(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

So Genesis chapter one, this is the six day creation. So this chapter right here tells us exactly how God created the universe, created the earth and created everything that's in them. And so this is a great, great chapter and so we're going to go through verse by verse down through here, go through the six days of creation. So the first day we see is that God created the heaven and the earth and the earth was pretty much just water. There was just water around the earth and then He formed the light and He said let there be light and there was light. So from the very first day there was light, although we don't see until day four that the sun, moon, stars were made. So there was light before that and God is light but He caused there to be a light in this creation. And so we talked about this with the new heaven and new earth, remember that the Lord is going to be the light and there's going to be no need of the sun and new Jerusalem. So we're going to see a lot of things actually in this chapter and in the next chapter when we talk about the Garden of Eden that really just look a lot similar to the new heaven and new earth. We see how it's going back when we get to the new heaven and new earth the way it was supposed to be in the beginning. And so this right here, notice one thing that you keep hearing when I read this and God said it was good and God said it was good and God said it was good and at the very end He said it was very good. So that's something that always resounds with me when He's creating the earth and creating everything that's in it. It was all good. But the first verse here, in the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. And we're going to get into the fact that that's singular at the beginning is very important because at the beginning the heaven was just one piece so to speak. But then as you go down the chapter you'll see that God splits it up into actually three sections and it tells us about two of them here but we know that there's actually a third heaven which I'll show you some verses on that. But this passage when I think of in the beginning God created the heaven and the earth I automatically think of John 1.1. So I want you to go to John chapter 1 and you'll see why but it's very similar wording but it's making a point with that because it's actually talking about creation in John 1.1 and John 1 in the beginning there anyway but in John chapter 1, very familiar verse and very familiar passage obviously, but John 1 and verse 1 it says in the beginning was the word and the word was with God and the word was God. The same was in the beginning with God, all things were made by him and without him was not anything made that was made, in him was life and the life was the light of men. And so we see that in the beginning we have the word and the word was with God and the word was God so we'll see that the word is how the universe even came into existence. God's word. But first I want you to see in that verse, in the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. What's the universe made up of? There's three elements to the universe if you were just to boil it down, time, space and matter. The interesting thing is we always say in that order even but notice in the beginning there's time, heaven, the heaven he created the heaven there's space and then the earth there's matter. So you have those three elements in the very first verse of the Bible and that's what happens at the very beginning he's basically created the universe and what we'll see in the second verse is that it's pretty much just pretty basic, it's kind of like when you build a house and you got the frame up but you got a lot more work to do. It's funny because when you build a house or a building or something like that you get the frame up and you think man it's coming together it's almost there, no there's a lot more work to do and actually it takes you a lot more time to get all the other stuff done in it than it did to get the actual structure up. I deal with structures but once the structure's up there's a lot more that's done, that project's not over once they get the structure up. Basically in the first day he's pretty much setting up the structure for the universe and then he goes on and starts putting in more details, starts separating things and all that. You see in the very first verse we have time, space and matter in the beginning so when it talks about in the beginning throughout the Bible that's what it's talking about right here is when God created and spoke the world into existence but we see that in the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God and all things were made by him and without him was not anything made that was made and this is important because of the Trinity and what's interesting is the Trinity is very prominent in the very first chapter of the Bible and we'll get into that a little bit about the Trinity in the Bible and that's what I kind of wanted to touch on at the very beginning here but it says in 1 John, for there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word and the Holy Ghost and these three are one and so this isn't just a New Testament thing, this is from the very beginning and so in the second verse there, notice what it says, it says in the earth was without form and void and darkness was upon the face of the deep and the what? Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. There's the Spirit of God at the second verse of the Bible and so we see the sign is attributed to the very beginning, you know, in the beginning God created heaven and earth and it says that it was by the Word which is Jesus and so and then you have the Spirit of God mentioned in the second verse and so just picture what you're seeing there, I know it's hard to picture this but basically he creates the universe, at this point there's no light because it says that darkness was upon the face of the deep and it says the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the water so you imagine that there's this, it's basically just darkness and then there's this earth with water, just water, okay, and so this earth is just water all around it and then it says, which we'll get into but this is controversial and I don't want to spend a whole bunch of time on this but have you ever heard of the gap theory where basically there's a gap between verse one and two, now when I read this and maybe the younger crowd, when I read this did you ever just think there's definitely, there's some pre-Adamite civilization between these two verses and millions of years between this, no sane person would read this chapter and do that, you know, you'd automatically just think verse one, verse two, they're connected, they're all at the same moment that this is going on and so this is a doctrine out there, a theory out there called the gap theory where basically what they say is that God created the heaven and the earth but then basically this is where Lucifer and all this stuff was going on and for millions of years the dinosaurs were in here too, you know, and all the dinosaurs were in here and basically it's fairy tale time so just bear with me for a second. So in this, between this there's these millions of years and all this stuff's going on, well Satan fell and then there was sin and all this stuff so then he just completely decimated that and started over and then in verse two it's basically like, you know, like a war zone so to speak, right, where everything is just kind of completely annihilated and now we're starting over from that. I know that's what you got when you read this the first time, right? Now the only reason that someone would come to that conclusion is if you're trying to fit a world theory into the Bible. There's no way that a Bible believing, someone that just picks up the Bible and I especially say this to children or people that just get saved at a young age and then they read the Bible, if they read Genesis with the Holy Ghost inside of them they would never come to that conclusion unless it was told to them. And even, I can't even write my mind around it to be honest but all that is is trying to fit the world view of evolution into the Bible. Now let me tell you this, there is no scientific evidence that the earth is millions of years old. Not one shred of evidence. They can pull out their carbon dating and their potassium argon dating