[Mr. Richard Kennebeck]: You know, the Leaning Tower of Pisa is one of the Seven Wonders of the Modern World. Its story behind how it was built is interesting. It's actually the bell tower of a cathedral complex. It's built in Pisa, and that word actually means marshy land, which should have kind of been a clue to those building it that there might be a problem. Construction began in 1173 and wasn't completed until almost 200 years later. Pisano began designing it and constructing it, and he stopped after three and a half stories. He quit because he realized the structure was beginning to tilt, and it had a flaw in its foundation. 90 years later, another architect decided to undertake the process and the project, and what he did is he actually kind of built additional stories to try to offset the tilt. He built three and a half more stories and then realized this wasn't working either. The foundation was flawed, it didn't correct the problem. So rather than actually trying to correct the foundation, he gave up.

Another 80 years passed and another architect decided to take on the project, but they determined all they would do was cap it with a dome and call it done. So 200 years of building the structure. 800 years later, it now leans 14 feet to the south. Now they've done work on it, it was leaning 17 feet to the south, but they've actually worked on it to shore it up. But everybody realizes that if they don't continue this process and do something, it will eventually fall, unless it's fixed. You know, here's, what's interesting about that project. Three architects, all the builders and the workman that went into it, over 200 years' time, and nobody fixed the foundation. They've tried to fix other things to make it work out, they made adjustments. Oh, it was beautiful, it's made out of marble, strong marble, but it would've fallen if they wouldn't had shored it up. You know, this tower speaks to us today. It speaks to us in our life that if we don't get the foundation right, no matter what we build on top of it, it's gonna be flawed. No matter how beautiful that is, it's gonna be flawed. We need to fix the real issue before we build.

Everything needs to stand the test of time, and if it does, it has to be built on a good foundation. Physical buildings, they're vulnerable if you don't have a good foundation, but you know, our life is the same thing. If we don't have a good foundation, it begins to crumble over time. Let's turn to one of the greatest foundational statements in the Bible. Exodus 20:3. We're talking about a time here in Exodus 20 where Israel has come out of Egypt. This is just a short time after Israel came out of Egypt, they're encamped at Mount Sinai. And God gives the fundamental foundational rules of life that we call the 10 commandments. Let's actually begin in verse 1 to get the background. Exodus 20:1, “And God spoke all these words saying, ‘I am the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.’ ”

God sets the stage for these 10 commandments. He's reminding Israel who He is. He reminds Israel of His power and His care for them. He reminds them of the miracles, and the plagues, and the wonders that He performed as He brought Israel out of Egypt, as He released them from Egypt's control. He reminds them of those plagues that got worse and worse until Egypt finally let Israel go. And then He reminds them, as He says all this, He reminds them of that army of Egypt coming after them and Israel walking through the Red Sea on dry land as that water towered over top of them.

God says all of this when He tells them that He brought them out of Egypt. He's reminding them of looking back and seeing the Egyptian armies crushed by the waters as it collapsed on top of them. God's reminding Israel of all this when He says He brought them out of Egypt. He's telling them, “Hey, I'm God, I'm God. And you've seen the evidence of that.” So Israel had no reason to question what was gonna follow. God brought them out of Egypt through power He showed that He was there. And all this was fresh in their minds. As God goes on to that next statement, the first commandment, “You shall have no other gods before Me.” The first commandment. You shall have no other gods before Me.

This is what I'd like to talk to you about today. This commandment, which is the foundation for our life, the foundation for all the commandments that come afterwards, the foundation of our future, and the foundation of our past. It's a firm foundation that all the rest of the commandments rest upon, that our life rests upon. That there're no other gods, but the true God. The true God that's a family of two beings, the Father and the Word, or Jesus Christ. This commandment is that foundation that everything else that you would read further on commandments, rest upon. That firm foundation and everything of which all that is spiritual and all that is physical stands upon.

Let's take a little bit of a deeper dive into this first commandment from a couple of different angles. The word ‘before Me’ in this verse literally means “Before My face.” “Before My face,” it's a Hebrew idiom, an equivalent to beside Me or in addition to Me. So the commandment requires the worship of one God alone, and nobody else beside that God. The Amplified Bible translates this verse as, “You shall have no other gods before or beside Me.” The Hebrew of this first commandment literally says, “Not shall have to you gods other beside My face.” Israel was to have only one God. It wasn't supposed to have other gods, wasn't supposed to bring other gods into their belief system and into their religion.

