Proofs and Assurances | Sunday, August 22, 2021

Hey, welcome to Cross Connection Church's online service today! We're glad you're here. If you want more information about us, you can go to lifeinconnection.com. Also, hang around until the very end; you'll get some more announcements about what's going on.

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You call the sun to rise, and you lay it down to rest. You hold this heart of mine. So holy, so wonderful, such an awesome God. So selfless, so generous, you're so faithful. You are just so mighty, such an awesome God. So selfless, you're so generous.

Faithful, You are, and nothing comes close to the Lord Almighty. Nothing is as sweet as Your love and mercy. Nothing comes close to the Lord. Oh my God, mercy! Nothing comes close to the Lord.

For the last several weeks, I have been intentionally taking you on a rather long journey to lay a foundation for faith. I have been building the case that general revelation—revelation from creation, consciousness, and conscience—leads us to the conclusion that a Creator exists. This Creator God is powerful, having immense power and resources to make everything that exists. Furthermore, this Creator God is intelligent, possessing the knowledge, understanding, and wisdom to make all things that He has made.

I have argued that when using consciousness, we can infer from everything that we see in creation around us and what God has made within us that this God who creates is good and true, loving, beautiful, moral, and that He wants to be known by His creation. All of this, as I have said, falls under a category within theology called general revelation.

Revelation knowledge of these things is generally available to any person, in any place, at any time throughout history. In Psalm 19, King David effectively says that this general revelation is constantly proclaiming God's existence day and night, endlessly, in every single language. In Romans 1, the Apostle Paul further explains that we are without excuse when it comes to acknowledging God's existence. In other words, these things are self-evidently true.

However, this general revelation has its limits. General revelation is considerably limited in relation to the nature and will of this Creator. If there is a Creator, as creation, consciousness, and conscience demonstrate, then what is this Creator like? What does this Creator want? What is this Creator's reason for creating? Does the Creator create for a purpose? These are all important questions, the answers to which are, I would suggest, unknowable through just general revelation.

Therefore, we need an apocalypse of God. We need the Creator to reveal Himself through some form of communication that is intelligible to us. We cannot know the Creator in any real relational way without a greater revelation than general revelation. Thus, we need what theologians would call special revelation.

Though the rational skeptics of our day are skeptical of the idea of such a thing as special revelation, I argued in my previous message that God, the Creator, has at various times and in various ways spoken in times past in language that is intelligible to us. This allows us to know what He is like, His nature, and what He likes, His will, so that we might know Him and be able to have a relationship with this God who is knowable.

So, my aim in this series so far has been to introduce you to the unknown God. God desires us to know that He exists, and He wants to reveal His nature and will to us so that we might know Him.

I think it is rational for us to believe that God exists, and I believe that it is possible for us to know of God's nature and will through this special revelation. However, I want to move from there to say that God wants us to know Him, not just know about Him. He desires that we have a relationship with Him.

This leads us to another stopping point. As I've said before, general revelation has its limits. It is limited in what we can know. We can know that God exists, that He is powerful, and that He is intelligent. We can infer certain things about God by looking at creation and considering the way that we are made. However, we can't really know exactly what He is like and what He likes—His nature and His will.

Special revelation is given so that we might know what God is like and what He likes, but special revelation has its limits as well. We need a greater revelation than these two—general and special revelation.

To illustrate this, let me give you a little anecdote. Imagine that I were single—I'm not; I'm married—but imagine that I were single and working in a coffee shop. I'm behind the counter making drinks and other little treats when I notice that a really cute girl comes in. She buys something to drink and then sits down with her girlfriend to do a Bible study together. I see her do this a number of times, and I want to get to know her in hopes that maybe we might be able to have a friendship or a relationship.

But I have a problem: this cute girl doesn’t really seem to notice me, or at least I don’t think that she has noticed me. Perhaps I could make myself known by creating special treats and leaving them for her at her table. Maybe she'll find these treats and be compelled to try to find out where they are coming from and why she is receiving them. Hopefully, she'll start to piece it all together, and then maybe one day she'll notice me.