that doesn't work and even to their own knowledge that that, and I can go into all the details about the fact that the carbon rate is still decreasing and therefore they're using a rubber ruler when it comes to that. And it proves too also if the carbon 14 in the atmosphere is still decreasing that means that it's less than 30,000 years old. So that throws the million years. And so you can go on to all the little details about this but you know if anybody tries to tell you no the earth is millions of years old because we know by the layers of the earth. Well, how did you find out what the age of that was? Oh, the fossils that are in it. How did you know how old the fossils were by the layers of the earth? Okay, well that makes sense. So it's circular reasoning and it's a religion. Let's just put it where it's at. Evolution is a religion. No one has ever seen that happen and they always point to some like adaptation or what they would call microevolution but it's really just adaptations in nature. It's always the same animal my friends. You know you never see a dolphin turn into a cow. You know and it's a fairy tale. And so the sad part is is that Christians have tried to take this world view and just shove it into the Bible. And they try to just rip these two verses apart in here and try to just cram it down in there. And it's just like a square peg into a round hole. And so what this comes down to is that it wouldn't make sense that God keeps saying it is good, it is good, it is good, it is good and it is very good if there was all this like remnants because Satan is still there my friends. Even if you were to say that this is a pre-Adamite civilization between here which you are just adding to the word of God. There's nothing that mentions that, right? No one saw that when we were reading this. You're just inserting some theory that Satan is a sinner as he's speaking from verse 2 on down. And how could he say it's very good? How could he say that everything in the earth is very good? And I'll show you and I'm going to prove to you through the Bible that the earth was created in six literal days and that everything that's in heaven and earth right now was created in those six days. That counts Lucifer, that counts all the angels, that counts the cherubims, that counts the seraphims, that counts everything. And so this is giving us the exact, you know, the six day creation. There's no gap in here. There's no day age theory, you know, garbage where one day is like a thousand years or a million years in their minds, you know. And so I don't want to spend too much time on that because it's just stupid theories, okay? And I'm just going to assume that everybody believes the Bible today and that it is clear that when it says it was the first day and the second day, we're talking about that it has to be, you know, it can't have a gap there because it wouldn't make any sense. So, but I want you to see what's going on here with the fact that it's dark. You have the universe that's created, you have the earth that's just water around it, it's dark, and then, notice verse three, it says, and God said, let there be light, and there was light. And so that's, the lights come on, okay? And so this is before the sun and moon are there, but God provides the light. And so, and it says that God saw the light, that it was good, and God divided the light from the darkness, and God called the light day and the darkness he called night and the evening and the morning or the first day. So he divided the light from the darkness. This is interesting. And one thing that I, you know, I wanted to point out too, you know, when we're talking about the Trinity here, is that in verse 26, which we'll get to eventually when we're talking about God created man, but in verse 26, notice what it says. It says, and God said, let us make man in our image after our likeness. There's, there's the Trinity, there's your three in one. And if you didn't understand the Trinity, you'd probably be scratching your head, what in the world is going on? Why is God using a plural pronoun when he's speaking here? And then in the next verse, he uses a singular pronoun. And so this shows you the Trinity, and so you saw the Spirit of God, and then from the New Testament, you can gather the fact that, well, there's the Father, the Word and the Holy Ghost. The Word created the universe. The Holy Ghost was upon the waters and upon the deep. And so you can see how all this fits together. And God created a universe with the Father, Son and the Holy Ghost. But the Word of God is how the worlds were framed. Go to, go to Hebrews chapter 11, Hebrews chapter 11. And I'm going to read a verse from John 17. But I remember talking about some, I use this verse in John 17 to prove Jesus' deity sometimes. And in John 17, this is where Jesus is praying. So you're going to Hebrews 11, but John 17 is where Jesus is praying to the Father. And this is before he goes into the Garden of Gethsemane, actually. And then, then he goes into the Garden of Gethsemane, then he goes to the cross. And so, and, and in that chapter in verse 5, it says, And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self, with the glory which I had with thee before the world was. If that doesn't show you the deity of Jesus, I don't know what will. And every time I usually show this to somebody, if they're, if they're, you know, in the right mind and they're, they're being honest with themselves, can't deny that Jesus is saying he's God. Because he was in the beginning with God. And he was there before the world was. Not just at the foundation of the world. It's not like he was even created at the foundation of the world. He was there before it even was. And so, but that's the Trinity there. And it's in the very first chapter of the Bible. At the very beginning, he's saying, Let us make man in our image. But in Hebrews chapter 11, gives us a little more information. And there's other passages that we can go to, like Colossians chapter 1, and other passages where it talks about Jesus created. We've read Hebrews 1, I think, twice last week. So I'm not going to go there again where it says, And now, Lord, in the beginning has laid the foundation of the earth. So I'm not going to go to all the different places. But in Hebrews 11, this is a good one when it comes to if you're understanding creation and refuting evolution. Okay. Hebrews 11 and verse 3, it says, Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God. So that makes sense. We see that throughout the Bible. That all things are made by him and without him was not anything made that was made. But notice what it says right after that. So that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear. And that's crucial because what is the evolution mindset? I need to look at the things that do appear to explain how it got here. And the Bible's very clear that it says, So that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear. You cannot look at what we see and explain how it got here. Because God created it. God spoke it into existence. And that's the stumbling block of stumbling blocks to these evolutionists. All they can say is, I've got to look at what we can see and what we can test and observe and try to explain how it got here. It's impossible. They'll never do it. That's what the Bible teaches is that that's not how it came to be. So good luck trying to figure that out. So it's basically a bunch of people in a closed system trying to explain someone that's outside of it. I think Ken Hovind used an example one time of people inside of a computer or the computer trying to explain how the computer was made by the things that are in the computer. It's just ridiculous to even think of that. You think of a painting, like how would that get there without a painter? You're cutting off the only explanation to try to make an explanation. And so it's illogical and the Bible's very clear and it's like God knew that people were going to try to use evolution or use things that are around them to explain how it even got here. And this is something that every false religion that denies God or even Hinduism, all this stuff, they're using things around us to try to explain how it was created. And it just doesn't work. It says so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear. But go back to Genesis 1 and notice he separated the darkness, he divided the darkness from the light and he called