Multiply - The Creation

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Recap:

To be disciples making disciples

Disciple is someone who follows Jesus

Disciple is someone who shares the Gospel

Disciple is someone who also “teaches”....Great Commission

We can’t teach if we don’t know the basics at least of this book

And so several weeks ago we looked at Why study the Bible…and we talked about how the reason we do so is to learn more about ourselves?

No! To open up these pages always with the longing to learn more about God!

Next several weeks, we’re going to look at the basics of God’s Word....to help equip you as disciple makers

Intro:

Turn with me to Genesis chapter 1…the very beginning of the book

We’re gonna be looking at the first two chapters of Genesis tonight…but we won’t read every single verse

Remember, the whole purpose of this study is to equip you to feel comfortable with making disciples, to make you comfortable to share God’s Word with someone.

And a great place to start is Genesis.

So as we go through this, just think about the person you wrote down at the start of this series as someone you needed to reach with the Gospel.

Maybe you have, maybe you haven’t....this is for you....to help you in sharing with them.

Or maybe you’re here tonight and you yourself aren’t even a Christian…this is for you.

We’re going to see a God tonight that’s powerful but personal

Inadequate Introduction

I’m notorious for failing with introductions

When you introduce someone, you usually tell them their name, sometimes how you know them, where they work, who they’re related to, etc and etc....

is kind of like this. It opens up with, “in the beginning, God created the Heavens and the earth.”

If you were someone who had never read before, what would be your next question?

Maybe it would be: “Who is this God” “Where did He come from?” “What was He doing before He created the Heavens and the earth?” “Why is He creating?”

All of these are good questions, and yet if you read through , none of them get answered

But is just simply about what God did....we get a front row seat to His actions.

Some of these questions get answered throughout the Bible, some may not.

But if you’re walking someone through & 2, the focus is on what God is doing.

His unrivaled power…..if you read through verses 3-31…you find a God just speaking things into existence

6 Days of Creation in Order Challenge

Earth, Water, Light

Separated the Waters, Heavens

Dry land, plants according to their kind

Sun, Moon & Stars

Ocean Animals, Birds & Flying Creatures

Land Animals & Mankind

Mankind

Do you guys understand what just happened? God literally spoke everything that we have in this world into existence

With words!

Do you understand God’s power? Does it instill in you any sense of awe?

We as people tend to take everything for granted.

But when we stop and really understand that nothing would exist, we wouldn’t exist without God’s words it becomes mind blowing

And it can help that person we’re trying to win to Christ, it can help them to grasp their need for a Savior by really honing in on this point.

This is God’s World

The most important thing to get from is this:

This is God’s World, and we’re just living in it

Try to feel the weight of the truth we just read.

Before God created there was nothing, except God

Playdough Illustration - We often think of God, in fact Scripture says that He is the potter and we are the clay.

I’m sure you’ve heard/seen the illustration where someone molds something out of this playdough and then try to get whatever was made to function on it’s own without the creator

But think of it this way, without God, there wasn’t even playdough. Without God, there was nothing. Without God, we were, and we are nothing.

Everything exists because of God speaking it into existence, and everything continues to exist because He allows it to.

The sun rises because He tells it to

The earth rotates because He tells it to

Plants grow, we have food, because He tells them to.

Now, we like to think we are super important people and this is our world, our lives, and we can do what we want.

But the reality is we just aren’t…and when we grasp this concept, when the person you may be talking to about this grasps this concept, it can/should be life changing.

In The Image of God

, “ 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.”

Question 1: Who is God talking to here?

Smeegal from Lord of the Rings

God seems to pause here in creation a minute, and decides to create mankind, but he chooses to do it a little differently than the rest of creation

We were made in God’s image, and the breath of life was breathed into us by God.

We, humans, mankind, are the only thing in creation that this is said of

We are unique, we are special, but we were still created

What do you think it means that we were made in God’s image?

Do you think God looks like us? Some of you may think you’re the best looking thing out there so God must look like you, but that’s not true!

God is spirit (), so it’s deeper than how we look......

We are his image bearers

Ancient Kings used to set up statues in honor of themselves and to let their people and other countries know that they were in charge

God, chose to make us, to be His image bearers!!!

And like the moon reflects the sun, we are made to reflect God to others.

A Personal God

Some people say Jaxton and I look a lot a like. Some people say we have the same mannerisms. Mannerisms meaning we act the same, we’re similar. And that happens by spending time together…we’ve spent 3,121 days together.

So in a sense, Jaxton reflects me

That was God’s design as well, that we would reflect Him. And He knew that would happen by having a relationship with Him.

If you look at the original language in , God is “Elohim”

This usage of God is similar to someone having a title like Doctor or King

In Genesis chapter 2, we see a more in depth description of how we were created.

However, in chapter 2:7, you see God’s name change to Lord God, which is “Yahweh Elohim”

Yahweh is a very personal name, a name that God uses for Himself when dealing with His people throughout the OT

Have you ever met someone before, and you refer to them as Mr. or Mrs.?

When does that change?....usually when you have developed a personal relationship with them.

See, what we have happening in is a reiteration, a deeper look at the personal way that God made man and woman.

How we were created to talk to God, in verses 16 and 17 we see that

We were made to rule with Him over creation, which we see as well in verse 15.

See, God’s perfect plan was for man and woman to rule together over creation, living in this constant, personal relationship with Him.

Application

Firstly, don’t miss the biggest thing here. God, all powerful creator, created you, and He created me, to have a personal relationship with!

God wants to have a relationship with you!

God didn’t create us because He was lonely, God didn’t create us because He felt like He had to, God created us to have a relationship with us, and for Him to be glorified

Secondly, God created us so that we would reflect Him to each other, and to the world.

God’s plan before the fall, before sin, was for us to be relational people, reflecting and revealing God’s glory to each other.

Finally, don’t forget your place.

This is well and truly God’s World because He created us. And we are well and truly God’s creation as well.

We should never elevate ourselves to the position of creator as we are so quick to do.

That’s what we’ll be looking at next week, the Fall.