Israel had come out of Egypt and had many different gods and they'd lived in that culture for centuries. So that's what they had lived around, was many different gods, but they were supposed to be different. They were to have one God. You know, Keil & Delitzsch, in their commentary, have these words for the first commandment. They say, “Let there not be to thee other gods beyond Me or in addition to Me or equivalent to Me or by the side of Me.” They then go on to say the sentence is quite a general one and not only prohibits polytheism or the worship of many gods, and idolatry, the worship of idols in thought, word, and deed, but also commands the fear, love, and worship of God. That's all wrapped up in this commandment.

So the first commandment requires us to acknowledge three things about God. One, we must acknowledge that there is only one true God. And two, we must acknowledge that He's a personal God that interacts with humans in a personal way. And that's why it's so important to develop a personal relationship with God, to trim our lamps on a daily basis. And three, it requires us to know Him, worship Him, glorify Him, and love Him accordingly. And His first commandment sets the tone for the next three commandments, because the next three commandments continue this relationship with God and how we're supposed to have it.

The next commandment shows us how to honor and worship God. Verse 4, Exodus 20, commandment two, “You shall not make to yourself a carved image, any likeness of anything that is in heaven above or that in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them nor serve them, for I the Lord your God am a jealous God visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generations of those that who hate Me.” In verse 6, “But showing mercy to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments.” You know, commandments one and two are so closely tied together. Worship no other gods, and don't make images. Because when you make an image of God, you're making something that isn't God. It represents God, and it brings flaws into who God is. You're limiting God if you create an image and you are worshiping something else.

The third commandment in verse 7 states, “You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain for the Lord will not hold him guiltless, who takes His name in vain.” This commandment reminds us to give the honor and respect to God, to that one true God that there is. And to not think of God flippantly or carelessly. To uphold His name and His honor. And the fourth commandment reminds us to set aside a day, to set aside time to honor and worship God, that one true God. And it also reminds us that He's creator of all things. Verse 8, “Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God. In it, you shall do no work.” And in verse 11, “For in six days, the Lord made heavens and the earth, the sea and all that is in them and rested the seventh day.”

So the fourth commandment reminds us to set aside time and to worship God. And it also reminds us that God created this earth and all that there is. That one true God. These first four commandments, remind us and tell us how to love God and how to worship God. But who is this God we worship? How would you describe God? I'd like to read the UCG statement of beliefs on God, just a short paragraph. “We believe in one God, the Father, eternally existing, who is a Spirit, a personal Being of supreme intelligence, knowledge, love, justice, power and authority. He, through Jesus Christ, is the Creator of the heavens and the earth and all that is in them. He is the Source of life and the One for whom human life exists. We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ of Nazareth, who is the Word and who has eternally existed. We believe that He is the Messiah, the Christ, the divine Son of the living God, conceived of the Holy Spirit, born in human flesh of the virgin Mary. We believe that it is by Him that God created all things, and that without Him was not anything made that was made. We believe in the Holy Spirit as the Spirit of God and of Christ. The Holy Spirit is the power of God and the Spirit of life eternal.” This is the one God, the one true God that is a family that we worship, that we praise, that we glorify.

This statement comes from several scriptures in the Bible. I'll go through a few of them today, but if you wanna write down and read where they all come from, 2 Timothy 1:7, Ephesians 4:6, 1 Corinthians 8:6, John 1:1-4, and Colossians 1:16. Those scriptures are the basis of our statement of beliefs. You know, the Bible reveals that God is the Sovereign of the universe, existing supremely above all things else. God is eternal, He existed before anything else. God is unchangeable in character, all-powerful, all-knowing, ever-present. He's our Provider and our Shield, our Counselor, our Teacher, our Judge in salvation. He's faithful and merciful, generous and patient, compassionate. He hears our prayers and He desires us to become part of His family. This is the one true God that we worship, that the first commandment is talking about.

So how can we break this first commandment? To have no other gods beside the true One. What are ways that we can sin against this God and break this commandment? Of course, the first one is, is we actually could worship other gods. There're religions and faith beliefs in this world that do believe in different gods, in multiple different ways. Israel had problems with that back in their time, but we could worship multiple gods, that's one way. But that typically isn't the way we would do that in our modern Christian world. It isn't how we would break that commandment.