the light day and he called the darkness night. And see, we're going to get all our terms in here. The earth, heaven, day, night, all these different terms that we use. But in Isaiah 45, I wanted to make a point here because there's like these little, have you ever seen these little cute stories or like these little, they're probably like those chain emails that you get where it's like a story, some like little story about like how someone was in like a college class and they were debating a professor. And they always like try to use logic to explain God or to convince somebody that God exists. And I remember this story where it says, he's explaining God and the guy was trying to refute him and saying well if God, if God's so good then why does he, why is there evil in the world? And the answer that this stupid little thing gave, and this is where you just need to go to the Bible and not try to look at your own logic, is that they said well God didn't create darkness, darkness is the absence of light. I don't know if you've ever heard this, but it's like light is God, God is light, but darkness is the absence of that. Or good, evil is the absence of good. God didn't create evil, God didn't create darkness, it's just the absence of him. Well let's see, go to Isaiah 45, let's see if that pans out, publicly. Now God didn't create sin, now remember we talked about this with evil, so don't get those terms confused because God knew no sin. But in Isaiah 45 and verse 7 it says, I form the light and create darkness, I make peace and create evil, I the Lord do all these things. You know that little cute story and everybody's like oh this is such a good way to explain God, completely contradicts Scripture. Because in the beginning God said let there be light and he divided the darkness from the light and it says he creates darkness and he creates evil. Is there evil in the city and the Lord hath not done it? And so we need to go to Bible terms and Bible terminology. To say that God doesn't create evil would be to completely contradict that Scripture. And to say that God doesn't create darkness would be to completely contradict that Scripture. Just to try to use logic, here's the thing, the power of God unto salvation is the Gospel. I'm not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believe it, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. That's how you're going to get someone saved. Not get into a philosophizing type of debate and get into a logical debate with some evolutionist or atheist and try to just like use these little cute little logical debates to try to win somebody. You're not going to do it, you need the word of God and it's the Gospel that is where the power is at. When I go out soul winning and someone's like an atheist or like well I believe in evolution, I usually say well you know can I, you know I believe you can go 100% sure you're going to heaven, I believe there's a hell, you know and if you don't believe on Christ that's where the Bible says you'll go. Can I at least show you what the Bible says about that, at least how you can know you're going to heaven or at least know what the Bible teaches on that? I don't usually say well let me tell you about potassium argon dating. Let me tell you about all these different things that are wrong with evolution and go down that rabbit trail. I've done it before. I'm just going to be honest with you, I've done it before and I've spent 45 minutes to an hour talking to an evolutionist, sitting on his porch just talking about going through all these different things. You know what it accomplished? Nothing. You know in the end he didn't believe it. I tore down a ton of his arguments and it didn't matter. The Gospel is what saves and I've had people that were on that issue were like more about science and they're like oh I'm into science, I believe in science and all this stuff. You know what I do? I just take them straight to the Gospel. I show them that there's a burning literal fiery flaming hell that's waiting for them because they're a sinner and I give them Bible verses because that's where the power's at. It's good to know your stuff. It's good to know if they try to call you out on something you'd be like yeah no that's wrong and you know your stuff. Sometimes that'll stop the gainsayer so to speak and stop the mouths of the gainsayers. There's nothing wrong with that. I'm not against studying up on this type of stuff and knowing your stuff about creation versus evolution but I'm not out to get into debates with people about this. There's no debate. They're not going to change my mind. I don't care how much, I mean it's this stupid argument. Evolution is one of the stupidest theories that I've ever heard in my life and so it's a religion. It's based off faith, faith that nothing exploded and that people came from apes that can't be proven. It's never been seen and so that is a stupid theory. They're welcome to believe in it but they're going to die and go to hell and so the Gospel's what we need to focus on when it comes to this issue of creation versus evolution. But it is good to know your stuff because there's definitely people that are going to come at you with certain things that think they're going to stump you and it's good to kind of stop their mouths so to speak. Especially because, answer not a man according to his folly lest thou be like unto him but it says answer a man according to his folly lest he be wise in his own conceit. So it's kind of damned if you do, damned if you don't kind of situation when you're dealing with a fool but when I think of this, if I was just talking one on one with one of these guys I'd just be like no, get a life. But if there's people around and this guy's spewing out this stuff then I'm going to put him in his place because I don't want other people around him to think that he's right. I'm not going to argue with him all day but I'm just going to be like you don't know what you're talking about and I'll give him the facts and then at least the people around him realize this guy doesn't know what he's talking about. So that's not, and it's not for him, it's more for the people that hear. You know, smite a squirter and the simple beware. And I may be misquoting that but I think that's what it says. And so I know it's smite a squirter and a sinner will be something but it's basically saying that the simple will basically take note of that, you know, that they got beat. So anyway, that's just a personal preference on how I deal with things. And so this goes with anything when given the gospel, stick with the gospel. I don't care what religion they're from, I don't care what they're into, you know, just give them the gospel, just give them the clear presentation of the gospel, let the ships follow what they may. After that you can get into all kinds of discussions but I'm not going to waste my time with it. So the evening and the morning was the first day. Now this is very clear that it says the day, the day, the day. And so the Bible's very clear that these are six literal days and they happen one way after another. And the reason why this is so proven to be true that way is you go to Exodus chapter 20 because the whole, our whole seven week calendar is based off the creation, okay? And we still use it to this day and it's a testament that the earth was created in six days and on the seventh day God rested. And so Exodus chapter 20 is a very powerful, now it's obviously where the Ten Commandments are at, so that's definitely powerful, but Exodus 20 is a very powerful passage to prove that not only did God create the earth in literally six days but everything. So this demolishes the day age theory, this demolishes the gap theory, you know, because Satan is in this group too. And so, and it also shows that if everything was very good at the end of this that Satan hadn't sinned until after the creation was done. And I'll show you some other verses on that too, but in Exodus 20 verse 8 it says, Exodus 20 verse 8 says, remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labor and do all thy work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God. In it thou shalt not do any work. Thou nor thy son nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger, that is within thy gates. And it's going to explain why, for in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day. Wherefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it. Go