Provided and Loved

Our latest episode reveals the profound truth of creation in Genesis 1, focusing on the purpose and identity given to every human by a loving God. We discuss how the journey of life is not about self-sufficiency but about embracing God's blessings through dependency and faith in His provision.

• Exploring Genesis 1:26-31 as the basis of human identity 
• Understanding God's blessings and their implications for our lives 
• Discussing the purpose of creation and the call to relationship 
• Addressing the misconceptions of self-sufficiency versus divine dependency 
• Examining salvation as a gift, not a product of our works 
• Confronting legalism and the burden of trying to earn God’s favor 

Chapters

• 0:14 God's Purpose for Humanity
• 11:29 The Giving Nature of God
• 26:02 Global Ministry Outreach and Invitation

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:14

Greetings, hello and welcome to the Redeeming Love Bible Broadcast. My name is Phil Duddy, evangelist with Grace Baptist Tabernacle of King, north Carolina. Glad to have you with me on the program today, as always. If you want to be part of the program, reach out to us at redeemingthelostaticloudcom. We do look forward to hearing from you. And today we're going to be way back at the beginning of the Bible. We're going to be in Genesis, chapter 1.

Speaker 1: 0:42

And this message, it's one of those things that's been in Scripture the entire time. It's been in Scripture since the Lord breathed Scripture, since the Lord inspired Scripture, since Scripture was written down and handed down through the generations to us today Been here the whole time. But it's one of those messages that you know, a lot of folks. Once you see it and once you know in the Holy Ghost, it gets applied to you. And once you believe this and trust this and trust the Lord who's given this to you, believe this and trust this and trust the Lord who's given this to you, this will be one of the most freeing, simple, glorious things that the Lord has ever given you out of Scripture, and you're going to see how it applies to every area of life, every single area of life and it's so simple and it's so rich and it's so personal and it's so profound and it's something that you know. I'm really excited that you know. The Lord said go ahead and preach this message and give this to them today. And so we're going to be in Genesis, chapter one. I want you to come on down to verse 26, genesis one, verse 26. And we're going to read a few verses and you're going to see how this message sort of unfolds out of these verses.

Speaker 1: 2:12

And God said let us make man in our image, after our likeness, and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the fowl of the air and over the cattle and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. So God created man in his own image. In the image of God, created he him Male and female, created he them, and God blessed them. And God said unto them Be fruitful and multiply and replenish the earth and subdue it and have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the fowl of the air and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth. And God said Behold, I have given you every herb-bearing seed which is upon the face of the earth and every tree in which there is a fruit of the verse says everything that he had made. And behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day.

Speaker 1: 3:28

Now this part of the creation account, god said let us make man in our image, after our likeness. Men and women didn't just make themselves, and men and women didn't just make themselves. And men and women didn't just sort of pop into existence. Men and women are not the result of basically a cosmic accident that happened billions and billions of years ago, where all of a sudden there was something that was dead and then it was alive and it had life and it evolved. That's not what happened at all, not even close to what happened.

Speaker 1: 4:12

But God very simply said let us make man. God made man, and God made man in his own image, after his own likeness. God made man and God made man in his own image, after his own likeness. God made man. And then God made man with a purpose. He said let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, fowl of the air, the cattle over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. But the point, you know the beginning of this message is that you and I, and everyone you see walking around, we were formed, we were created, and we were created by God, by a God who knows us, by a God who loves us, by a God who is almighty, by the King of all kings and the Lord of all lords, by a God who had in himself the desire to create and the desire to form something particular after his own image. He formed man out of the dust of the earth and he breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living soul, and from the man he made woman. And this was all in the heart of God, this was all in the desire of God, this was all in the will of God. And so God spoke and God acted, and God formed and God created, and we are the result of that. We did not form ourselves, we did not will ourselves into existence, we did not give ourselves life and we were not the result of, basically, a cosmic lottery or a cosmic accident in which, you know two, you know, things banged into each other and then, all of a sudden, there was life. No, that's not what happened, but God personally formed man and God personally formed woman from the man. And so, you know, god created man.

