of 20 miles from them.”
  • To John Quincy Adams, June 25, 1797: “I am now, as you supposed the case would be when you then wrote, seated under my Vine and Fig-tree; where, while I am permitted to enjoy the shade of it, my vows [i.e. prayers] will be continually offered for the welfare and prosperity of our country…”
  • To the Earl of Buchan, July 4, 1797: “…as my glass is nearly run, I shall endeavor in the shade of my Vine and Fig tree…”

His “vine and fig tree” was his ancestral home, Mount Vernon. He had to go away from it for extended periods of time, but he loved coming home. Before and after office, they constantly had guests over. It was rare not to have guests and even strangers at their dinner table. It was his refuge. It brought him happiness. This is what he wanted for everyone who came to this land and was willing to work for it. His “vine and fig tree” represented 3 things that the founding fathers believed represented America (from Dreisbach):

  1. Freedom from Want
  2. Freedom from Fear

How about the slaves that he had? Yes, we cannot ignore that question or bulldoze it, especially in today’s culture. When Lafayette asked him about abolishing slavery, Washington was concerned about the Union. Also, when the Quakers wanted to do the same, he knew it would tear up the Union. He made his statement by his own example. He freed all 123 of his slaves when he died.

Today, we will be taking up on offering for the refugees that are here. They are the Afghan families that were working with our troops and had to flee when Taliban took over. The Raleigh Baptist Association contacted us for help, and we are. What if there are some bad people? If they take God’s money and use it for evil, God will retrieve it. We will do our part as Americans. That’s what makes us different.

  1. Freedom of Religion

John 8      34 Jesus answered them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, whoever commits sin is a slave of sin. 35 And a slave does not abide in the house forever, but a son abides forever. 36Therefore if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed.

Invitation: Has there been repentance in your life? Are you truly free? Are you ready for the New Jerusalem? Are you praying for our nation today?

Flourish by Dr. Abidan Shah

September 3, 2021 By in 2021, America, Apologetics, Bible, bible study, Biblical convictions, Christ, Christian Life, Church, Community, Conflict, Discipleship, Doctrine, Encouragement, Eternal Life, Faith, God the Father, God's Timing, God's will, gospel, Grace, healing, Hermeneutics, History, Holiness, Holy Spirit, Hope, Humility, Integrity, Israel, Jesus, joy, King Jesus, Kingdom of God, Life, Life of Christ, Light, Logic, love, mercy, Mind, ministry, Obedience, Old Testament, Patience, Peace, Persecution, Praise, Prayer, Relationships, religion, repentance, Sacrifice, Salvation, Savior, scripture, sermon, Stress, Success, Trial, Truth, Uncategorized, Unity, Values, Wisdom Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

FLOURISH by Dr. Shah, Clearview Church, Henderson, NC

Introduction:  One of our kids’ favorite movies is the computer animated science fiction WALL-E. It is set in the year 2805 AD when the Earth has become a barren wasteland, overrun with trash from years and years of mass consumerism. A 5-year plan to clean up the planet is initiated while humans are somewhere in space in a fleet of star liners. Unfortunately, the plan fails and the countless WALL-Es (Waste Allocation Load Lifter – Earth Class) are shutdown, except for one. For 700 years, this one last WALL-E is still going about his day trying to clean up until one day he finds a seedling plant. As you know, he also meets a probe named EVE (she was given that name for a reason). What is relevant for our message is that the tiny green plant was the sign that Earth had become habitable. In today’s message in our apologetic series, we will also learn how God strategically began with the creation of the plant life. Here are some questions: “If the sun was not created until Day 4, how could plants survive on Day 3?” “I’ve heard of the bionic leaf. Does it mean that we can make plants now?” Main point: God has made every blade of grass, every flower in the field, every fruit on the tree, and every bush and mighty oak in the forest. They all testify to his SAP – his sustenance, his artistry, and his promises towards us. Let’s not forget – Jesus bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness.

Genesis 1:11 Then God said, “Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb that yields seed, andthe fruit tree that yields fruit according to its kind, whose seed is in itself, on the earth”; and it was so.

Context: After God created the waters and land on the third day of creation, he created the plant kingdom. Three things are mentioned: Grass (deshe), Plants (eshev), 3. Trees (ets). This does not mean that there are 3 different kinds of plants. The first (deshe) refers to vegetation generally. It emphasizes the lush greenery over a previously earthy land surrounded by water. The other 2 are the main classifications: plants that bear seeds outside and plants that bear fruits with seeds inside. The main reason for giving us plants is Genesis 1      29 And God said, “See, I have given you every herb that yields seed which is on the face of all the earth, and every tree whose fruit yields seed; to you it shall be for food. 30Also, to every beast of the earth, to every bird of the air, and to everything that creeps on the earth, in which there is life, I have given every green herb for food”; and it was so. Human beings (adults) require about 2000 food calories per day. That is about 8000 kJ (kilojoules). We need energy, especially from the sun. A plant produces about 100 calories per square meter of leaf surface facing the sun in one day. That is about 420 kJ. Plants are stationary and they can gain this energy. How about us? We gain that energy as we consume the plants that function as solar energy concentrators. God thought of everything! The phrase “according to its kind” is added to emphasize the “self-perpetuation” of the plant kingdom.

Can you imagine the change in the earth in just a matter of 3 days! At first, it was just plain black and white of the watery matrix. Then, comes the sky and the sea, which brings the blue color. Now, with the creation of the green plants, there is another color added to the spectrum. On day four, there will be the sun, which will bring yellow and orange. Finally, with the creation of the sea creatures and birds on day five and animals and humans on day six, there will be the red color and some of the variations. By day 7, there will be the entire spectrum of the rainbow colors – Violet, Indigo, Blue, Green, Yellow, Orange, and Red. How beautiful!

Application: God is the only one who can bring color into our colorless world. The world has been trying to copy and steal this, but it belongs to him. He can do that in your life as well. It happens when you receive Christ as your Savior. Have you done that?

According to evolutionary theory, it could not be this simple (Roger Patterson listed the following development of plants according to evolution):

  • Plants began as green algae and went through many adaptations to go from water to land.
  • Fossil evidence for plants comes from 400 million years ago. By the way, there is not a single fossil series, transition from one form to another.
  • Symbiosis helped plants survive on land.
  • Initially, the forests were filled with giant ferns and cycads (thick and woody stem with large and hard leaves). These became our fossil fuels today.
  • Next came the seed plants, followed by vascular plants (fossils around 375 million years ago), and finally flowering plants (fossils around 130 million years ago).

