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Pastor Scott L. Harris
Grace Bible Church, NY
January 16, 2022
Trusting God, Part 1: God, The Creator
Selected Scriptures
Introduction
Last’s week’s sermon was done in solidarity to our brothers and sisters in Christ in Canada who now face another level of persecution if they stand for truth about human sexuality according to God’s design. Today is the day that was set by a coalition of pastors to speak on this subject. I spoke on it a week early to provide a template for others that will be speaking about it today. (See: God’s Design for Human Sexuality)
Persecution for standing for righteousness is nothing new. It is recorded throughout history on the pages of the Scriptures. Jesus gave several warnings about it while also giving us comfort when we do face it. In John 16:33 Jesus said, “These things I have spoken to you, so that in Me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world.” In Matthew 5:8–12 Jesus taught, 10 “Blessed are those who have been persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 11 “Blessed are you when people insult you and persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of Me. 12 “Rejoice and be glad, for your reward in heaven is great; for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.”
While we do not face the level of persecution so many believers around the world are already experiencing, it is already here and showing its ugly head in a nation in which Christianity and Christian thought and virtues once dominated society. The reality is that unless God sends a spiritual revival, we can only expect it will get worse. That is not to discourage you, but to be realistic with you so that I can point you to where our hope must lie – and it cannot be in the things of this world. While I believe it is our responsibility to fight evil and stand for righteousness within our communities, society and nation, I also know that even when political victories are achieved, they are short lived because the hearts of men are evil. So while politics will be part of battle strategy, we cannot place hope in politics. Our hope must be in God Himself and in His promises. The only true hope for any society is found in the gospel of Jesus Christ. It is only as people’s hearts are changed to turn from their sin to place their faith in our Savior will their lives and values change as they walk with Him.
I often quote 2 Timothy 3:12 as part of a reminder of the reality of what Christians can expect in this life, “Indeed, all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted,” but this verse fits in a wider context. In verses 10-11 Paul had reminded Timothy of some of the persecutions and sufferings Paul had endured that Timothy had witnessed. Paul then continues in verses 13-17 to say this, 13 “But evil men and impostors will proceed from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived. 14 You, however, continue in the things you have learned and become convinced of, knowing from whom you have learned them, 15 and that from childhood you have known the sacred writings which are able to give you the wisdom that leads to salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. 16 All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; 17 so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work.”
Paul’s point is simple. Don’t be surprised at increasing evil among men. People are evil and imposters so expect it. Overcome it by going back to the truth revealed in the Scriptures. God gave us His word that by it we will be taught, reproved, corrected and trained in righteousness so that we are equipped for every good work. That was the essence of my point a couple of weeks ago in my sermon on The God of All Comfort” based on 2 Corinthians 1:3-11. The better you know God and His promises, the better able you will be at finding courage and gaining consolation in the midst of any adversity you might face and continue forward in living in righteousness and serving the Lord. That is easier to say than to do, so God places believers within His church so that we will be used by Him to come alongside each other practicing all the various one another commands so that we can comfort one other with the comfort we have received from Him.
A key truth in being able to face the adversities of life regardless of their origin – your own sin, the sin of others or just the consequences of living in a sin cursed world – is that the better you know God and His promises, the better able you will be to handle the tribulations that come upon you in righteousness and victory instead of sin and defeat. For that reason, for the next few months the sermons are going to focus on particular characteristics of God. Some of the other men will be joining me in this endeavor and will be preaching particular sermons that are near to their own hearts.
I believe that ultimately every problem we ever face will be theological because James 1:2-4 tells us that the diverse trials of life we will face are testings of our faith. Do you know and believe God so that you will step out in faith in trust of Him to do what is right and demonstrate maturity, or are you ignorant or unbelieving so that you will not trust God in the circumstances and seek a solution according to your own worldly wisdom? Paul’s ability to live out his life in the pursuit of godly righteousness, indeed the ability of all the saints throughout the ages to do this same thing, was dependent on knowing God and His promises and walking in trust of Him. My desire and the desire of all our church leaders is to do the same ourselves and help you also walk in the same manner.
