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[0:00] Acts 14, verse 17, In past generations he allowed the nations to walk in their own ways, and yet he did not leave himself without witness, for he did good.! That's a lovely expression, isn't it?

[0:11] He did good by giving you rains from heaven and fruitful seasons, satisfying your hearts with food and gladness. So that's a wonderful text.

[0:22] God shows himself, he certainly shows himself in judgments and warnings, but he also shows himself in the rich goodness of what he gives.

[0:34] And I think I probably commented in our Western society, we are amazingly protected from lots of the famines and plagues that other parts of the world have to live with, and we're protected from that in large measure, and we really ought to be grateful.

[0:55] You know, we're good as a nation at complaining about things, you know, complaining about the cost of living and energy prices and the NHS and et cetera, et cetera, but we've got so much to be grateful for.

[1:08] If you travel to other countries, you'd say, well, you know, we have so much to be grateful for, and over a long period. So those are the things that we looked at last time, and I wanted to focus on people.

[1:27] So, and I have drawn a map of France there, and I wanted to just think in terms of people, because one thing I've sometimes thought, I think my son Tim probably has the same bent of mind as me, here's the universe, and do you know there are billions and billions and billions of stars?

[1:54] The whole, you know, just, if you were to take a map of the stars, they were just, you know, God must like stars. There are so many of them.

[2:06] And if you take a sort of scientific view, you'd say in this tiny little planet here is us. And you might think, how can we be important if in this vast universe, there's just this tiny bit there that's us?

[2:26] And that can be a rather intimidating thought. And then I had another thought. So here's France, which is quite a big country, and there's Paris, and that seems a small blob in the middle of this big country.

[2:39] However, if you draw the map, instead of drawing it by inches and size, if you draw it by population, you would draw it in a different way.

[2:52] So you could draw, this is Paris, this is a huge population centre, you could draw a big mountain there and say this is a vast population centre. Or if you did it in size, you'd say this huge, this is how much population space Paris takes up.

[3:13] Do you see what I'm trying to say? If you map it differently. And if you map on this huge universe, people, intelligent life forms made in the image of God, then you would map this as a huge place because it's full of loads of people.

[3:33] And that makes it really important. It's just the way you look at it. This is the epicentre because it's got people in it and they're made in God's image.

[3:44] So that was just a thought which may or may not, may be completely unhelpful. But it just sort of crossed my mind as a way of looking at where we are.

[3:56] It says it, it's in the psalm, isn't it? What is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you consider him? You've made him a little lower than the angels. That's, but crowned him with glory and honour.

[4:09] Okay, right. Let's look at, I did also have a map of Deutschland and France.

[4:19] in the same way. Please can we read in Genesis chapter 1, verse 24 to 31.

[4:37] This is day 6. And of the days, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, God has separated light from darkness.

[4:52] The waters sideways, he's separated. Then the waters that way, he's separated. Here on day 4, he fills the spaces with stars. Here, if I'm not mistaken, he does, where are we?

[5:05] I've done it the wrong way around, haven't I? It's that way. He does the birds and the sea creatures, I think. And then, when he finally separates the sea from the land, he does land animals and people.

[5:22] So, we're on day 6. So, day 6 is from verse 24 to 31. Will anybody read that for us, please? And God said, let the land produce living creatures according to their kinds.

[5:38] Livestocks, creatures that move around the ground, and wild animals, each according to its kind. And it was so.

[5:49] God made it wild animals according to their kinds, livestock according to their kind, and all the creatures that move along the ground, according to their kinds.

[6:00] And God saw that it was good. Then God said, let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them roll over the fish from the sea, the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.

[6:20] So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created them. He created him. Made and female he created them.

[6:33] Keep going. Yeah. Keep going. God blessed them and said to them, be fruitful, increase in number, fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea, the bones of the air, and over every living creature that moves on the ground.

[6:50] Then God said, I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth, and every tree that has fruit with seeds in it. They will be yours for food.

[7:03] And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds of the air, and all the creatures that move on the ground, everything that has breath of life in it, I give every green plant for food.

[7:16] And it was so. God saw that he had made, and it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning, the sixth day.

[7:27] Thank you very much. Thank you very much. The Hebrew for good is tov, and the Hebrew for very good is tov ma'od.

[7:39] I know this because I did a crash course in Hebrew, and when I got the answers right, the tutor wrote at the bottom, tov, or tov ma'od. So sometimes it was tov, and very rarely it was tov ma'od.