The main problem has to do with the process of photosynthesis. Simply speaking, it is the process by which plants take in carbon dioxide and sunlight and through the process of photosynthesis give out glucose and oxygen. This not only gives the plants the food they need to survive, but also gives us the oxygen we need to breathe. Top scientists from top institutions with top credentials and top technology have been trying to replicate it with very meager results. I did some research on the latest in plant physiology. Here are two I want to share:

  1. According to the Harvard Gazette, Chemist Dan Nocera found a way to use sunlight to split water molecules and combine it with CO2 to make renewable fuel. This is known as the Bionic leaf. Hopefully this will help people in poorer parts of the world, but so much more still needs to be done. Thus far, the focus is on oxygen because the project was with the Office of Naval Research to help generate oxygen on the fly for divers. There are so many issues that still have to be addressed and it is far from ready.
  2. According to an article in the Heliyon, an open access science journal, Dr. Tanai Cardona from the Imperial College, London, claims by studying the enzymes involved in photosynthesis, instead of looking in ancient rocks and rock layers, that there must have been bacteria that evolved oxygenic photosynthesis and later evolved into anoxygenic photosynthesis. To have complex life-forms on earth, you need oxygen. God thought of everything. That’s why he made plants before he made animals and humans. Plants use photosynthesis (we will see that in a minute) to produce oxygen. According to the standard evolutionary theory, cyanobacteria developed the ability to do photosynthesis and produced oxygen about 2.3 billion years ago. This is based on some geochemical evidence. Don’t forget that, according to evolution, the earth is about 4.5 billion years old and earth’s atmosphere did not have any oxygen until 3 to 2.4 billion years ago. By the way, it was claimed that cyanobacteria evolved from green and purple bacteria which have only one photosystem compared to the two photosystems of cyanobacteria. What caused this evolution or replication? Never mind, there is no answer. Now it is claimed by Dr. Cardona that some ancient microbes came earlier, and it could have been as early as 3.4 billion years ago. The whole point is that if it its 3.4 billion years ago that oxygen was produced through these bacteria, then it’s only one billion years for photosynthesis to develop from the origin of the earth at 4.5 billion years. Also, life on earth began 3.7 billion years ago according to evolutionists. How does this impact their model? These gives barely 200-300 million years for all this to happen! By the way, originally his research showed that it was even longer than 4.5 billion years ago that photosynthesis began. So, he suggested that the process was faster in the beginning and then slowed down later since the earth had cooled down.

How complex is this process and God did this in less than half a day! Photosynthesis is probably the most important chemical reaction on earth, and it’s happening constantly everywhere since the beginning of time (from Jonathan Sarfati). On the surface, this is very simple, but, on closer examination, it is highly complex. The formula is six molecules of water plus six molecules of carbon dioxide produce one molecule of sugar plus six molecules of oxygen:

(6CO2 + 12H2O + Light Energy à C6H12O6 + 6O2 + 6H2O)

The most important part of the reaction is the breaking of the water molecule into hydrogen and oxygen. Scientists refer to this as the OEC (Oxygen-evolving complex). This requires a lot of energy. Light in the form of photons does this, but it must be just right, not too much or too little. God designed this to occur inside the chloroplasts which contain the chlorophyll, which is necessary for photosynthesis. According to a system called Photosystem II, as the photon reaches the leaves, it is channeled through chlorophyll where it knocks out an electron from an atom and this electron helps convert sugars from CO2. Now the chlorophyll (P680) must replenish this lost electron. This is achieved through a catalytic core present in all plants and algae – Mn3CaO4-Mn. This provides the redox potential, stores the energy from the four photons, and maintains the water molecules in the right positions.

Again, how awesome is our God!

Ultimately, he gave us plants, trees, and fruits for greater reasons. Here are the main ones:

  1. It all started with the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

Genesis 2        9 And out of the ground the LORD God made every tree grow that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. The tree of life was also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil…16 And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, “Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; 17 but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”

  1. It represented the curse of sin.

Deuteronomy 21      22 “If a man has committed a sin deserving of death, and he is put to death, and you hang him on a tree, 23 his body shall not remain overnight on the tree, but you shall surely bury him that day, so that you do not defile the land which the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance; for he who is hanged is accursed of God.”

  1. It was on a tree that Jesus died

1 Peter 2:24 “who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness—by whose stripes you were healed.”

  1. It is the tree of life that awaits us.

Revelation 22       1 “And he showed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding from the throne of God and of the Lamb. 2 In the middle of its street, and on either side of the river, was the tree of life, which bore twelve fruits, each tree yielding its fruit every month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations…14 Blessed are those who do His commandments, that they may have the right to the tree of life, and may enter through the gates into the city.”

Invitation: Can you see God’s promises in his creation? Have you ever asked Christ to be your Savior? Are you saved? Will you have access to the tree of life?

Landscape by Dr. Abidan Shah

August 28, 2021 By in 2021, Apologetics, application, Bible, bible study, Biblical convictions, Christ, Christian Life, Church, Community, Encouragement, Eternal Life, Evangelism, Faith, Forgiveness, God the Father, God's Timing, God's will, gospel, Grace, healing, Heaven, History, Holiness, Hope, Humility, Integrity, Interpretation, Jesus, joy, King Jesus, Kingdom of God, Life, Life of Christ, Light, Logic, mercy, Mind, Obedience, Old Testament, Regeneration, religion, repentance, Sacrifice, Salvation, Savior, scripture, sermon, theology, Trial, Truth, Uncategorized, Unity, Values, Wisdom Tags: , , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

LANDSCAPE by Dr. Shah, Clearview Church, Henderson,  NC

Introduction:  How many of you have been to Grandfather Mountain? Our family has been there a number of times, and also our youth group and college and career group. It is almost 6000 feet high, the highest peak this side of the Blue Ridge Mountains. It also has the mile high swinging bridge, the highest in America. You can see for miles from there. North Carolina is really blessed in that it has 4 geological regions: Outer coastal plain, Inner coastal plain, the Piedmont, and the Blue Ridge. Each region has its own landforms, soil, plants, and animals. We are in the Piedmont (foot of the mountains). Grandfather Mountain falls in the Blue Ridge Mountains, which are part of the Appalachian chain. In today’s message, we will see how our landscape is connected to the Genesis account of creation in our series on apologetics titled “Contend.” The big questions are “how did these mountains and various landforms come to be?” “how’s all this connected to the Genesis account of creation?” Main point: The whole creation testifies to the handiwork of God. Even the earth, the mountains and the valleys, the plains and the plateaus, give testimony to God’s power and majesty. No wonder that when the Pharisees told Jesus to rebuke his disciples for crying “Hosanna,” he replied, “if these should keep silent, the stones would immediately cry out.”

Genesis 1       9 Then God said, “Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear”; and it was so. 10 And God called the dry land Earth, and the gathering together of the waters He called Seas. And God saw that it was good.