back to Genesis chapter 2, because at the end of chapter 6 we get through all the six days but we didn't get to that seventh day yet until Genesis chapter 2. So this proves that everything that's in heaven and earth right now was created in those six days. And so it wouldn't make sense that Satan was created before the six days. You know, like all this stuff, all these theories go out the window with Exodus chapter 20 and verse 11. But notice it was saying, you know it says that wherefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it. Well notice what it says in Genesis chapter 2 verse 1. It says, Thus the heavens and the earth were finished and all the host of them, so this is after the sixth day there, and on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made and God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it because in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made. So that's what it's talking about and there's no gap between the sixth and seventh day either because this is the calendar week that the Hebrews were supposed to use. And they were using this before this, you know, like this is something that's just from the creation. Everybody was doing a six day work week and resting but even if you didn't rest it's still seven days then it would start over, seven days start over, seven days start over. And so it's patterned off of the creation. And to say that it's some kind of other time period is ridiculous. But Hebrews talks about this too. In Hebrews 4 it says in verse 3 it says, For we which have believed do enter into rest, as he said, as I have sworn in my wrath, if they shall enter into my rest. Although the works were finished from the foundation of the world, for he spake in a certain place of the seventh day on this wise, and God did rest the seventh day from all his works. Notice the seventh day, the seventh day. And so these are literal days, literal 24 hour days and all the scriptures are, you know, I showed you Exodus, that's Old Testament, Hebrews is New Testament and it's saying the exact same thing that these are literal days and it was to show the Sabbath day and the resting on the seventh day. Now obviously Hebrews 4 is showing us that that was fulfilled and that we actually look for another rest which is talking about heaven, you know, when we die. And so we don't need to keep the Sabbath day in the New Testament but it's not a bad thing either to rest on the seventh day. You know, if you wanted to take Saturday off and rest, you know, I think it's biblical, it's fine, you know, it's a biblical principle, you know, but we don't keep it as strict as the children of Israel did in the Old Testament to where you were put to death if you didn't because it represented salvation obviously. And so this is just an important point I wanted to make as far as the first day and then on these six literal days. So the Bible is very consistent about it. It's not like it doesn't talk about it, you know, throughout the rest of the Bible. It talks about it a lot. Notice also that the works were finished from the foundation of the world. Do you know that Jesus was the lamb slain from the foundation of the world? And so this also shows us that salvation has been from the beginning. It says in hope of eternal life which God promised before the world, which God cannot lie, promised before the world began. Before the world began. And so from the foundation of the world, Christ, you know, proverbially died for all sinners. Now it says that He was before ordained before the foundation of the world but was manifest in these last times for you. Before the foundation of the world, He was before ordained to die for our sins. And obviously, you know, man hasn't even fallen yet. We've already talked about the foundations of the earth being laid and, you know, this is a great proof that the works were finished from the foundation of the world. And so this throws that dispensational garbage of salvation out the window in Genesis 1. And so if people would just read Genesis, they would get this because when you get to Genesis 4, people are calling upon the name Lord. When you get to Genesis 15, you see Abraham believed in the Lord and it was imputed unto him for righteousness. I mean, you see all this stuff in Genesis. And so obviously the New Testament is definitely more clear but it's just pointing back to all these passages. And so the first day, the evening and the morning of the first day, it's an interesting way that it phrases this. The evening and the morning were the first day because, you know, you think, I think the way that I looked at it first was more so like it's trying to explain, you know, like you would say the morning, the day, and then the evening were all one day. But I think what it's saying is that He does all this work during the day and then there was an evening and then there was a morning and then He starts the next day. Does that make sense? Because the morning is technically not the day yet. It's leading up to the day and so it's basically saying then there was a night, then there was a morning and then He started off again the second day. Okay? Because if you think of, you know, when's the day start for someone to work? You know, the 12 days, or 12 hours, 12 days, 12 hours does the man work, right? So you start, you know, basically when it's light and go on until evening. Right? So it's basically telling you that, okay, he's worked through that 12 hour period, the evening and the morning, or the first day, and then the second day started. Okay? Now, throughout the Bible there's different ways that they, when they stop and start the days. We started at different times. Our day starts at midnight. I believe that when you look in the New Testament or when they did the feast and stuff like that, the day would start at even. So even, what even means, there's two evens in a day, so to speak, because you have even when the sun goes down and you have even when the sun comes up, meaning that basically when the sun is even with the horizon, so to speak, and it happens twice within a 24 hour period. And so all I'm saying with that is that I believe that's what it's saying. It's basically, he's working all day long. It was the evening and the morning and that was the first day and then the second day started. Does that make sense? That's just personally how I see how that's reading, is that the day started when the day started, you know? And so I guess it just depends on where you're talking about, because this can change too. Calendars change in the Bible on when they say the day starts and stuff like that. But you see the ninth hour when Jesus was on the cross, it says there was darkness from the sixth hour to the ninth hour. And so you can see that they're counting the hours in that particular moment as far as from the, probably where it's light, where you have pretty much a 12 hour day and the ninth hour would mean that there's three hours left until it's going to be dark. And so just an idea, I'm not against anybody that has a different theory on what that means or how it's explaining that as far as the evening and the morning. I've heard people say the evening starts at even and goes on and then the morning is talking about going from the morning to the end of the day or to the next even and kind of saying these are two chunks of time from when the sun goes down up till the morning and then the morning goes on throughout the rest of the day. But to me, it sounds like he's just talking as far as I'm doing all this work. It was the evening and the morning and now I'm going to do the rest of this work the next day. Then it was the evening and the morning and then I'm going to do this next work and then it was the evening and the morning and now I'm going to do this next work. That's the way I read it. And so it's not that important, okay, but all I'm saying is that that's how I read it when it says in the evening and the morning were the first day. I think that's the conclusion as far as when the sun came up, okay, now it's time to do another day's work. So, but anyway, the second day, so the first day what did we have? He created the heaven and the earth and there was, you know, the waters were upon the face of the earth and the Spirit of God moved upon the waters and it says that then he made light. So there was light and he divided the light from the darkness. The second day, in verse 6 there, it