Slide 1The Wonder of Creation- Genesis 1:1-2:25Today we will begin in the beginning of it all, that being Genesis. So if you have your Bibles please turn to Genesis 1. The layout of how my sermon may be outside of what you’re used to hearing about creation so I’ll let you know my outline ahead of time so there is clarity. We will go through all of creation and then we will address some popular questions about creation then transition into the creation of man and woman. After that we will close with talking about the Image of God and the importance of that in our culture. There’s a lot to talk about today and I have history, science, math, politics and a little bit of romance in this sermon so if you were looking for an easy topic to listen to I apologize because the creation of everything is pretty complex. Let’s pray though before we go any further and recognize the beauty of creation.

Slide 2•One purpose of Genesis is to not simply reflect on creation but to reflect on man’s depravity and man’s need for a Redemptive Savior.The most important thing we should take at looking at creation is the fact that God’s first priority was is to establish His reign as supreme, perfect and wanting a desire for us to be a part of it all. From Genesis to Revelation we see God’s design for mankind to be in relation with Him not because He needs it but because He desires it. If you’re not a Christian today my prayer for you specifically is that you will remove all scepticism in your life about Creation vs. Science and realize that through Creation, God establishes our need for Jesus to be our Savior by blessing us as the image of God. Throughout Genesis 1 and 2 we will see this play out and my prayer is that we will leave here today with having a better understanding of the Wonder of Creation.  

•“Elohim” is Hebrew for “God”Looking at the very first establishes His sovereignty, power, and authority by creating the heavens and the earth. It’s important for us to look at the word “Elohim” which is Hebrew for God because this word is plural which from the very beginning establishes the working relationship that God as the Trinity. God uses the Holy Spirit that is hovering over the earth in verse 2 anticipating to do the work in which God the Father and God the Son are about to say. We see in Colossians 1:16 that all things were created through Jesus and for Jesus. So “Elohim” being used in the first sentence establishes the doctrine of the Trinity.

•“Ex Nihilo” is Latin for “Out of Nothing”God has existed for eternity and He is infinite in His character and wisdom and it was out of nothing that He had created everything. Revelation 4:11 says “Worthy are you, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they existed were existed.” As we recognize before us that God created everything out of nothing so we will in the future. Our faith needs to proclaim this because it is difficult to understand that everything came from nothing but if we believe that nothing came from nothing which argument sounds worse to proclaim. Let us not be foolish to think that God needed something to start without Him organizing and predestining it; God deserves better praise than that. So out of nothing did He create everything.

Slide 3•God creates light and darkness.

•“And God said...” v.3,6,8,9,11,14,20,24,26All creation was brought into existence because God spoke. Here we get a sense of wonder because God speaks and fashions things as He wills. God also does this in other instances of the Bible. Throughout creation God speaks and every time something is created in the proper way and how God desires it to be. Not one thing God speaks into creation is out of place or a mistake.

•By establishing day and night, God creates time.We go throughout our days looking at our clocks and watches and phones and computers looking at time and it was because God spoke and separated the light from the day that started time.

•This is the first step in providing order on earth. Everything that God brings into existence is good and perfect. Him seeing his creation provides a way for reflect on is perfect creation. The world in which we see does not correspond to the world in which God originally saw. If this world was the way that God originally saw, it would still be perfect and no wickedness would on even one blade of grass. In reading Psalm 5:4 which says “For You are not a God who delights in wickedness, evil may not dwell with you. So up until the fall of man, all of creation was perfect and good. Because of it being perfect and good God establishes order. Separating light and darkness is the first step in providing order throughout the rest of His creation. It was chaotic but perfect and spoke everything into perfection and order.

Slide 4•God creates the sea and sky.

•Separating the sea and sky, God also created layers of our atmosphere. God once again speaks and things happen. As He separated light and darkness so He does with the waters and the sky. By Him creating order He creates the layers of the universe. It is appropriate for us to think that He did this on this day because nowhere else during the creation process does it reflect on God creating layers of our universe. Some might argue that He did this on day 4 but I disagree but day clearly establishes the making of lights of day and night. So here God starts to make Earth habitable for humankind, animals, and plants by creating the layers of our atmosphere.

