Stones Hill Community Church
Genesis 1 is historical prose with a poetic touch. “Let there be… and there was.” The writer of Genesis 1 emphasizes a geocentric perspective. What that means is that Moses the author of Genesis wants you, the reader, to view creation week as if you were a spectator on this planet watching it all unfold in real-time. If God gave you a special front-row seat where all the laws of life were already in effect for that seat and let you witness what He was doing in the world, then you would probably describe the Creationary Week as Moses describes it in Genesis 1. And if everything you saw, you only got to see it once, imagine how captivating! Get up out of your chair and jump and laugh with joy on each day. But by Day 7, you’ll drop to your knees and say “Wow, what a Creator!” That’s the intent of Genesis 1.
We welcome you to Stone's Hill today!
A typical Stone's Hill service has:
* music (so feel free to sing out);
* some announcements (things that are upcoming that you can be a part of);
* a message out of the Bible (God speaks to us through his Word);
* and an opportunity for you to respond to the message (either immediately in the case of a decision that needs to be made OR in the future as you live out the message in your daily life.)
So relax and enjoy your morning! We're so glad you are here!
Genesis 1:1-31 NIV
MESSAGE TEXT
Genesis 1:1-2
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INTRODUCTION
Genesis 1 is a call to be in the moment and watch it all unfold. Don’t worry about a big bang. Don’t worry about the expansion of the universe. Don’t worry about the age of the cosmos. Don’t worry about gaps of time between verses. Don’t worry about the proposed theory of evolution. Don’t worry about carbon dating and erosionary rates. Don’t worry about fossil formation. Don’t worry about the speed of light and the millions of years it takes it to reach earth.
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I know light presently travels at 186,282 miles per second through earth’s atmosphere. But you can’t assume that its always travelled at that speed since the beginning. Also, researchers in labs have been able to bring light to a dead stop, capture, then release it. Other scientists have sped light impulses to 300 times the observed speed of light (Miller, Cost, 21) If mankind can manipulate the speed of light, can God? Adam never had to wait 10 billion years to see the first stars of heaven.
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But set all of that aside for now. Science can inform us of many good things and we can have those discussions. But don’t miss the beauty of what is here and the power of a Creator to do the supernatural.
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MESSAGE
What you will find in a bird’s eye overview of Genesis 1 are these two basic elements: First, God creates the world for humans in six days. Second, God rests on the seventh day. These two events make up the first week of human history.
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You can remember the order of things by keeping two words in mind: forming and filling. On days one through three, God formed the heavens and the earth. And on days four through six, he filled the heavens and the earth with inhabitants. On days one, two, and three, God is creating realms, and on days four, five, and six, He creates rulers for the realms. Three days are given to making the “uninhabitable” earth productive, and three days concern filling the “uninhabited” earth with life.
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On the first day he creates the realm of light and darkness. On the fourth day, “God made two great lights—the greater light to govern [to rule] the day and the lesser light to govern [rule] the night. He also made the stars.”
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On the second day he creates two more realms: the realms of the water and the sky. On the fifth day he creates two sets of rulers again, in a sense. He creates the fish and he creates the fowl. On the third day he creates the realm of land, and on the sixth day he creates the rulers of the realm, first animals, but then finally us. On the seventh day he sits down. One supreme Ruler over all things.
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CONCLUSION
The world is full of "rulers", and if you don’t make God the Supreme Ruler of your life, you will have some other created thing as your ruler. If God is not number one in your life and if he’s not the source of your value, your worth, your security, your power, something else will rule over you. If you don’t put yourself under God, you’ll be under everything else.