The confusing factor today starts with school (secular) on realizing where we come from. We are taught evolution; millions of years and many animals come from one organism. We are taught we have evolved from monkeys that evolved from multi-celled, that evolved from a mono-cell. I get confused just thinking about it? Have you ever asked your self the question, if I evolved from monkeys, then why are there still monkeys? Or why there are still multi and mono-celled organisms? They are simple questions without answers. Scientist can’t explain it; all they can do is theorizing about it. Yet, in our society we would rather think on theory than thank God for creating us.
It can be confusing when you have a conflict on what you are taught. There was a young boy who went to church every Sunday with his mother (dad was to busy watching TV). One Sunday, after the service, the young boy asked his mother, “Where did I come from?” The mother responded, “You were created by God, and we are blessed by Him to have you as our son. God has created everyone and everything for His purpose, and you are special to Him.” The young boy smiled as they left for home. When he got home, he went in and sat by his father who was watching the football game. He thought for a second and asked his father a question. He asked, “Dad, where did we come from?” Without hesitation the father answered, “Son we have evolved from monkeys. Million and millions of years ago a single-celled organism in a swamp split and became multi-celled, it then turned into a tadpole, which then turned into a creature that grew legs and left the water, lost its tail and grew hair, then became a monkey and eventually became us.” The young boy now confused, went back to his mother and said, “Mom when I asked you where we came from you told me we were created by God and when I asked Dad he told me we evolved from monkeys, I’m confused.” The mother replied, “Oh, honey there is nothing to be confused over, your father was simply telling you about his side of the family, and I told you of my side.” Stories like this are funny but yet are true. Most families do not attend church together, or come to the same conclusions about life. The father is the blame to family deterioration. Selfishness takes over and self over rules God.
I want us to look now at the creation of man. Man’s creation is the most important act in God’s creation. Nothing else in the historical act of creation compares to the creation of man. No animal, star, planet, being, insect, or angel has the claim of humanity. Do you know what that is? We are created in the image and likeness of God. How special we are! This act of love for us, show our importance to Him. He could have made us to be anything and yet he decided to architecturally design us after Himself. Even in the beginning of mankind it was about God, not us. Our special creation comes with a special purpose; to serve and have control of the planet He designed for us.
In Genesis chapters 1-2 we see the design of the earth, all its’ contents, solar system, and the heavens. Even in the grand design we can see that each day had a purpose, to precede the day you and I were created. He prepared a place that would sustain us, so when we were created on the sixth day we would have nothing to want for. There would be an all sufficient planet with herbs, trees, and animals to feed us for all eternity. There is no question of our special service; it is taking care of what God has provided for us. Five days of creation formed a planet of perfection for you and me. How wonderful of thought it was to do such a thing. In Genesis 1:26 it states; “And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.”(KJV) We are created in His likeness and His image; these are the very first words spoken about man. Remember, I said earlier that no animal, star, planet, being, insect, or angel has the claim of humanity. That claim is spoken about before the actual act our creation. Man’s dominion over the created earth is also indicated before the act of our creation. We were given a purpose before we were given life. No other creature has been spoken about in such a way and with such a specific purpose.
We are first made in the image and likeness of God. I have always wondered about the difference of image and likeness. Have you ever taken the time to think on these things? Why in the world would the Bible state image and likeness? Aren’t they both the same thing? For the longest time I thought that way, and I am sure many of you have had the same thought or have never even thought about it. Let me tell you, I could not do it on my own; I had to do something that sounds ridiculous to some people. I took what I like to call the child-like approach; I asked God; when I want to know something, I ask a question. You know what? He gave me an answer! Unheard of I know; ask and ye shall receive. The answer came with a two part description. 1) Being made in the image of God shows our inward appearance and, 2) Being made in the likeness of God shows our outward beauty. Now I know we can look at some people and say things like this. “She isn’t going to win any beauty contests,” or “He’s even ugly on the inside.” We have taken the view of man and not the view of God when we look at our creation.
