Genesis 1, 1-31, Finding Jesus In Creation

so we are starting a brand new book you guys went through and have been going through the book of Ephesians and so now we're going to go through the book of Genesis so if you have your Bibles turn to Genesis chapter 1 I'm going to briefly talk about it when we get into the Bible study but my hope is I was very I was inspired by John Corson sorry my dad's here was inspired by Gino Geraci I was inspired by John Corson because he does an overview of multiple chapters through the book of Genesis and so that's what we're gonna do we're going to do an overview of the book and we're going to one chapter a week go through and some some weeks we'll be able to go through two chapters and so I'm excited about it and I'm just looking forward to see what the Lord's gonna do through this so let's come both for the lawyer also we're doing communion tonight so at the end we will partake together sound good yes all right good let's pray God we come before you knowing fully well that you're the God of the universe that you spoke us into existence that your invisible attributes are clearly seen that we as a human race and people that were made in your image are without excuse that there is a creator and we want to just come before you know and ask for speak through me and that this time would be so sweet be a good sweet time in the word as we study the book of Genesis and thank you again Lord that it's the power of your spirit has nothing to do with me so we depend on it we pray to you and it's a Jesus name and all God's people said amen so it is exciting to me that tonight is the for me personally our our first night studying a brand new book the book of Genesis it's in a way the beginning the starting point the inception of way more studies to come and what makes this appropriate at least for me as I was prepping for this is that this is this is it's a beginning season for us even as a with your pastor going back to the radio and for you guys to hear a new guy on Wednesday nights it's it's going to be a time that seems only appropriate to start a book that is the beginning and that is Genesis itself which is again why I decided to call this series inception the inception that word by the way the inception means starting point it doesn't mean a Chris Nolan film where a dream within a dream and I'm just a projection of your dream within a dream as anyone in here I've seen the movie Inception but by the way so a group of you so if some of you are smirking inside like I sort of get that joke if you haven't seen the movie go see it because it's great Chris Nolan writes gold but our inception series through the book of Genesis is going to be the starting point of all things it's going to uncover the biggest questions people have the biggest debates that people have pertaining to everything and as you might know Genesis it means beginnings it means origins and that's what we're going to talk about the origin of creation the beginning of marriage the beginning of sin and death the origin of government we're gonna see everything encapsulated in this book the book of Genesis and the book not only is the beginnings and the origins and the starting points of everything it points to the inception of God's original redemptive plan in Jesus all throughout this book we're gonna see Jesus and we're going to see God's original plan even through Jesus despite man's failure in the beginning of creation and the book of Genesis and you're gonna also realizes we're going through this that this is going to be the world's shortest introduction to any book and any Bible study you hear because it took everything within me to check out all my introduction notes my introduction notes alone was equal to that of a normal Bible study that I would teach and I'm in and if you know anything about me it's hard for me to just take pieces out of scripture but I took so much out in order for us to do an overview properly but the book of Genesis was written by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit through Moses Moses is the one that is the giver of the law he's the one that you're gonna look through the beginning of the Old Testament he's one who wrote Genesis Exodus Leviticus numbers and Deuteronomy but in our inception series is it's gonna be not just like I said the starting point of all things we're going to see as we're studying through this even this 31 verse chapter there's so much to talk about and like I told you took everything within me to just chuck everything out because we could create a miniseries just within the first four words of the first verse that in the beginning God but for the purpose of time and the goal of what I'm wanting to accomplish through this we're going to do an overview so with that said let's go straight to verse 1 of chapter 1 in Genesis 1 and 2 it says in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth the earth was without form and void and darkness was on the face of the deep and the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters when reading this we're going to ask ourselves lots of questions but the first thing at least when going through this for me is that ask how far back was the beginning exactly because you can't really go any further back than what's written here that in the beginning and that is the million-dollar question so when was in the beginning exactly depending on who you're gonna ask you're gonna get multiple different answers generally speaking most of the Western evangelical church holds the position of a young earth and I am in the same persuasion that I believe that we have a young earth here and a lot of people will tell you the earth is anywhere between six and ten thousand years old and a lot of people will ask the question well how do we come up with that number how do we base that number to validate the Earth's existence for that long and there's a lot of different other ways that people generate that number but one of the ways they do it is based off of the genealogies written