The Fact of God, the Creator
The starting point of trusting God, and in fact the starting point of everything, is Genesis 1:1, “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.” The rest of the chapter continues on to summarize what God created on each of the six successive days of creation and His resting from His creative work on the seventh. Though it is a simple sentence, yet it is extremely powerful in what it means. Lets break it apart a little.
A) In the beginning denies the eternity of time for there was a point at which time began.
B) In the beginning God denies atheism’s doctrine that there is no God. It also denies polytheism’s doctrine of many gods.
C) In the beginning God created. The word for created (bara) is used exclusively for the work of God for only He can call into existence what had no existence. Man can “form,” “make” and “fashion” something from what already exists, but only God can create. This denies fatalism’s doctrine of chance for it was a direct and purposeful action of God. It also denies evolution’s doctrine of either progressive or infinite becoming because God created at specific points of time and not over continuing lengths of time.
D) In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. This denies pantheism which makes God and the universe identical. God is the creator of the universe and not a part of it. It also denies the eternity of matter upon which evolution is based. God not only created matter at a point in time, He also created matter in differentiated forms which is also contrary to evolution. While the earth contains matter of the same type that exists in the heavens, it also contains additional matter – elements – that do not exist in the heavens.
The sentence as a whole places God outside the time box of creation. He existed prior to it and time starts at the beginning of creation. Time has always been defined in relationship to some movement within creation whether it is the rotation of the earth relative to the Sun (day, night and sundials), the orbit of the moon around the earth (a lunar month), or the orbit of the earth around the sun (seasons and a year), or the measured flow of sand in an hour glass, or the movement of gears under a steady pressure (watch), or the vibrations of a crystal at a constant voltage (quartz crystal watches) or the number of oscillations of a Cesium-133 atom at ground state (9,192,631,770 = 1 second). Time is a measurement within creation, but God existed before time for He existed before matter. God is a spirit, not a material being.
That God is the creator is critical in our understanding of both who He is and our ability to trust Him. The fact that God is the creator is declared numerous times throughout the scriptures. Here is a sampling of some of the declarations made about this fact.
Exodus 20:11, “For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day; therefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day and made it holy.
Psalm 33:6, “By the word of the Lord the heavens were made, And by the breath of His mouth all their host.”
Isaiah 45:18, “For thus says the Lord, who created the heavens (He is the God who formed the earth and made it, He established it and did not create it a waste place, but formed it to be inhabited), “I am the Lord, and there is none else.”
Jeremiah 32:17, “Ah Lord God! Behold, You have made the heavens and the earth by Your great power and by Your outstretched arm! Nothing is too difficult for You.”
Nehemiah 9:6 “You alone are the Lord. You have made the heavens, The heaven of heavens with all their host, The earth and all that is on it, The seas and all that is in them. You give life to all of them And the heavenly host bows down before You.”
John 1:1–3, 1 “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being.”
Acts 17:24, “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.”
Colossians 1:16–17, 16 “For by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things have been created through Him and for Him. 17 He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together.”
Hebrews 11:3, “By 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.”
Revelation 10:5–6, 5 “Then the angel whom I saw standing on the sea and on the land lifted up his right hand to heaven, 6 and 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.”
That is only a brief sampling. Passage after passage reflects back on the fact that God is the creator as the basis for believing, trusting and obeying Him. I pointed out last week from Romans 1:18-32 that the slide into depravity begins with man turning from this fact and its immediate ramification that God is to be honored, worshiped and thanked to alternatives of false worship, worshiping created things, and culminating in no longer even acknowledging God.
While it does not surprise me that non-Christians deny God’s work in Creation, I am still surprised how many Christians reject it or reduce it to a deistic view. They may agree that God got it started, but then, to one degree or another, they say that evolution took it from there. However, evolution is a bankrupt philosophy that is contrary to actual science and has no part in Creation in any way, shape or form.
Some argue that God could use evolution if He wanted to. While God can do what He wants in any manner He wants, He only does what is consistent with His own nature and character. Since God can do what He wants, then that includes Him doing it the way He said that He did it in Genesis 1. That would be in keeping with His character of truth. Evolution contradicts both. If the philosophical speculation of evolution is true, then Genesis 1 is not true, for it would even be a bad story since the sequence of events, and not just the exaggeration of time, would be wrong. Notice that He makes the plants on Day 3 before the sun and moon are made on Day 4. He makes birds on Day 5 before He makes land creatures on Day 5. In simple terms, chickens come before dinosaurs.
