Great to see you all, brothers and sisters in Christ. Today's scripture is Genesis chapter 2, 7 to 9. Then the Lord God formed the man of dust from the ground and then breathed into his nostril the breath of life, and the man became a living creature. And the Lord God planted a garden in Eden in the east, and there he put the man whom he had formed. And out of the ground the Lord God made to spring up every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. The tree of life was in the midst of the garden and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Then the Lord God formed the man of the dust of the earth, blew in his nose a breath of life, and the man became a living being. And the Lord God planted a garden in Eden, in the East, and put there the man that he had formed. The Lord God brought forth from the earth all kinds of trees attractive to the sight and good to eat. Let us pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you for just inviting us to your Word. Would you give us a humbleness before you so that you may pour your Spirit upon us so that we may understand your Word. May your word resonate in our hearts and impact our hearts so that we may repent before you and believe in you. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen. A pastor whom I respect once explained the purpose of the study. saying, the ultimate goal of learning, whether it is a Bible or any other knowledge, is not merely to accumulate information, but to engage in right communication and relationship with God. This pastor said that the objective of education is not simply to receive information, but to receive information that affects our hearts and impacts our lives and our relationships with others, and also to communicate this information. Our intellect is often associated with acquiring and storing knowledge. However, the true purpose of refining our intellect is not merely we gather information and using information, but to cultivate living relationship with the Lord God whom we serve. This is accumulation of my information about Eastern religions and Christianity. As you may know that I traveled with Pastor Enrique to visit Thailand, Japan, and then Korea. And then I also visited Cambodia when I was young too. And as you know, recently with Pastor Enrique I traveled to Korea, Japan, and Cambodia when I was a child. Especially during this trip that I was able to see that how Eastern religion is kind of influence on across the Asia. So I'm very grateful to God that I was able to observe and then understanding about the religion. So Asian cultures and Asian religion is basic understanding, representation is that humanity, we are trying to attempt to understand divine nature or God. And Asian culture basically understands that the human being is trying to understand divinity. So from Indian culture, there are a major four religions, Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, and then Sikhism. And then also China, there is a Confucianism. I'm sorry, can I get this again? Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, and Sikhism. In this region, there are four basic religions that are fundamental. They are Hinduism, the religion of Buddha, and also the Chinese religion of Confucius, who was a philosopher. So all this Eastern culture, religion is human. We are trying to understanding about the God's natures and then divine natures. But very important, all these other religion, Eastern religion, fail to answer very clear answer is who God is. And how God himself to reveal to humanity and how he formed humanity. And how God reveals Himself to humanity and how He created humanity. None of these religions give us this information. Why is this? because they're starting from human imagination, and human assumptions, and philosophical reasoning. They can reach out certain point of the fact But they cannot reach out the truth. Because this is different. The Bible came from above to down on earth. This is a huge difference. Eastern people, Japanese people, they're striving hard to work hard on work-based ethics. And then they work hard. And this is the great difference of Asian culture. It starts with the human being and what he can do to try to obtain this information or this revelation. I'm not boasting, but Korean people are also working very hard. Because our basic assumption is that if you work hard, you can achieve. This is why Japan people having hard time to understanding gospel. To receive the salvation, we cannot Either way that we try to attempt, we cannot receive it whether God has to give us that salvation. So this is why this Bible verse is very important. In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. So it's a huge difference that we can see Eastern Asian religions compared to Christianity. As I mentioned just briefly, just above that, that this truth, but this truth that God created the heavens and earth is not just accumulation in our brain to use for our skills, rather than it is invitation. then you can ask to God how he formed us in these kinds of relationship questions. So knowing the Lord God and then bring you to passions and then now that you can have a relationship with Him. that is all from God above. Y esto viene de Dios. And in today's passage, we can see that the subject, the Lord God works of creation is especially humanity. Y nosotros podemos ver en el pasaje de hoy que la creación especial de Dios es la creación del ser humano. In today's passage, small, small verses that we can see subject the Lord God appear three times. And we can see five actions that he took in these verses. The Lord God formed. And the Lord God breathed. The Lord God planted. And the Lord God put. And the Lord God made to spring up. Y que el Señor Dios hizo brotar. And in these short verses we see that the uniqueness, unique and an intentional way in which the Lord God created the human beings. Y en estos versículos nosotros nos damos cuenta en la manera que Dios creó y también la intención de Dios al crear. Which uniqueness. Uniqueness. Uniqueness of the humanity. First, we were formed from dust. Our bodies were designed with divine precisions by the Lord God, yet we will ultimately