God Fills the Heavens and the Earth (Genesis 1:14-25)

Well, hey all, for those who don't know me, I am Will and I

have the privilege of being a part of the preaching team that

we're continuing to trudge on through a Genesis.

We're still in Genesis 1, but but we're actually going to hit

the double digits and even go all the way to midway through

verse 20. So of the 20.

So shout out to that. I do love that we are doing this

though. I believe that Genesis is one of

the most like known, well known kind of books in the Bible, but

also one of the most overlooked and kind of glossed over and

often underappreciated books as well.

So I'm really pumped that we're taking our time to go through

this and really kind of reflect on God's Word.

Amen, Amen. Amen, Amen.

So all right, so according to Scripture, everyone is born with

sin, right? In other words, you can even put

it as like the the sin gene, everyone has it, you're born

with it and it's innate. This is really pointed out in

Psalms 51 five. David says, indeed, I was guilty

when I was born. I was sinful when my mother

conceived me. I was sinful when my mother

conceived me. So they even like put this even

more perspective of this David is proclaiming he was sinful at

conception, right? So FYI about David's parents,

they were married and his father who's also a Jew, was a well

respected and a well known Jew from Bethlehem.

So it this isn't a conception of forbidden love.

This isn't a conception of sexual immorality in which he

was he was conceived. But David is Speaking of

inherited sin from Adam. I was sinful when I was

conceived by my mother. So then even another example of

Job 25 four. How can human, how can a human

be justified before God? How can one born of woman be

pure Again inherited sin Romans 310.

There is no one righteous, not even 1, because we are

inherently sinful. Psalm 14, four.

All have turned away, All alike have become corrupt.

There is no one who does good, no, not even one.

We are naturally sinful. We are simply born that way, and

there is a reason we must be born again.

Amen. I don't think y'all heard me.

There's a reason we must be born again.

Amen. OK, some of you may be wondering

why the heck are we are we talking about this?

Why am I going so hard on these Bible verses of us being

inherently sinful? And bro, you just said we we in

Genesis and we haven't even talked about Adam and Eve yet.

What does this have to do with the scripture?

We're going to go over today and actually what we're going to

talk about. Well, I'm doing this for three

reasons, right? Reason one, it is actually very

relevant to the text today. And that's what you continue to

read. And we go through and we pull

through and dig through and pry through the scriptures.

You guys will see that. Number two, to be honest, I just

told a whole bunch of new parents, we got a lot of little

babies here that they're sweet innocent baby boy or sweet

innocent baby girl that they thought was is sinful.

And I, I definitely need a scripture to back that up so I

can survive leaving this thing in the day.

But for parents of older kids, I highly doubt it had to inform me

of that. But I will say this though,

about those parents of older kids, Those kids often reveal

the sin in their parents. I'm just going to let that sit

there. Just let that sit there.

Anyway, the third and final reason I, I, I really had to

kind of set the stage or, or kind of dive into that is

because it's relevant to the story I'm about to tell you.

So Thursday night, my wife was cooking and the two bigs, my two

big kids were, were helping the, the little kid put away his toy

and, and clean up his area. And by helping I mean that they

were doing it while Lamari the little is deciding to wand

around and create more chaos while I'm standing by the stairs

and he's actually in the kitchen and somehow wandered his way

there. I tell him Amari give that toy

to Zane and go help clean up. When I tell you all he looked at

me as if I was the little dude that owed him money and screamed

with his whole chest pointed out no.

So shout out to God for my the patience he's he's giving me.

I took a deep breath. I started to walk closer to him

and that warrior glare he had started quickly to turn into

puppy dog eyes. So I flicked his hand and told

him again my son again that remember like kids they watch

us. He then took a deep breath and

said OK, then proceeded to do what I told him to do.

Why? Why is that?

Like why did it kind of go down like that stating if you're able

for the reading of God's Word. We're in Genesis 1 verses 14

Genesis 1:14–25

through 25. Yes, this is the first time

we're in reading double digit verses.

So walk with me through this. Amen.

And God said, let there be lights in the expanse of the

heavens to separate the day and the night, and let them be signs

for the seasons, and for the days and for the years, and let

them be lights in the expanse of the heavens to give light upon

the earth. And it was so.

And God made the 2 great lights, the greater light to rule the

day, and the lesser light to rule the night and the stars.

And God set them in the expanse of the heavens to give light on

the earth, to rule over the day and over the night, and to

separate the light from the darkness.