Context: Last week, we briefly touched on this passage, and I brought up what is referred to as the transformation-from-water-model for the origin of the earth. According to this theory, much of the watery matrix remained water as we know today, and God caused the others “to be transformed into the basic elements and compounds such as silicon and carbon” and “separated these elements from the rest of the waters which resulted in the appearance of the dry land” (Kulikovsky). But, there’s more in that verse that we need to focus on. Listen again to verse 9 Then God said, “Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear.” Also, verse 10 “And God called the dryland Earth, and the gathering together of the waters He called Seas.” Remember: the details do matter. Both the words for “gather” (kawah) and for “appear” (raah) imply action. In other words, there may have been great movements that would have caused mountains to appear and the basins to open for the waters to go into. It may very well be that there was one supercontinent that was later broken apart. By the way, one year before Darwin came out with his “Origin of the Species,” a creation scientist by the name of Snider-Pellegrini proposed in 1858 that there was one land mass originally, and it was broken up into separate continents during Noah’s Flood. Later, Alfred Wegener (1880-1930) proposed a slow continental drift by showing how the continents fit together as a jigsaw puzzle and other evidence from rock formation and fossil records. Initially, it was not accepted, but, since then, it is proposed that plate tectonics may have caused this supercontinent Rodinia to break apart. I’m okay with plate tectonics, if were talking about Catastrophic Plate Tectonics, not Uniformitarian Plate Tectonics. We will see what that means later when we come to Noah’s Flood. Nevertheless, there are passages in the Bible that support some kind of movement on that third day when water was gathered and land appeared:

  • Job 38. 4 “Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? Tell Me, if you have understanding. 5 Who determined its measurements? Surely you know! Or who stretched the line upon it? 6 To what were its foundations fastened? Or who laid its cornerstone, 7 When the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy? 8 “Or who shut in the sea with doors, when it burst forth and issued from the womb; 9 When I made the clouds its garment, and thick darkness its swaddling band; 10 When I fixed My limit for it, and set bars and doors; 11 When I said, “This far you may come, but no farther, And here your proud waves must stop!’
  • Psalm 104 5 You who laid the foundations of the earth, so that it should not be moved forever, 6 You covered it with the deep as with a garment; the waters stood above the mountains. 7 At Your rebuke they fled; at the voice of Your thunder they hastened away. 8 They went up over the mountains; they went down into the valleys, to the place which You founded for them. 9 You have set a boundary that they may not pass over, that they may not return to cover the earth. 10 He sends the springs into the valleys; they flow among the hills. By the way, this was creation week, becausePsalm 104 goes on 11 “They give drink to every beast of the field; the wild donkeys quench their thirst. 12 By them the birds of the heavens have their home; they sing among the branches. 13 He waters the hills from His upper chambers; the earth is satisfied with the fruit of Your works. 14 He causes the grass to grow for the cattle, and vegetation for the service of man, that he may bring forth food from the earth.”

Keep in mind that all this is happened in one day. From the uniformitarian geological calculation millions of years of earth’s history is being compressed in one day or maybe even 6 days. In other words, the mountains and the valleys, the oceans and the rivers are being formed at infinitely rapid speed. It was all catastrophic! There was erosion, sedimentation, and deposition starting from creation week. There is no comparison to our time because this was such a unique period in earth’s history. That world is gone since the Flood – 2 Peter 3       5 For this they willfully forget: that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of water and in the water, 6 by which the world that then existed perished, being flooded with water.

We began with a glimpse of the Grandfather Mountain. How does all this tie in? (from Michael Oard and Andrew Snelling) The Appalachian Mountains go all the way from central Alabama to northeastward to Newfoundland, southeast Canada. The whole chain is about 1500 miles long and between 100 to 310 miles wide in places. If you go by the museum, it will tell you that the mountains are millions of years old because they have been eroded and smoothed out with time. Also, the Appalachian are mostly Paleozoic sedimentary rock. It is claimed that the Rocky Mountains are younger because they rise so high and are still jagged. But, as you saw in the video, the Appalachian Mountains, especially at Grandfather Mountain, are very jagged in places. Secular geologists attribute this to an uplift 8.5 million years ago. There are slow uplifts, known as epeirogeny and fast ones called orogeny. Christian geologists who are just as qualified also look at the data and they see that much of the erosion came after the Flood. They also believe, as I mentioned earlier, that there was a supercontinent that split apart at the Flood due to plate tectonics. These large chunks “moved around rapidly, smashing into each other before slowing down to a crawl in their current location” (Snelling). We’ll see all that when we come to Great Flood. The Appalachian is made from mostly sandstone, a sedimentary rock. This was changed under intense pressure when the continents collided. Some places this was more intense than others. You can see the impact from the continents colliding in the ridges all around. The lower level of rocks (bedrock) was metamorphosed because of the molten material from below that came up and hardened. This was during Creation Week. These were pushed up when the continents collided. This was during the Flood. You can see the lower level also because of this. Starting in Cherokee area, you can see the basement rocks, but further up, you can see the sandstone

From Dr. Snelling’s trip to the Smoky Mountains:

  1. Cades Cove

Cades Cove, the most popular destination in the park, is a beautiful valley with historic log cabins and barns. The valley floor consists of limestone formed during the Flood (which is now deeply weathered), one of the few locations Flood deposits are exposed. The surrounding hills are made of pre-Flood rocks (look for gray, coarse sandstone), pushed up when Africa rammed into North America during the Flood.

  1. Newfound Gap

Newfound Gap is the lowest opening through the Smoky Mountain chain. The open view offers the most spectacular mountain vistas in the park. Like most of the rocks in the park, the sandstones near the overlook belong to the Ocoee Supergroup, which existed before the Flood but got crumpled when continents collided.

  1. Clingman’s Dome

The highest point on the Appalachian Trail is 6,643 feet elevation. An observation tower provides 360-degree views of the rolling, forest-covered mountains formed during the Flood when continents collided. Look for gray rocks with coarse white grains around the parking lot and along the hiking path. They’re pre-Flood Thunderhead Sandstone, metamorphosed by the continental collision.

  1. Chimney Tops

Chimney Tops is named for its unique dual-humped peak, one of the few bare summits in the Smokies. These pre-Flood rocks were pushed up and metamorphosed during the Flood. As these rocks weathered over the centuries, this harder capstone (made of slate, not sandstone) remained.

Job 12       7 “But now ask the beasts, and they will teach you; and the birds of the air, and they will tell you; 8 Or speak to the earth, and it will teach you; and the fish of the sea will explain to you. 9 Who among all these does not know that the hand of the LORD has done this.”

