Amen. So this morning to be on with the series that started a few weeks ago about the wells of wellness and
Just very again very quickly for those that might not have been here
we're just using that analogy from scripture of a well talking about these different areas in our life that we're trying to deepen and
Improve in and just using an analogy of deepening it like a well through you know
Daily digging the specific shovels the practices that we can actually implement in our lives
In order to deepen these wells to improve in these different areas of our life
and we talked very quickly about you know, the well of wisdom being our primary need and
Talked about how you know Bible reading memorization prayer. Those are the things that are gonna deepen that
Well, we talked about the well of work how that was not an optional
well, that is something we have to be engaged in and
Also the well of welcome we looked at last week and we talked about being faithful
To our family and to our friends and to our fellows. Unfortunately that one didn't get reported
So if you missed that one, well, sometimes just you just got to be here
Okay, but this morning I want to talk about the second-to-last well, and I will be wrapping this up next Sunday
But I want to talk about the well of wonder the well of wonder and what I mean by wonder is I mean the ability to
Appreciate both the work of man and God, you know
we want to be people who can appreciate the world around us both in the natural world and what God has created and
Also in what man is able to accomplish and of course God's works are greater
But that's not to discount man's ability
you know God has given man the ability to create he has given man the ability to invent and
Really? That's something we can and should learn to appreciate in our lives
and if we do that, I believe that will help us, you know dig this well of wonder to help us enrich ourselves as people and
That's something we can certainly benefit from
So let me just start out by saying, you know, because I'd say that we should
Appreciate both the work of man and God
Sometimes people might get the wrong impression and think that I'm want to overly exalt man
Okay, and we might run to the other extreme and just completely downplay what it is that man is able to accomplish
So when you think about it, you know man has been able to accomplish much
Especially when we think about the day and age that we're living it
So many things that we just take it for granted
If anything well, it can at least appreciate the good things that we have that humanity that civilization has brought to us
Right, of course
ultimately God gets glorified for that because he is the one that has given man the ability to
uncover and to discover things and to invent things and to be able to
Bring these things, you know into our lives
So don't under appreciate man's work and I'm gonna narrow this down to just really one thing when it comes to you know
Maybe something we could be in wonder of or something that would help us appreciate
You know what it means to be
Human to be a human being to be a part of this experience that we call life
Okay
So that's what I'm referring to when I'm talking about the well of wonder
Appreciating both the work of man and of course of God that can never be undervalued that can't be overly appreciated
You know God's work, you know, isn't highly esteemed enough often
But don't don't appreciate man's work. Remember that it is God that made man and God
You know is the one that made man to both dress and keep the garden right if we were to go back to Genesis 2
He put the man in the garden to dress and to keep it, right? So God wants man involved in his creation
He wants him to manipulate his creation. He want he's interested
I believe and even curious how man interacts with the world around it and
Therefore, you know, we should appreciate that and we should also seek to be people that do that ourselves
He put I had him in the garden and also remember when God of course create is the one that created all the the animals
But then he brings each of those animals before Adam to see what he would what he would name them
I hate to see what he would call them
So there's a principle there that God, you know allows man to interact with creation allows him to interact
With the world around him that is something that we should learn to appreciate. Okay, and
Really? There's just one thing I want to talk about when I because if you remember in the series
I'm trying to give a specific shovel to dig these wells, right?
Trying to give you one thing that you can apply in your life and maybe begin to do if you're not doing already
In order to appreciate, you know the work of man a little bit more in this world now
There's many different things we could talk about right, but the one thing I'm talking about
I know this is gonna probably step on some toes this morning and probably people are gonna tune this out
okay, but a specific shovel when it comes to digging this well of wonder in your life that you could use is
Reading okay, that's the daily digging that you could be doing reading
Books, okay, and you say what in the world?
Who does that anymore? Right exactly, okay
But this is something I believe we put into our lives. We would begin to appreciate, you know
The man's work. Okay, because you know literature is a great expression of
You know man's perception of creation, right? We'll read certain authors
Obviously, there's plenty of trash, you know novels out there
There's plenty of just books that aren't even worthy being printed, but there's also a lot of great works of literature
Okay, and obviously you have to use discernment here, you know
There's certain books that I would certainly never read and I would probably say it's even sinful to read books that get it heavily into
Sensuality and other things, you know, but there's also a lot of other great works that are out there that just go unread
Right, but really if you were to read then you would probably walk away with an appreciation
For the world that you're a part of you would probably walk away maybe with a greater
Appreciation and of the world and maybe a new perspective on what it means to be
you know in this world and to be part of it or maybe to be able to
You know sympathize with another individual right or understand another sort of set of circumstances to know what it's like to go through
something, okay
So when I say reading obviously we're talking about reading quality books
Okay books that you know would be considered what they call literature books that are considered superior
They have merit and they have lasting value right and look this is something that goes wholly, you know
to a great degree unappreciated in the world that we live in today and it's unfortunate because
We have so much access to these works. Okay to so many great books and things like that
They're just at our fingertips
literally
24-7 okay
And I'm just gonna make the case for reading right now and I know I've probably already lost a lot of people just by bringing
That up, but I'm gonna I'm gonna keep losing you
All right, because I believe this is important and and I believe that reading is something that will benefit you in your life
Spiritually, but okay, and we'll see how let me just read you a quote
And of course, I understand that authors probably have a vested interest in getting people to read like I get that
You know, they're that's kind of how they make their living
But there's also a reason why people write and there's a reason why people read
It's because you know, it's a it's a rich experience, you know, it really is something that you can derive a lot of benefit from
I'll just read this quote an author said a reader lives a thousand lives before he dies
But the man that does not read only lives one think about that obviously, you know
There's a little bit of you know, that's a little maybe overly dramatic, right?