And God saw that it was good, and there was evening, and there

was morning, the 4th day. And God said, let the water

swarm with swarms of living creatures, and let birds fly

above the earth across the expanse of the heavens.

So God created the great sea creatures and every living

creature that moves, with which the water swarm according to

their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind.

And God saw it was good. And God blessed him by saying,

Be fruitful and multiply and fill the waters and the seas,

and let the birds multiply on earth.

And there was evening, there was morning, the 5th day.

And God said, Let the earth bring forth living creatures

according to their kind, livestock, creeping things,

beast of the earth according to their kind.

And it was so. And God made the beast of of the

earth according to their kinds, the livestock according to their

kinds, and everything that creeps on the ground according

to its kind. And God saw it was good.

Dear Heavenly Father, thank you so much for your word.

Thank you so much for the creation.

Thank you for allowing us to have the ability to hear your

word. Father, we ask that you convict

those who need to be convicted, encourage those who need to be

encouraged, and draw near and draw them near to you, those who

have drifted afar. Father.

Father, we ask for wisdom, guidance.

Speak, Lord, your servants are listening.

Amen. You may be seated.

This first chapter would have been really controversial to the

people living while it was being written by Moses.

Like extremely. It completely went against

everything they have been taught to believe and their gods they

believed in and relied on. This word was world breaking,

earth shattering words being written down, especially in

verses 14 through 19. The one who knew that better

than probably the most was Moses.

In Acts 7, Chapter 7, verses 20 through 22, it talks about the

beginning of Moses's life. One key thing it talks about is

how he was educated in all wisdom of the Egyptians.

It also gives him the characteristics of being

powerful in his speech and actions, powerful in his speech

and actions. This means that he knows what

Egyptians believe. He was raised as a Prince.

He was likely tutored in those teachings, nurtured in those

teachings, and was likely an everyday topic in his life, his

friends lives, his family lives, and everyone around him.

Everything he sees, every picture, every medium echoed

that. This means he would have known.

Egyptians worship Newt, the God of the sky, Shoe, the God of

air, wind and light, Geb, the God of earth or fertility, and

their almighty God, Raw, who is the God of Sun, the creator, and

to them the king of the gods. He would have known that they

also would have worshipped the stars additional to that as

additional celestial beings. And still and still with that

knowledge, Moses wrote verses 14 through 19.

And God said, let there be light in the expanse of the heavens to

separate the day from the night. And let them be signs for

seasons, signs for the days, and signs for the years.

Let the light be the expanse of let there be a light in the

expanse of heavens to give light upon earth.

And it was so. God made the 2 great lights.

The greater lights rule the day, and the lesser lights rule the

night and the stars. And God set them in the expanse

of the heavens to give light on the earth, to rule over the day,

over the night, separate the light from the darkness.

And God saw it was good. That was the 4th day in Moses

writing that in him taking his time to scribe that Moses then

reveals that the one true God created everything.

They're all powerful, all knowing Son.

God was merely a creation, a tool used to tell time that God

is also sovereign over, and to tell seasons.

He's a glorified watch for the world that God truly reigns in.

The stars that they saw with celestial beings or deities

literally just footnotes in the creation story.

This is really emphasizing that they have no real power, no

control. They are not to be worshipped.

They are not to have any type of means of understanding from

them. You can't gain nothing from

them. They are just created things to

serve a purpose for the one true God.

Deuteronomy 419 further highlights this.

When you look to the heavens and you see the sun, the moon, the

stars, all the stars in the sky, do not be LED astray to bow and

worship to them and serve them. The Lord your God has provided

them for all people everywhere under the heaven.

They are tools to tell time, tools to dictate the seasons,

tools to make the nice guy sometime look a little pretty.

Let's continue then you see and, and as we continue as Moses goes

on in verses 20 through 25, right?

Moses then goes on in these verses to tell how God created

life itself, all the swarms and the creatures in the ocean.

He created all weeded creatures, all creatures again of the sea,

all the creatures and massive creatures of the land, and then

he blesses them. Moses also in the in the midst

of that, since we're talking about what people worshipped,

made sure to emphasize large sea creatures as well.

This is specifically in verse 21.

So God created the great sea creatures.

Why? Because in those times, giant

sea monsters like the Leviathan was worshipped as well.

The Leviathan was seen as a deity of wrath and destruction.

Some people saw it as the the means or the prediction of the

end of the world when you did see it.

But this again is just a mere creation of the Lord.

This is really shown in in Job 41 five.