[7:51] But God made everything, and he saw that it was good. Okay. So let's... Let me just get my notes here. When we're thinking about man, verse 26.

[8:09] So the word man there is Adam, who is also a personal name, isn't it? So it's interesting whether we're talking about the man, Adam, or Adam, meaning man.

[8:24] Let us make Adam in our image, and after our likeness, verse 26. So that's what I'd like to spend a little bit of time thinking about.

[8:38] So... Originally there's just one, and then there's more than one, but image and likeness.

[8:56] But anybody like... Image is used 15 times in the Bible, and likeness is used 22 times in the Bible. Not always used the same way, but what...

[9:10] Just as a sort of a random thought, the word image in the Old Testament, what does that tend to bring to your mind? In what way would that...

[9:20] You would imagine that that would be usually used? Thank you. An image against God, like a graven image. And I haven't done enough research to tell you how many times it's used that way, but it certainly is used sometimes that way.

[9:37] And this is interesting, isn't it? Because what's the problem with a graven image? Well, have a think about that. And here we're told, is someone in our image and after our likeness?

[9:54] I think the in and the after are quite important. I once mentioned this at a theological conference, and they said, no, it's not important at all. So I could be completely wrong on this.

[10:05] But I think the fact... It doesn't say that man is the image. It's made in our image. And it doesn't say man is the likeness, but is after our likeness.

[10:17] So it seems to put a little bit of a distance. It's... That it's not... You know, there's something that is not exact about that, but there's something very really...

[10:27] A real sort of correspondence. Now, then, what was I going to do with this? Let's look at some references of image.

[10:43] So Numbers 33, 52. Let's just check this one out. Numbers 33, 52. Numbers 33, 52.

[11:03] Or if we took it from verse 51. Numbers 33, 51. Could Ruth read us Numbers 33, 51 and 52? Speak to the people of Israel and say to them, when you pass over the Jordan into the land of Canaan, then you shall drive out all the inhabitants of the land from before you, and destroy all their figured stones, and destroy all their metal images, and demolish all their high places.

[11:35] Okay, thank you. So that verse is just a confirmation of the use of the word images in that to mean a graven image, an idol.

[11:46] And I think I've got some similar ones for the word likeness. So Genesis 5 would do that, I think. So this is the word likeness.

[12:01] Genesis 5, verse 1. Genesis 5, verse 1. Thank you.

[12:16] Okay. Yeah, do the next verse as well. He created a male and female and blessed them. And when they were created, he called them man. Thank you.

[12:26] Okay, that's another use of likeness. And I think there is... Hmm, I thought there was yet another, which I might not have put down. Does it say he...

[12:37] Yes. So in verse 3, when Adam had lived 130 years, he fathered a son in his own likeness after his image and named him Seth. So that same idea of a likeness.

[12:50] But this time, it's going to be a likeness of a sinful, fallen being, isn't it? Because Adam was fallen at that time. The use of image goes over into the New Testament.

[13:11] So let's flip over into the New Testament. Try and get these in the right order for us. So Colossians chapter 1.

[13:26] No, I'm not going to go there. I'm going to go to 3.10. Colossians 3.10. Colossians 3 verse 9 and 10.

[13:40] Colossians 3, 9 and 10. This is in the ethical instruction to the Colossian Christians. Colossians 3, 9 and 10.

[13:54] Jerome, could you read that for us, please? I do not lie to one another. It seems that you have the old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator.

[14:08] Thank you very much. So I think a reference there to sanctification, to Christians being remade in the image of the creator.

[14:21] And the particular aspect of being remade there is the aspect of knowledge. So the things that have gone adrift with our knowledge are being renewed after, you notice that word there, which it sort of qualifies image, after the image of its creator.

[14:44] And I would like to find, I think James 3, 9 is the one I want. Yeah, James 3, 9.

[15:00] So this is talking about people in general rather than Christians. James 3, 9. Ray, could you read us that, please?

[15:13] With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men who have been made in God's likeness. Thank you very much. Yes.

[15:24] So this idea that human beings, even now, are image bearers, that they bear the likeness of God, and therefore we should not curse them.

[15:39] That's what it's saying, isn't it? We should not curse people. They're made in the image of God. And do you know, I'm forgetting what order I'm going to tackle these things, so I'll just say this now.

[15:51] I think this is such an important thought, that people are made in the image of God. And this applies to them, whether they're Christians or not.

