Sermons on Creation

The Best Is (Still) Yet to Come part 2

Gen 1:14-17
The One Big Idea: Genesis 1 shows us the pattern on which we are to base our lives as God’s people.
1. Days 1 and 4 describe the same creative act from different perspectives that solve the problem of a dark and empty world.
2. Genesis 1 presents the model for how God wants his people to work.
3. The creation narrative tells us how God wants his people to order their lives.

The Best Is (Still) Yet to Come part 1

Genesis 1: 3-13
the One Big Idea: God’s intent in creation is not for a static, unchanging reality but a developing world that points us to its final consummation.

1. The first day is not the beginning of creation, it’s the start of God’s fashioning and filling of the earth for our habitation.
2. Genesis 1 is a covenant statement on the character and reason for creation.
3. God used both divine fiat and divinely ordered natural processes to create the heavens and the earth.

Sacred Cows and Paradigm Shifts

The One Big Idea: The doctrine of creation is the starting point and distinguishing characteristic of true religion.
1. We must be aware of our presuppositions as we seek to understand our Bible.
2. From a Christian perspective, the Enlightenment was a great leap backward into the darkness.
3. Genesis 1 reveals man as the crown of creation and is the starting point for the redemption to come through Christ.

Upstairs, Downstairs

Genesis 1:1, 2:1
The One Big Idea: Creation is a two-state reality in covenant relationship with its creator as his temple kingdom.
1. Genesis 1:1 says all things, seen and unseen, were created by God out of nothing when time began.
2. Jesus Christ is present always and everywhere in the Bible’s redemptive story.
3. God’s plan for a spiritual-physical temple for his children will be complete when Jesus returns and unites heaven and earth forever.
Key words:
Cosmogony: A theory of the origin of the universe.
Aramaic: A Semitic language spoken in Israel since the 6th century BC.
Targum: Aramaic translation of the Old Testament.

On That Day

Genesis 2:16-17
The one big idea: The immeasurable, unimaginable gain of life in Christ is best seen in the light of Adam’s tragic loss.
1. God created to display the glory of his eternal and infinite power, wisdom and goodness to his creatures destined to live in his presence forever.
2. Man was created to be a prophet, priest, and king in the physical realm of God’s eternal combines kingdom.
3. Only God can reverse the damage to our spirit caused by Adam’s sin.

We find the greatest joy in our re-creation when we understand the purpose of our creation.