(Genesis 1:2-3) Imagine witnessing the first day of creation! In the emptiness and darkness, God moved and spoke. If you want a new beginning, or if you want order in the midst of chaos, yield to the work of the Spirit and get into the Word of God. (082240102)
Many years ago, someone gave me a book called All I Ever Needed to Know I Learned in Kindergarten.
And basically, it was a list of the first principles that we learn when we're very young that provide a foundation for all of life.
And it's just the idea of returning in simplicity to the basics.
That is exactly what we are doing.
We're going back, might I say, to the kindergarten of our understanding of spiritual truth.
We're going to the book of Genesis, to the book of beginnings, where it all started.
In fact, everything started in Genesis except for God because God had no beginning.
And when we come to Genesis chapter number one, we've started our study by looking at some beginning truths that God is, that God is the one who creates everything out of nothing and that God is revealing himself through his creation.
In the words of Moses writing Genesis 1 verse 1, in the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth.
And then in a handful of verses that follow, we have a description of the first day.
Now imagine being there witnessing the first day of the creative process.
Man doesn't show up to day six because in God's perfect wisdom, he couldn't have lived until day six.
Everything man needed to exist and to enjoy this planet was created on the days previous.
But if you could have just observed the process, this is what we're reading in Genesis chapter one, beginning in verse two down to verse number five, on the first day.
The Bible says, And the earth was without form and void, and darkness was upon the face of the deep, and the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.
And God said, Let there be light.
And there was light.
And God saw the light, that it was good, and God divided the light from the darkness, and God called the light day, and the darkness He called night, and the evening and the morning were the first day.
There's the phrase, the first day.
Somebody said that today is the first day of the rest of your life.
That's profound, isn't it?
But it is true.
You had a first day, the day that you were born.
You had a first day with the Lord.
That was the day of your new birth.
But remember, we're talking about God being the God of new beginnings.
You never get born into this world again.
And once you're born again, you don't need that process again because the Lord gives eternal life.
But I want to tell you, from personal experience, there have been many times in my walk with Jesus where I needed a new beginning.
And friend, God is the God of every day.
He's the God that someday we're going to live with in the eternal day.
And today, He wants to give you a new beginning.
Let this be a new first for you.
You see, Genesis 1 is not just about the world.
That's what everybody thinks.
It's about the world that was created.
No, no.
It's about the work of God.
The revelation here is not about things.
It's about the person of the Lord Himself.
And these first principles are important for us as New Testament Christians.
It might interest you to know, the book of Genesis is quoted more than 200 times in the New Testament.
So when people say to me, are you one of those Old Testament people, or are you a New Testament person?
The answer is yes, because all Scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable.
So the Old Testament and the New Testament are not competitors.
They're completers.
They work together.
In fact, Jesus even said in John chapter 5 to the religious leaders of the day, He said, if you won't believe what Moses wrote, you won't believe what I'm saying.
So if you don't believe Genesis, then you don't believe Jesus.
They go together.
You cannot separate God's truth.
It is one truth.
So what do we learn that we can apply to our lives from the first day?
What do we learn about God?
Well, let me give you four things God did on the first day.
Number one, God moved.
The Bible says that the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.
May I just tell you, God's still moving.
He's on the move.
Would you pray today, Oh, Lord, move on my life.
Move in my family, move in this world.
Notice where he's moving.
The Bible says, here's the description, that the earth was without form, it was void, and it was dark.
Boy, that sounds depressing, doesn't it?
Can you imagine anything that sounds less hopeful than without form, void, and dark?
What does that mean?
It means there's chaos, there's emptiness, and there is darkness.
Doesn't that sound like the world we're living in?
People say, so much chaos, so much emptiness, so much darkness.
Oh, here's the good news.
That's the kind of context where God does his best work, because in the chaos, the emptiness, and the darkness, God can do what nobody else can do.
Only God can bring order out of chaos and fullness out of emptiness and light out of darkness, and when he does it, only God gets the glory for it.
So when the world is in bad shape, we must look to the Lord and find our hope in the God who is still on the move.
And notice how he moved.
The Bible says the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.
Here's the person of the Holy Spirit.
You remember I said to you the other day that God, in verse number one of Genesis chapter one, is this Hebrew unipleural noun, three or more, wrapped up in one.
Well, that's who our God is.
One God expressed in three persons.
So we know the Father was there speaking.
We know that the Lord Jesus was there because John one says that the Word, who was made flesh, was with the Father in the beginning.
And now we see that the Holy Spirit is there.
It's beautiful, isn't it?
The Holy Spirit didn't begin on the day of Pentecost.
We're first introduced to the Holy Spirit in Genesis one, verse number two.
So how did God move?
He moved in the person of the Holy Spirit.
And the word here, to move upon, literally means he brooded.
He brooded over.
Praise God.
What tender care, what careful attention being given to what's going on.
That's our God, and our God moves.
And then on the first day, not only did God move, but God speaks.
Because the Bible says in verse three, and God said.
This would be a good prayer for us.
Lord, speak to us.
Speak to us.
Notice the power of God's word.
He just said, let there be light, and there was light.
His word is light.
It pierces the darkness.
His word is revelation.
The Bible says, let there be.
It already existed.
God is light, but now God is revealing that light.
God is making that light that is his very essence, known in this world.
His word is powerful.
There was light.
This is the power of the word of God.
You know, we preachers get pretty artistic sometimes, don't we?
And we talk about God flinging the stars in space and carving out the rivers with his pinky, and no, that's not what he did.
Read it for yourself.
God just spoke it into existence.
By the way, if you go to the other end of the Bible, go to the revelation, guess how it's all going to end?
Somebody said, oh, with a great battle, and we're all going to be fighting?
No, that's not right.
There will be a great battle, but God will destroy the enemy with the word of his mouth, the sword coming out of his mouth.
He will speak a word, and it will be over.
Friend, God started it with the word.
God sustains it with the word, and God will bring it all to the great climax with the word.
This is the power of the word of God.
So do you want a new beginning?
Would you like today to be a first, a new start?
Then we'll tell you what you need.
You need the Lord's moving, his Spirit working in your life, and you need the word of God.
Oh, I love this.
The Spirit and the Scriptures always inextricably linked.
You can't separate the Holy Word and the Holy Ghost.
What is the Bible?
It's the sword of the Spirit that is the word of God.
Who is the Holy Spirit?
He's the Spirit of truth.
So if you want a new beginning today, I'm going to tell you what you need.
You need to yield yourself to the work of the Holy Spirit of God on your heart.
He's moving on your heart today.
He's brooding over you.
He loves you.
He can do what only God can do.
And you need to get in the Word of God.
Let the Word of God get into you and let the Word speak to you.
And friend, if you'll yield to the Holy Spirit and live in the Holy Scriptures, you will find your new beginning.
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