Speaker 1: 6:23

And then God verse 28,. God blessed them. God blessed them. You know it says male and female created he them? And God blessed them. And God said to them be fruitful, multiply, replenish the earth. God gave them a role in this brand new creation. He gave them again. They did not come up with their own stuff to do, they did not come up with their own point, they did not come up with their own purpose. No, god created them. And then God blessed them. Hallelujah and amen. God blessed them. And then God said to them okay, be fruitful, multiply, replenish. And then you come down to verse 29. And God said behold, I've given you there's that word again given, given, given, given, given you every herb bearing seed which is upon the face of the earth and every tree which is in the fruit of a tree yielding seed to you. It shall be for meat. And so God gave them his word, god gave them his provision. You know the man and the woman. They did not have to wander around coming up and figuring out what they should do. They did not have to figure this out. They did not have to come up with it for themselves. They did not have to provide, you know, figure out how to get food. They didn't have to figure out all this stuff. But no, god gave it. God gave it, god gave it. And my friend, here it is.

Speaker 1: 8:08

We were never formed to be self-sufficient, but we were formed to be provided for and cared for by God. We were formed to be provided for. We were formed to be provided for. We were formed to be cared for. We were formed that way and this is you know. Of course, this is before sin came in. This is before Adam fell. This is before Eve was. You know, eve had that interaction with the serpent and she ate and all of that, and then Adam followed her in that sin. This is before that happened. But this is you know. This is fundamentally how we were made. This is fundamentally how we were formed. This is fundamentally what God made us to be.

Speaker 1: 9:05

We weren't formed to be self-sufficient, to take care of ourselves, to figure it all out by ourselves. To, you know, figure out how to be bigger, better, faster, stronger. To figure out how to be more efficient, to figure out how to get more, you know, more out of life, or anything like that. We were never figured, created, to figure out our own purpose, our own point, our own reason for being. We were never formed to, you know, pull ourselves up. We were never formed to take, you know, to handle it all by ourselves. No, we were never formed to be in isolation. We were never formed to be alone.

Speaker 1: 9:45

We were never formed to be that way, but we were formed to be in relationship with God. We were formed to receive blessing from God. We were formed to receive the Word of God. We were formed to follow God. We were formed to walk with God and to talk with God and to interact with God and to relate with God, and for that to be a joyous thing, for that to be a blessed thing, for that to be a life thing, for that to be a good thing. We were formed for that purpose. We were formed for his pleasure, for his will, for his desire. We were formed to worship. We were formed to praise. We were formed to work according to what God gives us to do.

Speaker 1: 10:38

We were formed to get everything from God and to walk out and to live out a life that is filled with God and, my friend, that's something that's very, very different from like having all this pressure and thinking you've got to figure it out by yourself, and thinking you know, okay, god's, you know this puzzle that I've got to solve and you know it's, you know that it's all this. You know I've got to do this and I've got to do this and I can't do this and I can't do that, and I've got to make this happen and I've got to make this work and I've got to force myself to feel this way. I've got to force myself to be this way. I've got to force myself to fit into this mold, into this law, into this set of rules. My friend, that's not what we were created and formed to be.

Speaker 1: 11:29

And, my friend, there's a terrible torment in that sort of legalistic pressure field. I've got to make this God thing happen. I've got to make this church thing happen. I've got to make this evangelism thing happen. I've got to figure out a way to do all this. I've got to make my family happen. I've got to make my finances happen. I've got to make all this stuff. I've got to make my mental, I've got to make all this stuff happen and it's all on me, my friend.

Speaker 1: 12:01

That's a that's. There's a lot of torment there and there's torment there, because that is all against the will of God and that's against the word of God and that's against the nature of God. And what God is telling you today is to stop and to listen, because you were never formed, you were never made to be self-sufficient, you were never made to walk through this life apart from God and alone, this life apart from God and alone. You will never form that way. That's not the will of God for you, that's not the desire of God for you. And if you persist in living that way, you will find yourself living against God, perhaps in the name of God, because, you know, in America that's perhaps in the name of God, because in America it's sort of a common thing.