To be made in the image of God shows our inward appearance. This is where struggles begin with some people. Inwardness is never taught in schools, and some churches are not teaching the inward beauty in which we were first created. Have you ever thought of the inward beauty of God? His inward beauty surrounds us daily in simple things. We just over look them. Emotions and expressions show us the inward beauty of God through our relationships. We were never created to argue, fight, feud, bellyache or complain. (Some people however just have to be that way it seems). Every one of these emotional outbursts comes from our inside. We don’t physically act without an emotional drive. We are a created being that follows our inward drive. We will do nothing physically without thought. Sometimes we think we do things without an inward action, but nothing we do; I mean nothing gets done with out our inwardness.
The word image comes from a Hebrew word that means phantom, illusion, hence the use of the word image. We have grand illusions of what we can do or what we are going to be, which means we are again using our inward thoughts to drive our outward actions. People know they are emotionally driven, they just forget this fact. But our inward side is the first ingredient of our creation, and that is replicated of the inwardness of God. This is what people don’t think about. My inward thoughts are to be Godly. Why? That is how we are created. The problem is man’s will is taking place of God’s presence. Out of all emotions love is the reason we are here. God loves us. God created us by His love, for His love, and we are to show His love. We are built inwardly on the love of God. This is something that is utterly forgotten by the world today. Being built on the love of God does not mean all men love God. God never leaves us or forsakes us, man however will both leave and forsake God. What happened? Why is humanity so independently ignorant? Simply put, humanity has forgotten its inward attribute. 1 John 4:8 tells us the result of forgetting how to love. He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love.
Being made in the likeness of God is being able to show an outward response to our inward appearance. If we are built inwardly on the love of God our outward response to others will be loving and not feuding. The world has left out this outward response. Today the world teaches us it is about being the better you. Preachers today are teaching on purpose, power, positive thinking, possession, and promotion (Not all, but some). The ones that are doing this have a charisma about them that people turn to. Their charisma dictates their actions. They hear people promote them and how they have brought them to a positive life. This is not about God and his promises; this is about man and his possession. The likeness of man is not what we are made in. We are made in the likeness of God. Pastor’s are not motivational speakers, they are to teach, preach and promote God’s Word. Everyone is to promote the likeness of God. I have heard many people say that I want to be like someone else. I would like to have the life someone else has. I would like to have their opportunity and how I could use what they have to do more. Well, here is a break through for you; you will always be you, you will never be anything but you, and you opportunity starts with you. If many people would understand that God wants them to be their selves in Him, we would see a realization of the likeness of God. To be made in the likeness of God is mind blowing to me. I am made in the likeness of the Creator of the Universe and all that is in it. I am in the image of the Creator of the Universe. I am a part of the only created beings that claim this. No animals, no angels, no creeping things, no fish, no fowl of the air, nothing else can claim to be made in the image and likeness of God. I am it! So let’s motivate ourselves in understanding this. I am made in the image and likeness of God. I am possessing my life in knowing this as my fact. I am no longer going to be a world follower. I am going to be a God server. His likeness is going to be seen in my actions and in my words to others. If we could get people to possess these thoughts; Christianity would bring a revival like no other. How do we get people to understand that this is where we begin?
Have people study on God’s Word and see the magnitude of it wealth. Stop with self promotion and start promoting your purpose. I am on this planet to serve my Creator. My likeness should overshadow my inability. When we think ourselves unable to do something, we have already set ourselves up to fail. When we ask God what He wants us to do and we do it, we never fail. The results may not be what we want to see, but we have not failed in our service. And if we have not failed in our service, we have kept our likeness of Him, and He is proud of us.
The problem with most of us is that we are set up to believe that if something doesn’t go the way we planned then we have failed.