However, I notice that as she continues to come in, I’m trying to get her attention, but she begins to develop a friendship with one of the girls that I work with.

I decided to tell my friend, my co-worker, that I would really like to get to know that girl. I asked if there was any chance he could give her a message, letting her know that there is a guy here who has been making treats for her and is interested in getting to know her. I could try to develop a friendship and potentially a relationship with this cute girl through a proxy—my friend, my co-worker—sending messages back and forth. However, it is very hard to develop a friendship or a relationship in that way.

There are things that just don't work by proxy; things get lost in transmission and translation, and communication becomes mixed up and convoluted. Such communication isn't really ideal if the intent is a relationship. If I truly want to know this girl and for her to know me, I need a much better way of communication, which would require personal interaction. I would have to reveal myself to her personally.

I hope that through my corny anecdote, you're beginning to see my point. To be fully transparent, my story is actually pretty close to the way that little anecdote played out some 16 years ago. I was working at a coffee shop that our church was operating here in town when this cute girl started coming in to do a Bible study with her friend. She began talking with a co-worker of mine who knew that I wanted an opportunity to meet her.

One afternoon, my co-worker called me and said, "Hey, that girl you're interested in meeting is coming over to my house, and we're going to go bowling tonight." She thought that if I just happened to be at her house when the girl showed up, then maybe I would be able to go bowling with them. Guess what? That's exactly what happened. Soon after that, I revealed my feelings to this girl, and seven months later, we got married.

Fifteen years later, we have four kids, a dog, a hedgehog, a guinea pig, a chinchilla, a tortoise, a leopard gecko, and three rabbits. We also have a house and two cars. We don't have a partridge in a pear tree, but I think you get the story. My story is kind of corny, but it is also something of a parallel to what I've been talking about in general.

Special revelation indicates that these things are limited. I could try to reveal that I am around by leaving little things along the way that she might come to realize are gifts from someone. Alternatively, I might speak to her through special revelation by sharing messages through a proxy that provides information to this person. However, if I want a relationship, then that needs to move to a different level of communication, which we would call personal revelation.

The Creator who made this universe is outside of it. To reveal Himself fully to those inside the universe, whom He made for a purpose and to have a relationship with Him, He needs to step inside. He has to come down to our level and move beyond general revelation and special revelation to personal revelation. This is exactly what the Bible describes; it is precisely what the Bible says happened. I recognize that this concept may seem far-fetched to many people, especially skeptics. For a lot of skeptics, this story seems incredible and hard to grasp. It may even appear impossible or highly improbable.

For us to believe that this kind of personal revelation is true, we need some proof. We need some form of assurance to know that this is true. That is where we left off in our study last time in the book of Acts, chapter 17. Paul is seeking to make known the unknown God to a group of people who were skeptical of his message—a group of philosophers in the city of Athens. He presents some amazing insights about the unknown God to disclose His nature.

Last week, I shared more than a dozen of these insights that Paul reveals in Acts chapter 17. For instance, God is a person and not some impersonal force. God is the Creator; He is the maker of all things. God is the giver and sustainer of life, the one who gave life to everything inside this universe. We also read in Acts chapter 17 that God is not distant but near. We might say that He is both transcendent and imminent. Paul understands that the people he is addressing...

Talking to the people in Athens in Acts chapter 17, 2000 years ago, Paul knows that they are not stupid. These were the wise individuals of the first century, the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers of his day. He presents all of these great things about the unknown God and acknowledges that what he is sharing with them seems incredible and far out. He says he wants to give them proof and assurance that these things are true. That is what we need when discussing the big things of God, as Paul is in this passage; we need assurance.

