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Transcript/Sermon Notes:

Oftentimes God can blow our minds with how big and vast and great and WONDERful He is. In my life, this tends to happen the more I slow down to listen and watch and consider the works of His hands. Often times, it is in observing His creation itself that can brings us to this realization and awe, inspired by the night sky and the sunset – or something as detailed as a snowflake, a leaf or the scent of a flower. The more we learn about God and His creation, the more incredible, we realize, is the one who created it.

The Huffington Post, the Washington Post and the Scientific Journal, ’Nature,’ (among others) reported on a study in 2010 (by Pieter van Dokkum) suggesting that there are a mind-blowing 300 sextillion stars in the Universe, or three times as many as scientists previously had calculated. Most of us had never even conceived a number so large or had even heard of such a thing.

If you want to attempt to wrap your mind around that number, you may want to think of it this way:

That is a 3 followed by 23 zeros. 

Or, how about this – 3 trillion times 100 billion.

scientists believed, in 2010 when I originally crafted this message, that there were 100 billion to a trillion galaxies in the universe. Now they leaning toward 2 trillion galaxies in the universe. And each of these galaxies by themselves house 1 to 10 trillion stars!

These new findings tripled the previous estimate of 100 sextillion stars to the newly estimated 3 trillion x 100 billion stars in our Universe! 

Wow!

What an incredible universe that we are a tiny part of.

I think we have all probably marveled at the vastness – the hugeness of space before. Right?

At some point we probably sat in our backyard or on our patio, at the beach or on a camping trip, and spent some time just looking up at the sky and saying, with complete wonder, “AWESOME,” “Wow!” 

It can oftentimes be easy to marvel at the wonders around us on the Macro – level,

but what about the wonders around us… inside of us, on the micro level?

Charlie Conroy, one of these scientists who spent his time counting these stars (a professor of Astronomy at Harvard University) decided to take the average number of cells in a humans body, (50 Trillion or So) and he multiplied that number by 6-7 billion (the estimated human population on earth) and guess what number he came up with??

Around 300 Sextillion!  

So the number of stars in the universe is equal to all the cells in our human bodies here on Earth.

I find that incredible. As many stars as are in the universe, God has put cells in our bodies!

We should not just live in wonder of the universe, but You, as a person, are a mind-blowing masterpiece, made by the hands of the One who crafted the universe and the the 300 sextillion cells in our human bodies here on earth!

I promise you this, not one of those cells in your body were placed there without His divine purpose!

Just like the hairs on your head, God has numbered the cells in your body…

God knows every star in every galaxy and every cell in your body.

And this leads us to our Bible Study in Psalm 139.

Psalm 139 in the Bible states very beautifully:

 

O Lord, You have searched me and known me.

2 You know my sitting down and my rising up;

You understand my thought afar off.

3 You comprehend my path and my lying down,

And are acquainted with all my ways.

4 For there is not a word on my tongue,

But behold, O Lord, You know it altogether.

5 You have hedged me behind and before,

And laid Your hand upon me.

6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me;

It is high, I cannot attain it.

7 Where can I go from Your Spirit?

Or where can I flee from Your presence?

8 If I ascend into heaven, You are there;

If I make my bed in hell, behold, You are there.

9 If I take the wings of the morning,

And dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea,

10 Even there Your hand shall lead me,

And Your right hand shall hold me.

11 If I say, “Surely the darkness shall fall on me,”

Even the night shall be light about me;

12 Indeed, the darkness shall not hide from You,

But the night shines as the day;

The darkness and the light are both alike to You.

God, you know me inside and out.

From the time I go to sleep to the time i wake up.

You know my thoughts.

There is nothing about me that surprises you.

You know what I’m going to say even before the words leave my mouth.

Hebrews 4:13 says this:

“Nothing in all creation is hidden from God.

Everything is naked and exposed before His eyes, and He is the one to whom we are accountable.”

In this psalm, David is drawing our attention to the awesomeness of God. 

It is impossible for us to even begin to comprehend His knowledge.

He knows every star and planet, cells in our body and even the invisible thoughts floating around our brains…

How could this be?

How could he know so much about everything?

