Well, good morning, everybody, and welcome back. This is our daily devotional for Thursday, September the 26th, 2024, and I am delighted to be with you this morning. I should have said it yesterday, but y'all, less than three months till Christmas. Can you believe this? I'm telling you, it seems like Christmas of 2023 was just yesterday. The days are just rolling by here. It's been, I don't know what it's been like where you are, but in Spotswood, my goodness, it has been raining and raining and raining, and we've needed it because it was dry as a bone. But my, oh my, I mean, just rainy, dreary those days where it's like, is it fog? It's like, no, it's just the clouds rolling over you, pretty high elevation here and pretty low clouds. And there is some fog, too, and all sorts of weather things. But anyway, I guess, theoretically, at some point, that blazing ball of fire in the sky will appear again. It'll be interesting to see what this does to the leaves. I've said it before. There's just no place like the valley in the fall. Are all the leaves gonna fall down before they turn? Are they just gonna turn brown? I don't know. I've given up trying to predict what the leaf season will be like, but I'm looking forward to heading north very soon here. But anyway, it's good to be back with you this morning, and I hope that this finds all of you doing very well, and maybe it's not this morning at all. Maybe it is some other time, but whenever it is, I'm glad to have this time with you, especially as we come to a reclamation of sorts, a reclaiming of sorts. Yesterday we saw all sorts of things, didn't we? All sorts of principles, all sorts of promises from God, everything from what actually happened in terms of Noah obeying God, the mandate that God gives to animals to fill the earth, to multiply. We talked a lot about the aroma. that we give all. Yesterday, we talked about the sacrifices that Noah offered, rising as a pleasing aroma. We can see this language later. Well, we're not because we're not going to Leviticus next, but when the sacrificial system is given in its totality, you're going to hear that same sort of language coming from God. What part of the animal to offer, why to give offerings, and the fact that these things put together produce a pleasing aroma to the Lord. It's really a beautiful, beautiful thing. Today we're going to see a little bit different side of that, that isn't as beautiful, but is in fact necessary. But yesterday we kind of ended with the promise of God, and I really try not to get political y'all. Really and truly I try not to get political, but this thing out there about global warming or climate change and everybody's scaring everybody to death. Everybody's got to have an electric car now. I didn't even mention the solar panel. thing, which if you can get energy from the sun, fantastic, great, knock yourself out. But locally here over in Fairfield, they absolutely tore the face off of the earth to put in a solar panel farm. And so they tore the earth in half to save the earth. I don't know. Yeah, we have these electric cars. Have you looked into the carbon footprint to use that terminology? of an electric car and what lithium mines look like. They're not here, but anyway. All the lunacy that is out there. And if you want an electric car, get an electric car. I don't care. Bake bread in your electric car for all I care. My point is this, all this hysteria out there about how the world is gonna end, the weather, the environment, the earth has become a god or a goddess. Politics is the biggest religion in America right now, and the lunacy that people use to approach this subject of conservation, it's always the same. We've got X amount of years left before everything's over with. Y'all, what did we read yesterday? As God said, as long as the earth endures, seed time and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night will never cease. until that is that Jesus comes back. We get that fuller understanding later, but does that mean that the weather's always going to be nice? No. Does it mean that the climate will always remain consistent? Obviously not, but we have a promise of God here that the world is not going to just go into meltdown mode, that everything's going to fall apart, and When you hear about giant asteroids, it's like, oh, is the earth going to end? Don't worry about that. The only time that the world is going to end is when Jesus comes back and makes all things new, okay? So keep that in mind. And to that end, let me just go ahead and give a teaser. It's Thursday. I don't know what you're doing this Sunday. I know what you should be doing, if at all possible. There are circumstances where it's not. Get that. But if it is at all possible, you need to be in a Bible-believing church. And if you're local, we would love to have you in our Bible-believing church, because I'm starting a new series on the book of Revelation. That's right. We're in the beginning here in Genesis. On the Lord's Day, Sunday mornings, we might as well go to the end. And there's a lot of different reasons about that or for that, and I'll get into those Sunday, maybe a little bit tomorrow, too. But that business of Jesus making all things new, the book of Revelation is my favorite book in the Bible for that reason. A day is coming, y'all. A day is coming. and everything will be made right. There's not a thing wrong in the world that isn't gonna be set right by Jesus. Hence, that's part of the motivation behind doing Revelation on Sunday mornings. But, enough of commercial time here. Let's pray, and then let's dig in, because today we come to even more of a promise, and a command, and a principle. Promise, a command, and a principle. Let's pray, and then we'll dig in. Our Father, we thank you for this time that you have given to us and we pray that you would give us wisdom, that you would give us understanding, that you would give us a sense of purpose, a sense of meaning, a sense of intentionality about who you have created humankind to be. It seems to have been lost in so many ways. Ironically enough, when we decided that man is the measure of all things and not you, it's when we lost ourselves. So please, as we talk about reclamation, would you continue to build your church, claiming souls for yourself, being active, and Father, let us see how we fit in. But