Please open your Bibles to Genesis 1:1-2:3 which we will read in a few minutes.
Well … here we are in 2018. Can you believe it; 2018!!!???!!!
And the years seem to go by faster and faster. Does it seem that way to you, too?
This is the first Sunday in 2018 and we’re already a week into the year, so, even this year isn’t brand new anymore. But, today let’s read about the brand new beginning of creation by reading the account of creation found in Genesis 1:1-2:3.
So, why did we read about a brand new creation on the first Sunday of a brand new year? Because, we have an awesome God who can create with the power of His spoken word!
Have you ever tried to create anything from nothing? Of course, we can’t do that.
We need at least some raw material to start with.
I have often thought about my computer, what would happen if all computers ceased to exist and it was up to me to create one? I couldn’t even come up with the mathematics to create a slide rule, let alone a computer!
But what about creation! That is so far beyond slide rules or even the most sophisticated computers that it boggles the mind to think about it!
Psalm 19:1-4a
“The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of His hands. Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they reveal knowledge.
“They have no speech, they use no words; no sound is heard from them. Yet their voice goes out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world.”
Romans 1:20
“For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities - His eternal power and divine nature - have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.”
The Lord God has displayed His majesty through His creation!
We can see, hear, smell, taste and feel the greatness of God because, we, as one of His creations have been given the ability to observe the rest of God’s creation through the gift of our five senses!
But, have you ever thought about what you CAN’T see?
What about the cells that make up our bodies; how do they declare the glory of God?
There is this principle called, Irreducible Complexity.
For instance, this guitar has three basic parts, the body, the neck and the strings.
If you remove any one of those parts it becomes just a pile of junk.
All of the pieces must be there in order for it to work. Remove one piece and it doesn’t.
The design of this guitar is like child’s play compared to the magnificence of the human cell, but, the same principle applies; irreducible complexity.
(Whiteboard …)
When our Creator designed all of the life forms we read about in Genesis 1 He made them up using cells and all of these cells contain some basic building blocks: DNA (genes), a nucleus, cytoplasm (the goo inside the cell) and a cell wall.
Of course cells and all they do are infinitessimally more complex than that!
The DNA controls everything about the cell. My head almost explodes when I try to grasp the magnitude of what this DNA does!
First of all, it controls how the cell presents itself; the same DNA exists in skin cells, muscle cells, brain cells, organ cells. Our Creator is amazing and awesome!
This DNA also controls how the nucleus is made up and how it functions.
This DNA also controls what makes up the cytoplasm or the “goo” inside the cell.
This DNA also controls how the cell membrane is made up and now it functions!
Just four overly simplified components of a cell and the cell would cease to function without any one of them.
The DNA, nucleus and cell membrane could not function without the cytoplasm.
The nucleus, cytoplasm and cell membrane could not function without the DNA.
The DNA, cytoplasm and cell membrane could not function without the nuclear membrane.
And on and on …
Let’s just take a quick look at an amazing feat that should be in the book of world records because there is nothing else like it in the world!
(Show DNA2.wmv from FreeScienceLectures.com)
Is that amazing or what! Just look at all of these other biological components that are necessary for DNA replication!
Helicase
Single-stranded DNA binding proteins
Leading strand template encoded from its 5’ to 3’ end
DNA Polymerase III
Lagging strand template
Okazaki fragments
RNA primase
RNA primer
DNA Polymerase I replaces the RNA primers with DNA
DNA Ligase links the Okazaki fragments
Now, remember, if ANY ONE ELEMENT from this list were to cease to function in my cells you would all be invited to my viewing in the very near future.
Estimates of cell turnover in an adult human is about 50-70 billion per day.
60,000,000,000 / 24 =
2,500,000,000 per hour
41,700,000 per minute
694,000 per second!
OK. That’s amazing, isn’t it??? What a great Creator God we serve!!!
Now, just think about this? If I were to take a needle and pierce the tiniest hole in this paper, that hole would be gigantic compared to one of the cells in our bodies.
And the nucleus would be even smaller because it needs to fit inside the cell.
If all of the DNA molecules in one cell were placed end to end it would extend six feet.
Here is a six foot piece of the thinnest thread I could find.
Now, if I squished this thread up into the tiniest ball I could make and put it into some kind of thread compactor it would never fit into a cell let alone a nucleus and then … then there would need to be space inside that nucleus for the DNA to be split into two strands and identical strands replicated. That’s TWELVE feet of DNA!
How much data is stored in a human cell?
Estimate 1) enough to fill a book of 1,000,000 pages
Estimate 2) (from 2009) if a computer hard drive were able to store information at the same density as the human genome, the hard drive would be able to store the entire volume of data that is on the internet 140 times over!
Now, we know that the heavens declare the glory of God to the naked eye but when we take a look into the living cell it screams out the glory of God!
And, this same God who created us came to save us when we were in full rebellion against Him.
So, why are we talking about our great Creator God and the marvels of His creation today?
Because, all of those billions of cells which are constantly dividing and giving life to us are there for a purpose and that is to bring glory to God.
The One who gave you life (the LORD not your Mom and Dad) is continuing to give you life and there are two basic options of what to do with that gift from our amazing Creator God in 2018.
1) Live that life to honor and glorify the Lord! (expound)
2) Live that life to dishonor the Lord! (expound - including the lukewarm Christian life)
Prayer of confession and repentance.
Communion
