YOUTH SERMON NOTES GEN 1
Read aloud Genesis 1:1–2
In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.
It all begins with an idea. Maybe you want to launch a business. Maybe you want to turn a hobby into something more. Or maybe you have a creative project to share with the world. Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.
Was Jesus at Creation?
Possible answers:
If you are more of a New Testament person and you are familiar with the book of John, you will notice these first three words are the same three words that open the book of John 1:1-5:
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not anything made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.
The best commentary on the Bible is the Bible. What it says about itself provides rich insights into what God is saying to us. Jesus is present at the beginning and is a full participant in all that was created.
Never think that Jesus is kind of a “junior God.” He is a full member of the trinity, consisting of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. So, when we think about Creation, we must think about Jesus.
2. Did God create everything out of nothing?
Possible answers:
This opening statement in Genesis tells us that God created everything out of nothing. Theologians calls this in Latin, “ex nihilo,” literally out of nothing.
God’s glory is clearly on display. He is the source of all things. The Creation account is written to maximize His glory. Without God, nothing would exist.
God is the one responsible for Creation. Nothing is mentioned in the Bible about some kind of goo that some scientists may refer to as “primordial soup” from which everything evolved.
3. What does the Bible say about Creation that shows there really is a God?
Possible answers:
Many people today will say, “How do I know there really is or was a God? Didn’t I learn in school about evolution and how everything evolved from essentially nothing or from some kind of big bang?” We were indeed taught that theory in school.
Consider broadening your understanding of God in light of reason and science. Paul points out in Romans 1:19-22 that God has made himself known through what we call “general revelation:”
For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools.
What are the four ways or “fingerprints” that God reveals Himself in creation according to Baptist pastor, J. D. Greear in his book Essential Christianity?
Possible answers:
The Cosmological Fingerprint
Few things are more obvious than “nothing times nobody can’t equal everything.” (Greear)
Zero times zero always ends up as zero, never the Alcyoneus galaxy or the human DNA cell. (Greear)
The point is that you don’t walk up to a work of art, like the Sistine Chapel, the Taj Mahal, or the works of Shakespeare, and assume they are the lucky outcome of a fortuitous accident. You assume, instinctively, that there is a designer. (Greear)
The Teleological Fingerprint
Our cosmos at least looks like it was designed: and more than that, like it was designed for us. From the composition of gases in our atmosphere to the tilt of the earth’s axis, the earth is designed for human habitation. (Greear)
The Oxford University mathematician John Lennox said that the survival of our ecosystem is like a marksman hitting a coin “at the far side of the observable universe, twenty billion light years away.” (Greear)
The Moral Fingerprint
You and I have a moral compass that is found nowhere in the animal world. The Bible’s answer is that our moral sense comes from the God who has set our world up with right and wrong and who has stamped his image on our hearts. (Greear)
No other creatures on earth consider right and wrong, Animals make decisions solely on survival no matter how brutal the outcome. A shark doesn’t consider whether or not he should eat the fish on the line. If he can get, he’s going to eat it.
The Desire Fingerprint
Quite simply, we find in ourselves yearnings for things beyond the material world. We long for love. To matter. For significance. We don’t like the idea that one day we will simply cease to exist. (Greear)
“If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world. If none of my earthly pleasures satisfy it, that does not prove that the universe is a fraud. Probably earthly pleasures were never meant to satisfy it, but only to arouse it, to suggest the real thing.” (Greear)
C. S. Lewis adds: We all desire something beyond what earth can supply. This should always point us to Jesus.
Which of these aspects about Creation do you feel gives great glory to God?
What would you share about Creation with a non-believer to help them understand God better?
Read aloud Genesis 1:3–23
And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. And God saw that the light was good. And God separated the light from the darkness. God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening and there as morning, the first day. And God said, “Let there be an expanse in the midst of the waters, and let it separate the waters from the waters.”
And God made the expanse and separated the waters that were under the expanse from the waters that were above the expanse. And it was so. And God called the expanse Heaven. And there was evening and there was morning, the second day. And God said, “Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear.” And it was so. God called the dry land Earth, and the waters that were gathered together he called Seas. And God saw that it was good. And God said, “Let the earth sprout vegetation, plants yielding seed, and fruit trees bearing fruit in which is their seed, each according to its kind, on the earth.” And it was so. The earth brought forth vegetation, plants yielding seed according to their own kinds, and trees bearing fruit in which is their seed, each according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. And there was evening and there was morning, the third day. And God said, “Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day from the night. And let them be for signs and for seasons, and for days and years, and let them be lights in the expanse of the heavens to give light upon the earth.” And it was so. And God made the two great lights—the greater light to rule the day and the lesser light to rule the night—and the stars. And God set them in the expanse of the heavens to give light on the earth, to rule over the day and over the night, and to separate the light from the darkness. And God saw that it was good. And there was evening and there was morning, the fourth day. And God said, “Let the waters swarm with swarms of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the expanse of the heavens.”
So God created the great sea creatures and every living creature that moves, with which the waters swarm, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. And God blessed them, saying, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth.” And there was evening and there was morning, the fifth day.
Could all these six periods called “days” be actual 24-hour days before the sun was created on the fourth day?
Possible answers:
God says, “let there be light” on day one but does not create the sun and the moon until day 4. What was the light source? Because God is the creator of light there is no need to think that he needs a sun to provide that light.
Check out the light source in heaven described in Revelation 22:5: And night will be no more. They will need no light of lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be their light, and they will reign forever and ever.
Our God is omnipotent, and He has the ability to provide light that gives us evening and morning even without the sun.
