Jesus is calling us all to go with Him on The Heroes’ Journey The story of His Hero’s Journey has four chapters. We live in a world that’s been damaged by evil, but that’s not the way it was at the start and Jesus says we don’t have to accept it or escape it. We can give ourselves to Jesus and let Him show us how He can use us to prove that His Revolution has already begun! The Good Life

Our Wildly Improbable UNIVERSE “ The heavens proclaim the glory of God. The skies display his craftsmanship.” Psalm 19:1

Where Can We Find Truth? All truth has its source in God, who is Truth “ God is light; in him there is no darkness at all.” 1John 1:5 Incarnate Revelation: The Word/Jesus “ The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth .” John 1:14 Special Revelation: God’s Word/Bible “ All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the person of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.” 2Tim 3:16-17 General Revelation: Nature and the Heavens

All truth has its source in God, who is Truth

“ God is light; in him there is no darkness at all.” 1John 1:5

Incarnate Revelation: The Word/Jesus

“ The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth .” John 1:14

Special Revelation: God’s Word/Bible

“ All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the person of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.” 2Tim 3:16-17

General Revelation: Nature and the Heavens

God’s Truth: On Display in Nature Romans 1:18-20 ” The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness, since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.”

Romans 1:18-20

” The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness, since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.”

God’s Truth: On Display in the Heavens Psalm 19:1-4 1 The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands. 2 Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they display knowledge. 3 There is no speech or language where their voice is not heard. 4 Their voice goes out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world.

Psalm 19:1-4

1 The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands. 2 Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they display knowledge.

3 There is no speech or language where their voice is not heard. 4 Their voice goes out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world.

A Match Made in the Heavens? Interacting Galaxies

13.7 Billion Present

Stars forming

Spiral Galaxy

Crab Nebula

Solar System Formation

Galaxies forming

We live in a galaxy, the Milky Way Galaxy

“ At this moment it seems as though science will never be able to raise the curtain on the mystery of creation. For the scientist who has lived by his faith in the power of reason, the story ends like a bad dream. He has scaled the mountains of ignorance; he is about to conquer the highest peak; as he pulls himself over the final rock, he is greeted by a band of theologians who have been sitting there for centuries.” Robert Jastrow, God and the Astronomers Eagle Nebula

“ At this moment it seems as though science will never be able to raise the curtain on the mystery of creation. For the scientist who has lived by his faith in the power of reason, the story ends like a bad dream. He has scaled the mountains of ignorance; he is about to conquer the highest peak; as he pulls himself over the final rock, he is greeted by a band of theologians who have been sitting there for centuries.”

Robert Jastrow, God and the Astronomers

The existence of a universe as we know it rests upon a knife edge of IMPROBABILITY “ Why did the universe start out with so nearly the critical rate of expansion that separates models that recollapse from those that go on expanding forever, that even now, 10 thousand million years later, it is still expanding at nearly the critical rate? If the rate of expansion one second after the Big Bang had been smaller by even one part in 100 thousand million, the universe would have recollapsed before it ever reached its present size.” Stephen Hawking, A Brief History of Time (138) Core of the Andromeda Galaxy

The existence of a universe as we know it rests upon a knife edge of IMPROBABILITY

“ Why did the universe start out with so nearly the critical rate of expansion that separates models that recollapse from those that go on expanding forever, that even now, 10 thousand million years later, it is still expanding at nearly the critical rate? If the rate of expansion one second after the Big Bang had been smaller by even one part in 100 thousand million, the universe would have recollapsed before it ever reached its present size.”

Stephen Hawking, A Brief History of Time (138)

There are 15 physical constants, e.g., gravity, speed of light, strength of weak and strong nuclear forces, that altogether account for the universe coming into being and still existing today. “ The chance that all of these constants would take on the values necessary to result in a stable universe capable of sustaining complex life forms is almost infinitesimal. And yet those are exactly the parameters that we observe. In sum, our universe is wildly improbable.” Francis Collins, The Language of God (74) Baby Stars in the Magellanic Cloud

There are 15 physical constants, e.g., gravity, speed of light, strength of weak and strong nuclear forces, that altogether account for the universe coming into being and still existing today.

“ The chance that all of these constants would take on the values necessary to result in a stable universe capable of sustaining complex life forms is almost infinitesimal. And yet those are exactly the parameters that we observe. In sum, our universe is wildly improbable.”

Francis Collins, The Language of God (74)

Theoretical Physicist Stephen Hawking “ The odds against a universe like ours emerging out of something like the Big Bang are enormous. I think there are clearly religious implications.” Physicist Freemon Dyson “ The more I examine the universe and the details of its architecture, the more evidence I find that the universe in some sense must have known we were coming.” Planetary Nebulae

Theoretical Physicist Stephen Hawking

“ The odds against a universe like ours emerging out of something like the Big Bang are enormous. I think there are clearly religious implications.”

Physicist Freemon Dyson

“ The more I examine the universe and the details of its architecture, the more evidence I find that the universe in some sense must have known we were coming.”

Nobel Prize Winner Arno Penzias “ The best data we have are exactly what I would have predicted, had I nothing to go on but the five books of Moses, the Psalms, the Bible as a whole.” Isaiah 40:26 “ Lift your eyes and look to the heavens: Who created all these? He who brings out the starry host one by one, and calls them each by name.” ‘ Polar Ring’ Galaxy

Nobel Prize Winner Arno Penzias

“ The best data we have are exactly what I would have predicted, had I nothing to go on but the five books of Moses, the Psalms, the Bible as a whole.”

Isaiah 40:26

“ Lift your eyes and look to the heavens: Who created all these? He who brings out the starry host one by one, and calls them each by name.”

Nobel Prize Winner Arno Penzias “The best data we have are exactly what I would have predicted, had I nothing to go on but the five books of Moses, the Psalms, the Bible as a whole.” King David (Psalm 8) “ 3 When I look at the night sky and see the work of your fingers— the moon and the stars you set in place— 4 what are mere mortals that you should think about them, human beings that you should care for them? ” ‘ Polar Ring’ Galaxy

Nobel Prize Winner Arno Penzias

“The best data we have are exactly what I would have predicted, had I nothing to go on but the five books of Moses, the Psalms, the Bible as a whole.”

King David (Psalm 8)

“ 3 When I look at the night sky and see the work of your fingers— the moon and the stars you set in place— 4 what are mere mortals that you should think about them, human beings that you should care for them? ”

11:59:56 PM

“ Now we see how the astronomical evidence leads to a biblical view of the origin of the world. The details differ, but the essential elements and the astronomical and biblical accounts of Genesis are the same; the chain of events leading to man commenced suddenly and sharply at a definite moment in time, in a flash of light and energy.” R. Jastrow

“ Now we see how the astronomical evidence leads to a biblical view of the origin of the world. The details differ, but the essential elements and the astronomical and biblical accounts of Genesis are the same; the chain of events leading to man commenced suddenly and sharply at a definite moment in time, in a flash of light and energy.” R. Jastrow

“ In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was formless and empty, and darkness covered the deep waters. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the surface of the waters.” Genesis 1:1- 2