A second way is we can put things in front of the place of God. We can worship other things through how we act and react in our lives. Matthew Henry in his commentary on this commandment says, “The sin against this commandment which we are most in danger of is giving the glory and honor to any creature, which is due to God only. Pride makes a god of self, covetousness makes a god of money. Sensuality makes a god of the belly. Whatever is esteemed or loved, feared or served, delighted in or depended upon more than God that in effect we have made a god of.” So we can break this first commandment if we build our life on anything other than God. No matter how good it is, if we build our life, and our actions upon something other than God, then we break this commandment.

And a third way we break the first commandment is by giving power to or worshiping nature rather than, or in addition to the true God. You know, we see that today in horoscopes, astrology, new age crystals, good luck charms, various things like that. And God created us this wonderful dwelling place on this earth. It's beautiful, and He told us to rule over it. He told us to enjoy the sun, the moon, and the stars, to enjoy crystals and the beautiful gems that we have. To enjoy animals. To enjoy other things. But He told us, or He never told us to worship those or to give power to those things. He never wanted us to do that, to direct our worship towards those things.

Let's turn to Romans 1:21. Romans 1:21-25, because we're never supposed to direct our worship to anything other than God. I'll actually read this in New Living Translation. Romans 1:21, “Paul says, yes, they knew God, but they wouldn't worship Him as God or even give Him thanks. And they began to think of foolish ideas of what God was like. As a result, their minds became dark and confused. Claiming to be wise, they instead became utter fools. And instead of worshiping the glorious ever-living God,” - the one that we're told about in that first commandment - “and instead of worshiping the glorious ever-living God, they worshiped idols made to look like mere people, and birds, and animals, and reptiles. They made idols in place of God.” Verse 24, “So God abandoned them to whatever shameful things their heart desired. As a result, they did vile and degrading things with each other's bodies.” Verse 25, “They traded the truth about God for a lie. So they worshiped and served the things God created instead of the Creator Himself who is worthy of eternal praise.”

We can't worship the creation. We must worship the Creator. We can worship creation sometimes, there are certain modern religions that say when you're worship the creation you're just worshiping God, because God is the sum total of creation. But that's not the case, we worship God. People put their confidence in astrology or in lucky stars or anything like that. But God tells us that's not right. Deuteronomy 4:19, we see where we're told not to worship those things. Deuteronomy 4:19, God warns against this practice. “And take heed lest you lift your eyes to heaven. And when you see the sun, the moon, and the stars, all the hosts of heaven, you feel driven to worship them and serve them, which the Lord your God has given to all the peoples under the whole heaven as a heritage.” God gave these for us for the beauty of them, to be able to enjoy them, but not to worship them. They have no power over anything. Astrology and your lucky stars are a way of looking towards and worshiping the creation rather than, or in addition to the Creator. It's a way of looking to those for supernatural guidance. Christianity and astrology are not compatible. You cannot do both of those.

The first commandment warns us to not accept a religion or philosophy that teaches that our wellbeing or our life is dependent upon anything other than the true God. How about angel worshiping? Is it okay to worship angels? Should we be doing that? Well, Paul answers that question very directly in Colossians 2:18 and 19. Colossians 2:18 and 19, worship of angels has been around for a long time. We know it's been around at least since the time of the early Christian Church. Colossians 2:18, “Let no one cheat you of your reward, taking delight in false humility and the worship of angels. So we could be cheated of our reward by worshiping angels, intruding into those things, which he has not seen vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind.” So Paul here clearly says to the Colossians that you don't worship angels, but then what does Paul tell them? In the very next verse, verse 19, “And not holding fast to the head from whom all the body nourished and knit together by joints and ligaments grows with the increase that is from God.” So Paul, instead of focusing on angels and false humility, he says, “Focus on Christ. Focus on the true God.”

