The Spirit Over the Waters

Genesis and Jesus  •  Sermon  •  Submitted   •  Presented   •  42:30
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(S1) Luke 3:21-22
The word of God...
(S2)
Church/Parents/Bible Stories/Jesus
“You may be the only Bible some people read, the only Jesus some see…
{Luke 24:13} — Journey to Emmaus…
17 ...sadness written across their faces.
Jesus’ death...missing body…Hopes/dreams of a properpus future…
This man comes up and begins walking with them…
...“What are you discussing so intently as you walk along?”
How could have he not heard of all that had happened?
— Jesus begins walking them through the words of scripture—Moses and all the prophets...
...explaining from all the Scriptures the things concerning himself. (Luke 24:27)
So intrigued by their new walking companion, they Invite Jesus to come stay with them…as they ate
— Jesus took the bread and blessed it, and their eyes were opened...
“32 “Didn’t our hearts burn within us as he talked with us on the road and explained the Scriptures to us?””
How have the scriptures been opened to you? Have you discovered Jesus of the Bible?
(S3) — SERIES (Pr. Cambron Wright)
The Big picture; whole story, of the revelation of God to the world—Through the Bible in 2025
— Out of Egypt (lent) - Sunday School Stories - Wise Up - Parables of Jesus - Signs of Life (John) - Church Mail - Return of the King (Revelation)
I pray that we will discover these things as we journey together...
1. How every word either directly or indirectly is meant to point us to Jesus...
2. Though God’s word is complete…His continued revelation to us is still unfolding...
3. That your hearts will burn with a desire to hear the words of Jesus who desires to walk with you...
(S4)
20 Dear friend, listen well to my words; tune your ears to my voice. 21 Keep my message in plain view at all times. Concentrate! Learn it by heart! 22 Those who discover these words live, really live; body and soul, they're bursting with health. {Proverbs 4, MSG}
PRAYER
(S5) —Where to start?
1 In the beginning God...created the heavens and the earth.
Genesis (beginnings)—When it began’ (reshit)— Authored by Moses, the ‘origin’ of the universe and all that God created in it...
“the vast galaxy we live in spins at 490,000 per hour and still needs over 200 million years to make one rotation. There are at least one trillion other galaxies in the universe” (NIV Bible).
To say this all happened just by chance…requires more faith than to believe that God is behind it all.
“Scripture does not argue God’s existence; it declares God’s existence. It does not argue that the heavens and earth have a Creator; it declares that God created the heavens and the earth.” Preachers Outline Sermon Bible Commentary
It was all God in the begining—elohim, the ONE true God’, who created; and brought everything into existence, the reason we worship…
“ Shout with joy to the Lord, all the earth! Worship the Lord with gladness. Come before him, singing with joy. Acknowledge that the Lord is God! He made us, and we are his” {Psalm 100:1-3}
What the beginning of Genesis reveals to us about creation, and more specifically about God
(S6) —
In the beginning...

I. God was the INITIATOR of it all!

Genesis answers the question WHO? “The initiative in every action lies with Him—
“Before the mountains were born, before you gave birth to the earth and the world, from beginning to end, you are God.” {Psalm 90:2}
It all began with God who set things in motion…So, when you look at the stars in the sky, green lush valleys, the highest mountains…THINK God and THANK God!
(S7)
2 The earth was formless and empty, and darkness covered the deep waters.
All that could be seen was without form or shape, emptiness all around, and darkness filled every space; even the deep waters
The deep waters Moses is wrting of symbolized fear, chaos, death—Noah's flood/Red Sea/Jonah’s storm
There was nothing until there wasn’t! The God-centredness of the Genesis reveals the HOW of God’s process
Wesley understood that God created first the four elements – earth, water, air, and fire. Out of these elements the heavens and earth were formed through the processes of ordering, naming, and separating.[5]
The HOW of God’s creating is even more magnificant…
— Light overcame darkness—Waters, land, and sky separated; filled with every living thing
— The dark chaotic waters of the deep now become a source of life...
— what was formless, empty, and dark became habitable and ordered and teaming with life
John Stott—”God is the subject of every verb; God said (10X)
What does this reveal about the God of creation?
(S8)

II. God’s creative INTENTION is always GOOD!

From the beginning of God’s creation, things were never meant to stay as they were.
9, 18, 24—And God saw that it was good…
God’s GOODNESS created order out of chaos, giving purpose to everything
“For the Lord is God, and he created the heavens and earth and put everything in place. He made the world to be lived in, not to be a place of empty chaos.” (Isaiah 45:18)
God is the subject of every verb and His every intention is GOOD.
“Whatever is good and perfect is a gift coming down to us from God our Father, who created all the lights in the heavens.” {James 1:17}
Have you experienced God’s goodness?
(S9)
And the Spirit of God was hovering over the surface of the waters.
Here we are intoruduced to the second person of the trinity—God’s Sprit present at creation over the waters.
The New Jerusalem Bible translates this as “A divine wind sweeping over the waters.”
Hovering is as one is hanging in the air, moving in a jerky or sweeping motion…(drones)
The personal God himself whose creative activity, is likened to a bird hovering over her young (REB)
The image of the spirit of God, as a mother hen brooding over an egg to sustain its life
(S10)