God’s handiwork is all around. He is present and he is not silent. Can you see him? Can you see his handiwork? Are you saved? He cares for you.

Groundwork by Dr. Abidan Shah

August 20, 2021 By in 2021, America, Apologetics, Baptism, Bible, bible study, Biblical convictions, Christ, Christian Life, Church, Discipleship, Doctrine, Encouragement, Eternal Life, Evangelism, Exegesis, Faith, Forgiveness, Glory, God the Father, God's Timing, God's will, gospel, Grace, healing, Heaven, History, Holiness, Holy Spirit, Hope, Humility, Israel, Jesus, joy, Kingdom of God, Life, Life of Christ, love, mercy, Mind, ministry, New Year, Obedience, Pastor, Patience, Peace, People, Praise, Prayer, Regeneration, religion, repentance, rest, Salvation, Savior, scripture, sermon, Stress, Success, Suffering, theology, Time Management, Together, Trial, Trinity, Truth, Uncategorized, United States of America, Unity, Values Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

GROUNDWORK by Dr. Shah, Clearview Church, Henderson, NC

Introduction: It was 4 years ago on August 21, 2017, when some of us drove all the way to Toccoa, Georgia, where Nicole and I went to college to witness the Total Solar Eclipse. As you witnessed in the video, it was amazing that we all began to shout spontaneously. Same thing was reported everywhere that people were gathered to watch this celestial event. What makes this so unique because the sun is 400 times larger than the moon and 400 times further away. If this wasn’t the case, we wouldn’t have the same effect. The point is that human beings are fascinated with space. We want to know what’s out there and how it is connected to us. In our series on apologetics titled “CONTEND,” we come to the section that deals with space and its connection to earth. Some of the questions that lead me to deal with space were “Is the universe infinite?” “What about the canopy theory?” “Is there life in outer space?” Main point: The complexity and the immensity of the universe brings us to our knees and causes us to raise our hands in worship. It reminds us of how small we are and how big God is. No wonder the psalmist sings, “The heavens declare the glory of God; and the expanse shows His handiwork.”

Genesis 1       6 Then God said, “Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters.” 7 Thus God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament; and it was so.

Context: There are 2 ways that some people have read the Genesis account of creation. Some think that it is simply a polemic against pagan gods surrounding the people of Israel. On the surface, this sounds good and even helps with some of the exegetical difficulties. Unfortunately, it also undermines the authority of God’s Word. People who believe this also claim that we shouldn’t get hung up on details. Instead, we should get the bigger picture that our God is superior to the other gods and not worry about things that are difficult to understand. Here’s the problem – if what we believe is not the truth and just a mythology, what right do we have to condemn someone else’s mythology? Others think that the creation account in Genesis is simply a reflection of the creation accounts of the ancient near eastern peoples. According to this view, no one knows what really happened and we shouldn’t press the point. Again, the problem here is that if we are unsure of what the Bible says, then what’s the use of believing anything. Here’s what we believe: The Bible gives us a clear and cogent account of how the world came to be. We must go above and beyond in trying to understand what it means. It is the only truth about our past, present, and future.

So, what does it mean? 6 Then God said, “Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters.” To start with, there is a translational issue here (from Sarfati and Danny Faulkner). The Hebrew word for “firmament” is “raqia,” and it is found 8 more times in the OT. What does “firmament” mean? The translators of the LXX used the Greek word “stereoma” to translate the Hebrew word “raqia.” The word “stereoma” means a crystalline structure, something hard and transparent. According to ancient Greeks, the earth was surrounded by a hard, crystalline, and transparent sphere with stars attached to it. When the Latin translator Jerome came to that passage, he chose to translate the Greek “stereoma” instead of the Hebrew “raqia” because he didn’t understand how to translate the latter. So, he called it “firmamentum.” Wycliffe, Tyndale, and the King James Version translators didn’t know what to do with “raqia” either and they simply transliterated Jerome’s firmamentum into the English “firmament.” What a mess!

Here’s the correct meaning: Expanse. It has the idea of something that has been expanded or stretched out. Sometimes, it even refers to beating or stamping out. So, contrary to what people think, “raqia” is not a cosmic dome but cosmic space that has been stretched out. Repeatedly, the Bible talks about this and sometimes uses the word “raqia” and other times the word “natah,” and even the words “matach” and “tapach.”

  • Job 9:8 “He alone spreads (natah) out the heavens, and treads on the waves of the sea.”
  • Job 37:18 “With Him, have you spread (raqa) out the skies, strong as a cast metal mirror?
  • Psalm 104:2 “Who cover Yourself with light as with a garment, who stretch (natah) out the heavens like a curtain.
  • Isaiah 44:24 “I am the LORD, who makes all things, who stretches (natah) out the heavens all alone, who spreads (raqa) abroad the earth by Myself.”
  • Isaiah 48:13 “Indeed My hand has laid the foundation of the earth, and My right hand has stretched out (taphach) the heavens.”

So, “raqia” has the idea of space or expansion. This makes sense in verse 7 “Thus God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament; and it was so.” In other words, God made this “raqia” to separate the waters below from the waters above. One more thing – 8 “And God called the firmament Heaven.” In the OT, the word for heaven is “samayim,” which is found over 400 times. It shows up again in verse 9, 14, 15, and 17. This word refers to the space where God placed the luminaries (sun, moon, and stars) on Day 4 and the place where the birds fly “across the face of the expanse of the heavens” on Day 5. Here’s the point: The atmosphere and the outer space are both part of the “raqia.”

So, what happened on Day 2? God created a massive space between the watery matrix that will become earth and the remaining waters. Where did that water go? At one time, people proposed that there was a water canopy above the atmosphere, but it is no longer held to because of several problems (Robert Whitelaw and Walter Brown):

  • The Heat Problem – roast all life
  • The Light Problem – no sunlight or starlight for plants and seasons
  • The Pressure Problem – temp over 220 degrees F at the base
  • The Support Problem – if it collapsed at the Great Flood, that would be a long time
  • The Ultraviolet Problem – ultraviolet light would have destroyed the canopy

Better solution is that the “raqia” has separated the water which is now in some form at the edge of the universe. Psalm 148     1 Praise the LORD! Praise the LORD from the heavens; Praise Him in the heights! 2 Praise Him, all His angels; Praise Him, all His hosts! 3 Praise Him, sun and moon; Praise Him, all you stars of light! 4 Praise Him, you heavens of heavens, and you waters above the heavens! 2 things that stand out: 1. There is an order – heavens, sun and moon, stars, and highest heavens. 2. This psalm was written after Noah’s flood. I’m not dogmatic about it, but this is where much scholarship is leaning – the expansion of the universe at a set time in the past. If this is true, this explains the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB), which is that the universe appears to be bathed in a radiation field (Faulkner). This is a uniform coldness which is 3 K above absolute zero (– 459.67 F). It’s described to be like the heat from a rock lying in the sun all day. It comes towards the earth from all directions like a faint light. It is proposed that the water at the edge of the universe could be the cause of this radiation. The evolutionists talk about a big bang. According to the big bang theory, the universe started at a tiny, very very hot and dense point called singularity. It is claimed that after this rapid expansion, the heat has finally cooled down after 380,000 years after the big bang and dropped below 3000 K to form neutral atoms from electron and protons. This is how they account for the CMB. But their calculations don’t add up, especially with regards to the speed of light. We’ll come to this later. But, if God did this expansion faster than light (superluminally), it makes all the sense.

