LAUGH 'N LEARN

An Encouragement Ministry of Verde Valley Christian Church
Of Cottonwood Arizona
http://www.vvchristianchurch.net/

Issue # 283,    May 4,  2008

LAUGH

Something Cheap

Jim’s Manuscript

May 4, 2008

“In the Beginning”

Series: Crash Course on the Bible (part 1 of 6)

Text:  Genesis 1-11

With most crash courses you have quizzes.  Today’s quiz question is this:

Which of the following are not books of the Bible?

A.              Haggai and Philemon

B.              Zephaniah and Zechariah

C.              2 Chronicles and 3 John

D.              Guacamole and Minestrone

E.               Hezekiah and 2 Lacerations

God wants us to grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and savior Jesus Christ.  (see 2 Peter 3:18).  So this crash course is designed to give us an introductory knowledge or big picture overview of the entire Bible in just 6 weeks.  I’m going to focus on key characters.  

Focus:  God created us for a relationship with Him.

Genesis tells us about the beginning of everything single thing save one—God.  It does not tell us about the beginning of God.  God has no beginning.

If you can believe the first four words of the Bible, the rest is much easier to believe. 

Genesis 1:1 (ESV) In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.

I.        Creation (Genesis 1-2)

·       God was before the Beginning

·       God created everything from nothing.  He spoke it into existence.

THE HECKLER

Patrick O'Boyle recalls the late-1940s Hyde Park "Speakers' Corner" appearances of Frank Sheed, the Catholic author and publisher:

Sheed could be devastating with hecklers. Once, after Sheed had described the extraordinary order and design to be seen in the universe, a persistent challenger retorted by pointing to all the world's ills, and ended shouting, "I could make a better universe than your God!"

"I won't ask you to make a universe," Sheed replied. "But would you make a rabbit—just to establish confidence?"

Christianity Today (4-23-99), reprinted in "To Illustrate Plus," Leadership Journal (21.1), p. 69

·       The progression and pattern of God’s “work week” has a theological significance

A. Creatures are created “according to their kinds” (Genesis 1:24-25)

Genesis 1:24-25 (ESV) ²⁴ And God said, "Let the earth bring forth living creatures according to their kinds—livestock and creeping things and beasts of the earth according to their kinds." And it was so. ²⁵ And God made the beasts of the earth according to their kinds and the livestock according to their kinds, and everything that creeps on the ground according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.

Commercial 1:  Creation Vs. Evolution Fossil Record

Video From The Veracity Project

B.  We were created in God’s Image

·       Humans are not animals…we were created in God’s image, the highest expression of his creation. 

·       You matter to God because he made you, and he made you most like himself of all of his creation. 

·       Our value comes from him, and is restored in him. 

·       We are not merely the random product of chance.  We are not random molecules bumping in the dark. 

·       God made us for a purpose.  And that purpose and significance begins when we live for what we have been created for, to have a relationship with God our creator, and to live for his glory.

Commercial 2: Creation vs. Evolution: Hope

Video From The Veracity Project

Application:  Why Does an Omnipotent God Rest?

Genesis 2:1-3 (ESV) ¹ Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. ² And on the seventh day God finished his work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work that he had done.
³ So God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it God rested from all his work that he had done in creation.

·       God the supreme ruler models for humans how we are to rule.

Genesis 1:28 (ESV) ²⁸ And God blessed them. And God said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth."

·       God set the pattern for one day a week to be set aside for renewal and spiritual reflection.  How are you doing at keeping one day each week for renewal and spiritual reflection, setting one day a week aside as a special day unlike the others to honor God?

Commercial 3: Creation vs. Evolution--Random

Video From The Veracity Project

II.       Fall (Genesis 3-5)

Key Characters:  Adam and Eve

·       We don’t know how many blissful years (or decades or centuries) Adam and Eve spent in Eden.  We are only told how things fell apart.

·       This text does not tell us the serpent is Satan himself, but Revelation 20:2 does. 