return to dust. I know you're all sleepy right now, but your hearts are pumping right now and then bringing your nutrition to individual cells with oxygen and it gives you It is true, amazing, that you don't control your heart, but it sustains our lives. Yet, as John Calvin mentioned, that even the Lord God formed the first man, Adam, in a very delicate way, but in the end, Adam's body also becomes dust, too. Second, uniqueness of the humanity. A living creature, a living being. In Genesis 1, God commanded the sea and the earth to bring forth living creatures. However, when it came to humanity, He personally formed them with His hands and then breathed His life into him. It is true that living creature in original text is not different with animals as living creature that we can read it from Genesis chapter one. But what makes human distinct from all other creature is that again is that God uniquely created by the Lord God and by bread did into them. And third, uniqueness of the humanity is that the purpose, a place to live with a purpose. God did not simply just plant, just made a humanity and then abandoned them. Rather, instead he actively provided everything necessary of life. He planted a garden. He placed a man in it. And he made trees grow that were both pleasing and good for food. and made to spring up. In this perspective, the Garden of Eden was not just a physical location for man, but a place where he could fully experience intellectual, emotional, spiritual fulfillment. And this garden was not just a place, but a place where the human being could fully understand who he was. Feeling all the emotions intellectually, this was a place where he could experience all these experiences. When God creates the strawberry, the strawberry seed is outside and then small dots outside of the seed. But apple, you have to cut it in half so that you can see the seed inside. And then watermelon is different. It's a very hard shell, but you have to cut it off. And then green hard shells, and then there's a red, reddish, and then inside it. We're all thinking about, oh, fruit is delicious, but actually our children's receiving all kinds of information, color, taste, kinds of smell of the fruits. It is all intellectuals and emotional, even spiritual kinds of just education there too. Not just for existing, but for living with a purpose and joy. And then fourth, uniqueness. When God made the Garden of Eden and then he intentionally put two trees in the midst of the garden. And there is a tree of life and then the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, two trees. we can infer from the text that it is not the man is kind of plucked out two trees and then he himself put in the garden in the midst of it, but it's a Lord God intentionally put these two trees in the midst of the garden. There are differences in interpretation on biblical scholars. What is the meaning of the tree of the life and the tree of the knowledge of great evil? But John Calvin emphasized that even Whatever arguments are there, but the concept of life and the concept of good and the concept of evil are given by the Lord God to the first man. And there are several interpretations of this passage that are different in terms of the meaning of the tree of life or the tree of knowledge of evil and good. But what we do understand is that these trees were designed to give life and were good and also to give us knowledge of what evil is. Hence among those interpretation, I love interpretation is that God reminding humanity of their position as created by God and also giving them freedom to choose. So here we also realize that the purpose with which God did this was to let them know that the human being was a creature and also so that they could exercise free will when choosing. So we can see that from the text that there is a four unit mix. We are created from the dust, and we are living creature, and then our purpose, there is a place that live with the purpose, and then fourth is there is two trees in the center of the garden. But what does this text mean to us? And when you go out from today's church, what does it mean to you this coming week? I want us to think about the very first thing, which is relationship. In Genesis 1.26, God says, let us make man in our image, in our likeness. This phrase, us or we, our, implies relationship from the very start. Similarly, Genesis chapter 2-7, when God created the humanity, is expressed through relational verbs there. And when God creates the human being, his ability to relate is emphasized there. He formed. He breathed. And then he planted. And He placed a man, and He caused to grow the trees for the man. So all these five verbs are relational verbs for the man. God was intentional about creating humanity with relationship in his mind from the beginning. So he created us for relationship, then I question to you, How is your relationship with the Lord, God, these days? We are not material beings that you have to earn and working for the materials, but God intentionally made us for relationship. We are not simply made physically to work, but we were created for relationship. And then in this kind of sanctuary, and then I can name most of the people with your name. I know your name now. But I question to you, just look around right now, and then can you Just make their name. Can you say their name individually? When you introduce yourself, sometimes you have to introduce yourself. It takes time. But God allows us to know each other and introduce each other. Why? Because of the relationship. So on Sunday, when I'm preparing the meal for the family, I have noticed that I'm the one that hugging everybody and then calling each one of you by your name. But I always kind of wanted to speak Spanish more so that I can say how are you and then how was your week and then was your prayer request. So many questions. But very interesting that I noticed that even people in Hispanic group that they know each other and they speak in Spanish, but they are not greeting each other. Right? You don't speak in Spanish to each other. Why? because we are not intentionally thinking about the relationship. So this coming week