Will you play with him the leviathan God is talking about

as with a bird or will you put them on on a leash for your

girls? To God, this is literally just a

plaything, a toy, a pet, a gift you give to girls.

Speaking of Job and Job 40, it speaks of the behemoth, a

massive land creature that God created as well.

So Job forty, 2020 through 22, it it, like I said, it really

illustrates this. It shows the impact of Genesis

111 through 25 and how God is not only the Creator but a

sovereign designer. So in Job it says for the

mountains yield food for him, the behemoth where all the wild

beasts play in their environment under the Lotus plant.

He lies in the shelter of the reeds and in the marsh means

that there was there was a place made for him to lay down and get

rest and for his shade the Lotus trees cover him.

So when it gets hot, he already got a spot where you can go

again to lay down. And the willows of the brook

surround him so you can always have something to drink.

Church. This is literally a biblical

description of an ecosystem that God created.

For those who may not know or maybe too young or don't

remember their biology vocab words, I get it.

I was one of those two. Ecosystem is a biological

community of interacting organisms and their physical

environment. A commentary emphasizes this by

saying the living creatures, like the vegetation before, are

created according to their kinds.

Inherently, the created order possesses divinely impose

limitations and established, self maintained, self maintained

and governed systems. Why?

Because everything our all powerful creator has made has a

job, a purpose and was carefully and woefully designed.

Here, I'll give you a modern example of one that actually a

woman in in our CG on Wednesday brought up about oak trees.

Oak trees go four to seven years between massive and widespread

acorn production, right? They do this to outwit the

current population of acorn eaters, typically squirrels.

During this what's called a mashed year, there are far more

acorns than a squirrel or other acorn eaters can consume.

When faced with this surplus, squirrels or other eaters cannot

consume them immediately, so they bury the access.

And because there's so many, because it's such a plethora of

them, they often get forgotten and later grow into more oak

trees. I'm here to tell you that that

mastering strategy is not by coincidence, but it's by design

by our Creator. This shows that God did not just

randomly put stuff together and hope it was all going to work

out because He didn't account for any problems or or

disasters, but that He made everything thoughtfully,

carefully, and is in total control of it all.

Like, we can't even truly predict when this lasting

strategy is going to take place. So we just put it maybe four to

seven years. But you know who does know?

God, who orchestrates it? God who dictates it, God, the

God from Genesis one one through 25.

But again, he's made everything thoughtfully, carefully, and is

in total control still to this day.

So I walk to Amari who just yelled no to me like he could

beat me up and his eyes go from Leonidas from the movie 300.

You know the this is Sparta to Oliver Twist.

Please Sir. Real quick as I got closer and

even before the consequence of the little hand flick even

happened before it was even received again, why?

Why is that? It's proximity.

See, when when his earthly father me was further away from

him, it is easier for him to disobey.

It is easier for him to be tough.

It's easier for him to rebel. But as I, his earthly father,

gets closer to him, it gets a lot harder to keep that up.

As I get closer, he is instantly reminded of the sheer difference

in our size, the strength, and he's also reminded how much he

actually relies on me. That has to be how Moses must

have felt, because when when he was far from the Heavenly Father

and being raised as an Egyptian, it is said in Acts Again that he

was powerful in his speech. He often took matters into his

own hands. And when he was far from the

Heavenly Father, he was also so petrified of Pharaoh.

That that Moses lived like an Egyptian, knowing that he was an

ethnic Jew, but he was terrified, terrified of Pharaoh.

So most of that when he did take matters into his own hand,

because he knew he was an ethnic Jew, because he saw an Egyptian

tormenting a Jewish person, he then killed him, took matters

into his own hands, But still he was still terrified of Pharaoh,

that Pharaoh would find out that he went into hiding for 40

years. It wasn't a week from him

leaving Egypt, fleeing Egypt, that he that God then sends him

back. This is 40 years of hiding and

being terrified for his life. But God, can everyone say but

God one more time? But God, when God revealed

himself suddenly, suddenly the man that was described as

powerful in speech was a terrible speaker.

His fear was no longer about Pharaoh.

He had no questions of going there, but that he wouldn't be

able to accomplish what God wanted him to do because he saw

himself as insignificant in the presence of God.

His fear and reverence of Pharaoh and the Egyptian

teachings incinerated in the presence of God and that burning

Bush. But that proximity of God, that

proximity of God gave him security and strength to write

down that the gods that he was taught to worship, that were

pivotal to Egyptian culture were merely tools and creations of

the one true God. That proximity rule also applies

to Job. We've been using Job in a lot of

reference, so it applies the same way.