Let’s return to the text in verse 8 “…So the evening and the morning were the second day.” Notice: God does not declare this day to be good because good hasn’t come yet. 9Then God said, “Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear”; and it was so. This is more than just water receding and earth coming in sight. This is known as transformation-from-water-model for the origin of the earth. How did that happen? Don’t think of this as your drinking water flowing from your tap! One scholar (Kulikovsky) has proposed,

Therefore, it may be that God (1) caused the earth’s watery foundation to be transformed into the basic elements and compounds such as silicon and carbon, and (2) separated these elements from the rest of the waters which resulted in the appearance of the dry land. In other words, the primeval earth comprised of the waters below the expanse—a large ball of water with similar dimensions as the earth today. Some of the waters were transformed into other compounds and were separated from the rest of the waters, which resulted in the formation of the dry land.

We have so much to understand! Nonetheless, 10 And God called the dry land Earth, and the gathering together of the waters He called Seas. And God saw that it was good. Now God says, “it was good.”

If this were all there is to it, we would say that this is crazy and wacko. Turn to 2 Peter 3       4 and saying, “Where is the promise of His coming? For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of creation.” 5 For this they willfully forget: that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of water and in the water, 6 by which the world that then existed perished, being flooded with water. 7 But the heavens and the earth which are now preserved by the same word, are reserved for fire until the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men.

This is God’s world. He made it in his way, and he will destroy it in his way. The past is connected to the future. What matters is are you living in his world his way? Are you saved? Do you realize how infinitesimal you and I are? Does this lead you to worship?

24 by Dr. Abidan Shah

August 13, 2021 By in 2021, America, Apologetics, Bible, bible study, Biblical convictions, Books, born again, children, Christ, Christian Life, Christian Marriage, Church, Community, Doubt, Election, Encouragement, envy, Faith, Glory, God the Father, God's Timing, God's will, gospel, History, Hope, Jesus, Light, Old Testament, religion, Salvation, scripture, sermon, Trinity, Truth, Uncategorized Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

24 by Dr. Shah, Clearview Church, Henderson, NC

Introduction: When I suggested to our team that the title of this week’s message be “24,” they instantly responded, “like the TV show?” That’s when I remembered that, back in the 2000s, there was an action-drama TV series called “24,” starring Kiefer Sutherland. Maybe, some of you saw it. I never watched it, but I remember hearing about it that it revolved around a counter-terrorism agent named Jack Bauer who had 24 hours to stop presidential assassinations, bioterrorism, bomb attacks, cyberattacks, and other acts of sabotage. The point was that every second and minute counted. At times, the TV screen was even split to show what was happening elsewhere at the same time. It was a hit show, but, as intense as it was, it cannot be compared to the six 24-hour days of creation when God made the heavens and the earth. As you know, we’re in our series on apologetics titled CONTEND and we are focusing on Genesis because many of the questions came from there – #1. I have heard that the days of creation could be thousands of years each. What do you think? #2. How can the earth function normally when the sun was not even created until the fourth day? #3. What is deep time? Main point: God could have created the world in a split-second or in billions of years, but by choosing to create in six 24-hour days, he was accommodating to our capacity and limits and even setting a pattern for us. It is like the incarnation where Jesus became like us to be our substitute and set a pattern for us on how to live.

Genesis 1       3 Then God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light. 4 And God saw the light, that it was good; and God divided the light from the darkness. 5 God called the light Day, and the darkness He called Night. So the evening and the morning were the first day.

Context: The big debate here is “How long was this day and the days following in that creation week? Was it 24 hours? Was it an age of thousands of years? Was it a literary style with nothing to do with time? The answer is based on how you read 2 things:

  1. How do you interpret the rocks: Here, I am referring to “uniformitarian geology,” something that has risen in the past couple of hundred years. Uniformitarianism was proposed by James Hutton (1726-97), a Scottish geologist/farmer, and later developed by Charles Lyell (1797-1875), another Scottish geologist. The Scottish interest has to do with the unique geology of Scotland with their Highlands, mountains, lowlands, and uplands. They claimed that the natural laws and processes on Earth have been the same throughout its history. So, an ancient rock can be studied and interpreted based on the present geological processes. They asked questions like “How long did it take for a tiny mound to develop?” Based on that, “How long would it take for a huge mountain to develop?” Bottom line: the present is the key to the past. This is a simplistic explanation of their erosion, weathering, molten rock exposure, transportation, deposition, and lithification under earth’s atmosphere, weather, etc. Of course, uniformitarianism has developed from the “steady-state” cycles of Hutton and has become more complex with the advancement of science and technology. In fact, rapid catastrophic erosion and sedimentation is proving that it did not take billions of years for the rocks to take their shape. Nonetheless, all this has led to the concept of the “old earth” and “deep time.” One scholar (Henry Gee) said, “Deep Time is like an endless, dark corridor, with no landmarks to give it scale.” We will come to all this later in this series.
  2. How do you interpret the word of God: Here, I am referring to the debate between nominalism and realism, something that has been coming for over a millennium but has especially risen in the past century or so. Nominalism claims, simplistically speaking, that the connection between a sign and the thing signified is arbitrary, not fixed. Realism claims that it is what it signifies. God has revealed in his word the truth about himself and us. Nominalism replies that truth is lost and what we have is just an attempt to get to the truth. For the past couple of hundred years, western culture has been sliding this book further and further away from the center. Last year, it got shoved off the table. It’s going to take a while to bring it back to the center. It’s the only hope for our world.