But you know that there is a there is a grain of truth to that as well
You know, we might obviously reading a book isn't you're not getting the full experience of somebody's life
Okay, but you can get a glimpse you can get a picture of what it might be to live as having lived a certain life
Okay
But if we don't read, you know
The only perspective we really have is our own and that makes it harder for us to maybe
Understand where other people are coming from or understand maybe even where we came from and you know our background
You know a great thing to read often is history, you know read books about you know, where you live, you know
I've read uh, I was reading a book a little while back on the history of Tucson
Let me tell you something Tucson has got some rich history
You know Tucson was on the map long before Phoenix was even there you can believe that you know
This was a city that was settled by
Spaniards by
You know the priests that came over with the conquistadors and all of that
I mean it goes back as a very long rich history
Even before that you had the you know, the Pueblo people that were living here. There's all these great stories
That go there. I'm not gonna go into all of them, you know, we'll save that for another time
But you know, it's because you might bore half of you to death
I don't know but you know, I found it interesting, you know, but I didn't find that on a documentary
I didn't find that just growing through YouTube. I actually to pick up a physical book and read that okay, and
You know the same thing for this region, okay?
Even if you read about the Southwest understand the region that you're living in it's a fascinating history
Look the the the the story of the conquest of the American West it reads like it's it's it's greater than any
You know Hollywood movie and it's all real. Okay. In fact, let me just make a book recommendation for those of you that are nodding
Your heads. Okay, because obviously apparently we have at least a few readers in here
I know I'm kind of picking on everybody but you know, there's a book I read and I'll probably reread again
It's called blood and thunder. I can't remember the author's name what it's called blood and thunder and it's basically how
you know
The America America took over and won the Southwest themselves and they conquered
California and I say conquer it really wasn't much of a fight but you know and it follows Kit Carson
You know who here knows who Kit Carson is and come on and it was like literally cities and highways and other places named after
This guy he was a major figure back then
Illiterate right, but people are writing about him, but you know, I speak about tell you know
Talk about irony. Okay, but anyway, you know, that's a great book and it's all about you know
the American Southwest and how we came to settle this area and
Came to you know, incorporate all the states that are here today
Okay, so, you know, that's a great that's just one example, you know if we read something, you know
You're gonna have a little bit more of an understanding of the region that you live in
Right, you're gonna have more of appreciation where you live in right? Maybe you'll stop calling this a mountain behind us
Okay, maybe you'll get on board and start calling it sentinel peak instead of naming after some university
That's promoting all kinds of filth and abomination
You know if the city had any if there's any really sense of civic duty in this town the people of Tempe or excuse me
Tucson I go up there and remove all those stones off the side of that hill and there I got it off my chest
And start calling it sentinel peak, you know, why do they call it that because that's literally they watched out for
Apache Raiders back in the day, right? That's what that little stone thing is up there
They would sit up there and they would watch to see for when you know, the raids were coming in
So I think a sentinel pink is a much better name than a mountain. It's not even a mountain
You know, it's called Tumamoc Hill right next door. It's taller
It's a mountain. It's like get over yourself, you know, turn around and look over that way. That's a mountain
That's a hill. Okay. So anyway
But we would appreciate you know
Maybe just even the region that we're living in I'm not suggesting we all have to go out and read the great works of literature
Get the hundred, you know greatest works of literature and read all these great authors
But you know, we could maybe read something we're interested in about the region and it would enrich our lives
You know because it gives us perspective doesn't it?
It gives us the ability to appreciate what other people have gone through right, you know
Another I'll make another reading recommendation, you know re if you like maybe more of an action-packed book
Although blood and thunder is an action-packed book. Okay, a lot of action. Okay, but another one would be you know
Shackleton's journey of the endurance
Which is I think the greatest tale of American or excuse me of human survival ever told and that's of course my opinion
but it's about the guy who just prior to World War one took a
Shipload of men and tried to be the first guy to cross the Antarctic continent on
Sled dogs and he gets stuck in pack ice for a year and has to abandon ship on pack ice
With him and I think it was like 50 other guys and all these dogs and keep them alive
I'm not gonna tell you how it ends. But if you read that book
I mean I remember eat and I'll tell you what out of all the recommendations
I've made over the years the people that have taken me up on that one have always come back to me and said thank you
Recommending that book and don't go on don't go watch some documentary about it read the book
Alright, it's got excerpts from the actual, you know
The diaries the journals of the men that were on this trip that have been passed down to the relatives
So if you get the audio version you got people reading to you from their diaries and describing what's taking place
And the things that took place, you know with the relationships and being hunt
You know ran down by snow leopards and it's it was pretty cool. Anyway, so not snow leopards. What am I saying?
but you know the the big walrus that looks like a
Sea lion. Thank you. See leopard sea lion. They both start with an L, right?