The REALITY OF SATAN

Two boys were walking home from Sunday school after hearing a strong sermon on the devil. One said to the other, "What do you think about all this Satan stuff?"

The other boy replied, "Well, you know how Santa Claus turned out. It's probably just your dad."

Dale W. Decker, Mount Washington, Kentucky

·       Why did God place this lethal tree in the Garden?  God wants our love and loyalty to be voluntary.  We are not manipulated or coerced by God.  We are free agents.  In order for us to be free agents there had to be choice.  Adam and Eve were created innocent, but with the ability to choose.  With the first wrong choice, their innocence was gone.  They knew the difference between Good and Evil because they tasted evil.  God gave them the test for their good, but they failed. 

How does Satan tempt us?

·       He still comes disguised in his person and in his purposes.

·       He still subtly and slyly shifts our focus from God to things we shouldn't focus on.

·       He still attacks God's Word, as he did with Eve: "You don't believe that, do you?"

·       He still attacks God's character, attacking his goodness (Gen. 3:5).

·       Once we disobey God's Word and doubt his goodness, Satan has done his work.

·       When that happens, what once was out of bounds becomes the thing we desire.

·       Satan tempts not with a piece of fruit, but with disobedience of God's Word and distrust of God's goodness.

God instituted consequences so that we might learn and turn back to him.

·       Adam and Eve’s failure:  Why did God hold Adam responsible?  (Hosea 6:7; Romans 5)

·       He was ruler, yet passively stood by Eve’s side and let her eat the forbidden fruit.  (Genesis 3:6).  Presumably, God wanted Adam to recognize the difference between good and evil without choosing evil, and as ruler to make a judgment and cast the serpent out of the garden.  Adam’s eyes would have been opened to become like God in the appropriate manner had he obeyed and passed the test.  But he failed.

·       From perfection and innocence to sin and death. 

It has been hard ever since for humans to enjoy the pleasures God has provided for us and accept the limitations he gives.   Since Adam’s failure we are all like Adam and Eve (Romans 5).  We desire and lean toward what we should not have. 

Everyone has a dark side

·       Left to themselves, people will gravitate toward evil.

·       Parents, counselors, and political leaders need to recognize the predisposition of people to sin.

Key Concept:  The result of sin is separation.

• People are separated from themselves.
• People are separated from God.
• People are separated from each other.
• People are separated from the earth.
• People are separated from their own bodies.

Coming or Going?

A little boy was sitting in a Sunday school class, listening to his teacher describe how in the beginning of creation, God made mankind from the dust of the earth and how after death our bodies will decompose, and we'll return to dust. The little boy turned to his friend, and he said, "You know, I think I got somebody under my bed at home. I'm not sure whether he's coming or going."

Jim Nicodem, "The Father Heart of God," Preaching Today, Tape No. 152.

Key Concept:  God Still Desired Relationship And Forecast His Plan to Do Something About It

·       To protect them from eternity in this fallen state God barred Adam and Eve from the Tree of Life.

·       God still cared for them, covering them with skins of animals (the first death in the Bible). 

DRAWINGS IN SUNDAY SCHOOL

My fifth and sixth grade Sunday school class was studying the creation. I wanted to make it more interesting to them, and knowing they enjoyed drawing, I suggested they each draw something to represent the creation. Immediately they set to work, with the exception of one girl who couldn't think of what to draw.

"How about Adam and Eve?" I suggested.

"After the fall!" my assistant quickly added.

Nancy Goble, APO, NY. Christian Reader, "Lite Fare."

·       God also promised to do something (the first cryptic prophecy in Genesis 3:15).  In mercy, God promised One who would redeem us from sin.

Genesis 3:15 (ESV) I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel."  

The offspring (seed singular) of the woman (the virgin-born Jesus) would come to destroy the works of the devil.

