all right so go ahead and turn your Bibles to Genesis chapter one in the beginning whoo that’s right God and that was enough but he chose to create man for his glory and we see in Genesis one twenty-six two hundred twenty-eight how God chose to create man it says then 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 birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth so God created man in his own image in the image of God he created them male and female he created them and God blessed them and God said to them be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it and have dominion over the fish of the sea and the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth so we see here that God chose to create man in His image he says in our image after our likeness and then again in verse twenty-seven so God created man in his own image so it’s very clear God has created man in His image which is important because we see in verse twenty-eight we see God’s vision that he has that drives his mission he commanded them to be fruitful and multiply and to fill the earth so this means according to Genesis one twenty-eight that god’s vision was to fill the earth with his image he wanted to to magnify his glory by filling the earth with his image and the means by which he does this we see in verse twenty-eight is multiplication that’s God’s idea so this is his vision to fill the earth with his glory by multiplying his image across the earth well then we see in Genesis three that man chose to sin the most devastating act in history man sins they disobey God and judgment comes upon him sin comes in and if we want to know just how bad it got we see in Genesis six verse one and five it says man began to multiply on the face of the land and the daughters were born to them so so man is multiplying right that’s good but we care about what’s multiplying we see in verse five the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually this means that the image of God had been distorted it was not bringing him glory it was wicked so what happens to God’s vision that we see in Genesis one well God sins a flood and he sees one man Noah who’s righteous he and his family he spares them and then we see in Genesis nine one God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth so it’s like well do we just start over with with a good guy and he’s commanding them to multiply and fill the earth but we see in Genesis eleven verse one through four now the whole earth had one language and the same words and his people migrated from the east they found a plain in the land of Shinar and settled there and they said to one another come let us make bricks and burn them thoroughly and they had brick for stone and bitumen for mortar and verse four then they said come let us build ourselves a city and a tower with its top to the heavens and let us make a name for ourselves lest we be dispersed over the face of the whole earth I don’t know about you but I know when I was growing up I I thought that the Tower of Babel made got upset because he was afraid that the tower would reach to heaven but that’s that’s clearly not the case what made God upset in light of Genesis one twenty-eight his vision there which is about his glory scattered across the earth they said let us make a name our selves and let us not be dispersed so even though he started out with Noah wickedness was there they were opposed to God’s image something needed to be done but we know God was going to continue to carry out his mission his vision so here’s what I want you to do and if you’re by yourself do this yourself you’re with somebody else here with a group I want you to go ahead and I want you to look up these passages here and just simple childlike answers I want you to answer the question how far did God’s plan extend according to each passage and who did he choose to use to accomplish his plan according to that passage okay so I’ll give you about ten minutes and I’m just we’ll just do the first one together Genesis twelve verse one two three it says now the Lord said to Abram go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you and I will make a view a great nation and I will bless you and make your name great so that you’ll be a blessing I will bless those who bless you and him who dishonours you I will curse and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed okay so according to this passage how far did God’s plan go well it’s all families of the earth right that’s pretty far and then who was it that God chose to use that’s right Abram okay so in this same way give you some time just look up to the remainder of these passages here and you know as a group I want you just to discover this together there’s a lot that’s in there but I want you to keep it simple and focused on these two questions go ahead and answer these and we’ll come back together here and maybe six minutes and discuss this together go ahead okay so what do we see here exodus nineteen five two six yes the whole earth and who did God choose to use that’s right the nation of Israel ok Abraham’s descendants Psalm sixty-seven yea all nations right and who is God choosing to use here that’s right it’s not as clear but we’re talking about Israel here Isaiah forty-nine verse five to six that’s right all nations and who is God choosing to use that’s right it’s not as clear but he’s choosing to use Jesus here and did you notice what God said in that passage there he said it was to light a thing in verse six that this would just be for Israel I will make you as a light to the nation’s we see his heart that he doesn’t want to just contain it he cares about the nation’s he loves his people but he cares about the nation’s Matthew twenty-eight eighteen two hundred twenty that’s right there’s great Commission go and make disciples of all nations and here he is using his disciples now we see a shift where we go from the genealogy of Abram to now because of Jesus’s work on the cross and his resurrection the gospel allows for all who would respond to him – it’s it’s about a spiritual transformation and now the kingdom is beginning to spread and he’s using his disciples to accomplish that what about acts one eight that’s right we have the ends of the earth but here we are seeing a pattern of how the kingdom expands it says the Holy Spirit will come and you’ll be my witnesses to Jerusalem and Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth now Jerusalem is where they were and so it’s important that as we are following Jesus in his command to make disciples that we start where we’re at and as the kingdom expands Judea was the next region samaria was the next region outside of judea to the ends of the earth that’s how the kingdom expands that’s how the gospel goes forth so it’s important for us to start where we’re at now there are those who will be chosen like we see in acts thirteen to go to other places but it’s important for us to be faithful where we’re at that’s a legitimate mission field that God has called us to you now one of the things we’ll notice is in acts one eight Jesus commanded them to go in this way but that first church that we see that started in acts two the the church in Jerusalem one that we actually modeled church health after they they didn’t do such a great job and we’ve learned that if we don’t obey acts one eight we’re gonna get acts eight one go ahead and turn your Bible there real quick let’s see what that says [Applause] acts eight one and Saul approved of his execution and there arose that day a great persecution against the church in Jerusalem and they were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria except the Apostles so we see that Jerusalem church did not obey acts eight x one eight and so persecution came and it’s scattered to Judea and Samaria and it was the Apostles that stayed back and look at what it says in verse four they were doing now those who were scattered went about preaching the word so these no-name new believers went about proclaiming the Word of God so God cares about how this spreads and he cares about everyone being involved so we see here it was again it was the it was the disciples it’s the new season this new church second Corinthians five eighteen two twenty that’s right the whole earth and who’s he using that’s right his ambassadors that’s those who choose to follow Jesus it’s it’s the redeemed so do you see this pattern here God his vision for his name – for his image to spread across the earth through multiplication and that he did not stop even though sin came and and we saw things get really bad he can he kept his promise through Abraham through Israel through Jesus and now through his his church through the disciples and through us he wants to use you on his mission if you’re in Christ that’s your identity he wants to use you he wants to use your disciples disciples and if you want to be encouraged as you saw in Revelation seven nine to ten how far did it go let’s just let’s just turn real quick turn your Bible revelation seven nine says after this I looked and behold a great multitude that no one could number from every nation from all tribes and peoples and languages standing before the throne and before the lamb clothed in white robes palm branches in their hands crying out with a loud voice salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne and to the lamb so how far did it go that’s right every nation all tribes and peoples and languages isn’t that amazing you know what this tells us is that this happens God’s vision his mission for his glory all over the earth happens isn’t that phenomenal you know what else this means we are going to see this you know as we’re going through stories of the Bible my kids like man I wish I was in the Bible I guess what you are revelation seven nine you’re going to be numbered among the multitudes that are gonna witness this with our new eyes and if I could just cast some vision there’s some people in your life who are far from God that don’t yet know Jesus they’re gonna be there because they’re gonna hear the gospel and she used to follow him there’s going to be neighbors down the street who will be here because they’re gonna hear the gospel respond there’s going to be people from unreached people groups in different parts of the world they’re gonna be there this is not amazing so we see from cover to cover from Genesis to Revelation God’s heart his mission is to multiply his image across the face of the earth he does that through the gospel of Jesus Christ isn’t this worth living for wouldn’t this be worth dying for what’s it gonna take to see this happen through your life

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