Paul Tripp: Before the world was formed, God was. Before the first creature was ever made, God was. Before there was sun, moon, or stars, God was. Before there was day, night, or time, God was. If He was here first, then life is all about Him and not about anything else.

Kate Crowley: Welcome to Right Here, Right Now and today's program from Paul Tripp Ministries. Join us as Paul connects the transforming power of Jesus Christ to everyday life. Now, here's Paul Tripp.

Paul Tripp: Do you read much? I think that reading is a great way to keep in contact with the surrounding culture. Jesus called for His children to be "...in the world, but not of the world."

There's a very interesting book that's a bit of the rage bestseller that's out right now. The book is called, Letter to a Christian Nation and it's subtitled, The End of Faith. How do you like that for a title, The End of Faith? I didn't even know it was close to an end. Well, I guess it is, The End of Faith.

In this best-selling book, Sam Harris states that his aim is to demolish the intellectual and moral pretensions of Christianity in its most committed forms. Now check this out again. He says he's, "...going to demolish the intellectual and moral pretensions of Christianity in its most committed forms." Will there ever be an end of faith as we know it? Will the enemies of Biblical Christianity really win?

What, right here, right now, is the state of your faith? Is your faith vibrant and alive? Do you know why you believe the things that you believe? Do you know why in the name of faith you do the things you do every day?

Do you really understand what it means to live a godly life in a multicultural society? Do you take time to examine and understand the roots of your faith? Is your faith intelligent? Is it strong and courageous?

When you are in the marketplace of activities and ideas, do you hide your identity as a child of God? How rooted and knowledgeable is your faith? Is your faith deeper than emotional experiences of worship? Is it wider than a few Christian causes? Is it intellectually robust? Where are you going with your faith, and how are you going to get it rooted?

Music: "Losing My Religion" by R.E.M.

Oh, life is bigger
It's bigger than you
And you are not me
The lengths that I will go to
The distance in your eyes
Oh no, I've said too much
I set it up
That's me in the corner
That's me in the spotlight
Losing my religion
Trying to keep up with you
And I don't know if I can do it
Oh no, I've said too much
I haven't said enough
I thought that I heard you laughing
I thought that I hear you sing
I think I thought, I saw you try

Kate Crowley: This is Right Here, Right Now, and Paul continues with the all-important journey of faith, a great way to start the New Year. And don't go away because there is more on the "Four Most Important Words" from the series "Back to the Beginning" from Paul Tripp here on Right Here, Right Now.

Now, more words to consider, intact words, that will help you get to the heart of your communication struggles and can be found in Paul's book on the power of godly talk called War Of Words. It's available at paultrippministries.org.

And while you are there, be sure to check out Paul's latest blog. You can also look up other resources designed to help with the incredible grace that God provides. That's paultrippministries.org. Right now, here's Paul Tripp with more Right Here, Right Now.

Questions I Carried to Seminary

Paul Tripp: When I was eighteen, I left home and went off to a Christian college. But I've got to be honest here; it left me with as many questions as it did answers. I think these questions and the Vietnam War are what actually got me to seminary--maybe more the Vietnam War than my questions, but God used both of those things to get me to seminary.

I was utterly persuaded, utterly driven, by the thought that my faith must be rooted; it had to be credible; it had to be defensible, and it had to be practical, or it simply wasn't worth anything.

I was convinced that there must be such a thing as truth. You had to have truth in this world. There had to be things that were true, and if there were things that were true, then, you know what it means; it means that there are things that are false.

It just made no sense to me that life was just a collection of equally valid and often opposing observations. Isn't it true that the basis of any system of rationality is the search for truth? If two and two is four, two and two can't be seven, can't be nine, or it can't be five, or else numbers just wouldn't work. Math wouldn't work; you could never calculate; you could never add, multiply, or divide. The world of numbers would be a world of utter irrationality.

I thought that it must be that there is some overriding fabric of truth that is the explanatory grid of the universe. I believed all of those things, so I decided to do what seemed logical. I decided that I would go back to the beginning. There's where I'd start as I sought to understand what really is true in that catalog of ideas that is the conversation of humanity.

It made sense to me that if I wanted to understand what is, I had to go back to the point where what "is" was being formed into what it became, and so I did something one summer. I did it under a challenge from my older brother Tedd.

I got my Bible, and I began to read and study Genesis, particularly the first three chapters of Genesis. I studied with a marker in my hand. I changed my life in that summer; well, I didn't really change my life; the Word of God changed my life. It changed me, and it left me convinced that there are few more practical things to do as you seek to live God's way in this fallen world, than to regularly go back to the beginning.

You see, in that womb where all things are being formed, in that womb where the world is being formed, in that womb of Genesis 1 where God is saying His initial things about His world, about the people that He's placed in it, about who they are and about who He is, you find things of profound importance!

