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Amen. So Genesis chapter 1, of course, the creation story there. Now probably funny, just kind of a funny side note about Genesis chapter 1. Ever since I was a little kid, even before, well before I was saved, I always wondered what was in the Bible. You know, I always wondered, you know, here's the Bible. It seems so complicated. It's such a big book. So I tried to read the Bible several times. So probably the chapter that I have read in my life the most is Genesis chapter 1, because you start reading in Genesis chapter 1, and then you kind of slowly like fizzle out because nothing really makes sense, like especially if you're a little kid and you're not saved. So it's important to understand the creation story. And in this series that we're looking at why God gave us, we're kind of looking at some of the things that God created and looking at why God created those things. So tonight, we're going to look at verse number 11 of Genesis chapter 1, the third day we're looking at, and we're going to look at why God gave us plants, why God gave us plants and trees and all these different things that the Bible talks about. Look at Genesis chapter 1 and verse number 11. The Bible says, And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after its kind, whose seed is in itself upon the earth. And it was so. And the earth brought forth grass and herb yielding seed after its kind and the tree yielding fruit, whose seed was in itself after his kind. And God saw that it was good. So why did God put plants on the earth? Why did God give us these plants, these herbs, these trees, all these things that bear fruit? The first one is very obvious. The first reason it's the same reason that God gave us the animals is because for food. Now, if we look at Genesis chapter 1, just look at verse number 30, you can see that God talks about the food right away of the plants. And remember, before Genesis chapter 9, the herbs and the plants were food for everybody. Okay? And that was the only food for animals and for man. Look at verse number 30, and it says, And to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to everything that creepeth upon the earth wherein there is life, I have given every green herb for meat, and it was so. So obviously, you know, if you look at Genesis chapter 9 and verse number 3, I can just read it for you. But the Bible says, Every moving thing that liveth shall be meat for you. This is where God, as we looked at a couple weeks ago, God changed the rules for us. Now we could eat animals. And then it says, Even as the green herb have I given you all things. So the idea of us eating fruits and herbs and plants did not change in Genesis chapter 9. It was just the addition of animals being able to be eaten at that point. So basically, you turn to Acts chapter 14. Basically, the first reason that we can obviously just see right in front of us, and the most important reason is for our food. You know, we are to grow plants and trees and fruits and vegetables to eat. Look at Acts chapter 14 and verse number 17. Acts chapter 14 and verse number 17. The Bible reads, Nevertheless, he left not himself without witness, and that he did good and gave us rain from heaven and fruitful seasons, filling our hearts with food and gladness. So first of all, you know, we are to eat plants and the fruit of trees and all these things. God gave it for us. Now it's interesting that when you look at the things that God has given us to eat versus the things that we make ourselves to eat, one is much better. I mean, if you look at just the idea of fruit versus I mean, what is the sweet thing that God has given us to eat? It's fruit. You know, we never had so much fruit. We were talking about this with somebody just last week. But growing up in North Dakota, fruit was kind of a rare thing. I mean, you would have apples, you would have oranges available to you. But there was always like this big special event where like a fruit truck would come to a town near us. Like when I say a town near us, I mean, like 60 miles away, or, you know, 30 miles away. A fruit truck would come once or twice a year. And they would bring things like cherries, things like tomatoes, all these things that we just didn't really have readily available to us in that part of the country. But that is kind of God's candy that he's given us, fruit. And it's a sweet thing. It tastes good, but it's also very good for us. Now, if you look at actual candy that we make, the interesting thing about it is if you get used to eating candy, you will not like fruit. And I think that that's kind of a big problem, especially in the United States. We're so used to sugar. We're so used to just like putting so much sugar in things that you tend to not want to eat, you know, the nature's candy, God's candy that he gave us, which is fruit. All right. But we just have to remember that trees, the fruits, the vegetables, these things were given to us by God. And that's why they're always better for us. I mean, I'm kind of getting more and more like this the older I get, but I think that, you know, the closer food is to its natural state, the better it is for you, just because of the fact that, you know, God's design is perfect. God's design is perfect. And hopefully, you know, that's one thing that we see when we go through this whole sermon series on just all the different things that God has given us. We're going to see how God didn't just