The first commandment is the solid foundation for the worship of God, for our life, for our future, we are to worship God only and not worship other gods, not worship angels, beings, or anything beside the true God. You know, if this is a foundation, let's ask the question - is there a God? Is there a God? Because if there is no God, this commandment is meaningless. It doesn't mean anything. If there is no God, none of this means anything. The first commandment begins with the monumental unshakable assumption, nay the unshakable assumption, an unshakable fact that there is a God. It states there is a God, worship Him only. But many people will question whether there is a God, you know, that's nothing new. That's been going on for a long time. Most of our history, mankind's history, humankind's history. Is there a God? Or is God something that we've just manufactured to fill some sort of void that we need? To fill a void. You know, some people will say “I've read the Bible through, I've looked all around me, but is there really a God?” Is there really a God? Is it possible that everything just was created spontaneously, appeared over billions and billions of years and that we're now left alone to find our way?

Is it possible to see evidence of God, the Creator of all things, Beings that existed before anything physical existed, Beings who live outside of the physical and the timeframes that we humans think about? You know, let's just take a couple of minutes to look at this question. As I said earlier, if there is no God, this is fruitless. It doesn't matter. Knowing and believing that there is a God is foundational to our belief though. Without it, we don't have a future and we don't have faith. Turn with me to Hebrews 11:6, because knowing and believing that there is a God is foundational to our belief as Christian to our faith. Hebrews 11:6 makes a very basic and foundational statement concerning our faith and our relationship with God. This verse is very closely tied and related to the first commandment.

Hebrews 11:6 says, “But without faith, it is impossible to please God, for he who comes to God must believe that He is,” - must believe that He is – “and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.” We can't please God if we don't firmly believe that He exists, and that He's a personal God who rewards us for diligently seeking Him. So faith is closely tied to our belief that there is a God. Do you have an unshakable belief that there is a God, that God does exist? Let's take a little look, just a short look at some of the proofs that there is a God. Let's go through just a few evidences that there is a God so we can see that the God does exist.

You know, we see evidence, first of all, evidence of God in this universe, in the stars, and in the earth, and all that is in them. Genesis 1:1, let's go back there. That gives the reason for our physical being, the reason for all that we see around us. I look at this verse as understated in its simplicity. It doesn't even spend time proving that God exists. It doesn't need to. But it does tell about His creative nature. Genesis 1:1, “In the beginning, God created the heavens and earth.” It's a simple statement of authority, a simple statement of fact. It declares the beginning of this physical realm we live in. And then when you read to Genesis 1 and Genesis 2, you see that God creates all manner of animals, and plants, and the like, and ultimately, man and woman. But this is internal within the Bible.

Let's take a look at some of the external because even within the Bible, we see the looking towards the external. In Psalms 19, we see that David looked towards the external to see proof of God. Psalm 19:1-4, in these verses David praises and glorifies God whose act of creation can be seen all around us. How the heavens declare His existence, His very existence, and the glory of God. Psalm 19:1, “The heavens proclaim the glory of God, disguise, display His craftsmanship. Day after day, they continue to seek or speak, night after night, they make Him known. They speak without a sound or word, their voice is never heard.” Verse 4, “Yet their message has gone throughout the earth and their words to all the world.”

David saw evidence when he looked to nature, when he looked to the skies, when he looked to heaven. He saw evidence of a masterful Creator, of an intelligence and a Being out there. He saw evidence. We can see the same thing. We basically see the same heavens, stars, and the like, as David did. Paul wrote something similar in Romans 1:20. You don't need to turn there, but it says something very similar. It says, “For since the creation of the world, His invisible attributes are clearly seen, understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead. So that they are without excuse.” Again, even in these scriptures, David and Paul are saying look external. You can see evidence of the creation. You can see evidence of a Being, evidence in which we really cannot just forget about, evidence that we cannot just push aside. And there is no excuse. Now, as we gain knowledge into an understanding of this creation, sometimes that has an impact on us how we view the heavens, the stars, the beauty.

Imagine for a moment, a family of mice who lived all their lives in a large piano. Into their piano world came the music of the instrument, filling all the dark spaces with sound and harmony. At first, the mice were impressed by it. They drew comfort and wonder from the idea that there was someone who made the music, though invisible to them yet close to them. They loved to think about that great player whom they could not see. Then one daring mouse one day climbed up part of the piano and returned very thoughtful. He had found out how the music was made. Wires. Wires were the secret. Tightly stretched wires which vibrated. They must revise all their old beliefs. None but the most conservative could any longer believe in the unseen player. It was the wires that caused the music. Later, another explorer carried the explanation further, hammers. Hammers were now the secret. Numbers of hammers, stamping, dancing, and leaping on the wires. This was a more complicated theory, but it all went to show that they lived in a purely mechanical and mathematical world. The unseen player came to be thought of as a myth for now. They knew how the music came to be. But the pianist continued to play.

