Feb 5, 2025
Chapter 1 Pt. 2
Series: Genesis
 
 
Full Transcript:

Alright. Good evening. Good evening. Sounds like we need to go upstairs and play carpet ball, doesn't it? Sound like they're having a big time up there.

Well, good to see everybody. Feels like it's been, you know, a couple months since I've been here on a Wednesday night. Really, it's only been a few weeks, but, you know, thank you for Don taking care of last week. I got sick and, you know, I'm, praise God. I'm I'm not out sick very often.

I think that's about the second time in thirteen years, but, you know, sometimes it just happens. So I appreciate Don taking care of everything last Wednesday night. And, we're gonna, continue in our study of Genesis tonight. And, so it's a long turn in your Bible, over to the first chapter of Genesis. And we spent about two weeks covering verse one, I think.

Not really, but we spent a long time covering verse one. So we're gonna get a long way tonight. We're gonna maybe get all the way through verse six or five. We'll see. If we get real lucky, we might make it a little further.

But, you know, I think it's important that we take the time as we go through all of this to examine things that we might not otherwise think about. You know, you can open up the book of Genesis and start reading, and you can just read in the beginning and you start going through it. And especially if you've read through the Bible a few times, it's so familiar that you might just read over stuff that is really important or things that you never really considered before. And so that's why we're taking time to go through the book of Genesis, the beginning and we wanna go through all of that and make sure that as we, study it that God shows us things that maybe we really need to know. So I'm gonna go ahead and open up with a word of prayer and then we'll continue, in Genesis chapter one.

Alright. So let's pray. Father, we do come to you tonight. And again, we're thankful father for healing for, so many of our church have been sick and gotten well. And we still have some that are sick and, so we just pray for all of them.

We know there's a lot going on right now. God, we pray for all of our nation. There's a lot happening throughout our nation. Father with this new administration and so many changes that are happening and so God, we just pray for each person. We pray for wisdom for the leadership and that you would be with them and you would guide them with your word father and that through that our nation would return back to you father like we need to have been all along.

Father, we thank you for your word tonight as we open up the first book, the book of Genesis. Father, the very beginning. I pray that you would just help us to see things that maybe we never noticed before, to dwell on some things that we need to dwell on and help us father to take what we learn and apply it in our lives that we might be a stronger in our walk than we've ever been before. God, we just ask that you just touch each life, watch over us and and protect us, but always use us for your glory. In Jesus name we pray.

Amen. Alright. So the book of Genesis. Genesis is a Greek word. Does anybody know what it means?

Beginning. Beginning, origin, source, generation. All of those are different translations within the the Greek. The original Hebrew is, Beresheth, which means in the beginning. And so, since when Moses was, writing all of this, it would have been Hebrew, when he put all this down in the beginning.

So the title is the first three words of the first chapter of the first verse. And so in the beginning so it's important for us to remember because when we start thinking about now, think about this. How many of you remember being a newborn? Right? Nobody remembers being a newborn.

It was a long time ago. It was in the beginning. There was something. How do we find out what happened? We have to ask.

Parents, relatives, friends, family, siblings, they tell you about the beginning and so you can go back and learn about things that happened in the beginning of your life. For us to know what happened in the beginning of the world, We have to go back to Genesis. That is a record of that to find out. Now, sometimes I have people say, well, you know, you you go to Genesis is the beginning and you start reading about everything in Genesis, but, you know, it only tells you so much. It doesn't really tell you everything.

It doesn't explain a lot of stuff, and that's true. In fact, the Bible says that if everything was written down, the world could not contain it. So it doesn't tell us everything. And Moses was not there in the beginning. Okay?

So this word that was given to Moses was a divine word that God gave him, not a word that he knew from the beginning. It was a word that God gave him from some written records from some things that God just gave him. And and he breathed it into him. So but this is a beginning. It is in the beginning and this is the record.

So we talked about the beginning God created. There was no it it wasn't, well, God took certain things and made this. No. God created it all from the very beginning. God created it.

It wasn't there before. He didn't take something and make something else out of it. There was nothing there. God created it, everything from the very beginning. And so when we move into verse two, it starts talking about some of the how, Some of what was happening at the time in the beginning when God was creating.

So in verse two, it says 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. Okay. So let's think about this. First, I want you to turn to a whole another book, and you're gonna say, what? Why are we doing that?

I thought we were doing Genesis. Well, we are. But I want you to turn to the book of Psalm chapter 33. Book of Psalm chapter 33, and we're gonna look at verse six. I want you to hear what the Psalmist said about the beginning.

In Psalm 33 verse six, the Psalmist says, by the word of the Lord, the heavens were made and all of the host of them by the breath of his mouth. Alright. So think about that. It's telling us right there in Psalm that the word of the Lord made the heavens and the host of all of them came from the breath of his mouth. Meaning, he spoke it into existence.

Now, that's important for us to realize and understand. He didn't have to build anything with his hands. He didn't have to get down and and scoop up stuff and and mold things and make stuff. He simply spoke and it became. So darkness was over the face of the deep.

Now, this may describe in some sense, a sense of resistance to the holy spirit that God was now moving on the Earth. Because in the beginning, remember, the trinity was the trinity from the beginning. It didn't become later. It was from the beginning. And so darkness is over the face of the Earth, but the Holy Spirit and it's gonna tell us the spirit of God in a moment was hovering.

So the spirit of God moving over the earth and it says darkness was on the face. Some speculate that the reason there was darkness where the Holy Spirit was beginning to move is because we understand Satan was cast out of heaven. And where did Satan get cast to? Earth. So in the beginning, there was darkness over the face of everything because Satan had been cast out of heaven.

So the darkness not only is physical darkness, but it's also darkness in the spiritual sense. There's darkness all over this, and so darkness was over the face of the deep. It says 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. The spirit of God and so when God began to transform everything into something beautiful, it started with the work of the spirit of God. Everything all the work of creation begins with the Holy Spirit.

The work that begins in you begins with the Holy Spirit giving you a conviction to show you that you need a savior. The word that God does through you starts with the Holy Spirit. All of that happens. The word that God created this Earth out of began with the Holy Spirit. And so it says the spirit was hovering over the face of the Earth.

Now there's this hovering, they the one of the commentaries I was reading said, it gives kind of a picture as if, you ever seen a a mother hen put out her her wings and hover over her young? That that's kind of that picture. That the spirit of God was hovering over the earth like that. Like this is the child that's about to have be born. This is what's about to happen.

And so the spirit was hovering over all of the face of the waters. And so God began to transform everything from what it was into something beautiful. Now, again, it was formless and void. The the definition of void is emptiness. Meaning, there was nothing there but darkness.

Okay? So understand that. There wasn't that there was an earth and then God just prettied it up. There was nothing there. It was nothing but darkness.

It was evil. It was nothing there but this evil spirit that was present as God hovers over all of this and begins to create. Now, also want you to understand this. When we're talking about this very beginning and God beginning to create, he wasn't only creating the earth. We're talking about the entire space.

Everything. You know, we talk about in the known universe now. You know why we say in the known universe? Because we know there's stuff beyond the known universe, but we don't have a telescope powerful enough to see it yet. And I imagine if we ever get a telescope big enough to see past the known universe, we'll still be limited and we won't be able to see past that.

That it will go on and on and on and on. So we don't know everything that God has created. We don't know. When it was formless and void, there was nothing there but darkness, and God began to create. As only God can create.