In Acts chapter 17, verse 31, Paul states that God has given assurance of all of this by raising Jesus from the dead. I have spent the previous three weeks, and now three and a half weeks, to get to this point. God has revealed Himself through what He has made—this is general revelation—so that we would be compelled to seek Him. He has also revealed Himself to those who seek Him in intelligible ways, allowing us to know His nature and His will; this is special revelation.

Furthermore, the Bible teaches that God became a human being so that we could have a relationship with Him. This is what we would call personal revelation. These three forms of revelation are really important: general revelation, special revelation, and personal revelation.

General revelation is described in Psalm 19, where it says, "The heavens declare the glory of God; the earth shows forth His handiwork." Day after day, they utter speech; night after night, they give forth language. They are telling us about God's existence. His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, so that we are without excuse, as Paul says in Romans 1.

Then there is special revelation, where God reveals His nature and will through individuals the Bible calls prophets or seers. However, these revelations are limited; they can only go so far, especially if God's intent is to have a relationship with those He has made. For that, there needs to be this third form of revelation: personal revelation.

Here is what I hope to accomplish in this message and the next. I feel a bit of pressure because I have given myself just the month of August to cover all of this.

This, I mean, I could go longer, but I'm trying to pull all this together today and in my message next time. I feel like there's a lot I want to get forward in these messages, so I've been trying to pull this all together. I need to show you this week and next week that this seemingly far-out story is, first, in the Bible. This is what the Bible teaches us. Secondly, I want to show you that this is not only what the Bible says, but that you should trust that this is evidentially true, that it is historically true. There is evidence not just in the study of the Scriptures, but also throughout history, to show that these things are true.

Paul talks about this in verse 31 of Acts chapter 17, where he states that God has given us assurance that these things are true through raising Jesus from the dead. So, I want to zero in on that. First, I want to show you that this is what the Bible says; this is the story that the Bible gives. Second, I want to show you that we can have assurance that this story is true through evidence. My hope is to drive this home to show you what this means for us and how we should respond to this. If this is true, what does that mean for us? How shall we then live if the things that the Bible says are actually true?

So, first, is this really what the Bible teaches? I've brought up this passage of Scripture a number of times over the last several weeks in Hebrews chapter 1. I kind of mentioned it this morning without saying the verse, but in Hebrews chapter 1, at verse 1, the author of the book of Hebrews says, "God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in times past through the fathers by the prophets." The author goes on to say that God has, in verse 2, "in these last days spoken to us by His Son."

The author of the book of Hebrews here is saying that God, in various times and in various ways, spoke in times past to the Jewish fathers, the Hebrew fathers, through the prophets. But now, He has spoken to us in these last days by His Son, whom He has appointed the heir of all things, through whom He also made the worlds. Jesus, being the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person, holds all things by the word of His power. The Bible teaches that Jesus is a man with the nature of God.

There in Hebrews chapter 1, it is made very clear that God spoke in times past through special revelation, through prophets, to the fathers of the nation of Israel. But now, He speaks to us through His Son, personal revelation. His Son is the one who is the express image of the Father; He has the very nature of the Father.

When we go to the biblical story, the Bible teaches that Jesus is a man—capital M, Man—with the nature of God. That is what it means to be the Son of God. My son has my nature, a human nature. The son, the offspring of a horse, has a horse nature. So, the Son of God is just a title that indicates that this individual, this man Jesus, has the nature of God. He is fully God and fully man.

The author of the book of Hebrews tells us that this man, capital M, with the nature of God, came to the earth to speak to us and to reveal the glory of God to us personally. He came to do much more than that, but that is at least part of what He came to do: to personally reveal the glory of God to us.

The Bible says that Jesus is the perfect personal revelation of God; He is the apocalypse of God. That word "apocalypse" means the revealing. He is the one who shows us what God is really like in human form. I know that this is quite a claim that requires some evidence. You can make a claim like this, but you need to back that claim up with some proof.