give us plants. He didn't just give us animals. We're going to see how like these things like fit together so perfectly in the earth. So he's given us fruits, vegetables. This is why, you know, somebody once told me one time this wasn't a Christian person, but somebody once told me one time that you should never eat anything out of a cardboard box. And that's actually biblical advice when it comes to, you know, just the natural things that God has provided, because what he was saying was, you know, don't eat things that have been heavily processed, things that have been, you know, they've been designed by some food company somewhere, and they've had all kinds of unnatural things added to them. It's always best to stick with God's solution. It's always best to stick with things that God has given us to eat. Fruits, vegetables, nuts, all these different things are very good for us. And that's, you know, that's a blessing living in California, because I have never seen a place that has so much natural food as California. Turn to Ezekiel chapter 47. Turn to Ezekiel chapter 47. So that is an obvious one, that God gave us plants. He gave us trees. He gave us fruit. He gave us these things to eat for food for us. And that hasn't changed from Genesis chapter 1, and that won't change until the end of the world as we know it. Look at Ezekiel chapter 47. Look at Ezekiel chapter 47, and look at verse number 12 of Ezekiel chapter 47. The Bible says, and by the river upon the bank thereof on this side and on that side grow all trees for meat, we just talked about that, whose leaf shall not fade. I like that part in the Bible. Here's an interesting thing, and we're not going to get into that quite yet, but notice how, notice how the Bible just explains that, and I was explaining this to my wife the other day, maybe this is something that's amazing to me only and nobody else, but it's interesting that the sun fades everything. You can't set anything in the sun without it being ruined. You can come up with the toughest plastic that we can find. You take your car that's metal that has the best paint job that you could ever find in the modern world, and you set that thing out in the sun for years and years and years, and that sun is just going to destroy that paint. It's going to destroy whatever surface it touches. It's going to destroy every plastic. I mean, have you ever touched a piece of plastic that's been sitting out in the sun for just like a year? It just cracks like nothing. The sun and the rays of the sun, it literally, the things that man makes, it literally destroys it. We could set one of these chairs out in the sun and within just a couple of months, these chairs would be completely faded, completely just torn up from the sun, but notice the thing that God created is not affected by the sun, not even in a negative way. Not only that, we'll look at in just a few minutes, the sun actually helps this thing that God created, whose leaf shall not fade, he says in Ezekiel Chapter 47, but that's just an aside. Neither shall the fruit thereof be consumed. It shall bring forth new fruit according to his months, still talking about things that we eat, because the waters they issued, because their waters they issued out of the sanctuary and the fruit thereof shall be for meat and the leaf thereof for what? For medicine. So here's another thing that the plants have, they provide for us. Turn to Revelation Chapter 22. Plants are great for healing, for medicine. God has provided all sorts of different plants and herbs, and I'm not going to try to even come up with a list of all the plants and herbs. You can buy books that are that thick on natural remedies, on things that, you know, that will heal you, that are just grown in the earth, that are just plants. All right, so turn to look at Revelation Chapter 22 and look at verse number two. The Bible says in the midst of the street of it and in either side of the river there was a tree of life which bear 12 manner of fruits. It's talking about, you know, the New Jerusalem, which bear 12 manner of fruits and yielded her fruit every month and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nation. So, I mean, that, you know, may have a spiritual application as well, but the point is, is another purpose of plants is literally for healing. Okay, many remedies that we probably, many remedies we probably haven't even discovered yet. I just went and looked up a couple natural remedies. Turn to Isaiah Chapter 38. Turn to Isaiah Chapter 38, but I found an article. The most recent one I could find was an article that was a huge scientific study from 2017, just, I mean, just five, six years ago on the power of fig enzymes to help fight infections. So this is, this article was talking about this big study that was done and they found that this certain enzyme in the fig would help to actually fight infections, and not only any infections, but staph infections. Now, like, just these staph infections have just become, like, more and more and more powerful it seems like over the last maybe 10 or 15 years. So, you know, all these antibiotics, you know, they're not as, you know, maybe we're overusing them or whatever you want to call it, but, you know, they're looking for constantly new ways to fight staph infections. I mean, staph infections you could pick up from just, like, a floor, a surface, anything, and you could get one of these staph infections, but it was talking about how they discovered that