Here is a story I heard of a person that thought they had not done any good because he had not personally seen the results. There was an evangelist who was in Australia doing revivals and he would always ask the question, “Does anyone have a praise?” In the first church he went to he had a person stand up and give this testimony; “As I was walking I passed a man in the street and as I passed he said this, Do you know where you are going when you die? The bible says that if you do not have Christ as your Savior you are going to hell. He didn’t give me time to give him a response, he just walked off. I thought he was crazy. I later got to thinking on what he said and I realized I wanted to see what he was talking about, and I now have Christ in my life because someone took the time to tell me without Him I would go to hell.” The evangelist didn’t think about it much until he went to the next church in Australia on his tour and he asked the same question, and someone stood up and gave him a similar story of a man on the streets of Sidney Australia. As the evangelist went through many churches on his tour of Australia, he kept getting testimonies of the man who would say; “Do you know where you are going when you die? The bible says that if you do not have Christ as your Savior you are going to hell.” And each time they would tell of how the man would walk off and yet how he had made an impact on their decisions for Christ. As the evangelist left Australia he continued his tour through many other countries. As he returned to his native England and started his revivals he again asked for praise, and wouldn’t you know it, he had someone give testimony of a man on the streets of Sidney, Australia. The evangelist was so intrigued by this individual; he finished his revival tour and returned to Sidney, Australia. When he arrived he found the street name and went to a local store and asked if anyone knew of a man who would share a simple question and statement about Christ with others. The clerk responded indeed he knew the man and even knew his address. He said everyone knows this man. The evangelist was excited and went to the address given to him by the clerk. As he approached the house and knocked on the door, he could not contain his excitement. When the man opened the door the evangelist introduce himself, and asked the man, how he did it. The evangelist asked “How does it feel to have reached so many people for Christ?” The man was puzzled and returned with, “What do you mean?” The evangelist said, “I have been doing revivals throughout Australia, New Zealand, Europe, and Great Britain. As I did my revivals I would always ask if there were any praises and I would have someone stand up and tell me of a man they met on the streets of Australia. I heard about you in many of the churches I have done revivals and I just want to know how it feels to have made such an impact for Christ on so many lives?” The man became overwhelmed and as his eyes filled with tears he replied, “I did not know any of this. I have told may people the same thing for many years; I just wanted people to know that Christ is the only way to Heaven. You are the first person to ever tell me that someone heard what I had to say.” You talk about someone who knew what it was to show the likeness of God. He gave people the simple truth. God give us the simple truth. He does not complicate anything. This man did not complicate anything. He made it simple. We need to make it simple. The simplest of actions can bring a swarming of results that you and I may never find out about. This does not mean we have failed. It simply means we have not received the results we wanted. We sometimes forget to plant a seed for God because we are afraid of failure. The failure is not promoting our likeness of God. We out the planting, nothing can grow. If the seed is still in the package and never gets used, it remains a seed in a package.
Being made in the image and likeness of God is a great privilege for us. Now again I know we think that some people are made in the image and likeness of satan. I know it hard to swallow, but there has never been a person who was created in that image or likeness. The problem is that they will forget God and become the products of an ungodly world that is ruled by satan (I know I didn’t capitalize satan, I just don’t think of him as worth the honor or respect). Just as those who choose not to follow their God given image and likeness, I choose not to give satan any glory.
It can be confusing when you have a conflict on what you are taught. There was a young boy who went to church every Sunday with his mother (dad was to busy watching TV). One Sunday, after the service, the young boy asked his mother, “Where did I come from?” The mother responded, “You were created by God, and we are blessed by Him to have you as our son. God has created everyone and everything for His purpose, and you are special to Him.” The young boy smiled as they left for home. When he got home, he went in and sat by his father who was watching the football game. He thought for a second and asked his father a question. He asked, “Dad, where did we come from?” Without hesitation the father answered, “Son we have evolved from monkeys. Million and millions of years ago a single-celled organism in a swamp split and became multi-celled, it then turned into a tadpole, which then turned into a creature that grew legs and left the water, lost its tail and grew hair, then became a monkey and eventually became us.” The young boy now confused, went back to his mother and said, “Mom when I asked you where we came from you told me we were created by God and when I asked Dad he told me we evolved from monkeys, I’m confused.” The mother replied, “Oh, honey there is nothing to be confused over, your father was simply telling you about his side of the family, and I told you of my side.” Stories like this are funny but yet are true. Most families do not attend church together, or come to the same conclusions about life. The father is the blame to family deterioration. Selfishness takes over and self over rules God.
I want us to look now at the creation of man. Man’s creation is the most important act in God’s creation. Nothing else in the historical act of creation compares to the creation of man. No animal, star, planet, being, insect, or angel has the claim of humanity. Do you know what that is? We are created in the image and likeness of God. How special we are! This act of love for us, show our importance to Him. He could have made us to be anything and yet he decided to architecturally design us after Himself. Even in the beginning of mankind it was about God, not us. Our special creation comes with a special purpose; to serve and have control of the planet He designed for us.