Speaker 1: 13:10

There's this idea that God is up there and he's taking notes and he's grading you and he's saying, okay, you should have done that, and it's this big pressure-filled thing. Okay, you should have done that, you know, and it's this big, pressure-filled thing. But, my friend, for that to happen, for that to be your life, there has to be a separation between you and God, and that's not what God wants. What God wants is for you to walk with Him. What God wants is for you to walk with him. What God wants is to minister to you. What God wants is to bring you home to him. What God wants is for you to live as he formed you to live, for you to be as he formed you to be, and that that involves a surrender and that involves a yielding and that involves a submitting, and that involves a faith, that involves a trust, that involves hearing the word of God and believing him and trusting him and casting yourself upon him. Because, my friend, this is true you know whether you're born again or whether you're not born again. You know, let's take a look at this sort of another angle, but keep that in mind you were never formed to be self-sufficient, you were never formed to make it on your own, and we're going to see this in the Gospel of John.

Speaker 1: 14:41

Here let's go to Gospel of John, chapter 1. And let us come down here. Let's start in verse 11. This is speaking of Jesus. He, jesus, came unto his own and his own received him not. But here it is, my friend, as many as received him. To them gave he power to become the sons of God. To them, gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name and then it goes on which were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. My friend, this is looking at salvation. Okay, jesus came and Jesus was born of a virgin and Jesus walked the earth and Jesus bore witness of the truth.

Speaker 1: 15:52

We did not make Jesus come to us. We did not get to a point where we had it all figured out and we were doing great and we were doing well enough for Jesus to come to us. We did not earn God's favor. We did not come up with God's plan of salvation. We did not come up with the cross. We did not come up with the blood. We did not come up with the Word, made flesh walking among us. We didn't figure out the virgin birth. We didn't put it all together. We didn't figure out the virgin birth. We didn't put it all together. We didn't make it happen.

Speaker 1: 16:30

But God gave his only begotten son, hallelujah. God gave his only begotten son. Why? Because God wanted to give him. Why? Because Jesus wanted to be given. Why? Because Jesus wanted to be given. Why was the blood shed? Not because we figured it out and we forced Jesus to shed his blood, and we made Jesus to shed his blood, not because Jesus was obligated to shed his blood, no, because he wanted to lay down his life.

Speaker 1: 17:02

My friend, this is the type of God he is, and this is where a lot of people have trouble with this message, because God is a giving God. God is an Abba Father. God is a provider, god is a protector. Jesus himself, hallelujah, he's our great high priest. This is who he is, and so you've got to understand that God actually wants to take care of you. God actually wants you to be whole.

Speaker 1: 17:41

If you're not in Christ today, if you're yet in your sins, if you're yet living under the wrath of God, god wants you to be out of your sin. God wants you to be out from under his wrath. God wants you to be saved. God wants you to be born again. God wants you to be with him where he is. God wants you to be emotionally healed. God wants you to have a new mind. God wants you to have a living soul. You know, not an old, dead heart, but a living heart. God wants you to have a life. God wants you to have not only a life, but an abundant life and an eternal life. God wants you to have not only just joy, but great joy and a fullness of joy, and a joy unspeakable and full of glory. God wants you to have a peace that the world can't duplicate and the world can't comprehend. God wants you to have a wholeness and a life and a fruitfulness and a fullness and a fulfillment. God wants you to have these things.

Speaker 1: 18:44

And, my friend, today, do you believe that he's not only a living God, but he's also a giving God, and do you believe that he so not only loves the world, but we're talking about you? He so loves you personally. Right now, this moment, this second, even if you're full of sin and full of wrath and full of lust and full of fornication and adultery and drunkenness doesn't matter. God still loves you. And how did he prove it? Jesus showed up. Jesus went to the cross. Book of Romans tells us you know, this is how you know, one way we know that God loves us. He, while we were yet sinners. Jesus did all of this While we were yet sinners. Jesus died for us, while we were yet sinners. He came and he shed his blood and he died for us so that you would have an option that you would have the ability to hear God and to know God and to be out from under your sin and to be forgiven.

Speaker 1: 19:55

And, my friend, that's not something you earn, that's not something you figure out, that's not something that you kind of work hard or you give money or even both, and try to get into the grace of God. No, no, that's not. It Matter of fact. If you try to work your way to God, you are working against God. Let me try it again.

Speaker 1: 20:22

If you try to work your way to God in some way, shape or form, you know there's so many different forms this can take. Some people they're in church every time the doors are open. Some people, they're memorizing the Bible. Some people, they're draining their bank account and they're giving it to the church. Some people, they're doing, you know, all these sacraments. And some people are even, you know, cutting themselves and hurting themselves and starving themselves.