Because…

He created it.

He created it ALL!

Picking up in This Psalm… Psalm 139, David writes:

13 For You formed my inward parts;

He says, “You formed”…me

You formed.

Who Formed??

You = God

Acknowledging Gods sovereign hand  in the making and creating of his/your life.

You literally originated from God.

Everything about you that is original…

your hair color, skin color, your eyes, the shape 

of your nose, your height, the lines on the palm 

of your hand…

They all originated from God.

He artfully crafted you for His pleasure.

He purposed you to be formed the way that you are formed.

He is the artist. The Potter…and we are His clay.

In you, God is creating a masterpiece! 

you may think that your life is shapeless or worthless, or purposeless, but God, as The artist of the universe and the artist who formed you, He sees you as his handiwork. He sees the beautiful life that was granted to you by Him. 

Do not question God, that he has a purpose for your life. He is sovereign over the good and the bad and the ups and downs and the best and worst parts of your life. He sees your life from beginning to end and He is shaping it for His good purpose and Glory.

I Love Romans chapter 9 where it is so boldly and unapologetically states:

“…who are you, a mere man, to talk back to God? Will what is formed say to the one who formed it, “Why did you make me like this?” 21 Or has the potter no right over the clay…?”

Thats a rhetorical question.

Do you give God the credit that He deserves?

Do you acknowledge Him as your maker?

As the One who formed you and who is forming your life’s story.

Job 10:11,12 says this:

“You clothed me with skin and flesh, and you knit my bones and sinews together. You gave me life and showed me your unfailing love.” 

We covered the fact that God is the former, artist and creator.

But former of what?

The verse says that “You (speaking about God) formed my inward parts.”

Your “Inward parts!”

Even the tiniest unseen parts inside your body were created and worked together as a masterpiece of what we would consider impossible engineering!… But not for God. He did it. He formed it.

He pieced together not only your physical organs but your emotional capabilities as well.

On the Macro scale of things, our minds should be amazed as we discover the Universe beyond us!

So should our minds be exploding in awe as we look to the micro details inside our own bodies…

60 Trillion cells

100 thousand miles of nerve fiber

60 thousand miles of vessels carrying blood 

around the body.

250 bones giving structure to your tent-like body.

Did you know that

Every hour one billion cells in your body need to 

be replaced.

Your eye can differentiate between 500 different 

shades of gray.

Your Femur is 4x stronger than concrete. A cubic 

inch of bone can bear a load of 19,000 lbs. 

Thats over 8 1/2 tons!

Today your heart will beat 100,000 times.

Your lungs consist of over 300,000 million 

capillaries (tiny blood vessels) that if they were 

laid out, they would span1,500 miles!

On an average day, the focusing Muscle of your eye moves about 100,000x

In a half hour your body produces enough heat to boil a half gallon of water.

Have you had enough?

Im not done yet… were just scratching the surface.

The next two, Im sharing with you, not to weird you out, Im sharing this because Gods design is amazing!

An average mans [Reproductive system] (testicles) 

produces 10 million new sperm cells per day. Thats enough 

new sperm to repopulate the entire planet in only 6 

months.

A postage-size piece of circumcised foreskin, in 

a  lab, takes only 21 days to grow large enough to 

cover 3 basketball courts. And they use this skin to 

treat burn patients.

I mean, Don’t tell me that Gods not amazing and infinitely creative…

Your feet, they have about 500,000 sweat glands and 

have the ability to produce up to a pint of sweat 

each day.

Your nose has the ability, with the aid of your 

brain to remember 50,000 different scents.

Did you know that 

The acids in your stomach are strong enough to 

dissolve zinc. the reason these acids don’t eat 

through your stomach and spill out on the floor is 

because the cells that form the lining in your 

stomach renew so quickly that the acids don’t 

have time to dissolve it.

Each one of your kidneys contain 1 million 

individual filters that filter an average of about 

1.3 gallons of blood per minute.

It only takes 60 seconds for a single blood cell to 

make a complete circuit around the body.

Thats insane when we consider the 60,000 

miles of vessels in your body.

Your blood vessels could wrap around the earth twice!