It says, he was hovering over the face of the waters. Then, God said. Then, God said. So I want you to think about this. All what's happening.

The spirit of God was hovering. Something was getting ready to work. There was a preparation for something that was about to happen. Hovering like a mother bird. The earth was without form and void and there was nothing.

Now, when we think about all of this and God creates the things that he created, most likely, when God created it and the appearance came, it was an appearance of what today they would call an old earth. And what I mean by that is all the scientists try to tell us how some of these things were created. Right? And they talk about the Grand Canyon and they talk about, you know, how the continents appear to be, you know, where they broke off from one another and all these things that happened. Well, when God created the earth, most likely, he created it with all that already there.

Well, why would you say that? Well, we're gonna get to it in in a week or two, but I'll give you a quick preview. How old do you think Adam was when he was created? He wasn't a baby. He wasn't a little boy.

He was a full grown man from the moment he was created. Well, if he created Adam as a full grown man, why wouldn't he have created the world as a mature world? Why would he have not created that as a mature world? So that's just a feast on for a minute. Alright.

So before I finish first three, look with me to Psalm chapter eight. It keeps going back to Psalm. Yeah. Because Psalm has a beautiful way of describing it. Psalm chapter eight, and we're gonna look at verses three and four.

Psalm eight three and four. It says, when I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the mood and the stars which you have ordained, What is man that you are mindful of him? And the son of man that you visit him? So what I'm talking about here is this. God's about to create we're looking at this.

God's about to create all of this. I don't know if you've ever seen the picture. Louie Giglio does a a thing and it shows the Hubble Telescope that went out into space. Right? Just before it exited our solar system where we could no longer communicate with it, they sent a communication and told it to turn around and take a picture of Earth.

And so just as it went to go out of our solar system, it spun around and took a picture of the Earth from the as far out as we can see. We know there's much more past that. In that picture, think about it like this. So on your television screen, if you have, you know, one like Bill with 90 inch screen on the wall and no. I don't know what he's got.

I'm teasing. You've got a big giant television on the wall, and something happens and one little pixel shows up in the middle of that TV. It's pretty tiny, isn't it? That was about what the picture of earth looked like from the telescope just as it was leaving the solar system. If that vastness is so big, and the earth was so tiny in that think about how big you were in that picture.

You weren't even a pixel. And Psalm is saying, in all that you've done, why would I even be significant? As a person, why would I even be significant in the overall of everything that God did and the creation that he made. And but so many times we just expect that well, God owes us things. When we look at it from the perspective of how big God really is and how tiny we really are.

Oh, man. It changes how we view God and the things that we look at. So look at verse three again. It says, then God said, let there be light. Let there be light.

The very first step that he speaks that is to take all this chaos, everything that's there and bring light to it. Now, God didn't say let there be a sun and a moon. That wasn't until later on. What created the light? The light is God.

God is the light in the darkness. Perhaps when he says, let there be light, the holiness of God is now the light that is making the darkness flee. It is the holy light of God that's making the evil darkness flee from him. There's light. Now this light, I want you to understand something.

There are just in our own little solar system. Not talking about the whole universe, just in our little solar system. There are billions of stars. Billions of stars in our little solar system. If you took a quarter and placed it on the earth, that's about how big our solar system is in the known universe.

Our whole solar system in the known universe. There are billions of stars just in our solar system. When God said, let there be light there wasn't a single heavenly body that created that light only God did. And he created all of that by speaking. We have to to think about it.

It wasn't simply the earth. That was just part of everything that he created. He created not only the earth, but he created all of the other planets within our solar system. He created the sun in our solar system. He created all of that in our solar system just by speaking.

And he said, first of all, the very first thing he did, let there be light. Not let there be man. Not let there be water and earth and, you know, ground and birds and none of that. Light. That's the first thing.

Light dispels darkness. So the holy light of God did away with the darkness that was there. The void was no longer a void, now it's full of light. Just by that, he spoke and there was light. And this is the really neat thing.

And God said, God saw the light that it was good. And God divided the light from the darkness. So, the darkness was dispelled, but it wasn't gone. But he divided the light from the darkness, so the darkness is still there. I read that and I wonder, god, why don't you just go ahead and do away with all the darkness?

You know, you you made the light. Why don't you just go ahead and do away with all the darkness? But God had cast Satan down. The darkness was going to be there. Did away with the light.

I mean, he put the light. It did away with the darkness, but it separated the light from the dark. That's all separated. What an amazing thing is that happens. I want you to think about this.

When God said let there be light and light was. And then the Hebrew version says, light be and light was. Just like that. That's all it is. He had to go through that whole let there be.

Light be and light was. Just like that. Anybody anybody remember how fast the speed of light is? Me either. I'd look it up.

A 86,000 miles per second. A 86,000 miles per second is the speed of light. How fast is that? That's fast enough that it could travel around the earth seven times within one second. All the way around the earth, seven times within one second.

That's how fast the speed of light is. God said, let there be light. And it was light. There was no lag. We weren't waiting.

Let's see what's gonna happen. Let there be light. Oh, it was there. Just like that, he spoke it, it was there. Some people say, well, what about the big bang?

God spoke, let there be life. Bang. There was. It was everywhere. I've heard people say this.

I've even heard scientists say when they talk about the big bang, I've I've heard scientists or believers say, the big bang and and what we know, it appears that there was an explosion. Something happened and everything went out from there. What was it? God spoke it. That's what it was.

And it went out from there. And so when we think about that and we look at it, that's incredible that God said, let light be and light was. Boom. Just like that. 86,000 miles per second light travels all the way across.

God created everything that he created by speaking it into existence. He spoke it into existence. There was light. Genesis tells us that light existed before the sun and the moon were created because they weren't created till the fourth day. Not only did he say let there be light, but in verse, four, he said it divided the light from the darkness.

In verse five, it said, he called the light day and the darkness he called night. So the evening and the morning were the first day. There was night and day before there was sun and moon. It's not the sun and the moon that create the light. God created night and day.

He created the the separation before there ever was a sun and a moon. Think about this. Does he in is he in control of all that? Yeah. Anybody remember what happened in Egypt?

What was one of the plagues? Darkness. Took the light away. And the darkness was so thick they could feel it. They couldn't see their finger touching their nose.

The darkness was so thick it was oppressive because there was no light. None of us have ever experienced that. We've never been in a situation where there was absolutely no light. The closest you could have ever been is be in some room that's pretty much airtight and no lights on. That's about as close as you can get.

But they say that we, our bodies, even generate a certain amount of light because of the electricity within our body. So we've never experienced that. But God took the light away and the darkness was so thick. They couldn't even see. So God created that.

He said, let there be light and light was. He divided the light from the darkness. He called the light day and the darkness he called night. So was the evening and the morning of the first day. Now, let's see how far we get from here.

Alright. So think about this. It was the evening and the morning of the first day. There's always this question that people debate. Christians alike debate this.

Was it a literal night and day? Like a 24 period? Or was it like a, you know, a part of history. A a, you know, maybe a thousand years was night and another thousand years was day. Was it you know, what was it?

Was it a literal night and day or was it, you know, more than that? There's there's a lot of people that that wonder about that. So, here's the thing. So was the evening and the morning of the first day. Why are we hearing the evening and the morning?

God just created evening and morning. And when he created evening and morning, it wasn't thousands of years, it was a twenty four hour period. It was evening and morning. He just created that. And so if he just created that, then God created the world in six days.

