Genesis 1:26-27; Colossians 3:9; John 1:14; II Cor. 4:6; Titus 3:1-7
October 19, 2025
preached by Pastor Doug Cooper
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Time of Reflection Quotations

“What a piece of work is a man! How noble in reason, how infinite in faculty! In form and moving, how express and admirable! In action, how like an angel, in apprehension, how like a god!”

~ an excerpt from Shakespear’s Hamlet

“When man has no God-given end, he has no stable or distinct nature. In killing God, we kill man.”

~ Carl R. Trueman (1967-present), English professor and author

“For we were the purpose of [Christ’s] embodiment, and for our salvation he so loved human beings as to come to be and appear in a human body.” “He became what we are so that he might make us what he is.”

~ Athanasius of Alexandria (c.296-373), On the Incarnation

“What [others] most need is to see in you a reflection of what God is like and of the transforming power of the Gospel. Your life can create hunger and thirst for God in others’ lives and can be a powerful instrument in the hand of the Holy Spirit to draw their hearts to Christ.” ~ Nancy Leigh DeMoss (1958-present), American author & speaker “[P]erhaps above all else, Christianity brought a new conception of humanity to a world saturated with capricious cruelty and the vicarious love of death…. [W]hat Christianity gave to its converts was nothing less than their humanity.”

~ Rodney Stark (1934-2022), Professor of Sociology & Comparative Religion

“We who formerly treasured money and possessions more than anything else now hand over everything we have to a treasury for all and share it with everyone who needs it. We who formerly hated and murdered one another now live together and share the same table. We pray for our enemies and try to win those who hate us.”

~ Justin the Martyr (100 AD–165 AD), early Christian theologian

Sermon Passage

Genesis 1:26-27; Colossians 3:9; John 1:14; II Cor. 4:6; Titus 3:1-7 (ESV)

Genesis 1

²⁶ Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” ²⁷ So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.

Colossians 3

⁹ Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices ¹⁰ and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator. ¹¹ Here there is not Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free; but Christ is all, and in all.

John 1

¹⁴ And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.

II Corinthians 4

⁶ For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

Titus 3

¹ Remind them to be submissive to rulers and authorities, to be obedient, to be ready for every good work, ² to speak evil of no one, to avoid quarreling, to be gentle, and to show perfect courtesy toward all people. ³ For we ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, led astray, slaves to various passions and pleasures, passing our days in malice and envy, hated by others and hating one another. ⁴ But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, ⁵ he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, ⁶ whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, ⁷ so that being justified by his grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.