[16:01] It applies to them, whether they work out or not.

[16:15] It applies to them, whatever their mental health state is. It applies to them, whatever their gender is. It applies to them, however messed up they are.

[16:27] they're still made in the image of God. And just putting it personally, I found this to be a real important thing, working with people in the community, who are not believers, most of them.

[16:40] how do you treat people, who come along to community meetings, in same-sex relationships, with people who are trans, people who have mental health issues, you treat them with the respect, due to someone made in the image of God.

[16:59] And that applies to people with special needs. They're made in the image of God, and precious, and therefore should not be discarded, or looked down on, or what's the word, sort of mercy killed.

[17:19] They're made in the image of God. And this is such an important Christian insight, isn't it? And this helps us in our lives. We might disagree with somebody, and if they were to say to us, could I be a Christian?

[17:33] And you might have to say, well, you'd have to change this or that, to be a Christian. But we still value those people, as made in the image of God. Does that make sense?

[17:44] I think that is so important. Anyway, let's come back to, let's go back to Genesis. And the question is, in what way is Adam in the image of God?

[18:03] So, in what way? And let's look into the verses that were read, 24 to 31. and try and work off that, and say, well, what is it that can we put into any sort of words what this image consists of?

[18:25] Now, let me just say, I think theologians have struggled over this for millennia, because I don't think there is a neat answer to this, but I think we can have a go at it. We can say a few things that are not untrue.

[18:38] In what way, from the text, would you say that the human, the man, or the male and female resemble the creator?

[18:51] So, why don't you just have a word with your neighbor for a couple of minutes and see what they think. In what way does the human human beings created resemble their maker?

[19:06] In what way they're the image? Anything from the text or anything that the text implies? Two minutes. Thank you. Any other thoughts?

[19:19] Yep. Speak. Thank you very much. That's going to come up in the next chapter. Of course, God is a speaking God. That's what he's been doing in making everything.

[19:30] He speaks. So, the human Adam is a speaking person. Yep. Thank you. Do you want to go any further?

[19:41] Create. Yes. Making. Creating. Obviously, God is a creating God.

[19:53] And humans are creating creatures. creatures. I mean, I'm never quite sure how much credence to attach to the interpretation of human history that comes in science and whatever the study of human development is supposed to be.

[20:14] It seems to me that they say, we know absolutely what's happened in an evolutionary framework. And then a month later they say, a new discovery has completely turned on its head what we thought we knew.

[20:28] But we're absolutely sure we know it this time. And then a new discovery comes along and it absolutely turns everything. Anyway, that's just my take on that. But one of the things that is indisputable is if you go back to those very old cave paintings, which are old, and they're beautifully made.

[20:47] I should have looked it up, shouldn't I? There's some in France and other places where these are forefathers paintings of horses and things on the cave walls, creating, making, making beautiful things.

[21:04] That's part of being human. And God willing in this series we'll spend an evening thinking about God and human beings and creativity and we'll think of I won't give the game away, but creativity is one thing.

[21:19] Any more? I'm just speaking and making and I guess creating, just to maybe add another, the word good to it, we're thinking of good work, yeah.

[21:37] you. Agents of good, little fountains of good.

[21:50] I think that is such a beautiful thought, isn't it? That's what human beings were made for, to be fountains of good, bringers of good. I think the fall has completely messed that up, but Christians can aspire to be little fountains of good, that wherever we go we bring something good.

[22:12] And I suppose you can have a minimal use of good, you know, good morning doesn't mean very much, but actually to come to church and it does us good is a really powerful thing, and to have a good day is a really powerful thing, and to do good.

[22:33] I know people use it as a mockery, don't they? They're do-gooders. But it's not, it shouldn't be mocked. I mean, there's enough trouble in this world, isn't there? If you find people who can do something good, I mean, amen to that, don't you think?

[22:46] So, good, thank you very much for that. It's amazing how God works in people that don't believe in him as well. There can be obviously very good people, very caring people, very loving people.

[22:59] Yeah. That's something that God has given them. Exactly. I think there's a common grace thing there, isn't there? I mean, there are people who do good stuff. They don't have to be Christians.

[23:10] Those people in Turkey who wear helmets, you know, that. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And sometimes Christians are not first in line for that, although we should be, but I think this is why common grace is an important thing, that God is at work in people who are not necessarily Christians, and they do have, they do good, and they have good intentions.