Some disagree and say well, it's not really days like we think about, but it's more like, you know, periods, of the world. It's not really days, but the whole point is this. God created, he made night and day, and the things that he put in his word, he said them literally if he meant them literally. There are some metaphorical things in scripture. But when it's metaphorical, you know it's metaphorical.

And so, in this passage, I believe God is literal. He said it literally. He meant it literally. And it is a literal six twenty four hour periods. It's a evening and morning of the first day.

Well, why would he start with the evening? Why would he start with the morning? Anybody know? What? Maybe you are.

Started their days at night. It was the Hebrew the way Hebrews did things. Today started at dot at nightfall. So that started at night fall, and it went from night fall until night fall. And that was the evening and the morning of the first day.

And so because that was the way that the Jews did, of course, that's how it was gonna be written. So evening and morning of the first day. So when we think about all of this, I don't think there's really any doubt that God created the world in a literal six days, and that I don't think there's any doubt for us to understand that God created the world. The way that it says it happened. There has been they've tried forever and ever to prove something else, but they can never start with nothing and get something.

So only way that happens is with god. Verse six through eight. Then god said, let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters. Thus God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament, from the waters which were above the firmament, and it was so. And God called the firmament heaven, so the evening and the morning of the second day.

So the first day, light, and he separated light and dark. Second day, there's a firmament, and he separated waters. Okay. Well, what is he talking about here? Well, so here's what he's talking about.

The idea of a firmament is an expanse or space. That's a firmament. Okay? And so when he said he had the waters under and above it, there were waters under it, there were waters above it. He separated the waters and had some under, some above.

So they're actually separated, between there's space between them. Some scientists think that the the Bible is recognizing the existence of the significant water vapor, that's in the sky. That is such a blanket of of water vapor that it actually it's one of the things that causes, us to be able to have, the temperature variations. It doesn't get too hot. It doesn't burn us up.

Right. There's, the winds because of it. We have the rain cycle. We have all of the things that we have. It's almost like a greenhouse.

Right. Of what this this water vapor that's above the the, up in the atmosphere. And so there are some that believe that's what it's talking about. Well, if we look at the firmament as heaven, which is what the scripture calls it, if we look at the firmament as heaven, you know, we look at the what we would know as the first heaven. That's the sky we can see.

And then the second heaven, which is the atmosphere above the stratosphere, all of that, and the third heaven is where God lives. Right? So between the land and the first heaven, there's a layer of water that's on the outside of that first heaven. And so many scientists believe that what is talking about here is that was the separation between water on the earth and water above the earth because it was divided by the firmament, which was space or heaven. And so God separated that out and made it above and below.

Okay? So, there's a lot of of scientists that believe that. There's a lot of theologians that look at it and think this is exactly what it's talking about. So when we look at all of that and we see that it's there in that way, when we try to figure out how did this separation happen, God did it. He separated it out.

And he made this water vapor and he put it one above and one below. Now the reality is when the water evaporates from the earth, where does it go? It goes up into the clouds, right? Up into the sky. Waters evaporated up and then the clouds get full and then eventually they burst open and water falls back to the earth.

There's that separation. So we have it separated between the ground and the sky. We have all of that separated. All of that water happens. But remember, it didn't rain until the flood.

So the water was separated even more so than that until the flood, and then God calls rain. There was no rain before that. So there was a separation. So God has spent two days creating the the day and night, and separating the water from below and above the firmament. He spent two days doing that.

I think it's important. I think it's important that we understand that it could only work the way God created it. If it wasn't done that way we probably would burn up from the sun or we'd freeze or we'd have all these things that would happen, but because of the way God created it and the way that he did it, he made it perfect. And so we look at that we know about our earth. We know those things and we can see all of that.

We don't know about everything that goes on outside of that. Right. There's so much outside of our universe that we don't even know And and further out than we can even say. So, I'm gonna take just a few minutes to talk about that. Because we know that we're talking about now the creations that God has done.

He created night and day. He spoke and there was light and there was a separation. And then now we're talking about the firmament. Now the firmament, we're getting more straight down to earth. Okay?

So the rest of the universe, we're not speaking about as much anymore. But people have brought up this fact. I've said it myself. We have a the known universe is so big we can never possibly explore it all. There are billions and billions of stars in the known universe.

There are planets that we don't even know about. There are some that we know about, but we don't know much about them. And there are some that we don't even know about. And there's just within our solar system, there are planets that we don't know a whole lot about. You know, we're we're exploring Mars more than it's ever been explored in anybody's lifetime, But, you know, that's the only one that we've really been able to do much exploring.

We don't even know what there is to know about the moon than our own, you know, orbiting our own Earth. So there's all this stuff that's happening. So there are people that would say, well, why would you think that God would create all of this amazing vast expanse of heaven with all of that in it. And he would create that little one tiny bit of earth and put people on it. And that's the only place people would ever exist.

The only place life would exist on that tiny little ball. That one little but he we don't even know all everything that's out there. So why would you not think that there are more out there? Now I'm not advocating that there's little green men that are gonna show up. Right?

The fact of the matter is we don't know what else exists out there. But I heard again, this was Louie Giglio said this and I think it's probably the best way to think about it. What if all of that wasn't made for us? Right. We look at it like this.

Why would God have made all this for us and only had us? Why wouldn't there be something else? Why wouldn't God made it for more people, more things, more civilizations? Well, what if God didn't make it for people or civilizations or any of that? What if this is God's glory that he made as a testament to his greatness?

What if all of that is to glorify him? Remember even the mountains will will bow down before him. The rocks will cry out all of that. So all of creation to glorify and worship him. That's an expanse that's so big.

See when we look at it that way, I think we finally began to look at God in a much bigger picture than we look at him when we think everything centers around us. It doesn't center around us. It centers around God. We just happen to be a teeny tiny little part of it. It's a teeny little part.

So instead of wondering well, why would God only make those few people with this great big why would he make people at all? He made people to worship him, to glorify him as part of that whole expanse that he made. And so we think about that and we think about all this creation and everything that God has done and how he spoken into existence with all of that and we've only made it through two days and so much has already been done that we can't even begin to really comprehend in just those two days. Now we're gonna dig further. We won't tonight, but we're gonna dig further in and we're gonna start getting into some of the other creations and we're gonna get pretty deep in into this to try to, help us to understand it all a little bit better.

But the reality for us is to understand that all of this that was done was done by God. God did every bit of it. He didn't need anybody else. He didn't need anything. I think I've told you this before.

There was a, it was a a funny story. Right? That a man supposedly was, telling God that he he could do things he didn't need God. He could create things just like God. And God said, well, okay.

Let me see you do this. And he reached down and got a little dirt and he made it up and he made a man and he put the man up. And the guy said, okay. Stand back. I'm finna do that.

And he scooped up some dirt and got ready to make the man and God said, hold on. First, you gotta make the dirt. So the reality and all that is this. We gotta understand. It wasn't that something was here and God just molded it into what he wanted.

God spoke every single thing into existence. And even with a God that did all of that, even with a God that created everything he created, things that we can't even begin to fathom, we haven't ever seen, he made you. He made you. He made me as insignificant of a person as I am. God made me.

He has a purpose. There's a reason. Everything God made has a purpose. Okay. I want you to understand that.

Everything God made has a purpose. We're we're only in day two, and God has already made light. He's made darkness. He separated it out. He's made the water below and the water above.