in the book of Genesis that they're able to calculate and come up with the number based on what is written within those genealogies and that's where some come up with the six to ten thousand year-old earth there are others that disagree with that some hold the position that the earth is no two billion years old no wait it's five just kidding fifteen now now it's fifty billion years old it seems that the time is continually changing especially for those that hold an evolutionary position on the earth I personally like I said hold the position that the earth is young but the truth is we don't know exactly the the time in which the earth was created all we know is that in this beginning was God God was there he started it and that's one of the other main themes that we're going to see through the book of Genesis is that he's the subject of all things beginning and the origins of it and I don't think that was an accident that way in fact the word God in the Hebrew is Elohim interestingly enough grammatically the word Elohim is a plural word but here in Genesis chapter 1 verse 1 the text it's being used in the singular form the verbs and the pronouns used within Elohim should be traditionally at least what we read in the Hebrew in the plural but when Elohim is in reference to the Lord God the verbs and pronouns become singular to which we might ask well why would Moses write it that way plain and simply bluntly I think he's trying to point to the triune divinity and nature of the Trinity and that's that's one of the cool things even with starting Genesis 1:1 we see the doctrine of the Trinity being used and we're also going to see in verse 26 it's not gonna be on the screen but it's a Bible study and I can just read from it then God said let us make man in our image according to our likeness and let them have dominion over the fish and the sea bow go over that here in a second but we we see even the doctrine of the Trinity being instituted here in Genesis chapter 1 now with that said I think it's also important to note that there has never been an inception a starting point with God God was not created there was no origins with him he's eternal I even distinctly remember 20 plus years ago asking my dad that question saying who created God and then my dad his radio voice said well depending on your position no he told me plain and simply as young little John geraci God has always existed and that's hard even for adults to wrap our mind around that God is eternal and perfect in the creator of all things because to us in our human mind there's a beginning and there's an end but with God he has always and always will be eternal and has always existed so there was no starting point with him he he has neither a beginning or an end so the beginning we see that God created the heavens and the earth now the heavens refers to everything beyond Earth which is what we know as outer space we're going to dive more into detail concerning what the heavens also pertain to when we talk about the firmament firmament of the earth but the heavens here is beyond just that beyond just outer space outer space faith is not a word though but what's odd to me or at least what's what sticks out to me and verse 2 isn't necessarily the idea of how outer space stretches and how far it goes out it's the condition of what how it's described in verse 2 here in Genesis it's odd to me because we're told that the earth is made but it's not formed in any specific way yet we're told it's without form and void and not only that but it says the darkness was on the face of the deep that the spirit is hovering over the face of the waters and again you read then you wonder what the heck does that mean what could that mean exactly now one of the positions is that that it could mean this idea that there was a resistance to the moving of the Holy Spirit on earth and we might even ask that question so what why would there be a resistance to the Holy Spirit or the spirit moving at the beginning of God's creation now there are respected scholars Bible students and teachers that believe that something happened between Genesis 1:1 and Genesis 1:2 Ezekiel 28 and Isaiah 14 it's not going to be on the screen but they give us a description of this person this being excuse me known as Lucifer the Archangel and in these passages of Scripture where we find out that he's kicked out of heaven that he as you know the story takes a third of the angels with him and and and they lead this rebellion if you will to earth and as you can imagine in a sense there was this impact hell hitting earth and then suddenly our planet as verse 2 puts it was with without form and void let's think about that for a second God creates the heavens and the earth first one and then something happened that made the earth suddenly change that it was without form and void that darkness covers the earth that chaos and ruin could be defined what's happening there but if you read in Isaiah chapter 45 you know that God created the earth not intended to be inhabited by darkness but by man but it all started with Satan unfortunately Paul talks about it in 2nd Corinthians 4:4 concerning Satan himself you guys can look at the screen look what he says concerning Lucifer Satan who is the lowercase G god of this world has blinded the minds of those who don't believe they are unable to see the glorious light of the good news so here's Satan wanting nothing more than to be equal to God but he fails and this hits him kicked out of heaven because he cannot and will not and Peter will declare it even in the book of Acts that there's no other name in heaven under earth in which a man can call out and be saved it's Jesus now what I might what what I am about to say may not resonate with some of you and not many Bible teachers would agree with this that's okay they're entitled to their own position I believe when Satan was cast from heaven to earth it wiped out what was whatever was previously here because you look at verse 1 in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth and then in a way as you're looking at this something had to have taken place for it to be without form and void all of a sudden we know that although water is present nothing but darkness is covering this voided formless earth until verse 3 God declared something bright and he said let there be light by the way preachers want to rhyme in their sermons all the time intentionally or unintentionally I'm just gonna say this really quick there's a guy by the name of Sandy Adams who lives on the East Coast and he's rhymes with all the sermons he's so good at it and he would be he would say things like in order to understand God's grace you have to fall on your face and embrace and I'm just like standing you're so good but I can't I'm not a baller I'm not a hip-hop artist like sandy Adams but anyways verse 3 he declared something bright he said let there be light look what it says verse 3 God said let there be light and what was the outcome and there was light when God speaks it is within his nature and character it has to happen parents you know that you could tell your child something you could demand it and potentially they won't do it it's very well possible you parents know very well that's very realistic teachers you know that you can instruct your kids to study for a test to do their homework and they could care the president can bark orders for something to happen and he can notice that sometimes instantaneously it's not gonna happen but with God and pertaining to the nature of God if he declares something it has to happen it has to happen Psalm 33 6 through 9 puts it this way you guys can look at the screen the Lord merely spoke and the heavens were created he breathed the word and all the stars were born he assigned the sea its boundaries and locked the oceans in vast reservoirs let the whole earth fear the Lord and let everyone stand in awe of him why for when he spoke the world began it appeared at his command verse 3 so boldly says let there be light and what was the outcome there was light because God when he declares it has to happen which is why the psalm is so adequately and so poetically said let the whole earth stand in awe of him because he spoke and it happened look what it says in verse 4 now in Genesis chapter 1 God saw the light and it was good and God divided the light from the darkness now this is interesting light day and night each existed before the Sun and the moon were created because we're gonna find out here on the 4th day that's when these things are going to come into existence so to us we we can we can narrow it down and we can at least break it down that light it has a its physical there's some there's a physical substance to light itself and yet verse 3 shows us that light is beyond the physical substance that it has an uber natural aspect to it because it existed before the Sun and the moon were created and the same could be true about darkness in the Old Testament you guys know the plagues that inhabited the Egypt with Moses and one of the ninth plagues described in Exodus speaks of a darkness that was more than just the absence of light listen to this Exodus 1021 on the screen the Lord said to Moses stretch how your hand toward heaven that there may be darkness over the land of Egypt look at this last part the darkness to be felt the New Living Translation and it's not going to be on the screen describes that first with a darkness so thick you can feel it and that's why I believe Satan inhabited the earth at least in verse 2 because this darkness that I'm trying to describe was on the face of the deep until verse 3 that God declared something he said let there be light he spoke light into existence and not only that he saw that it was good he saw that it was really good verse 5 Genesis 1 God called the light day and the darkness he called night so that the evening in the morning were the first day so God gives names for the light and the darkness night day and some of us might think and or ask the question was it an ordinary 24-hour day yes moving on no no I mean obviously let's talk about it just for a little bit longer there are people that hold a different position of this but oh boy one of the resources that you need to hear about and read about as we're going to go through the book of Genesis one of them is Ken Ham Answers in Genesis writes pure gold in fact Ken Ham was here a couple years ago this is my Australian accent of Ken Ham I'm gonna do a quote by him pertaining to the subject of was it a 24 hour day I guess ready for this because by the way people obviously hold the position that they don't think it was a 24 hour day and they use it as a symbolic meaning like Jonah Jonah wasn't really swallowed by a great fish and in the same way it wasn't as literal 24 hour day look what Ken Ham has to say though some people say that the word day in Genesis may have been used symbolically and so we're we are not to take it literally however an important point that many fail to consider is that a word can never be used symbolically the first time it is used in fact a word can be used symbolically only when it has a first literal meaning so good so spot-on and in and case in points approved that is in fact true remember Jesus Christ made numerous comments in the Gospels but one particularly he said in John 10:9 look on the screen I am the door and if anyone enters by me he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture now is Jesus saying he's a literal door made of rich mahogany no because we know what this means the door simply implies that it means entrance and because we understand its literal meaning it can be implied to have a symbolic sense to refer to Jesus Christ for example he said I am living water he said I am the bread of life he said I am the light of the world case in point all of these words can't be used in a symbolic form unless if first had the literal meaning we understood it to have which those ones do and in the same way back here in Genesis chapter 1 the word day which in the Hebrew