Remember, Paul says that God has given us an assurance of this in Acts chapter 17, verse 31. That is where I want to go eventually. I want to get to the point where I can show that there is some evidence beyond just what the Bible has to say about this. But this is what the Bible teaches: that God became a man and that God personally reveals Himself to us, revealing His glory through Jesus.

In the opening words of the Gospel of John, we read that this Word became flesh and dwelt among us. The Word is the title of this individual called the Son of God, whose name is revealed in the New Testament as Jesus. The Word was with God, the Word is God, and the Word was active in creation, as stated in John chapter 1, verses 1 through 4. Then, verse 14 says that the Word became flesh; God became a man and dwelt among us, that we would behold His glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.

Grace and truth are central themes in the teaching of what the Bible has to say about Jesus Christ. We will explore the evidence that supports the audacious claims made in the New Testament regarding this individual. However, before we delve into that, I want to highlight another passage that brings this idea to the forefront: Who is Jesus? What does the Bible say about Him?

One of my favorite passages is found in the book of Philippians in the New Testament, specifically Philippians chapter 2. Over the past year, I feel I have gained a deeper understanding of this passage. Pastor Garrett here at the church would likely agree, as part of our work involved translating this entire passage from the original language. I believe I have a greater grasp on it than ever before.

Philippians chapter 2, one of the most famous passages of Scripture, begins at verse 1: "Therefore, if there is any consolation in Christ, if there is any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection and mercy, fulfill my joy by being like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind. Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind, let each esteem others better than himself. Let each of you look out not only for his own interests but also for the interests of others."

The passage continues, "Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God. But He made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant and coming in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, Jesus humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. Therefore, God has highly exalted Him and given Him a name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and those on earth, and those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of the Father."

This is a great passage of Scripture. When we look at Hebrews chapter 1, John chapter 1, and Philippians chapter 2, we begin to see a consistent teaching in the Bible. These are not the only passages that convey this message, but they are some of the key ones that illustrate the nature and significance of Jesus Christ.

God became a man to make the way for man to come to God. This is super important. The Bible teaches that God became a man to make the way for man to come to God. This is what we see right here in this passage. This individual, who is called the Word, the Logos in John chapter one, is the same one who is called the Son of God in Hebrews chapter one. This individual, Jesus, became a man and humbled Himself for the purpose of making it possible for us to come to God.

These are the basics. Like I've been saying for a number of weeks in this series, "First things first," this is the most basic level of what Christians for the last 20 centuries have believed and taught. Skeptics will say you can't possibly believe these things. They will argue that it's just not rational to take what the Bible says and believe it because these are far-out claims.

You are seriously saying that there is a Creator God who made everything visible and invisible, who is outside of this creation, and then 2,000 years ago, He stepped into this creation? For a lot of people, especially skeptics living in 21st-century Western culture here in the United States, throughout North America, and Western Europe, this sounds like the stuff of myth. It sounds like the stuff of Marvel comic books, and they would say, "You want me to believe that? You can't possibly think that I will rationally believe that."

It’s possible that you, watching this, are one of those people who is skeptical. Or maybe you are a believer in these things, but you have a family member who is antagonistic or a co-worker who is skeptical about these matters. They are the person who would say you can't possibly believe this; this is not rational.

But this is what Christians have believed for the last 2,000 years. If you read any of the creedal statements of the church, any of the catechismal statements of the church, or any of the deep theologies of the church going back to the earliest church fathers, this is what Christians have believed. This is what Christians teach.

You may ask, "Why would you believe this?" Well, because we believe that, as far out as this may seem to be, there is assurance of these things. There is proof that these things are true, and your trust and commitment to these beliefs are warranted. So, you say, "Okay then."

This is what the Bible teaches. How do you have these things be proved? How can I be assured of these things, that they are true and that they are worthy of my trust? How can I be assured that my faith and my commitment to this Jesus, as He is revealed in the Bible, is necessary and not just necessary, but not in vain? That's a key one right there. Why should I commit myself to this Jesus?