He's done all of that. He spoke everything into existence, and he did all of it for a purpose. There's not one thing that God has created that doesn't have a purpose. I question that about sharks and snakes and spiders, but, you know, they have a purpose. I don't know what their purpose is, but they have a purpose.

Everything God created has a purpose. I say that because of this. How many people do you know that say, I'm worthless? How many people do you know that their self esteem is so low that they say I'm a useless lump of a human being. There's nothing about me that deserves anything.

I'm I'm a terrible person. I I don't even know why anybody would spend any time with me. Well, you have a purpose. God created you. He created you in his image.

And he created you in his image for a purpose that he wants to serve. He wants you to serve that purpose. Now our job is to find out what that is. And if we spend the time going well, what about me? How come, you know, this or that?

It's all about it's not about you. If we spend all the time focusing on your own self and trying to figure out why things aren't going your way and why things aren't doing then we're never going to figure out what it is that God wants us to do. Because we're too focused on what is it for me instead of what is it for God. I shared with somebody tonight. They were talking about all things that have happened.

They just don't understand. And I said, yeah. There's a lot of bad things that have occurred. But instead of thinking about all those bad things that have occurred, think about the good things that have occurred. And then I named out four, five, or six things just like that.

And they were like, well, yeah. That's a very good point. You know, those things occurred. Those were good things. Those were positive things.

And don't look at the negative. Don't dwell on that. Dwell on the positive things. What is it that God has has for you? Well, maybe it's not gonna be what you thought it would be, you know.

You know, maybe you're not gonna be the the number one draft pick in the NFL this year. Okay. That's alright. What if you happen to be mister irrelevant? Y'all know that's the very last pick.

Right? Well, let me tell you something. The very last pick from the draft a couple years ago played in the Super Bowl last year starting quarterback. Now got nothing to do with God as far as football. But what it means is even though everybody thought that person was insignificant, they had a purpose and they ended up fulfilling that in a way that nobody ever thought they would.

Every person has a purpose. We may not think it. We may think, well, I'm not too smart and I'm not very talented and, you know, I don't have a lot of friends and I'm I'm not well spoken and I'm not this or that. We may think a lot of negative things about ourselves, But here's the one positive thing I want you to dwell on. God created you.

And everything else God created, he took time to create you. Yes, sir. So my creation is further to that. Mhmm. For we are God's handiwork created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

That's right. And God created us. And that's the whole point is think about in all that God did. And and we think about the earth and how massive it is and everything on the earth and in that picture of all that is a tiny little pixel and all that God did he took time to create you. To me and every other human being that walked this earth.

That means every single person is relevant. Every single person matters. It doesn't matter where you come from, what you look like, who gave birth to you. None of that matters. What matters is God created you.

It was no accident. Your parents might have said it was an accident, but it wasn't an accident. It was just unexpected by your parents. God had a purpose. He created you.

He put you there for a reason. What is the reason? Well, so many people never spend any time trying to figure that out. They never spend any time trying to figure out God. What is it that you have for me in this world?

I got news for you. It's not to be rich and be well respected and, you know, be the best looking person on the block. You know, everybody can't be like I am. But, it's not that's not the purpose. The purpose is to serve him.

He has something for you. Yes. Yes. What is it? Would you spend time trying to figure that out?

I I tell you this. This is kind of my testimony. Right? I spent twenty two years in the in the military. Was thankful for every moment of that.

I was so glad that I was able to serve my country and do what I did. But at the end of that twenty two years, and I'm thinking, well, what next? And and God started calling me to ministry. It it was at that point I realized that God had probably been calling me to ministry twenty years earlier than that. But instead of taking the time to figure out, God, what is it that you want for my life?

I decided this is what I'm gonna do God. Now you go bless it for me. And that's how most of us are. I'm gonna do it this way. God bless it.

Well, what if that's not what God wants you to do? What if God wants you to go be a missionary? What if God wants you to be a pastor? What if God wants you to be a, ditch digger? He wants you to be a ditch digger and you tell all the other ditch diggers about God.

What what is what if he wants you to be a preschool teacher or, you know, whatever it is. God said, you need to go into vocational ministry. I got got a job for you. I'm seeking, okay. Well, now what do I do?

How do I do this? I know I got I'm going into what how do I do? I don't know. I've never done this. How do I do this?

Well, I gotta put out resumes. Right? I gotta just like any other job. You gotta put out some resumes, see what you can find, see what something's open. And I said, okay, God.

If this is what you want from me to be in vocational ministry, that's fine. But, God, don't make me be a youth minister. I don't wanna be a youth minister. Don't make me be a youth minister. I'm too old to be a youth minister.

As many of you know, the first place God called me was to be a youth minister. I said, you gotta be kidding. God, that's I I didn't want I didn't wanna be a youth minister. That's where you need to go. It was, one of the hardest times in my life.

It was one of the best times in my life. It was one of the most angry times in my life. It was one of the most loving times in my life. It was one of the most saddest times in my I mean, all those things happen. I learned so many things about how to be a pastor, and I learned so many things about things I shouldn't do as being a pastor.

I learned things that, how to interact with people that I never knew before. I learned so many things. And after that period of time, then God said, okay. Now you're ready. Now you move on to something else.

Now I put you somewhere else. Some people look at youth minister that, well, that's just a stepping stone. You just go in there to get your foot in the door. No. No.

God's calling you if that's what he wants you to do. I didn't wanna be there, but God said be there. You know? I didn't I wasn't perfect. I didn't do the greatest job.

I made a lot of mistakes. But I'm a human being. And through everything that I did, God taught me things. And God showed me things and he grew me just like he will you. What is it that God wants you to do?

What are you doing for God? Are you doing anything for God? Are you just asking God do everything for you? See, if God's big enough that he can create this great big world and he spent time to create you, there's a purpose. What is it?

Have you sought it out? Have you been serving and doing what God's called you to do? Or have you just been serving yourself and asking God to bless that? It doesn't matter if you're eight or 80. We still need to be seeking for God's purpose.

Right? Or 90. We need to be seeking God's purpose. What do you have for me God? You know what, miss John?

At 90 years old, 90 what? Yeah. 91 years old. Why are you still here? God has a purpose for you.

That's the whole point. You're still here because God still has a purpose. So we still need to be looking for that purpose. Whatever it is. And so for every person, we need to be searching for that every day.

God created this universe. He created the universes that we don't even know about. He created all of these things separated the night and the day separated the waters from the firmament did all of that, but yet he took time to create you. So one of the biggest things I want us to get out of our study in Genesis is, if God created me just like he did everything else, then what does he want me to do? Where does he want me to serve?

What does he want me to do? How does he want me to be used by him? And then follow-up when he tells you. Alright. So I know that I probably walked out of the picture on the on the video and for those watching online, I'm sorry.

I got a little excited tonight. But, thank you for being here with us tonight. If you joined us online, I look forward to picking back up, in verse nine, next time. And, we want to continue on in our study of Genesis. I told you this is gonna be a long study.

We're not gonna have this done in a few weeks or even a few months. Alright? So for those of you who joined us online, God bless and good night.

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  • Feb 5, 2025Chapter 1 Pt. 2
    Feb 5, 2025
    Chapter 1 Pt. 2
    Series: Genesis
     
     
    Full Transcript:

    Alright. Good evening. Good evening. Sounds like we need to go upstairs and play carpet ball, doesn't it? Sound like they're having a big time up there.

