Order Out of Chaos: Finding Hope and Purpose in God

When you talk to some people, they don't want anything to do with Christianity because they say, well, it's all pie in the sky, isn't it? You know, doesn't make any difference. God doesn't exist. It's pie in the sky when you die. You're just waiting for the next world. Well, I think it's also cake on the plate while you wait. Because actually, we can see something differently. We have a different perspective. [00:20:29] (33 seconds)  #FaithThroughChaos

Now, life doesn't become a bed of roses simply because we choose to follow Jesus. I mean, it didn't become a bed of roses for him, did it? Died on the cross. He doesn't answer at the flick of a switch every problem we've got. But we're able to cope with even difficult chaos because we know Jesus. If you know you're going to a better place, then you can cope with what happens here. It makes it so much easier to deal with. [00:21:02] (37 seconds)  #SharedHope

And actually, when our human attempts to order our lives fail, that's when people turn to Jesus. You see, if life's going swimmingly, then you don't need to think about these bigger questions. But if you've lost your job, if you've lost your home, if you've lost a child, if you've lost a marriage, all those things suddenly start making you think about life. And that's why the gospel speaks most to people who are suffering the most. Because actually, people are more open when life is not going well. [00:21:39] (40 seconds)  #OrderFromVoid

But it's more than just bringing some kind of spirit of hope. God wants us to have an active prayer life. He wants us to engage with him. He wants us to pray. God could solve everything immediately, couldn't he? But actually, it's in going through this period of chaos to where we're headed. That's when we start making sense of life. [00:24:41] (28 seconds)  #BeyondHumanPerfection

And if you have had those devastating situations, you can actually walk with God with others who are going through it. If you've actually come through something, you can bring hope in their circumstances. Because you've experienced something of what they're experiencing. Christianity is about bringing love and hope. And we do that because of our own experiences. [00:25:10] (32 seconds)  #CoCreationWithGod

People get rather fixated about those six days of creation, trying to work out how things could happen in the way that they happen. But if you do, you're missing the point. You're missing the point that Moses is saying here is order out of chaos. There's an overall picture he's saying. In answer to an earth that's without form, we have God who's created it. [00:26:30] (25 seconds)  #JesusBringsOrder

He arranges the heavenly bodies so that we can have some kind of calendar. Those are the first four days. But while he's doing that, in answer to the void world, the empty world, he's filling it. He's filling the land with vegetation and the heavens with stars. He's ordering that the seas team with life and that the birds fill the sky and that the land produces livestock. And then he creates humanity, male and female, to act in the image of God over creation as kind of lords over creation. [00:27:17] (41 seconds)  #FreeWillAndFaith

Fill the earth, subdue it. Bring some meaning, some structure to what's happening. It's void, fill it. It's dark, bring light. So Moses started off by describing a position of darkness. And voidness and emptiness of chaos. And ends with one where there's light and order and lavish provision for humanity. [00:28:13] (35 seconds)  #LightInDarkness