Pastor Dave Martin ~ Cross Creek Community Church ~ April 13, 2008

“God Created”

“In the Beginning…” series part 1

Gen 1:1-2 and Selected

“Friend Day”

Genesis 1:1-2 ¹ In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. ² Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.

Importance of this Study… (evolution picture)

        Helps us to understand God and His meaning to man… critical in being a grounded Christian

        Foundational, Genesis – “beginnings”, “origins”, “firsts”… Man, woman, marriage, birth, temptation, sin, sentence, the first to die and the first not to die, obituary column, murder, rain, flood, rainbow, offering, song, words of man, polygamist, city, languages, Government,

        Proper understanding builds our faith amidst secular culture… Like swimming upstream against current or public opinion & culture

        Creation throughout Bible; N.T. refers to Genesis over 500 times!... over 100 times to first 11 chpts

Myths and Theories abound…

Babylonians, Egyptians, Greeks, Hindus, Evolution, Big Bang, Day Age, Gap, Atheistic, Materialistic, etc

Babylonians – resulted from a plot & counter-plot among the gods… False

Egyptians – Upon a primeval ocean there appeared an egg upon it, which was born a sun god, he had four children named Geb, Shu, Tefnut, and Nut.  From the rivalries of these four children, creation took place. False

Greeks – A mythical giant named Atlas standing at the borders of the earth holding up the wide heavens on tireless arms and head… False

Hindus – Believed the world rested upon the back of three elephants, which stood in turn on the backs of a giant turtle which swam around in a cosmic sea… False

Evolution - believes man and all things came from monkeys/missing link, which evolved from a single cell, all by chance and time… The definition of Evolution is a scientific and philosophical theory designed to explain the origin and course of all things in the universe, by a gradual change to a higher order… False

OTHERS…

Big Bang – A cosmic glob called “Ylem” exploded 15 billion years ago… expanding universe… False

Day Age – (Theistic Evolution) God involved w/ each day of creation represented millions of years… False

Genesis 1:1 refutes…

1.  God Created ~ “Something from Nothing”.  Called “Special Creation” backed by irrefutable evidence

Genesis 1:1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.

“Bara” - Instantaneous, miraculous, something only God can do

God brought into existence… Space – Mass – Time

Hebrews 11:3 By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God's command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible.

Psalms 102:25 In the beginning you laid the foundations of the earth, and the heavens are the work of your hands.

2.  God Energized the Entire Universe.

Genesis 1:2 Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.

Isaiah 40:26 Lift your eyes and look to the heavens: Who created all these? He who brings out the starry host one by one, and calls them each by name. Because of his great power and mighty strength, not one of them is missing.

Job 26:7 He spreads out the northern [skies] over empty space; he suspends the earth over nothing.

3.  God Prepared Earth to be Inhabited.

Isaiah 45:18 For this is what the LORD says-- he who created the heavens, he is God; he who fashioned and made the earth, he founded it; he did not create it to be empty, but formed it to be inhabited-- he says: "I am the LORD, and there is no other.

Isaiah 45:12 I am the one who made the earth and created people to live on it. With my hands I stretched out the heavens. All the stars are at my command.

4.  God’s Wondrous Handiwork is Evident…

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

God’s Creation is Vast…

·         Outer space is so vast we use the speed of light (Electro-magnetic radiation) to measure it… Light travels 186,000 miles per second… It takes light to reach from earth to the moon 1.3 seconds.

·         Hubble space telescope trained on the blackest section of the universe took this picture… showing billions of galaxies and stars… The infinite vastness of God’s Creation!

God’s Creation is Minute…

·         All made up of tiny atoms, molecules, cells, reproductive, digestive, etc…

·         One drop of ditchwater contains over 500 million microscopic creatures…

God’s Creation is Complex…

·         You breathe 23,000 times and inhale 438 cubic feet of air, in 24 hours. 

·         Nerve Fibers Highway System - Inside you are some 100,000 miles of nerve fibers along which messages zip along at speeds of 300 miles per hour.                 

·         Blood - is made up of water, red and white cells… One red blood cell contains 300 million molecules and each molecule contains 2,378 atoms (C758, H1203, N195, S3, FeO218) – it's job is to carry molecules of oxygen from the lungs to each living cell throughout the body… White blood cells - carries food to & removes waste from each cell, they also attack germs.  Formed in the bone marrow, spleen & lymph glands… Circulating throughout your body every 23 seconds.

·         Heart - ¾ pound muscle/pump, beating 40,000,000 times per year, resting between beats 15 out of every 24 hours.  Beating 103,680 times, moving 10 tons of blood traveling a total of 168 million miles every 24 hours!

PPT – Tiny Baby in the womb… Psalms 139:14 I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.

God’s Creation is Diverse...

·         6000 reptiles, 800,000 insects, 3,000 amphibians, 5,000 mammals, 30,000 fish, 9,000 birds, millions of microscopic "critters".  Each with its own digestive, reproduction, breathing, nervous, circulatory systems.  The variety of over 100,000 different types of plants, the billions of stars, all different and all named.  God created!

God’s Creation is Ordered…

·         Look at our earth’s tilt of 23.5 degrees giving us seasons, earth is placed 93 million miles from the sun the “perfect” distance to sustain life… planets spin & orbit… sun rises, sun sets… God Created

God’s Crown of Creation is Man…

·         Man was created in the image of God Gen 1:26… created in a natural likeness to God – emotions, will, intellect and morally… till Adam sinned and he lost his moral likeness...  need to be born again.

·         Man – the highest order of creation… YOU are special in God’s heart… Handcrafted, one of a kind.

Psalms 8:3-4 ³ When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, ⁴ what is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him?

Jeremiah 29:11 For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.

·         God of Creation has plans for your life… prosper you, not to harm you, plans to give you hope/future

·         We become so busy trying to make a living we fail to know God and truly live a life of purpose.

5.  God’s Love was Demonstrated for You!

Isaiah 44:2a “I am your Creator. You were in my care even before you were born…”

·         Long before you were born, God knew you… He loves you and wants a relationship with you…

Hebrews 4:13 Nothing in all creation is hidden from God's sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account.

·         Yet sadly many people ignore God… rather believe in evolution that strikes God out of the equation

·         But you won’t be able to ignore Him forever… In eternity you will give an account of your life…

·         The Final Exam before the Creator God whom we just looked at… a Holy, Loving God

·         Who cares so much for you, even though you’re a sinner & broke God’s laws… sent His Son

·         Jesus paid the penalty for sin… BUT you must receive Him into your heart personally

PPT Jesus… John 3:16 "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.