[23:38] Christians, I think the one thing we could say, the difference between a Christian and a non-Christian in that is that a Christian would do it ultimately for the glory of God, and that's important.

[23:50] Even if they don't do it very well, they're doing it for the glory of God, but the non-Christian is not at all concerned about that, and that makes all the difference in the end, because when deeds are weighed up on the last day, I think God will say, you know, that was good, you know, you did go and help, and that's not nothing.

[24:09] However, why did you do it? And I think that will make all the difference, but yeah, thank you for that. Okay, let's include now chapter two.

[24:24] So, we have the day of rest in chapter two, verse one, and you notice and you notice that there is no morning and evening and ending of this day.

[24:36] This day is open-ended. The heavens and the earth were finished, the host of them. The seventh day God finished his work that he had done. He rested on the seventh day from all his work that he had done. God blessed the seventh day and made it holy because on it God rested from all his work that he had done in creation.

[24:52] and that rest continues. God didn't have a Monday morning where he got up and started all over again. This blessed rest, this eternal rest, which talked about in Hebrews of God's blessedness, goes on.

[25:07] Right, we need to read chapter two, verse four to twenty-five. Who would read that for us, please?

[25:21] Ray, thank you. This is the account of the heavens and the earth when they were created. When the Lord God made the head there from the heavens, no shrubs of the field yet appeared on the earth, no plants of the field yet sprung up, for the Lord God had not sent rain on the earth, and there was no man to work the ground, but streams came up from the earth, and water doubled the surface of the ground.

[25:47] The Lord God formed the man from the dust of the ground, and breathed into the and the man became a living being. Now the Lord God had planted a garden in the east, in Eden, and there he put the man he had formed.

[26:04] And the Lord God made all kinds of trees for us to dwell, trees that were pleasing to the eye, and good for food. in the middle of the garden, the tree of life, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

[26:21] A river, watering the garden, flowed to medium. From there, it's separated into four headwaters. The name of the first is the pishon, which winds through the entire land of Havina, where there is gold.

[26:35] The gold of that land is good. Aromatic resin, ammonics, are also there. The name of the second river is the Gihon. It winds through the entire land of Cush.

[26:48] The name of the third river is Tigris. It runs along the east side of Ashur, and the fourth river is the Euphrates. The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and take care of it.

[27:06] And the Lord God commanded the man, you are free to eat from any tree in the garden, but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it, you will surely die.

[27:23] The Lord God said, it is not good for man to be alone. I will make a helper for him. Now the Lord God had formed out of the ground all the beasts of the field and all the birds of the earth.

[27:37] He brought them to the man to see what he would name them. Whatever the man called each living creature, that was his name. So the man gave names to all the livestock, the birds of the air, and all the beasts of the field.

[27:53] But for Adam, no suitable helper was found. So the Lord God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep. While he was sleeping, he took one of the man's ribs and closed up the place with flesh.

[28:08] Then the Lord God made a woman from the rib he had taken out of the man. He brought her to the man. The man said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh.

[28:22] She shall be called woman, for she was taken out of man. For this reason, a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh.

[28:35] The man and his wife were both naked, and they felt no shame. Thank you very much. So, this is the, we presume that Eden is a mountain because rivers flow out of it.

[28:51] I believe that's correct. Verse 10, a river flowed out of Eden to water the garden. It divided, it became four rivers, flowing downhill. So, Eden is a mountain.

[29:03] So, that's Eden. And within that mountain is the garden. And the garden has got trees in it, various trees.

[29:16] And this is where the man is put, and this is where the animals are brought, and this is where subsequently the woman is brought as well, made to be a partner with Adam.

[29:37] Let's think about what lies in front of Adam who is going to rule this area. Could you, we want to pick out of the text here, some things that he is going to have to do, or he can do, or he might be excited in doing, because this is the situation that he is in as a human being put into this garden.

[30:05] So, I'll tell you what, talk to your neighbor for another couple of minutes, and then see how many things we can come up with.

[30:20] Without weeds, yes, okay, gardening. And I guess he would need to know a bit about the different gardening that he could do.

[30:35] Presumably he's going to have to get food from his gardening. So, if we actually enlarge that to agriculture and horticulture, horticulture, Adam, Adam, we'd be quite interested to go to, what's the National Trust place up north with all the seeds in it, further north than this?