•God has authority over the weather.God has complete reign over everything even the weather. Here we see God creating the clouds and even creating rain in verse 6. Expanse is called Heaven and Heaven in the creation process means sky. “Shamayim” is the Hebrew word used here and there isn’t a clear definition on what it means but the closest thing it means is “what we see above”. So what we see above is what was created like clouds, fog, and rain. God has complete control over the weather and we see that throughout scripture. In Genesis 41 when Joseph interpreted Pharaoh's dream about how there was going to be famine so they needed start saving food in preparation for that, God sending the plagues to Egypt in Exodus chapters 8-10, and in I Kings 18:20-46 God sends fire from heaven in response to Elijah’s prayer to defeat the prophets of Baal and then right after that God sends a great rain. Now those have different reasons on why God did what He did there so if you want to look those up later and study them you can, however we don’t have time to do that today. All in all God is in control of the weather and He establishes that authority at the very beginning.

Slide 5

•God separates land and ocean and creates a fertile earth.

•Three sections of vegetation was created.Here in day 3 God creates a fertile earth. He brings up from the waters land and creates the land to be able to have vegetation. We see that in three different categories; plants that have seeds in them, fruit trees and green plants that are going to be intended to be consumed by animals. Verse 9 affirms of God bringing forth land from waters and prepares us for days 4-6

•God establishes from days 1-3 a earth that is now ready for what is to come in days 4-6.  Up until now God has provided order through creating and separating light and dark, water and sky, and earth and water. His order is perfect and the way He does this provides assurance of His sovereignty. It wouldn’t make sense for God to make Humans before creating the layers of the atmosphere because there would be no oxygen, it wouldn’t make sense for God to create animals without separating the land and waters. We could go on about how how doing things differently wouldn’t have made sense and in doing that we affirm God’s perfection in creation. How He creates everything and the order in which He does it is perfect and to be given praise.

Slide 6• God creates lights of day and darkness.

•Here God creates the entire universe that we know of; the sun, the stars, and other planets.All the stars, suns, and planets are created on this day and they are called the greater light and moons are created as well and called the lesser lights. So up until now you had the sky that we see today but you didn’t have anything else, so when it mentions the expanse here in verse 17 it wasn’t God recreating the sky but rather Him expanding the expansion into the universe.

•The stars and seasons were created for the active involvement in the redemption of mankind.The stars and seasons are a big part in the redemption of mankind. In Leviticus 23:2-3 the word season there means the start of holy days. In the birth of Christ we all know that the wise men followed a star in Matthew 2:10 and then in Colossians 2:16-17 we read how things such as holy days and the star being followed by the wise men happened so that mankind could point back to Christ as our Savior. So the stars and seasons are of huge significance in the Creation of the world.

•The expanse is for God’s glory. Ezekiel 1:22Ultimately the expanse is for us to give glory and praise to God! Here the words of Ezekiel 1:22 “Over the heads of the living creatures there was like of an expanse, shining like awe-inspiring crystal, spread out above their heads.” When we look up in the sky and see the countless stars we should give praise and glory to the one who spoke them into existence. When we see the most beautiful sunset or sunrise we should do nothing but give glory and praise to the one who spoke it into order. The sky and stars and suns and other planets were created to give God glory!

Slide 7•God creates fish and birds.

•God specifically designed these animals different so that they may adapt to their necessary needs.Here God creates starts to fill His creation with more created things. He fills the skies with winged animals and provides their needs like making them wings, different skeletal shape than us, provides them all the proper aerodynamics to fly. For the oceans God gives the oceans great sea creatures which can mean dinosaurs, sharks, dragons, crocodiles, large snakes. The first dinosaurs are created here. God in creating all these huge beasts is still sovereign over them all and they are in submission to Him. Another

thing to add about the Ocean we don’t know these things are extinct yet because the ocean is huge! Out of all the ocean floor on earth today only about %10 has been discovered and studied which means we as humans have a lot more to explore in the ocean. So here God filled the sky with winged animals and the oceans with all water animals.

Slide 8•God creates land animals and humans.

•God created every single land animal on this day broken into three categories.Quite like the vegetation process of the earth God created land animals into 3 different categories. The first is cattle and you can also add in this category domesticated animals, the next category is creeping things which are your spiders, ants, ect and then lastly beasts of the earth. Obviously this means dinosaurs but like in filling the oceans with sharks things that we know are there this can also mean that beasts of the earth are lions, tigers, and bears.

•God creates and blesses man and woman with direction for their lives.Go provides clarity and direction of what the man and woman are supposed to do. God only gives a quick snapshot of how this all goes downs but emphasizes that they created in His image. We are going to come back to this so don’t worry I’m not shortchanging the creation of Adam and Eve.

•“…and behold, it was very good.” V. 31 transitions from God saying that each individual creation was good to now being done and complete and God looking at everything and proclaiming that all of His creation is very good. As we read the Bible we are challenged sometimes to look at the vantage point of the main character and in this verse it is challenging us to imagine looking at all of creation from God’s viewpoint. As hard as that may seem, in doing that we can grow to have a deeper respect for all that God made.

