More Than Your Bio- Genesis 1

Introduction

Why the students need to hear this series and it’s goal.

This week we are beginning our series on Identity, and I want you all to make sure you’re listening because if you can understand these things we are going to be talking about, you will be able to answer questions about humans, the world, and this life that the person who denies the Bible or even Christianity as a whole will never understand no matter how hard they try.

This week, we are going to talk about the Image of God as we look at Genesis 1, and then next week, we’re going to look at sin and how that affects us and the world around us looking at Genesis 3. Then in Genesis 4 in the following week, we’ll look at the purpose of our lives and what we’re called to do.

So go ahead and open to Genesis 1 in your Bibles. The main verse were are going to be looking at is verse 27.

Many of you may know this book. The book of Genesis is the first book you see when opening your Bibles. It’s written by a man named Moses who actually lived some time after the events of this book, but he had a tight relationship with God. We believe the Lord showed him these things and instructed him to write them down so that we can have their accounts later.

This book shows us the beginning of time and humanity. It also follows the events of the first people groups, so there’s a lot of history. But it entirely follows God and His choosing of one family to use to witness to the world His existence and love for His creation as well as usher in the Savior He would use to save the world.

Before reading our verse for tonight, I need to catch us up to speed on where we’re looking because a lot happens in the first chapter of Genesis.

Summary of Creation- but get to image of God.

God created all the world in six days.

Day 1: Creates Heavens and the earth, and creates light with day and night

Day 2: Creates atmosphere

Day 3: Separates water with land and creates vegation

Day 4: Creates the sun and moon giving us seasons

Day 5: Creates fish and birds

Day 6: Creates land animals and Man

Day 7: God rested giving us the Sabbath Day for us to rest.

What we’re going to talk about today is what took place on that sixth day where He creates the first humans. Read with me Genesis 1:27

Genesis 1:27 ESV

So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.

*Pray*

Has anyone ever read this verse before or is familiar with it? I know we’ve talked about it together as a church before in the main service especially covering some hard topics having to do with gender confusion in today’s age.

What is the Image of God? (Explanation)

God gave us His image before sin entered the world and we’ll talk more about that next week.

What is God’s Image?

In my study for tonight, I read what the passage says and I decide what I believe it says and then I look at other sources and big brains. One resource I actually love is the website GotQuestions. I love how they explained God’s image. We are not made physically like Him. We are made like Him in that we were created like Him morally, socially, and intellectually.

We were initially made holy just like God in that we had no sin, and we did not know what it was even. God’s made humans without the intention of us dying. This reflects God in that He cannot die because He is eternal, and He is perfectly holy and cannot sin.

God created us with the intention of us existing in community with others and more specifically Himself. Something interesting about God is that He desires to exist in community, but not in the way you might think. He exists within the Holy Trinity which is God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. God being all three exists within community within Himself. He also chose to create Man to dwell with Him. He doesn’t need us, but He desires to live among His creation whom He loves. This creation was created to live in community with other humans and with his creator.

God created us to look like Himself intellectually, meaning we have free will and choice to do whatever we want. God gave us the ability to choose to follow Him or to not follow Him. God gave us the ability to have emotions. He gave us the ability to think and have ideas and have an imagination. Some of you have learned by now that I love the arts, and it’s because the Lord has taught me that all forms of art glorify Him because He gave us the ability to do it.

What Does That Say About Us? (Application)

Conclusion/Gospel Connection

We’ll talk about sin next week and how that distorts everything, including God’s image in us.