Beginnings
Part 2 - GodTalk
I. Introduction
We have begun a brand new year. It is the time we naturally consider new things. So, I challenged you last week that it is at the beginning that we should consider the beginning. I took you to Genesis 1:1 and said that we must reorder our lives so that everything begins with God. I asked you, “What is the indicator to those around you that God is at the beginning of your entire life?” I hope that thought or question has stopped you in your tracks this week and caused you to take a serious evaluation and look at your own life, actions, words, and behaviors. I also told you that to place God at the beginning of everything will not happen by accident. I hope you have purposely reordered your life this week. You will remember that I asserted the fact that Jesus is the glue that holds our lives together and when He is not at the very center of every choice, every action, every moment of our lives then our lives tend to fall apart.
So, let’s continue our examination of the beginning and see what it will teach us.
II. Text
Genesis 1:1-5, 14-18
1-2First this: God created the Heavens and Earth—all you see, all you don't see. Earth was a soup of nothingness, a bottomless emptiness, an inky blackness. God's Spirit brooded like a bird above the watery abyss. 3-5 God spoke: "Light!" And light appeared. God saw that light was good and separated light from dark. God named the light Day, he named the dark Night.
It was evening, it was morning— Day One.
14-15 God spoke: "Lights! Come out! Shine in Heaven's sky! Separate Day from Night. Mark seasons and days and years, Lights in Heaven's sky to give light to Earth." And there it was.
16-18 God made two big lights, the larger to take charge of Day, The smaller to be in charge of Night; and he made the stars. God placed them in the heavenly sky to light up Earth and oversee Day and Night, to separate light and dark. God saw that it was good. It was evening, it was morning— Day Four.
III. God Talk
If we are going to learn anything from the beginning we need to slow down and read carefully. You probably didn’t even catch what just took place. I have read that passage for decades and it wasn’t until just a few years ago that I realized what took place. Notice if you will that in Genesis 1:3-5 on Day One. God is examining an empty, void, bottomless abyss called Earth and with a spoken word calls light to overtake the darkness. The passage says that at the moment the word “light” escaped across the lips of God there was instantly light to separate night and day. However, I also want you to go back and ponder what takes place in Genesis 1:14-19. That passage clearly states that on Day Three God, in His creative genius, steps in and creates a glowing, fire ball that burns at 27 million degrees Fahrenheit to provide light, warmth, and signify that day has come. Then He speaks again and a song inspiring, love inspiring, and awe inspiring orb called the moon plows into the night sky to provide a warm reflected light.
Did you catch it? He creates light on Day One. Yet, He waits until Day Three to create the Sun and Moon. In other words, God created light during the first few ticks of time, but didn’t create the systems to support that light until 2 days later. There was light, but there was no sun, moon, or stars to sustain the light He created on the first day with His Word.
From the very first moments of creation we come face to face with the sheer power and force of God’s Word. God’s talk is so potent that even when there were no natural support systems in place to perpetuate the light His Word had created light remained!
And so the truth from the beginning is that you need to hear God Talk!
IV. Why Word?
a. It will sustain you.
The very Son of God understood this truth. You will remember in a moment of trial and temptation Jesus’ response to the enemy was that “You can’t live by bread alone! But rather you are sustained by every word that comes from the mouth of God.”
Jesus knew that there will be times when bread, natural means of sustenance just won’t get you through. He knew that there are going to be times in life when the support systems are going to let you down. The great life-long friends that you have trusted with your life will disappear. The family member that you have come to depend on will walk away. That job that you have looked to for support and provision will dry up. Jesus knew the lesson of Genesis 1! He knew that only God’s Word can sustain us in spite of the lack of natural systems of support!
Because there will be times when everything will go against you, no one will support, no one will applaud, and no one will agree, no one will encourage you but if you can get a Word you can make it. There will be times when everyone will look at you and tell you are crazy to keep going or to keep trying. There will be no visible reason for you to continue. They will try to convince you to quit and to give up. But you must learn to live on every word that proceeds out of God’s mouth. That word needs nothing to support it or sustain it. It can make it on its own.
A Wordless world was a dark, unproductive, chaotic place. And you need to make the personal application that a Wordless life is a dark, unproductive, chaotic life!
Too many of you are wondering through life and can’t seem to find your stride. Your life is marked by circling, patterns, and banging your head into the same wall repeatedly. Could it be that the darkness chaos that you are blanketed in is the direct result of a Wordless life? So my question is do you have a Word?
b. It will bring peace.
Your storm won’t be silenced by anti-depressants or another drink. Your storm won’t be silenced by someone to sleep with or a nicer car to drive. The only thing that will silence the war within you is the Word of the Peace Speaker. Do you have a Word?
c. It will bring healing.