My goal in this series is to lay step-by-step the right biblical foundation. Let’s begin by looking carefully at the text, starting in Genesis 1:5. Before we rush past this verse, there’s a important clues that are given to us as to what God has to say about the age of the earth. Listen again to verse 5 “God called the light Day, and the darkness He called Night. Sothe evening and the morning were the first day.” There is a mistranslation here in light of the Hebrew (Sarfati and Steinmann). It is not “First Day” but “One Day.” In English we have cardinal numbers and ordinal numbers. Cardinal (counting) numbers are one, two, three, four… Ordinal (order) numbers are first, second, third, fourth… In the Hebrew, the word is not ordinal (yom rishon = first day) but cardinal (yom echad = One Day). What God is saying here is that this is the formula for 1 Day = Evening + Morning. How about the rest of the days? They are ordinal numbers. 8 “And God called the firmament Heaven. So the evening and the morning were the second day…” 12 “And the earth brought forth grass, the herb thatyields seed according to its kind, and the tree that yields fruit, whose seed is in itself according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. 13 So the evening and the morning were the third day…” 17 “God set them in the firmament of the heavens to give light on the earth, 18 and to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness. And God saw that it was good. 19 So the evening and the morning were the fourth day…” 22“And God blessed them, saying, ‘Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth.’ 23 So the evening and the morning were the fifth day.” Something else important here, unlike the other days, day sixth and seventh have an article “ha” on the number – 31 “Then God saw everything that He had made, and indeed it was very good. So the evening and the morning were the sixth day.” Literally = day, the sixth one. Again, Genesis 2      2 And on the seventh day God ended His work which He had done, and He rested on the “seventh day from all His work which He had done. 3 Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work which God had created and made.” Literally = day, the seventh one. Why this special focus on the sixth and seventh days? Because, on the sixth day, God created man to rule the earth and the seventh day, he consecrated as special. In other words, these clues have been given to clearly tell us that these days are not ages but regular 24-hour days with different emphasis. Isn’t God amazing! He took the time to give us such details.

Here are some common objections:

  1. “How could the earth have a 24-hour day when the sun was not created until Day 4?” God is source of light. Until he was ready for the sun, there was another source of light. No different than in Revelation 21:23 “The city had no need of the sun or of the moon to shine in it, for the glory of God illuminated it. The Lamb is its light.” Also, Revelation 22:5“There shall be no night there: They need no lamp nor light of the sun, for the Lord God gives them light. And they shall reign forever and ever.”
  2. “How could all those things that happened on the sixth day fit in a 24 hour period?” According to Genesis 1:24 onwards, God made every living creature (cattle, creeping thing and beast, man and woman) in one day. Also, according to Genesis 2:15 onwards (God goes in detail over certain parts of creation in Genesis 2), he even put Adam in the Garden of Eden, brought the cattle, beast of the earth, and the birds of the air for him to name, and then saw his loneliness and made Eve. Keep in mind that God could have made all the creatures in seconds. As to Adam naming all the animals, we are talking about 2500 or less basic kinds (the idea of species has become so malleable). Finally, wouldn’t it take time for him to feel lonely. Then, it would take time for Adam to fall asleep and then God form Eve from his side. Keep in mind – sin slows us down on many levels. This is prior to sin and Adam could feel, sense, and understand much faster.
  3. “How about verses from Psalm 90:4 “For a thousand years in Your sight are like yesterday when it is past, and like a watch in the night” and 2 Peter 3:8 “But, beloved, do not forget this one thing, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day”? The problem with such verses is that they are taken out of context. They are given to affirm that God is so much more than we are, especially with regards to time. In fact, the word for day (yom) is found about 65 times for indefinite periods and 2,239 times for 24-hour days. This is especially true in Genesis where the word for day (yom) is found 83 times in the singular, including 72 in absolute state. Each of the 72 uses are 24-hour days (Todd Beall). I can also give many references that affirm that other books in the Bible considered the Genesis 1 and 2 days as 24-hour days.

Why 24-hour days?

  1. Jesus did it to accommodate to us.
  2. Jesus did it to give us a pattern.

Exodus 20      8 “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. 9 Six days you shall labor and do all your work, 10 but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the LORD your God. In it you shall do no work: you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates. 11 For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it.”

This is no different than what he did in his incarnation.

  1. Accommodation
  2. Pattern

Philippians 2         5 Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, 6 who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, 7 but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross.

Is he your substitute? Are you saved? Are you following him?

Beginning by Dr. Abidan Shah

August 7, 2021 By in 2021, Apologetics, Bible, bible study, Biblical convictions, Christ, Christian Life, Church, Eternal Life, Faith, Forgiveness, God the Father, God's Timing, God's will, gospel, Grace, History, Hope, Life, love, mercy, Obedience, Old Testament, religion, repentance, Salvation, Savior, scripture, sermon, Truth, Uncategorized, Unity Tags: , , , , , 2 Comments

BEGINNING by Dr. Shah, Clearview Church, Henderson, NC

Introduction: The year was 1993 when the sci-fi action film “Jurassic Park” hit the movie theaters. It was based on a novel by the famous writer Michael Crichton and directed by the famous Stephen Spielberg. I remember it very vividly because I was a broadcast journalism major, and we had to analyze it as one of our projects. It became the highest grossing film released worldwide up to that point. It had many famous lines, but the one that stands out the most was “Life finds a way.” The movie was a hit. Most everybody loved it, from children to adults. But it had a fundamental problem – “life doesn’t just find a way. It is God who gives life.” As you know, we’re in our series on Apologetics called “Contend” and we’re camping in Genesis for a while because many of the questions came from here. One of them was – “I’ve heard that there may have been a gap of millions of years between Genesis 1:1 and 1:2?” “Was there a pre-Adamic race?” Here’s the main point: God is the author of life. He gives life to the dead and calls those things which do not exist as though they did. Not only the heavens and the earth testify to his power to give life, but also every lost soul dead in trespasses and sins that finds salvation through his Son Jesus Christ.

Genesis 1      1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. 2 The earth was without form, and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.

Context: I write a lot, academically and popularly. One thing I learned a long time ago was that you must grip your reader in the first few sentences of your writing. If not, they may lose interest and stop reading. Of all the books ever written, this is the most powerful and engaging opening – “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” Of course, it is God’s word and he is the greatest writer of all! There are 3 things that stand out about the beginning from this passage (H. Morris, Douglas Kelley, & Sarfati) that will answer the questions raised and much more:

  1. Every false belief and worldly philosophy are rejected.
  • Atheism (there is no god) – There is a God.
  • Agnosticism (we can’t know for sure if there is a god) – Look at the heavens and the earth.
  • Evolution (nothing times nobody equals everything) – Sorry, God created everything.
  • Humanism (human being is the center of the universe) – Sorry, God is the ultimate reality.
  • Materialism (matter is the only reality) – Nope, God made matter.
  • Pantheism (god is creation and creation is god) – Nope, God created the world.

To use a different analogy, Genesis 1:1 is the train junction of the entire Bible. You get this right and you will be on the right track. You get this wrong and it will be a bumpy ride. You may even get derailed down the track.

