Well, hey all, for those who don't know me, I am Will and I
have the privilege of being a part of the preaching team that
we're continuing to trudge on through a Genesis.
We're still in Genesis 1, but but we're actually going to hit
the double digits and even go all the way to midway through
verse 20. So of the 20.
So shout out to that. I do love that we are doing this
though. I believe that Genesis is one of
the most like known, well known kind of books in the Bible, but
also one of the most overlooked and kind of glossed over and
often underappreciated books as well.
So I'm really pumped that we're taking our time to go through
this and really kind of reflect on God's Word.
Amen, Amen. Amen, Amen.
So all right, so according to Scripture, everyone is born with
sin, right? In other words, you can even put
it as like the the sin gene, everyone has it, you're born
with it and it's innate. This is really pointed out in
Psalms 51 five. David says, indeed, I was guilty
when I was born. I was sinful when my mother
conceived me. I was sinful when my mother
conceived me. So they even like put this even
more perspective of this David is proclaiming he was sinful at
conception, right? So FYI about David's parents,
they were married and his father who's also a Jew, was a well
respected and a well known Jew from Bethlehem.
So it this isn't a conception of forbidden love.
This isn't a conception of sexual immorality in which he
was he was conceived. But David is Speaking of
inherited sin from Adam. I was sinful when I was
conceived by my mother. So then even another example of
Job 25 four. How can human, how can a human
be justified before God? How can one born of woman be
pure Again inherited sin Romans 310.
There is no one righteous, not even 1, because we are
inherently sinful. Psalm 14, four.
All have turned away, All alike have become corrupt.
There is no one who does good, no, not even one.
We are naturally sinful. We are simply born that way, and
there is a reason we must be born again.
Amen. I don't think y'all heard me.
There's a reason we must be born again.
Amen. OK, some of you may be wondering
why the heck are we are we talking about this?
Why am I going so hard on these Bible verses of us being
inherently sinful? And bro, you just said we we in
Genesis and we haven't even talked about Adam and Eve yet.
What does this have to do with the scripture?
We're going to go over today and actually what we're going to
talk about. Well, I'm doing this for three
reasons, right? Reason one, it is actually very
relevant to the text today. And that's what you continue to
read. And we go through and we pull
through and dig through and pry through the scriptures.
You guys will see that. Number two, to be honest, I just
told a whole bunch of new parents, we got a lot of little
babies here that they're sweet innocent baby boy or sweet
innocent baby girl that they thought was is sinful.
And I, I definitely need a scripture to back that up so I
can survive leaving this thing in the day.
But for parents of older kids, I highly doubt it had to inform me
of that. But I will say this though,
about those parents of older kids, Those kids often reveal
the sin in their parents. I'm just going to let that sit
there. Just let that sit there.
Anyway, the third and final reason I, I, I really had to
kind of set the stage or, or kind of dive into that is
because it's relevant to the story I'm about to tell you.
So Thursday night, my wife was cooking and the two bigs, my two
big kids were, were helping the, the little kid put away his toy
and, and clean up his area. And by helping I mean that they
were doing it while Lamari the little is deciding to wand
around and create more chaos while I'm standing by the stairs
and he's actually in the kitchen and somehow wandered his way
there. I tell him Amari give that toy
to Zane and go help clean up. When I tell you all he looked at
me as if I was the little dude that owed him money and screamed
with his whole chest pointed out no.
So shout out to God for my the patience he's he's giving me.
I took a deep breath. I started to walk closer to him
and that warrior glare he had started quickly to turn into
puppy dog eyes. So I flicked his hand and told
him again my son again that remember like kids they watch
us. He then took a deep breath and
said OK, then proceeded to do what I told him to do.
Why? Why is that?
Like why did it kind of go down like that stating if you're able
for the reading of God's Word. We're in Genesis 1 verses 14
through 25. Yes, this is the first time
we're in reading double digit verses.
So walk with me through this. Amen.
And God said, let there be lights in the expanse of the
heavens to separate the day and the night, and let them be signs
for the seasons, and for the days and for the 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 2 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 4th day. And God said, let the water
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 water swarm according to
their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind.
And God saw it was good. And God blessed him by saying,
Be fruitful and multiply and fill the waters and the seas,
and let the birds multiply on earth.
And there was evening, there was morning, the 5th day.