I look I wouldn't want to be chased by either of them. All right snow leopard or sea lion. All right, I'd probably prefer
Snow leopard over the sea lion. All right, but I don't know. So anyway, thank you for saving that one
That's why you got to read the book
Get the back straight. Don't just take my word for it
Well, you know, that's a great book, you know, and that was one that you know, you walk away from and say wow
look what people can overcome the situations that they've been through and I'll stop with all the recommendations, but
You know, I'm just trying to encourage people to read, you know be a reader
Read people who read, you know, they have a deeper sense of the world around them. They can appreciate other things
Oh
How about this quote from another author see who read and see if anyone in the room
Can name the author and I think some of the kids might even be able to pull this off
The more you read the more things you will know
The more you learn the more places you'll go
Okay, just hang on. Let me see if I got you know, I threw out the suckers
I used to have these suckers up here who thinks they know that who is it?
Man dr. Seuss. All right, we got it. That's right, right, but that's true, isn't it?
You know the more you read the more, you know, the more you know, the more places you'll go, you know
That's that's a very true statement because as I quoted earlier if you're a reader, you know
You're you're a man who read lives a thousand lives, right?
Now I had you go ahead and keep something in progress 22, but go over to first Timothy chapter number four. Okay?
You
Say well, what's you know, what does any of that really matter, you know knowing about you know, some guy who you know
Got all crazy and decided to go across the Antarctic Circle
I mean, so what so what about you know is knowing the history of the region really gonna make that big of a difference
You know, maybe not, you know, it's things those are things that I found interesting. You might find some other topic or you know
Whatever more interesting go ahead and read that
But just the act of reading alone is something that we I believe as God's people should be engaged in at the very least
We should be reading the Bible, right?
Doesn't that what the Bible says in first Timothy chapter 4 verse 13 till I come give attendance to reading
Exhortation to doctrine now we could probably if you want to try to wiggle out of this and say oh well
He's talking about only reading the Bible right because it's the exhortation of doctrine ain't no and I would agree with that
That's probably what he's referring to explicitly reading, you know, he's telling Timothy
Listen, read the scriptures, right?
Give attendance to reading
Or we could even squirrel way be more out of that and say well, you know, he's writing Timothy
He's a preacher. So that really only applies to him. We don't have to be that serious about reading. Okay?
But the fact is if you read anything you're gonna improve your ability to read
right and if you would go back to Proverbs 22 go back to Proverbs 22 and
Look, we should be reading our Bibles
You know Adam at a minimum we should be trying to you know, get through the Bible at least once a year
I believe that I don't think that's an unreasonable standard
You know if we had more people reading their Bibles and the pews on a more faithful and you know
A man and more diligent and just being faithful to their Bible reading, you know
A lot of false doctrine would probably not be able to stand up
I mean, how is it that so much false doctrine is able to just go unchallenged today, you know, even in Baptist churches
It's because people don't know any better they don't know what the scripture says they haven't been diligent
They haven't searched the scriptures daily to see whether or not these things be so right
They are not testing the spirits not comparing spiritual things with spiritual things. All right, that's what we're supposed to be doing
So if you're gonna read the Bible, you know, wouldn't you want to be able to do the best job as you can at it?
Because you know quite frankly something the Bible isn't an necessarily an easy book to read
Anybody who spent a lot of time reading it knows that's true
You know not that it's it's impossible to read but you know
It can be a challenging book to read you have to have a certain level of reading comprehension to understand what the Bible is saying
Just like any other book, right?
There's no other book that we would should want to understand more
You know when we pick up the Bible and read even and especially if we're somebody who has a busy life, you know
We're not in ministry, you know, we're not called we're not up there preaching. We're not teaching the Word of God, you know
So maybe we're not don't have the the time or the responsibility of doing more reading than the average person
Well, if that's you wouldn't you want to get as much as you can out of that maybe limited time of reading that you have
What do you want to be able to pick up the Bible and say, okay, I understand what's being said here
You know or maybe even reading publicly, right? That's a difficult task to get up and read scripture, right?
Would we want to be able to do that? Well, right to be able to read something, you know
put our eyes on a piece of text and to be able to read it clearly and
Able to enunciate the words and not stumble over things, you know, that is a skill that has to be developed
Right. So reading anything is going to improve your skill your ability to read and that's gonna benefit you in your Bible reading
Just think about it
you know if you're reading other books, you're gonna be able to
Comprehend what's being written there because a lot of times about those books aren't going to be as challenging at scripture
But at least they're gonna start to train you and how to pay attention to what's being written
You'll pay attention to what you're looking at and what and you actually able to comprehend it and maybe even be able to read longer
Right because reading is is like any, you know, your brains like any like a muscle, you know
I know it's not a muscle but it's like a muscle in the sense that you know
It's a skill that has to be exercised. It has to be worked out. It has to grow stronger
Okay, that's you know, reading really is a skill like that
and that's why you know, it's important that we be reading because we're all called to read the Word of God and
Taking 15 20 minutes out of your day to read the Bible
so you can read it at least once in a year is not a big ask and
People think about that and they think oh man read the whole Bible in a year
That seems like such a you know, it's such a huge task. It just seems something that's just so overwhelming
But when you break it down and think well, it's only 15 20 minutes a day, I mean good night
You haven't got 20 minutes. You haven't got 15 minutes
Maybe you know give or take five minutes depending on your ability to read your your comprehension
That's not a big ask at all think about all the other things that we do for 20 minutes a day
That are just complete waste of time that we just or maybe there's time where we're just literally doing nothing
We just find ourselves, you know, just making something up to do, right?
