Genesis 1, continued:

Genesis 1:27-31

• God made us male and female.
• Each of us have a role for which we were created.
• God gave us dominion over the animals.
  • We should have more value than the animals.
  • We should be good stewards of God’s creation.
• God made us different than the animals.
  • Animals act instinctively and impulsively and think only of survival.
  • The sinful world acts impulsively and thinks only of survival.
  • God wants us to rely on him.
  • We need to realize our dependence on God.
• God gave man every plant yielding seed.
• God gave animals every green plant.
• It was good! There was nothing wrong with it.
  • God’s word is good.
    • Hebrews 4:12; II Timothy 3:16-17; John 17:17; Proverbs 30:5; Psalms 18:30; 19:7

Genesis 2

• Creation was complete by Day 7.
• God establishes a one week pattern for the life of man.
• The week is not based on orbits or rotation. It is based on God’s word.
• Recap of Day 6.
• No shrub of the field was on the earth yet. Why?
  • No rain.
  • No cultivator.
• A mist used to rise from the earth to water the plants.
• God tells specifically how He created man.
• Man is special.
• The Lord chose man to manage His perfect creation.
• God created every tree that was good to see and eat.
• He also created two special trees!
  • The Tree of Life
  • The Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil
• Who was the writer of Genesis?
  • Moses
• Who was the audience in v10-14?
  • The Israelites
• When Moses described the location of the garden of Eden, he was possibly describing where it was in the past using current landmarks.
• God put man in the garden to cultivate it.
• Why did God put two special trees in the garden?
  • Free will! The choice to serve God is a benefit to man.
• God decides to make a suitable helper for Adam.
  • Adam needed someone to share life with.
• Genesis 2 ends in absolute magnificent perfection.
  • Man and woman together in the presence of God with work to do and the right to obey.

Genesis 3

• The serpent was more cunning…
  • Was the serpent Satan? Revelation 12:9; 20:2; Genesis 3:14

Introduction

• Joshua 1:9
• II Timothy 1:7-8
• God has always instructed His people to be strong and courageous.

Courage to confront them

• Hebrews 12:7-9 – Discipline is part of what parents do!
• I Samuel 2:12, 22-25; 3:13 – Eli talked to his sons, but did not do enough to correct them.
• We shouldn’t commit the Eli Mistake by not doing enough to correct our children.
• I Kings 1:5-6 – David had never crossed his son!
• I Thessalonians 5:14 – Admonish the undisciplined.
• Proverbs 29:17
• James 5:19-20 – What if this is our son or daughter?

Courage to protect them

• Acts 2:40
• Ephesians 6:4
• We must protect our children from the error in the world.
• Genesis 1:27
• Lawrence Krauss – Should Religion be Taught in School? (YouTube)
  • People are actively trying to turn people away from religion.
• John 9:22; 12:42

Acts chapter 1

• Acts 1:1 – This gives strong evidence that Luke is the writer of both Luke and Acts. “Teaching” is a recurring theme in Acts.
• Acts 1:2 – “Apostle” can sometimes be used generically as a messenger, but here refers to the twelve apostles specifically.
• Acts 1:3 – This allows the apostles to serve as true witnesses of Jesus. They saw his life, death, resurrection, and ascension.
  • Matthew 27:62-66 – Some tried to argue that Jesus’ body was stolen and not resurrected, but it was well guarded.
  • Luke 24:36-40 – The apostles saw Jesus after the resurrection.
  • Luke 24:49
• Acts 1:5 – The apostles would be given tremendous power by the Holy Spirit. Note that “you” here is referring to the apostles – it was not directed at all Christians.
• Acts 1:6 – The apostles were still expecting an earthly kingdom!
  • Luke 24:45 – The Holy Spirit would help them understand what had happened.
• Acts 1:9 – The apostles watched as Jesus ascended into heaven. See John 14:19-21.
• Acts 1:16 – David prophesied about the fall of Judas. See Acts 1:20.
• Acts 1:21-22 – There were specific requirements for the apostles. The man who replaced Judas also had to have the same requirements.

Introduction

• Proverbs 17:22 – A joyful heart is good medicine.

The power of the mind

• Hebrews 12:2 – Jesus endured because of the joy that was before Him.
• Job 1:20-22; 3:11; 27:1-6; 28:12, 23-28 – Job was miserable but his mind was still sound.
• Acts 27:33-38 – Paul took time to give thanks for the small things.
• Philippians 4:6
• Acts 16

You see what you’re looking for … so we should deliberately choose what to focus on.

• Philippians 4:8
• Acts 9:1
• I Corinthians 1:4; 4:14; 11:2; 16:24 – Even with all their problems, Paul was thankful for them.
• What if I start looking for reasons to be happy or things to be thankful for?
• What if I’m looking for opportunities to encourage others?

Why is Genesis so important?

• Acts 17:23-28 – God gave us evidence so we would seek Him.
• Hebrews 11:3
• Colossians 1:16-17
• Psalms 33:6-9
• Romans 1:18-25
• Genesis establishes God’s presence and His power.
• If you don’t believe God created the world, you cannot defend anything in the Bible!

A denial of the literal Genesis account is a denial of Jesus.

• John 5:45-47
• Exodus 20:11
• John 1:1

Repeating theme in Genesis is:

Man’s total dependence on God.

Genesis 1

Genesis 1:1

• God’s omniscience and omnipotence is established.
• God’s authority is evident.

Genesis 1:2

• “Spirit of God” (H7307 – ruah)
  • Same word as Genesis 8:1; Exodus 15:8
  • “Deep” usually refers to the ocean, but there were no defined oceans yet.

Genesis 1:3

• God spoke and it happened – Psalms 33:9
  • Display God’s total control of all the elements, energy, time, and space.

Genesis 1:4-5 – Day 1

• God created light.
• What is light?
  • Light is a particle and a wave.
  • Light is energy.
• God created energy, quantum mechanics, and physics (a way to control the elements)
• God is organizing his creation in a very specific order.
• God established the period of time to define day and night.
  • God called the light good.
  • Who was writing Genesis?
  • Evening and morning?

Genesis 1:6-8 – Day 2

• God separated the waters.
• There was water on the earth and water in the air.
• Oxygen, hydrogen, nitrogen, carbon dioxide.
  • Pressure, temperature, gravity
• Science tries to explain creation and chaos.
• God created it with complete control and order.

Genesis 1:9-13 – Day 3

• God gathered the water which caused…
• Dry land to appear.
• Then God created life …
  • Vegetation started to sprout
    • According to their kind (H4327 – min)

Genesis 1:14-19 – Day 4

• God made the sun, moon, and stars to govern the seasons.
• God made the earth on an axis with tilt, rotation, and spin.
• Do planets help dictate the seasons on earth?
• Why did God create the Sun on Day 1 and not Day 4?

Genesis 1:20-23 – Day 5

• Birds and fish

Genesis 1:24-26 – Day 6

• Animals and everything that crawls on the ground
• Man in our image

Genesis 1:27-31

• God made everything necessary for life to begin and to continue.
• If each day took millions of years, then life would not have survived.
• God’s people understood this to be one week (Exodus 20:9-11).