In Genesis chapters 1-2 we see the design of the earth, all its’ contents, solar system, and the heavens. Even in the grand design we can see that each day had a purpose, to precede the day you and I were created. He prepared a place that would sustain us, so when we were created on the sixth day we would have nothing to want for. There would be an all sufficient planet with herbs, trees, and animals to feed us for all eternity. There is no question of our special service; it is taking care of what God has provided for us. Five days of creation formed a planet of perfection for you and me. How wonderful of thought it was to do such a thing. In Genesis 1:26 it states; “And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.”(KJV) We are created in His likeness and His image; these are the very first words spoken about man. Remember, I said earlier that no animal, star, planet, being, insect, or angel has the claim of humanity. That claim is spoken about before the actual act our creation. Man’s dominion over the created earth is also indicated before the act of our creation. We were given a purpose before we were given life. No other creature has been spoken about in such a way and with such a specific purpose.
We are first made in the image and likeness of God. I have always wondered about the difference of image and likeness. Have you ever taken the time to think on these things? Why in the world would the Bible state image and likeness? Aren’t they both the same thing? For the longest time I thought that way, and I am sure many of you have had the same thought or have never even thought about it. Let me tell you, I could not do it on my own; I had to do something that sounds ridiculous to some people. I took what I like to call the child-like approach; I asked God; when I want to know something, I ask a question. You know what? He gave me an answer! Unheard of I know; ask and ye shall receive. The answer came with a two part description. 1) Being made in the image of God shows our inward appearance and, 2) Being made in the likeness of God shows our outward beauty. Now I know we can look at some people and say things like this. “She isn’t going to win any beauty contests,” or “He’s even ugly on the inside.” We have taken the view of man and not the view of God when we look at our creation.
To be made in the image of God shows our inward appearance. This is where struggles begin with some people. Inwardness is never taught in schools, and some churches are not teaching the inward beauty in which we were first created. Have you ever thought of the inward beauty of God? His inward beauty surrounds us daily in simple things. We just over look them. Emotions and expressions show us the inward beauty of God through our relationships. We were never created to argue, fight, feud, bellyache or complain. (Some people however just have to be that way it seems). Every one of these emotional outbursts comes from our inside. We don’t physically act without an emotional drive. We are a created being that follows our inward drive. We will do nothing physically without thought. Sometimes we think we do things without an inward action, but nothing we do; I mean nothing gets done with out our inwardness.
The word image comes from a Hebrew word that means phantom, illusion, hence the use of the word image. We have grand illusions of what we can do or what we are going to be, which means we are again using our inward thoughts to drive our outward actions. People know they are emotionally driven, they just forget this fact. But our inward side is the first ingredient of our creation, and that is replicated of the inwardness of God. This is what people don’t think about. My inward thoughts are to be Godly. Why? That is how we are created. The problem is man’s will is taking place of God’s presence. Out of all emotions love is the reason we are here. God loves us. God created us by His love, for His love, and we are to show His love. We are built inwardly on the love of God. This is something that is utterly forgotten by the world today. Being built on the love of God does not mean all men love God. God never leaves us or forsakes us, man however will both leave and forsake God. What happened? Why is humanity so independently ignorant? Simply put, humanity has forgotten its inward attribute. 1 John 4:8 tells us the result of forgetting how to love. He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love.
Being made in the likeness of God is being able to show an outward response to our inward appearance. If we are built inwardly on the love of God our outward response to others will be loving and not feuding. The world has left out this outward response. Today the world teaches us it is about being the better you. Preachers today are teaching on purpose, power, positive thinking, possession, and promotion (Not all, but some). The ones that are doing this have a charisma about them that people turn to. Their charisma dictates their actions. They hear people promote them and how they have brought them to a positive life. This is not about God and his promises; this is about man and his possession. The likeness of man is not what we are made in. We are made in the likeness of God. Pastor’s are not motivational speakers, they are to teach, preach and promote God’s Word. Everyone is to promote the likeness of God. I have heard many people say that I want to be like someone else. I would like to have the life someone else has. I would like to have their opportunity and how I could use what they have to do more. Well, here is a break through for you; you will always be you, you will never be anything but you, and you opportunity starts with you. If many people would understand that God wants them to be their selves in Him, we would see a realization of the likeness of God. To be made in the likeness of God is mind blowing to me. I am made in the likeness of the Creator of the Universe and all that is in it. I am in the image of the Creator of the Universe. I am a part of the only created beings that claim this. No animals, no angels, no creeping things, no fish, no fowl of the air, nothing else can claim to be made in the image and likeness of God. I am it! So let’s motivate ourselves in understanding this. I am made in the image and likeness of God. I am possessing my life in knowing this as my fact. I am no longer going to be a world follower. I am going to be a God server. His likeness is going to be seen in my actions and in my words to others. If we could get people to possess these thoughts; Christianity would bring a revival like no other. How do we get people to understand that this is where we begin?
