GENESIS: THE BEGINNINGS!
Genesis is the book of beginnings. Within the fifty chapters that make up this fascinating book of the Old Testament God exercises His creative power to bring the universe into existence by simply telling it to do so. Later we will see the creation of a special people with the calling of Abram. The Law is given later. Sadly, sin mars God’s ‘very good’ creation and so we also see the creation of a plan to redeem mankind back to the One True God. This very old book is very relevant to today.
Studying the Bible will transform your life. Before you open your Bible, pray and ask the Holy Spirit to open your heart to help you to be more like Christ.
**All Scriptures are given in the New King James Version unless otherwise noted.
In the beginning...
Genesis 1:1a
Genesis - Introduction
- Good morning – turn to page 1 of your Bible – to Genesis
- Today we begin our journey through Genesis: THE BEGINNINGS!
- The book of Genesis is a book of beginnings – the universe – the planet – sun – moon – stars – plants – animals – man – sin – the nation of Israel – the Law – the beginning of God’s plan of redemption
- The Holy Spirit inspired Moses to write the first five books of the Bible after they had left four hundred years of bondage in Egypt
- Genesis was written while they were in the wilderness on the way to the Promised Land
- It is a book of history – chapter 1-11 are a history of the world
- Chapters 12 to 50 are a history of the Jewish people up to when they went down into Egypt
- But it is so much more than a history book
- It is a book about God – His creative power – His holiness – grace, mercy, and love for mankind
- It is also a book about mankind – it helps us to understand why this world is the way that it is
- Genesis also reveals to us God’s plan to fix this world, including redeeming mankind back into the relationship that God created us for
- We study the Bible, the whole Bible, for two reasons – found here in Matthew's gospel
Then one of them, a lawyer, asked Him a question, testing Him, and saying, “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?” Jesus said to him, “ ‘You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.”
- Jesus said that the two most important things that any human can do with their lives is to love God with their whole being and to love others
- But that is not natural
- No one book or part of the Bible teaches me everything I need to know so that I can love God with my whole being
- We are studying the book of Genesis because there are things about God that you will not learn in the gospels or the epistles
Download Pastor Rick's study notes for Genesis 1