fig enzyme would help fight staph infections and actually heal wounds in this article from 2017. Now look at Isaiah Chapter 38 and look at verse 21. This is just, this is just one example. I am sure there are so many examples that God doesn't give us in the Bible where there are plants and fruits and things that will heal, things that we don't even know about yet. Look at Isaiah 38 verse 21. For Isaiah had said, let them take lump of figs and lay it for a plaster upon the boil and he shall recover. So here, I mean, the Bible is saying, it's super interesting, he's saying, like, take a plaster of figs, like, mash up the figs and put them over this sore and it will help the sore heal. And then, you know, science just discovered this in 2017, that figs have, like, this infection fighting, this, you know, antibiotic type power. Look at Genesis Chapter 43. So we're talking about medicines, plants used for medicine. I mean, other antibiotic type foods that people know about are honey. You say, well, honey, that's from animals. Yeah, but plants, honey is an interesting thing where the animal world and the plant world kind of come together to form this substance of honey. You know, the bees obviously are used to pollinate the plants themselves, to fertilize the plants and then honey is formed from the bees. Garlic is another one. Garlic has antibiotic properties to it and also myrrh. Myrrh is all over the Bible. Look at Genesis Chapter 43 and verse number 11. So here Jacob is talking about what they should bring back to Joseph. Remember, Jacob is in Egypt or he's not in Egypt, but Joseph is in Egypt. There's a terrible famine and they want to go and they want to bring, they found Joseph as the second in command in Egypt and they want to bring some gifts to Joseph and look what they bring. It says, if it must, and their father Israel said unto them, Israel meaning Jacob, if it must be so now, do this, take of the best fruits in the land in your vessels and carry down the man a present, a little balm, a little honey, spices, myrrh, nuts and almonds. So he's saying he wants to bring them the nicest, the best things he can bring them and what does he bring them? He brings them this balm, we don't really know exactly what that is, but a little honey, spices, myrrh, all these probably expensive things that have all these different things that uses other than just food. And then of course he says nuts and almonds. So he's kind of pushing this expensive gift here, you know, pushing this idea of health and giving some healthy expensive things to Joseph. Turn to Esther Chapter 2. That's one thing, you know, about California that I really appreciate is just, I mean, my, you know, my parents and people that I grew up with, they said California is the land of fruits and nuts is what they would always say. And look, it's true. Literally, it's true. I've never seen a place with so much fruit, with so many nuts, with so many naturally grown foods in my entire life. And it's just, it's a real blessing because there's real health benefits to that. Look at Esther Chapter 2 and verse number 12. Now I'm not condoning, you know, the way this king is operating here, but look at what the Bible says, talking about, more about myrrh and more about, you know, this idea of just, you know, purifying, having antibiotic type properties. Now when every maid's turn was come to go into king Asaherus, after that she had been, she had been 12 months according to the manner of women, for so were the days of their purifications accomplished, to wit six months with oil of myrrh and six months with sweet odors and with other things for the purifying of women. Just making sure everybody's healthy and all these types of things. So we see that, you know, there's many different health benefits to, you know, just sticking with God's food that he's given us, sticking with, you know, medicines that are a natural. We should always, you know, you should always try, like I'm not saying that there's not a place for modern medicine. I mean, not what I'm saying at all, but we should always try the natural things at first. See the problem, the problem that we have today with things being just so easily available to us is that we'll just live a completely unhealthy lifestyle and then when we have health problems, we'll just want to take some chemical pill to stop our health problems. Whereas if we would just stick to what God has designed for us, we would have a lot less health problems that, you know, than we do. I can't believe that someone in the government from the beginning of the COVID-19 mess didn't tell people like two and a half, three years ago, hey, be healthier. Hey, don't be, you know, don't be morbidly obese. You know, they didn't come out and just say like, eat natural foods, eat your vitamins, make sure you're eating fruits and vegetables, you know, getting your vitamin C, vitamin D, vitamin A, all your zinc, all these things, showing people what to eat to get those things naturally. Nobody was doing that. It was just, you know, put a mask on, don't go here, lock yourself in a closet, and nobody was coming out and just saying, hey, let's live a healthy lifestyle. Look, people would have had time to, you know, at least get scared healthy if somebody would have told them. I mean, there was some doctors that we were all following. I'm sure you were following as well, but that we knew that we're saying this. They were just saying, look, be healthy. Eat things that, that