1 John 3:8 (ESV) ⁸ Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil.

The Tale of Three Trees:  The sin of the first tree that disqualified man from the Tree of Life is reconciled on another tree - the cross.

But it was going to get worse before it got better.

Application: Since Adam, we all need a savior because we all have a sinful bent! 

·       Everyone is born with a sense of “ought” a standard of right and wrong.

·       Everyone falls short even of their own standard much less God’s standard which is perfect holiness.

·       If unrestrained, my sinful bent is capable of heinous evil.

·       I need Jesus to transform my sinful tendency.

·       I need the Spirit daily in my struggle against my sinful tendency.

·       Because of Christ’s accomplished work, “crushing the serpent’s head,” I look forward to heaven when the victory of my salvation will be complete.

III.       Flood (Genesis 6-9)

·       The flood is the continued outworking of the fall.

·       There was so much evil, God’s heart filled with pain. 

Genesis 6:5-6 (ESV) ⁵ The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. ⁶ And the Lord was sorry that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart.

·       40 days and nights of rain, yes, but also “all the springs of the great deep burst forth” (7:11)

·       In the ark for more than a year (compare 7:11 with 8:13-16).

·       God gave the rainbow as the sign of the covenant promise

·       The world was different before the flood

ü     There was no rain prior to the flood.  This explains why there weren’t rainbows. 

ü     Everything lived longer.

ü     Life was shortened after the flood. 

ü     Did shorter lives have a restraining effect on evil?

Application:  God’s judgments in past history teach us to believe his forecast of the coming final judgment. 

IV.            Babel (Genesis 10-11)

·       The principle of unified evil is restrained. 

·       Pride and independence caused people to become ambitious but untrustworthy, aiming their ambition at their own glory instead of God’s glory. 

·       They abandoned all reasonable sense of limits.

·       Abandoning God, they abandoned boundaries.  “Because we can…” replaced “Because we should…”

“After the flood the world was given a new start. But instead of spreading out and repeopling the earth as God had commanded, they built the great tower of Babel in defiance of God. They thought they could establish a worldwide empire that would be independent of God.”

                                                                                                                                                                    &nbs p;                  i.     What the Bible is All About

Does that sound familiar?

Key Concept:  Nothing drives out the awareness of God like self-pride, living for our own glory (11:4) 

Genesis 11:4 (ESV) ⁴ Then they said, "Come, let us build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be dispersed over the face of the whole earth."

Application:  Self-reliance distances us from God, but there is a way back.

·       Do you struggle with having a stronger desire to do your will than God’s will?

·       Do you lean too much on your own understanding and experience rather than seeking God’s guidance through prayer and his Word?

·       Do you rely on your own strengths and resources instead of depending on the God?

·       Are you busy focusing on changing others more than focusing on changing yourself?

·       Do you have a hard time admitting you are wrong?

·       Are you concerned about pleasing people more than pleasing God?

·       Do you find yourself overly concerned about getting the credit you feel you deserve?

·       Do you find yourself thinking you are somehow better than others?

Adapted from Neil Anderson’s Steps to Freedom in Christ

The reversal of Babel was Acts 2 a picture of things to come spiritual unity.

Dear Heavenly Father, You have said that pride goes before destruction and an arrogant spirit before stumbling.  I confess that I have focused on my own needs and desires and not others’ needs.  I have relied on my own strength and resources instead of resting in Yours.  I have placed my will before Yours and centered my life around myself instead of You.  I confess my pride and selfishness.  I choose to rely upon your power and not my own so that I will stop doing things from selfishness and conceit.  I acknowledge you as Lord and confess that apart from YOU I can do nothing of lasting significance.  I have been proud by _______________________.  Thank you for your forgiveness.  I humble myself before You.  I choose to place all my confidence in You and not to put confidence in my own ability to please you.  Thank you for saving me.  Thank you for helping me.  I need you.  It is in Jesus’ Name I pray.  Amen. 

Adapted from Neil Anderson’s Steps to Freedom in Christ

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