says, and God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters and let it divide the waters from the waters and God made the firmament and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament and it was so and God called the firmament heaven in the evening and the morning or the second day. You're like, goodnight, what in the world does that mean, the firmament and the waters above the water, below the water? So I believe this is where he's basically splitting up the heavens and the way you would look at this is that you have heaven all together and then now he's saying, okay, one heaven is just the sky, the atmosphere of the earth and then the next heaven would be where the sun, moon and stars are at and that's what we're going to see is that this first heaven here is the one that birds are flying in and it calls that firmament heaven. So when you see the word firmament, just think of what the atmosphere is here and that's what a firmament is. It's basically like, I don't know how you can really explain it but basically it's encapsulating something but it's air. It's not like solid. So with this, what it's saying, it explains what the firmament is, it's the heavens. So it's basically putting a barrier between outer space and the earth and this is where you're going to have oxygen and all that stuff. The birds are going to be flying in it and this is where, you know, in the very beginning of Genesis 1 you see God created the heaven singular. Why, you know, the King James gets this right but all the other versions mostly, I think all of them do, get this wrong and say heavens because at the very beginning it was just one heaven and then he starts splitting them off and this is the first place where he starts splitting it off into the firmament that's the sky and where the birds are going to fly. When you read in Genesis chapter 2 it says heavens, plural. So at that point when it's recapping what has been done it's talking about the heavens because, and that's why you see the heavens and the heavens and you're like, what in the world are the heavens? You know, are we Muslim? Do we believe in seven? No. I want to show you that but I believe it doesn't really say that the outer space is the second heaven but it does call where the throne of God is, the third heaven. Go to 2 Corinthians chapter 12. And so that's where it would make sense. If heaven where God's throne is at which is outside of like the universe as far as space and all that stuff where the sun, moon and stars are all at then just by going backwards you could see that okay, well outer space would be the second heaven and then this would be the first heaven where the sky is at here. 2 Corinthians chapter 12 and verse 2 it says I knew a man in Christ about 14 years ago whether in the body or out of the body I cannot tell God knoweth such and one caught up to the third heaven. So Paul's talking about a guy and it could be himself but let's just say he doesn't know or he's not going to say that was caught up into the third heaven. Notice in verse 4 and it's giving the same thing he knew such a man. Verse 4 says how that he was caught up into paradise. Now the only other place that paradise is used besides you know when Jesus said today you shall have to be with me in paradise is talking about the paradise of God that's in heaven. And so the paradise that it's talking about is heaven where God's throne is at and it calls it the third heaven. That's why. Because the heavens were split to where you have the third heaven where God's at and then you have the heaven that declares the glory of God where the lights and the firmament and all that stuff that the sun, moon and stars which we'll get into. But what's interesting about this verse or this passage in day 2 here it says that there was a firmament but then when it talks about the sun, moon and stars it says the firmament of the heaven. And so it's kind of giving you that caveat that there's a firmament of the firmament so to speak. So there's a firmament outside of the heavens that we see as far as where birds fly. But before we get to that we've got to get to day 3 where the dry land, grass, herbs and trees come in. So I'm definitely running out, I'm getting shorter on time as far as what I want to get through here. But Genesis 1 verse 10. So when it's dividing the waters from the waters, I don't want to get too deep into this, but it's clear that there's waters above the earth and then there's waters below the earth because it's dividing above and below. And that firmament it says is called heaven and later on it's going to say that's where the birds are flying. So this is where that theory as far as this water canopy that's around the earth before the flood and when the fountains of the deep broke open and when it rained for 40 days and 49 days they basically, the theory is is that canopy of water came down and flooded the earth so that's why you had water coming down and there you have all this water and that's why most of the earth is seas. At this point I don't believe, right now it's all seas, but we're going to see in this next days where the dry land appears and I believe at this point the seas are very small. They're not as big as they are now because the flood hasn't happened. But in Genesis 1 and verse 10 it says, and God called the dry land, I'm sorry, let me back up here. I didn't copy the whole verse that I wanted to go before that in verse 9. I didn't get verse 9 in there. It says, and God said, let the waters unto the heaven be gathered together unto one place and let the dry land appear and it was so. And God called the dry land earth and in gathering together the waters called he seas and God saw that it was good. So here we see in verse 9 and 10 that now instead of just waters, now the dry land has appeared. And so the dry land appears, that's called earth and then all the waters that are gathered together are called seas. Now I do believe that these seas are a lot smaller. I believe that basically everything is connected and even if you drain the water and the sea to a certain, if you look around the coastal areas there's a lot higher elevations, like 60 feet in most places and all the continents are really connected. If you were to just drain 60 feet of the ocean and then obviously as you get out into the deep it gets a lot deeper than that. But then now it says the dry land appears, now we're going to get grass, herbs and trees. And so in verse 11 there it says, God said, let the earth bring forth grass and herb yielding seed and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind and whose seed is in itself upon the earth and it was so. So now we have the grass, the herbs and the trees and they're all bearing fruit. And it's interesting because at the very beginning here in Genesis chapter one we're seeing that things bring forth after their own kind. This just flies into the face of evolution. Because what is the theory of evolution that things are going to bring forth things that are not after their kind and that's how things change into other animals. And so from the very beginning evolution is just basically saying the Bible is a lie. It's everything opposite of what the Bible says. Even if you looked at the way they say the earth came to be, they say it was a big molten rock and then rain poured down on it. Well how did the earth start? It was actually water and then land came out of it. It's literally opposite of everything that they say. And so they basically took Genesis one and said how can we make a theory that's completely against the Bible? And that's evolution. So that's why it's hard for me, and I think most Christians that would believe in evolution just never read their Bible and maybe never heard a hard sermon against evolution. But if you're reading Genesis you basically just have to rip this out and say that's a fairy tale because evolution is completely opposite of what the true biblical creation is. But this is interesting because this is exactly in the New Testament, in the Old Testament, the fruit of the righteous is the tree of life and he that win its souls is wise. The Bible likens saved people and false prophets, like prophets when you're dealing with good prophets that are preaching the gospel and false prophets preaching the false gospel, the Bible likens them to trees. In Matthew chapter seven it talks about false prophets and it talks about trees bringing forth good fruit and trees bringing forth corrupt fruit and it gives that same exact example that is going to bring forth that for its own kind. All the way up to when Jesus is preaching there, it's always been that way and it hasn't changed that everything brings forth after its own kind. But in Matthew seven verse fifteen it says, beware of false prophets which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns or figs of thistles? Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit, but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. Every tree that bringeth forth good fruit is hewn down and cast into the fire whereby by their fruits ye shall know them. So he's giving an example of false prophets and then good prophets saying you're going to know them by their fruit. What's the fruit of a Christian? Another Christian. The fruit of the righteous is the tree of life and he that winneth souls is wise. Another Christian is your fruit. Just as much as my children back there are the fruit of me and my wife. And so the fruit of, you know, if God's the husbandman and we're the laborers and the husband, what's the fruit? People. Souls of men. And so when you look at a false teacher, you know how I can know? When I see they're proselytes, it's a two-fold more child to hell than themselves. And so, but this goes back to Genesis. It literally goes back to Genesis 1 that everything brings forth after its own kind. So I just want to make that point. But go back to Genesis 1. So we've gone through the first three days. Now we've got dry land, we've got grass, we've got the trees, we've got herbs. Now on day four we're going to get the sun, moon and stars. So in Genesis 1 and verse 14 it says God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven. See that distinction there? The firmament of the heaven. And so we see that this isn't where the birds are flying, because we know that's not true, right? But it's outside of that firmament in another firmament. So you can think of a bubble and then a bubble outside of that bubble, so to speak, right? Just to kind of simplify it. But it says the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night and let them be for signs and for seasons and for days and years. Isn't this exactly how we do our calendars? Most calendars are based either off the sun or off the moon. In the Bible they would use a lunar calendar and they'd go off to the moon. That's why they say the new moons and feasts and stuff like that. That's how they knew when the feasts were supposed to happen based off the moons. And so you think about Passover and you think about Easter, how we determine when Easter you know Easter is always on this random, you're always trying to figure out. It's in March one year and then it's at the end of April the other year you're like, What in the world? It's because it's based off a different calendar. It's based off a lunar calendar not on a solar calendar. But it's just saying that the sun, moon and stars are based for seasons. But notice what it says in verse 16. It says, and God made two great lights. Now you can probably guess what these lights are. Now it doesn't actually call them the sun and moon in this chapter. Although later on in the Bible it talks about the sun and the moon. But it says, the greater light to rule the day and the lesser light to rule the night. He made the stars also. So we see the sun, moon and stars and the lesser light because obviously even at the brightest time of the moon, you know when the moon is like the full harvest moon so to speak and you have the brightest, it's still nothing compared to the sun. But I just wanted to show you that here's where you get those three heavens. Where you have the heaven or the firmament that's where the birds are flying that's right above the earth. But then you have the firmament that's outside of that, that's where the sun, moon and stars are at and then you have the third heaven. So at the beginning God created the heaven and the earth and then as he went down through the days here you see how he's splitting them. Basically he's making three heavens. Basically taking that one heaven and just splitting it into different parts. Second Corinthians proves that where God's at is the third heaven. Not seven, there's three, but there's only one heaven where we'd be. It's not like well if you're a bad Christian then you're going to go to outer space. That's not what we're saying here. If you're really bad then you're just going to go up into the clouds and people are going to fly by you in their planes. That's not what I'm talking about but it's just basically talking about firmaments. That's what firmament means. If you just wanted a definition of firmament, heaven. Heavens. That's why it says the heavens declare its glory because it's talking about the sun, moon and stars and that's why you could say that. What's interesting about the sun and the moon is when you correlate that with man and wife. Man and wife and as far as we'll see later with how we are made, that man is made in the image of God but woman is the glory of man. Now go to First Corinthians 11 and I wanted to show you a cool little correlation. As we're talking about the sun and the moon here, one thing to think about, the sun is always referred to in the male sense and the moon is always referred to in the female sense. I'll show you a story in Genesis 37 where it likens the husband and wife to the sun and the moon. This kind of shows you the relationship a little bit as far as man and wife so to speak. As we're likened to the sun because we're the glory of God, because we're in the image of God, first we'll see in First Corinthians 11 verse 7, it says, For a man indeed ought not to cover his head for as much as he is the image and glory of God, but the woman is the glory of the man. Isn't that exactly how the sun and the moon work? What is the moon's light? It's actually the glory of the sun. It's actually the shining of the sun and it's reflected off the moon to where we get the light from the moon. That relationship of man and woman is seen there on how we work together. Not perfectly, but remember that the wife is the weaker vessel and it says this is the lesser light. There's definitely correlations, not lesser value. Don't stone me up here. I'm talking about just the fact that one's stronger than the other. That's what it's saying when it's saying the greater and lesser, one's a stronger light than the other light and the man is stronger than the woman. It's just biologically a fact. That's definitely not PC today, but you know what? I don't care. It's just ridiculous today. I was talking to somebody and I was trying to give one person a gospel and this woman kept talking about how men and women are equal. I said, That's ridiculous. They're like, Oh, I bet if we could find a woman that would be stronger than me. I said, You'll never find a woman. The strongest woman will never be as strong as the strongest man. Never. I don't care how much drugs she takes, but you know what? I would arm wrestle any woman today. Any woman. You know what? I'll opt that Annie. I don't care if they're on steroids. I'll take them out. The thing is, this whole idea of women like, Oh, we can take men. We can do this. Get real. Are we in reality here? It's just biologically ridiculous to even say that, but this is really showing here. Now go to Genesis 37. This isn't a woman bashing thing, but it does kind of show this correlation as far as how the man is stronger than the woman and because the woman came out of the sun. But I also, I'm going to make a point in day six here that God is a man. Woman was not made in the image of God. Woman was made after man. So there is a difference. That's what I was saying there is that man is made after the image of God, but the woman is the glory of the man. So you can see that difference just with the moon and the sun. Obviously there's a difference. No one would say that the moon and the sun are one and the same. So that's how ludicrous it would be to say that man and woman are one and the same. There's definitely differences. But Genesis 37, this is the dream that Joseph had. Remember that the sheaves were going to bow down to him and all this stuff. The sun, moon and stars are going to bow down to him. Well, notice what it says in verse nine there. So Genesis 37 verse nine, it says, And he dreamed yet another dream. And he told his brethren and said, Behold, I have