boost your immune system. Don't eat things that break down your immune system. And basically what that came down to was just eating healthy, natural foods and not just eating junk is what it came down to. And that's exactly what God's design is. So we see that plants are provided for our food. Plants are provided for our medicine, for health, for all different kinds of reasons. And we haven't figured out all the health benefits to just eating God's natural food. But just as a philosophy, we know that God's design is perfect. So just stick to the things that are natural that came from the earth the way God designed it. You know, and I don't know, you know, I'm not going to, I'm not like over the top on GMOs either or anything like that. And I don't know if GMOs are bad or good. But I mean, just from the philosophy in the Bible, you can pretty much just say that the closer it is to the way God designed it, the better it will be for you. You could just kind of say that for sure. Okay. Now turn to Deuteronomy chapter 33. Deuteronomy chapter 33. What else? We see that plants, trees, fruits, vegetables, they're for our health, they're for our medicine, they're for our food. Look at Deuteronomy chapter 33 and look at verse 13. Look at Deuteronomy 33 and verse 13. The Bible says, in Joseph, he said, blessed of the Lord be his land for the precious things of heaven for the dew and for the deep that coucheth beneath and for the precious fruits brought forth by the sun and for the precious things put forth by the moon. So here's what's interesting. Here's what's interesting. I just want to talk about just for a couple minutes before we get into the next thing that the plants help us with or why God gave us plants. I just want to kind of go over this idea that we think, you know, there's a, there's a very persuasive, you know, narrative out there today that says that we can control nature, that is showing, you know, saying that we are wrecking nature, that we can control the weather, that we are controlling when things get hot, when things get cold. But notice what the Bible says here. It says the precious fruits brought forth by the sun and the precious things put forth by the moon. So let's just look at that verse 14 for just a second. So what is it talking about? You have to kind of turn to Genesis chapter one to understand this verse here, but basically it's saying most people think that plants need the sun, right? Most people think that plants grow in the sunlight, but the Bible here says that plants are brought forth by the moon as well. We'll look at Genesis chapter one in verse number 16. Look at verse number 16 of Genesis chapter one. See the moon is light as well. The moon is light as well. I just want to kind of show you how perfect God's design is and how he actually talks about it in the Bible. Look, God, God is very scientific in the way that he did things. I mean, you must be a scientist to create the entire world. All right, look at verse 16. It says, and God made two great lights, the greater light to rule the day and the lesser light to rule the night. He made the stars also. Now, of course, we understand that the moon does not put out its own light, that the moon just reflects the sun. We get that. But the point is, is that one of the purposes of the moon or maybe the main purpose of the moon is to give light at night. It's just to be the lesser light. So notice how in verse 14 of Deuteronomy chapter 33, it talks about how some plants are brought forth by the sun and some plants are brought forth by the moon. Why? Because they both give light. That's why. Okay. Now, plants are sensitive, are extremely sensitive to day length. Did you know that? Plants, some plants like a lot of sun, some plants like very little sun. Like, for example, poinsettias. Just one example. Poinsettias, they won't, they won't flower properly if they're in the sun too much and there's actually not enough darkness. They won't, they won't, they won't live. Or they'll flower too early and they will not be, you know, they'll not be good. Also, things like spinach. If they don't have enough darkness, they will not be edible. So certain plants, all I'm trying to get you to understand is certain plants need more of the great light and certain plants need more of the lesser light. Okay. Why is this? Think about this. Why is this? Well, if you live where we grew up, the sun just doesn't shine that much. And you'll understand that God designed it this way so there would be plants everywhere. So the earth would be covered with plants. Just think about it. You know, one thing, Garrett was, Garrett was, I hope I can use you as an example. Garrett was wanting to plant some things in his yard. He was wanting to plant some landscaping and I'm like, well, we live in an extreme climate here. We live in a desert in Fresno. If you didn't know that, Fresno is a desert. It's an irrigated desert but it is a desert. It's an extreme climate. So if you plant things in Fresno and you do not have irrigation on them, you might as well not plant them because they will just die right away. It's like first let's get the irrigation figured out in your yard and then we'll plant things and then they will survive. Because it's an extreme climate here so only certain things can survive here and you have to have them under certain conditions. It would just be like, it would be like me, you know, I was obsessed when we first moved to Texas, I was obsessed with palm trees. I