The Story #1: Creation - The Beginning Of Life As We Know It

THE STORY #1: CREATION: THE BEGINNING OF LIFE AS WE KNOW IT

INTRO: The beginning of our journey through the story of the Bible is like the beginning of an action-packed movie. If you miss the opening minutes of a movie with its fast-paced scenes, you will not understand the rest of the story. It is the same with the Bible’s grand Story. The Story opens with a revelation of the main character of the Story: God.

THE BIG IDEA: God’s story begins with the creation of the universe and everything that exists, and reveals God’s greatest masterpiece as human beings.

- As we go through The Story, we are going to discover three levels:

• The Upper Story: What God is doing (sometimes behind the scenes) throughout history.

• The Lower Story: What is happening in the lives of people down here on the Earth.

• Our Story: The most important part is learning how we become a part of God’s Story!

1. GOD’S STORY BEGINS: CREATION:

“In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.” (Genesis 1:1).

• What a brilliant introduction to God’s Story! Not “once upon a time” or “a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away” but “In the Beginning!”

• The first four words in the Bible are foundational to our beliefs about origins:

• In the beginning, GOD. The Bible doesn’t try to prove the existence of God.

DAY #1: God Created the Earth, Space, Time and Light:

“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. Then God said, "Let there be light"; and there was light. And God saw the light, that it was good; and God divided the light from the darkness. God called the light Day, and the darkness He called Night. So the evening and the morning were the first day.” (Genesis 1:1-5).

DAY #2: God Created the Atmosphere (Gen. 1:6-8).

DAY #3: God Created the Dry Land and Plants (Gen. 1:9-13).

DAY #4: God Created the Sun, Moon and Stars (Gen. 1:14-19).

DAY #5: God Created the Birds and Sea Creatures (Gen. 1:20-23).

DAY #6: God Created the Land Animals (Gen. 1:24-25).

2. OUR STORY: GOD’S GREATEST MASTERPIECE:

“Then God said, "Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth." So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them… Then God saw everything that He had made, and indeed it was very good. So the evening and the morning were the sixth day.” (Genesis 1:26-27,31).

• Also on Day #6: God’s greatest masterpiece – human beings – created in His image!

• He created Adam from the dust of the ground and placed him in the Garden of Eden (Gen. 2:7-8) then created Eve from one of Adam’s ribs (Gen. 2:21-22).

• “You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body and knit me together in my mother's womb. Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex! Your workmanship is marvelous -- and how well I know it.” (Psalm 139:13-14, NLT).

3. ENTER THE VILLAIN: THE SERPENT AND THE FALL OF MAN:

“Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, "Has God indeed said, 'You shall not eat of every tree of the garden'?” (Gen. 3:1).

• Adam and Eve were created with the freedom and power to choose.

• Two trees in the Garden: The Tree of Life and of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.

• The serpent (Satan, the devil) tempted them and caused they to disobey God.

• Adam and Eve rebelled against God and ate the forbidden fruit and sin entered!

• Their children Cain and Abel were born with a sin nature (Cain killed Abel – Gen. 4).

4. ENTER THE HERO: GOD IS OUR ONLY HOPE:

“Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves coverings.” (Gen. 3:7).

• This is a symbol of how Adam and Eve tried to fix their sin on their own, but couldn’t.

“Also for Adam and his wife the Lord God made tunics of skin, and clothed them.” (Gen. 3:21).

• “Without shedding of blood, there is no remission (for our sins).” (Heb. 9:22).

• This is a picture of what God would do in sending Jesus to die on the Cross for us!