And in programs back, I talked to you about going back to the beginning. Well, I want to do that in the next five programs. Go back to the beginning and know the world; go back to the beginning and get to know God; go back to the beginning and know yourself; go back to the beginning and know the meaning and purpose of life; go back to the beginning and know the inner sense of well-being that comes from faith that is grounded; go back to the beginning with me and know, really know what is.

Music: "Whenever God Shines His Light" by Van Morrison

Whenever God shines his light on me
Opens up my eyes so I can see
When I look up in the darkest night
I know everything's going to be alright
In deep confusion, in great despair
When I reach out for him he is there
When I am lonely as I can be
I know that God shines his light on me
Reach out for him, he'll be there
With him your troubles you can share
If you live the life you love
You get the blessing from above
He heals the sick and heals the lame
Says you can do it too in Jesus name
He'll lift you up and turn you around
And put your feet back on higher ground

The Power of Four Words: In the Beginning God

Paul Tripp: I don't know about you, but I like words. I like to read and see how authors use words. I like the way they assemble words to make a point and to make a point that's emotional, or a point that is dramatic, or a point that's intellectual, or a point that's funny. I like to listen to people. I like the words that people grab out of that catalog of potential words that they carry around in their brain. I like the way people use words.

Now think about this. If someone were to ask you what the four most important words in the Bible were, what would you say, "I am the way; thou shalt not kill?" Those are phrases of four words that are really terribly important. But I think that the first four words of the Bible are not only thunderously important, but they lay the foundation for everything else that the Bible is about.

Now think about this, what is the Bible about? It's the story of God, God's plan for the universe and everything in it. It's the story of people; it's a story of the world and the people in it gone bad. It's a story of redemption, of rescue, of repair, of reconciliation, and restoration. And this dramatic sad and ultimately celebratory story begins with four very significant words.

Do you remember them? How many times have you read them? How many times have you heard them? There's probably nobody in Western culture who hasn't heard these four words, and these four words though, that are so familiar to us, are at the same time so expansive in their implications and so completely practical in the claim they make for the way we live, that it is difficult to state their importance too strongly. Faith really does rise and really does fall with these four words.

Creation finds its identity and it finds its purpose in these four words. True philosophy and reliable theology rest on these four words. Human meaning and purpose stand on these four words. You couldn't find a more compactly powerful, influential, profound phrase than these four words.

A proper understanding of what is right and what is wrong balances on these four words. An accurate grasp of what is true and what is false is found in these four words. Motivation to think well, to desire what is right, to work hard and wake up and do it all again another day is found in these four words. The single most important reason for living is found in these four words.

Now hear this, the dividing line of all systems of belief is at the point of these four words. You have to deal with these four words whether you've read them or not--you're dealing with these four words. Everything else the Bible says could not be said in the way that it is said if these four words were not the first four words of the Bible. These words are your hope and ignoring these words will be your doom.

They may be the four most important words ever written. Here they are--the four words that began it all: "In the beginning, God."

Before the world was formed, God was. Before the first creature was ever made, God was. Before there was sun, moon or stars, God was. Before there was day, night or time, God was. Before the first flower bloomed, opening its petals to display its beauty, God was. Before the muscles of the first fish moved propelling it through the water, God was.

Before the first human breath took in oxygen on earth, before the first human step was taken, before the first human word was spoken, God was. Before Adam ever laid his eyes on Eve, God was. Before they ever walked, and laughed, and talked, and hugged in the garden, God was.

Before that first golden sunset, before that first drenching rain fall, before that first scary thunder crash, before the blowing of the very first windstorm, before no two snowflakes alike fell in that first snowstorm, God was. Before there was ever a family, the very first family, before there was ever the first city, before there was ever the first government, God was. The Bible does something radical in these first four words; it puts God on scene first, and in so doing, the universe is forever changed.

The first four words put God, not only as the origin of all things, but at the center of all things. You need to hear me say that again. The first four words of the Bible put God not only as the sole origin of all things, but at the center of it all as well.

If He was here first, then life is all about Him and not about anything else. If He was here first, then He becomes the origin of all that is good, right, and true. If He was here first, then human meaning, purpose, and identity is to be found in relationship to Him. Here are those words, "In the beginning God." No more important words have ever been spoken.

That God is to be the center of your personal life; that God is to be the center of your marriage; that God is to be the center of your family life; that God is to be the center of your work life; that God is to be the center of your community life; that God is to be the center of your political life; that God is to be the center of your financial life; that God is to be the center of your thought life. He is to be the center of it all. If He was here first, then it's all about Him.

Music: "Take Off My Shoes" by Delirious?