    Well, good to see everybody. Feels like it's been, you know, a couple months since I've been here on a Wednesday night. Really, it's only been a few weeks, but, you know, thank you for Don taking care of last week. I got sick and, you know, I'm, praise God. I'm I'm not out sick very often.

    I think that's about the second time in thirteen years, but, you know, sometimes it just happens. So I appreciate Don taking care of everything last Wednesday night. And, we're gonna, continue in our study of Genesis tonight. And, so it's a long turn in your Bible, over to the first chapter of Genesis. And we spent about two weeks covering verse one, I think.

    Not really, but we spent a long time covering verse one. So we're gonna get a long way tonight. We're gonna maybe get all the way through verse six or five. We'll see. If we get real lucky, we might make it a little further.

    But, you know, I think it's important that we take the time as we go through all of this to examine things that we might not otherwise think about. You know, you can open up the book of Genesis and start reading, and you can just read in the beginning and you start going through it. And especially if you've read through the Bible a few times, it's so familiar that you might just read over stuff that is really important or things that you never really considered before. And so that's why we're taking time to go through the book of Genesis, the beginning and we wanna go through all of that and make sure that as we, study it that God shows us things that maybe we really need to know. So I'm gonna go ahead and open up with a word of prayer and then we'll continue, in Genesis chapter one.

    Alright. So let's pray. Father, we do come to you tonight. And again, we're thankful father for healing for, so many of our church have been sick and gotten well. And we still have some that are sick and, so we just pray for all of them.

    We know there's a lot going on right now. God, we pray for all of our nation. There's a lot happening throughout our nation. Father with this new administration and so many changes that are happening and so God, we just pray for each person. We pray for wisdom for the leadership and that you would be with them and you would guide them with your word father and that through that our nation would return back to you father like we need to have been all along.

    Father, we thank you for your word tonight as we open up the first book, the book of Genesis. Father, the very beginning. I pray that you would just help us to see things that maybe we never noticed before, to dwell on some things that we need to dwell on and help us father to take what we learn and apply it in our lives that we might be a stronger in our walk than we've ever been before. God, we just ask that you just touch each life, watch over us and and protect us, but always use us for your glory. In Jesus name we pray.

    Amen. Alright. So the book of Genesis. Genesis is a Greek word. Does anybody know what it means?

    Beginning. Beginning, origin, source, generation. All of those are different translations within the the Greek. The original Hebrew is, Beresheth, which means in the beginning. And so, since when Moses was, writing all of this, it would have been Hebrew, when he put all this down in the beginning.

    So the title is the first three words of the first chapter of the first verse. And so in the beginning so it's important for us to remember because when we start thinking about now, think about this. How many of you remember being a newborn? Right? Nobody remembers being a newborn.

    It was a long time ago. It was in the beginning. There was something. How do we find out what happened? We have to ask.

    Parents, relatives, friends, family, siblings, they tell you about the beginning and so you can go back and learn about things that happened in the beginning of your life. For us to know what happened in the beginning of the world, We have to go back to Genesis. That is a record of that to find out. Now, sometimes I have people say, well, you know, you you go to Genesis is the beginning and you start reading about everything in Genesis, but, you know, it only tells you so much. It doesn't really tell you everything.

    It doesn't explain a lot of stuff, and that's true. In fact, the Bible says that if everything was written down, the world could not contain it. So it doesn't tell us everything. And Moses was not there in the beginning. Okay?

    So this word that was given to Moses was a divine word that God gave him, not a word that he knew from the beginning. It was a word that God gave him from some written records from some things that God just gave him. And and he breathed it into him. So but this is a beginning. It is in the beginning and this is the record.

    So we talked about the beginning God created. There was no it it wasn't, well, God took certain things and made this. No. God created it all from the very beginning. God created it.

    It wasn't there before. He didn't take something and make something else out of it. There was nothing there. God created it, everything from the very beginning. And so when we move into verse two, it starts talking about some of the how, Some of what was happening at the time in the beginning when God was creating.

    So in verse two, it says 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. Okay. So let's think about this. First, I want you to turn to a whole another book, and you're gonna say, what? Why are we doing that?

    I thought we were doing Genesis. Well, we are. But I want you to turn to the book of Psalm chapter 33. Book of Psalm chapter 33, and we're gonna look at verse six. I want you to hear what the Psalmist said about the beginning.

    In Psalm 33 verse six, the Psalmist says, by the word of the Lord, the heavens were made and all of the host of them by the breath of his mouth. Alright. So think about that. It's telling us right there in Psalm that the word of the Lord made the heavens and the host of all of them came from the breath of his mouth. Meaning, he spoke it into existence.

    Now, that's important for us to realize and understand. He didn't have to build anything with his hands. He didn't have to get down and and scoop up stuff and and mold things and make stuff. He simply spoke and it became. So darkness was over the face of the deep.

    Now, this may describe in some sense, a sense of resistance to the holy spirit that God was now moving on the Earth. Because in the beginning, remember, the trinity was the trinity from the beginning. It didn't become later. It was from the beginning. And so darkness is over the face of the Earth, but the Holy Spirit and it's gonna tell us the spirit of God in a moment was hovering.

    So the spirit of God moving over the earth and it says darkness was on the face. Some speculate that the reason there was darkness where the Holy Spirit was beginning to move is because we understand Satan was cast out of heaven. And where did Satan get cast to? Earth. So in the beginning, there was darkness over the face of everything because Satan had been cast out of heaven.

    So the darkness not only is physical darkness, but it's also darkness in the spiritual sense. There's darkness all over this, and so darkness was over the face of the deep. It says 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. The spirit of God and so when God began to transform everything into something beautiful, it started with the work of the spirit of God. Everything all the work of creation begins with the Holy Spirit.

    The work that begins in you begins with the Holy Spirit giving you a conviction to show you that you need a savior. The word that God does through you starts with the Holy Spirit. All of that happens. The word that God created this Earth out of began with the Holy Spirit. And so it says the spirit was hovering over the face of the Earth.

    Now there's this hovering, they the one of the commentaries I was reading said, it gives kind of a picture as if, you ever seen a a mother hen put out her her wings and hover over her young? That that's kind of that picture. That the spirit of God was hovering over the earth like that. Like this is the child that's about to have be born. This is what's about to happen.

    And so the spirit was hovering over all of the face of the waters. And so God began to transform everything from what it was into something beautiful. Now, again, it was formless and void. The the definition of void is emptiness. Meaning, there was nothing there but darkness.

    Okay? So understand that. There wasn't that there was an earth and then God just prettied it up. There was nothing there. It was nothing but darkness.

    It was evil. It was nothing there but this evil spirit that was present as God hovers over all of this and begins to create. Now, also want you to understand this. When we're talking about this very beginning and God beginning to create, he wasn't only creating the earth. We're talking about the entire space.

    Everything. You know, we talk about in the known universe now. You know why we say in the known universe? Because we know there's stuff beyond the known universe, but we don't have a telescope powerful enough to see it yet. And I imagine if we ever get a telescope big enough to see past the known universe, we'll still be limited and we won't be able to see past that.

    That it will go on and on and on and on. So we don't know everything that God has created. We don't know. When it was formless and void, there was nothing there but darkness, and God began to create. As only God can create.

    It says, he was hovering over the face of the waters. Then, God said. Then, God said. So I want you to think about this. All what's happening.