Slide 9•God created rest and enjoyment.

•God didn’t need to rest, He never got tired but Him resting meant to preserve and make a day holy and separate from other days.God in all His power didn’t need to take a physical rest and if He did that would be going to against His characteristic of being perfect and since God is perfect and doesn’t contradict Himself He didn’t need to take physical rest. The Hebrew verb used for rest here in 2:1 and 2 means to cease, stop, or to abstain from working. It doesn’t reflect the need for physical rest. I can be working in my office and I don’t need to take a ten minute break but I do because I know that Judy and Jan would be concerned if I didn’t pick on them regularly. So that is what the verb means here is that God stopped working. He stopped working to make that day holy and to preserve it as a day of spiritual rest.  

•Israelites were commanded to worship and give recognition to God on the Sabbath. Exodus 16:23, 20:8-11, and 31:12-17We see this concept of spiritual rest throughout God relationship with the Israelites. In Ex. 16:23, 20:8-11, and 31:12-17 God commanded them to worship and give recognition of the seventh day because it was Holy and God by not working made it Holy. This concept of spiritual rest comes into place with our lives to bless and give honor to God for Him providing our Savior and Messiah Jesus Christ.  

Slide 10Popular Questions about Creation?1.How old is the Earth?How long ago Abraham was born- 4,183+Adding up genealogies from Abraham to Adam- 2,000Total= 6,183

Slide 112. How long did God take to create the earth?•Views on this issue1.Gap Theory- There was a gap from Gen 1:1-1:2.2.Day Age Creation- 6 days longer than 24 hrs.3.Six Day Creation- 6 literal 24 hr. periods.4.Allegorical- treats creation as a story or symbol rather than historical facts.

•“Yom” Gen. 7:4, 17:12, Ex. 20:11

Slide 123. Where was the Garden of Eden?

Slide 13Man and Woman- Genesis 2:4-25•The making of man- God blesses man with life on a physical (Gen. 2:15), emotional (Gen. 2:18) and spiritual(Gen. 2:7) sense. We see God display His love for man over all His other creations by breathing life into him that was God breathing in a spiritual life. By breathing life into him, God shows him that his value is of more importance than any other things that He has made. God gives Adam and Eve the blessing of being aware that they are are aware. Now that may sound confusing but no creature on this planet has a soul except for Humans and humans are the only ones to be blessed with being aware that they are aware This means that if a car comes at me I am aware to get out of the way but if a car comes at a deer they sit there not realizing the importance of getting out of the way. So we are made aware of what we are doing. God has created our souls and our bodies and has uniquely paired them together to create who we are. He did this with Adam and Eve and blessed them with physical, emotional, and spiritual regards to their relationship with God and to one another.

•The making of woman- God blesses her as helper. Ladies you may be thinking that by me designating you as helper is degrading or demeaning term but I would like to assure that if you are single my prayer is that your future husband whoever that may be is praying that God blesses him with a helper like Eve. And here’s why; the word for helper used here in

Hebrew is used in other ways throughout the Old Testament where God is being a helper to the Israelites. If married, how wonderful to know that your wife is a helper that is fit and suitable to help only you. God designing marriage goes back to union that Adam and Eve had and when I look at my wife Kara, I know that God has blessed me with a helper that is only suitable for me. So being a helper in your marriage woman is a blessing that is from God.

•The union of the two- Their bond is a primary example of all marriages to follow.The union of these two goes way further than being married on a particular day but it goes to the physical aspect of it as well. God seeing that man is not fit to be alone in v.18 puts Adam in a deep sleep and blesses him by creating Eve from his own ribs. God fashioned Eve the same way He fashioned Adam but made her different in appearance and how Adam looked at her. By God putting Adam into this deep sleep, He didn’t even get to see Eve and God brought her to him and it was literally love at first sight and they are bonded together. They cleave to another and he hold tightly to her and her to him and the inseparable. **In transition from creation of everything and from Adam and Eve I would like to go back to 1:27 and focus on what it means to be made in the image of God because since Adam and Eve were made in the image of God so are we and there are huge implications for us to look at.    