The only reason people advocate evolution as part of the Creation is presupposing that evolutionary scientists are more honest and truthful than God’s revelation. Having been trained as a scientist, I reject that idea completely. Evolution is bloated with “just so” stories, speculation and humanistic philosophy. It does not even qualify to be a theory since it is neither testable nor observable nor repeatable, and it completely lacks as history since the only eye witness was God, and He contradicts it. True science seeks to understand the real world and so welcomes criticism so that its hypotheses and theories can be confirmed, modified, or rejected. Evolution is not science because it does not do this. It is a philosophical hypothesis – speculation.
I will quickly add here that the philosophy underlying evolution has been destroying actual science for many years due to its domination in academia, education and politics. The most recent example is the destruction of modern medical care in the last two years in our own nation and around the world. While there are many evils in what has occurred in the last two years, the underlying evil philosophy has been the arrogant claim that man could “stop the virus” which is founded on the idea that man can direct evolution through technology. This has been foolishly believed by so many that it has allowed room for the current medical totalitarianism to develop and flourish despite the crimes against humanity that continue to be promoted and enforced by it. I will leave it there and let you ponder it.
But far worse than any of this, is that this same philosophy has destroyed the ability of people to believe the Bible since philosophical speculation has been taught to them as scientific fact, and it has seriously hindered even those professing to be Christians to trust God. Why? Simply because if what God has claimed He did in creating the heavens and earth is false for whatever reason – He lied, He exaggerated, He mislead, He was incapable of communicating clearly to His creatures, He couldn’t keep what He said from being corrupted – then He cannot be believed and His promises cannot be trusted. Jesus cannot be trusted either since He declared that God’s word is truth (John 17:17) and referenced Genesis and the rest of Hebrew Scriptures over and over again as true records of history and God’s revelation to man. In other words, if you believe in Jesus and claim to be His follower, you also have to believe what He believed.
Let me boil all of this down to something simple. Either God is the Creator and created all things as He claims, or He is a liar. If He is a liar, He cannot be trusted and you are on your own to make sense of your existence and the purpose of life. That has a lot of ramifications.
Those who hold to atheistic evolution have no meaning in life since it is simply a random set of chemicals reacting over a short period of time, and the only purpose in life is to pass down your genetic information to the next generation and perhaps seek to help it survive. Those who hold to any form of theistic evolution have a god who is something other than the God who reveals Himself in the Bible. Such a god is arbitrary, uninvolved, approving of death as a good, and unable to give clear communication to man. Those who hold to any of the false religions have to deal with all its falsehoods and contradictions, and one thing in common with all false religions is that the favor of the god or gods must be earned.
Contrast that with the God of the Bible who claims to be the Creator, declares how He created everything and points to creation itself as the evidence, and indeed the evidence is there and it is overwhelming. Every field of science from biology, geology and genetics to engineering and information technology points back to complex interconnected design and stable physical laws which can only come from a Creator God. Something as relatively simple as the flagellum on a bacteria is irreducibly complex and impossible to come into existence by random processes. Geologists are finally recognizing catastrophesim as the only explanation of many geologic features, and features such as the Tibetan plateau with an area of 2.5 billion square kilometers (965,255 square miles) is easily explained by a global flood, but it has no parallel in any geologic feature being formed in the present. In other words, the present is not the key to the past. Geneticists speak of mitochondrial Eve – the biological mother from whom all modern humans have descended. And harmful mutation rates – also known as genetic load – do not allow humanity to have been around a very long time as each generation becomes less fit genetically, not more fit. This fits with the second law of thermodynamics that things progress downward from a state of high order / energy to low states of energy / order. This is known as entropy. To combat entropy there must be information, which according to the Universal Definition of Information is “An encoded, symbolically represented message conveying expected action and intended purpose,” and there must be a means to implement the information. Information can come in forms such as written or spoken language. It can also come in chemical sequences such as is encoded in your DNA which is read and transported by mRNA to the appropriate organelle in your cell to create the specific protein called for. None of that happens by random chance. It is all according to the intricate and complex design of the creator.
