You Ah hoo ooo. Hope. Oh, oh, oh. Oh. Hi.
Just uh taking a little break here and doing a little gameplay, I guess. And you know, if you're a connoisseur of games, old games, like, oh wow, 45-year-old games. What you just heard me playing was a recreation on my phone of the old Space Invaders. You know, Space Invaders, Space Invaders, believe it or not, was inducted into the world video game. Game Hall of Fame back in 2016.
And And I first came across it in an arcade. What's an arcade?
Well, it's a place, it's a storefront you went into. It had a whole bunch of, you know, like refrigerator-sized games. Not coming to you yet, and you put quarters in them and you play the games.
Well, the Space Invaders Space Invaders wa was really Really innovative. It was not a pinball. In fact, it was next to pinball machines, and you'd play it, and it had such a unique gameplay, and it was totally electronic. There was no rolling balls, there wasn't anything else. It was about these space invader guys who were trying to come down and take over the earth.
And in the arcade version, it was so crude, it was actually.
Well, this won't mean anything to you, but it was executed on a microprocessor, an Intel 8080, which is one of the first commercial processors, microprocessors that Intel ever made. And it was very crude, an 8-bit processor. And a Japanese engineer by the name of Tomahiro Nishikado was the guy who invented it. And it took so much support hardware. That one of its bugs, which was the fact that when there were a lot of space invaders on the screen, sort of, you know, sort of like this, it moved slowly, and not because it was a game thing, but because.
The hardware just couldn't update the position of that many invaders on the screen, so it went slowly. And then as you killed more space invaders, you got a little faster and a little faster because the hardware required it, because you couldn't make it go any faster. And that actually gave you this tempo that as you got near the end of the game, you got crazy and they were going so fast you couldn't shoot them down. In fact, the arcade version had another interesting thing. It was in black and white.
But to make it look color, What they did was they put colored tape over regions of the gameplay.
So, were those bunkers where they had a different color tape, where you were at the bottom, you had a different color tape, and there was a different color tape that covered the entire top of the thing. Where the invaders were.
So it was really, it was pretty cheap. It was a black and white, but made color with tape, which is a fascinating thing. Space Invaders in the Arcade came out in 1978.
So that's a while ago. But two years later, amazingly, Atari came out with a home version of it in the Atari 2600. And here's a picture of it as it looks in a museum today. I mean, this is 45 years ago that this game was doing its stuff. And I had one of these.
Dorothy bought me one of these, I think in 1980. And I had one. It was subsequently stolen out of our house in California. Ooh, sadness But it had all these cartridges, and the cartridges allowed you to play different games. Not only, well, you know, it started off actually with Breakout, which was a really Classic game of breaking out a wall with a bouncing ball.
But, like these cartridges, we're talking about. Um We're talking about Asteroids, which was a great game. Space Invaders, Missile Command, Frogger. But I really loved Space Invaders. It was.
It was just the neatest thing ever. And it gave me a real sense of accomplishment, a real sense of power of doing something and vanquishing these guys. And if they killed me, at least on the arcade game, I think you got three lives.
So he'd kill you, but then you'd come back to life and you keep killing them. And so it also gave you a sense of. invincibility, I suppose. And this is why we're talking today about this is because these games even back then and then more so now give you a sense of accomplishment that's I won't say false, but it's shallow. You're not really getting anything done.
It gives you a power that you don't really have, at least the illusion of that. And with the advent today of things like virtual reality, so you can do games play with a virtual reality set on instead, it really gives you the illusion that you're accomplishing something great and that you have power that far exceeds your human powers. And that's an amazing thing. Give you a sense of control. That's beyond your human abilities.
It gives you a sense of not only power, but really of ability. This ability to do things. In newer games today, you see what I'm talking about: the ability to jump and to run and to fight and to do so many things that you really can't do on your own. Or, yeah, or combat itself, even. I mean, it gives you this illusion of having this power that you don't really have.
And in a sense, that kind of strokes your ego a bit. And worst off, I think, is that especially the newer games give you a sense of invulnerability. Invulnerability, like I can't die, even if I make mistakes. I'm not going to die. These games do have a seduction on the backside of just being on the front end very entertaining.
I love Space Invaders. But it didn't warp my sense of reality and my sense of relationship with God or to the real world. But with time these games as they mature Through the internet and through what we have in our pockets, like these. They're going to tend to seduce us into thinking that We are the power. You know, the fundamental temptation in the Garden of Eden with the serpent and with Eve.
was this idea that God has kept you limited So you won't become like him. Did he say you'd really die? He's just trying to keep you out of the context of, you know. Of divine beings, basically. And once you eat of this fruit, you'll join the club with him.
