In the Beginning, God

Handout chapter and small group questions

Look through the questions first then read with pencil/highlighter in hand and work through the questions as you read.

As you answer the questions make sure you do it with your bible open most of the answers are found in the text.

Repeated words or phrases indicate their importance. What words and phrases are repeated throughout this section?

And God said

And God made

And God called

And God saw

What do you think the Author of Genesis is trying to get across by repeating these phrases? It would have been far easier to say something like. Here’s what God created on on these 6 days and just given us a list.

Both would have communicated essentially the same truth and yet we have to get something through our heads and into our hearts. God is in charge. Verse after verse we see God creating. God saying. God doing. God calling. God seeing.

If God can speak and the stars leap into existence do you think He will have any trouble solving your problems?

So based off this text we know that God is more than powerful enough to fix whatever is going on in your life. Of course the next logical question is why doesn’t he.. Why won’t he fix my problems.

Which is a fair question and here’s all I have to say about that for now. If the Bible is true and God is able to fix whatever is broken in your life and doesn’t than he must have a reason.

Of course you can’t understand what that reason is. But if there is a God that is powerful enough to solve all your problems and not just your problems but all of the problems in the whole world and also with a word create the universe. If all that is true than why would you think you would be able to understand why he does what he does?

If God is all-powerful, then by definition His wisdom surpasses ours, and it is a fallacy to think we could grasp every reason behind His actions.

So I don’t know the reason. But I know what the reason isn’t. The reason he lets you suffer isn’t because he can’t doing anything about it. The creation account answers that. But it also isn’t because he doesn’t care. The fact that he was willing to die on the cross answers that.

So we may not know why he lets us suffer specifically but we do know it’s not because he can’t do something and it’s not because he doesn’t care.

Let’s think about that phrase “and God said.”

This word which God speaks creates. The creative power of God’s word is stressed throughout scripture.

Isaiah 55:10–11 “10 “For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not return there but water the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater, 11 so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it.”

Romans 4:17 “17 as it is written, “I have made you the father of many nations”—in the presence of the God in whom he believed, who gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist.”

Or what about when the disciples were with Jesus in the boat during the storm….

God’s Word creates. It changes things. It affects our lives.

How does the creative power of God’s word strengthen our desire to meditate on the written Word of God in our own lives?

We talked about this on Sunday but Christians are a people of the book. There is power in God’s word. A power that we should read and meditate on and let change our lives.

Hebrews 4:12 “12 For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.”

Let’s keep going.

After reading these verse who do you think is the main character in this story?

Have you heard of main character syndrome before? It’s the tendency to view yourself as the center of the universe and the main character of your life.

How do these verse’s show us something different?

Who is the main character in the story of the universe?

How would that affect the way you live?

Westminster Shorter Catechism, Question 1:

Q. What is the chief end of man? A. Man’s chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy him forever.

Do you know why you are often so miserable? Because you aren’t doing what you were created to do.

Think about the last time you got upset about something lIke really mad. In that moment who were you thinking about? Who had you placed at the center of the universe? Who did you think was the main character of your life?

You thought you were.

But we weren’t made to handle that weight. We weren’t created to deal with that pressure.

We are created to glorifyGod by putting him in the center and enjoy him forever.

You know there is this really interesting thing going on in our culture today. FOr years the world has been pushing look in yourself. Figure out who you are. Find your joy and happiness and contentment inside of yourself. And it’s not working. It’s coming up short.

Because we weren’t created to look inside of ourselves we were created to look to God for our purpose, meaning, and joy.

Ok let’s keep going. Lets read Genesis 1:26–27 (ESV)

26 Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” 

27  So God created man in his own image, 

in the image of God he created him; 

male and female he created them.

What does it mean to be made in the image of God?

C.S. Lewis had this amazing quote. “There are no ordinary people. You have never talked to a mere mortal. Nations, cultures, arts, civilizations—these are mortal, and their life is to ours as the life of a gnat. But it is immortals whom we joke with, work with, marry, snub and exploit—immortal horrors or everlasting splendors.”

We think of nations or organizations as important but they all end. People are immortal. We being made in the image of God have immortal souls. 10,000 years from now when the U.S. is forgotten and the earth has disolved we will still be in existence.

How should that change the way we treat other people?

Your little sister or brother is made in the image of God. That homeless guy on the side of the road is made in the image of God. That unborn baby is made in the image of God. That illegal immigrant is made in the image of God. And we should treat them all with the dignity that God has given them.

Last point let’s look at Genesis 2:1–3 (ESV)

The Seventh Day, God Rests

2 Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. 2 And on the seventh day God finished his work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work that he had done. 3 So God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it God rested from all his work that he had done in creation.

Why did God rest was he tired?

God “rested” not because He was tired but because His work was complete.

This theme is continued in the Old Testament

Commanded in the Law: Exodus 20:8–11 ties it directly to creation; Deuteronomy 5:12–15 ties it to redemption (God freeing Israel from slavery).

Sabbath = a weekly reminder of God as Creator and Redeemer and Sustainer.

It wasn’t meant as a burden but as a gift—time to stop, rest, worship, and remember.

Youth question idea: What would it say about someone if they never rested and just worked nonstop?

In the New Testament

Jesus clarifies: “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath” (Mark 2:27).

The Pharisees turned it into a rule-keeping contest. But Jesus reclaims the Sabbath as a gift of God’s grace for human flourishing.

Jesus Himself says, “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28).

You guys are probably too young to really feel these verses but there will be a day that these words become some of the most important words in your entire life. When life gets so heavy and hard the peace that comes from knowing you can lay down your burdens at the feet of Jesus and trust that he will make it all work out.

Then

Hebrews 4:9–10 (ESV)

9 So then, there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God, 10 for whoever has entered God’s rest has also rested from his works as God did from his.

Just like God rested from His work, we rest from striving to earn His favor—because Jesus has finished the work of salvation.

God resting on the seventh day points forward into eternity to the eternal rest we’ll enjoy with God forever.

Here’s the three main takeaways from tonight.

God is the main character and your life is about him not yourself which is for your good

You have never met a mere mortal all men are created in the image of God

We find our rest in Jesus. The work has been done salvation secured we only have to rest.