So that's why I also want to emphasize, you know reading, you know reading anything
Obviously it's going to enrich you as a person, you know, you're it's gonna make you a more interesting person
You're gonna have something else to talk about
You know you get in a conversation. You're not gonna be well, maybe we'll be able to talk about something other than food
And although there's nothing wrong talking about food, right?
If you know me, that's the topic we often find ourselves on right as Baptists
But you know whenever I've read a book what I've noticed is people want to hear about what you read
Especially if it's an interesting book and I try to compel them to read that book as well
So that's you know, and that's just one benefit. The other benefit is it'll make you a better Bible reader
It'll just make you a better reader in
General and look we want to meet people who can read the Bible and understand. Are you in Proverbs 22?
Look at verse 21. What's so important about reading the Bible? Why should we be so interested in that?
I mean we saw the command in 1st Timothy and maybe you could say well that's not for me. I'm not a preacher
But look at verse 20 in the Proverbs 22 have not I written on to be
excellent things and counsels and knowledge I
mean
In the Bible there are things that are excellent. There's it's an excellent source of counsel
It's an excellent source of knowledge
You know, this is a rhetorical question. Obviously. It's yes is the answer
We don't want to be people that have an attitude that would read that and go not really
You know, that's that's the wrong answer
There are excellent things here written in counsel and knowledge. You know, we should want to be reading it
We should be wanting to get as much as we can out of it
So, let me just give you some daily digging right because that's kind of the theme of the series
The well, we're trying to dig is the well of wonder and I'm just saying here's a specific shovel called reading literature
Scripture, right? So here's the actual action that you could put into place with that shovel the actual digging you could do
Read anything for 30 minutes. I heard this advice and I thought you know, this is great advice because am I in my youth?
I read a lot, you know not and not as much as as I should, you know, I have children that are
That read a lot of books
I mean my kids already at their age most of them if not all of you know
Some of the younger ones I've got beat still but they've read more books than I've read
Granted, they're very thin books. Okay, but they've probably done more reading and they're in their childhood than I have, you know
In my childhood, you know, they're way ahead now part of the reason is because we don't have a television
Well, you know cast okay, look I'm not trying to jump down anyone's throat that has a television but I'm just saying
You know, why why are you kids get so much me? Why are there?
Why are there literally bookshelves falling down and almost crushing children in your house? Whoops?
Because they're just so overloaded with books it's because they haven't got anything else to do right now
Obviously they have tablets and they put they get tablet time to play their games and things like that
But it's not just from the time they wake up to the time they go to bed. It's a very limited space
You know, it's usually the older ones while the younger ones are taking a nap. Try to keep the older ones quiet
Am I getting that right? That's usually how it works. Okay
What are they, you know, but outside of that, you know, they're doing schoolwork. They're playing and
They're doing a lot of reading
You know, I have one kid who reads will read pretty much anything you put in front of her
I remember one time they're walking out to the car to go to church and I turn around and she's literally reading the back of
like a bucket of drywall mud
She's just I look over and she's like, what are you doing since I'm reading this right just anything she can find she's reading it, right?
Why you know and I'm glad for that I'm glad I have kids that are reading because I know they're gonna know more
You know, you know my children my daughters aren't gonna grow up to be dummies because they're reading they're being homeschooled
They're not just staring at a screen, you know the vast majority of the day
They're not just flipping channels or going through some scrolling through some feed somewhere
They're reading books. Okay, and this is something that is falling by the wayside in our society and in our culture
It's been replaced by screens. Okay, obviously you can do a lot of reading on a screen, too
I get that right, but I'm not against that, you know get a Kindle and let me let me make that point
You say these books are expensive
Get a Kindle. I literally downloaded all the works of dots way up ski, right?
All of them in chronological order for like a buck
And these are classic works of literature
It's thousands of hours of reading and I read and I remember I read the first one
You know poor folk and that was a that was a very sobering book. Okay, if you want to know what it's about
It's a short story go read it. It's only like I think 200 pages or something like that. It's not that long
But it's a very good book. But look I paid like 8 cents or something if you want to break it down
I don't know how the math breaks down but less than a dollar and
I've got this all these great works of literature for just right there on a Kindle
Obviously got to invest in the Kindle, but you know
Maybe cut the cable off for one month and buy
High everybody a Kindle or something. I don't know what the solution is
I'm sure you could come up with it, you know, skip going out to eat for a month and buy something like that
I don't know. I'm just making some practical recommendations, right?