And God said, Let the earth bring forth living creatures
according to their kind, livestock, creeping things,
beast of the earth according to their kind.
And it was so. And God made the beast of of the
earth according to their kinds, the livestock according to their
kinds, and everything that creeps on the ground according
to its kind. And God saw it was good.
Dear Heavenly Father, thank you so much for your word.
Thank you so much for the creation.
Thank you for allowing us to have the ability to hear your
word. Father, we ask that you convict
those who need to be convicted, encourage those who need to be
encouraged, and draw near and draw them near to you, those who
have drifted afar. Father.
Father, we ask for wisdom, guidance.
Speak, Lord, your servants are listening.
Amen. You may be seated.
This first chapter would have been really controversial to the
people living while it was being written by Moses.
Like extremely. It completely went against
everything they have been taught to believe and their gods they
believed in and relied on. This word was world breaking,
earth shattering words being written down, especially in
verses 14 through 19. The one who knew that better
than probably the most was Moses.
In Acts 7, Chapter 7, verses 20 through 22, it talks about the
beginning of Moses's life. One key thing it talks about is
how he was educated in all wisdom of the Egyptians.
It also gives him the characteristics of being
powerful in his speech and actions, powerful in his speech
and actions. This means that he knows what
Egyptians believe. He was raised as a Prince.
He was likely tutored in those teachings, nurtured in those
teachings, and was likely an everyday topic in his life, his
friends lives, his family lives, and everyone around him.
Everything he sees, every picture, every medium echoed
that. This means he would have known.
Egyptians worship Newt, the God of the sky, Shoe, the God of
air, wind and light, Geb, the God of earth or fertility, and
their almighty God, Raw, who is the God of Sun, the creator, and
to them the king of the gods. He would have known that they
also would have worshipped the stars additional to that as
additional celestial beings. And still and still with that
knowledge, Moses wrote verses 14 through 19.
And God said, let there be light in the expanse of the heavens to
separate the day from the night. And let them be signs for
seasons, signs for the days, and signs for the years.
Let the light be the expanse of let there be a light in the
expanse of heavens to give light upon earth.
And it was so. God made the 2 great lights.
The greater lights rule the day, and the lesser lights 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,
over the night, separate the light from the darkness.
And God saw it was good. That was the 4th day in Moses
writing that in him taking his time to scribe that Moses then
reveals that the one true God created everything.
They're all powerful, all knowing Son.
God was merely a creation, a tool used to tell time that God
is also sovereign over, and to tell seasons.
He's a glorified watch for the world that God truly reigns in.
The stars that they saw with celestial beings or deities
literally just footnotes in the creation story.
This is really emphasizing that they have no real power, no
control. They are not to be worshipped.
They are not to have any type of means of understanding from
them. You can't gain nothing from
them. They are just created things to
serve a purpose for the one true God.
Deuteronomy 419 further highlights this.
When you look to the heavens and you see the sun, the moon, the
stars, all the stars in the sky, do not be LED astray to bow and
worship to them and serve them. The Lord your God has provided
them for all people everywhere under the heaven.
They are tools to tell time, tools to dictate the seasons,
tools to make the nice guy sometime look a little pretty.
Let's continue then you see and, and as we continue as Moses goes
on in verses 20 through 25, right?
Moses then goes on in these verses to tell how God created
life itself, all the swarms and the creatures in the ocean.
He created all weeded creatures, all creatures again of the sea,
all the creatures and massive creatures of the land, and then
he blesses them. Moses also in the in the midst
of that, since we're talking about what people worshipped,
made sure to emphasize large sea creatures as well.
This is specifically in verse 21.
So God created the great sea creatures.
Why? Because in those times, giant
sea monsters like the Leviathan was worshipped as well.
The Leviathan was seen as a deity of wrath and destruction.
Some people saw it as the the means or the prediction of the
end of the world when you did see it.
But this again is just a mere creation of the Lord.
This is really shown in in Job 41 five.
Will you play with him the leviathan God is talking about
as with a bird or will you put them on on a leash for your
girls? To God, this is literally just a
plaything, a toy, a pet, a gift you give to girls.
Speaking of Job and Job 40, it speaks of the behemoth, a
massive land creature that God created as well.
So Job forty, 2020 through 22, it it, like I said, it really
illustrates this. It shows the impact of Genesis
111 through 25 and how God is not only the Creator but a
sovereign designer. So in Job it says for the
mountains yield food for him, the behemoth where all the wild
beasts play in their environment under the Lotus plant.