Far from God, Job was questioning God, claiming he

should have never been born, and initially even proclaiming that

God made a mistake and having him be born.

And Job deserved answers. But in close proximity to God,

God reminded Job who God is. He reminded Job of Genesis 111

through 25 that he is the creator, He is sovereign.

And immediately Job humbled himself and acknowledged that

God doesn't make mistakes. This proximity rule is why God

sent his son Jesus. Our sins severed our

relationship and closeness to God, so He had to send His Son

Jesus to die for us to take our consequence.

And I assure you, it's more than a hand flick to clean up our

mess that we made so that we can have close proximity to Him for

eternity. Amen.

Amen. So remember that inherited sin I

was rambling about earlier how we're we're born with that sin

gene. Well, because of that, the

further we are from God, the bigger and deeper that sin

becomes, the more comfortable we get with it, the more distorted

our views of the world become. And the more we forget about

Genesis 1, even one through 25, and it becomes easier and easier

and easier to make something else, our God and our idol, even

his gifts and his creations. So what is your proximity right

now to God? Even some of you wondering like,

well, I don't even know how I know how far I am if I am far.

Well, I'll, I'll give you guys some examples.

This isn't all of them, but I, I think some of these might,

might, might hit some people here.

I know it hit me writing it down.

I'll tell you that. So one example of, of

separation. The first one is anxiety.

Anxiety is the findest feeling worry or nervousness or unease,

typically about an imminent event or something with an

uncertain outcome or desire to do something, typically

accompanied by unease. Now I want to clarify this.

Having moments of anxiety or bouts of anxiety even in itself

is not sinful. We are still people.

That is not sinful. But the The thing you may be

anxious about may be a key indicator of your proximity.

The thing you may be feeling anxious about may be a key

indicator of your proximity. A source says that the top

anxieties in America are the economy, political and global

instability, gun violence, violence.

Sorry, and the societal issues or social justice issues.

The second example is apathy. Apathy is defined as lack of

interest, enthusiasm, or concern.

Specifically around this apathy is the apathy around God, His

Word and His statutes. Apathy of God, his word and his

statutes. Feel like that's

self-explanatory. Amen.

OK, the third and last example. This is really, really similar

to Job. We just talked about how he was

feeling, but it's living and a feeling of unworthiness, a

feeling of unloved even where you feel like your life is a

mistake. That is literally what Joe was

feeling. What Joe was rebuked by God by

the sin of these three types of separation indicators all have

in common is idolatry. Idolatry is often the root of

most if not all proximity disruptions or or separators

when it comes. Like anxiety, the idolatry in

anxiety is often but not always an idol of safety, An idol of

comfort. An idol of control.

I love the opinions or acceptance of others these in

themselves of enjoying safety, comfort, valuing the opinions of

people who are close to you, and even sometimes having control.

What you do have control over what God has given you.

Dominion over them in itself is is not sinful.

But when they become your idol or the the reasons as to why you

do everything you do and when they become the thing you only

focus on, when they become your absolute end goal in life.

When they dictate your life, they have become your God and

often the source of a lot of your anxiety.

The idolatry and apathy, especially nowadays, is often

but not always an idol of yourself or self worship.

Your lack of interest in God and his word.

Maybe because you have more interests in yourself, your

entertainment, people's opinions, and honestly what we

deem to be important. The idolatry and unworthiness is

often not always, but the idolatry again of self and

people as well. Based on how you or we define

love, what we define to be worthy and what we feel that we

deserve in this life. Often our own expectations whore

what the world has told us we should expect and what we

deserve. When it comes to anxiety, Lord

knows I struggle with it. By no means I'm not sitting here

saying I'm perfect at it by at all.

I even if you were here during Advent, I talked through some

anxiety, but I do have encourage encouraging encouragement.

Sorry. I encourage this all to remember

Genesis one one through 25 more scripture that can help is is

Matthew 625 to 34 going to read some parts of it.

Therefore, I tell you, do not be anxious about your life and what

you'll eat, what you'll drink, and what you will do, and what

clothes you put on. Look at the birds of the of the

air. They neither sow nor reap, nor

gather in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them.

Are you not more value than they?

And which you by being anxious, And which of you by being

anxious? And honestly, and what you're

anxious about can add a single hour to your lifespan?

Skip down to 30. But if God so clothes the grass

of the field, and which today is alive, and tomorrow is thrown

into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little

faith, But seek first the Kingdom of God and His

righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.

Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow

will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day.

Is it its own trouble? Genesis 1 one through 25.

Matthew 625 to 34. These two passages can remind

you that the Creator of everything that he loves you and

that you can trust in his sovereignty, not yours.

When it comes to apathy, this is fought with obedience.

People say, and the world tells you to do what makes you happy,

what makes you feel good, what gives you what they say life.

But the Bible says in Acts 529 that we must obey God rather

than man. James 122 says do not merely

listen to the word so it just so it and it so deceives you

yourselves, but do what it says it doesn't say.

Do it when you feel like it, it doesn't say.

Do it when you feel inspired, it doesn't say.

Do it when you have interest. The lack of obedience will lead

you to apathy, which would lead you to a lukewarm faith In

Revelation 315 through 16 says I know your works.

You're neither cold nor hot. With that, you rather be cold or

hot. So because you are lukewarm and

neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth.

I implore you to remember Genesis one one through 25.

It is important to remember that.

Meditate on it. Realize that the Almighty God

who created everything is revealing himself to you.

It will lead to fear and reverence of the Lord.

This book is not a bedtime story, it's not a game, not a

fairy tale, not make belief. Your soul is on the line.

Lastly, unworthiness is something I I've struggled with

quite a bit in my faith walk. I shared with some of the

leaders in our church on Tuesday about this.

I once expressed to a pastor that I feel like I've done too

much and my sin was my sin is too big for God to really love

me and welcome me into the fold. He then responded with something

that will forever stay with me. He said, I know what you're

trying to say when you say that you've sinned too much or your

sin is too big, but what you're really saying is that Jesus's

sacrifice was too small, that Jesus is insufficient, God isn't

that big and that all powerful. And when he said that, it

shattered my view because I was making an idol of myself, trying

to be my own savior. So for those who struggle like

me with that, I would encourage you again to read Genesis one

one through 25 this week and also read John 316 for that.

God in Genesis so loved the world that he created that he

gave a part of himself his only begotten Son.

So whoever shall believe in him shall not perish, but I've

everlasting life. Know that the God in Genesis is

that same God in John 316 who sent us Jesus.

This will help you with a heart of worship.

This can be summed up in our big idea today.

Close proximity to the Lord leads to reverence, trust, and

worship. When we're far away, we get

distracted, idols appear, we forget who God really is, and we

forget who's really in control. We look to creations to fill the

void. We look to creations to give us

peace, to give us joy, to give us love, to give us hope, to

show us kindness, to help us with our self-control, to show

us how to be gentle and to help with our patients, and to show

us how to be faithful. Instead of looking at those as

the fruit of the Spirit, we look at those as the fruit of earth,

and that's where we're supposed to get it from instead of God.

Again, we look to creations and ourselves rather than the

creator of Genesis one one through 25.

Remembering church and learning who God is is the first step to

close proximity to God. Now I've been up here a long

time, so I'm gonna give you some applications and let me get out.

Y'all here man. Thank y'all, thank y'all for

engaging so some of the applications that yeah, help

with the first step one, some of y'all ain't shocked.

Read your Bible. I even gave y'all some verses

verses earlier to meditate on and to read through again.

Read it for yourself, yourself. Oh my word, my lisp is going

crazy today. Read it for yourself.

Do not slowly rely on social media, post podcasts or even

Sunday gatherings. Get a relationship with Him for

yourself to pray, talk to God, ask Him to help you draw near to

Him. Ask Him to reveal those idols in

your life, and be prepared to obey what He reveals to you.

Lastly, fast in the Bible fasting is a biblical rhythm

people use to draw near to the Lord, to hear from the Lord and

seek comfort from the Lord. It wasn't and isn't a weight

loss fat. Lastly, everybody church,

remember the God who created everything, the God that created

the sun, the moon, the stars, this world life itself breathe

life into our lungs, who offered us a new life to be born again.

That God wants a relationship with you and we get to call him

Father. Let's pray.

Dear heavenly Father, thank you for allowing us to be able to

call you father. Father just.

Continue to give us a heart and a mind of all of all the things

that you've created. Let us not become apathetic and

and think it's so mundane and and boring, but rather it's

something that is inspiring that we get to know the creator of

everything. Father, help us draw near to

you. Give us a heart, a will, a mind

that echoes yours. Let us appreciate everything

that you have created and let us get our worthiness, our

righteousness from you because of what your Son has done, not

by what anything we could do, have done or ever will do.

Father, we love you. In Jesus name we pray, Amen.