Have people study on God’s Word and see the magnitude of it wealth. Stop with self promotion and start promoting your purpose. I am on this planet to serve my Creator. My likeness should overshadow my inability. When we think ourselves unable to do something, we have already set ourselves up to fail. When we ask God what He wants us to do and we do it, we never fail. The results may not be what we want to see, but we have not failed in our service. And if we have not failed in our service, we have kept our likeness of Him, and He is proud of us.
The problem with most of us is that we are set up to believe that if something doesn’t go the way we planned then we have failed.
Here is a story I heard of a person that thought they had not done any good because he had not personally seen the results. There was an evangelist who was in Australia doing revivals and he would always ask the question, “Does anyone have a praise?” In the first church he went to he had a person stand up and give this testimony; “As I was walking I passed a man in the street and as I passed he said this, Do you know where you are going when you die? The bible says that if you do not have Christ as your Savior you are going to hell. He didn’t give me time to give him a response, he just walked off. I thought he was crazy. I later got to thinking on what he said and I realized I wanted to see what he was talking about, and I now have Christ in my life because someone took the time to tell me without Him I would go to hell.” The evangelist didn’t think about it much until he went to the next church in Australia on his tour and he asked the same question, and someone stood up and gave him a similar story of a man on the streets of Sidney Australia. As the evangelist went through many churches on his tour of Australia, he kept getting testimonies of the man who would say; “Do you know where you are going when you die? The bible says that if you do not have Christ as your Savior you are going to hell.” And each time they would tell of how the man would walk off and yet how he had made an impact on their decisions for Christ. As the evangelist left Australia he continued his tour through many other countries. As he returned to his native England and started his revivals he again asked for praise, and wouldn’t you know it, he had someone give testimony of a man on the streets of Sidney, Australia. The evangelist was so intrigued by this individual; he finished his revival tour and returned to Sidney, Australia. When he arrived he found the street name and went to a local store and asked if anyone knew of a man who would share a simple question and statement about Christ with others. The clerk responded indeed he knew the man and even knew his address. He said everyone knows this man. The evangelist was excited and went to the address given to him by the clerk. As he approached the house and knocked on the door, he could not contain his excitement. When the man opened the door the evangelist introduce himself, and asked the man, how he did it. The evangelist asked “How does it feel to have reached so many people for Christ?” The man was puzzled and returned with, “What do you mean?” The evangelist said, “I have been doing revivals throughout Australia, New Zealand, Europe, and Great Britain. As I did my revivals I would always ask if there were any praises and I would have someone stand up and tell me of a man they met on the streets of Australia. I heard about you in many of the churches I have done revivals and I just want to know how it feels to have made such an impact for Christ on so many lives?” The man became overwhelmed and as his eyes filled with tears he replied, “I did not know any of this. I have told may people the same thing for many years; I just wanted people to know that Christ is the only way to Heaven. You are the first person to ever tell me that someone heard what I had to say.” You talk about someone who knew what it was to show the likeness of God. He gave people the simple truth. God give us the simple truth. He does not complicate anything. This man did not complicate anything. He made it simple. We need to make it simple. The simplest of actions can bring a swarming of results that you and I may never find out about. This does not mean we have failed. It simply means we have not received the results we wanted. We sometimes forget to plant a seed for God because we are afraid of failure. The failure is not promoting our likeness of God. We out the planting, nothing can grow. If the seed is still in the package and never gets used, it remains a seed in a package.
Being made in the image and likeness of God is a great privilege for us. Now again I know we think that some people are made in the image and likeness of satan. I know it hard to swallow, but there has never been a person who was created in that image or likeness. The problem is that they will forget God and become the products of an ungodly world that is ruled by satan (I know I didn’t capitalize satan, I just don’t think of him as worth the honor or respect). Just as those who choose not to follow their God given image and likeness, I choose not to give satan any glory.