is Elohim or excuse me Yom Yom my dad in front no no that's not what it means day in the Hebrew is young and it can't be implied symbolically here in Genesis 1 because it's being used for the first time to be taken literally doesn't does that make sense I hope it makes sense to you because I'm not going to go over it again it's all fascinating so God creates something happens Satan is cast from heaven darkness is on the face of the deep now even though the condition of the earth was without form and void the Spirit is still moving and then we see almost this recreation take place with the light and I see that and I see the parallel of how God deals with people like to us and Paul the Apostle talked about this when he was writing to the church at Corinth 2nd Corinthians 5:17 you guys can look at the screen I love this first that he declares if anyone if anyone is in Christ he's a new creation the old has passed away behold the new all has become new we were created in the image of God each person in this room whether you agree or disagree with what I'm saying you were created in the image of God just like the beginning of heavens and the earth were created but just like in Genesis 1 something happened and just like us something happened with us that that we too were in a way without form and void because of sin and that's the thing darkness defined us Paul talks about at one point we were called children of Wrath we have condemnation to look forward to because because our sin nature was going to wipe us out and that's again why the Bible says that the wages of sin is death but in the same way God saw the condition of our soul and who we were and he said I'm going to send my son the light of this world to save you it's exactly what he did and all of a sudden now we have a division of light and darkness day and night good and evil and God's Spirit begins to move over the deep-rooted darkness of our sin revealing you need Jesus each person in this room has to make a choice that where I am Abid pre Christ is I'm absent from a relationship with Jesus and it's only through the cross that I see the darkness and the frailty and the issues of my sin that I conclude I need Jesus I need him to forgive me of my sins and Pat then and then and only then begins this transformation that Paul described that that all that through all who make that declaration and Proclamation that you begin to pass from death to life and even more specifically you are a new creation and I can boldly say up here with you guys that if you call yourself Christians and start acting like a new creation you're brand new in Christ baby you were created in order for the old you to no longer define who you are today in Christ and again that's why verses 1 through 5 are so exciting gosh because you see this redemptive parallel of Jesus even beginning even being in the beginning of creation verses 6 through 8 then God said let there be a firmament or an expansion if you will let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters let it divide the waters from from the waters verse 7 thus God made the firmament divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament and it was so verse 8 and God called the firmament heaven so the evening in the morning were the second day so now we see God he creates the sky and the sky forms this barrier between the water upon the surface and the moisture of the air and at this point it's the atmosphere we have at least from what we understand is the atmosphere also what's interesting is scripturally speaking back to heaven like I told you at the beginning it refers not only to the stars above us or the destination that awaits us it speaks of the atmosphere around us because think about it God recreated the earth and we're told in these verses there was watch her above the firmament meaning in the atmosphere this means that the world as we know it today was not the same then it's speaking of two separate water sources you guys realize that right one on the earth and one in the atmosphere follow me follow me for a second at some point there was this water canopy that I'm trying to tell you about and it faced the entire it was it was in the atmosphere of the entire earth because we're gonna hear it read here in a second that remember it never rained before and until after the flood right and the moment something happened when God told Noah to build this Ark and the Ark was finished that the water canopy and the atmosphere is now all this and released and now we have this thing called the flood take place but pre-flood what we're reading here in Genesis 1 that one water canopy is what covered the entire earth and that would mean that before the flood it would be lush and tropical when I first studied through the book of Genesis with our church plant it was in South Carolina so I just imagined the entire earth was like South Carolina it was just humid and wet and sticky and that's just what the earth was like so some people it's like yeah but I mean it was it that in a way it was a tropical humid place not only that and this is where it gets really interesting before the flood you notice that a lot of people lived longer for a longer period of time like in their hundreds like we're gonna find out that Noah who exists who lived before and after the flood he's gonna reach his 900s his son Shem is gonna reach the age of six hundred years old and here's the theory conjectures I get it speculation but I think this water canopy that's in the atmosphere that we're reading about here in Genesis one created if you will a barrier to the earth and so the Sun releasing these ultraviolet rays onto the earth it's it's hitting that barrier that canopy that I think creating the if you will superhuman said that they live longer I mean follow me just follow me for a second it's like this is getting weird but follow me cuz think about it before the flood Noah lived 900 in his 900s his son Shem who is gonna live before and after the flood is gonna reach his 600th we're gonna find out about