In The Beginning ... Series

Alpha and Omega, Part 1

“In the beginning …”

Genesis 1:1-5

Introduction

- Begin the year with “one purpose”: Knowing there is a God!

-- Resolutions change and fluctuate, so instead let’s go with “one purpose”

-- This will frame our year, word: GROW; and allow us to dive deeper

- Today we begin our series titled, “Alpha and Omega”; examine beginning to end

-- Study two critical questions: How did we get here? How does it end?

-- Have lots to get to today in order to set the foundation for entire series (2023)

-- I really want you to stick with me today and see how incredible God is!

- GET THIS: We must know there IS a God! (This is CRITICAL!!)

-- As a building requires a builder, a creation must have a creator

-- Kids learning same thing: bible, watch, and a pencil all needed a creator

-- Even the energy in the universe required a source … it required a beginning

- There is an irrational logic trying to prove something happened from nothing

-- Scientists will tell us to follow the science, but ignore their own rules:

-- ASK: “Even if it all started with a bang, what created the bang’s elements?”

- Somewhere between 7th and 4th century, B.C., Job pondered these words:

-- Job 26:8-10, “He wraps the rain in his thick clouds, and the clouds don’t burst with the weight. He covers the face of the moon, shrouding it with his clouds. He created the horizon when he separated the waters; he set the boundary between day and night.”

- Here are some facts (known things) we can ponder today:

-- The sun is our closest star; radius is: 432,690 mi, circumference is: 865,380 mi

-- In comparison, Earth is only 3,958 mi, circum. is 7,916 mi (1.3M fit into sun)

-- However, universally speaking, the sun is only an average size star

-- EX: Pistol Star, in Pistol Nebula, is 100 times larger & 10 million times brighter

- Our known universe has 1 septillion stars (that’s a 1 with 24 zeros after it)

-- Traveling at the speed of light, it would take 28 billion years or more to see it all

-- Now, consider the complete summation of God’s power in Psalm 147:4, “He counts the stars and calls them all by name.”

- Let’s get personal here: consider the foundation of humans (DNA)

-- A strand of DNA is known to be measured at 2.5 nanometers in diameter

-- There are 25,400,000 nanometers in one inch: 6’ person = 18,288,000,000 (18B)

-- God said to one prophet, Jeremiah 1:5, “I knew you before I formed you in your mother’s womb. Before you were born, I set you apart and appointed you as my prophet to the nations.”

- FACT: The knowledge & power of God must always be kept before us!!

-- This is what will draw our series together for the entire year

- Now, with all this as an introduction …

-- Let’s look at our passage for today … Read Genesis 1:1-5 / Pray

Point 1 – What is the foundation of our faith?

- Foundation of faith: if you cannot trust Creation, what can you believe in?

-- Settle: If we have a Creator, it must mean that the rest of God’s word is true

-- EX: Believers put their trust that God redeems in Christ; it is our HOPE

- Consider for a moment: Who other than your Creator could rescue you?

-- ASK: How can we be redeemed (which means to RESTORE something to its original condition) if the actual owner doesn’t do the saving?

-- Rephrase: How can we know that we are redeemed if no one is in charge?

- HUGE: If we cannot trust what Genesis says, we have a huge problem in faith

-- APP: Because, if there is no Creator there also cannot be a redeemer

-- This one change will affect all of human history (through Revelation 22)!

- (v1) “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.”

-- Look at the factuality here: there is no middle ground on this issue (sets tone)

-- God created everything that we see and know

-- This is ultimate demonstration and revelation of authority for us

- The scientist and English philosopher Herbert Spencer said, “Everything that exists, exists in one of these five categories: time, force, action, space, and matter. (key scientific phrase) Nothing exists outside of those categories.”

-- APP: Very astute discovery that didn't come until nineteenth century (1800’s)!

-- But get this, Spencer was a huge evolutionist! doctrine: “social Darwinism”

-- He even introduced the phrase: “survival of the fittest” (credited to C. Darwin)

- TR: Might ask: But if he is wrong, why bring it up? Well, because …