Sermon Central
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Signs Of Life Begin To Appear! Series
Contributed by T.j. Conwell on Jan 16, 2023 (message contributor)
Summary: Before you can truly see Jesus, we MUST believe the work of His Father. This same God, who delicately created the sun, moon, stars, seas, and vegetation, also cares enough about you to give His son, Jesus!
Alpha and Omega, Part 3
Signs of life begin to appear!
Introduction
- We’ve begun the year with “one purpose”: Knowing there is a God!
-- Just as a building requires a builder, a creation must have a Creator
- Continuing our series, “Alpha and Omega”; looking at the beginning to the end
-- Studying two critical questions: How did we get here? How does it end?
- Last week’s big ideas:
1. The heavens and the Earth initially consisted of water
-- God’s Spirit moved across the deep and He engaged the waters
-- This action began the formation of what we see and know
2. God physically separated and cut an expanse (space) between the waters
-- Simply put: Some water went up and some water stayed down
- APP: Don’t overcomplicate this …
-- This gives “fools” a chance to argue every little thing …
-- We don’t have to be God’s defense attorney, merely, ones who know Him!
-- When we know what we know, we are able to speak to it plainly
- It is through FAITH that we understand and believe what God has done
-- This same faith gives us hope in Jesus, a redeemer sent by God to save us
- Let’s look at our passage for today … Read Genesis 1:9-19 / Pray
Point 1 – God said, “Let dry ground appear”
- OK, let’s try to get some of the obvious items out of the way
-- Within one day (again: 24 hours) God has created the land & plants
-- We’ve been around long enough to know that growth like that is impossible
-- Matthew 19:23-26, “Then Jesus said to his disciples, “I tell you the truth, it is very hard for a rich person to enter the Kingdom of Heaven. I’ll say it again—it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the Kingdom of God! The disciples were astounded. “Then who in the world can be saved?” they asked. Jesus looked at them intently (expound: purposefully) and said, “Humanly speaking, it is impossible. But with God everything is possible.”
- The critical person may want to point out that we’ve used the same book to prove what we want to prove … so everything is very skewed in your favor, right?
- Wrong! RE: Scripture is where our faith is founded
-- And if our faith is founded here, then (IMP) Scripture testifies TO scripture
-- APP: A Christian MUST use scripture to validate scripture; it is our plumbline!
-- BIG: If we don’t trust scripture, can we really have faith in Jesus to redeem?
- This is why we mustn’t be afraid to use God’s word to speak truth on the subject
-- It doesn’t need an expert’s approval, or even an educator’s “thumbs up”
-- Faith requires us to know what we believe, because you have experienced Him!
- Reword: Just because an educated scientist says so, doesn’t make it fact
-- IMP: Remember who gave that scientist the brain in his head!
- (v9) God speaks, and it happens (action verb used is “let”)
-- Hebrew: qavah; to bind together, to collect (very word describes the action)
- God speaks this existence and it becomes permanent in its location
-- How do we know it’s permanent? The words used: “That is what happened”
-- Hebrew: hayah; to come to pass; to become (aka “It was so”)
-- Unimaginable … isn’t it? The very voice of God put land masses in place!
- Two weeks ago we saw a formless Earth (v1), and now dry land forms
-- As the land arose, the water was pushed to its gathering place (seas / oceans)
-- Consider this awe-inspiring movement and the response of creation
-- Ask: What keeps the water in place today? Ever see how a spill reacts …. ?
- TR: We have dry land, and we have seas in their place … so now what?
-- Don’t miss this: When God speaks …
Point 2 – The seeds in the ground obey God’s voice
- Why? They must! He is the Creator, and they respond to His voice
-- So, the discipleship question here is, “Will we respond also?” (later msg)
- Obvious point: Plants, trees, grass, etc. all appears because God said it (v11)
-- APP: This demonstrates God’s absolute sovereignty over all things
-- Once again, growth like this does not happen overnight – we can testify to that
-- But see: Even a small as a seed - that we might dismiss - responds to Him!
- However, this is where evolutionists strike at a believers faith (or lack of)
-- So, I really want to spend some time on v11-12 for our own good here