It was really a power grab, literally a power grab. There's a sense of I'm more than just what I am. Instead of rightly, God is my creator and I'm the creation. And these games tend to tend to seduce you in the same direction. Give you a sense of control.
A sense of power. A sense of what I can do, or maybe what I could do if, given the similar circumstances in this VR game I'm playing. Maybe I'm more than I think that I am. I can accomplish more than I can, I'm limited to do right now. And so you're constantly being seduced into the idea that you have power.
You have control. You're on top of things. But the accomplishments you make and the skills that you build. have no connection to reality whatsoever Ever. What I want to say in this seduction, as we talk about the pocket messiah, is that the pocket messiah not only seduces you away from God.
and into what the virtual world can do. through the connection that you have through your phone. But it also tends to seduce you into thinking that you yourself have the power.
So, what I want us to focus on right now is a different perspective. on power I don't want to talk so much about my power and my abilities and my control over things. What I really want to focus on is God's power. What is he capable of? Not what am I increasingly capable of, or believing that in a fantasy sense I'm capable of.
How about God's power? Because when you look at that, Your position in the universe tends to become humbled. and real. It's all about what God can do. Not what you can do.
When I was a kid, John F. Kennedy was president, and probably the most quoted and famous thing he ever said in public was, ask not what your country can do for you, but ask what you can do for your country. We're in a similar sense here. Ask What we got to do is flip it though. We have to say ask not what you can do.
Ask what God can do. what God can do. His power is preeminent. His power is the most important. And as we continue to Review his power.
Toward us. Then our sense of I don't know, infatuation with our own growing sense of ability tends to wane.
So let's take a look. At God's power, and that'll kind of settle us back in the universe of reality.
So of course there's no dispute amongst us about the fact that God is powerful. He definitely is. I mean, you roll the story all the way back to the beginning of creation. And when you read the Genesis 1 account, He makes everything out of nothing. In fact, he makes everything just by speaking it into existence.
That's pretty powerful. Even Hebrews 11, verse 1, verse 1, 2, and 3, I mean, it talks about faith, but it tells us that by faith we understand that even in the case of creation, even in the case of creation, by faith we understand that God made everything. Out of nothing. He's the source then. He's the source.
Of everything.
Well, that's incredible power, and we don't dispute that. But let's just review some stories. Let's review some biblical passages that really renew our sense of that power. If you go all the way back into Genesis, we were talking a second ago, Genesis 1. If we go to Genesis 18, we're squarely in the part of Genesis where we're talking about the life of Abram and Sarah, who became Abraham and Sarah.
Abram and Sarah, and the promise that they would have a child.
Now, they're both extremely old. I mean, way over the top old.
So, the idea that a whole nation would issue from their kids, and that, well, or even worse, that the first kid would show up. How is this possible? How can you have a whole nation come from a couple who are insanely old and should, by all rights, be incapable of having kids? How can a whole nation of people come from that whose count eventually will be greater than the stars in heaven? How is that possible?
So From a realistic perspective, Uh Sarah doubted that.
So, let me just read for you a little bit in that whole story about the promise for this child. But come on, how does this work?
So, Genesis 18:9, I've got it in front of me here. I'll read it for you. Genesis 18:9, they said to him, Where's Sarah, your wife? And he said, Well, she's in the tent.
So the Lord said, I'll surely return to you about this time next year, and Sarah, your wife, will have a son. And Sarah was listening at the tent door behind him.
Now, Abraham and Sarah were old. They were old, advanced in years. The way of women had ceased to be with Sarah.
So Sarah laughed to herself, saying, After I am worn out and my Lord is old, shall I have pleasure? That is the pleasure of a child? And then the LORD said to Abraham, Why why did Sarah laugh? Why did she laugh and say, shall I indeed bear a child that that now that I'm old? And then he says, Is anything too hard for the Lord?
Anything? Is anything Too hard for the Lord? We're talking about the Creator. At the appointed time, I shall return to you about this time next year, and Sarah shall have a son. Is anything too hard for the Lord?
Well, of course not. Great rhetorical question. But in the Hebrew, when you look at what that phrase says, anything too hard for the Lord, that phrase literally in Hebrew says, is any word of God void of power? Is any word of God void of power? And of course, when we think about the creation account where the universe came into existence, and when he spoke it, he can speak this into existence too.
Is any word of God void of power? That's the kind of God we have. That's the kind of God who doesn't have to wrestle or. or exert himself difficult ways to find To accomplish things, he just speaks them and they happen.
Now, that's power. That's power. If we fast forward in the New Testament with Mary and Joseph before Jesus is born, And Mary is with Gabriel, and Gabriel's announcing the fact: you know, you're going to have this baby.