Here is a simple illustration of the necessity of information and the corresponding means of implementing that information in order produce anything useful. The wind knocking a tree branch against a computer keyboard could produce some very interesting strings of letters (code of some type), but it could never produce a cookbook. And even if one recipe was produced, without some entity that could read (decode) the recipe and gather together the ingredients, cooking utensils, oven, and a means to mix the correct ingredients in the correct amounts in the correct order and get it into the oven at the right temperature for the right length of time, you cannot end up with chocolate brownies much less anything more complex. That is without even getting to the origin of the ingredients, cooking utensils and oven.
Einstein could not identify any means by which matter itself could bestow meaning on symbols. Information is a category of reality distinct from matter and energy. Or to put it another way, chance plus time cannot create information regardless of the amount of matter, energy or time available. Information can only originate from an intelligent sender, and it can only be useful to a recipient that can understand (decode) and implement the information. Or to go back to the illustration, a recipe without a cook and the necessary ingredients and equipment is useless. The existence of information points to an origin in an intelligent being, not random chance. The more complex the information, the more intelligent the being. The information necessary for life to exist points back to the intelligent Creator.
Everything in Creation points back to the Creator. God is our creator, and that has many ramifications including that He is worthy of our honor, thanks and worship, and that we responsible to Him to fulfill the purposes for which He created us. That should cause each of us to have a proper fear of Him, but that is a good starting point since Proverbs 1:7 & 9:10 state that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of both knowledge and wisdom.
Recognizing that God is your Creator is the starting point of being able to trust Him since it is also the starting point of recognizing that His claims about Himself and His actions are true. That trust quickly increases as you gain knowledge of God’s character and promises.
It is significant that God’s answer to Job’s questions about his suffering was simply to point to Himself as the Creator, to what He created, and to His power and control over all of it. Job 42:1-6 records Job’s reaction which includes, “I know that Thou canst do all things, And that no purpose of Thine can be thwarted. . . “I have heard of Thee by the hearing of the ear; But now my eye sees Thee; Therefore I retract in dust and ashes.” Job did not understand why he was suffering, yet in the midst of that suffering and confusion, he stated in Job 13:15, “Though He slay me, I will hope in Him. Nevertheless I will argue my ways before Him.” That God is the Creator was enough for Job.
Over the next couple of months we will be highlighting particular attributes of God that build your trust in Him. I want to conclude this morning by making a few more points related to God as your creator that give you reasons to trust Him.
The Care of God, the Creator
You can trust God, the Creator because He cares about what He has created. That is first seen in the care in which He created everything. On each of the six successive days of Creation, God calls what He did that day, good. Genesis 1:4, “God saw that the light was good.” 1:10, “God called the dry land earth, and the gathering of the waters He called seas; and God saw that it was good.” 1:12, “The earth brought forth vegetation, plants yielding seed after their kind, and trees bearing fruit with seed in them, after their kind; and God saw that it was good.” 1:17–18, 17 “God placed them in the expanse of the heavens to give light on the earth, 18 and to govern the day and the night, and to separate the light from the darkness; and God saw that it was good.” 1:21, “God created the great sea monsters and every living creature that moves, with which the waters swarmed after their kind, and every winged bird after its kind; and God saw that it was good.” 1:25, “God made the beasts of the earth after their kind, and the cattle after their kind, and everything that creeps on the ground after its kind; and God saw that it was good.” And finally, His pronouncement at the end of days of Creation, 1:31. “God saw all that He had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.”
There was no sin or death in the world at that time. That does not enter until Genesis 3 when Eve is deceived and Adam willfully disobeys God’s command and humanity plunges into sin bringing a curse upon himself and upon the earth. Yet, even in its corrupt state, God’s care for His creation is still very evident.
Psalm 145:9, “The Lord is good to all, And His mercies are over all His works.”
Psalm 104:10–14. 10 “He sends forth springs in the valleys; They flow between the mountains; 11 They give drink to every beast of the field; The wild donkeys quench their thirst. 12 Beside them the birds of the heavens dwell; They lift up their voices among the branches. 13 He waters the mountains from His upper chambers; The earth is satisfied with the fruit of His works. 14 He causes the grass to grow for the cattle, And vegetation for the labor of man, So that he may bring forth food from the earth, 15 And wine which makes man’s heart glad, So that he may make his face glisten with oil, And food which sustains man’s heart. 16 The trees of the Lord drink their fill, The cedars of Lebanon which He planted, 17 Where the birds build their nests, And the stork, whose home is the fir trees.”