He lies in the shelter of the reeds and in the marsh means
that there was there was a place made for him to lay down and get
rest and for his shade the Lotus trees cover him.
So when it gets hot, he already got a spot where you can go
again to lay down. And the willows of the brook
surround him so you can always have something to drink.
Church. This is literally a biblical
description of an ecosystem that God created.
For those who may not know or maybe too young or don't
remember their biology vocab words, I get it.
I was one of those two. Ecosystem is a biological
community of interacting organisms and their physical
environment. A commentary emphasizes this by
saying the living creatures, like the vegetation before, are
created according to their kinds.
Inherently, the created order possesses divinely impose
limitations and established, self maintained, self maintained
and governed systems. Why?
Because everything our all powerful creator has made has a
job, a purpose and was carefully and woefully designed.
Here, I'll give you a modern example of one that actually a
woman in in our CG on Wednesday brought up about oak trees.
Oak trees go four to seven years between massive and widespread
acorn production, right? They do this to outwit the
current population of acorn eaters, typically squirrels.
During this what's called a mashed year, there are far more
acorns than a squirrel or other acorn eaters can consume.
When faced with this surplus, squirrels or other eaters cannot
consume them immediately, so they bury the access.
And because there's so many, because it's such a plethora of
them, they often get forgotten and later grow into more oak
trees. I'm here to tell you that that
mastering strategy is not by coincidence, but it's by design
by our Creator. This shows that God did not just
randomly put stuff together and hope it was all going to work
out because He didn't account for any problems or or
disasters, but that He made everything thoughtfully,
carefully, and is in total control of it all.
Like, we can't even truly predict when this lasting
strategy is going to take place. So we just put it maybe four to
seven years. But you know who does know?
God, who orchestrates it? God who dictates it, God, the
God from Genesis one one through 25.
But again, he's made everything thoughtfully, carefully, and is
in total control still to this day.
So I walk to Amari who just yelled no to me like he could
beat me up and his eyes go from Leonidas from the movie 300.
You know the this is Sparta to Oliver Twist.
Please Sir. Real quick as I got closer and
even before the consequence of the little hand flick even
happened before it was even received again, why?
Why is that? It's proximity.
See, when when his earthly father me was further away from
him, it is easier for him to disobey.
It is easier for him to be tough.
It's easier for him to rebel. But as I, his earthly father,
gets closer to him, it gets a lot harder to keep that up.
As I get closer, he is instantly reminded of the sheer difference
in our size, the strength, and he's also reminded how much he
actually relies on me. That has to be how Moses must
have felt, because when when he was far from the Heavenly Father
and being raised as an Egyptian, it is said in Acts Again that he
was powerful in his speech. He often took matters into his
own hands. And when he was far from the
Heavenly Father, he was also so petrified of Pharaoh.
That that Moses lived like an Egyptian, knowing that he was an
ethnic Jew, but he was terrified, terrified of Pharaoh.
So most of that when he did take matters into his own hand,
because he knew he was an ethnic Jew, because he saw an Egyptian
tormenting a Jewish person, he then killed him, took matters
into his own hands, But still he was still terrified of Pharaoh,
that Pharaoh would find out that he went into hiding for 40
years. It wasn't a week from him
leaving Egypt, fleeing Egypt, that he that God then sends him
back. This is 40 years of hiding and
being terrified for his life. But God, can everyone say but
God one more time? But God, when God revealed
himself suddenly, suddenly the man that was described as
powerful in speech was a terrible speaker.
His fear was no longer about Pharaoh.
He had no questions of going there, but that he wouldn't be
able to accomplish what God wanted him to do because he saw
himself as insignificant in the presence of God.
His fear and reverence of Pharaoh and the Egyptian
teachings incinerated in the presence of God and that burning
Bush. But that proximity of God, that
proximity of God gave him security and strength to write
down that the gods that he was taught to worship, that were
pivotal to Egyptian culture were merely tools and creations of
the one true God. That proximity rule also applies
to Job. We've been using Job in a lot of
reference, so it applies the same way.
Far from God, Job was questioning God, claiming he
should have never been born, and initially even proclaiming that
God made a mistake and having him be born.
And Job deserved answers. But in close proximity to God,
God reminded Job who God is. He reminded Job of Genesis 111
through 25 that he is the creator, He is sovereign.