Well, her problem isn't old age. Her problem is. She's not married and she has not had relations with Joseph. And so she s she objects very clearly, just like what what Sarah does back in Genesis 18, she objects and she says, Well, now wait a second, I don't think this is possible. I mean, how does this work?
Right? I understand the way of the birds and the bees, but How is this possible?
So we pick up the story in Luke 1, and it's great.
So Mary says to the angel, so How will this be, since I'm a virgin? And the angel answered her and said, Well Here you go. The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. Therefore, The child to be born will be called holy, the Son of God. And behold, your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son.
And this is her sixth month with her, who was called Baron. Just like Sarah in Genesis 18. And then Gabriel caps it off with the phrase of all phrases. for nothing will be impossible with God. Or to requote Genesis 18, is any word of God void of power?
Power.
So Mary, in a uh oh, I think that's a A touchingly human, naive kind of way, just says, I don't know how this can work. I understand where babies come from. And I don't get this.
Well, your relative Elizabeth, she's old and she's already pregnant as well. She's six months along. And And oh by the way. Nothing's impossible with God. That's the power of God.
Nothing is impossible with God. I mean, you can't even conceive of the things that God can do. His power is so limitless. This is the power we should concentrate on. You know, I guess wouldn't it be great to have a video game where God intercedes over and over again doing impossible things, rather than you constantly seeing if you can make things better by going across the screen and punching buttons?
God's power. God's power. It's God's power I rely on, not on my feeble abilities to do something like this. Another interesting thing, during the ministry of Jesus. Um The apostles have a moment with Jesus where they're talking about rich people and the fact that it's.
It's tough for rich people to enter the kingdom of God. Remember this? It's quoted in the Gospels. Yeah. And then Jesus says a remarkable thing, like an impossible thing.
He says, and I'm going to quote out of the Mark passage in Mark 10:25. Jesus says, you know, it's easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle. than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God. No, no, no. That's an impossible metaphor.
So, I mean, he says that straight up. It's great. He says, Let me just amplify the difficulty of the power problems that you have. Listen to this. This is the metaphor, and this is even understating the powerlessness that you have as a human being.
It's easier for a camel. to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God. And you hear that metaphor and you go, well, okay, I get that. That's clearly impossible.
So it says in verse 26 of Mark 10. They were exceedingly astonished. They were exceedingly astonished. And right there, I'll just put a little parenthetical thought. Because the Jewish mindset at the time was that the law of Moses, you do the law of Moses, if you do the law of Moses, with a humble heart and great intent.
Probably not perfectly, but if you do it, then you'll get somewhere in the kingdom of God, right? If you obey the laws, if you obey the laws, it'll earn you something in the kingdom of God. But what Jesus is saying is that no No. Camel through the eye of a needle. That's tough.
That's tough. So they're exceedingly astonished because this teaching is so counter everything they've heard from their rabbis about self-effort and self-power. and self-actualization. making that power do things. It's so against that.
They were just exceedingly astonished because it sounds like from the metaphor with the camel and the eye of the needle. that no one's going to the kingdom of God. That's what it sounds like.
So twenty-six, they were exceedingly astonished, and they said to him, Well then Then Who can be saved? Who? can be saved. And they realize that we're not just talking about the rich man context, we're talking about the everybody context. Then, who can be saved?
And Jesus looked at him And he said Well, With man, it is impossible. With man, It is impossible. But not with God. For all things are possible. with God.
With man, it is impossible. That's what I'm trying to get across to you. With man, it is impossible. But not with God, for all things are possible with God. All things.
Do you hear the echoes of Genesis 18 with Sarah? Do you hear the echoes with Mary in Luke 1? All through this, as God announces his intent and what he can do and will do on our behalf, we are gobsmacked by. And he says, Well, But you know, there's nothing that I cannot do. Is any word of God void of power?
Power.
Any Hmm. And then when I go into some of Paul's letters. He he's trying to he's trying to get us to understand. the greatness of the power of God on our behalf. Let me just read you something from a couple of his letters.
So his letter to the church in Corinth, his first letter in specific. In the opening breath, the first chapter of it, he He talks about the power of God, but the amazing thing isn't about God's creative power and speaking things into existence. But the astonishing power of the cross and what Christ did as a sacrifice on that cross. And the power that rippled through the universe and into our lives personally and individually as well.
Now that's power. That's power. And uh You know, you can hear in the back of Paul's voice that maybe there was ridicule of him in the places he'd go where he'd talk about the importance of the cross and what happened there. And You know, and of course, that happens today. People, we talk about the cross, and people say, well, you're so hung up on the cross.
You got a cross hanging around your neck. This is asked of a person who works in Mormon ministry, I know. You've got a cross hanging around your neck. I mean, that's just a tool of execution.