Application: Our world is derailed right now because we are getting Genesis 1:1 wrong. What do you think about the beginning? Are you living by Genesis 1:1?

  1. Creation out of nothing is crucial.

Before God started creating, there was nothing, except himself. The Hebrew word is “bara” which when used in the Qal stem of the verb refers to God as the creator and it emphasizes an “absolute creation.” We use the Latin phrase “ex nihilo” meaning “out of nothing.” By the way, when we say “nothing,” we mean “not anything.” Richard Dawkins loves the idea of “nothing,” but he means something else by it. Here are some verses:

  • Psalm 33 6 “By the word of the LORD the heavens were made, and all the host of them by the breath of His mouth…9 For He spoke, and it was done; he commanded, and it stood fast.”
  • Hebrews 11:3 “By faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that the things which are seen were not made of things which are visible.”
  • Romans 4:17 (as it is written, “I have made you a father of many nations”) in the presence of Him whom he believed—God, who gives life to the dead and calls those things which do not exist as though they did.”

Matter and all beings (material or spiritual) in the universe are not eternal and should not be worshipped. Only God is worthy to be worshipped.

Application: When Paul says in Romans, “God, who gives life to the dead and calls those things which do not exist as though they did,” it is to remind us that we are justified by faith. What part do you think you play in your salvation? Only faith.

  1. There is no “recycled” or “hand-me-down” in creation.

Genesis 1:2 “The earth was without form, and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep…” Some have claimed here that this was result of a catastrophe, a destruction of the creation. The gap theories were popular among conservatives in the last part of the nineteenth and the first part of the twentieth centuries. It claimed that between Genesis 1:1and 1:2, there could have been a gap of millions of years. There are various types of gap theories but basically the same suggestion. It was conjured up to deal with the fossil record. I’m not going to deal with the fossil question in this message. I just want to focus on the fact that God did not have a false start with the creation. Other than being a mess grammatically and theologically, it also overlooks a key doctrine.

The Hebrew words are “tohu waw bohu” mean “formless” and “empty.” It is an image of matter that hasn’t taken shape yet. “And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.” The word for waters is “tehom” which later is used for ocean. Bottom line: It is a watery matrix in total darkness. It means that all the building materials are there but there is no design or purpose. The Holy Spirit is hovering (rachaph) meaning shaking and fluttering. He is ready to impart energy to the creation. All this is very importand and special because the creation was not only made by the son Jesus, but it was also a gift to the Son.

  • Colossians 1:16 “For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him.”
  • Romans 11:36 “For of Him and through Him and to Him are all things, to whom be glory forever. Amen.”
  • Hebrews 1 1 God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, 2 has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds;

Why did God the Father create the world for the Son? To provide for him a beautiful spiritual bride. We are the bride of Christ. Hence, it had to be a new and perfect gift. Is it any wonder that the angels rejoiced at the creation! Job 38        4 “Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? Tell Me, if you have understanding. 5 Who determined its measurements? Surely you know! Or who stretched the line upon it? 6 To what were its foundations fastened? Or who laid its cornerstone, 7 When the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy?” They were probably created right before the earth was created. They immediately did what they were created to do – glorify God! Genesis 1:3 Then God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light.” I believe this must have been the moment when the angels sang together and shouted for joy! 4 “And God saw the light, that it was good; and God divided the light from the darkness. 5 God called the light Day, and the darkness He called Night. So the evening and the morning were the first day.”

Also, the Father was going to receive spiritual children through the Son – Hebrews 2      10 For it was fitting for Him, for whom are all things and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons to glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings…13 And again: “I will put My trust in Him.” And again: “Here am I and the children whom God has given Me.”

Application: Do you understand this great mystery? Do you know that everything is for Jesus to the glory of the Father?

We are celebrating communion this weekend. It may seem that this is so unrelated, but that’s not true. The Communion reminds us that we are connected to Jesus along with other brothers and sisters in Christ. 1 Corinthians 11      23 For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you: that the Lord Jesus on the same night in which He was betrayed took bread; 24 and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, “Take, eat; this is My body which is broken for you; do this in remembrance of Me.” The Communion has all the markings of the Passover Meal. In verse 25 it says, “In the same manner He also took the cup after supper. . .” What is the cup after supper? There were 4 cups at the Passover Meal: 1. The first cup was poured as the Father recited his blessing over the wine and over the day. 2. The second cup was poured and the son asked questions about the special food of the meal. 3. The third cup was poured after the supper as the Father recited grace after the meal. 4 The fourth cup was poured and the Father recited the Hallel and the blessing over the song. Guess which cup is being referred to in I Corinthians 11:25? The third cup. This was the Cup of Blessing, which Jesus recast as the Cup of the New Covenant in his blood. Can you imagine how this must have puzzled the disciples? Jesus did not drink the final fourth cup with them. Listen to Matthew 26    29“ ‘But I say to you, I will not drink of this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it new with you in My Father’s kingdom.’  Why did he not drink the 4thcup? Two reasons: First, he still had to shed his blood as the Passover Lamb; Second, he wanted all of us to join him around the table in his Father’s Kingdom. Revelation 19:9 Then he said to me, “Write: ‘Blessed are those who are called to the marriage supper of the Lamb!’ ” And he said to me, “These are the true sayings of God.”

Are you saved? Will you be there to celebrate at the marriage supper of the Lamb? Do you know that it is the Father’s will that everything be about the Son? Do you know the Son?

Timeless by Dr. Abidan Shah

July 30, 2021 By in 2021, Apologetics, Bible, bible study, Biblical convictions, Christ, Christian Life, Church, Doctrine, Encouragement, Eternal Life, Faith, Forgiveness, God the Father, God's Timing, God's will, gospel, Grace, Heaven, History, Holiness, Hope, Humility, Jesus, King, King Jesus, Kingdom of God, Life, love, mercy, ministry, Sacrifice, Salvation, Savior, scripture, sermon, Truth, Uncategorized, Unity Tags: , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

TIMELESS by Dr. Shah, Clearview Church, Henderson, NC

Introduction:  How many of you have watched the sci-fi movies “Back to the Future”? The first one came out in 1985 in which Marty McFly (Michael J. Fox) goes back in time to 1955 to help his parents. The mastermind behind the time-machine was “Doc” Brown (Christopher Lloyd) who built a DeLorean Time Machine from the DMC DeLorean car. The whole premise of the movies was that one day we will be able to time travel. As you know, we’re in our series on apologetics titled “CONTEND” and we have decided to camp at Genesis for a while. The reason is because many of the questions in the questionnaire were regarding the creation and origin of our universe – “Who made God?” “Is God bound by time?” Will we be able to time travel?” “How do lights from stars that are billions of light years away reach the earth already?” In this message we will tackle the question of time. Main point: God is the author of time. He gave us the gift of time so we could live and enjoy his creation. God is timeless and unchangeable, but he chose to enter time and became like us to save us through his Son Jesus. One more thing – We are time bound. We don’t know the future. “Choose this day whom you will serve.”