I'll take off my shoes, I'm coming in
Untie this rope, I'm staying with Him
Love of my life, I'll live and die
Just for the moments for my King and I
Hold me; blow all the pride from my bones
With your fire
Hold me; breathe on this heart made of stone
Keep it pure

If God Was Here First, It Is All About Him

Paul Tripp: Now, think carefully with me. If God was here first, then it's all about Him. This really is the inescapable identity of the cosmos. Now, maybe you're thinking, "Well Paul, I sort of get the concept that God is supposed to be at the center of all things, but I'm not really sure I know, where the rubber-meets-the-road in everyday life, practically what that means." The first four words of the Bible clue us in. Let me answer this way.

Those first four words of the Bible call each of us away from three very attractive and seductive lies. There's a way in which these lies have seduced us all. These lies have attracted us all, and if you buy into these delusions, they will shape everything you do.

Here they are: The first is a delusion of autonomy. Autonomy says that I'm an independent human being with the right to do whatever I want to do with the life that belongs to me. Check it out; if God was here first, your life never has belonged to you.

The second delusion is a delusion of relativity. What that means is that in this catalog of ideas that the human community constantly generates, there are no such things as absolute truth. It's all relative; it's all just a catalog. One idea is as valid as another idea, and you can choose whatever you want to choose and build your world around it.

Listen, if God was here in the beginning, if this all belongs to Him, what He says then is true and whatever disagrees with Him is by its fundamental organic nature false. There is truth; it's not just an open catalog of ideas.

The third delusion is a delusion of self-sufficiency. This delusion tells me that as a human being I have everything in myself to be what I'm supposed to be and to do what I'm supposed to do. It really tells me that there is some fundamental way that I'm all that I need to be what I'm supposed to be. Autonomy, relativity, and self-sufficiency are three gripping and seductive delusions.

Why do I like autonomy? Because I want to run my own life; I don't want to answer to anybody else. I want to be in charge of me. I really do love me, and I have a wonderful plan for my life.

What about relativity? I don't want to be held back by truth. I don't want to have to live inside the boundaries of what is right and what is wrong. I want to think that it's all open for me. I want to think the world of ideas is one great big intellectual buffet.

And, what about self-sufficiency? I don't want to be dependent. I don't want to think that I have need of someone or something outside of myself. I want to think of myself as strong, and wise, and able. And yet, these three lies are exactly that; they're lies. "In the beginning, God."

(Music Interlude)

So I'd like you to stop for a moment and just think about your own life. Stop for a moment for a little bit of diagnosis, a little bit of self-examination. Just stop what you're doing for a moment and think with me.

So what about you? Do you really live every day, things that you do, like you believe the first four words of the Bible? Or, is it actually the case that underneath the veneer of faith, you actually practically live as if your life belongs to you?

What does shape the way you deal with the relationships and situations of your daily life? Are your responses more shaped by the will of God or by personal desire? Are you one person on Sunday and perhaps maybe, a very different person the rest of the week? Have you taken time to consider what it would actually look like to recognize the existence and presence of God in everything you do?

Have you taken time to look for signs of autonomy, self-sufficiency, and relativity in the way you live? Do you live like you really do think that what the Bible says about the beginning is really true? Isn't it comforting to know that the God who was at the beginning has now made us His children? What an awesome fact that is!

Isn't it nice to know that He not only made us, but He is with us, and isn't it sweet to consider that He will give us the grace that we need to live as He has designed even though we live in a world gone terribly wrong? Isn't it amazing to consider that the Creator is also your Savior, your Father, your Brother, your Friend, right here, right now?

Kate Crowley: Paul Tripp, with the reminder of God's all-encompassing grace, a grace filled with a future and a hope. And be sure to join Paul next time for more from the series, "Back to the Beginning" on Right Here, Right Now.

Also be sure to pick up your own copy of Paul's book, War Of Words. In this work, Paul explores the power of the positive word and putting these into practice in a sometimes negative world. That's War Of Words. And you can request a copy when you visit paultrippministries.org. That's Paul T-R-I-P-P, paultrippministries.org.

Now, if you have been encouraged by something Paul said today, you can listen to this program or previous programs online, or sign up for the daily podcast. And, don't forget to tell a friend about this ministry. If you'd like a copy of this message on CD, it's available for just five dollars.

These and other helpful resources are available at paultrippministries.org, or call us at 1-800-551-6595. That's toll free 800-551-6595. And if you'd like to help others discover freedom in Jesus Christ through the ministry of Right Here, Right Now, you can offset the cost of these daily broadcasts by giving online at paultrippministries.org, and just click on "Ministry Support." Or, you can also write to us at 7214 Frankford Avenue, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19135.

Next time, Paul continues his new series, "Back to the Beginning." That's coming up on Tuesday. I'm Kate Crowley, and for all of us at Paul Tripp Ministries, remember: In Jesus Christ, there really is help, right here, right now. See you tomorrow.