    The spirit of God was hovering. Something was getting ready to work. There was a preparation for something that was about to happen. Hovering like a mother bird. The earth was without form and void and there was nothing.

    Now, when we think about all of this and God creates the things that he created, most likely, when God created it and the appearance came, it was an appearance of what today they would call an old earth. And what I mean by that is all the scientists try to tell us how some of these things were created. Right? And they talk about the Grand Canyon and they talk about, you know, how the continents appear to be, you know, where they broke off from one another and all these things that happened. Well, when God created the earth, most likely, he created it with all that already there.

    Well, why would you say that? Well, we're gonna get to it in in a week or two, but I'll give you a quick preview. How old do you think Adam was when he was created? He wasn't a baby. He wasn't a little boy.

    He was a full grown man from the moment he was created. Well, if he created Adam as a full grown man, why wouldn't he have created the world as a mature world? Why would he have not created that as a mature world? So that's just a feast on for a minute. Alright.

    So before I finish first three, look with me to Psalm chapter eight. It keeps going back to Psalm. Yeah. Because Psalm has a beautiful way of describing it. Psalm chapter eight, and we're gonna look at verses three and four.

    Psalm eight three and four. It says, when I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the mood and the stars which you have ordained, What is man that you are mindful of him? And the son of man that you visit him? So what I'm talking about here is this. God's about to create we're looking at this.

    God's about to create all of this. I don't know if you've ever seen the picture. Louie Giglio does a a thing and it shows the Hubble Telescope that went out into space. Right? Just before it exited our solar system where we could no longer communicate with it, they sent a communication and told it to turn around and take a picture of Earth.

    And so just as it went to go out of our solar system, it spun around and took a picture of the Earth from the as far out as we can see. We know there's much more past that. In that picture, think about it like this. So on your television screen, if you have, you know, one like Bill with 90 inch screen on the wall and no. I don't know what he's got.

    I'm teasing. You've got a big giant television on the wall, and something happens and one little pixel shows up in the middle of that TV. It's pretty tiny, isn't it? That was about what the picture of earth looked like from the telescope just as it was leaving the solar system. If that vastness is so big, and the earth was so tiny in that think about how big you were in that picture.

    You weren't even a pixel. And Psalm is saying, in all that you've done, why would I even be significant? As a person, why would I even be significant in the overall of everything that God did and the creation that he made. And but so many times we just expect that well, God owes us things. When we look at it from the perspective of how big God really is and how tiny we really are.

    Oh, man. It changes how we view God and the things that we look at. So look at verse three again. It says, then God said, let there be light. Let there be light.

    The very first step that he speaks that is to take all this chaos, everything that's there and bring light to it. Now, God didn't say let there be a sun and a moon. That wasn't until later on. What created the light? The light is God.

    God is the light in the darkness. Perhaps when he says, let there be light, the holiness of God is now the light that is making the darkness flee. It is the holy light of God that's making the evil darkness flee from him. There's light. Now this light, I want you to understand something.

    There are just in our own little solar system. Not talking about the whole universe, just in our little solar system. There are billions of stars. Billions of stars in our little solar system. If you took a quarter and placed it on the earth, that's about how big our solar system is in the known universe.

    Our whole solar system in the known universe. There are billions of stars just in our solar system. When God said, let there be light there wasn't a single heavenly body that created that light only God did. And he created all of that by speaking. We have to to think about it.

    It wasn't simply the earth. That was just part of everything that he created. He created not only the earth, but he created all of the other planets within our solar system. He created the sun in our solar system. He created all of that in our solar system just by speaking.

    And he said, first of all, the very first thing he did, let there be light. Not let there be man. Not let there be water and earth and, you know, ground and birds and none of that. Light. That's the first thing.

    Light dispels darkness. So the holy light of God did away with the darkness that was there. The void was no longer a void, now it's full of light. Just by that, he spoke and there was light. And this is the really neat thing.

    And God said, God saw the light that it was good. And God divided the light from the darkness. So, the darkness was dispelled, but it wasn't gone. But he divided the light from the darkness, so the darkness is still there. I read that and I wonder, god, why don't you just go ahead and do away with all the darkness?

    You know, you you made the light. Why don't you just go ahead and do away with all the darkness? But God had cast Satan down. The darkness was going to be there. Did away with the light.

    I mean, he put the light. It did away with the darkness, but it separated the light from the dark. That's all separated. What an amazing thing is that happens. I want you to think about this.

    When God said let there be light and light was. And then the Hebrew version says, light be and light was. Just like that. That's all it is. He had to go through that whole let there be.

    Light be and light was. Just like that. Anybody anybody remember how fast the speed of light is? Me either. I'd look it up.

    A 86,000 miles per second. A 86,000 miles per second is the speed of light. How fast is that? That's fast enough that it could travel around the earth seven times within one second. All the way around the earth, seven times within one second.

    That's how fast the speed of light is. God said, let there be light. And it was light. There was no lag. We weren't waiting.

    Let's see what's gonna happen. Let there be light. Oh, it was there. Just like that, he spoke it, it was there. Some people say, well, what about the big bang?

    God spoke, let there be life. Bang. There was. It was everywhere. I've heard people say this.

    I've even heard scientists say when they talk about the big bang, I've I've heard scientists or believers say, the big bang and and what we know, it appears that there was an explosion. Something happened and everything went out from there. What was it? God spoke it. That's what it was.

    And it went out from there. And so when we think about that and we look at it, that's incredible that God said, let light be and light was. Boom. Just like that. 86,000 miles per second light travels all the way across.

    God created everything that he created by speaking it into existence. He spoke it into existence. There was light. Genesis tells us that light existed before the sun and the moon were created because they weren't created till the fourth day. Not only did he say let there be light, but in verse, four, he said it divided the light from the darkness.

    In verse five, it said, he called the light day and the darkness he called night. So the evening and the morning were the first day. There was night and day before there was sun and moon. It's not the sun and the moon that create the light. God created night and day.

    He created the the separation before there ever was a sun and a moon. Think about this. Does he in is he in control of all that? Yeah. Anybody remember what happened in Egypt?

    What was one of the plagues? Darkness. Took the light away. And the darkness was so thick they could feel it. They couldn't see their finger touching their nose.

    The darkness was so thick it was oppressive because there was no light. None of us have ever experienced that. We've never been in a situation where there was absolutely no light. The closest you could have ever been is be in some room that's pretty much airtight and no lights on. That's about as close as you can get.

    But they say that we, our bodies, even generate a certain amount of light because of the electricity within our body. So we've never experienced that. But God took the light away and the darkness was so thick. They couldn't even see. So God created that.

    He said, let there be light and light was. He divided the light from the darkness. He called the light day and the darkness he called night. So was the evening and the morning of the first day. Now, let's see how far we get from here.

    Alright. So think about this. It was the evening and the morning of the first day. There's always this question that people debate. Christians alike debate this.

    Was it a literal night and day? Like a 24 period? Or was it like a, you know, a part of history. A a, you know, maybe a thousand years was night and another thousand years was day. Was it you know, what was it?

    Was it a literal night and day or was it, you know, more than that? There's there's a lot of people that that wonder about that. So, here's the thing. So was the evening and the morning of the first day. Why are we hearing the evening and the morning?

    God just created evening and morning. And when he created evening and morning, it wasn't thousands of years, it was a twenty four hour period. It was evening and morning. He just created that. And so if he just created that, then God created the world in six days.