Matthew 5:45, “. . . He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.”
Paul uses God’s care of Creation as a door to point to the gospel. He did this in his sermon on Mars Hill in Acts 14:16–17, 16 “In the generations gone by He permitted all the nations to go their own ways; 17 and yet He did not leave Himself without witness, in that He did good and gave you rains from heaven and fruitful seasons, satisfying your hearts with food and gladness.” He also did this in Romans 2:4 in addressing the moral unrighteous. “Or do you think lightly of the riches of His kindness and tolerance and patience, not knowing that the kindness of God leads you to repentance?”
There is a general trust that people should have of God because even though Creation is cursed, God cares for it. Let’s face it, even disasters such as tornadoes, hurricanes, earthquakes, volcanoes and wildfires are noted because they are an anomaly. These do not occur everywhere all the time, and God’s design is that recovery from any of these is generally fairly fast. The eruption of Mt. Helens was devastating, yet plants and animals were already returning within just a few years
The Love of God, the Creator
Beyond God’s care of Creation is the love that He also extends to His sinful creature, man. Sin and death have reigned since man’s fall into sin recorded in Genesis 3, yet even in the midst of the curses pronounced, God gave hope in verse 15, “And I will put enmity Between you and the woman, And between your seed and her seed; He shall bruise you on the head, And you shall bruise him on the heel.” There would be a future redemption. Its price was paid when Jesus, the sinless man yet also God in human flesh, died on the cross as the substitute sacrifice for man’s sin. Romans 5:8 declares that Jesus did that while we were yet sinners demonstrating God’s love. Jesus’ resurrection proved the price was accepted. The full restoration is still future and will come when Jesus returns to set up His kingdom. Until then creation continues to groan longing for that day when it will be set free from its current slavery to corruption (Rom. 8:21-22).
God’s offer of hope is stated succinctly in John 3:16. For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.” Those of us who have placed our faith in Jesus as our Lord and Savior have additional reason to trust God to care for us. Paul stated rhetorically in Romans 8:32, “He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him over for us all, how will He not also with Him freely give us all things?” He then goes on to state that despite any tribulation, distress, persecution or peril we will face, nothing can separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus (Romans 8:33-39).
Conclusion
God is your creator. That gives meaning and purpose to your existence. You can trust Him because He is true to His word. His design was good and creation continues to function well even though it is currently cursed, corrupted and corroding, His care for creation continues to be seen in His provision for His creatures. His love is demonstrated in His plan of redemption and future restoration of the world. His promise of salvation and a future in heaven belongs to all who place their faith in the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ.
If you do not recognize that God is your creator, then frankly, your life is as Solomon describes in Ecclesiastes – vanity, an empty chasing after the wind. You have no hope and cannot have hope unless you turn from the futility of your mind to take God at His word including: That God “. . . is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance” 2 Peter 3:9. “. . . he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him” Hebrews 11:6. And Isaiah 55:6-7, 6 “Seek the Lord while He may be found; Call upon Him while He is near. 7 Let the wicked forsake his way And the unrighteous man his thoughts; And let him return to the Lord, And He will have compassion on him, And to our God, For He will abundantly pardon.” Jesus Christ is our hope – He can be your hope too.
