Creation Series

INTRODUCTION

• Today, we begin our Core 52 journey together.

• Before we dove in, here are some housekeeping items to cover.

• Each Sunday (except on Faith Promise and for a couple of weeks in December), Jerry or I will cover a chapter in the Core 52 book.

• We will follow the sequence in the book: Chapter 1, then 2, then 3, etc……

• On Monday, you will start the chapter in your book.

• In your book, you will spend 15 minutes a day five days a week.

• You will find your assignments for the week at the end of each chapter.

• On our Website, you will find a memory verse help video that will help you with the memory verse for the week.

• I will show you week one during the announcement time.

• On our Core 52 page on the Website, you will find other resources like memory verse cards that you can print off and a link to the Core 52 site.

• Core 52 is essential for individuals and groups who want to build confidence in God’s Word.

• Think of Core52 as a fast pass to biblical literacy, calling for 15 minutes a day, five days a week, for one year.

• Author Mark Moore identifies the most power-packed passages and distills them into a digestible format for busy people who want to gain proficiency with Scripture.

• This study is not a verse-by-verse study of the Word.

• During the 52 weeks in Core 52, we will examine the mountain-top verses that will give you a fast track to better knowledge and understanding of the Word.

• People are interested in the Bible but do not know where to begin; many feel they are too busy to start.

• Core 52 will allow even the busiest people to master the core of the Bible.

• Instead of one 52-week series, Core 52 is set up as a 12, 4-6-week series within the main series.

• Each message is related to the others, but they do stand alone.

• If you miss a week, you will not be lost, like missing a lesson in Algebra, but I would encourage you to go to our website or YouTube channel to watch any messages you miss.

• With the housekeeping out of the way, let’s begin our journey.

• Today, we start at the beginning of the Bible, Genesis 1:1, which will also be your memory verse for the week.

• The author of Genesis has been attributed to Moses both in the Old and New Testaments, including Jesus in John 5:45-47.

• Luke also tells us Moses wrote the first five books of the Bible.

Luke 24:27 (NET 2nd ed.)

27 Then beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he interpreted to them the things written about himself in all the scriptures.

• Moses refers to the first five books of the Bible.

• Moses most likely wrote Genesis along with the Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy.

• Genesis is a book of beginnings.

• In fact, the word Genesis means beginnings.

• Genesis shows us not only the beginning of our world and humanity as a whole, but we see the beginning of marriage and family. We see the beginning of civilization and culture. (Dan Raymond, Beginnings Sermon)

• In Genesis, we also see the beginning of everything getting messed up.

• Genesis shows us the origins of human failure, death, disease, and natural disaster.

• Ours is a glorious world of beauty and wonder and a world where something has gone wrong.

• We also see the beginning of God’s plan to fix what is broken in Genesis.

• God has a plan to bring people back home to the paradise He intended for them.

• We see the beginning of the hope and help that we most desperately need.

• Genesis 1:1 is a passage that is vital for us to understand because this passage sets up the foundation for the rest of the Bible.

• Genesis 1:1 answers many of the questions scientists spend billions of dollars answering.

• The passage also answers many important questions in life, such as “How did I get here?” and “What is my purpose in life.”

• Genesis 1:1 is simple yet profound.

• Let’s begin our 52-week journey!

Genesis 1:1 (NET 2nd ed.)

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

Genesis 1:1 reveals:

SERMON

I. The priority of God in respect to time.

• Let’s begin by placing our focus on the first four words of Genesis 1:1, IN THE BEGINNING GOD!

• Four words can be so powerful and answer so many questions.

• The implications of Genesis 1:1 are staggering.

• Something must be eternal; something must be an uncaused first cause.