I hope to see that Maybelline speak with Yvonne and Blanca speak with Tanya and then Fanny speak with Nelly and then knowing each other, introducing each other. It is not me, but it is us. Second, just interpretation, a reflection. Life boundary, unavoidable end. Unavoidable end. There was a boundary of the Garden of Eden. It is hard to explain the Korean in English and just kind of try to translate, but it is kind of foundation or boundary or limit. It's difficult to give the interpretation that I read in Korean, but this word means that there is a border or a limitation there. So Garden of Eden was the boundary of the man's life. and then his life purpose was there. Now flip this concept in our situation. We may think that we have endless choices, but reality is that our lives also have a foundation or limits. Nosotros tal vez pensemos que nosotros tenemos la habilidad de elegir lo que queramos, pero nuevamente, como el hombre en el jardín, somos limitados en algún sentido. We are bound by physics and chemistries and biology too. Somos limitados por un sinnúmero de cosas físicas, las químicas y biológicamente. So when I traveled to Japan, Thailand, and then Japan to Thailand, Thailand to Korea, Korea to United States, it takes around 50 hours of the travel, air travel. And at the end, just Nick and I, just our body was really shattered and just we were not able to function. So this is our boundary. This is our limitation. This is our foundation that we love to like this and then we go to Japan. Like this and then we go to Thailand. But I wasn't able to. We were not able to. That is our which is a foundation, how God formed our limitation. God has set limits for us not to restrict us, but give us meaning and directions with his design. But there is a one final boundary that you and I, we all, we reach out one day. It is death. No matter how many choices we make in our lives, we all will one day face reality of our physical limitation, our bodies will return to dust. My father, three years ago, when he visited United States, he was able to play, run with Sam and David and my children, running, even though his age was over 70. But this past year, summer, when he visited United States again, And then he was not able to even stand up very quickly. His health declined rapidly. And then even this time when I visited him, he was not able to speak. my name. And his body was failing. And then his shin is decaying. Doctor put four antibiotics into his body. And none of medicines works for his body right now. So in some way, his body is more and more becoming dust. How much it is discouraging to me. Very encouraging things that I have seen during communion. My father cannot record my name, but when we sing one hymn together, he sings hymns together with us. edge of his life right now, but my understanding, my thankfulness is that at the end, at the edge of his life, that he doesn't remember his son's name, but he was able to remember just him, so that he can sing him. Y lo que me motiva a mí es que aunque él no pudo recordar mi nombre, él pudo recordar y cantar este himno. Whether you believe in God or not, aunque usted crea en Dios o no, all our choices are still in boundary of God. Todas nuestras decisiones son limitadas por Dios. And then just our decision whether to trust Him or reject Him. And it will determine our eternity, this destination. Eternal life. And an eternal separation to evil. Just God symbolically put two trees, the tree of life and then the knowledge of good and evil. He intentionally has put it there. And then He always kind of inviting us within His boundary. We will choose every day, but which way that you will choose? And then from the first man, Just Adam, 2025, today is just February 23rd, and there is only me, just Joseph Park, and there is no duplication of me in human history. And thinking back to the first man, Adam, until today, here in February 23rd, there is only one Joe Park. There is no duplication of the Maybelline's DNA to Blanca. Blanca's DNA is unique all throughout the human history. So your DNA is never duplicated in human history. What does it mean? God create each one of you individually in a very unique way. Doesn't it mean that he desire each one of you very uniquely he created that he want to have a relationship with you each one of you daily? If Juan is duplicating me, then I can ask him, hey, today do you have time? Can you spend time with God? And then I want to enjoy my life. He is a duplicate of me that you work today and you study hard and I just enjoy my life. But only one in all human history and uniquely God designed each one of you This is why I interpret as that God want to spend time with you one to one, not... So I encourage you, trust in Him. And spend time with Him. Please spend time with each other. Next week I will test you all out, either you really spend time in Spanish or not. introduce each other and then you have to spend time. Last week that I was able to, my brother Eduardo just asking me that he doesn't have a, actually it was a rainy day so it was so cold and then his whole legs were frozen. La semana pasada, el hermano Eduardo vino donde mí y estaba lloviendo y estaba muy frío. So, just him and I went to the market in the shop where the shoes are selling. Y fuimos al mercado donde hay zapatos. I just purchased for his shoes and then pants because his whole body was wet. My Spanish was broken. But I asked, what do you want to eat? I questioned and then he said, pollo. So I said, frito pollo? So we went to Popeyes and I purchased the frito pollo for him. It took me one hour. But that day I was so happy to go back to home while I'm driving. Because I spent quality time with Eduardo, my brother. So please spend quality time with the Lord. And spend quality time with our brothers and sisters in Christ. Let us pray. Lord God, help us to remember that we were made from dust. Yet you have given us uniqueness of the life and purpose. And guide us to walk within your boundary, to make right choices, to trust you until the end. May our last breath on earth be followed by eternal life in your presence. We pray in the name of Jesus Christ, our Savior. Amen.