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Today we will read Psalm 8 verse 3 (and later verse 4) which says, “When I look at the night sky and see the work of your fingers - the moon and the stars you set in place…”

You are alive, thinking, and aware of your immediate surroundings. Zoom out now and consider that you’re a part of a community, a country, and a planet. And that this planet owes all, literally all of its energy to a single, stable, middle aged, yellow dwarf star of no particular significance at all.

Our sun lives in the Orion Arm, a rural part of the Milky Way Galaxy. Our location is so spacious that the fastest spacecraft ever built would take 80,000 years to reach the next nearest star - Proxima Centauri. But it’s okay - you can still see about 2000 stars on a clear night. For most of human history, and surely when this psalm was written, that was extent of the known cosmos. 2000 stars.

We now know that the Milky Way has a staggering 100 billion stars. How big is 100 billion? Well, if you printed the Adobe asterisks page (which is filled with 4000 asterisks) it would take a stack of paper nearly 2 miles high to reach 100 billion asterisks. That’s just our galaxy and its 50,000 light years across. That’s big.

Our nearest large neighbor, Andromeda, is another 2.5 million light years away. That may seem far but we’re all close friends with another 50 galaxies that make up our local group. Local groups make up clusters. And clusters form super clusters. Ours is the Virgo Supercluster and contains around 2000 galaxies. Superclusters combine into vast filaments of rotating harp-like strings sitting in a universal ocean of dark matter. All told there are 10 million superclusters, 200 billion galaxies, and 200 billion trillion stars in the known universe.

The question you must answer for yourself is, did all that come from nothing, or from something? And does that something (or someone) care about you?

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

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Today we will read Mark 16:19 which says, "After the Lord Jesus had spoken to them, he was taken up into heaven and he sat at the right hand of God.” And we’ll also read Hebrews 7:25 which says, “Therefore, He is always able to save those who come to God through Him, since He always lives to intercede for them.”

Happy Ascension! Technically the Ascension of Christ is 40 days after Easter. And spoiler alert, Pentecost (or the outpouring of the Spirit) occurs 10 days after Christ’s Ascension.

Central to Christianity, is our namesake - Christ Himself. If Jesus didn’t rise bodily from the dead, as in literal flesh and blood, the literal stuff that made up His body, then what hope is there for you? What hope is there for anything or anyone if God does not resurrect? Jesus is the start of it all. And our faith says it really happened. But then what?

The passage says that Jesus ascended and sat down at the right hand of God. Did He have to travel far? Or was the Ascension a type of transition out of our 4 dimensions into infinite dimensions of spirit realms all around us? God knows. Regardless, Jesus took up His position of power and sovereignty at the throne.

And what is He doing with all that power? All that position? Well, He’s talking to God. He’s talking to God about You. Right now, the King of All - the Creator - the Sovereign - the One with all resource - is talking to the Father about you. He’s asking for things on your behalf. He’s actively concerned and caring for you. Yes you - right now. Whether you realize it or not.

How does that make you feel? How does that make you view God? How does that make you feel about Jesus? You don’t have to get His attention. You have it. Does He have yours?

What would you like Him to do for you? What do you want? If you’ve got His full attention, why not ask? Do it now.

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Today we will read Mark 4:4-9. This is the Parable of the Sower and it says, “As he sowed, this occurred: Some seed fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. Other seed fell on rocky ground where it didn’t have much soil, and it sprang up right away, since it didn’t have deep soil. When the sun came up, it was scorched, and since it didn’t have a root it withered. Other seed fell among thorns, and the thorns came up and choked it, and it didn’t produce a crop. Still others fell on good ground and produced a crop that increased 30, 60, and 100 times what was sown.” Then He said, “Anyone who has ears to hear should listen!”

Jesus taught in parables or stories. They memorable and easy to share. But what do they mean? Fortunately for us, Jesus explains the meaning of this parable just a few verses later. The soil is the human heart and the seed is the word of God. What is the word? The word is whatever God communicates culminating in the God-man Jesus Himself. But unfortunately not everyone receives the communication of God as readily.

Jesus categorizes the hearers into four groups. The first hear the word but it is of no affect. The birds quickly come and eat the seed. Or rather, Satan removes it. The result is simple, the word does nothing. It’s as if it was never there at all and the listeners go on their merry way oblivious.

The second group hears the word and are even excited. There’s an explosive and enthusiastic growth that is obvious and visible, but with just a little pressure and adversity, it withers and is no more. This group is a bright flame that extinguishes quickly.

The third group hears the word, and it even takes root! There’s growth. Everything looks great. Except there’s something else - thorns. The word is not alone. These thorns represent worries, the seduction of wealth, and the desire for things. They begin to crowd and choke the word. Slowly over time the thorns suck the nutrients and energy. There just isn’t enough resources to go around. Just not enough room to breath. Apparently the word needs space, freedom, and energy to be productive.

