Sermon Tone Analysis

Reading:

Proverbs 8:27-28 “When He established the heavens, I was there; when He drew a circle on the face of the deep, when He made firm the skies above, when He established the fountains of the deep,”

Introduction:

God in these passages in Proverbs reveals to us who the creator is: Himself.

He is revealing how He created: He drew a circle around the globe, He established the skies.

God is amazing.

He deserves all our praise and should have all honor.

I hope you have been going through the days of creation, thinking through each day, gaining understanding and growing in your faith and how the text can be trusted as God’s perfect authority!

Also how it is revealing God’s power, authority and wisdom to the world.

It can be utilized by each believer for the foundation of what you believe; and also to challenge what someone else may believe.

Providing that opportunity for giving the gospel and evangelizing the lost.

As we read the creation account and think through each day we recognize some patterns.

We can see: God speaks, it is obeyed, He hands out authority and laws for what He created.

We can say He forms, then fills.

Day 2 begins with:

I. God Spoke!

Here we are privy to the Lord’s authority to “call into existence” all that is.

He is very specific in verse :6 which reveals a very small fraction of His wisdom.

If you were to create a place where humans could physically live, what would you need to set in place for life to be possible?

Also It would need to be sustainable as well.

Think through all a human would need to live?

#1 Oxygen: kind of a big one.

How long can a person survive in a vacuum?

Answer: The hypothetical would be approximately 2 minutes.

?What would happen to a person in the vacuum of space?

Live Science.com

says:

“Space is a vacuum devoid of air — meaning that, unlike on Earth, there's no atmosphere and no pressure exerted by air molecules.

Atmospheric pressure determines the temperatures at which liquids boil and turn gaseous.

If the pressure exerted by the air outside a liquid is high, as it is at sea level on Earth, it's harder for bubbles of gas to form, rise to the surface and escape.

But because there is virtually no atmospheric pressure in space, the boiling point of liquids decreases significantly.

"As you can imagine, given that 60% of the human body is made up of water, this is a serious problem," Dr. Kris Lehnhardt, an element scientist for the Human Research Program at NASA, told Live Science.

In the absence of pressure, liquid water in our bodies would boil — changing immediately from a liquid to a gas.

"In essence, all of your body tissues that contain water will start to expand," he said.”

- What is needed for survival?

A spacesuit!

“A spacesuit protects astronauts from those extreme temperatures.

Spacesuits supply astronauts with oxygen to breathe while they are in the vacuum of space.

The suits contain water to drink during spacewalks.

They protect astronauts from being injured from impacts of small bits of space dust.” - NASA

How can the world wear a spacesuit?

*Here is where God’s wisdom can be seen:

Genesis 1:6 “And God said, “Let there be an expanse in the midst of the waters, and let it separate the waters from the waters.””

Transition:

Before we talk about the “waters” let’s explore:

A. The Expanse.

The expanse is described:

“God separated the atmospheric waters from the terrestrial waters by an arching expanse or “space” that God called “sky.”

This may suggest that previously there had been a dense moisture covering the earth.

By making this area of atmospheric pressure, God was making further divisions and distinctions within his creation.

First light as opposed to darkness, and now water and air as opposed to dense moisture over the whole planet—conditions were beginning to come about that would support life.” - Ross Allen’s commentary.

It is a firmament or surface which acts as a dividing partition.

The word firmament better expresses the image here.

It is see thru, yet still is a barrier.

- One commentator explains it this way:

“The verb underlying firmament (raqia‘) means to beat or stamp (cf.

Ezek.

6:11a), often in connection with beaten metal.

Job 37:18 shows that we are not meant to rarefy this word into ‘expanse’ or ‘atmosphere’: ‘Can you, like him, spread out (tarqia‘) the skies, hard as a molten (i.e.

cast metal) mirror?’ (rsv).

It is pictorial language, like our expression ‘the vault of heaven’.” - Derek Kinder’s intro.

and commentary

Transition:

- This firmament provides a safety barrier around the earth for the purpose of making:

B. A Separation.

?

What was separated?

The atmosphere is what separated the surface waters of the earth (i.e., “the waters below”) from the atmospheric waters or clouds (i.e., “the waters above”).

The picture is the solid form of water had a layer of dense fog or vapor on top of it.

God divided the vapor from the liquid, creating the “expanse” where birds fly; which we call the sky.

where the clouds are.

?

Wouldn’t this create a problem for the flood’s description for the heavens opened and a tremendous amount of water fell?

There is here a description of a vast amount of water around the earth and when the heavens opened a huge portion of that vapor was collected into liquid and fell to the earth (that’s my theory) or it separated a thick layer of water from the surface.

Cool side thought: A theory is that the water barrier around the world would’ve made earth a pressurized oxygen chamber.

*explain benefits to this!

Transition:

There’s now the division of vapor from liquid, one above and one below.

Yet both are:

C. The Waters.

?

Why wouldn’t God just want all the water above us?

Water is necessary for life!

Without water we couldn’t survive.

Having an atmosphere would allow an space for winds which in turn would create currents in a body of water.

Circulating the water and circulating the air.

It is very important for there to be no stagnation in a body of water and also in the atmosphere.

With both the winds, and also the currents stagnation would be impossible.

Point:

God’s will is always done and what He says will be done!

He speaks it is!

Our lives are to be lived through the lens that His will be done and that His authority makes it possible, even the things you and I don’t believe are possible.

Transition:

With all authority God spoke or commanded that there be an Expanse that separates the liquid water from the gas and:

II.

It was So!

Genesis 1:7 “And God made the expanse and separated the waters that were under the expanse from the waters that were above the expanse.

And it was so.”

A. The Expanse Exists.

We have an atmosphere that is real!

Nasa defines the atmosphere as:

“Earth’s atmosphere is similar to a jacket for our planet.

It surrounds our planet, keeps us warm, gives us oxygen to breathe, and it is where our weather happens.