And immediately Job humbled himself and acknowledged that
God doesn't make mistakes. This proximity rule is why God
sent his son Jesus. Our sins severed our
relationship and closeness to God, so He had to send His Son
Jesus to die for us to take our consequence.
And I assure you, it's more than a hand flick to clean up our
mess that we made so that we can have close proximity to Him for
eternity. Amen.
So remember that inherited sin I
was rambling about earlier how we're we're born with that sin
gene. Well, because of that, the
further we are from God, the bigger and deeper that sin
becomes, the more comfortable we get with it, the more distorted
our views of the world become. And the more we forget about
Genesis 1, even one through 25, and it becomes easier and easier
and easier to make something else, our God and our idol, even
his gifts and his creations. So what is your proximity right
now to God? Even some of you wondering like,
well, I don't even know how I know how far I am if I am far.
Well, I'll, I'll give you guys some examples.
This isn't all of them, but I, I think some of these might,
might, might hit some people here.
I know it hit me writing it down.
I'll tell you that. So one example of, of
separation. The first one is anxiety.
Anxiety is the findest feeling worry or nervousness or unease,
typically about an imminent event or something with an
uncertain outcome or desire to do something, typically
accompanied by unease. Now I want to clarify this.
Having moments of anxiety or bouts of anxiety even in itself
is not sinful. We are still people.
That is not sinful. But the The thing you may be
anxious about may be a key indicator of your proximity.
The thing you may be feeling anxious about may be a key
indicator of your proximity. A source says that the top
anxieties in America are the economy, political and global
instability, gun violence, violence.
Sorry, and the societal issues or social justice issues.
The second example is apathy. Apathy is defined as lack of
interest, enthusiasm, or concern.
Specifically around this apathy is the apathy around God, His
Word and His statutes. Apathy of God, his word and his
statutes. Feel like that's
self-explanatory. Amen.
OK, the third and last example. This is really, really similar
to Job. We just talked about how he was
feeling, but it's living and a feeling of unworthiness, a
feeling of unloved even where you feel like your life is a
mistake. That is literally what Joe was
feeling. What Joe was rebuked by God by
the sin of these three types of separation indicators all have
in common is idolatry. Idolatry is often the root of
most if not all proximity disruptions or or separators
when it comes. Like anxiety, the idolatry in
anxiety is often but not always an idol of safety, An idol of
comfort. An idol of control.
I love the opinions or acceptance of others these in
themselves of enjoying safety, comfort, valuing the opinions of
people who are close to you, and even sometimes having control.
What you do have control over what God has given you.
Dominion over them in itself is is not sinful.
But when they become your idol or the the reasons as to why you
do everything you do and when they become the thing you only
focus on, when they become your absolute end goal in life.
When they dictate your life, they have become your God and
often the source of a lot of your anxiety.
The idolatry and apathy, especially nowadays, is often
but not always an idol of yourself or self worship.
Your lack of interest in God and his word.
Maybe because you have more interests in yourself, your
entertainment, people's opinions, and honestly what we
deem to be important. The idolatry and unworthiness is
often not always, but the idolatry again of self and
people as well. Based on how you or we define
love, what we define to be worthy and what we feel that we
deserve in this life. Often our own expectations whore
what the world has told us we should expect and what we
deserve. When it comes to anxiety, Lord
knows I struggle with it. By no means I'm not sitting here
saying I'm perfect at it by at all.
I even if you were here during Advent, I talked through some
anxiety, but I do have encourage encouraging encouragement.
Sorry. I encourage this all to remember
Genesis one one through 25 more scripture that can help is is
Matthew 625 to 34 going to read some parts of it.
Therefore, I tell you, do not be anxious about your life and what
you'll eat, what you'll drink, and what you will do, and what
clothes you put on. Look at the birds of the of the
air. They neither sow nor reap, nor
gather in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them.
Are you not more value than they?
And which you by being anxious, And which of you by being
anxious? And honestly, and what you're
anxious about can add a single hour to your lifespan?
Skip down to 30. But if God so clothes the grass
of the field, and which today is alive, and tomorrow is thrown
into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little
faith, But seek first the Kingdom of God and His
righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.
Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow
will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day.
Is it its own trouble? Genesis 1 one through 25.