I shared in my last message that Paul, after he visited the city of Athens, as it's described in Acts chapter 17, immediately following that, in the very next chapter, we see him giving this discourse at the Areopagus in Athens. Acts chapter 18, verse 1, says, "After these things, Paul departed from Athens and went up to Corinth." So now he goes to the next largest city in Greece at that time, Corinth.

Years after Paul's extended stay in Corinth, he sent the Corinthian Christians some letters, two of which we have in the New Testament. In his first letter to the Corinthians, specifically in 1 Corinthians chapter 2, we read this in the opening two verses: "And I, brethren, when I came to you, did not come to you with excellence of speech or of wisdom, declaring to you the testimony of God. For I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified."

Right before that, in Acts chapter 1, we read this beginning at verse 18: "For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved, it is the power of God." Then in verse 22, "The Jews require a sign, and the Greeks seek after wisdom. But we preach Christ crucified; to the Jews, a stumbling block, and to the Greeks, foolishness. But to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God."

So Paul says, "I left Athens, I went to Corinth, and my message in Corinth was simply this: Christ crucified. I determined to know nothing else except Jesus Christ and Him crucified." The message of the cross, which was foolishness to many people in the world two thousand years ago, was foolishness to the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers there on Mars Hill in Athens. It may be foolishness to the person who sits in the cubicle next to yours or the desk next to yours at school. It may be foolishness to them. It's foolishness to people who are perishing, but it is the power of God.

Those who are being saved—this is what the Bible teaches. But how do I know that this is true? Why should I believe this? Why should I commit myself to Christ, to trust in Him? What would be the proof for this?

In the very same letter, Paul writes in First Corinthians. When I came to you, I preached Christ crucified. He says this in First Corinthians chapter 15, a powerful passage that relates to the very message of the Gospel. In First Corinthians chapter 15, verse 1, Paul states, "Moreover, brethren, I declare to you the Gospel, the good news about Christ crucified. Moreover, brethren, I declare to you the Gospel which I preached to you, which also you received and in which you stand, by which you also are saved, if you hold fast the word which I preached to you, unless you have believed in vain."

So how do I know that my faith, my trust, and my commitment to Jesus is not in vain? Well, here's how Paul gives the proof that your trust in Jesus is warranted and that your commitment to Him is a worthy commitment. He says in verse 3, "For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures." I determined to know nothing else except for Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried—so He was dead—and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures. This is the proof.

This is the same proof that Paul spoke of when he was in Athens. In Acts chapter 17, verse 31, he says, "God has given us assurance of these things by raising Jesus from the dead." So, Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures.

Notice this in verse 4: after His crucifixion, after His burial, after His death, Jesus was seen after He rose from the dead by Cephas, and then by the twelve. Cephas is another name for Peter. The other disciples, the apostles, saw Him. After that, He was seen, in verse 6, by over 500 brethren at once, of whom the greater part remain to this present time, but some have died, some have fallen asleep.

After that, He was seen by James, who is the half-brother of Jesus, and then by all of the apostles. Last of all, He was seen by me, Paul says, also as by one born out of due time.

Time for I am the least of the apostles, and I’m not worthy to be called an apostle because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God, I am what I am, and His grace toward me was not in vain. I labored more abundantly than they all, yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me. Therefore, whether it was I or they, all these other witnesses, so we preach, and so you believed.

How do you know that you have not believed in vain? If you have trusted in Jesus Christ as He is revealed in the Scriptures, He is revealed in the Scriptures as the Word became flesh (John 1:14). He is revealed in the Scriptures as the Son of God, who reveals the glory of the Father (Hebrews 1). He is revealed as Jesus of Nazareth, who came down; God, who was equal with God in heaven, came down to earth and died on the cross (Philippians 2).

