In The Beginning Series

2023.01.14.SERMON. IN THE BEGINNING PART 1

WILLIAM AKEHURST, HSWC

BIG IDEA: Genesis means beginning. In the Beginning we learn who GOD IS, and even more through creation. GOD spoke the universe into existence, from nothing to something. HIS WORD can take your nothingness and make it something good.

KEY VERSE: GENESIS 1:1-5

SCRIPTURES: Genesis 1:1-19, Revelation 1:8, John 1:1-5, John 5:46-47, Psalms 14:1, Romans 1:20, Colossians 1:16-18, Isaiah 45:18, Revelation 21:23, Revelation 22:5, Psalms 119:105, Psalms 119:130, Isaiah 60:1-2, John 8:12, John 3:19-20, 1 John 1:5-7

Genesis is a Greek word meaning “origin,” “source,” “generation,” or “beginning.”

The original Hebrew title Bereshith means “In the Beginning.”

GOD instructed Moses to write the book of Genesis. This is a critical book of the Torah in Jewish scriptural studies regarding the beginnings of creation and all of mankind.

Read Genesis 1:1-19 Day 1 through Day 4

Genesis 1:1-19

1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. 2 The earth was without form, and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.

3 Then God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light. 4 And God saw the light, that it was good; and God divided the light from the darkness. 5 God called the light Day, and the darkness He called Night. So the evening and the morning were the first day.

6 Then God said, “Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters.” 7 Thus God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament; and it was so. 8 And God called the firmament Heaven. So the evening and the morning were the second day.

9 Then God said, “Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear”; and it was so. 10 And God called the dry land Earth, and the gathering together of the waters He called Seas. And God saw that it was good.

11 Then God said, “Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb that yields seed, and the fruit tree that yields fruit according to its kind, whose seed is in itself, on the earth”; and it was so. 12 And the earth brought forth grass, the herb that yields seed according to its kind, and the tree that yields fruit, whose seed is in itself according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. 13 So the evening and the morning were the third day.

14 Then God said, “Let there be lights in the firmament of the heavens to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs and seasons, and for days and years; 15 and let them be for lights in the firmament of the heavens to give light on the earth”; and it was so. 16 Then God made two great lights: the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night. He made the stars also. 17 God set them in the firmament of the heavens to give light on the earth, 18 and to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness. And God saw that it was good. 19 So the evening and the morning were the fourth day.

***** ILLUSTRATION*****

WHERE DOES GOD COME FROM?

FROM A DEBATE WITH PASTOR KENT HOVIND

https://www.wordproject.org/bibles/resources/where_does_God_comes_from/index.htm

A Student asked the question, Where does God come from?

The following is the answer given by Pastor Kent Hovind

[Transcription]

Your question, where does God come from assumes that you are thinking, obviously displays, that you are thinking of the wrong god.

Because the God of the Bible is not affected by time, space or matter.

If He is affected by time, space or matter, He is not God.

Time, space and matter, what we call a continuum, would have to come into existence at the same instance.

Because if you had matter and no space, where would you put it?

If there was matter and space but no time, when would you put it?

You cannot have time, space or matter independently, they have to come into existence simultaneously.

The Bible answers that in 10 words: In the beginning, (there's time), God created the heavens (there's space), and the earth (there's matter).

So you have time, space, matter, the trinity of trinities: Time - has past, present, future. Space - has breadth, length , height. Matter has solid, liquid, gas.

We have a trinity of trinities created instantaneously, and the God who created them has to be outside of them.

If He is limited by time, He is not God.