still love palm trees. I'll love palm trees my whole life. Why? Because you'll never see a palm tree in the upper midwest. You will never, you will not find one palm tree in North Dakota. I guarantee it. Why? Because they would die immediately. The first November that came around, every single palm tree would be dead. Why? Because certain plants are designed to live in certain environments. Temperatures, sunlight, darkness. God designed it this way just like Deuteronomy 33 14 is saying, so the entire earth no matter how much sunlight there is, no matter how much, in Alaska at times of the year the sun's only out for like half an hour or something. It's crazy. It's dark for like 23 hours. I mean there's certain plants, there's certain, you know, things that will grow in that environment. So the point I'm trying to get you to understand is God has perfectly balanced nature and he uses plants to do this. Turn to Isaiah chapter 40. Turn to Isaiah chapter 40. Not only has he perfectly balanced it, meaning he's made plants that will grow in Alaska, he's made plants that will grow in North Dakota, he's made plants that will grow in Fresno, he's made cactuses and all these different things that need very little water that can survive on under 10 inches of water a year and that can just survive with just full sun. When you go to Home Depot you better pay attention to that little tag on the on the plant that says full sun or partial sun or whatever or you're going to waste your money because you put this thing out in the sun and it's not, you know, that's not what God designed it for. It's going to die. All right, so look at Isaiah chapter 40. So not only has God perfectly designed nature but we cannot control it and this is where, you know, man today and the Bible part company because the Bible says, look, you are nothing compared to this machine that I have put in motion. Look at Isaiah chapter 40 in verse number 12. I just want to read you a couple passages showing how small and nothing we are compared to God and the earth that he has designed and the whole ecosystem. Look at verse number 12. Who hath measured the waters in the hollow of his hand and met it out heaven with the span and comprehended the dust of the earth in a measure and weighed the mountains in scales and the hills in a balance? It's saying who knows who could say how much dirt there is? Who could say how much the mountains weigh? It's like nobody could say this. Who could tell who on earth could tell me the volume of water that exists on the earth? I'm talking about in the oceans, in the ground, everywhere. Nobody could tell you that number. This is what the Bible is saying. Look at verse 13. Who hath directed the spirit of the Lord or being his counselor had taught him? See, this is us today. This is us today in the world. We are sitting there and we are saying, oh, we can direct, you know, the spirit of the Lord. We're smarter than God is what we think. Who could be God's counselor? I mean, this is a rhetorical question that this person is asking. With whom took the counsel and who instructed him and who taught him in the path of judgment and taught him knowledge and showed to him the way of understanding? Behold, it's saying who taught God? Who taught God? I mean, people today are like, there is no God and we must, you know, we know everything. Behold, look at verse 15. He gives us the answers here. Behold, the nations are as a drop of a bucket and are counted as the small dust of the balance. Behold, he taketh up the aisles as a very little thing. Look, turn to Ecclesiastes chapter 3. We are nothing in this whole design, this earth, the plants, the animals, the weather, the sun, the moon, all of creation. We are nothing is what the Bible is saying here. And we think we can control this. Give me a break. Look at Ecclesiastes chapter 3 in verse number 11. Look, I'm not saying, don't get me wrong. I'm not saying we should trash the earth and fill it with smoke. That is not what I'm saying. Okay. I am not saying we should throw trash everywhere and fill the earth with black smoke. That is not what I'm saying. What I'm saying is that we can't control the nature that God has put in place. All right. Look at Ecclesiastes chapter 3 in verse number 11. Ecclesiastes chapter 3 in verse number 11. We can't control it or predict it. Many times I think I should have been a weatherman because, I mean, what other profession could you have where you could literally be wrong like a large percentage of the time and nobody cares. But here's the thing. It's such a complicated system that you can't predict it with any kind of accuracy past 10 days. You know, past 10 days the accuracy goes to like nothing. That's why you only see 10-day forecasts because other than that, you know, people just, they have no idea. They don't know. Many times even the 10-day forecast is not very accurate. You can't really predict it accurately until it's like one or two days out. All right. It's constantly changing even the day ahead forecast. Look at Ecclesiastes chapter 3 in verse number 11. He has made everything beautiful in his time. Also he that set the world in their heart so that no man can find out the work that God maketh from the beginning to the end. You say, so when are we going to figure out everything? When are we going to figure out every herb and every single thing that that herb can do for us? Never. The Bible is saying we will never figure out all of nature and all what God has