Lastly, some of the seed makes its way to fertile soil. Here the word is welcomed, allowed to grow, and produce a crop. Incredibly the production isn’t double or triple what is sown. It’s not even 10 times what is sown. Nope. It’s 30, 60, or even 100 times what is sown! The rate of return is exponential!

I suppose the takeaway, if I’m honest, is that I see all these groups active in my life. How about you? Do you fall into one category or several? If you’re listening, and if you care, it’s all but guaranteed that you’re not in the first group. But let’s ask God to spare us from groups two and three, and to help us produce an exponential return on what He sows in us.

God, multiply, exponentially multiply Your word in us. God, help us to eliminate anything, literally anything, that would choke out your word.

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Today we will read 1 Corinthians 1:18,21 which say, “For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but it is God’s power to us who are being saved…For since, in God’s wisdom, the world did not know God through wisdom, God was pleased to save those who believe through the foolishness of the message preached.”

We believe in a man who walked the earth 2000 years ago and is said to have risen from the dead. We largely (though not entirely) take this account from texts that are said to be breathed out by God and written by man. For many, for most, this is pure folklore - utter foolishness. But for others, this is an expression of the power of the God of the universe.

What do you think? If I’m being honest, there are days, many days, I wake up and think, “Am I sure I believe this?” If you ask that question, it’s okay. It’s okay to examine important things. It’s good to ask of your marriage, “Will I stay true to what I’ve promised today?” So long as the answer is yes. Or to your children, “Will I choose today to my own desires aside to seek your good?” These questions determine what you value. It’s no virtue to turn our brains off or to leave the most important things in life unexamined.

But what do you think? We pride ourselves on being knowledgeable. I mean Google is at our fingertips. We have all the answers right? Maybe not. Quote, “In God’s wisdom the world did not know God through wisdom.” If you look all the way back to Genesis 1, the Bible claims that the universe had a finite beginning. Whenever that beginning was, it was a beginning. And yet the prevailing wisdom of humanity all the way back to the Greeks and up until the last century has believed that the universe is eternal and static. So much for human wisdom. It would be a cruel burden for God to demand of us perfect understanding in order to know Him. Could you do it? Is there anyone who has the wisdom to know God via their brain? The philosopher is just guessing.

So God places the burden somewhere else. He is pleased to save those who believe. And believe in what? Through a message preached. A communication. Those who believe the communication of God are basically taking Him at His word. Believing someone is the basis for a genuine relationship. And God offers that.

So what say you? There’s a whole lot in scripture we can debate. But this passage focuses on just one thing. The cross. What say you about the cross? Is it God’s power to save? Or is it foolishness. Those are the options. And you must choose. And if you’re unsure, or vacillating, why not reach out to God and simply ask for His wisdom.

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Today we will read a lengthier passage in Acts 17. Verses 24-32 say this, “‘The God who made the world and everything in it - He is Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in shrines made by hands. Neither is He served by human hands, as though He needed anything, since He Himself gives everyone life and breath and all things. From one man He has made every nationality to live over the whole earth and has determined their appointed times and the boundaries of where thy live. He did this so they might seek God, and perhaps they might reach out and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us. For in Him we live and move and exist…God now commands all people everywhere to repent, because He has set a day when He is going to judge the world in righteousness by the Man He has appointed. He has provided proof of this to everyone by raising Him from the dead.’ When they heard about the resurrection of the dead, some began to ridicule him.”

Have you ever wondered why life is the way it is, why human power dynamics are such as they are, why you seem to get just a few short years to figure things out then you die, why there’s suffering, why God seems distant… Paul tells you, but will you believe him?

In this pithy statement, Paul summarizes The Human Condition. Let’s walk through it together. There is a God who is creative and has made everything you see and don’t see. And while He Himself is immaterial and needs nothing, it is in Him that you and I have the energy of life. And He created a mechanism whereby you arrived on the scene. Trace it back far enough and you get to one man (or in other manuscripts - one blood). We are related then somehow. But there’s more, we have appointed times, a start and a finish, and appointed boundaries - limits.

You, as jarring as it is to admit, have limitations imposed by the Great Creator. But why? Paul’s answer - so that you’d reach out and seek God. But He’s not far. He’s close, but He requires of you to seek. Your limits, your humanity, your experience with others, this life and breath, is all so that you’d reach out to the great uncreated Creator who is waiting for you. And in Paul’s thinking, this is the essence of repentance.

But there’s even a limit to this paradigm. At some point, God will intervene and bring about righteous judgment. And He has opted to do so by proxy. He will judge via the God-man Jesus Himself. And how can you know that this is so? God has proven it by raising Jesus from the dead.

Perhaps there are days when this seems too fanciful or mythical. Certainly Paul’s listeners thought so. Some ridiculed him. Have you ever thought, “If only I lived closer to the time of Christ I’d believe easier?” Perhaps you wouldn’t. Perhaps I wouldn’t. Things are no different now. You and I are here - alive - thinking - and we must choose as everyone must whether to ridicule, or to repent and seek God. That is why you are of course. And it’s okay to revisit this line of thinking daily if necessary. This scripture is here for that reason and this time is here for you to seek God.