Idiom: pull strings (used idiomatically: no)
You know very often , in fact usually the best way of working things out is to go right back to the beginning is n't it , it , to start off at square one and the trouble is sometimes we want to start in the middle , we want to pick it up where we think we can come in and it does n't work that way , we 've got to go right back to the beginning , and what is it at the beginning , well we look to see how God , what God 's plan and his purpose for us is , how God made us , it tells us there in the book of Genesis in the first chapter in verse twenty seven , that God created us to be like himself and you 've got to look in the mirror and I 've got to look in the mirror , not just the glass mirror on the wall , but into the mirror of ourselves and realise we do n't have to be intellectuals , we do n't have to be astute observers , but even the very cursory of glances will show to us that were nothing like it , if God made you and me to be in his image , then something has gone wrong , but that 's how we started , that is how he made us and in making us to be like himself that does something tremendous because it gives to men and women , it gives to human kind a status and a responsibility in creation , he did not make you and me like the animals , no matter how wonderful their abilities are , they 've got tremendous instincts , they 've got tremendous homing instincts , how that tiny bird weighing , weighing less than an ounce can fly thousands and thousands of miles , for the first time and come back , six , nine months later to the very spot where it was hatched out of an nest , now you ca n't do it , I ca n't do it , but for all wonders that God has put into the , into his , to his creative to his , in , in his creation , in animals , in birds and in other creatures , he has done something that marks you and I humanity out above and beyond all his others creation , he has given to us a status and a responsibility he never made any thing else in his image , but he made you to be created in his image and with that there 's that status , were not just a more intelligent animal , were not just something else that God made even , but were that , that peak of his creative genius , the peak of it , the very pinnacle of it , not because of what we are , but because of the image , the pattern that he was using , his own self , created us in his image , so that gave us status but it gives us responsibility . Only see one way in which we are like God is in having moral and spiritual capacities no other creature has moral and spiritual capacities , they do not of the potential to worship , they do not of a code er , er , of moral laws , they 're not governed by that , it 's a case of , of the , might makes right , it 's a case of the strongest the one that survives and the weakest goes to the wall you 've only got to look er at a litter of pups and the last one is the one that 's pushed to the back every time is n't it , there 's no moral law there , those pups and the , and the bitch does n't er work out , that because that one is weaker it should be getting more , more nourishment , it should be cared for better , it does n't work like that in any thing else , but God has placed within humanity a moral responsibility and his place within as a spiritual capacity , were more than just animals , were created in his image , so God created us , capable of knowing him and growing to be like him and in his original creation they 're in need of , the , the , the highlight of it was when he came down and communicated and talked with Adam and Eve there in the garden and shared his heart with them and there was this perfect commune between God the creator and man his creation , he never did it to any animal , he did n't go and talk to the trees and the plants perfect though they were , he never looked on any of the other creatures that he had made , wonderful though they may be , beautiful in their colouring , and go and talk with them , but he talks with Adam and he shares his heart with him his purpose is that Adam should communicate with him and walk with him and has fellowship with him , growing to be like him , but you see even though God created us like that , he did n't create us as puppets , it was n't God up in heaven pulling the strings and Adam did that and Eve did this and that was how it were , God is not a puppeteer and he made as capable of choosing good and evil , he gave us moral choices , because he made us his moral beings and so we could choose to do this and not to do that , we could choose to , to do this and to leave the other undone . Let me just it 's nothing special , it 's only a circle , but if you were to take that for a , as , as an example if you like as a picture of God 's purposes for us , you see the circle is , is , geometrical it 's , it 's , it 's perfect , there is nothing that is odd about it , there is nothing er , there 's no difference about it , it is perfect and that was God 's purpose and God 's plan for you and for me , that our , that our time , our being should be perfect in , in harmony with him , you think of all the things in your life personally , and then think of all the things in the , in the life of your com of our community , those things that mar it , those things that spoil it , those things that stop today be the perfect day for you that 's not God 's purpose for you they 've all come as a product , a direct result of sin , it was n't how God intended it , it was n't how God made it , his plan , his purpose for you and for me was to live and to dwell together with him in perfect harmony for ever , and there representing that , but you know and I know that it did n't stay like that , I do n't know how long , but it did n't stay like it for very long because sin crept in , that circle was marred , it was twisted , that intermit original fellowship with God was broken , let me read you a verse there in Genesis chapter three and verse eight , it 's , it 's Adam and Eve it says they heard the sound of the lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the lord God among the trees of the garden , for the first time since Adam had first been created they hide from God , they hear him coming , it 's the time when God will come , and they hear him that were walking through the garden using picture language , and they go and hide , they 're ashamed to see him , they do n't want to look upon him , something has happened that perfect circle has been marred , what it was like yesterday , things are different now , there 's that unclean feeling , there 's that guilt complex , we 've done it wrong , we 've failed to keep what God 's said , we 've broken the rules and when you break the rules , it 's not just the rules that are broken is it , you know it and I know it , in relationships , it 's not just the rules that get broken , it 's the relationship is marred .