Slide 14Image of God- Genesis 1:27•God has uniquely created us and has done so without making a mistake.Psalm 139:13 says “For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together into my mother’s womb.” Some of you may have struggled or still are struggling why God brought you into this world the way He did. Some of us here weren’t planned, some of us were planned, some of us are adopted, some were born into poor home situations, some of us were born into great home situations, and there’s people like me who planned but went through a very bad birthing. Regardless of how you got here I want to affirm that God has done so without making a mistake and He cares for us! Matthew 6:25-26 “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?” God values the human life and cares for us as His image bearers more than any other creation on earth. If God values the human life the ways He says He does and has blessed each human as image bearers than He is going against what our culture tells us. Our culture specifically tries to distort what this Image of God looks like. Our culture says that the image of God can be stopped at abortion of an unborn child. Now before I talk about this issue any further; if you’re a woman who has had an abortion, God’s grace does not end with you. He provides healing, reconciliation, and He loves you. It is because of the lies of our culture that people try to justify giving into this lie so they feel as if it is okay to end one of God’s creation. As one of your pastor’s and not only that but as a Christian who values the human life because God values the human life, I will never stand for any type of abortion. We just discussed that God doesn’t make a mistake in how He forms a baby in the mother’s and even though sin may or may not have been a cause of that human being in the mother’s womb God still values that human.  

•God has blessed us with all races and ethnicities as Christians that should be praised.In our world not just our American culture, racism is evident everywhere. It doesn't matter where you are I guarantee there is a form of racism happening with those different cultures and I want to be say that racism is a sin that should be eliminated if we are Christians. Here’s why, let’s read Acts 17:26-27 “And He made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place, that they should seek God, and perhaps feel their way toward Him and find Him. Yet he is actually not far from each one of us,” Here in Acts it isn’t

referring to countries because countries have borders, here it is referring to ethnicities of the world and those don’t have borders. Look here in America how many ethnicities we have, so ethnicities don’t have borders. In our culture the sin that is racism has been a crippling effect on the expansion of the gospel for hundreds of years and it has been something that within the last 5 years has broken my heart. Seeing that God has made these ethnicities and seeing these people needing Jesus it has broken my heart. I look at pictures from 50’s and 60’s when the civil rights movement was happening and then I look at pictures of what has been happening in the five years in our country and if those pictures of the ones that were of the last five year were in black and white, I’m not sure if I could tell the difference. Church if we want to make a forward progression in our country in seeing racial reconciliation it has to start with us Christians looking others as an image of God and praising God for all ethnicities. We can find racial reconciliation in humorous ways and not just serious ways either. On a serious note though a huge issue today is athlete’s kneeling for our national anthem. I disagree with how they’re going about that but instead of me as a white person getting angry and forming hate towards them maybe I should seek out a black person that I know and try to get a different perspective on that. Instead of looking at the news and seeing a black person getting shot by a white police officer and instantly questioning everything that Fox News or CNN has to say about the situation, why not pray for racial reconciliation in that neighborhood. Going back to Acts 17:26-27 God has blessed us with ethnicities and God has made all from Adam and Eve. God desires us as Christians to do something about racial reconciliation in our country and I believe that it does start with us. We should love all 195 countries in the world and all ethnicities and it’s because we are all tied together as a human race. You may ask yourself; wait how are we all tied together, that doesn’t make sense? Let me share with you...

Slide 15Image of God- Genesis 1:27Are we all descendants of Adam and Eve?“Despite notions to the contrary, there is only one human race. Our single race is independent of geographic origin, ethnicity, culture, color of skin or shape of eyes—we all share a single phenotype, the same or similar observable anatomical features and behavior. Science highlights these similarities in our embryonic development, physiology, biochemistry and more recently, genomics (our genetic makeup). As a molecular biologist, this last one is indeed the most important to me—data show that the DNA of any two human beings is 99.9 percent identical, and we all share the same set of genes, scientifically validating the existence of a single biological human race and one origin for all human beings. In short, we are all brothers and sisters.” - Michael Hadjiargyrou

I love how science catches up with the Bible; even though when things like this come out and people are surprised, I just want to be like spoiler alert read the Bible. So I thoroughly enjoy seeing science consistently backing up what the Bible says. Now The image of God is probably the most unique and beautiful part of creation because by God putting a soul into our body He is provides assurance that we are of more importance to Him than any other part of creation. When we look at our brothers and sisters from all across the globe we should embrace those people who are made in the image of God and who need Jesus as their Savior. God sent His son to die for the sins every man and woman past, present, and future for every ethnic group and God has given us as a church to proclaim that across the nations.

Slide 16Conclusion”When we look at the order of creation we form in our mind an image, not of the essence, but of the wisdom of Him who made all things wisely.” -St. Gregory of Nyssa

As we leave today and go into this week let’s be in constant awe and wonder of creation and give God all the praise for His creation. Let’s pray.