We have such access to these things, you know, there's no reason not to be reading something but my
My my daily digging is to read anything for 30 minutes or get a library card, right? They're free down there
Just gotta go get it
You know get a library card and read anything for 30 minutes. Just say hey, I don't care
What it is read, you know
Just some fictional novel and I'm not against reading fiction a lot of the there's a lot of great works of literature that are fiction
You know read anything for 30 minutes and then begin to increase complexity
That was great advice that I heard that's advice that I've tried to apply to my own life
You know don't try to you know
There's books out there that are written you have to read other books about those books before you can read them
Like before you can even begin to read this book. You have to understand how to read it, you know, I'm not there yet
Okay, and I don't know that I'll ever get there
Want to get there, you know, there's plenty other good books that we can read but either way, you know
Maybe I'm never gonna delve delve into these, you know, great works of
ancient literature
Even if I'm reading anything, I'm becoming a better reader at the very least
And I'm gonna be able to read the Bible and understand it and get these excellent things of council knowledge more efficiently out of the Word
of God
so I'm making the point this morning of
Of digging this well of wonder in our lives
And of course, there's the wonder of what man has been able to accomplish around us
And there's a lot of that, you know and literature is just one area
The arts are just one area right we could talk about all the different things that man has accomplished
and really be in wonder of a lot of it, you know and not be so cynical and
Dismissive of some of the things that man has managed to pull off. I
Think a lot of it's pretty impressive, but we don't want to go to the extreme
and
Overappreciate man's accomplishments, right? This is sometimes we can get out of hand. Okay
So we don't want to over appreciate it either if you would go to
Ecclesiastes chapter number three
Because you'll notice a lot of times people will over emphasize what man has done and then they'll just kind of dismiss God
You
Know people become really impressed with what man has done
But then they don't give God any credit for anything that he has done
Well, they'll just complete dismiss the you know, the idea of the existence of God
That's all there is no God, but they're just really impressed with everything that man has done
We don't want to go to the other extreme either
Look at verse 10, please ask me three
It says I have seen that your veil which God had given to the sons of men to be exercised in it
He hath made everything beautiful in his time, I love this verse
He hath made everything beautiful and who's the he there Scott the Lord, you know
God has made everything beautiful in his time meaning everything that God has made is beautiful
Everything that God has done is beautiful
It's something that can be appreciated
Also, he has set the world in their heart right talking about man
So that no man can find out the work that God make it from the beginning to the end
Like if we set out to appreciate and and this and to dig this well of wonder and appreciate
God's what God has done. There's no end to it
There's really no end to it
You know man has only done so much and there's plenty of things that we could point out and say wow, man
That's that's amazing man. It's done this man. It's done that
But if we were to do that with God, right
Yeah, we cannot find out the work of God that he make it from beginning to end and we could be in wonder of what?
God has done
Every single day, right? So we don't want to over appreciate man to where we start to under appreciate the Lord go to mark
chapter 13 mark chapter 13
Whenever I think about this topic, I also think often think of this verse right or whenever I'll visit like some big city
Right and I'll be real impressed with the buildings there
You know, I'll be impressed with the architecture I
Remember when I first got a job?
Working for the city of Phoenix downtown. I was working at the Convention Center, which is an impressive building
You know what? I'd say what the amount of people table hold they literally can you know in downtown Phoenix they have
This Convention Center that there's two main offer
You know surface level
Buildings on either side of the street, but underneath it's all connected by a giant
You know
You know structure where they can hold, you know thousands of people and they literally will you know back up?
Tractor trailers in there and unload things dozens of tractor trailers can pull in there and park. It's an impressive structure
I remember first getting that job and going downtown and seeing all those buildings seeing that building. I first got there
They handed me, you know, I was a locksmith there
So they gave me I had like pretty much access to every place in the Convention Center that several theaters downtown
We oversaw and I was told my first week here just go explore the campus and familiarize yourself with the area
And I'm going into where they have this the city of Phoenix Orchestra up there
The Symphony the orchestra is housed in the Convention Center. So I'm like backstage checking it out
I went up into the you know, the the real expensive seats their boxes they have up there
I'm sitting down hanging out. Of course. There's nothing going on. The place is dark, right? But I sat there, you know, and it was cool
But I remember, you know
I can I would take the bus when I go up there and I remember stepping off the bus and look at these buildings and
this
Story came to mind this verse
Says an axe or excuse me mark 13 verse 1 and as he went out of the temple one of his disciples sayeth unto a master
See what manner of stones and what buildings are here. So they're trying to impress Jesus with the buildings back then
They're like look at the temple, you know, look at all these great buildings
You know, look at all these things that we've built here isn't this impressive Jesus and Jesus goes yeah
Wow, you guys are really something
Wow, man, what have I done hails a comparison?
Right. We'd imagine telling that to Jesus. Hey, look what we made
right
When you know by him were all things created without him was nothing made that was me talking about Jesus, right?
You
Know by him, you know all things consist and have their being
You know, he is the creator and then they're pointing out some building
And it's and look the buildings back then as you know
I understand the technology was a little more limited back then but there were nowhere near as impressive as anything we have today. I
Mean good night. It's not like they're pointing out the Burj Khalifa or something like that, right? It's not the the Sears Tower
I'm not calling it by whatever, you know company whatever, you know company
Bought it from Europe in Chicago. They call it. I don't even I don't even know what it is now
They call it something else, but it's a Sears Tower
Alright, I'll always call it the Sears Tower
Does anyone know what they're calling it now? It's like the Whitmore or something else stupid, right?
You used to be the tallest structure in the world. I've been up there several times. It's impressive, right?
It's not like they're pointing out the Sears Tower. They're not pointing out, you know, the Empire State Building here
They're pointing out some stone structure that probably really we would look at and just be like interesting, you know
But Jesus sees it and he says see you style these great buildings
There shall not be left one stone upon another that shall not be thrown down
Right. So all the great things that man can do all the things that man can build all the impressive things that he can do
You know, they don't need to compare. They're all gonna crumble and wither with age
All those great books that we're gonna read you know what they'll be forgotten
You know all those great works of art that you appreciate. They're all gonna be gone. You won't even think about them in turning
So and I don't want to go to the extreme and say well, let's not appreciate anything that man does obviously
You know Jesus said these great buildings, you know, they were big buildings. There was some level they're impressive
It's just that when you're trying to pointing them out to the creator of all things. It's kind of a joke, right?
