Genesis 1 | Behold, The Creator of All Things
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Transcript
Genesis 1 Video Plays
Welcome everyone - Happy New Year!
Sermon Series: Behold our God!
Today’s message: Behold, the Creator of all things.
We begin in Genesis 1. You see, the Bible gives us the answers to the questions that every human asks deep down:
Who Am I?
What Am I doing here?
People ask: how do I make sense of this life and the world around me? In order to arrive to those answers we develop something called a worldview.
Everyone has a worldview:
Rich or poor
Highly educated or illiterate
Liberal or Conservative
Black or White
Christian or non-Christian
A worldview is how you make sense of the world around you.
“A worldview is a way of viewing or interpreting all of reality. It is an interpretative framework through which or by which one makes sense out of the data of life and the world.” Norman Geisler, World Apart: A Handbook on World Views
How do we make sense of the world around us? Moses, the author of Genesis, tells us that,
MAIN IDEA: God alone created everything in the universe out of nothing in order to display his power, wisdom, authority, and goodness.
This passage announces four invitations to behold our God, the Creator of all things:
(1) Behold His Power
(1) Behold His Power
God alone is the creator of everything, both visible and invisible.
Genesis 1:1 “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.”
Creation has a beginning point. God doesn’t.
Before anything was created, God already existed. He has no beginning and he has no end.
God creates everything in the universe: From the furthest galaxy to the smallest particle.
He created the angels, including the ones who later rebelled against him.
That God is the Creator of all things in the universe is found throughout Scripture (The Torah, the historical books, the wisdom books, the Prophets, and the NT).
The story of creation is an invitation to behold his power: “Nothing is impossible with God.” (Lk. 1:34)
God alone is the creator of everything, both visible and invisible.
Isaiah 45:18 “For thus says the Lord, who created the heavens (he is God!), who formed the earth and made it (he established it; he did not create it empty, he formed it to be inhabited!): “I am the Lord, and there is no other.”
Nehemiah 9:6 “You are the Lord, you alone. You have made heaven, the heaven of heavens, with all their host, the earth and all that is on it, the seas and all that is in them; and you preserve all of them; and the host of heaven worships you.”
Colossians 1:16 “For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him.”
God created everything in the universe out of nothing by the power of His word.
Genesis 1:1 “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.”
The Hebrew verb “bara,” to create, is always used in connection with God.
Humans can form and build things, but only God can bara!
God creates by speaking things into existence. “And God said…”
The universe is the product of God’s creation not evolution.
Only God can call into existence that which does not exist. (Rom 4:17)
Psalm 33:6–9 “By the word of the Lord the heavens were made, and by the breath of his mouth all their host. 7 He gathers the waters of the sea as a heap; he puts the deeps in storehouses. 8 Let all the earth fear the Lord; let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of him! 9 For he spoke, and it came to be; he commanded, and it stood firm.”
There was a time when the world was not. On the other hand, God has always existed. His power to create out of nothing is amazing.
Hebrews 11:3 “ By faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible.”
Application:
With this understanding, the Bible stands opposed to other worldviews:
Polytheism- The belief and worship of multiple gods.
“There is only one God, creator of all things”
Pantheism - The belief that everything in the universe is God, with no distinction between God and creation.
For pantheists, God, the sun, the stars, the trees and rocks are all made of the same “stuff.” (Buddhism, Hinduism)
“There is a Creator who is distinct from his creation”
Materialism. The belief that the material universe is all there is (i.e. no God, no soul). Most atheists are materialists.
“God created the world: there is creation and there is a creator”
Dualism. The belief that God and the material universe have eternally existed side by side
“God is eternal. The universe is not.”
Deism. The belief that an impersonal God created the world and left the world running on its own.
“God is personally involved in his creation”
The Doctrine of Creation. The belief that God alone created everything in the universe out of nothing in order to display his power, wisdom, authority, and goodness.
The doctrine of creation calls us to be in awe of God and worship him (Psalm 95:6)
(2) Behold His Wisdom
(2) Behold His Wisdom
God designed the world with order, purpose, and meaning.
He creates the world in six literal days, “there is morning and there is evening.”
God gives order to his universe: the sun, the moon, the seasons, the Sabbath: God resting on the 7th day. The doctrine of creation reminds that I’m limited and need rest.
God creates and declares that “it was good.”
Proverbs 3:19 “The Lord by wisdom founded the earth; by understanding he established the heavens.”
The Lord wants us to enjoy his creation.
“Wise living in God’s world means living in accordance with the order God has established.” Evangelical Convictions
The most practical question you can ask in 2025
What is God’s purpose for _____?
Marriage
Sex
Food
Recreation
Rest
Sports
Work
Parenting
Time
Money
A couple of applications:
God determines what is right and wrong
God saw everything that he had made, and behold, “it was very good.” (Gen 1:31)
God said that it was not good for the man to be alone. (Gen. 2:18)
Because God determines what is right and wrong, we will be held accountable for our actions (Acts 17:30-31)
We can enjoy ____ to the glory of God!
False teachers in 1 Timothy were attacking the doctrine of creation by forbidding people from marriage (i.e. sex) and from certain foods that God had created.
1 Timothy 4:4 “4 For everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving,”
1 Corinthians 10:31 “31 So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.”
We can enjoy _____ to the glory of God!
Coffee
Tacos
Sports
Working
Resting
Academics
Grocery shopping
*Don’t let those things replace God. Painful things happen when we replace creation with the Creator.
God alone created everything in the universe out of nothing in order to display his power, wisdom, authority, and goodness.
Two more things:
(3) Behold His Transcendence and Immanence
(3) Behold His Transcendence and Immanence
Transcendent means that God is far above his creation and independent of it. That means that He is the Lord who has control and authority.
Immanent means that God is present and active in his creation. Latin (remaining in)
Acts 17:24–25 “24 The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man, 25 nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything.”
Psalm 104 is a great example of God’s transcendence and immanence.
The miracle of the incarnation, the miracle of Christmas celebrates the fact that Jesus, by whom all things were created, the transcendent Lord who has all control and authority over creation, is also the Immanent King who humbled himself by coming down to earth to dwell with us. After all his name is Emmanuel, God with us.
God is both further from us, and nearer to us, than any other being. C.S. Lewis
John 1:1–3 “1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made.”
John 1:14 “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.”
Communion.