now, guide us by your Holy Spirit, please. And we pray it in Christ's name, amen. All right, y'all, I keep talking about reclaiming, reclamation. What am I talking about? Well, Genesis chapter nine is where we're picking up today. Remember where we were. We just left off with Noah offering sacrifices to God. Those sacrifices have risen to use anthropomorphic language. God is a spirit, infinite, eternal, and so forth. But language is used for God that is human-like, okay? Anthropomorphic, okay? And so this idea of the offerings rising into God's nostrils, exuding a pleasing aroma to him, God makes this promise that we've just read at the end. And then we find in chapter nine, verse one, it says, then God blessed Noah and his sons, saying to them, be fruitful and increase in number and fill the earth. Does that sound familiar to you? Does that sound familiar at all to you? It should. We were there. Albeit before the summer, but we were there not too long ago. You know, it's fascinating. The language that you see repeated throughout the book of Genesis is really something to behold. Also, the turn of phrase that you find. Take, for instance, we've been talking about how Noah walked with God, how before that, Enoch walked with God, Adam and Eve walked with God. That sort of thing is what we're talking about. But principles are also repeated. And this just so happens to be one of them. If phrase, be fruitful and increase in number and fill the earth. sounds a little bit familiar to you if you were to rewind to Genesis chapter one, all the way back to the beginning. You've got all the days of creation and you find mankind at the absolute pinnacle of creation. And not only in terms of created order, in terms of importance. And we'll talk more about that in a minute because we're created in God's image. But nevertheless, after God created man, 27, Genesis 1, verse 27, it says, so God created man in his own image. In the image of God, he created him. Male and female, he created them. God blessed them and said to them, be fruitful and increase in number. Fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves along the ground. Now that's Genesis chapter 1 verses 27 and 28. It's not given to Noah. It's given to Adam and Eve. And that's what we call the cultural mandate. And there's two sides to the cultural mandate. Well, I don't mean to make it too simple. There's multiple, multiple facets to these sides. But one of those sides is reproduction. When God says, fill the earth, He means it, okay? Produce offspring. There's another side to this though. And it's this filling the earth on the one hand and subduing the earth on the other. Taking dominion. Now, there are many foreign concepts in God's word. There are many concepts that folks would refer to as outdated, as barbaric. I would challenge you, practically speaking, not theologically speaking, but in terms of feelings. If you were to say to someone that a human being is worth more than all of the whales on planet Earth, that a human being is worth more than all the spotted owls and bald eagles and all that kind of stuff, they would probably have a major issue with you. I've talked about the things on social media when somebody gets killed on an African safari, right, and people go nuts over that. You can kind of see my opinion when it comes to subduing the earth and what animals are for. But nevertheless, nevertheless, I'm not even going to go there. But the opinions that people have, cheering on the elephant that tramples a human being, delighting, just finding revelry when people like that die. And y'all, these many times are not bad people at all. And even if they were bad people, even if it's a poacher that is out there trying to exploit The poacher is worth every elephant that has ever lived in the history of the world, and every one that will live, but for a reason. And that reason is because man is created in God's image. We are different. And there is a created order. And we have a spot in that created order. And that spot is not one to use Darwinistic terms, not one to use survivalist terms. We're not the apex predator or anything like that. As Kipling said to his son in that great poem, If, The world is yours and everything in it, my son or my daughter, right? The world exists for us. It's to God's glory. It testifies to God's greatness. The heavens declare the glory of God. The firmament shows forth his handiwork. All of those things are true. But remember why God created as he created. It wasn't that God put humans on equal footing with animals, and you should know this by now. I love animals, okay? Puppies, give me all the puppies. All of them, I'll take them all. except for one breed, which I'm not gonna get into right now. But nevertheless, give them to me. Animals, I love animals. I think one of the most beautiful sides of nature is what God has done. I'm not saying that animals should be exploited in the slightest bit. Okay, and no, I didn't kill these things as trophies. We ate them both. Well, I say we, Isabella and I ate them both. Amanda, eh, not so much. She's not a fan of specially, you know, bear meat. But nevertheless, we need to remember the created order of things. And we find that in Genesis chapter one. It's just been restated in Genesis chapter eight. But as I've read before, back when we were in Genesis one, remember I read the eighth Psalm. Psalm number eight, I'm gonna read it now. Just listen to the psalmist, the psalmist who represents humanity, you and me. As he looks at the created order of things, he says, oh Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth. You've set your glory above the heavens. From the lips of children and infants, you have ordained praise because of your enemies to silence the foe and the avenger. And there it is. When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him? The son of man that you care for him. You made him a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory and honor. You made him ruler. over the works of your hands. You put everything under his feet, all flocks and herds and the beast of the field, the birds of the air and the fish of the sea, all that swim the paths of the seas. Oh Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth." My friends, this foreign concept that humanity is over and above every other species on planet earth, this thing