Sermon Central
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The God Of Genesis Part 3 Series
Contributed by Ken Henson on Jul 22, 2014 (message contributor)
Summary: And God said "Let there be light" and there was light. He is the communicating God-His first order of Creation is light, Light, and all creation obeys His command. He seeks those today who reflect His glory and communicate His goodness.
And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light.
And God Said
1. He Spoke
He speaks.
This is unique. This is just one of the reasons God and only the Creator God, deserves all glory honor and praise.
The psalmist understood this.
1 Not to us, O LORD, not to us but to your name be the glory, because of your love and faithfulness.
2 Why do the nations say, “Where is their God?”
3 Our God is in heaven; he does whatever pleases him.
4 But their idols are silver and gold, made by the hands of men.
5 They have mouths, but cannot speak, eyes, but they cannot see;
6 they have ears, but cannot hear, noses, but they cannot smell;
7 they have hands, but cannot feel, feet, but they cannot walk; nor can they utter a sound with their throats.
8 Those who make them will be like them, and so will all who trust in them. Psalm 115
God is the communicating God. Those who worship Him become like Him.
God Speaks to us through His Spirit.
Adam was just mud until God formed him from the dirt, and breathed into him the breath of life.
Noah was a nobody; nobody would have heard of except God spoke to him and told him to build a boat.
Abraham was a pagan, a worshipper of idols, a tradesman, until God spoke to him and told him to move from Ur of the Chaldeans, and he obeyed the voice that spoke. When God spoke to Abram and told Abram He would give him a son in his old age, through Sarai, who was, also, 90 years old, He changed their names to Abraham and Sarah-in each case He added breath, Ruach, Spirit to their names.
God’s spirit came on Bezalel and he taught him how to create great works of art for the temple.
25 “All this I have spoken while still with you. 26 But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you. John 14
He Speaks to us through His Commandments.
As New Testament believers we tend to underplay the importance of God’s commandments. Yet Jesus said
“15 “If you love me, you will obey what I command . . . . 21 Whoever has my commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves me. . . 23 “If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. 24 He who does not love me will not obey my teaching. . .”
Whether it is the Ten Commandments or the Golden Rule (do to others as you would have them do to you) or the Law of Love (Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength, and love your neighbor as yourself) when we have a decision to make and are not sure what God wants us to do, His commandments speak of His nature and guide us in what we should do.
He Speaks to us through His Word.
Hundreds of times the Bible says “the Word of the Lord came to . . .” He spoke to Abraham, to Moses, to Joshua.
He spoke to Samuel and called him as a child to be His prophet. It was the Word of the Lord that made Samuel a prophet, and every prophet who came after him:
“And the word of the LORD came to him: “What are you doing here, Elijah?”
10 He replied, “I have been very zealous for the LORD God Almighty. The Israelites have rejected your covenant, broken down your altars, and put your prophets to death with the sword. I am the only one left, and now they are trying to kill me too.”
The LORD said, “Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the LORD, for the LORD is about to pass by.”
Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the LORD, but the LORD was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the LORD was not in the earthquake. After the earthquake came a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper.” 1 Kings 19:9-12
We often look to nature, expecting God to speak to us through it (after all, “this is my Father’s world”). Yet too often nature seems to obscure His voice. As C S Lewis argued in Mere Christianity, the brutality of nature, red in tooth and claw, seems to reflect a nature contrary to that of the Creator described in the Bible. We also see fractures in the image of god in humanity’s inhumanity as reflected today in Iraq, and Syria, in Gaza and Israel, in North Korea, and in Jammu Kashmir.