[31:04] Waker's place, yes, he would be up for that. Okay, so, okay, gardening, right, anything else? Looking? Ah, thank you, okay, precious stones, where have we got the precious stones, and which verse is it?

[31:20] Verse 12, okay, looking, okay, one of the things is gold, so, presumably, he would have to, you know, all things being equal, he would have had to go and find the gold, and try and work out what you do with it, how you extract it, how you mine it, how you purify it, all that sort of stuff, so, I think he would have had to be a metallurgist, I don't know how to spell it, metallurgist, it's a, pardon, yeah, it's a somebody who studies metals as a metallurgist, yeah, he would have had to be a metallurgist, yeah, okay, anything more?

[32:09] He named all the animals, okay, so, a zoologist, yes, he would have had to be a zoologist, yeah, carry on, correct, yep, yeah, put in there, is there a word that would sum that up, Apart from zoologist?

[32:52] Well, if I put he had to investigate, would that be... Because he doesn't just say, oh, bleh, I'll call you a bleh, and he'll call you a bleh, bleh. He says, the real name that would suit you is...

[33:03] So he sort of investigates and thinks about it. That's the best I can come up with. Pardon? Categorising. Yeah, what did you say? Yeah, I think he probably does, yes.

[33:16] I'm going to put categorise. What? A naturalist. A naturalist, yeah. Not a...

[33:27] Yes, naturalist. Yes. Yes. Yeah. presumably going to distinguish between them in the net in the sense that what are they useful for possibly I mean it talks about livestock and wild animals it's going to have to distinguish between like what is livestock and what's wild animals yeah that's right yes in taxonomy taxonomy if you taxonomy means putting things into order so wild animals tame animals tame animals that you can get milk from tame animals that you don't get milk from things like that so taxonomy that's what it's that's a tax taxidermy taxidermy no he wouldn't have taxidermist yeah taxonomy okay just it strikes me about this these rivers if he was to he would have to know where he was if he goes out for a walk one day and says here's the gold and then comes back he would have to have in his mind where that was which which to my mind puts him in the realm of map making is there a word for map making apart from map making pardon cartography yes cartography well exactly what this is doing is saying there's a whole fields of human activity and human thought and yeah which which Adam would have had to do this is part of his being human which is what God is blessing and saying this is what I want you to do and we should appreciate that that's still the case so if anybody here is a cartographer you know

[35:43] God bless you because that is a good thing to be doing you shouldn't apologize for being a cartographer because Adam would have been a cartographer or his grandchildren would have been somebody he would have had to say to somebody look we need a map who's good at map making you are right okay you go and make us a map I'm just sort of saying that the whole realm of human activity is before us here yeah chef I think so I think it's the whole the whole realm of cooking well let's let's assume that the whole range of possibilities is there yes yes yes yes all the food food all the things to do with food cuisine yeah how big is the garden now that's a good question because I would suggest that the idea of the garden is this is where it starts but the dominion is meant to go outwards and he's meant to tame and cultivate this uncultivated area there's little reference to that isn't there that which we wonder what it means if we lived in the Middle East

[37:18] I think we would say this is pretty obvious that unless you irrigate a field it won't grow anything and in verse 5 no bush of the field was yet in the land and no small plant of the field had yet sprung up for the Lord God had not caused it to rain on the land and there was no man to work the ground so if you have a man to work the ground then you can start growing things because somebody intervenes to bring water into the this is a Middle Eastern document into this dry ground so where on earth was I going with that expanding Eden to fill the world that's what I think is happening and you get the same sort of movement when the Israelites enter Israel and take it over and it becomes a little sort of Eden and the idea of the kingdom being that that enlarges and Solomon enlarges the kingdom and apart from human sin you would imagine that that the idea was that this should fill the whole earth and hence the Lord Jesus

[38:29] Christ as he his kingdom does expand to fill the whole earth and I should cut to the chase because of time and go to Revelation chapter 21 verses 22 to 27 this is the future glory Revelation 21 22 to 27 Revelation 21 22 to 27 could Daniel read that for us please I did not see a temple in the city because the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are his temple the city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it for the glory of God gives his light and the Lamb is its lamp the nations will walk by its light and the kings of the earth will bring their splendor into it on no day will its gates ever be shut for there will be no night there the glory and honor of the nations will be brought into it nothing impure will ever enter it nor will anyone who does what is shameful or deceitful but only those whose names are written in the