You know, this story is from an article from the London Observer several years ago. And it sums up the way our modern world is. As we've dug deeper and deeper into the beauty and the structure and the complexity of this world, we've been amazed by it. But for some reason, we've looked at that complexity in structure and it caused our world to move God out of the picture and to think it's totally a physical creation without any God behind it. They've totally removed God, the true Designer and Creator of it all, but yet God continues to play. Just like those mice, who began to wonder, begin with wonder and awe at this world, as David mentions, and if you look out at the stars. These mice did the same at the start, but then as they go to know more about how it worked, they lost their awe of God.

So what evidence do we see of God in this universe? What evidence do we see that shows us proof that there is a God, you know, many of us Christians of the church of God community who've been around since the '60s might be able to recite from memory the seven proofs of God's existence from the old “Does God Exist” booklet. Lawgiver, Life-giver, Creator, Sustainer, Designer, fulfilled prophecy, answered prayer. For many years those were the proofs that we used for God's existence. And I still remember them, it's interesting. But it's interesting to look at those in light of our modern science, they still hold true in many ways. These are all proofs that God exists. And there are many other ones. Let's take a look at a couple arguments for the existence of an intellectual Designer, of a Being that's outside of this physical. You know, one proof of evidence that there's a God is the cosmological argument. And I'm not gonna go into these arguments very far. We've probably heard these before. The one I'd like to use is from a man named Dr. William Lane Craig, he's one of the premier Christian apologists today. But the argument goes this way, whatever begins to exist has a cause the universe began to exist. And from that follows, therefore, a cause of the universe exists.

In other words, there is something outside of the universe that caused the universe to exist. There must be a Creator. That was one of those seven proofs that God exists. You know, it's one of the most universal things that when we look around this world, we realize that every single thing begins at some point. There's always a beginning to everything. That's an observation we see. You know, for much of our modern history, science thought that the universe existed forever. But back in the 1920s and 1930s that began to crack. Cracks began forming in that belief as more and more knowledge was gained until in the 1960s, there was the realization that the earth was not around forever. This universe was not around forever. They call it the Big Bang Theory. That there was a beginning of this universe.

And there is no understanding of really what happened before that. Where did it come from? How did it come to being, how did it come to existence? In its simplest form the Big Bang Theory states that at some time in the past long ago, the universe came into being at a point of time from seemingly nothing. And in many ways, that explains exactly what happened in Genesis 1:1. God, outside of the universe, outside of anything physical, created all that was physical. Turn with me to John 1:1, because one of the issues with the Big Bang Theory is when they go through it, they can't get back before the big bang. They can't tell you how it was created, who created it, why it came into being. They can't tell you who the cause of the universe is. Now, remember this argument says whatever begins to exist has a cause. The universe began to exist, therefore the universe has a cause. The universe has something that created it.

John 1:1, “In the beginning or as a beginning was the Word and the Word was with God. And the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him. And without Him, nothing was made that was made.” Verse 4, “In Him was life and life was the light of man.” This verse explains to us that there was a time when the universe didn't exist, then it began to exist. It was created and it had a cause, it had a Creator who created this universe. Someone or something brought it into existence, and John 1:3 tells us who that is, who that cause is, it's the Word. You know, a second argument for a Supreme Being, a Creator, a Designer, is a teleological argument. And it basically states that the complexity and fine-tuning of the universe presents a case for an intelligent Designer. That this world, this universe, everything that is physical is so incredibly designed that it would be very difficult for it to happen. Happenstance.

This goes back to those seven proofs I mentioned earlier, this is the fifth proof of God's existence. Lawgiver, Life-giver, Creator, Sustainer, Designer, fulfilled prophecy, answered prayer. You know, every day we depend upon this delicate balance, this delicate incredible design. A Designer who built this universe and it worked. It didn't fail. A Designer who knew exactly how to put it together, exactly what to do, exactly how to design it and create it. And it had to be perfect. Here are just a few facts about this incredible design that we have in this universe. If the Earth's average temperature would change just by a few degrees, how we live on this planet would be more difficult. Unless the delicate balance of various gases in our atmosphere weren't basically what they are, this world would be more difficult or impossible to live in.