Speaker 1: 20:55

And you know all this crazy stuff and it's all against the will of God. Every last bit of it is against the will of God. Why? God already did everything that is necessary. God already provided everything that is necessary, all the religious work that you could possibly do. It'll never equal the blood, it'll never equal the cross, it'll never equal Jesus hanging on that cross and saying it is finished and commending you know, and giving up the ghost and laying down his life and commending his spirit into the hands of God. It'll never equal the resurrection and the empty tomb and the fact that he is alive and he is risen today and he is speaking to you today.

Speaker 1: 21:53

So put down your religious work, because you've been working against God the whole time. But God wants you to stop that and God wants you to listen to him and God wants you to listen to him and God wants you to know that today, right now, he's a giving God, he's a providing God and he's got some provision for you and he's got a blessing to give you today, and that blessing is the fact that you were never made to be self-sufficient in any way, shape or form, and your salvation is included in that. You were never made to save yourself, you were never made to clean yourself up, you were never made to earn the grace of God. You were never made to do that. And you find yourself today fighting against God.

Speaker 1: 22:51

But the reality, my friend, is this that God loves you and God knows you and God wants you to yield to Him. God wants you to trust Him and it's a matter of you trusting Him, because he's already got your salvation. He's already got the blood, he's already accepted the blood. He's already Jesus took your sin to the cross. Already he died your death and he has risen again and he's saying come to me. He's saying you don't have to earn a thing. Matter of fact. You shouldn't be trying to. Matter of fact.

Speaker 1: 23:26

I say to you, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, that salvation is by grace, through faith, not of works, lest any man should boast. And so God's got the grace of God right here for you. Will you receive him today? Will you trust him today? Will you trust him today and bless God? This is good news, because, bless God, you trust him and you're free. Bless God, you trust him and you're born again. Bless God, you're a new creature. Bless God, you're saved. Bless God, you're filled with the Holy Ghost. Bless God, you're seated with him in heavenly places and nothing will ever separate you from the love of God. Even your flesh will never separate you from the love of God. Even the devil will never separate you from the love of God. Nothing in this world, nothing above this world, nothing beneath this world, nothing of this world will ever separate you from the love of God, and God has given all of this. God has secured this already, god has done this already and it falls to you, and it falls to everyone hearing this message. It falls to you to believe him, to trust him in faith or to walk away.

Speaker 1: 24:51

But, my friend, I hope you trust him in faith, because there's a point for you to listen to this message today. You didn't find it by accident. You didn't find it by accident. You didn't find this message by accident. This message didn't go to you today by accident, but no, because God wanted you to hear this. God wanted to encounter you today and God wanted you to know that there is liberty and freedom in Jesus Christ, from all manner of sin, whether it looks really religious, whether it looks really churchy, whether it looks really Christian or not.

Speaker 1: 25:27

God says that there is freedom and there's liberty. And where the Spirit of God is, where the Spirit of Christ is, there is liberty. And that's not just for everybody, it is for everybody. But I want you to know today, and he wants you to know today, that it is for you personally, and so be free today. Let God provide for you today, because he loves you and this is something that he delights to do. Will you follow him, will you believe him and will you trust him today, and hallelujah and amen.

Speaker 1: 26:02

Thank you so much for being here, thank you for being a part of the program, for supporting the program. Real blessing to be in so many different nations around the world, so many different cultures, so many different languages, so many different languages, so many different people and so much going on, and we want to know how to pray for you today. We want to know how to minister to you today. So again, reach out to us. Redeemingthelost at icloudcom. I hope this message has found you and there's been a glorious encounter with God today and I hope this has been a blessing to you. Continue to share these, continue to help us reach so many more nations around the world with the gospel, with the word of God in these last days, and thank you again so much.

Speaker 1: 26:55

We're a ministry of Grace Baptist Tabernacle. I need to tell you that at the end of the program today, grace Baptist Tabernacle, you can find us at gbtministriescom, and I want you to know even if you're really really far away. And the Lord's saying you know, go and be a part of this church, go and meet us in person. I want you to know that you're welcome. I want you to know that you're welcome, I want you to know that you're expected and I want you to know that we're looking forward to meeting you. You can find the address and the service times and service locations at gbtministriescom. And thank you again for being part of the program today, and may the Lord continue to richly bless us. Amen.