[40:00] Lamb's book of light thank you very much yeah so thinking of this future city the city stretches from here to here shall we say and what isn't there in the city no darkness thank you nothing impure yeah thank you and verse 22 no temple now just think about this the temple in the previous city let's put a temple there is a place where God's presence is specially there so in the the old city and temple if you wanted to meet with God you couldn't meet with him this is the way it's set up you couldn't meet with him far away and even if you're in the city you actually go into the temple to meet the Lord because his presence is specifically there but in this new city there is no temple because the almighty the lamb is present everywhere in the temple

[41:21] God himself is the temple and in this city God's presence is everywhere there's nowhere where God is not fully present and there's people in there and what does it say about the nations they will walk by its light okay and there's something else about the nations the kings of the earth will bring their splendor into it the kings of the earth will bring their splendor into it and in verse 26 they will bring into it the glory and honor of the nations I just want to ponder that thought so into the final heavenly city is brought the glory and honor of the nations so each of the nations brings something nationful into this in other words they don't just bring

[42:33] Hebrew Psalms because the Hebrew Psalms are from Israel they bring something that the glory and all of the nations is brought in so there will be something from the nation of Nigeria brought in there will be something from the nation of Ethiopia brought in so I got there didn't I there will be something from the Maltese people brought in something of the German people brought in something of the Kenyan people brought in something of the Korean people brought in something of the English people brought in something human that gets brought in to the final glory and whenever I think about this I think a little bit lightheartedly but what will you know what will the what will the Chinese bring into what will there be in the future glory that you'll say that comes from

[43:47] China tea fireworks organisation what will be in the final glory from Germany so obviously the music of Bach because that is a distinctively German thing as a contribution to the human project made from Germany we went to a Bach concert and in the in the programme notes it said when you get to the bit now then the trouble is I can't remember these details is it the bit that it says et resurrects it and he was raised in this piece of music by Bach and the programme note said this is the highest point of western music this is the most brilliant wonderful thing that western culture has produced and heroes that's the out resurrects it

[44:55] I might have got the details wrong but you get the idea and just to think that in the final world there will be something like that I mean maybe there will be that it's not unclean it's not impure it's something of the glory of the nations which is brought in to the final world what will the Welsh people what will be there that's Welsh singing yeah so I just leave it's a little bit of a tantalising thought isn't it but the idea that the human project that all these things I mean we could have enlarged on this and hopefully in the next sessions we can enlarge on what the human project is we didn't mention the multiplication because God says go and multiply so Adam was meant to have children so there'd be pediatric is that pediatric child looking after children they would by the time you've got a lot of children you probably have to do childcare and primary school teaching and

[46:10] I don't know if they'd have Ofsted in a perfect world but there would have been some sort of organisation there would have been some way of remembering all their names and making sure they all had their lunch and it was an organisation where was I going with this I don't know either but just trying to say that these are all precious things and we should value them and I know some of them get spoiled but in God's common grace we should look around and be appreciative of what people do and if whatever you do in most of your waking life please don't think because I'm not a missionary or because I'm not a pastor I'm a second class citizen please don't think that because all these human things are of such great value and that's what he's we're fulfilling what he made us to be when we are cartographers or metallurgists or gardeners yeah yeah you could you could say that the whole salvation story is a sort of boy meets girl type of for the sort of shadowed at the beginning but fulfilled with the bride at the end yeah yeah that's right yes the shame is an intruder into our experience and it's coming through sin and it can be other people's sin that cause us shame but in the world to come that's taken away there's no shame no nothing like that it's a great thing to look forward to

[48:38] I think I should stop because time has gone on but I hope you find that encouraging and we can hopefully continue that in the next I think next week is communion isn't it yeah but thereafter then Steve's going to do something on politics and I think Jerome's going to do something which we will maybe possibly yes okay Daniel would you close in prayer for us please Father we thank you so much for this wealth that you have given us to live in Father we see the effects of the fall but we thank you that the design of this world that you have made it was good and there are many good things in it good things which come from you our creator and Father we thank you for the different roles in this world that we play the different tasks that you give us to do the different gifts we have yes

[49:55]  Father we pray that you'd help us to use them for your glory as we go out and serve you this week in your worlds and Father we do look forward with great hope to the day where we get to be in the new creation in that wonderful world made new and perfect and help us as we go through this week to look forward to that but to serve you wholeheartedly here we pray yes the days that you grant to us we pray yes in Jesus name Amen Amen Amen Amen