Let's take a look even deeper than that. The building blocks of this universe. If you look into that, you can see how incredible this design is and how fine-tuned it is. You know, scientists have come to this shocking realization that there are fundamental values or qualities or quantities that defined a foundation and a fabric of this universe, and they are incredibly tiny, incredibly, unbelievably tiny. These numbers represent such small limited numbers that if they differ by just tiny bits, this world wouldn't exist. This universe wouldn't exist. Just a hair's breadth and there's no Starbucks coffee, no internet, no life, no planets, no stars, no life. I'll just give you two of these fundamental values that are essential to our existence. That show us the incredible mind power of this Designer that is outside of the physical, who designed this.

In the book “The Language of God” by Francis Collins, he explains how finely tuned this universe is. If the critical density of the universe, this is just one of these qualities of the universe. If the critical density of the universe, that's one of the factors that causes the universe to expand as it is now, was off by 1 in 10 to the 15th power, put a 1 and 15 zeros. Life would not and could not exist because the universe would either expand too rapidly for life to ever exist or contract upon itself too rapidly that life could not exist. You know, that 1 with 15 zeros behind that, take $10 trillion. That's a little easier to comprehend anymore with the trillions of dollars we're spending. Take $10 trillion, change it into pennies, paint one of them red. Get somebody who has no sight, have them find it on the first try. I mean, that's what 1 in 15 zeros chance is.

Another one of these incredibly fine-tuned requirements within this incredibly designed universe is the ratio of electromagnetic force to gravity. If this force that holds electrons and protons together in atoms among other things that it does, if it varied by 1 in 10 to the 40th power. I remember we were 1, 10 to the 15th before. 1 in 10 to the 40th power the universe could not exist because atoms and molecules would not exist. If it was just so tiny of a fraction off, nothing would exist. You wouldn't even have atoms and molecules. The building blocks of this physical world. You know, and scientists have come to find that they're over 90 of these different requirements, finely tuned requirements, that this world and this universe depends upon.

And the incredible odds that this could actually happen by chance or dumb luck is just hard to even fathom. It shows us the only conclusion we can come to are either ways that stretch beyond anything that's possible to occur in this world, in this universe, or to come to the logical conclusion that there is a Creator. There is a Designer, there is a God. Everything points to a supreme Being, that one God of the first commandment, a supreme Being of great intelligence and power who purposely designed and created this earth and the whole universe. Because the odds of all this occurring by accident is just so, so, so incredibly small.

Patrick Glynn, a Harvard-educated scholar abandoned his atheisms to become a Christian after his study of the intricate balance of the universe of some of these things we've discussed. He wrote in his book, “God: The Evidence,”: “Today the concrete data point strongly in the direction of the God hypothesis. Those who wish to oppose it have no testable theory to marshal, only speculations about unseen universes spun from fertile scientific imagination. Ironically, the picture of the universe bequeathed to us by the most advanced science is closer in spirit to the vision presented in the book of Genesis than anything offered by science.” Science gives us strong evidence that God exists. Science, and if you look out at the stars at night, gives us strong evidence that God exists. But there are other evidences that God exists besides looking at the physical creation around us and various other evidences that we have. There are others. Fulfilled prophecy, answered prayer, and there are others even to that.

The last bit of evidence I'd like to present to you is personal experience of God. It's the personal experience of God. To me, this is the ultimate most personal and honestly, the most believable piece of the evidence and proof that God exists. It is Christ living in us, and the miracles that He performs. It is Christ living in us and the miracles that God performs. To me, this is the most powerful evidence there is. It's backed up by everything physical, but it is incredibly powerful proof that God exists. I've seen it in my life. I've seen it in the world around me. Our relationship with God gives us powerful evidence of His existence.

Turn with me to Hebrews 11:1. Hebrews 11:1. You know, all of the physical and philosophical proofs of God are just that, they're physical and philosophical. But the ultimate proof is God working with us, that's the ultimate proof of God. Hebrews 11:1, “Now, faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. For by it the elders obtained a good testimony. By faith, we understand that the worlds were framed by the Word of God. So that the things which are seen were not made of things which are visible.” Again, God created all that is visible and is through faith, the faith that God gives to us when He's working with us and in us that we can understand God, the God of this universe Who created everything that there is.

