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Ps Luke Williams
Sunday June 5th 2016

“Beginnings” Series (5)
The Book of Genesis
“The Bigness of God”
Message Notes
TEXT: Genesis 1:1-25

Today we are starting a new series called Beginnings and over the next 9 weeks we are going to be exploring Genesis 1-11.

· Genesis is the first book in the Bible and Moses wrote it.
· Incredibly important book because it introduces us to who God is and who we are in light of that.
· In fact the first chapter can be broken down into 2 parts; Verses 1-25 is all about God and verse 26-31 is about the creation of mankind and this will be what we focus on in our first 2 weeks.

BIG IDEA of today’s message is the Bigness of God
From that big idea I want to talk about what His BIGNESS means for our everyday lives.

“Genesis 1:1 is the most pregnant sentence ever written.”- Francis Schaeffer:

We can easily skip over a sentence like because we’ve heard it so many times before: 1In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth, but what Schaeffer is saying is that this sentence is so full of meaning and implications for us because it helps us to define so much about God, our origins, and why we exist.

TODAY I want to unpack 4 things about God.

1. God is eternal
v.1“In the beginning God”

God being eternal is not something that our brains have the capacity to understand.
Everything we do is bound by time.
· Seconds, minutes, hours, days, weeks, months, years, decades, centuries: Seasons.
· When were you born? What time should we meet? How long have you been married? When do you finish work?

· Those three words “In the beginning mean that there was something before time existed.

· Time began at that very moment recorded in v.1 “In the beginning God created” and is a construct used by people who are finite beings BUT God is outside of time because He is infinite.
· He always was and always will be. We can’t understand it because we have never existed outside of time BUT God does.


2. God is the creator
1In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.

There are many different theories on how the universe began:

a) Big bang theory: (www.the big bang theory.com)
“The Big Bang theory is an effort to explain what happened at the very beginning of our universe. Discoveries in astronomy and physics have shown beyond a reasonable doubt that our universe did in fact have a beginning. Prior to that moment there was nothing; during and after that moment there was something: our universe. The big bang theory is an effort to explain what happened during and after that moment.
According to the standard theory, our universe sprang into existence as "singularity" around 13.7 billion years ago.
Our universe is thought to have begun as an infinitesimally small, infinitely hot, infinitely dense, something - a singularity. Where did it come from? We don't know. Why did it appear? We don't know”.

b) Evolution

· Somehow over million years, we have evolved from nothing into something.
· Evolved from one type to another and we’ve through the process of evolution come to the place we are today.
· Chaos to order through evolution…

A scientific method is based on the collection of data through observation. The scientist must formulate a theory or a hypothesis based on what has been observed, then design a test by which the theory may be verified as valid or not- Science Weekly

· Darwinian evolution talks about the changing of kinds i.e apes to humans.
· Much of the evolutionary theory must be received by faith, as it is not observable.


Creation days 1-6
Days 1-3: God forms the creation
Days 4-6: God fills the creation

Day 1- separates the light from the darkness
Day 4- fills the space with the sun, moon and stars.

Day 2- separates the water from the sky
Day 5- fills that space with creatures of the sea and birds of the air

Day 3- separates the earth from the sea
Day 6- fills the earth with animals, plants and humanity.

All intelligently and deliberately designed by one creator of all.

Unlike evolutionists or big bang theorists we don’t need to guess how it all began, we can simply turn to Genesis 1:1 and read “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth“.

God is the creator and this passage shows us that He creates by His Word.
Verse 3: And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was…
Verse 6: And God said, “Let there be a vault between the waters to separate water from water.” And there was….
Verse 9, 14, 20, 24, 26. God said x5 AND THERE WAS.

God’s Word = Jesus.

John 1:1In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2He was with God in the beginning. 3Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. 4In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind.

Colossians 1:15 The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.

WHAT I LOVE ABOUT THIS IS THAT IN THE VERY FIRST CHAPTER OF THE OLD TESTAMENT WE FIND JESUS!
It’s all about Him. From the very first chapter to the very last sentence of Revelation, which reads: The grace of the Lord Jesus be with God’s people. AMEN.

In the Gospels it’s clear the Jewish leaders missed it.

John 5:46. If you believed Moses, you would believe me, for he wrote about me.

Where did he write about Jesus? Here in Genesis 1.

We can’t miss it: All of creation was created by Jesus and for Jesus.
In this Genesis account we see the triune God creating all things.
God the Father speaking and creating by and through His Word (God the Son), with God the Spirit hovering over the waters in verse 2.

God creates by His Word and He also recreates by His Word.
2 Corinthians 4;6 For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of God’s glory displayed in the face of Christ.

Before we know Jesus we’re broken and separated from God the father BUT in Christ he recreates us. New creation in Christ.
Darkness of our heart is replaced with the light of salvation- THAT’S THE GOSPEL.

3) God is sovereign
· In the Ancient near East there were competing creation accounts.
· Some accounts had a whole bunch of gods fighting until the victor became chief of the gods.
· Sun, moon, stars. Worshipping created things, rather than the creator of all things.
· Genesis makes it clear that there is one God and He has no competition. He has NO equal.
· He created all things, He sustains all things and He rules over all things.

Psalm 19:1The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands.

What’s the application of God’s bigness in our everyday lives?

God is eternal (and unchanging)
Same God yesterday, today and always.

There is great security found in trusting Him.

I want you to honestly reflect and consider this morning what you place your hope in?
· Bank account
· Relationships
· Physical Health
· Sporting achievements.
· Reputation.
All of these things can be here today and gone tomorrow.
How fickle are our lives if our hope is in these things?
We are only ever one event; one circumstance away from completely unraveling.
One diagnosis, one failed business transaction, one loss of a loved one, one bad mistake and everything you have your hope in, is gone.
I want to propose today that putting our faith in finite things rather than the infinite God is a foolish endeavor.

God is the creator

Consider creation for a moment
· Every mountain you’ve ever seen, the ocean, the sky, every living creature from the elephant to the ant, every plant, the moon, the sun and the stars ALL CREATED AT HIS COMMAND.

Q. If God created all of creation by His Word, what problem can’t he fix in our lives?
What circumstances are you facing? PUT YOUR HOPE IN HIM

Jeremiah 32:17 “Ah, Sovereign Lord, you have made the heavens and the earth by your great power and outstretched arm. Nothing is too hard for you".

We put our faith in the eternal, creator God.

If God is sovereign over creation what does that mean for us?

If the whole world is being sustained under His sovereign rule….
In other words if you tilt the axis of earth a couple of degrees or change the temperature here or there and we would be wiped out.
God controls all of that. He is omnipotent- ALL POWERFUL.
He is able to rule over us

“Whether he rules over us or not is not in question. He does rule over us. The only question is whether he will rule over us as judge or as friend?”
-Mark Dever

Put your faith in Christ and place your life under His sovereign rule, while you still can.

Jesus will judge all of creation one day and each of us will give an account for our lives.
Each of us will been punished according to our sin, unless we have accepted what Christ did at the cross.
On the cross he paid the penalty for our sin.
If we have accepted Him as Lord and Saviour of our lives He will rule over us not as judge, but as friend.

As we consider the BIGNESS of God we must also remember the life changing truth of the Gospel THAT we can be in relationship with a God who is eternal, a God who is the creator of all things, and a God who is sovereign over creation by His Word, Jesus Christ.