Go home and find your servant well. A Word from Him can override the word of a thousand physicians. Do you have a Word?
d. It will bring provision.
He spoke a blessing (Word) over the bread and fish and fed 5,000. Provision made by Word. A Word from Him can make your measly earnings stretch further and accomplish more than any loan or financial planner can. Do you have a Word?
e. It will bring pruning.
We like the providing, but we must also understand that His Word prunes. It is sharper than any two edged sword. It divides and cuts. If you aren’t being challenged to remove anything out of your life then I doubt very seriously if you have a Word from God. One of the things that is standing between you and providing Word that you have received is probably the thing you believe must or can coexist alongside Him. Like God and my habit. God and my friends. God and my pet sin. We embrace God Talk when it adds to our lives, but most of resist it when God’s Word subtracts from our lives. God’s Word is a pruning Word too! Do you have a Word?
f. It will bring purpose.
You are Peter – from a fisherman to a cornerstone of the church based on a Word. You are Paul rather than Saul. From a murdered to an apostle due to a simple Word. Do you have a Word?
g. It will bring pardon.
Today you will be with me in paradise. A simple Word of forgiveness from Him can catapult you into paradise on earth that will carry over to paradise in eternity! Do you have a Word?
Everything you have need of isn’t found in promotions, bank accounts, designer clothes, scores of friends, or your name in lights. All that you have need of can only be found in the creative, life giving, chaos breaking, curse breaking, sustaining power of God’s Word. Is your life Wordless?
V. The Word War
You need to know this morning that there is a battle raging over the Word in your life. You need to know that the enemy of our life is doing everything possible to keep us from hearing or perceiving the Word of God for our lives.
So, there are some things about God’s Word that you need to know so that you can be on guard.
a. The Word can be ignored.
As powerful as the Word is it can be ignored. Some of you have heard the Word of the Lord over your life and yet you continue to ignore it and run from it. The result is chaos. Some of you have heard a Word for you through my preaching or someone else’s preaching and you have failed to obey. Some of you heard the Word of the Lord over your life at a camp or a retreat when you were a teenager, but you failed to act upon and the result of your disobedience is darkness and confusion. An ignored Word is a dangerous Word because the very Word that was to bring life now begins to bring death! Because when you ignore revelation you wind up in a situation! Go back and pick up the Word that you have ignored.
b. The Word can be choked out.
If we are not careful the cares of life will choke out the Word of God! No time to read. No time to act. No resources to set into motion. You just need to know that if you have a Word then you also have a mandate to protect that Word and make room in your life, your busy schedule, your budget to enable that Word to come to pass! Some of you are choking out the Word with other things! How much time have you set apart this week for His Word? How much time has been given to reading His Word? How much quite time has been allotted to hear His Word? Don’t choke!
c. The Word can be missed!
In John 1, John states that Jesus was the Word in the flesh and then comes right back in verse 11 he tells us that Jesus, the Word, came and his own didn’t receive Him. They missed Him. How many times in Scripture is the Word missed? Jacob stumbles into a place where God is and doesn’t recognize it. Pharisees and Sadducees (religious elite) fail to recognize the Word. A woman at a well has a face to face encounter with the Word and doesn’t realize who she is dealing with. Two disciples on the road dialogue with Jesus and don’t recognize that they have the Word as a traveling companion. If they could miss the Word in flesh how many times do we miss the Word now?
I want to challenge you this year . . . Don’t miss the Word! There will come a time over the course of this year that Word will invade your life! It is our job to tune our ears. Turn down the volume on other things. Make room for interruptions from the Word. Quite the other voices so that you can hear The Voice.
Scripture has assured us that the sheep will know the voice of the shepherd. I am not sure of that anymore and it isn’t the Shepherds fault. He is still speaking. There is a constant proceeding taking place. It is the sheep’s fault for being so unused to listening that we can’t discern His voice anymore.
I want to give you a simple, but profound clue on how to hear the Word and to elevate the Word in your life.
The more you read His Word the more familiar you become with His voice. The more that you elevate His Word in your life the more likely it will be that the Word will elevate your life! Our ability to believe and operate on the Word we receive is dependent on the word we read! You can’t live up to what you don’t know.
Find a Word for your life today. Am I saying run after some prophet somewhere and get them to speak over you? Notice I didn’t say chase a Word. I said find a Word. You have to dig. You have to read. God is constantly speaking over your life you just have to provide a foundation of His Word to hear His Word! Without a foundation of His Word you will be scammed and played.
The beginning starts correctly because of the Word of God. If you are going to start this year off right you must hear, obey and be sustained by the Word of God! Do you have a Word? If so, welcome to the light!