dreamed to dream more. And behold, the sun and the moon and the eleven stars made obeisance to me. Verse 10, And he told it to his father and to his brethren. And his father rebuked him and said unto him, What is this dream that thou hast dreamed? Shall I and thy mother and thy brethren indeed come to bow down ourselves to thee, to the earth? So we'll see how Jacob interpreted that, that the sun would be him, the moon would be his mother, and then the stars would be his brethren. And so you can see that when you look at 1 Corinthians 11, how that works. Because the woman is the glory of the man and you can see how that works just in nature with the sun and the moon. And how the moon is literally a reflection of the light of the sun. And glory a lot of times is just talking about light. And so the glory of the stars, it talks about one's glory is more than another. What would we say when we say the stars? One's brighter than the other. And so I thought that was interesting. I just wanted to get that little nugget right there. But in day five is where we get all the sea creatures and all the winged creatures. So it's interesting. It's just interesting to me that on day five, that all the winged fowl and all the birds were made on the day that all the whales and everything and like all the sea creatures. That's just interesting to me. That's the way God did it. But in day five we see in verse 20 it says, And God said, Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creatures that hath life and the fowl that may fly. Notice in verse 22 it says, And God blessed them, saying, Be fruitful and multiply and fill the waters and the seas and let fowl multiply in the earth. Now one thing to see here in this is that it calls them living creatures. It doesn't call the herbs and the tree. There's a difference between creatures that are living and have the breath of life or just living creatures that are in the sea compared to plants and herbs and trees and stuff like that. But the breath of life is what you've got to really look at when you're dealing with animals compared to plants. Here's why I say that. Because they'll say, Well, in the Garden of Eden there was death because people were eating plants. Was there death? Because the plants weren't really alive. So I just want to make that distinction there and it's making a big distinction here that they're living creatures and it's different than plants. Plants, yeah, we say they die, but it's different in the aspect of death. Because we eat plants, we're going to be eating stuff in heaven. We're going to be eating the fruit that comes off the tree. We're going to be taking the leaves and all that stuff for the healing of the nations. So obviously there's no more death, so you can't say that. And so the be fruitful and multiply is the first time it's ever said in the Bible. And so this is something that you'll see with man and with all the beasts. So everything that he creates as far as living creatures, he's saying be fruitful and multiply. He doesn't say that to the trees though. Because they're different. They're plants. They don't have the breath of life in them. Now the animals have the breath of life in them, but they don't have a living soul. And that's what we'll see in chapter 2 is that there is a difference between having the breath of life like animals have a spirit, they don't have a soul. But day 6, this is the big day. This is the day where man is created. But first before man we see that all the living creatures on the earth are created and all the insects and everything that are on the earth are created. So in verse 24 there it says, God said let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind, cattle and creeping thing, and beasts of the earth after his kind and it was so. So this is where he makes all the creepy crawly things and all that stuff. So if anybody likes bugs, this is the day that they were created and they were created on the same day that we are. And it was good. And so what we'll see at the end of the chapter is that he's going to tell them to be fruitful and multiply just as much as us. But in verse 26, we've already read this, but I want to read that and then read the next verse down. And just make the point of the three in one, the trinity in the Bible. And God said, let us make man in our image after our likeness and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the fowl of the air and over the cattle and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. So God created man in his own image and in the image of God created he him, male and female created he them. So do you see that distinction? It doesn't say that he made male and female and he said he didn't make male and female in his image. It says God created man in his own image in the image of God created he him. Do you see that distinction? It doesn't say that he made male and female in his image. And I make this significance. It says male and female created he them. So he's not saying that the woman is made in the image of God. And this is a big point because God is a man. He's not a woman and he's not neuter. He is a man. And he's a three in one, you know, the Father, Son and the Holy Ghost. And so this is something that's being blended today and it's being propagated through the Bible where they've been making a gender neutral type of Bible where they take out the he and the hers and stuff like that and just put them in there. And so they're trying to make God a woman in a lot of cases and there's a blasphemous book out there, I never heard of it, called The Shack. And I never read it, but apparently they made a movie out of it. And in the book, The Shack, they make God into a woman. Even the Father in the book is a woman. Now imagine that as ridiculous. That would be one thing to try to say the Holy Spirit is a woman, even though that's stupid. But, you know, the Holy Ghost says when the Comforter has come, when he has come, you know, it's very clear that the Holy Ghost is a he. I don't think anybody would venture to say that Jesus is a woman. Okay? That's about as dumb as it gets. And when you say the Father, how in the world could you say that's a woman? But they try to go to the Bible. Now I say that loosely because they go to a perversion and they try to say, well, didn't he make male and female in his image? Didn't he make, you know, man and woman in his image? Wrong. That's wrong. It's not what the Bible teaches. And it's very careful to distinctly say that he made man in his own image and then he made woman in the glory of man. Because in the next chapter we'll get into more detail about this because chapter two really goes into more detail on day six. Okay? It's kind of recapping, giving more details about what was going on with man when he was being created in day six and how he created the Garden of Eden and all that stuff. That gives a little more detail about that. But remember, you know, she's called woman because she came out of man. And so there's a distinction there. And so, but in verse, and we saw that in First Corinthians 11, seven. So First Corinthians 11 and Genesis one really crushed that whole idea that woman's made in the image of God. Okay? Now obviously woman looks similar to man. Right? No one would deny that. I mean we have both, we both have ears, we have noses, we have eyes, you know. But there's a clear distinction between a man and a woman. And, you know, we're not going to get into the anatomy or the strength or anything like that right now, or we already did in that aspect. But in Genesis one verse twenty-eight, I want to touch on something here too, is where it says be fruitful and multiply. So in Genesis one twenty-eight it says, and God blessed them, and God said unto them, be fruitful and multiply and replenish the earth. Now this word replenish is something that these gap theorists and these day age theorists, you know, with this pre-atomized civilization, they'll say, well why does it say replenish if, if, if, you know, this is the beginning and, you know, this, and they'll say, well it's saying replenish because it was already filled and God had to destroy it and now he's saying to fill it again. Now, you know, I've heard people say, well replenish has changed and it used to just mean fill. I'm not against that theory. But think about this. Are we consciously replenishing the earth? Isn't that what's going on right now where people are dying and people