How do we know that our faith and trust in Him, our commitment to Jesus as He is revealed in the Scriptures, is not in vain? What is the proof and assurance that these things are true? Well, Paul’s answer to that question is this message, and his answer was always this consistent message. Whether he was in Athens (Acts 17) or he was in Corinth (Acts 18), to the intelligentsia he had in Athens, he said God’s assurance of these things is the resurrection of Jesus. To the Corinthians, he said, "My message is simply this," and the message of all the apostles is this: from the very beginning, it has been this message: Christ died on the cross for our sins according to the Old Testament revelation of God. He was buried, dead in a tomb, and then He rose again from the dead three days later. He was seen after that, after His crucifixion, by the apostles, by hundreds of other believers, by the apostle Paul, and by His half-brother James. All of them saw Jesus after His death.

Now, notice this: if the resurrection isn’t true, if it’s not real that Jesus rose from the dead, what does that mean? What is the implication of this not being true? First Corinthians 15:12 states, "Now if Christ is preached that He has been raised from the dead," which is what Christians have preached for the last 2,000 years, "how is it that some among you say that there is no resurrection of the dead?" But if there is no resurrection of the dead...

Then Christ is not risen. If people don't rise from the dead, Jesus didn't rise from the dead. That's logical. If Christ is not risen, then our preaching that He is raised from the dead is empty, and your faith is also empty. Yes, we have been found false witnesses of God because we have testified of God that He raised up Christ, whom He did not raise up if, in fact, the dead do not rise.

For if the dead do not rise, then Christ is not risen. If Christ is not risen, your faith is futile, and you are still in your sins. Then also, those who have fallen asleep or died in Christ have just perished. If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all people most pitiable.

Powerful words! The proof point or the breaking point of the Christian faith is the resurrection of Jesus. Let me say that again: the proof point or the breaking point of the Christian faith is the resurrection. What that means is if Jesus did not raise from the dead, then everything that I am preaching is for naught. If Jesus did not raise from the dead, then your trust in and your commitment to Him is totally in vain, totally unnecessary.

If Jesus did not raise from the dead, notice what Paul says in 1 Corinthians chapter 15, verse 32: "If the dead do not rise, let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die." So if Jesus didn't raise from the dead, if there is no resurrection, then you might as well just be a humanist and live after the passions of whatever flesh you have.

That's clearly what the Scriptures say. There’s a really big problem: dead people don't seem to rise. It's not normal; it defies everything that we think we know. So, other than what Paul and the other New Testament writers wrote, how can we possibly believe that this proves anything? Where is the proof that Jesus rose from the dead?

I want to get to that, and that's primarily where I'm going to go next week. I want to talk a little bit about the historic and extra-biblical proofs for the resurrection of Christ because there is evidence beyond just what the testimony of Scripture says. What is the evidence that the resurrection actually happened?

What evidence is there that Jesus rose from the dead? What are the implications of the resurrection if it is true? How shall we then live? Practically speaking, what effect should this have in my life if it is actually real and actually true?

As I wrap up this week, let me say to the skeptic some key things. Maybe you are watching this and you are a skeptic. I understand your skepticism, and I think that your skepticism is not wholly bad. The claims of the Bible, and therefore the beliefs of Christians, are a lot to take in, and I get that. I believe that these things are true because I have consciously considered the evidence. I believe that an examination of the evidence supports the conclusion that there is a personal Creator, a God who made all things seen and unseen. He made us and all the things in this world in such a way that we would be compelled to seek to find Him.

He revealed Himself personally by coming to this world two thousand years ago as the man Jesus of Nazareth. He died on a cross, was buried in a tomb, as the Scriptures say, and three days later, He rose from the dead. He was seen alive after His death by a multitude of witnesses. As far out as that may seem to you as a skeptic, I believe that the evidence is there from the Scriptures, but also in the study of history, that these things are true. We need to examine what the evidence is.

Not only is the evidence there to show that these things are true, but also these things make more sense according to the evidence than the alternative narratives, the alternative stories that we are being told. What are the alternative stories and narratives that we are being told? Well, the leading story of our day is this. I found this on a website for the Institute of Physics just this last week as I was thinking about these things. This is from a physics website out of the United Kingdom, talking about what is the basic story that people believe today.