that would be repugnant in the eyes of so many people, is biblical. Not only has mankind, humanity, been created at the peak of creation, but with having the most value placed on it in creation, we are given this mandate that was first given to Adam and Eve, that was second given to Noah and to his sons. Nothing has changed in the created order of things. All creation exists for God's glory, but ultimately for us. to look at it and see God's glory declared, to use it, not to misuse it, not to be poor stewards. I said yesterday, don't go out burning tires in your backyard because you want a nice bonfire. It's not good for the environment, all that kind of stuff. I think it's illegal too, but that's an added thing. But, but, but, oh, there is an order and we're at the top. Now, you might say, well, why is he pushing that so much? Well, look at how cheap life is in the world around you, where people are objectified, where people just become statistics and conservationists talk about the human population as a scourge on the face of the planet Earth. And admittedly, there have been some terrible things that have been done. I do find it fascinating that All of these things are happening in Europe and America, and for some reason nobody's talking about China and India that have made a garbage patch in the Pacific Ocean bigger than Texas. We're the ones that, again, I get blamed for my two-cycle weed eater, but nevertheless, y'all, this concept is lost. And the end result of this concept being lost is that animals get elevated, people are de-elevated, people are lowered, and human life becomes cheap. G.K. Chesterton. a writer. I don't know if you've ever seen any of the Father Brown series, kind of BBC stuff. I love BBC television, but Father Brown is a fictional character that's kind of like Columbo. He's a priest, but he goes around and he solves murders, that kind of thing. G.K. Chesterton is an author. He's a philosopher, or was a philosopher, was a theologian, Roman Catholic, but very honest about Roman Catholicism, anyway, an Englishman, he had this statement, and I've used it before, he said, wherever animal worship is present, human sacrifice is soon to follow. I'll say that again, wherever animal worship is present, human sacrifice is soon to follow. And he said this, I'm trying to remember when he lived, Pre-1900s, or early 1900s. I think he died in the 50s. But this is before the rise of abortion on demand, where this silent holocaust is going on, where millions upon millions of human beings are terminated. This is before World War II, I believe, was when he was writing. right, where you see these extermination efforts on the part of Hitler, Stalin, Chairman Mao. You know, I don't know how that guy gets away so easy. I mean, you want to talk about ideology that kills people. Anyway, I'm trying not to be political. Sometimes it just slips out. But nevertheless, y'all, wherever animal worship is present, human sacrifice is soon to follow. And isn't that what we see? It's not as formal as it was in Old Testament times to the God of Molech. But what about to the God of convenience? What about to the God of self-actualization? We got some issues, and part of those issues rise out of forgetting who we are, what we were created to be. that we were created, as we just read in Psalm 8, to not only be at the pinnacle of creation, but to rule over creation, to conform creation to our wants. And our wants should be based on what God wants for us. So again, I'm not talking about that conservation is a good thing. I'm not talking about being wasteful. But as Kipling said, the world is yours and everything in it. Now, This is different than Genesis chapter 1. And it's different for a couple of reasons. Number one, in Genesis chapter 1, you have a pre-fallen world. Sin didn't exist. And so you have this harmony between animal and man. That's why when we get to Revelation, it talks about heaven. There's all these metaphors you use about the lion laying down with the lamb, child playing at the cobra's nest, that kind of thing. There will be no enmity between the animal kingdom and humanity in heaven. But we know that by the time we get to Genesis chapter nine, not only has sin entered the world, whoo, God has just destroyed it because of sin, all except for Noah and his family and those that he preserved on the ark, those animals he preserved. And so it's not the same as Genesis one. In Genesis nine, we hear in verse two, the fear and dread of you will fall upon all the beast of the earth and all the birds of the air, upon every creature that moves along the ground, and upon all the fish of the sea. They are given into your hands. So let's do away with this concept that consuming animals is immoral. Okay? Let's do away with this concept that humanity does not have the right, you know, the PETA thing, that every being is a being, that is sentient. And I love animals. As I've said before, I will weep like a child when Bobo, the black labradoodle, dies, okay? But he's an animal. He's not a human. Though he behaves a lot better than a whole lot of humans, he's not one. He's not created in God's image. In a lot of ways, he's created in man's image. because dogs are what we make out of them. But in terms of quality of personhood, we're created in God's image. So we're out of time today. We're gonna pick up and we're gonna talk more about this, but don't lose sight of who we are. When you do, not only does life get cheap, also you lose a sense of urgency about sharing the truth of Jesus Christ with those that are perishing and going to hell every day. Let that be a motivation to you, that people need the Lord. Unlike animals, we have eternal souls, and what's gonna happen with animals when they die, what's heaven gonna be like, we're not gonna look. But as it is for today, remember who you are. Let's pray. Our God and our Father, we thank you for this time that you have given to us, and we pray that you would help us to remember your created order. Let us subdue the earth to do so wisely is what we wanna do. So please work in our hearts and give us that sense of urgency about proclaiming Christ. And we pray it in Christ's name, amen. Well, I'd like to thank you all for being a part of this time. Lord willing, we'll be back tomorrow morning at 6 a.m. Until then, have a great Thursday or whatever day it is.