We're not gonna stream and under appreciate what man assembled we don't over appreciate it either
We want to make sure that we're appreciating most of all what God has done
Because take that you cannot find out
And look, there's so many things today that people just blow way out of proportion that man that's accomplished
Okay, and I'm pretty sure I've already upset everybody with the suggestion about reading
So I'm just gonna move on to my next point and I'll cite a specific
You know
Example of this and it would be the example of technology, right?
This might upset some people too. I don't know
But you know specifically today, you know, there's a lot of people that are really impressed with technology and look isn't technology impressive
You know, I hate technology
There's nothing impressive about it look it's impressive
Right, and it's and for some of us it's needful, you know, remind me this or my I don't want to say anything too loud, right?
Navigate here remind me to do this when I arrive here, you know, I mean it's impressive technology really is something
But sometimes people we kind of blow it out of proportion, right and there's a lot of talk today about AI
Right, if you follow, you know, I follow tech a little bit. I follow that kind of stuff
I have some you know, I like to keep up on that a little bit
But it's it's laughable the way some of these guys talk about AI
I mean you think you know terminators gonna show up tomorrow
You think Skynet is gonna go live like any minute now the way they talk about it
This chat GPT who's heard about that heard about chat GPT
Okay
most people right and there's a lot of
Sensationalism around chat GPT and P and this is I'm just using this example of yes
There's things that man can do that are impressive
They're nowhere near as impressive of what God has done
You know you could you know, whatever you believe about our space program, you know
Launching a rocket in the space as impressive as that is and as complex as that is, you know
The the humble, you know, honeybee is far more impressive
You know the hummingbird the things that God has created
These things are far more impressive than anything that man is created
And I'm just using this example and tech and AI and chat GPT
To make this point, you know
This is something I've seen people kind of blowing out of proportion because there's a lot of sensationalism around it, right?
You know chat GPT is coming for your job, right? All you web developers out there all you coders. It's over
Don't even bother text dead buddy. You're gonna robot doing it, right? This is the kind of stuff that's being said out there
You know where it's gonna become self-aware
That's another thing and this is out there as crazy as that sound it's gonna develop a consciousness
Because they're impressed by what chat GPT can do
Well, when you actually look at what's behind this we actually talk to somebody who knows how these things are built
It's not that impressive at all. It's just a super glorified algorithm
Okay, and I'm just gonna read real quick and are a little excerpt here from somebody who is an MIT trained
professor
He's not a professor at MIT
He's a professor at Georgetown, but I could be wrong about that
But he was trained at MIT and now he's a professor of computer sciences
Right, and this is from a piece that he wrote in the New Yorker
Okay, and so this is somebody who knows something about chat GPT, right?
And he said chat GPT is almost certainly not going to take your job
Once you understand how it works
It becomes clear that chat GPT's functionality is crudely reducible to the following
It can write grammatically correct text about an arbitrary combination of known subjects in an
Arbitrary combination of known styles where known means that encountered it sufficiently in many time in its training data
So they if you actually listen this guy at length when he talks about this
Which means you'd have to actually listen to a podcast. That's about an hour long, right? It's not going to be 60 seconds
You have to actually pay attention for that long, right?
He explains how chat GPT came into into being and it's like 10 years of researching and call it and
Drawing from all these sources of data. That's all it is
So and it's been testing and it understands how to write these things and look it's way over my head
But you know, it's not someone with you know, a robot with beady red eyes is gonna show up to kill you tomorrow
Okay, and that's what people they blow this out of proportion or they get really impressed, right?
You know, they see someone rock them launch rockets, that's it. We're all gonna be living on Mars 20 years
So
Chabi cheat GPT is just something that's had a lot of a lot of data has been you know
It's got a lot of data to draw from this ability can produce impressive chat transcripts that can spread virally on Twitter
Right, and that's where you see it all, you know, I asked chat GPT this you know to draw this or produce that
Here's the answer and everyone's like whoa
Right and look it is impressive
It's it's way more impressive than just a simple Google search, right?
Because it's talking back to you
It sounds like it's a human being responding you but it's let's not go overboard with it nuts
I get over and impressed with man is done here as impressive as it is
Hey, I mean ask me to invent it not gonna happen, right? I
Mean, I I couldn't even like use those alcalf old calculators to write the snake program. You know, I mean anyway
The
Bulk of writing that into knowledge workers actually perform tends to involve the spoke information about their specific organization and field
So he's putting this
Concern to rest that hey, it's you know, chappy cheap GPT is gonna take over these knowledge workers jobs
Obviously, it's never gonna be a plumber and electrician
but there's a lot of knowledge workers out there that might have gotten concerned with this huge database and
Then a eyes ability to just you know, communicate right and to draw on the information
Chat GPT can write a funny poem about a peanut butter sandwich
But it doesn't know how to write an effective email to the Dean's office at my university with a subtle question about our hiring policies
Right, so it's still very limited right? I can't I can't do a lot of things
Then I'm gonna you know, I know I'm losing you at the reading
But he goes on and says talks about how it's not self-aware or conscious because this is the one that we're probably more familiar with
And this is probably one that most people are you know
I've heard the most about how chat GPT is somehow this going to become self-aware or conscious
Chat GPT is absolutely not self-aware conscious or alive in any reasonable definition of these terms
The large language model that drives chat GPT is static. Once it is trained. It does not change
It's a collection of simply structured though massive in size
Feed forward neural networks that do nothing but take in text as input and spit out new words as output
It also has excuse me. It has no malleable state. No updating sense of self. No incentives. No memory
It's impossible that when you might one day create a self-aware AI
But if such an intelligence does arise it will not be in the form of a large language model
So he's basically saying this thing isn't even anywhere near self-aware
It's basically just Google on steroids, that's all it is. Okay
You say why take so much time talking about AI and tech, you know chat GPT because this is just an example, right?
