The Universe as We Know It…The Majesty of God

HOw Big Is OUr Universe?

• 50 Years ago – 30 billion light years across
• Today – 93 billion light years across

How Many Stars Are in the Observable Universe?

• Roughly 200 Sextillion OR 200,000,000,000,000,000,000,000
• Grains of sand on earth – 7.5 Sextillion OR
  7,500,000,000,000,000,000,000
• More stars than grains of sand

Light Year

• Light travels approximately 186 thousand miles a second
• From here to California and back 31 times

References

• Psalm 19:1-4 (NLT)
  • ¹ The heavens proclaim the glory of God.
        The skies display his craftsmanship.
    ² Day after day they continue to speak;
        night after night they make him known.
    ³ They speak without a sound or word;
        their voice is never heard.
    ⁴ Yet their message has gone throughout the earth,
        and their words to all the world.
    God has made a home in the heavens for the sun.
• Genesis 1:1 (NLT)
  • ¹In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
• Isaiah 40:22 (NLT)
  • ²²God sits above the circle of the earth. The people below seem like grasshoppers to him! He spreads out the heavens like a curtain and makes his tent from them.
• John 1:1-3 (NLT)
  • ¹In the beginning the Word already existed.
    The Word was with God,
    and the Word was God.
    ² He existed in the beginning with God.
    ³ God created everything through him,
    and nothing was created except through him.
• Psalm 104:24 (NLT)
  • ²⁴ O Lord, what a variety of things you have made!
    In wisdom you have made them all.
    The earth is full of your creatures.
    ²⁵ Here is the ocean, vast and wide,
    teeming with life of every kind,
    both large and small.
• Psalm 102:25-27 (NLT)
  • ²⁵ Long ago you laid the foundation of the earth
    and made the heavens with your hands.
    ²⁶ They will perish, but you remain forever;
    they will wear out like old clothing.
    You will change them like a garment
    and discard them.
    ²⁷ But you are always the same; 
    you will live forever.
• Revelation 4:11 (KJV)
  • ¹¹Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power. For thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created.

YOU – GOD LOVES YOU!

Your DNA

• If uncoiled would stretch from here to the planet Pluto and back 17 times.

References

• John 3:16 (KJV)
  • ¹⁶ For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
• Romans 5:8 (NLT)
  • ⁸ But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners.
• 1 John 4:9-10 (NLT)
  • ⁹ God showed how much he loved us by sending his one and only Son into the world so that we might have eternal life through him. ¹⁰ This is real love—not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins.
• Romans 8:38-39 (NLT)
  • ³⁸ And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love. ³⁹ No power in the sky above or in the earth below— indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.
• Psalm 139:17-18 (NLT)
  • ¹⁷ How precious are your thoughts about me, O God.
    They cannot be numbered!
    ¹⁸ I can’t even count them;
    they outnumber the grains of sand!
    And when I wake up,
    you are still with me!

Thank you, God, for lovingly thinking about me all the time, even when I’m sleeping.

How am I, in this New Year of 2026, going to respond to that kind of love?