DNA-it's the way we're made! It's a part of the way God made every living thing through the process of creation, but it took us until 1957 to understand the process whereby proteins are produced from nucleic DNA. In 1962 James Watson and Francis Crick won the Nobel Prize for their determination of the structure of DNA.


In the next four weeks we're going to look at God's DNA, the spiritual strands that connect generations from the beginning of time and into eternity. Remember the words from Jeremiah 33: "I will cause a righteous branch to spring forth." This righteous branch is David, but every branch has roots that grow from somewhere. The roots of this family tree are found in Abraham, the great father of the three major religions of the world. From the deep, great roots of Abraham springs a branch. His name was David. He was a king. He was the right person in the right place at the right time to continue the spiritual DNA that began with Abraham. And while he was the right person, he wasn't a perfect person. And while it was the right time, it wasn't a perfect time.


When Jeremiah spoke the prophetic words of Chapter 33 that were just read, God's people were in exile in Babylon. Jeremiah had called them to repent; they didn't. Jeremiah strongly urged them to return to God; but they wouldn't. So, in Babylon the people mourned their losses and wept because they'd been forcibly removed from what was, in Jewish thought, the only place where God lived. The people of Israel sang together and lamented in their hearts...


Psalm 137
1 By the rivers of Babylon we sat and wept
when we remembered Zion.
2 There on the poplars
we hung our harps,
3 for there our captors asked us for songs,
our tormentors demanded songs of joy;
they said, "Sing us one of the songs of Zion!"
4 How can we sing the songs of the Lord
while in a foreign land?

It's called exile! And in the middle of the darkness comes a voice of hope from the prophet Jeremiah. The Message says it well in this very creative way...

"Watch for this; The time is coming" God's Decree-"when I will keep the promise I made to the families of Israel and Judah. When that time comes, I will make a fresh and true shoot sprout from the David-Tree. He will run this country honestly and fairly. He will set things right. That's when Judah will be secure and Jerusalem live in safety. The motto for the city will be, 'God Has Set Things Right for Us.'

God has made it clear that there will always be a descendant of David ruling the people of Israel and that there will always be Levitical priests on hand to.​..

Now, in The Lego Movie, I don't know if you've ever seen The Lego Movie. Emmet is the character. He's closest, the bigger one [Lego person on poster}. Emmet, he's on a quest to stop President Business from gluing all the Lego pieces together so that you can't change them or build something other than what the instruction manual that is in the pack should look like. So Emmet believed that he couldn't build anything that was not on the instruction sheet. And so as he meets other people or Legos in this movie, he learns that you can do amazing things with Legos. You can recreate, you can create something crazy. And so he starts to believe that he can build anything that is in his imagination.

Now, if I gave every one of you a Lego brick, what could you build with your block? As we saw [Children's Time], nothing, right? If you only have one block, you can't build anything and create something from it except the block. Right? So, today we're going to look through the Lego principles. Okay? You are important in this process in this connecting processes that we're going to look at today.

So principle number one is we were created to connect together. This is one of the reasons why we want we want better relationships. Just like Legos were made to connect, so were we. And you find that right in the beginning of Genesis chapter 2 when it said, "Then the Lord God said, it's not good for Adam, the man, to be alone. I will make a helper who is just for him."

Now, God didn't just create one human, but two. It isn't just about marriage. Marriage is one significant way to connect together. But the larger principle is true for everyone. We need each other in our lives. Lego bricks come in all shapes and sizes and colors, but with all the variety, what they have in common is they need each other to make something. They need each other so they can connect with one another.

Now, early early Legos, if you go back in the history, were just made to stack together. The ability to connect was a revolutionary change that set Legos apart from simple building blocks. Not all Legos have equal capacity but all are made to connect.

So the if you have the rise you notice the rise in social media is one example on which our desire is to connect together even if we can't see each other face to face. Connecting with friends who live around the world through social media has been a a godsend. It has been a blessing to help connect and remain friends. Keep those friendships alive and feeling that you're connected. You know each other. Old old snail mail isn't doing it anymore, right?

One of the last funerals that I officiated at in Fort Calhoun was for a woman who was an amazing woman. I would consider her a living saint. Even though she says, "Don't make it all about the good stuff." She even stood up in worship before she got too ill to say, "Don't, don't I'm not I'm not this saint. I'm a normal person." Which she was. But through technology, we were able to hear from her family, from her family members who are around the world that...

It's remarkable that the more we obey God, the greater our faith. Jesus understood the ridiculousness of the request of the disciples to "increase [their] faith ." As though he could zap them and imbue them with a stronger sense of faith! Moreover, Jesus seems to imply that they already have enough faith, as puny as it might be (the mustard seed). But faith is not just a feeling one tries to conjure up inside one's soul. Faith is something that often grows or deepens as we do what faith requires. As a child learns to obey her parents, it's amazing how that child's faith in her parents grows. A person of faith, Jesus teaches, is like the servant who does his job. He understands the expectations; he meets them; and he is rewarded (he, too, will eat and drink, v. 10). As Will Willimon has said, you keep "doing faith until you have it."