We see His existence through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, through Christ living in us, through the change that we see, through the change in our lives, and through the miracles that God gives to us and others. You know, I could ask you to raise your hands of how many have had miracles, but I won't. In my lifetime, I've seen many miracles. I've been told many miracles. I've heard of things that suspended the laws of nature. But that shows to me that God is personal with us. God is personal. I'd like to tell you about a miracle that happened to my wife and I to show you, to me, something that taught me a lesson about this is a personal God, God didn't just create us and then said, “Okay, fend for yourself.” But God is personal and works with humans.

Shortly after my wife and I were married, we moved to Houston and we went from working and living together 24 hours a day, basically, to where I saw her for about, I don't know what it was, 7 hours a night. I got up at 4:00 in the morning. I got home at about 9:00 at night and I just didn't ever get to see her. And we were newly married, only one year. And it hurt us deeply that we were separated like that. And we didn't have enough money for me to take my car in. So I rode with my boss, that's why it took so long. One Friday or one Thursday afternoon after I got home, for some reason I got off work early and my wife and I took a stroll down a dirt path. And we were talking about how difficult this life was for us and how, boy, if I just, we came to the conclusion, if I just had a dollar, if I just had a dollar, I could put enough gas in the car and I could drive the next day and I could get home and have a wonderful, enjoyable evening with her and come into the Sabbath early enough. Just a dollar.

And we walked, and we walked, and we turned around and we walked back, and there laying in the sand, in the Texas mud, was a dollar. And I know it might have been there beforehand, but God showed it to us. It was mostly buried. That's all I needed, was a dollar. I filled up, well, I didn't fill up my car, but I got a couple of gallons of gas, enough for me to take my car into work the next day, and to come home. That is, I don't know if you can call a miracle tiny, but it was, it's a dollar, but it has always shown me that God is personal. That God gives the response to requests and sometimes performs miracles for something personal. And for me, that made me realize that God is a personal God and we need to relate to Him as a personal God, to Christ, and to the Father as a personal God. To me, that was evidence that God exists. I've had other miracles in my life, but none has ever touched me like that one has.

So when we look at this evidence of God, we have to realize we have to come to the conclusion that there is a God. That there is a God and that we have to worship Him, and honor Him, and glorify Him, the Father and Jesus Christ as the first commandment tells us. Turn with me to Colossians 1:15-17 in closing. This passage begins talking about Jesus Christ and then moves into the creation. Colossians 1:15, “He is the image of the invisible God,” talking of Jesus Christ, “The firstborn of all creation, for by Him, all things were created in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities, all things were created through Him and for Him.” Verse 17, “And He is before all things and in Him, all things hold together,” that is our Creator. God exists whether we choose to believe it or not. God continues to play on.

God has a plan for mankind, and for us. He designed and created this universe. And the first commandment requires that we believe in God, who's an all-powerful, all-knowing every existing eternal, incredibly intelligent, creative, loving God. It's fundamental and foundational to our belief, to our life now, to our life in the future. The first commandment is all about the proper worship of God. It is the foundation of everything else. The first commandment, you shall have no other gods beside Me, is the beginning point from which everything else flows. The first commandment is about keeping first things first. And the first thing and the first and foremost thing is to fear, love, trust, and worship, and honor God and God only above all things. Paul declared there is nothing apart from God in Acts 17:28, where he says "For in Him, we live and move and have our being."

You know, we'll shortly be keeping the fall festivals. These days are based upon the fact that there are no other gods before God. There is a true God that created all things who created these Holy Days, created them so we might know His plan, His truth, and the future that He has waiting for us. These holy days point to the fact that there is a true God. Trumpets pictures the return of Jesus Christ to set up His kingdom; Day of Atonement, a time when that false god, Satan, will be put away. Feast of Tabernacles is a time when this whole world that is alive at the time of the millennium will know the one true God. And the Eighth Day where everybody whoever was alive and didn't get a chance to know the truth will get to know that one true God, get a chance to know the real God. That's what these fall Holy Days are all about. The first commandment is the foundation of this feast, the foundation of life, the foundation of this universe. It establishes that there is a God in heaven who created all things and rules over all things. It is to that God and that God only that we should bow and worship. It is to that God and that God only that we should dedicate our life. It is to that God and that God alone, that we should entrust our eternal future.