Genesis 1:1 “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.”

John 1:1 “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”

Context: By declaring “In the beginning God” and “In the beginning was the Word,” both Moses in the Old Testament and John in the New Testament declared that God existed before the creation of the world. In fact, he was the creator of the world. John even identified the exact person of the Triune God who was designated the task of creating – 2 “He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. 4 In Him was life, and the life was the light of men.” This truth was affirmed again by the New Testament authors in Colossians 1:16, 1 Corinthians 8:6, and Hebrews 1:2. So what does that mean for the questions on time? Here are 4 things we need to keep in mind regarding God, time, and us:

  1. God created time. On the first day, he created space, matter, and time (you could add energy to it if you like): 1. Space – up and down, left and right, and forward and backward; 2. Matter – Atoms made of protons, neutrons, and electrons; 3. Time – past, present, and future. We will focus on time for now. What is the definition of time? William Lane Craig, “Time is that dimension of reality whose moments are ordered by earlier/later than relations.” In other words, it is the succession of moments. Time has been a subject of great debate among scientists, especially in the past century. The matter revolves around 2 individuals: Isaac Newton (1643-1727) and Albert Einstein (1879-1955). Newton was a philosopher, physicist, mathematician, and astronomer. He was an important figure in the Scientific Revolution we talked about couple of weeks ago. Among many other things that he worked on, he claimed that time was absolute, meaning it was not depended on the observer. Time moved forward as a regular succession of moments. We call them seconds, minutes, hours, months, years, millennia, etc. Space was also fixed, and gravity was just a force that pulled together objects with mass. There was no connection to acceleration. That’s where we get the whole apple story, which may be a myth. On the other hand, Einstein (a physicist and scientist who immigrated to the United States when Hitler came to power in Germany in 1933) challenged Newton’s view. We know his theory of special relativity, E = mc2, but the one on general relativity was far more impactful. According to this theory, Einstein claimed that gravity bends light. For this to happen and to be able to observe it, you need an object far bigger than the earth and with a source of light directly opposite to the observer. He said that this would happen on the 29th of May 1919, during an eclipse, when a star that was blocked by the sun would be seen because its light would bend in the sun’s gravitational force. It happened and photographs were taken. Einstein had overturned Newton’s laws of gravity. Unfortunately, this was also taken to mean that Einstein had overturned Newton’s God. Such was not the case at all. To the contrary, the spacetime theorems proved that the universe had a beginning point. Scientists like George Ellis, Stephen Hawking, and Roger Penrose demonstrated that. Others tried to find a loophole, but they ended up supporting the fact that the universe is not eternal. Its known as the Borde-Guth-Vilenkin Singularity Theorem.

Why did I go into all this detail? Because this helps us understand the question of how light from stars that are billions of light years away have reached the earth already. By the way, just recently, scientists spotted light from behind a black hole that is 1800 million light years away! The black hole is about 10 million times larger than our sun!

Here’s the point: God is the author of time and after all these years, we are just scratching the surface in our understanding and all of it is in line with the Scriptures.  

  1. God is timeless (Paul Helm and Grudem).

This is the traditional view that God exists outside time. He has no beginning or end. For him to have a beginning would be to compromise the doctrine that God is unchangeable.

Isaiah 57:15 “For thus says the High and Lofty One who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy…”

Psalm 90:2 “Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever You had formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, You are God.”

Hebrews 1     10 (quoting from Psalm 102) “You, LORD, in the beginning laid the foundation of the earth, and the heavens are the work of Your hands. 11 They will perish, but You remain; and they will all grow old like a garment; 12 Like a cloak You will fold them up, and they will be changed. But You are the same, and Your years will not fail.”

2 Timothy 1:9 (God) “who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was given to us in Christ Jesus before time began”

Revelation 1:8 “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End,” says the Lord, “who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.”

Connected to God’s timelessness and unchangeableness is God’s divine fullness and self-sufficiency. Because he is timeless and unchangeable, he is also omniscient. He knows all. Because we are time-bound and subject to change, we don’t know it all.

  1. God sees all time equally and interacts with us personally in time.

Psalm 90:4 “For a thousand years in Your sight are like yesterday when it is past, and like a watch in the night.” He sees all things equally, but the past is still past to God. 2 Peter 3:8 “But, beloved, do not forget this one thing, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.” Everything remains vivid to God.

Even though God stands outside time, he constantly interacts with his creation and us.

Matthew 10:29 “Are not two sparrows sold for a copper coin? And not one of them falls to the ground apart from your Father’s will.” Song: “His eye is on the sparrow.”

Psalm 139      15 “My frame was not hidden from You, when I was made in secret, and skillfully wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. 16 Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed…”

He is not some static, detached, and emotionless being to us. Throughout the history of the world, God has stepped into time to relate personally with us. He smiles, laughs, weeps, gets angry, changes his mind, and rejoices. How can he do that? Is he just pretending? He can do that because he is God. Just like a parent sits down to play with their child and interacts with all their feeling. Contrary to our emotions that come from good and bad experience, his emotions are part of his disposition and character.

Incarnation is the greatest event of God in time! Like a parent stepping into a dollhouse but becoming like the child. Galatians 4      4 But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, 5 to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons. 6 And because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying out, “Abba, Father!” Can you sense the passionate interaction of God with us?

  1. We are time bound and will always be in time.

From the oldest book in the Bible – Job 14       1 “Man who is born of woman is of few days and full of trouble. 2 He comes forth like a flower and fades away; He flees like a shadow and does not continue…5 Since his days are determined, the number of his months is with you; you have appointed his limits, so that he cannot pass.”

Don’t play God. Don’t say “no regrets,” “no care,” or “no fear.” You can say that only if God is with you. Ephesians 5      15 “See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools but as wise, 16 redeeming the time, because the days are evil.”

Also, you and I will always exist in time, contrary to the song, “When the trumpet of the Lord shall sound and time shall be no more…” – Revelation 21     23 The city had no need of the sun or of the moon to shine in it, for the glory of God illuminated it. The Lamb is its light. 24And the nations of those who are saved shall walk in its light, and the kings of the earth bring their glory and honor into it. 25 Its gates shall not be shut at all by day (there shall be no night there). 26 And they shall bring the glory and the honor of the nations into it.

Bottom line: You don’t have infinite time. Today is the day of salvation. Your time on earth may be over before you know it. There is a real eternity where time never ends, either in heaven or hell. Are you saved?

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