put in place. Look at verse 12. I know that there is no good in them but for man to rejoice and to do good in his life and also that every man should eat and drink and enjoy the good of all his labor. It is the gift of God. And verse 14. I know that whatsoever God doeth it shall be forever. Nothing can be put to it nor anything taken from it. There's that that's your we're going to destroy the world movement right there. It's like nothing that God has put in place we can do anything to nor anything taken from it and God doeth it that men should fear before him. Look if we can control the weather, if we could control nature, you know wouldn't that reduce our fear of the Lord? If we could just make it rain over here and just stop droughts and just stop all these things from happening. Look droughts are one thing and you know severe weather is one thing that God literally uses to judge nations and we think that all of a sudden we're going to be able to control that. The Bible here is telling us we're never going to be able to control that. That's God's control. Okay so look nature and this idea of balanced nature is it's kind of a perfect machine and we will never be able to control it all the way to the end. Okay so here's the next thing that plants allow us to do. Plants allow us now we know that that God's nature is perfectly balanced along that thought process. Plants allow us to breathe. Think about the brilliance of this. I mean I don't know why more people just don't look at this. How could you possibly be an evolutionist? How could you possibly not believe in God just from the things that you see? Plants literally breathe backwards. I mean we would all I mean we would suffocate. We inhale we use oxygen and we exhale carbon dioxide, CO2, what everybody hates. What do plants do? They breathe in carbon dioxide and they exhale oxygen. They literally breathe backwards and recycle what we use and guess what I mean this is what everybody's so concerned about today is the these levels of CO2 in the atmosphere. Let me just give you a little bit of perspective on that this evening and just show you from the Bible a couple of things. Turn to Genesis chapter 8. Turn to Genesis chapter 8 but guess what the more CO2 concentration that is in the actual atmosphere itself it leads to higher rates of photosynthesis and less water consumption in plants. So just to give you an idea of the numbers that we're talking about with carbon dioxide in the atmosphere in 1960 the number of the carbon dioxide number in the atmosphere was about 320 parts per million. Today it's about 410 or so, 420. All right so basically plants they do better when CO2 levels get higher. This is why greenhouses greenhouses will many times you know put in CO2 and they will boost the levels of CO2 because why? Because the plants grow better when they have levels of like 700, 800 ppm of CO2. Literally some plants I'm going to just read you some statements here an increase in ambient CO2 to 800 to a thousand parts per million can increase the yield of many types of plants up to 40 to 100 percent. So basically we're at 410 ppm and it's saying 800 to a thousand and it will increase the yield of plants you know by 40 to 100 percent depending on the plant. And I was looking for a range of like a high range of when when CO2 is really bad for plants like there's got to be a top end right where the plant just can't take any more CO2. And the basic the number that I came up with was you know just looking at several different sources it's really hard to get an exact number on this stuff. I was pretty surprised. You'd think more as much as we're doing in the world to like try to stop CO2 from going into the atmosphere you would think that there would be more known about it. And I was pretty shocked to see that you can't really get good numbers on this but basically right around you know anywhere from 1200 to 1800 parts per million is what I found as far as CO2 being bad for plants or at least to the point where the plants like I can't do any more with this. I can't grow any faster. I can't have any higher yields. So I mean just so you know from the perspective of human health anything under a thousand parts per million is there's like no effect to humans all right. And it doesn't get dangerous to humans till it's like over 2500. So the point is it's it's gone up a hundred parts per million in the last 60 years you know to get to a thousand you know you can extrapolate and do the math on that. But here's what's really interesting. Look at Genesis chapter 8 and look at verse 22. I've read this to you before. I've read this to you before but we know how the world ends folks. We know how the world ends. We can read Revelation. We can read Bible prophecy. We can see the wrath of God and the things that are going to go in the order that they're going to go in and we know how the world ends. Okay there's nothing in there saying that you know man had too many factories and drove too many cars. Okay that's not in there. Look at Genesis chapter 8 and verse 22. The Bible says while the earth remaineth seed time and harvest cold and heat summer and winter and day and night shall not cease. So I've already talked about you know you know kind of preaching against this idea of climate change global warming that cold and heat you know is guaranteed that that will not stop summer and winter day and night shall not cease. But notice what it says here it says seed time and harvest shall not cease