• GOOD MORNING
• ​This week we’re talking about the nature of creation and how we move about God’s world with His Spirit
• We may have a surface level appreciation for how God reveals Himself to us through His creation, but how in tune with our relationship with Him are we really past the “Yep, that’s neat”
• We should strive for a deeper experience past this surface level enjoyment and ask ourselves how we can move about it so that we are operating within our full agency as His people, blessed with all He has created.
• Scripture gives proper theology, but what about “natural theology”?
• This isn’t to replace how scripture informs and dictates how we live, but adds another layer.
• Christ coming into this world, dying for our sins and conquering death can’t be seen through “nature” … so we shouldn’t think we can abandon special revelation with our observation of general revelation
• Thomas Aquinas said, “reasoning through nature may LEAD to faith, but it cannot replace faith”
• Romans says that natural theology only highlights that we are fallen, that everything groans because of sin, and some thing (or one) is needed to restore creation
• General revelation (observed through nature) now informs us only after Christ is known (through Scripture)
• The Psalms are filled with references to God’s power shown through His creation
• Jeremiah 32: 1-19
• This story highlights that even in difficult times, times where are faith is strained, do we still acknowledge God and His power as shown through His creation.  What we go through, what we have achieved, is nothing compared to a God who created the heavens and the earth.
• Looking into the vastness of the stars, of the ocean, of fire … these things really highlight the profound power of God and what he has created in a way which draws us closer to Him
• Mount St. Helens erupted with the force of thousands of atomic bombs … do you see the power and creator of that power? And how that puts your life into perspective? It shouldn’t scare you, but add another lay of awe in who God is.
• What do you see when you meditate on the scope of where God has placed you here on earth? When you meditate on ALL that He has created, how He has set it up in a specific way for life, the individual power in things he has created, the harmony that exists, etc.
• These things were encouraging for God’s prophets (Jeremiah, Isaiah) instead of scary
• John 2 / Psalm 69
• The Son of God operated through His defined Word
• We can understand scripture mentally, but in life we often lack the zeal for God’s command and His revealed revelation.
• General revelation is helpful and is designed to keep us in close proximity to God
• It is a tangible reminder of the invisible attributes of God (power, goodness, mercy, holiness)
• A black and white drawing accurately conveys a message or picture, but one with color fills in a lot of details and connects/informs the picture better.
• Interacting with the world God has put us in has helped inspire a large majority of of technology and the developed world. Natural resources harnessed to create things that have changed the world … this of course can be taken to an extreme in a way which tarnishes His natural beauty
• Someone with allergies (the Colin’s of the world) can still appreciate flowers/grass/trees and how that shows a God who really loved what He created … how He cared for so many details 
• Things like this are largely neglected by our world today, which means this aspect of people’s relationship and appreciation for who God is is neglected.
• The sciences have endlessly attempted to replicate God’s creation … but nothing can really be done to replace it. This means that the secular world acknowledges the power of God through His creation but unfortunately removes Him from the puzzle.
• God makes the best stuff, man can only attempt to make a lesser (grosser) version of it.
• Does our gratitude rest where it should, in our Creator? Do we take what He has given, what He has made … and glorify Him by the way we interact with it and use it?
• Come to your own BIBLICALLY sound conclusions as you meditate on God’s created world

QUESTIONS:

• HOW CAN YOUR OBSERVATIONS ABOUT CREATION REMIND AND ENCOURAGE YOU WITH IT’S TESTIMONY TO GOD’S POWER?
• WHAT OF GOD’S CHARACTER STANDS OUT TO YOU FROM HIS ART?
• WHAT SPECIFIC THING WOULD YOU LIKE TO DO TO BETTER ENGAGE GOD’S CREATION?