Abraham is 175 Isaac's gonna be 180 Jacob's gonna be 147 Moses lived till he was 120 my Nona my dad's grandmother my great-grandmother before she passed away lived to be a hundred and one years old and I read this and I and I see it and we're gonna get to that especially when we get to the portion of the flood but in order to stand by what I said and Goethe finish this in time we're gonna continue so now look what it says about the third day of creation verses 9 through 13 then God said let the waters and their heavens be gathered together into one place let the dry land appear and so it was verse 10 God called the dry land earth and the gathering together of the waters he called seas and God saw and it was good verse 11 through 13 then God said let the earth bring forth black grass and the herb that yields seed and the fruit tree that yields fruit according to its own kind whose seed is in itself on the earth and it was so verse 12 and the earth brought forth grass the herb that yields seed according to its kind and the tree that yields fruit whose seed is in itself according to its kind and God saw that it was good so that the evening and the morning were the third day so the third day God here creates land that means that the continents and the islands are above the water that the large bodies of water are named seas and the ground the ground is named land and God sees his creation he's I this is good I do this good this this is great he creates now get this he creates all the plant life both large and small and in his creative genius he creates them to be self-sustaining and not only that first day he brings light that's what's created second day the atmosphere was created and then the third day we see this life is created more specifically let the earth bring forth grass the herb and that yields seed and the fruit tree that yields fruit according to its own kind but why would he do it that way why would he create life on the first day and not the third again I'm gonna do another Jesus parallel here because we have to do that because it's it seems only appropriate we just celebrated Easter that Jesus died but what day was it that he rose from the grave was on the third day he was brought back to life and I in it I'm telling you as we go through the entire book of Genesis you can see all different types and pictures of Jesus throughout Genesis verses 14 through 19 then God said let there be lights in the firmament of the heavens to divide the day from the night and let them be for signs and seasons and for days and years and let them be for lights in the firmament of the heavens to give light to the earth and it was so verse 16 then God made two great lights the greater light to rule the day and the lesser light to rule the night and he made the stars also over seventeen God set them in the firmament of the heavens to give light on the earth and to rule over the day and over the night and to divide the light from the darkness God saw that it was good so the evening and the morning were the fourth day and what's great about these verses they really do they speak for themselves that God he created the stars the moon and the Sun specifically to help us keep track of time pre iWatch days I know and all of this again it all existed before even sundials were created he used it so that we can not only tell time but he's gonna also we're gonna see that sailors are gonna use it to navigate the Seas it's fantastic it's unique and many of you already know this but this excuse me the moon reflects the light of the Sun so think about it an entire year one year is measured by the time it takes for the earth to make its full rotation around the Sun 365 days but God and His creative design began to distinguish not just the 365 days in a year but now he's going to be able to help us distinguish night from day using the Sun and the moon it's wild and that's what happened on the fourth day also I do want to say something it's interesting to me that Jesus described it or Jesus himself is described as the light of the world in the light of the world he's like the S UN and we are like the moon Jesus is the greater light that's described here because he's the light of the world but then Jesus says things to us like let your light so shine before men that they might see your good works and glorify your father in heaven we like the moon can't illuminate light on our own we need a source we need something to help us show that light and that source comes from the greater light Jesus the Son of God or what we might see here the S UN have you guys ever seen in Eclipse I know we just had someone interestingly enough a while ago but it is it's fascinating the moon gets smaller and smaller and smaller and the reason why this happens is that because the world gets in between the Sun and the moon the lights of the Sun that's supposed to be reflecting onto the moon is diminished completed and it's amazing simply because the world gets in the way you guys see the parallel with where I'm going with this and it's so it is it's so true for you and I that Jesus he is like the Sun and we are like the moon and that whatever degree and you guys have to think of it like this whatever degree that you allow the world to come between you and Jesus is what's going to determine how bright we can shine and that is why you have will often hear me say the issue again isn't that God has this unimaginable resource of power that we have access to but you will see as much as you allow Jesus to show you want to see this great power demonstrate it's if you determine that and the more we allow the world to come but in between and the S UN the Son of God will really determine how bright we will shine this is why it says in first John 2:15 through 70 look on the screen don't love the world or the things in the world if anyone loves the world that the love the father is not in him for all that is in the world the desires of the flesh the desires the eyes the pride of life is not from the father but it's from the world