And lastly, though we could go on forever…

Your brain cells can hold 5x as much information 

as the Encyclopedia Britannica.

No wonder the Bible says of God in Job (5:9) that:

“He performs wonders that cannot be fathomed, miracles that cannot be counted.”

Even from your mothers womb, you did not escape His watchful eye and purposeful hands.

“…You covered me in my mother’s womb.”

When we hear things like this,

When we are blown away by the complexities of the Universe and the brilliance that makes up our bodies…

How should we respond to that wonder?

People will respond in 1 of 2 ways.

1. “WOW!” God is incredible!!!” “Look at what 

HE has done!”

or

2. “Wow.” “I am incredible” “Look how amazing i 

am.”

You will, in your life, give God the credit due His name 

or

You will spit in the face of God and attempt to rob Him of His due credit by worshiping “self.”

I believe the proper and only good response to Gods brilliance in creating us is found in the next verse…

14 I will praise You…,

This literally means that “I will shout out a confession of thankfulness.

Its an unashamed confession, saying:

“God! You are so great! Powerful! Wonderful! Awesome! How could I not praise you?! 

Why would I be ashamed of You?

You made all of this!?”

“I will praise You…” 

Why?

for I am fearfully and wonderfully made;

Fearfully [yare]

When you come to acknowledge Gods creation and the power and wisdom that it took to fashion the Universe how could you not stand in awe!

Wonderfully [palah]

distinct, separate, distinguished.

That is that

There is no one else like you.

David, the writer of this psalm is standing amazed at God when he realizes that out of everything else in all creation, God has made him unique.

There is knowone like you on the planet.

That should make you stand in awe before your Maker.

Marvelous are Your works,

And that my soul knows very well.

Do you know this very well?

Do you know God?

He has revealed Himself very plainly to you and me.

God wrapped himself in human skin, taking the form of His own creation. 

God came to earth and walked among us, talked to us and showed us the way to God.

Jesus… God in human flesh, lived a perfect life, untainted by the cruelty, wickedness and sin of this world. 

Though Jesus lived a perfect life, cruel people filled with jealousy and hatred for God, tortured, spat upon, and crucified Jesus upon a splintery wooden roman cross.

But this was Gods plan…

Jesus was becoming the sacrifice for sin that we needed in order to be made right with God.

You see, unlike this world. Unlike our Government, God is just. 

God is right.

And He, in his perfection has decided that no unclean thing

          That is, no sinful creature or person can stand 

        before him and be made right unless that which is perfect takes our place.

Jesus, the perfection. God in the flesh.

God Himself became the perfect sacrifice for our evil deeds, our sins. He died in our place so that we could live with Him!

The Bible states clearly that:

For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard. (Romans 3:23 NLT)

For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 6:23 NLT)

You see God loves you… His Masterpiece…

Romans 5:8 says:

But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners. (Romans 5:8 NLT)

God loved the world so much that…

“…He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. God sent his Son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through him. (John 3:16, 17 NLT)

Psalm 139 NLT:

O lord, you have examined my heart and know everything about me. You know when I sit down or stand up. You know my thoughts even when I’m far away. You see me when I travel and when I rest at home. You know everything I do. You know what I am going to say even before I say it, lord. You go before me and follow me. You place your hand of blessing on my head. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too great for me to understand! I can never escape from your Spirit! I can never get away from your presence! If I go up to heaven, you are there; if I go down to the grave, you are there. If I ride the wings of the morning, if I dwell by the farthest oceans, even there your hand will guide me, and your strength will support me. I could ask the darkness to hide me and the light around me to become night— but even in darkness I cannot hide from you. To you the night shines as bright as day. Darkness and light are the same to you. You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body and knit me together in my mother’s womb. Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex! Your workmanship is marvelous—how well I know it. You watched me as I was being formed in utter seclusion, as I was woven together in the dark of the womb. You saw me before I was born. Every day of my life was recorded in your book. Every moment was laid out before a single day had passed. How precious are your thoughts about me, O God. They cannot be numbered! I can’t even count them; they outnumber the grains of sand! And when I wake up, you are still with me! (Psalms 139:1-18 NLT)