Here’s the story: most physicists believe that the universe was born in a big bang 13.8 billion years ago. In this big bang, the energy making up everything in the cosmos we see today was created.

The universe began in an inconceivably small space, far tinier than a grain of sand or even an atom. Then, for whatever reason, this unimaginably hot and dense cauldron ballooned at a terrifying rate. In the very first second of the universe's existence, our understanding of what was going on is surprisingly good, even though we are 13.8 billion years removed from it. According to what these individuals say, we have surprisingly good information about this.

We know that the concepts of time and space, as well as the laws of physics, quickly solidified out of nothing, ex nihilo. They just came together out of nothing. All the physical laws, everything having to do with space and time, solidified very quickly. From there, order started to emerge out of chaos. This is what scientific textbooks say; this is what physics textbooks say; this is what a physics website says. From that moment, after everything in the universe— all matter—was condensed down to something the size of an atom, it exploded forth.

At that time, order began to emerge out of chaos, which is pretty fascinating. Without any inputs from the outside, this chaotic explosion of the Big Bang started to order itself into a finely tuned, perfectly ordered physical universe with amazing laws of physics that all fit together perfectly. Through random chance and mutation over billions of years, it pieced itself together to create wonderfully intricate structures that look designed, emerging from chaos. This ordering occurred contrary to the laws of thermodynamics, especially the second law of thermodynamics regarding entropy.

Continuing on from here, the first subatomic particles to take shape were quarks, followed by larger particles like protons and neutrons. About three minutes after the Big Bang, scientists say the universe had cooled to one billion degrees Celsius. We know this for sure because we have time machines. This cooling allowed protons and neutrons to come together through fusion and form nuclei, the charged cores of atoms. However, after 20 minutes...

Twenty minutes removed from the Big Bang, 13.8 billion years ago, the universe was no longer hot enough for fusion. What was left was a hot, cloudy soup of electrons, hydrogen, and helium nuclei. This stage lasted for about three hundred eighty thousand years. Eventually, the cosmos cooled enough for electrons to pair up with nuclei and form the first atoms. After three hundred eighty thousand years, they paired up to create the first atoms. It then took hundreds of millions of years for the first stars to form and light up the darkness, and even longer for the universe to start to resemble anything we see today.

This is the story that is repeated ad nauseam on hundreds of websites and in countless textbooks. Over and over again, we are indoctrinated with this confessional catechism of scientism. That's what I will call it: a confessional catechism of scientism that we constantly present to people through Discovery Channel shows, History Channel shows, TED Talks, YouTube videos, and textbooks. The phrase "13.8 billion years ago" is repeated in various contexts, driving home this confessional statement and catechism.

People are led to answer questions like, "Where did I come from?" with the response that a Big Bang occurred 13.8 billion years ago, followed by random chance and mutation over billions of years, leading to our descent from lower-level animals. When asked, "Who am I?" the answer is that you are an animal descended from other animals further down the phylogenetic tree. The question, "Why am I here?" is answered with the notion that you are here to perpetuate your species and pass your genes on to another generation. Finally, when asked, "Where do I go after this?" the response is that you will return to the ground, where your remains will be broken down by lower-level organisms and consumed.

To the skeptic, I understand your skepticism about the narrative of the Bible. The question is, is there evidence for these things? There is also a lot of skepticism to be had about the other stories and narratives. The account from that physics website and from various scientific textbooks is a pretty far-out story.

Understand your skepticism. I would say to you, be skeptical of your assumptions and consider what the counterfactuals to your view may be.

Now, to the Christian: if you are a Christian and you're watching this today, I want to say to you that your faith is not irrational. Your beliefs can be based on evidence, not just the evidence of Scripture. Next week, I'm going to talk a little bit about the evidence that supports this seemingly far-out claim that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, was buried, and three days later, He rose from the dead and was seen by witnesses.