and the world is passing away along with its desires but who ever does the will of God abides forever I'm gonna even add to that that whoever does the will of the Father shines the brightest because the will of the father is now encapsulated and infused into your life and I get it the world has distractions I get it and sometimes it it's in those moments when you realize your light isn't shining or as Paul says to examine yourself to determine if you're in the faith that really makes you crave I miss shining my light before the world and it helps to evaluate what is getting in between you and Jesus moving go into verses 20 through 23 God said let the waters abound with an abundance of living creatures and let the birds fly above the earth across the face of the firmament of the heavens so God created the great sea creatures and everything and every living thing that moves with which the waters abounded according to its own kind and every winged it bird according to its own kind and God saw it was good and God blessed them saying be fruitful and multiply this is him speaking to the the birds of the air of course and he's speaking to the creatures that he just created in the sea and God blessed them saying be fruitful and multiply and fill the waters in the seas and let the birds multiply on the earth verse 23 so the evening in the morning were the fifth day so at this point God creates all life that lives both in the watcher and all the birds of the air in the fifth day which is unique in it of itself because you have such a diverse variety of these species of animals in the sea and then in the birds of the air and my girls and I love to watch planet Earth if you haven't watched plain errors on Netflix watch it geek out because men if you want to talk about God's pointing to a creator the guys that filmed that did an amazing job especially the sea creature portion and the birds of the air but you got this great variety of birds and sea creatures listen carefully that they were created they were created at the same time not like dr. grant from Jurassic Park would put it evolving over time they were created at the same time now even though plant life was created before animal life animal life was not created out of plant life over millions and billions of years of what people call evolution he created the amazing diversity of animals birds of the air and in fish of the sea at the same time and again this tells me that all life did not come from the same primordial cell but rather plants and animals came from a unique and an intentional designer so God creates the creatures in the ocean and the birds and not only does he create them but he creates them with the ability to to perpetuate to reproduce and to create and to just basically create more of itself listen carefully it has the ability to perpetuate their species by reproduction not species coming from different species or two different species colliding verse 24 then God said let the earth bring forth the living creature according to its kind cattle and creeping thing in beasts of the earth which is according to its own kind and so it was verse 25 God made the beasts of the earth according to its own kind cattle according to its own kind and everything that creeps on the earth according to its own kind and God saw that it was good now again you look at the long variety of all the different species of animals in the animal kingdom both living now and who have existed at one time because they're now extinct you again you have to know that God is not only impressive with his creation he's just humorous just after this service you need to go home and Google weird looking animals and just you'll geek out for like an hour and one I was prepping for this like we should show some animals and we don't have time for that for obvious reasons but what we do see through that has caught is unique and impressive in his design but he's also humorous in his design especially when I look at myself so says God made the beasts of the earth according to its own kind and this is important that it's emphasized that God made the beasts of the earth according to its own kind he says it three times in two verses which means God allows tremendous variation within a kind but one kind will never and can never evolve from another kind it continues in verse 26 through 28th and God said let us make man in our image according to our likeness and again there's the first or the second time that it's mentioned of this triune nature of the Father the Son and the Holy Spirit and then it says and let them of course referring to Adam and Eve which is interesting because Eve isn't going to be created until chapter 2 and what's interesting too as we get to chapter 2 you're gonna notice that God when he's creating all these things it was good he concludes it's good but it's not until Adam is made and he's naming all the animals and he sees that he was alone that it was not good he saw that it was not good that man was by himself let them have dominion over the fish of the sea over the birds of the air and over the cattle over the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth verse 27 so God created man in his own image and the image of God he created him male and female he created them verse 28 then God blessed them he said to them be fruitful and multiply fill the earth and subdue it having dominion over the fish of the sea over the birds of the air and over every living thing that moves on the earth again the Bible says that you and I are fearfully and wonderfully made not only that it says you're fearfully and wonderfully made marvelous are his works first thing to note God created you in this fearful and wonderful net way to to possess personality knowledge feelings freewill and then this sets man apart from animals and plants but it also means that we were created in this unique way to possess morality that you you can make your own decisions that God hardwired you in a way with a conscience to be able to ask the hard questions but he also created you to possess spirituality I think you can commune with God you can talk with him he created you to to actually communicate with him and the Spirit is the one that allows that also it should be noted that God that that that this was that we were made in the image of God it doesn't mean that God has a physical form like the human body John chapter 4 describes God as being a spirit God but being made in God's image means like God we can see hear smell touch speak think plan and so forth but God is not physical human unless you constitute Jesus when when he's gonna be asked the question we want to see God and he says have I not been with you long enough that if you've seen me than you've seen God so Jesus is God in the flesh at least into that standard not only that but God gave us dominion over the earth vs. 3rd 29 - 31 and then we're gonna be done God said see I have given you every herb that yields seed which is on the face of all the earth and every tree whose fruits yield seeds to you it shall be for food also to every beast of the earth to every bird of the air to everything that creeps on the earth in which there is life I have given every green herb for food and it was so then God saw everything that he made and indeed it was very good so the evening in the morning were the sixth day so not only has got creative but and an awesome with life itself guys he created food for even enjoyment and the house of God say it amen to that he gives us liberties to enjoy I have to say this quickly though he did not give us liberties to enjoy in order to worship and idolize them and that is the distinction the Bible says he satisfies our mouth with good things Psalm 103 5 it's not gonna be on the screen James and his epistle set every good and perfect gift comes from the father above or Paul even said he has given us richly all things to enjoy first Timothy 6:17 he gave us dominion over the plant life and over the fish of the sea to enjoy but then something is gonna happen along the way sin is gonna enter the world and it is it's gonna lead to improper stewardship it's gonna lead to God entrusting things to us that we fail in six days of creation there's one more day to cover next week we're going to cover the second chapter of Genesis we're going to see what happened on the seventh day and again I I can't tell you enough how excited I am for this how I'm excited that we're gonna be able to go through this and I promise you that we're gonna because it's the very first week there was a lot to cover but we're gonna be able to break it down in a way that I hope you guys are going to enjoy I'm gonna finish with the psalm and then the worship team can come up and we can partake in communion so I'm eight three through four the English standard version on the screen says when I look at your heavens the work of your fingers the moon and the stars which you have set in place what is man that you are mindful of him and the son of man that you care for him God didn't just create the planet earth with the intention of saying man I'm really good at plant life and the animal life and the formation of the world he created he had you in mind before all of this even happened before the heavens the earth light darkness all of it he thought of you before God formed you in the womb he knew you let's pray and then we'll partake with community and communion together Lord we just come before you knowing that as we're about to embark on a new series that we see you in creation that creation points to it a designer it points to you that we can look outside and look at the trees and we can look at the that life itself points to a creator and I just prayed Lord that tonight if there are skeptics that they would come with an open heart reading the word as the source to validate who you are that Jesus you are everything that you said you were and as we're about to partake in communion and as we're about to remember what you did Jesus and you even told us that for as often as we take communion to do it in remembrance of you to remember what you did at the cross where you are going to die that you are going to suffer and you are going to bleed on our behalf and Jesus we know that this little cup we're holding of juice in a cracker might just represent that to some it's just juice in a cracker but we know that you wanted this to be intended for believers and so lord I just pray that if anyone here is not a believer that they wouldn't partake in it because you tell us when we do it to do it in remembrance of you and do it in a proclamation until you back and so if you have never given your life to Jesus you don't have to partake in communion right now but I'm hoping by the end of service that you can but Jesus he will tell his disciples at the Last Supper that as he gets the piece of bread out he'll tell him that this is my body this is my body which will be broken for you and as he will pour the wine into cups and and - a cup and show it to them he would say this is my blood the blood that will be spilled on their behalf that will represent the new and everlasting covenant that he's trying to usher in and help them understand that he's going to die on their behalf and so when we partake in communion we don't have to do it in a morbid crudo testing way we can do it remembering that my sins were bought and paid for at the cross and it helps us - as Paul will say to the Church of Corinth to evaluate ourselves to examine ourselves to not take communion in an unworthy manner and so Lord we want to do that right now as we're about to come and worship you for the last portion of the nights remember what you did that your body was broken on our behalf and your blood was spilt and we now want to take that in remembrance of you and the cross you may not partake [Music]

Channel: Calvary South Denver

Views: 6,506

Rating: 4.8421054 out of 5

Keywords: Calvary Chapel, Christianity, Bible Study, Jon Geraci, Genesis, Creation

Id: 9AkN_Bc5yJ4

Length: 49min 36sec (2976 seconds)

Published: Thu Apr 05 2018