until the end. You know what God is promising there? God is promising us that the plants will continue to grow. God is promising us that the crops will continue to yield that you know their their fruit and you will still be able to eat and you will still be able to plant and you will still be able to harvest until the end. Okay so from that point we can say that you know basically CO2 you know saturation in the environment is not going to get to the point where nothing can grow in the world. God promises us that. So you can pretty much cap it at 1200 parts per million or whatever. There's going to be some point either either God will end it before it gets you know three 400 years from now when it gets to a point of a thousand parts per million or whatever or it will go down through natural plants you know sucking up the CO2 and becoming the the sink that balances things out. That's probably my guess is that you know God's design is going to balance things out as they ought to. All right but if seed time and harvest won't see cease that means that the CO2 level will stay in a range that is not only favorable to plants but that is you know this this world will be habitable for us during that time. Okay so look it's just the balance of the earth is is totally perfect is what you have to understand. The more you read about these things just the idea that plants you know the more CO2 that's out there that the faster they grow and the more CO2 that they they bring in it's it's balancing the effect that any anything that we could do would have. All right what are some other balancing effects plants have? Just a just a couple just erosion you know if you've ever driven up to where's the place that just had the big fire a couple of years ago. Shaver Lake. If you drive up to Shaver Lake and you'll notice I was the first thing I thought of when we drove up to Shaver Lake after that I think it was the creek fire was that all the hillsides are completely bare it's nothing but dirt all the plants all the vegetation all the trees are gone look they they keep they keep the dirt in place and I was you know if there would be a big snowfall and a big snow event or even a big rain event though this is where all your mudslides and all your hills come down and all these terrible erosion effects happen. So look plants like literally keep the earth in place they keep erosion from happening they're they're good for soil health as they they die and they mix in with the soil their fertilizer they're used for construction I mean we can't come up with you know I mean think about everything that is still made of wood just look around you in your life and just think about everything that is made of wood in your life I remember and and quite frankly we can't even make a building material that's as good as wood when you think about it. I remember with my father-in-law 10 years ago we were out pulling out some fence posts and we were replacing fence posts and kind of no I think we're just tearing out a section of fence so they could farm over where the fence was and he told me that these fence posts had been in the ground for 80 years there was these wood deceder fence posts and I remember we pulled these fence posts out they had been in the ground for 80 years and he went in and my father-in-law actually started making like some crafts and some things out of these fence posts and when he cut the fence post there was just a small layer of gray on the outside of the post but on the inside of the cedar fence post that had been in the ground for 80 years you'd think it'd be all rotten it'd be all it was it was like brand new cedar inside the wood because cedar cedar has like you know many hardwoods have an oil that just preserves them it preserves them against you know moisture from getting in it just preserves them from rotting and we can't come up with building materials like this I mean people can't build anything today like that we build things today and we hope they last 10 years the way we build things today but man can't make something like that so wood is still a very very popular and powerful building material turn to Matthew chapter 6 so there's all kinds of other uses for plants you know from just things in our life to construction to just fertilizer and just health of the environment around us but here's one here's one for you and here's one that I actually missed on animals that I should have brought up but here's another one how's this beauty how's this just showing the creator you know this is what Romans chapter one is talking about when it says you know what two things when we studied through Romans what two things does everyone have in their life that they start with you say it's not fair some people have a better chance of being saved some people have a better chance of coming to the knowledge of the truth than other people well guess what everybody starts with two things in Romans 2 15 the Bible says that God has written his law in the heart of every man you know I'm paraphrasing that but the point is that every man has a conscience every man has a conscience that's number one number two is that every man sees the creation every man no matter where you grew up where you grew up in the the darkest corner of the world every man sees the creation around him every man sees God's beauty every man sees what God has done you think about it just think about this look at Matthew chapter six and verse 28 he's talking about you know just not