Have you ever found yourself in a situation or period of life in which you asked God for the faith to do what needs to be done? Well you are in good company. This is what the disciples were seeking from Jesus himself in our story today.

Let's take a look at it. Reading from Luke 17:5-10 ...

In order to understand this text, I think we need to go back to the basics to understand or remind ourselves again exactly what faith is. Hebrews 11:1 gives us two definitions of faith: "Faith is being sure of what is hoped for, certain of what we do not see." At its core, Christians believe that there is an unseen dimension to life that not only operated to
create all things, but is actively involved in all aspects of life. This unseen dimension is a mixed bag of good and evil, but the Holy Spirit reigns sovereign over all activities in this world, and eventually will destroy sin, death, and the devil.

So when the disciples cry out "Increase our faith," they are asking Jesus to help strengthen their belief in what God can do through them and for them, from the dimension of life that no one sees. Jesus gives an interesting answer.


He suggests that even a small amount of faith can do great things. This is the image of the mustard seed, which is one of the smallest seeds visible to the naked eye. Even with this amount of faith, a tree could be uprooted and planted in the sea. What is Jesus getting at here? I think Jesus is saying that...

We're going to be looking at that story about the rich man and Lazarus in the gospel of Luke, but we have to look at Amos as well. [Reading of Amos 6:1-7 and Luke 16:19-32].

I remember one of the toughest things to teach my children was to get them to stop saying the word 'mine.' You remember those days because you're laughing. Just look at those little faces as they say, 'I will die if you do not give me my toy back.' Or my paci, or my favorite outfit that I want to wear all of the time!

One of the best movies that came along during that time of raising our oldest children was the movie 'Finding Nemo.' There's one character in that movie that I love. The seagulls say one word in the entire movie: "Mine!"

They say it over and over and over again as they hunt for food. My kids finally saw what they were saying then. That is what they sounded like when they would say 'mine.'

One year we took our youth group to an amusement park in Kansas City called World's of Fun and we filled the Sea Dragon ride. It is just a big swing, and so when your side of the ship went up to the top, we said, "Mine." The other side would say it when their side of the ship went up to the top. We did that the entire ride. After the ride the operator said, please don't come back. It was so much fun!

Some 20 years ago, a well-known, multi-national insurance and financial services company sponsored a series of engaging television commercials. In each of the advertisements, the message communicated gives the viewer the sense that "There is more here than what meets the eye." In each segment there is a series of two or three scenes followed by a tag line which broadens and widens the understanding of the scene.

For instance, the scene in one commercial features a lone canoe being paddled across a calm lake. The tag line that comes into focus reads, "This is not a canoe; it is an aerobic workout before breakfast."

In another scene, an oversized tractor combine is being driven down a rural road. The tag line says, "This is not a farmer; it is an investor driving his capital investment."

In another scene, a Little League baseball game is underway on a summer afternoon. Tag line appears: "This is not a baseball game; it is cash flow for the ice­ cream truck."

And in yet another scene, a young girl is turning somersaults with her friends in an open field. Finally, the tag line appears: "This is not a gymnast; it is a future physicist learning about gravity."

There were other such commercial spots, each told with pictures and captions. The message seemed to be that there was more to each of these scenes than was obvious. The viewer's initial impression about what was seen was not wrong; it just failed to take in the full range of possibilities. Thankfully, the ad agency spelled out the not-so-obvious by means of the tag line for those of us who are slow of heart and mind.

There is more here than what meets the eye. This is what Amos says to the northern kingdom of Israel. That's mostly how it is...

There's something about treasure hunting movies that just hits differently. Maybe it's the dusty maps, ancient raps, or the characters who clearly have no plan but still survive it all. These movies have it all, booby traps, secret caves, double-crossing sidekicks, and the occasional cursed artifact. Some go full Indiana Jones mode, while others mix in comedy, mystery, or even a little romance, because why not fall in love while dodging death?

The best ones make you feel like you're right there, sneaking through jungles or deciphering clues on a centuries-old scroll. And let's not forget the over-the-top villains who always monologue too long. Whether it's gold, lost cities, or something weirdly glowing in a box, treasure movies serve drama, chaos, and adventure in one messy, glorious ride.

One of my favorite movies is the Count of Monte Cristo. There is betrayal, evil villains, the search for buried treasure, revenge plotting, sword fighting, romance, and tucked with in the story is this gem character: the priest. Another prisoner who vows to teach Edmond how to read, understand philosophy, economics, and faith in God. What is truly the treasure in the movie? Not the gold and wealth, but truth and restored faith in right will prevail.