In the beginning, God created the Heavens and the earth. Genesis 1:1
The foremost fundamental of faith believes that God is who He says he is. This is the foundation of all other areas of faith. Remember the 5 statements we wrote down last week? We need all statements to be secure in our faith.
Read Psalm 139: 7-10. Let’s use our imagination with this passage. Imagine a child of God running from God to the far side of the sea. Imagine God’s strong arm stretching from the heavens and His right hand gripping the prodigal child with such passion and affection that the veins and wrist bulge. Faith is a complete engagement with God: holding on to God and His promises because we know He’s holding on to us. God is who HE says He is!
The word “created” from Genesis 1:1 means to create, shape, form. It comes from the Hebrew word bara. Read Hebrews 11:3. What does it tell us about the way God created it? Two words are used in Genesis that mean how God caused things to exist: bara and yatsar. Bara represents an act that only God can make happen. It is a divine act of God. Yatsar is translated to transformed. Yatsar, in the Hebrew meaning, is to form, fashion, frame. This represents something being formed from existing things. Read Genesis 1:27 and 2:7. Look at the words created and formed. Both of these verses show how God brought man into existence.
Read John 4:24. What is Christ telling us in this verse? It also is telling us that He is only worshipped in spirit and truth. God created man from bara – nothing. He drew from nothing else He created to give us a spirit. In contrast, the word yatsar is used in Genesis 2:7 -8. You can see that our bodies were from already existing material. What did God use to form our physical bodies? In creating the world, he spoke it into existence from absolutely nothing. When He created us, he used His hands. He was more engaged in how we were created.
Read Psalm 51:10. Take a look at the word create. This is from the Hebrew word bara. What does this particular word usage suggest to you? We can’t make our hearts clean and pure; only God can do this.
What are you risking if you decide to surrender your life to be active in believing God? What are you risking if you don’t?
Dear Heavenly Father,
Thank you for the way you created everything and us.
In Jesus Name
Amen