worrying about things you know the context but I want you to you look at what he uses as an example talking about how we shouldn't worry about we should have faith that God is going to take care of us and why take he thought for raiment that means clothing it says consider it says why would you worry about what you're gonna wear or having clothing to put on it says consider the lilies of the field how they grow they toil not neither do they spin it's like look at the little look at the flowers is what the Bible is saying it says they they don't do anything and look at how God has arrayed them is what the Bible is saying and look what it says in verse 29 it says and yet I say unto you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these no Matt you know what the Bible is saying here the Bible is saying that the beauty of a flower the beauty of God's creation the beauty of nature itself is is more beautiful and look you know this is true it is more beautiful than any garment that man could design or make himself this is what the Bible is saying it's saying even Solomon even the richest wisest most successful man who has ever lived could not come up with a garment that is as beautiful as just the creation the flowers and the plants that God has made it's just the beauty of it the beauty of it the most beautiful garment man can invent is nothing compared to a single flower now here's another interesting one look at verse 30 where for if God so clothed the grass of the field so it's like if God took so much care so look I mean the Bible is saying God put some thought into this you know when you look at some of the beautiful flowers and the beautiful plants that you'll see in your life just the ferns and the different things it's like God put some thought into this you know God was designing this God made it beautiful on purpose if God so clothed the grass of the field which today is which today is and is cast into the oven here's what's really interesting right there that I find interesting this is a side note but it's literally being used not only is this grass you know beautiful and it's something that God designed but it's literally being used in an oven what are they doing with it in the oven are they baking grass no they're using it to fuel the oven God literally gave us plants he gave us trees he gave us these things the Bible is saying it right here for fuel so if we could like destroy God's creation by burning a tree do you think don't you think God would warn us about that in the Bible instead he's like hey you know you're gonna you know God created the grass of the field and you're gonna end up you know using that to cook your food it's what the Bible says then he says shall he not much more clothe you oh ye of little faith so that's just a side note you know that you know fuels just another use for these things but God is just saying look at how beautiful the creation is everybody can see it it's a witness to the creator as in Romans chapter one I always used to say to the kids as we lived in the country I used to say to the kids that the reason more it's harder for a city person I don't know if this is true don't be offended but I would always say to the kids as we were country people I would say it's harder for a city person to believe in God because they're surrounded by things made by man but it's easy for people that grew up in the country to believe in God because they're surrounded by things made by God they're surrounded by plants they're surrounded by animals they're surrounded by nature in every direction I could I mean I love landscaping I love landscaping I could spend I could spend all day at the Belmont nursery I could walk around that place all day long maybe not today but other days I mean I just love that I can't believe all the different beautiful plants that you can get and all these different things and it's just the options to plant these great things are just endless and why is that it's not because Belmont nursery is awesome even though they may be it's because God has just created all these beautiful wonderful plants for us all right so look plants have many uses it's just one more thing in our lives that God has given to us but I think the main thing is just to recognize I mean the beauty of the plants and look think of the beauty of animals as well I mean think of the beauty of animals I mean there is no reason for God to have put all these different elaborate designs on these animals it's I mean is a zebra camouflaged I mean give me a break that is just an artist having um that is just an artist just being an artist is what that is and that's that's a testimony to God that's a testimony of the creation looking at that and as you see how the animals and the plants work together the bees making honey with plants you see all the different uses of the plants you see all these different things you must believe in a creator you see how plants literally recycle our air for us and you must believe in God and then once you do believe that hey there must be a creator somewhere you must seek the truth at that point and then God will take it from there when you're seeking the truth God will send someone to show it to you plants why God gave us plants and like I said this whole series we're just scratching the surface because you couldn't even go through all the reasons and all the different things and uses that there are for God's creation let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer