God

“GOD” Gen. 1:1

FBCF – 1/1/23

Jon Daniels

INTRO – This is a sermon about God. Obviously won’t be able to cover everything about God in this one sermon. In fact, if God were to allow me to preach every day for the next 100 years, I would not be able to cover everything about Him in all of those sermons.

But today, as we start a new year, we need to be reminded of some important truths about God. We live in a world, & our children & grandchildren are growing up in a world that is increasingly anti-God. More & more people are rejecting God.

- Barna – 20 yrs ago, 11% of Americans identified as atheist, agnostic, or no religion. 81% identified as Christian. (https://www.barna.com/rise-of-atheism/) The number of Americans who identify as atheist, agnostic, or no religion is now about 30% & continuing to rise, & those who identify as Christian is about 64% & continuing to fall. (https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/2022/09/13/modeling-the-future-of-religion-in-america/)

There’s a serious, dangerous disconnect that has happened in our world today as we see more & more people choosing to not believe in God. The Bible makes it clear that this is to be expected.

- Matthew 24:12 – “The love of most will grow cold”

- 2 Timothy 4:3-4 – “For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching [doctrine] but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths.”

- 2 Peter 3:3 – “Above all, be aware of this: Scoffers will come in the last days scoffing and following their own evil desires” (CSB)

So today, let’s start this new year off by establishing or reestablishing our belief in, our faith in, & our commitment to the one, true living God. Let’s start the first day of this new year w/ the first verse in the Bible.

EXPLANATION – Genesis 1:1

This one verse is so important as a foundation to our doctrine & theology – our belief system – our understanding of who God is & what God does. One writer, in talking about the book of Genesis, said this:

i. Genesis gives the foundation for the doctrines of:

· Sin, the fall, redemption, justification.

· The promise of the Messiah and Jesus Christ.

· The personality and personhood of God.

· The kingdom of God.

ii. Genesis shows us the origin of:

· The universe.

· Order and complexity.

· The solar system.

· The atmosphere and hydrosphere.

· Life, man, marriage.

· Good and evil.

· Language, government, culture, nations, religion.

iii. It is precisely because people have abandoned the truth of Genesis that society is in such disarray. (https://enduringword.com/bible-commentary/genesis-1/)

This one simple, factual verse forms provides a clear statement about God. He is the subject of this first verse, the dominant theme of the first chapter, & the core theme of the entire Bible.

- He is eternal

- He is uncreated, unchanging, & incomparable

- He is strong & powerful & wise

- He is sovereign, meaning that He has the “power, wisdom, & authority to do anything He chooses within His creation” (https://www.gotquestions.org/God-is-sovereign.html)

“If you can believe this verse, you will have no problem believing the rest of the Bible. The God big enough to have created the heavens & the earth is big enough to do all the rest the Bible says He did & does (https://enduringword.com/bible-commentary/genesis-1/).

So, let’s think about our God. Most of us learned a simple blessing when we were kids. Say the first line w/ me: “God is great, God is good, let us thank Him for our food.” We’ve probably mindlessly repeated that little blessing many times over the years, whether we were kids or w/ our own kids or grandkids.

But let’s use that simple prayer to state some significant truths about our God:

“God is great” – THE GREATNESS OF GOD

“How Great is Our God” – Love this song (sing chorus)! We need to constantly remind ourselves of the immense greatness of our God! Psalm 145:3 – “Great is the Lord and most worthy of praise; his greatness no one can fathom” (NIV).

When we say that someone or something is great, we are saying that that thing or person is preeminent, superior, distinctly above anything normal. The Bible proclaims God’s preeminence & superiority & distinction is dozens of verses throughout the Old & New Testaments.

- 1 John 3:1 tells us how great His love is

- Ephesians 1:19 tells us of the immeasurable greatness of His power

- Lamentations 3:22-23 tells us of His great faithfulness

- Exodus 18:11 tell us of His greatness above all other gods

- Genesis 1 & 2 tell us of the greatness of His creation