So answer me this. If Jesus had been killed with, say, like a shotgun, Would you be wearing a shotgun around your neck? And this person said, Yes, absolutely. Because it's not the tool of death that matters, it's the sacrifice that was made in that place.
So, this is the point that Paul's trying to make in his opening letter to the Corinth church. And so, let me just read it for you. It's in 1 Corinthians 1, and I'll start in verse 22. He says, you know, the Jews demand signs, and the Greeks seek wisdom. But we preach Christ crucified.
The Jews demand signs like miracles, Greeks seek wisdom. They they you know, Athens is always about profoundly insightful, logical wisdom.
Someone could say something, they go, It had merit on its own. The Jews seek signs The Greeks seek wisdom. But we Preach. Christ. crucified, which sounds like Jesus failed.
It sounds like a weakness. I mean, power would imply that Jesus would resist the cross and overwhelm everything. But we preach Christ crucified. Now it's a stumbling block, he goes on to Jews. It's a folly.
to Gentiles? But to those who are called, to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ The Power of God. Christ crucified, the power of God and Thinking of the Greeks, the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than men. And the weakness of God, that is dying on the cross, the weakness of God is stronger than men.
That's a redefinition of power. The cross itself, dying on our behalf. If you think about the principalities and powers of evil that were overthrown in that single moment, that was clearly, easily. The most powerful. Dramatic display of power from heaven ever in the entire universe, even more so than creation itself.
In one fell swoop on the cross, that apparent moment of tragic weakness. The greatest powers in the universe that are hidden to our eyes fell. And we're defeated. You know, he mentioned To appease the Greeks who are reading this as well, that the cross is not only. Is not only an ironic display of power in weakness, but It's an extraordinary demonstration of wisdom.
wisdom. And next time we'll have our last chat like this, and we'll talk about that very thing: wisdom. Um So hold on to that until we get there. One more passage from Paul about power, though, is Ephesians. And this is just, this makes it so very personal towards us, the power of God.
The power of God is not just impersonal in the creation of the universe. But it becomes very personal. On the sacrifice on the cross, very personal to each one of us. And this is the point that Paul's making to the Ephesian church as well in his opening chapter. Ah, he says this so well.
And in chapter 1 of Ephesians, he starts off by encouraging them by saying, You know, I'm praying for you all the time. I'm praying for you. Um What do I pray for you? Let me tell you what I'm praying for you. And this is where the power comes out.
He says in chapter 1, verse 16 of Ephesians, he says, You know, I don't cease to give thanks for you, remembering you and my prayers. He thanks God for them. And remembering you in my prayers, that what?
Well, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the spirit of wisdom.
Okay, we're going to hit that next time. Give you the spirit of wisdom. and of revelation in the knowledge of him. Having having the eyes of your Heart. enlightened that you may know three things.
that you may know Number one, the hope. That you may know the hope to which he's called you. What can you expect? What can you look forward to? They might know the hope to which he's called you.
Number two.
Okay. that you might know The riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, what you will inherit when you die, and because Jesus died, what's coming to you, the riches of that, the riches of this glorious inheritance of the saints, and third and last, and here we go, drum roll. Can I get a drum roll? Drum roll number three. Verse 19, and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe?
I better read that again. And what Is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe. Ugh. Wow Well what is that, power?
Well, I stopped short. And what is the immeasurable greatness of the power toward us who believe according to the working of his great might? that He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at the right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and all authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named not only in this age, but also in the one to come.
Now that's powerful. power. And don't forget how he says it. the immeasurable Greatness of the power. toward us who Believe.
That he worked. In Christ. By raising him from the dead. Wow. And then seated him in the heavenlies at the right hand.
That's power. So, when we talk about what we think we can accomplish in a virtual realm. through the internet on our phones. I mean we think we're getting places. We think we have some traction in terms of our own power and control and abilities.
There will be an inevitable seduction of elevation of your sense of your own power, of your own accomplishment. But it's all fake, it's all bogus. You know, 45 years after the fact, I do not walk around and remind people. how well I could play Space Invaders. And in eternity, We won't walk around telling people how well we did on World of Warcraft.
or any other games. But we will do this. We will glory in the power of God. And how is manifest, it was manifest in so many ways, a manifold of ways in our lives, but principally, principally on the cross. God's power was manifest in dying for us.
And that is a power that is toward us who believe for our benefit. And that's the power we should glory in on a daily basis. and not gloat about how good we are shooting down space invaders.
Okay, we'll come back next time. And like I prefigured for you, we're going to talk about wisdom, and that'll be the last in our series. Can this device actually provide wisdom? I would never have said this, maybe even five years ago. But with the advent of artificial intelligence, AI, That will be the seduction.
So we'll see you next time here.