Sermon Notes – 1/16/2022
Trusting God, Part 1: God, the Creator – Selected Scriptures
Introduction
___________ warnings & comfort in facing persecution – John 16:33, Matthew 5:8–12
Facing reality enables you to place your _______in the proper place – which is God Himself & His promises
2 Timothy 3:10-17 – truth revealed in the scriptures enable us to face the ________of life
The better you know God & His promises, the more _______you will receive & be able to share with others
All problems in this life are ultimately ________________for they are testings of your faith – James 1:2-4
The Fact of God, the Creator
A) In the beginning denies the eternity of ________
B) In the beginning God denies ___________ and polytheism
C) In the beginning God created denies ___________ & evolution
D) In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth denies pantheism, eternity of matter & _______
This places God outside of the time box for time is an irreducible function of _________which God created
God is the _________: Exodus 2:11; Psalm 33:6; Isaiah 45:18; Jeremiah 32:17; Nehemiah 9:6;
John 1:1-3; Acts 17:24; Colossians 1:16-17; Hebrews 11:3; Revelation 10:5-6
Man’s slide into depravity begins with ________from honoring, thanking & worshiping God to alternatives
Evolution is a bankrupt ___________that is contrary to actual science & has no part in Creation in any form
God is true to His own ________& character which would be contradicted if He did not do what said He did
Genesis 1 __________be reconciled with evolution – even the order is wrong. Birds come before dinosaurs
Evolution is not a science ___________ because it is not observable, testable or repeatable
God is the only historical ____________ to creation
Evolutionary philosophy is __________to whatever it is applied – science, education, government & religion
God is either the _____________who created everything as He claims – or He is a liar and not to be trusted
Atheistic evolution removes _____________to life. Theistic evolution promotes a false god
God declares that creation is a witness to Him – and the physical evidence ____________the claim.
Biology – ___________complexity; Geology – catastrophesim; Genetics – mitochondrial ______
Engineering – the laws of physics, __________; Information technology – _____________+ mechanism
Even if a random process could create a recipe, a cook, ingredients, tools & oven are _____________to bake
The existence of information points to an origin in an ____________being.
God is the Creator. He should be honored, thanked, worshiped & ______- which is the beginning of wisdom
Trusting God begins with acknowledging Him as _______- & increases as you learn of Him & His promises
Job trusted God in the midst of His suffering – and being reminded that God was Creator was ___________
The Care of God, the Creator
God created everything __________- Genesis 1:4, 10, 12, 17-18, 21, 25
Adam’s sin brought God’s __________on the world – yet God still cares for His creation
Psalm 104:10-14; 145:9; Matthew 5:45 – God ___________for the righteous and unrighteous
God’s care of creation is an open door for the ____________- Acts 14:16-17; Romans 2:4
Natural disasters are _____________- and by God’s design, recovery is fairly fast
The Love of God, the Creator
Hope of redemption begins in Genesis 3:15, and His plan for it demonstrates God’s ________- Romans 5:8
God loves the world and offers ____________& hope in Jesus Christ – John 3:16
The Bible believing Christian can ____God for all of life for nothing can separate us from His love (Rom 8)
Conclusion
God is the Creator. That gives meaning & purpose to life, and is the foundation for ___________ Him
Those denying God is the Creator are left to lives of _________and hopelessness
______is offered to the sinner in Jesus Christ and God’s promises – 2 Peter 3:9; Hebrews 11:6; Isaiah 55:6-7
KIDS KORNER
Parents, you are responsible to apply God’s Word to your children’s lives. Here is some help. Young Children – draw a picture about something you hear during the sermon. Explain your picture(s) to your parents at lunch. Older Children – 1) Count how many times the words “Creator” or “creation” is mentioned. 2) Talk with your parents about the meaning of why it is important to recognize that God is your creator.
THINK ABOUT IT!
– Questions to consider in discussing the sermon with others. Why does Jesus say that those persecuted for the sake of righteousness are blessed? Why should Christians be politically involved and yet not place hope in politics? How is it that God comforts us? How can we comfort others? Why is every problem in life ultimately theological? What is the significance of Genesis 1:1? How does it deny eternity of time & matter, atheism, polytheism, paganism, pantheism, and evolution? Define time. Why is God outside of time? List some of your favorite verses that declare God to be the Creator. Why can’t evolution meet the definition of science? Why is evolution a bankrupt philosophy? How is evolutionary philosophy detrimental to science, education, politics, medicine & religion? Why would a professing Christian also believe in evolution? What is that extremely dangerous? How do the fields of biology, geology, genetics, engineering and information technology all support creation instead of evolution? How do you respond to someone that denies God created everything as He says in Genesis 1:1? How does the fact of the existence of information demonstrate an intelligent Creator? Why is information without a means of implementation useless? Make up your own illustration. Why could Job trust God in the midst of His suffering? Why was a reminder that God is the Creator enough for Job? List some of your favorite verses that show God’s care of Creation. How do we know that God loves His creation? Sinful man? How is the love of God proven? What hope is there for those that currently deny God or reject Him as the Creator? What message would you give to an atheist? An agnostic? A pantheist?
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