    Some disagree and say well, it's not really days like we think about, but it's more like, you know, periods, of the world. It's not really days, but the whole point is this. God created, he made night and day, and the things that he put in his word, he said them literally if he meant them literally. There are some metaphorical things in scripture. But when it's metaphorical, you know it's metaphorical.

    And so, in this passage, I believe God is literal. He said it literally. He meant it literally. And it is a literal six twenty four hour periods. It's a evening and morning of the first day.

    Well, why would he start with the evening? Why would he start with the morning? Anybody know? What? Maybe you are.

    Started their days at night. It was the Hebrew the way Hebrews did things. Today started at dot at nightfall. So that started at night fall, and it went from night fall until night fall. And that was the evening and the morning of the first day.

    And so because that was the way that the Jews did, of course, that's how it was gonna be written. So evening and morning of the first day. So when we think about all of this, I don't think there's really any doubt that God created the world in a literal six days, and that I don't think there's any doubt for us to understand that God created the world. The way that it says it happened. There has been they've tried forever and ever to prove something else, but they can never start with nothing and get something.

    So only way that happens is with god. Verse six through eight. Then god said, let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters. Thus God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament, from the waters which were above the firmament, and it was so. And God called the firmament heaven, so the evening and the morning of the second day.

    So the first day, light, and he separated light and dark. Second day, there's a firmament, and he separated waters. Okay. Well, what is he talking about here? Well, so here's what he's talking about.

    The idea of a firmament is an expanse or space. That's a firmament. Okay? And so when he said he had the waters under and above it, there were waters under it, there were waters above it. He separated the waters and had some under, some above.

    So they're actually separated, between there's space between them. Some scientists think that the the Bible is recognizing the existence of the significant water vapor, that's in the sky. That is such a blanket of of water vapor that it actually it's one of the things that causes, us to be able to have, the temperature variations. It doesn't get too hot. It doesn't burn us up.

    Right. There's, the winds because of it. We have the rain cycle. We have all of the things that we have. It's almost like a greenhouse.

    Right. Of what this this water vapor that's above the the, up in the atmosphere. And so there are some that believe that's what it's talking about. Well, if we look at the firmament as heaven, which is what the scripture calls it, if we look at the firmament as heaven, you know, we look at the what we would know as the first heaven. That's the sky we can see.

    And then the second heaven, which is the atmosphere above the stratosphere, all of that, and the third heaven is where God lives. Right? So between the land and the first heaven, there's a layer of water that's on the outside of that first heaven. And so many scientists believe that what is talking about here is that was the separation between water on the earth and water above the earth because it was divided by the firmament, which was space or heaven. And so God separated that out and made it above and below.

    Okay? So, there's a lot of of scientists that believe that. There's a lot of theologians that look at it and think this is exactly what it's talking about. So when we look at all of that and we see that it's there in that way, when we try to figure out how did this separation happen, God did it. He separated it out.

    And he made this water vapor and he put it one above and one below. Now the reality is when the water evaporates from the earth, where does it go? It goes up into the clouds, right? Up into the sky. Waters evaporated up and then the clouds get full and then eventually they burst open and water falls back to the earth.

    There's that separation. So we have it separated between the ground and the sky. We have all of that separated. All of that water happens. But remember, it didn't rain until the flood.

    So the water was separated even more so than that until the flood, and then God calls rain. There was no rain before that. So there was a separation. So God has spent two days creating the the day and night, and separating the water from below and above the firmament. He spent two days doing that.

    I think it's important. I think it's important that we understand that it could only work the way God created it. If it wasn't done that way we probably would burn up from the sun or we'd freeze or we'd have all these things that would happen, but because of the way God created it and the way that he did it, he made it perfect. And so we look at that we know about our earth. We know those things and we can see all of that.

    We don't know about everything that goes on outside of that. Right. There's so much outside of our universe that we don't even know And and further out than we can even say. So, I'm gonna take just a few minutes to talk about that. Because we know that we're talking about now the creations that God has done.

    He created night and day. He spoke and there was light and there was a separation. And then now we're talking about the firmament. Now the firmament, we're getting more straight down to earth. Okay?

    So the rest of the universe, we're not speaking about as much anymore. But people have brought up this fact. I've said it myself. We have a the known universe is so big we can never possibly explore it all. There are billions and billions of stars in the known universe.

    There are planets that we don't even know about. There are some that we know about, but we don't know much about them. And there are some that we don't even know about. And there's just within our solar system, there are planets that we don't know a whole lot about. You know, we're we're exploring Mars more than it's ever been explored in anybody's lifetime, But, you know, that's the only one that we've really been able to do much exploring.

    We don't even know what there is to know about the moon than our own, you know, orbiting our own Earth. So there's all this stuff that's happening. So there are people that would say, well, why would you think that God would create all of this amazing vast expanse of heaven with all of that in it. And he would create that little one tiny bit of earth and put people on it. And that's the only place people would ever exist.

    The only place life would exist on that tiny little ball. That one little but he we don't even know all everything that's out there. So why would you not think that there are more out there? Now I'm not advocating that there's little green men that are gonna show up. Right?

    The fact of the matter is we don't know what else exists out there. But I heard again, this was Louie Giglio said this and I think it's probably the best way to think about it. What if all of that wasn't made for us? Right. We look at it like this.

    Why would God have made all this for us and only had us? Why wouldn't there be something else? Why wouldn't God made it for more people, more things, more civilizations? Well, what if God didn't make it for people or civilizations or any of that? What if this is God's glory that he made as a testament to his greatness?

    What if all of that is to glorify him? Remember even the mountains will will bow down before him. The rocks will cry out all of that. So all of creation to glorify and worship him. That's an expanse that's so big.

    See when we look at it that way, I think we finally began to look at God in a much bigger picture than we look at him when we think everything centers around us. It doesn't center around us. It centers around God. We just happen to be a teeny tiny little part of it. It's a teeny little part.

    So instead of wondering well, why would God only make those few people with this great big why would he make people at all? He made people to worship him, to glorify him as part of that whole expanse that he made. And so we think about that and we think about all this creation and everything that God has done and how he spoken into existence with all of that and we've only made it through two days and so much has already been done that we can't even begin to really comprehend in just those two days. Now we're gonna dig further. We won't tonight, but we're gonna dig further in and we're gonna start getting into some of the other creations and we're gonna get pretty deep in into this to try to, help us to understand it all a little bit better.

    But the reality for us is to understand that all of this that was done was done by God. God did every bit of it. He didn't need anybody else. He didn't need anything. I think I've told you this before.

    There was a, it was a a funny story. Right? That a man supposedly was, telling God that he he could do things he didn't need God. He could create things just like God. And God said, well, okay.

    Let me see you do this. And he reached down and got a little dirt and he made it up and he made a man and he put the man up. And the guy said, okay. Stand back. I'm finna do that.

    And he scooped up some dirt and got ready to make the man and God said, hold on. First, you gotta make the dirt. So the reality and all that is this. We gotta understand. It wasn't that something was here and God just molded it into what he wanted.

    God spoke every single thing into existence. And even with a God that did all of that, even with a God that created everything he created, things that we can't even begin to fathom, we haven't ever seen, he made you. He made you. He made me as insignificant of a person as I am. God made me.

    He has a purpose. There's a reason. Everything God made has a purpose. Okay. I want you to understand that.

    Everything God made has a purpose. We're we're only in day two, and God has already made light. He's made darkness. He separated it out. He's made the water below and the water above.