are being bored? People are dying, people are being reborn. This is a continual commandment. You know what, you know why I believe it's saying replenish? It's because this isn't something that just Adam and Eve are supposed to be doing. This is something that we're supposed to be doing, you know, and he said it to Noah when he got off the ark, be fruitful and multiply and replenish the earth. Now obviously in that case, yeah, everybody died, but it's just a continual commandment that all mankind, even today, you know what the commandment is for today? Be fruitful, multiply, and replenish the earth. Have children. The Bible says in Psalm 127, it says, lo children are in heritage of the Lord and the fruit of the womb is his reward. As arrows are in the hand of a mighty man, so are children of the youth. Happy is the man that hath this quiver full of them. They shall not be ashamed, but they shall speak with the enemies in the gate. So the Bible is very clear that children are in heritage of the Lord, meaning that God's giving those children to you as a gift, but they're the fruit of the womb, and that's the commandment that we should look at today, especially if you're young and married. Obviously people get past the age of having children and all that stuff, but as a commandment we're let the younger women marry, bear children, and guide the house. That's the New Testament, and so that's what we're supposed to be doing is getting married, having children, and replenishing the earth, and you know what? Christians need to be doing this more than anybody else because we need more Christians. We need more Christians in the fight, and you know what? The churches of God today are having a bunch of birth control. They're basically saying, us four, no more, yes, I only have two children, but I plan on having more. People are like, you're crazy, having more children. They'll ask you, you're going to have another one? It's like everybody thinks that you should only have two children or something like that, and so yeah, I might be a little crazy, but you know what the Bible says? To be fruitful and multiply and replenish the earth. So I'm going to take that commandment, and I'm going to use it, and I'm going to do it, and so I don't believe it's a contradiction. I don't think it's telling us that we're trying to replenish, that Adam and Eve were replenishing the earth from some failed pre-Adamite civilization. This is just stating the fact that this is a continual thing that we're supposed to be doing. Because someone would say today, well, the earth's already replenished. Why are you having children? It's because it's constantly being replenished. That whole idea is why Japan is going to die soon because they're not having kids, and their average age is somewhere in the 60s or something like that, and once they die, that whole nation's just going to die because they're not replenishing the earth. They're not replenishing their own population. Nations die because of this, and our nation's getting close to that because our nation's maybe, I don't know what our average is, but I don't even know if it's two. It may be like two children, but you're not really multiplying with two. If you have two, I guess that is multiplying. It's multiplying by one, and some people can only have one children, and some people can't have children. I'm not saying everybody has to have a ton of kids, but what I'm saying is that we're supposed to be multiplying, replenishing the earth. God made the earth to be inhabited. To say that it's even today too crowded is ridiculous. So replenish the earth. You could obviously go back and say, well, replenishment is just a fill. I'm not against that, but I more so think it's talking about a continual commandment that we're supposed to keep doing this until Jesus comes. But at the end here of the chapter, notice the diet of both man and the animals is all herbs, fruit, and veggies. No meat. Now it says it's for their meat, but this makes sense because there's no death until this point, because there wasn't death until sin, until Adam sinned. But in Genesis 1 29, it says, and God said, Behold, I give you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree in which is the fruit of the tree yielding seed. To you it shall be for meat. Now meat in the Bible can just mean food, because the meat offerings in the Bible were not literally flesh from an animal. Meat offerings were like pancakes, like bread and bacon in a frying pan and all this other stuff. So it's clearly flour and oil and all this stuff. And the animals are the same thing, that they're just eating herbs. Now isn't that exactly what we go back to? In the thousand year reign even, with the animals, it says that the lion shall eat straw like an ox. So you see with the thousand year reign, we're kind of going back to that. And then in the new heaven, new earth, I'd say we're completely back to that where we're not killing animals anymore for food. And so it was very good. At the very end of this chapter, it says that it was very good. And so God, what he created was excellent. It was very good. And you know, Exodus is very clear that it's six days. And the one point I wanted to make with it being very good is that at this point, there's no sin. So Satan couldn't have sinned. And even in Ezekiel 28, we talked about the covering cherub. It says in Ezekiel 28, you don't have to turn there for sake of time, we're getting out of time here. Ezekiel 28 in verse 13, but if you read Ezekiel 28 talks about this parable about Satan, just like Isaiah 14 is. Ezekiel 28, it says, thou has been in Eden, the garden of God. It's talking about the covering cherub. It says every precious stone was thy covering. And it says at the end of that verse, in the day that thou was created. And so he was in the garden of Eden. It says thou art the anointed cherub that covereth in verse 14. In verse 15, it says thou was perfect in thy ways from the day that thou was created till iniquity was found in thee. So he was in the garden of Eden and he was perfect at some point in the garden of Eden. So to say that Satan fell like between verse one and two, it just defies all scripture. But in Ecclesiastes 7 verse 29, go there and then we'll be done. Ecclesiastes 7 verse 29, this is what this really comes down to is chapter one and chapter two we see everything is very good. God created everything perfect. There's no flaw. Obviously chapter three is going to change things. But at the very beginning here, Ecclesiastes chapter 7 verse 29, notice what it says. It says, lo this only have I found that God hath made man upright, but they have sought out many inventions. God made man perfect and upright. Now he knew from the foundation of the world that they were going to sin. God knew. He foreordained Christ before the foundation of the world to come and die for us. But he made us upright to begin with. He made us upright. He made us perfect. We fell from that with Adam's sin and Eve's transgression, but that's how it starts off. Genesis 1 is a great chapter. Take it for what it says. This is a literal story. This isn't a fairy tale. This isn't some parable. This is exactly what happened. If we were to go back in time and see what happened when God was doing this, it would happen exactly the way it says right here in the exact progression of all six days of creation and then on the seventh day God would be resting. That's exactly how it happens. That's Genesis 1. We believe in a six day creation and if you go from genealogies of Adam up until you can't go any further into modern history, the earth is just over 6,000 years old. Just the way it is. That's the Bible. If you don't believe that, then you'd have to discredit the Bible somewhere to say that it's millions of years or anything like that. I just reject all these stupid theories to try to put in billions and millions of years. It's just not there. It's either the Bible's right and these evolutions are completely wrong or they're right and the Bible's wrong, but the Bible's not wrong. The Bible is the word of God. It's perfect. It's timeless and everything applies. Genesis is a great book and let's end with a word of prayer. Dear heavenly father, Lord, we thank you for this evening and pray to be with us as we go home tonight and Lord, just be with us as we go back to work as well, Lord. Give us strength and Lord, we love you and pray all this in Jesus Christ's name. Amen.