Listen, if it can be probabilistically proven, and proven beyond a reasonable doubt, that Jesus rose from the dead, then it causes us to re-examine everything in this world and everything in the Scriptures in a totally different way. So, to the skeptic, I say, be skeptical of your skepticism. To the Christian, I want to encourage you that your faith is rational and your beliefs can be based on evidence that can actually be examined.

You were created by God for a purpose. He has made you uniquely you for a purpose, and as you find and fulfill the purpose for which He made you, your life will glorify Him and find true joy and satisfaction. Of these things, I am thoroughly convinced. I have taken a long time over the last many years to consider and examine the evidence, and as I do, I'm encouraged more and more that my trust in Jesus and my commitment to Jesus makes sense. It's rational, and I hope that you will begin to see those things as well as you consider the evidence.

Father God, I pray that you would open our hearts to receive from you your word and help us to comprehend these things. Would you reveal yourself, Lord? Because if it is true, as I believe that it is, that you are real, then I'm not just talking out into thin air, but I'm actually talking to the Creator of all things. If it's true that you exist, then you are able to reveal yourself to us by your Spirit.

So, I pray for anyone who is tuning in to this broadcast, whether they're a Christian or a skeptic, that you would further reveal yourself to them. Open their heart and their mind that they might see you by faith, Lord. Come to trust you and commit their lives to you, for we ask this in Jesus' name. Amen.

Jesus, the Son of God, hung on the cross to die. Nothing could hold Him down. Wonderful is who You are. You're so wonderful, so generous, and so faithful. You are my awesome God.

Hey, thanks for joining our online service today. We're glad you were here! We'd love to see you join us for our in-person service, which is Sunday mornings at 10:30 at our campus in Escondido. If you'd like more information about that, visit us at lifeinconnection.com. Alright, guys, God bless, and have a great week!

Hey there, Cross Connection Church! We have some exciting news. Starting on September 12th, we're going to be adding another service. We'll have services at 8:30 and 10:30. That's on September 12th, the weekend after Labor Day.

In order to pull this off, we are going to need some help. Specifically, I need help in children's ministry. I need assistance in a couple of areas: I need help in the rooms, but I also need help elsewhere.

From people who just maybe want to do check-ins: maybe you don't want to be in a room with kids, but you can help out for 15 minutes before service starts and 15 minutes after it starts. You can still make it in for the end of worship and maybe even the announcements. I need help with the check-in area to get families checked in so their kids can make it into the room safely. If you can help in either one of those areas, whether it's in a room or in check-ins, maybe you just want to pray for us—that is always welcome. If you'd like to help us out, head on over to serve.lifeinconnection.com, and you can sign up there.

With that, we're going to throw it over to Garrett for the rest of the announcements. God bless you guys!

Hey, Cross Connection! We have a couple of announcements for you. First, in September, we are having our next church camping trip, and we would like you to join us at Herky Creek, which is just next to Idyllwild. Our camping trip will be from September 17th through the 19th, which is a Friday through Sunday. We're going to have a great time up there. We have a big group site, and we'd love for you to be there and join us. You can simply sign up on our website, events.lifeinconnection.com. It costs $20 per person, or for a whole family, no matter how big your family is, it's $40. So that's the maximum you'll have to pay—$40. We would love to see you out there. It's such a great time of fellowship and getting to spend some time in the great outdoors, so hope to see you there!

Coming up this Saturday, we have our Sue Refugio food packing day in the morning. If you want to sign up for that, this is the last opportunity to do so. We would love to get you signed up on the website, events.lifeinconnection.com. We encourage you to invite your family, neighbors, and friends. We are packing 20,000 meals that are going to be sent to Peru, Paraguay, and Argentina. It's an awesome opportunity for you to serve alongside your family and friends here at Cross Connection Church. Hope to see you on Saturday, but please sign up at events.lifeinconnection.com.