III. The Spirit of God SUSTAINS all things

As messed up as this world seems, we believe as Christians that God is managing it all for his greater purpose
“He existed before anything else, and he holds all creation together.” (Colossians 1:17)
God was not the only agent of creation. What began as an action by God alone, became the combined action of, ‘a committee of three.’
(S11)
Genesis 1:26 Then God said, “Let us make human beings in our image, to be like us.
The fullness of God made known in three persons…all present at creation.
By His WORD God created…Jesus with God
“In the beginning the Word already existed. The Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He existed in the beginning with God.” (John 1:1–2)
Then God by his word creates one more time and breathes life…and says it all VERY GOOD
So when you feel like life is chaotic, uncertain…know that God has got the whole world in his hands, and best of all, God’s got you!
God INITIATES…his GOODNESS revealed in not leaving things as they were…with the Spirit over the waters SUSTAINING it all
(S11)— CONTEXT...
Its not a hard leap to see the God of creation when Jesus came to the waters of Jordan—the Jesus in Genesis is the Jesus in the gospels; identified by God himself.
John sensed that he was standing in the presence of one who was greater than himself…
14 John tried to talk him out of it. “I am the one who needs to be baptized by you,” he said, “so why are you coming to me?” 15 But Jesus said, “It should be done, for we must carry out all that God requires.” So John agreed to baptize him.
Why was Jesus baptized? Such a strange request coming from the one who was with God at creation
The inaugural of Jesus ministry—another beginning...
Jesus identified himself with humanity and sin—to be like us… minus the flaws. His baptism was for our own self-preservation
“have you forgotten that when we were joined with Christ Jesus in baptism, we joined him in his death? For we died and were buried with Christ by baptism. And just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glorious power of the Father, now we also may live new lives.” {Romans 6:3–4}
In taking upon himself the sins of the whole world, He was participating in one final act of repentance on behalf of all sinners. It was symbolic of own death and resurrection
4. He endorsed baptism as an initiatory rite for all his followers...
(S12)
...and still something powerful happens at Jesus’ baptism
21 As he was praying, the heavens opened, 22 and the Holy Spirit, in bodily form, descended on him like a dove. And a voice from heaven said, “You are my dearly loved Son, and you bring me great joy.”
You could say that at that moment, “All heaven broke loose, at the waters of the Jordan!
—God INITIATES and speaks of a NEW creation, a new beginning that is under way.
2 Corinthians 5:17 “This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!”
— God’s INTENTION is good—to repair what sin has damaged...
Colossians 1:22 “now he has reconciled you to himself through the death of Christ in his physical body. As a result, he has brought you into his own presence, and you are holy and blameless as you stand before him without a single fault.”
— The Spirit of God, in the from of a dove, is a symbol that he is still SUSTAINING it all
1 Corinthians 1:7–8 “you are not lacking in any spiritual gift, as you wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ, who will sustain you to the end, guiltless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Suddenly the waters at creation that symbolized fear, chaos and darkness…are the waters of the Jordan that God has again brought forth life in Jesus.
— Flood/Rainbow—Red Sea/Covenant—Jonah/God will save anybody—Disciples/Brings calm
A storm descends on a small town, and the downpour soon turns into a flood. As the waters rise, the local preacher kneels in prayer on the church porch, surrounded by water. By and by, one of the townsfolk comes up the street in a canoe. "Better get in, Preacher. The waters are rising fast." "No," says the preacher. "I have faith in the Lord. He will save me." Still the waters rise. Now the preacher is up on the balcony, wringing his hands in supplication, when another guy zips up in a motorboat. "Come on, Preacher. We need to get you out of here. The levee's gonna break any minute." Once again, the preacher is unmoved. "I shall remain. The Lord will see me through." After a while the levee breaks, and the flood rushes over the church until only the steeple remains above water. The preacher is up there, clinging to the cross, when a helicopter descends out of the clouds, and a state trooper calls down to him through a megaphone. "Grab the ladder, Preacher. This is your last chance." Once again, the preacher insists the Lord will deliver him. And, predictably, he drowns. A pious man, the preacher goes to heaven. After a while he gets an interview with God, and he asks the Almighty, "Lord, I had unwavering faith in you. Why didn't you deliver me from that flood?" God shakes his head. "What did you want from me? I sent you two boats and a helicopter."
Instead of the waters of chaos—formless, empty and dark…
(S13) — God shows us that the spirit over the waters is...

...an opportunity to bring forth LIFE!

At baptism, when we are lowered in the waters it represents our own darkness, struggle with sin…but in rising up we become God’s new creation because of Jesus who is the living water
Revelation 21:5 “The one sitting on the throne said, “Look, I am making everything new!” And then he said to me, “Write this down, for what I tell you is trustworthy and true.””
Big Mama Prayer—’The Covenant of water,’ A novel by Abraham Verghese—all water is connected
“Such precious, precious water, Lord, water from our own well; this water that is our covenant with you, with this soil, with the life you granted. We are born and baptized in this water, we grow full of pride, we sin, we are broken, we suffer, but with water we are cleansed of our transgressions, we are forgiven, and we are born again, day after day till the end of our days.
(S13) — Title
As we journey through the scriptures..why does God keep rescuing his people…God wants abundant life—creation bursting with life…the extent God will go...
If your surrounded by waters today…if you only see chaos…know this
— God still INITIATES by his grace—His creative intentions by His WORD are always Good—The Spirit of God SUSTAINS you still.
Jesus is your...opportunity for NEW Life
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