of people being so impressed with what man has done and just blowing it way out of proportion and
Meanwhile, God has done so many other things that are so far more impressive
They would have if we would dwell and think about those things
They would have a profound effect on our lives and that's kind of how I want to close the sermon
You know God's work far exceeds man, and that's that's probably pretty obvious to everybody in the room and yet the world at large
Doesn't believe that if they believe in God at all, right? They they're so impressed with man
Go to uh
Let's go to Psalms 46. We're gonna look at several Psalms real quick as we wrap up the sermon
But God's work exceeds man
You know, it's impressive of what man can do. It's still extremely limited in the face of what God can do
I'll just read you from Isaiah 40 as you go to Psalm 46 with measured the water in the hollow of his hand and
Meet it up heaven with with the span. I mean God has measured out heaven, right?
And comprehended the dust of the earth in a measure and weighed the mountains and scales and the hills and a balance who's done that
Well the Lord right because he created I think God could tell you that
Chat GBT can tell you that I'm sure there's somebody out there who's estimated how much mountains way around the world
You know with all their math or whatever and the density of certain, you know minerals
And you could do the math and maybe get in the ballpark, but God could tell you to the ounce
How much all the mountains the world wait because he created them?
Who had directed the Spirit of the Lord or being his counselor hath taught him?
Nobody right
So God's work far exceeds man and as oppressive anything as man might do, you know
It's still worthy of us wondering at it us appreciating it us
You know looking into those things and understanding what it is that we have done
But let's not forget that it's God that ultimately made man to be able even to do that, you know
there's that old joke about
You know the the scientists that got together and made an appointment with God
You know, I'm proud of people who are heard this forgive me, but it makes a good point, right?
They they get together and they make an appointment God because they want to impress God
But what they've done and they say well God says okay impress me. What have you done?
Well, we've managed to create life, which is something they've never have done and never will be able to do
Well, you know just for the joke's sake right they say hey, we're able to make like these. Okay show me
So they do it like God did you know they get some dust together get some clay they get some dirt and they fashion a little
Child and eventually it comes to life and God says well, that's impressive next time get your own dirt
You know because at the end of the day, you know, God made the dirt that you're even using and it's a you know
It's kind of a cheesy joke, but you know
It illustrates the point that whatever man accomplishes it pales in comparison to what God it's as foolish as the Apostles saying
Hey Jesus, check out these buildings that we made
It's like well, hey, I I measured out heaven
I've weighed the seas in a balance
You know my hand spans the universe, you know, it's it's it's a joke
But I believe if we'll just you know dig this well of wonder in our lives by appreciating what man has done though
It pales a comparison not saying let's discount that
But let's not forget what God has done, right?
If we dig this well of wonder it will lead to a got us living a godlier life. I believe that
The more we dwell on the holiness and the power of God it will compel us to live a godlier life
I believe that that's why this is a well that should be done in your life
Dig the well of wonder
You know, this is something that'll lead you to live a godly life
Did I have you go to Psalms 46 look at verse 10 be still and know that I am God
I will be exalted among the heat and I will be exalted in the earth
You know, God's the one that ultimately deserves to be exalted exalted in this world
If you would go over to Psalm chapter number 4 Psalm chapter number 4
Excuse me
At least I think I got the right one. I'm gonna mix this one up
But I'll just read to you Psalm 4 verse 4. It says stand in awe and sin not
Commune with your own heart upon your bed be still
Selah so this is these commands here in Psalms to what stand in awe and sin not now
If I were to get up and say hey, I'm preaching a sermon this morning about not sinning, right?
In fact, that's that's my only point don't sin. Amen. Let's close and go home. That'd be a good sermon, right?
You'd probably appreciate it cuz be over quick
Right, but it's a it's a it's a valid point, right? It's a you know, that's a strong point. Don't sin
Obviously no other rooms gonna say no, I think sinning is okay. The Bible says don't sin, right? We shouldn't be sinning
Obviously none of us is ever gonna be perfect. But what's something that's gonna help us minimize sin in our life
It's right there stand in awe and sin not
You know, I believe the more we just stood in awe of God and who he is stood in awe of his word
Wondered more at his word wondered more his creation understood more the power and the beauty and the majesty of God
You know the more likely we are to avoid sin
You know when we're tempted to do something we would think about how that would be an offense to a holy and righteous God
Would be might be a little bit more
Reluctant to do that if we understood more about the power and that God has the strength of God the judgment of God
You know if we understood and wondered at those things if we stood in awe of that
You would probably be able to fulfill that latter half there to sin not
In fact, it goes on it says commune with your own heart upon your bed
We might do some
introspection when we consider the things of God the work that he has done if we found ourselves reading the Bible and
Standing in awe of God being in the wonder of God's creation, you know
It might cause us to think about our own hearts our own lives and cause us to you know
Align our values align with what's important to us more closely to what's important with the Lord and the gospel. Okay?