2. Could there have been an actual six-day creation, meaning a young earth of around 6000 years old that doesn’t seem to fit the scientific data?
Possible answers: DO NOT NEED TO GO OVER EVERY ANSWER
Some people might say, “I don’t believe in science. Haven’t people been using science to justify all sorts of things that aren’t valid?” Here’s the thing: We all believe in science that is observable and provable. We can see pictures on media outlets of the huge Hurricane Lee out in the Atlantic Ocean this week. Most of us seem to believe the forecasters who tell us this storm is going to turn and not come ashore here in South Florida. We are sure there is a storm, though less sure it will turn, but sure enough to have no plans to put up shutters.
The church has benefitted from science as it has revealed things about creation we never would have known. Science has helped us understand and even correct our reading of scripture. In the 17th century, Galileo championed Copernicus’s view that the earth and other planets revolve around the sun. He was tried and found vehemently suspect of heresy, and he spent the rest of his life in house arrest. Church leaders had been teaching that Psalm 19:6 indicated that the sun seems to revolve around the earth: Its rising is from the end of the heavens, and its circuit to the end of them, and there is nothing hidden from its heat. It turns out Galileo was right. And as result, the church was able to see God as greater than ever before. He is not just the creator of the earth and sun and moon, but He is the creator of an entire universe and more. Psalm 19 is still valid because the Psalmist is speaking from his perspective of how it appears. He is not making an astrological statement.
Science is constantly giving us more and more observations of the greatness of God. But when science says that God could not have created in six 24-hour days it is making a claim that is not observable or provable.
Many will point to the evidence of the Grand Canyon that it must have been formed from millions of years of erosion. But the lava flows from Mount St. Helens had rapidly eroded. If you didn’t know the lava is only 43 years old, you might suspect that it too was eroded over millions of years.
The problem with dating the earth based on sedimentary layers and the fossils within them is that this ignores the world-wide flood of Noah. The earth that God flooded was much different than what we have today. It never rained before. The atmosphere was different. The earth was much softer. When the rains came and ultimately subsided it is reasonable to think that both rapid erosion and deposition took place. What appears to us to have been millions of years was more likely only a few years.
3. Can we read the word “day” and think that it could mean epoch or era rather than a 24-hour day?
Possible answers:
The challenge with this is that the author specifically writes “evening and morning.” This is a clear sign that an actual 24-hour day is being communicated.
Others will say “Isn’t a day as a thousand years to the Lord?” They are citing 2 Peter 3:8, but that is taking the verse out of context. It is referring to how long and patiently God will wait to allow people to respond to the Gospel. It is not talking about creation.
Even so, if the days of creation were each a thousand years that would still only make the world about 12,000 years old.
4.As Creationist Ken Ham would say, why not take the Bible to mean what it says?
Possible answers:
In every other case in scripture, we know what the word “day” means. We know when it says in Joshua that the children of Israel marched around Jericho for 7 days, we know those were 24-hour days.
Perhaps the best scripture to support six 24-hour days of creation is from the Ten Commandments in Exodus 20:
For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore, the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.
5.While we ourselves believe it is best to think of Creation as six 24-hour days, is it true that someone who believes otherwise is not a true Christian?
Possible answers:
No. There are many godly scholars who have a high view of scripture, seek to glorify Jesus, share His good news with the world and yet disagree on this point. Let’s not throw stones at them and assume they have evil or less than pure motives. God is using these people.
The six literal days of creation question is an important question, but it is not what we call in theology a “first order issue.” Meaning, we do not break fellowship those who disagree with us over this issue. You can believe in theistic evolution and still believe in a great and all-powerful God. You can still believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God who came to this earth as a man and lived a perfect life and died a willing death to pay for the sins of those who would believe and that He arose from the grave on the third day and ascended to heaven.
Theologians can argue about this, but we should love as brothers those we disagree with about this.
6.If you were to share with a friend how you believe that Creation actually happened in six 24-hour days, what would you say?
Read aloud Genesis 1:24–31
And God said, “Let the earth bring forth living creatures according to their kinds—livestock and creeping things and beasts of the earth according to their kinds.” And it was so. And God made the beasts of the earth according to their kinds and the livestock according to their kinds, and everything that creeps on the ground according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and 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. And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” And God said, “Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit. You shall have them for food. And to every beast of the earth and to every bird of the heavens and to everything that creeps on the earth, everything that has the breath of life, I have given every green plant for food.” And it was so. And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.
What does it mean that we are created in “the image of God?”
Possible answers:
When we were little kids, perhaps we thought that we were made to look like God physically. Of course, that’s not really what is meant.It’s so important that we understand this. Humans are not like animals. We didn’t evolve from animals. Each human has value because only humans are God’s image bearers. You may love your pet’s personality, but your dog does not bear the image of God.
Theologians call this the “imago dei” in Latin terminology. Dr. Jimmy Scroggins, Lead Pastor of Family Church in West Palm Beach, summarizes the concept this way:
a. Humans are unique.
b. Humans reflect and represent God in His world.
c. Humans make real moral and spiritual choices.
We are the climax of Creation. God created humans as the climax of His creation to know Him and to represent Him as His vice regents, His earthly rulers, and propagators of His creation. That’s what we were made to be.
God is our origin. He created us all. He did it in a short and ordered time.
2. What purpose do you personally find in being created in the image of God?
3.How could you use the concept of being created in the image of God to encourage someone struggling with their sense of self or in their consideration of their future career?
4. How could you use the concept of being created in the image of God to help an older person think about how they served God with their life so far?