Beginnings - Pt. 1 - Reorder Series

Beginnings

Part 1 - Reorder

I. Introduction

2011. That is the stuff of science fiction. I can still remember when we peered through the living room blinds at the stroke of midnight watching to see if all the lights in the neighborhood would suddenly go out due to the Y2K bug. A new year. It seems all you hear and read about is people making New Year’s resolutions, turning a new leaf, and the goals they have are setting for this new 365 unit of days.

Although I am not a huge new year’s resolution person, I do think it is an appropriate time to talk about beginnings.

Over the course of the next few weeks I want us to go back to the beginning to see if we can’t learn some needed lessons.

II. Text

Genesis 1:1a – “In the beginning God. . .”

III. Reorder

Before creation God. Before order came to chaos . . . God. Before rhyme or reason . . . God. Prior to sense or sensibility . . . God. In this simple statement . . . “In the beginning God” we catch a glimpse of the right order, the necessary order, the divinely approved order of the universe and, although we tend to forget this truth, the only order for our lives that actually works!

I want to begin this year by issuing you a very serious challenge. What if we got back to this place in life? What would happen if we got the order right again? Before we begin a relationship . . . God. Before we end a relationship … God. Before we quit our present job for the new job . . . God. Before we quit church or slept in rather than going to church . . . God. Before we spent the money . . . God.

I wonder if we would get the order correct if we would see the end of chaos? I didn’t say we wouldn’t face trials. Those are guaranteed. However, too many of us are living in chaos! That isn’t our heritage! We don’t hear peace be still because we are still trying to drive the boat!

I submit to you that if the order in our life was adjusted to make sure that our agenda, our motivation, our dreams, our pursuits all began with God we would see sense, fulfillment, and purpose return to our lives. I tend to believe that God in the beginning was not only the prerequisite for creation, but is also the key ingredient in the recipe for creation in our lives!

God ordered an entire universe! He can be trusted to order your life. If He could handle the complexity of designing the human body, then He can design a plan for your life! If He could pull off the balance of light and dark, then surely He can select a mate for you. If He could structure the planets and stars, then surely is able to order your path, provide for you, and position you correctly! Why is it that we believe He can pull off the impossibilities of creation, but we think, live, and behave as if He can’t handle the impossibilities of our life? Could it be that we sing His eye is on sparrow and I KNOW He watches me…. But fail to actually believe that this truth extends to our life and our situation? We sing further, “Why should I feel discouraged, Why should the shadows come, Why should my heart feel lonely?” And the implied answer is we shouldn’t feel discouraged, shadowed, or lonely, but we do. I think if we would get God back to the beginning of our lives we would be able to remember that He is in control and is able to handle our issues.

So my challenge is simple in concept difficult in reality . . . reorder your entire life this year to put God at the beginning of every area of your life!

There are some challenges to this.

IV. The Challenges to Reorder

a. There is a battle for 1st place in our life.

I know you know this, but I want to put it back in front of you for realization. There is a natural and a supernatural war for your attention and your allegiance. Bad things will try to become first in your life. Good things will dominate God things if we are not careful. It is easy to talk about reordering your life. However, the reality is that to do so enlists you in a full blown, all out, blood and guts war! If you don’t embrace this fact, then you will drop out of this necessary and life-changing fight! This not for the faint of heart or the weekend warrior Christian. This is only for those who are so tired of chaos, confusion, and mediocre existence who are willing to fight back the advance of everything and everyone that would try to usurp God out of the throne of 1st place!