So that's what I mean when I say, you know, if we stand in awe if we dig this well of wonder in our lives
It will help us lead a godly life. I believe that I think that's why it's worth doing
Because
God is magnified in creation go to Psalm Psalms verse 8 Psalms verse 8
We probably have heard this one verse 3
When I consider thy thy heavens the work of thy fingers the moon and the stars which thou hast ordained
What is man that thou art mindful of him in the Son of Man that thou visitest him?
He's saying when I behold creation when I go out and look at these things when I consider these things
It's very humbling right? Isn't that what he's saying? So what is man that thou art mindful of him?
I mean look at everything that God is able to create look what God has done
look what God has made and then we
Look at ourselves and say well, who are we?
What is man that thou art mindful of him, you know, what's really awe inspiring about that
Is the fact that God is still mindful of us
Isn't he?
Even you as an individual
The God who and let me point out this part of the of the of the of the verse for the very first word
First three when I consider right another word there would be if
Right meaning it's just something you have to do, right?
You know if we go out somewhere where we can see the stars
You can actually start to make out the Milky Way and see just the vastness of creation
You know, we go out and appreciate something about what God has done. We wonder at it
You know, it's gonna humble us
And you know, it'll cause us to think what is man that thou art mindful of him
And the son of man that thou visitest him who are we?
But then that should also lead us to the thought how amazing the fact that he does
That a God that magnificent that a God that powerful that God that great is
mindful of me and of you
He does visit us. He has written us excellent things and counsel and knowledge. God does care about us as individuals
You
Go to Psalm 139. We'll close there it you know, this should humble us
If we dig this well of wonder in our lives
And obviously, you know wondering and the things that man there's things that can be gained from that
We can glean things from that we can benefit from that
You know if we dig that well of wonder when it comes to you know, trying to learn to
Read and appreciate, you know literature both new and old, you know, we're gonna be better readers
Obviously, there's there's different things we could talk about but the greatest
Benefit we're gonna get is when we wonder at the things of God and
One of the great benefits is that it will humble us and make us a humble people which is what we need to be
When we go out and consider the heavens the work of his fingers
You know and consider the fact that he does still visited us. It should humble us. Look at Psalm 139 verse 1
Oh Lord thou hast searched me and known me thou knowest my down sitting in my uprising
Thou understandest my thought afar up so connect these these two passages that I'm citing right now
You know Psalms 8 we ended with what is man that thou art mindful of him
You know, it's kind of asking man. God is so great. So magnificent. Yeah, I wonder at it. I'm impressed. I'm blown away
But who am I?
You know that we look at our measly little accomplishments and it pales in comparisons. It's not even on the same scale
Let me say well, you know, God must not visit us
but then you go to Psalm 139 and you read this thou hast searched me and
known me
Now knowest my down sitting and mine uprising now understandest my thought afar off
That's how mindful God is of us
He knows when you sit down. He knows when you get up. He knows the thoughts you think before you even think them
That's
how great our God is and
That should humble us that should cause us to stand in awe and sin not if we wonder at this
We will live a more godly life
Maybe we'll start to appreciate simpler things
It won't take so much to impress us
Maybe we'll be able to just enjoy something as simple as the stars the Sun's that you know
The Sun the moon, I know there's other Suns out there. Okay
I'm referring only to ours and our solar system, right?
But it'll be causes to appreciate these simpler things
You know, even these flowers right? We're out soul winning yesterday. We're talking. Oh, that's a
Despite the allergies that we're suffering, you know, I'm almost tempted to say it's worth it almost
I'm not quite over there. But you know because there's a lot of beautiful flowers that grow here
But you know who made all that God?
Yeah, I'm impressed with the person that took the time and developed the skill and could probably name each and every single one of those
plants and knows when they bloom and and and
Potted them and caused them to stay alive. I'm impressed with their skill. But you know, ultimately God is the one that made that
That's who I'm most impressed with. I mean good on the guy who knows how to garden
But you know great is our God who makes those things to grow and created in the first place and even gave man that knowledge
You know, those things will be more impressive to us these simple things when we consider them, okay
We consider the fact that God knows our down-sitting our uprising
He knows our thoughts firstly thou compass my path. Am I lying down thou are acquainted with all my ways
you know, this is why we need to wonder at the things of God because
Well, you know
It causes us to be in all the fact that God is mindful of us
And when we understand that that a God so great and
Magnificent as our God is mindful of us then you know what we might watch our step a little bit more
We might mind ourselves a little bit more we might be a little bit less prone to sin
You might find ourselves a little more able to resist the temptations that come our way
First for for there is not a word in my tongue, but lo Oh Lord thou knowest it all together
Thou hast beset me behind before and laid thine hand upon me such knowledge is too wonderful me for me
It is high. I cannot understand contain unto it. I can't even comprehend what it you know
The how amazing how wonderful it is that God has beset me that God knows my thoughts
Like I was God knows my down sitting in my uprising
And look if I told you that I said, hey, you know, God knows all your thoughts
God is you know latest hand upon you God is interested you, you know, if that doesn't impress you
You're not impressed with the fact that God knows you like that. Maybe you need to dig the well of wonder in your life
Maybe you need to take some time to just turn off the TV and step outside and go for a hike
Maybe it's time to go camping and go look up at the stars
Get away from the hustle and bustle and go, you know
Consider what God has made and then consider the fact that the God that made that made you and knows you and is interested in you
Learn to be more in awe of God's want of God's works being in awe of it wonder at the things of God
It will lead you to live a more godly life. I believe that let's go ahead and close in a word of prayer