Sermon Central
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Atheism Vs. Theism Series
Contributed by Michael Dean on Jan 26, 2013 (message contributor)
Summary: “In the beginning God…” The Bible does not attempt to prove there is a God, nor does it try to justify one’s belief in God. God is a first truth. The Bible teaches us where we came from, whom we came from, and what the reason for us being here is.
The first four words of the Bible are a foundational statement of faith and belief.
1In the beginning God Genesis 1:1
Faith - (Easton’s Bible Dictionary) Faith is in general the persuasion of the mind that a certain statement is true (Phil. 1:27; 2 Thess. 2:13). Its primary idea is trust. A thing is true, and therefore worthy of trust. It admits of many degrees up to full assurance of faith, in accordance with the evidence on which it rests.
Faith is the result of teaching (Rom. 10:14–17). Knowledge is an essential element in all faith, and is sometimes spoken of as an equivalent to faith (John 10:38; 1 John 2:3). Yet the two are distinguished in this respect, that faith includes in it assent, which is an act of the will in addition to the act of the understanding. Assent to the truth is of the essence of faith, and the ultimate ground on which our assent to any revealed truth rests is the veracity of God.
Historical faith is the apprehension of and assent to certain statements which are regarded as mere facts of history.
Belief - Merriam-Websters Dictionary - 1: a state or habit of mind in which trust or confidence is placed in some person or thing
2: something believed especially : a tenet or body of tenets held by a group
19You believe that God is one. You do well; the demons also believe, and shudder. James 2:19
The first eleven chapters of Genesis are the foundational texts for the entire Judeo-Christian belief system.
There are 68 direct references in the New Testament that refer back to these foundational chapters of Genesis
JESUS
19“For those days will be a time of tribulation such as has not occurred since the beginning of the creation which God created until now, and never will.
LUKE (PAUL)
24“The God who made the world and all things in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands;
PAUL
3By faith we understand that the worlds were prepared by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things which are visible.
JOHN
5Then the angel whom I saw standing on the sea and on the land lifted up his right hand to heaven, 6and swore by Him who lives forever and ever, who created heaven and the things in it, and the earth and the things in it, and the sea and the things in it, that there will be delay no longer,
"..in this era of history, the most attacked part of the Bible's history is Genesis 1-11. When people understand they can trust the history of the early chapters of Genesis, they can better understand and be more responsive to the gospel - the gospel that is based on that history." Ken Ham in the introduction of How Do We Know the Bible is True? Volume 1
Intro to the series - Prepare of Impact - Embracing A Biblical World View.
The Impact Series for the first three months will be about our World View. Preparing for Impact requires the disciple of Jesus Christ learn to view the world, and their place in the world, through the Biblical lens. In this series we will be studying Genesis 1-11, exploring foundational texts and doctrines that must govern our perspective of so many of the issues we are confronted with today.
Have you ever stopped to consider what it is that defines your world view? Each one of us must come to terms with the fact that deep down inside of us there is something that we fall back on or rely on for guidance, for decisions, for direction. As I asked above, if it’s not the Bible, than what is it? Whatever it is shapes our world view - or how we see and interpret the world around us - all the way from government to relationships, to our faith. Today each one of us is constantly bombarded with so much information, how do we decipher and discern what is true and what isn’t? How do we know if what we are reading in a book or on the internet is congruent with what God wants of us? If we don’t even consider this, than we don’t have a Biblical World View.
The unfortunate reality is, most Christians today don’t even recognize the great battle that is taking place all around us for our very mind and souls. The more we watch TV news, the more we read magazines and newspapers, the more we spend time in the movie theater and on the internet, the less time we are exposed to God’s Truth. Ultimately, this means those other sources shape our world view more than the Bible.