Matthew 625 to 34. These two passages can remind
you that the Creator of everything that he loves you and
that you can trust in his sovereignty, not yours.
When it comes to apathy, this is fought with obedience.
People say, and the world tells you to do what makes you happy,
what makes you feel good, what gives you what they say life.
But the Bible says in Acts 529 that we must obey God rather
than man. James 122 says do not merely
listen to the word so it just so it and it so deceives you
yourselves, but do what it says it doesn't say.
Do it when you feel like it, it doesn't say.
Do it when you feel inspired, it doesn't say.
Do it when you have interest. The lack of obedience will lead
you to apathy, which would lead you to a lukewarm faith In
Revelation 315 through 16 says I know your works.
You're neither cold nor hot. With that, you rather be cold or
hot. So because you are lukewarm and
neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth.
I implore you to remember Genesis one one through 25.
It is important to remember that.
Meditate on it. Realize that the Almighty God
who created everything is revealing himself to you.
It will lead to fear and reverence of the Lord.
This book is not a bedtime story, it's not a game, not a
fairy tale, not make belief. Your soul is on the line.
Lastly, unworthiness is something I I've struggled with
quite a bit in my faith walk. I shared with some of the
leaders in our church on Tuesday about this.
I once expressed to a pastor that I feel like I've done too
much and my sin was my sin is too big for God to really love
me and welcome me into the fold. He then responded with something
that will forever stay with me. He said, I know what you're
trying to say when you say that you've sinned too much or your
sin is too big, but what you're really saying is that Jesus's
sacrifice was too small, that Jesus is insufficient, God isn't
that big and that all powerful. And when he said that, it
shattered my view because I was making an idol of myself, trying
to be my own savior. So for those who struggle like
me with that, I would encourage you again to read Genesis one
one through 25 this week and also read John 316 for that.
God in Genesis so loved the world that he created that he
gave a part of himself his only begotten Son.
So whoever shall believe in him shall not perish, but I've
everlasting life. Know that the God in Genesis is
that same God in John 316 who sent us Jesus.
This will help you with a heart of worship.
This can be summed up in our big idea today.
Close proximity to the Lord leads to reverence, trust, and
worship. When we're far away, we get
distracted, idols appear, we forget who God really is, and we
forget who's really in control. We look to creations to fill the
void. We look to creations to give us
peace, to give us joy, to give us love, to give us hope, to
show us kindness, to help us with our self-control, to show
us how to be gentle and to help with our patients, and to show
us how to be faithful. Instead of looking at those as
the fruit of the Spirit, we look at those as the fruit of earth,
and that's where we're supposed to get it from instead of God.
Again, we look to creations and ourselves rather than the
creator of Genesis one one through 25.
Remembering church and learning who God is is the first step to
close proximity to God. Now I've been up here a long
time, so I'm gonna give you some applications and let me get out.
Y'all here man. Thank y'all, thank y'all for
engaging so some of the applications that yeah, help
with the first step one, some of y'all ain't shocked.
Read your Bible. I even gave y'all some verses
verses earlier to meditate on and to read through again.
Read it for yourself, yourself. Oh my word, my lisp is going
crazy today. Read it for yourself.
Do not slowly rely on social media, post podcasts or even
Sunday gatherings. Get a relationship with Him for
yourself to pray, talk to God, ask Him to help you draw near to
Him. Ask Him to reveal those idols in
your life, and be prepared to obey what He reveals to you.
Lastly, fast in the Bible fasting is a biblical rhythm
people use to draw near to the Lord, to hear from the Lord and
seek comfort from the Lord. It wasn't and isn't a weight
loss fat. Lastly, everybody church,
remember the God who created everything, the God that created
the sun, the moon, the stars, this world life itself breathe
life into our lungs, who offered us a new life to be born again.
That God wants a relationship with you and we get to call him
Father. Let's pray.
Dear heavenly Father, thank you for allowing us to be able to
call you father. Father just.
Continue to give us a heart and a mind of all of all the things
that you've created. Let us not become apathetic and
and think it's so mundane and and boring, but rather it's
something that is inspiring that we get to know the creator of
everything. Father, help us draw near to
you. Give us a heart, a will, a mind
that echoes yours. Let us appreciate everything
that you have created and let us get our worthiness, our
righteousness from you because of what your Son has done, not
by what anything we could do, have done or ever will do.
Father, we love you. In Jesus name we pray, Amen.