    He's done all of that. He spoke everything into existence, and he did all of it for a purpose. There's not one thing that God has created that doesn't have a purpose. I question that about sharks and snakes and spiders, but, you know, they have a purpose. I don't know what their purpose is, but they have a purpose.

    Everything God created has a purpose. I say that because of this. How many people do you know that say, I'm worthless? How many people do you know that their self esteem is so low that they say I'm a useless lump of a human being. There's nothing about me that deserves anything.

    I'm I'm a terrible person. I I don't even know why anybody would spend any time with me. Well, you have a purpose. God created you. He created you in his image.

    And he created you in his image for a purpose that he wants to serve. He wants you to serve that purpose. Now our job is to find out what that is. And if we spend the time going well, what about me? How come, you know, this or that?

    It's all about it's not about you. If we spend all the time focusing on your own self and trying to figure out why things aren't going your way and why things aren't doing then we're never going to figure out what it is that God wants us to do. Because we're too focused on what is it for me instead of what is it for God. I shared with somebody tonight. They were talking about all things that have happened.

    They just don't understand. And I said, yeah. There's a lot of bad things that have occurred. But instead of thinking about all those bad things that have occurred, think about the good things that have occurred. And then I named out four, five, or six things just like that.

    And they were like, well, yeah. That's a very good point. You know, those things occurred. Those were good things. Those were positive things.

    And don't look at the negative. Don't dwell on that. Dwell on the positive things. What is it that God has has for you? Well, maybe it's not gonna be what you thought it would be, you know.

    You know, maybe you're not gonna be the the number one draft pick in the NFL this year. Okay. That's alright. What if you happen to be mister irrelevant? Y'all know that's the very last pick.

    Right? Well, let me tell you something. The very last pick from the draft a couple years ago played in the Super Bowl last year starting quarterback. Now got nothing to do with God as far as football. But what it means is even though everybody thought that person was insignificant, they had a purpose and they ended up fulfilling that in a way that nobody ever thought they would.

    Every person has a purpose. We may not think it. We may think, well, I'm not too smart and I'm not very talented and, you know, I don't have a lot of friends and I'm I'm not well spoken and I'm not this or that. We may think a lot of negative things about ourselves, But here's the one positive thing I want you to dwell on. God created you.

    And everything else God created, he took time to create you. Yes, sir. So my creation is further to that. Mhmm. For we are God's handiwork created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

    That's right. And God created us. And that's the whole point is think about in all that God did. And and we think about the earth and how massive it is and everything on the earth and in that picture of all that is a tiny little pixel and all that God did he took time to create you. To me and every other human being that walked this earth.

    That means every single person is relevant. Every single person matters. It doesn't matter where you come from, what you look like, who gave birth to you. None of that matters. What matters is God created you.

    It was no accident. Your parents might have said it was an accident, but it wasn't an accident. It was just unexpected by your parents. God had a purpose. He created you.

    He put you there for a reason. What is the reason? Well, so many people never spend any time trying to figure that out. They never spend any time trying to figure out God. What is it that you have for me in this world?

    I got news for you. It's not to be rich and be well respected and, you know, be the best looking person on the block. You know, everybody can't be like I am. But, it's not that's not the purpose. The purpose is to serve him.

    He has something for you. Yes. Yes. What is it? Would you spend time trying to figure that out?

    I I tell you this. This is kind of my testimony. Right? I spent twenty two years in the in the military. Was thankful for every moment of that.

    I was so glad that I was able to serve my country and do what I did. But at the end of that twenty two years, and I'm thinking, well, what next? And and God started calling me to ministry. It it was at that point I realized that God had probably been calling me to ministry twenty years earlier than that. But instead of taking the time to figure out, God, what is it that you want for my life?

    I decided this is what I'm gonna do God. Now you go bless it for me. And that's how most of us are. I'm gonna do it this way. God bless it.

    Well, what if that's not what God wants you to do? What if God wants you to go be a missionary? What if God wants you to be a pastor? What if God wants you to be a, ditch digger? He wants you to be a ditch digger and you tell all the other ditch diggers about God.

    What what is what if he wants you to be a preschool teacher or, you know, whatever it is. God said, you need to go into vocational ministry. I got got a job for you. I'm seeking, okay. Well, now what do I do?

    How do I do this? I know I got I'm going into what how do I do? I don't know. I've never done this. How do I do this?

    Well, I gotta put out resumes. Right? I gotta just like any other job. You gotta put out some resumes, see what you can find, see what something's open. And I said, okay, God.

    If this is what you want from me to be in vocational ministry, that's fine. But, God, don't make me be a youth minister. I don't wanna be a youth minister. Don't make me be a youth minister. I'm too old to be a youth minister.

    As many of you know, the first place God called me was to be a youth minister. I said, you gotta be kidding. God, that's I I didn't want I didn't wanna be a youth minister. That's where you need to go. It was, one of the hardest times in my life.

    It was one of the best times in my life. It was one of the most angry times in my life. It was one of the most loving times in my life. It was one of the most saddest times in my I mean, all those things happen. I learned so many things about how to be a pastor, and I learned so many things about things I shouldn't do as being a pastor.

    I learned things that, how to interact with people that I never knew before. I learned so many things. And after that period of time, then God said, okay. Now you're ready. Now you move on to something else.

    Now I put you somewhere else. Some people look at youth minister that, well, that's just a stepping stone. You just go in there to get your foot in the door. No. No.

    God's calling you if that's what he wants you to do. I didn't wanna be there, but God said be there. You know? I didn't I wasn't perfect. I didn't do the greatest job.

    I made a lot of mistakes. But I'm a human being. And through everything that I did, God taught me things. And God showed me things and he grew me just like he will you. What is it that God wants you to do?

    What are you doing for God? Are you doing anything for God? Are you just asking God do everything for you? See, if God's big enough that he can create this great big world and he spent time to create you, there's a purpose. What is it?

    Have you sought it out? Have you been serving and doing what God's called you to do? Or have you just been serving yourself and asking God to bless that? It doesn't matter if you're eight or 80. We still need to be seeking for God's purpose.

    Right? Or 90. We need to be seeking God's purpose. What do you have for me God? You know what, miss John?

    At 90 years old, 90 what? Yeah. 91 years old. Why are you still here? God has a purpose for you.

    That's the whole point. You're still here because God still has a purpose. So we still need to be looking for that purpose. Whatever it is. And so for every person, we need to be searching for that every day.

    God created this universe. He created the universes that we don't even know about. He created all of these things separated the night and the day separated the waters from the firmament did all of that, but yet he took time to create you. So one of the biggest things I want us to get out of our study in Genesis is, if God created me just like he did everything else, then what does he want me to do? Where does he want me to serve?

    What does he want me to do? How does he want me to be used by him? And then follow-up when he tells you. Alright. So I know that I probably walked out of the picture on the on the video and for those watching online, I'm sorry.

    I got a little excited tonight. But, thank you for being here with us tonight. If you joined us online, I look forward to picking back up, in verse nine, next time. And, we want to continue on in our study of Genesis. I told you this is gonna be a long study.

    We're not gonna have this done in a few weeks or even a few months. Alright? So for those of you who joined us online, God bless and good night.

  • Jan 15, 2025Chapter 1 Pt. 1
    Jan 15, 2025
    Chapter 1 Pt. 1
    Series: Genesis
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