In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.



In the Beginning, God!The Rev. Conley A. Zomermaand, PhDSunday—January 5, 2014Westminster Presbyterian Church, AkronText: Genesis 1:1-5; John 1:1-14???????????, ?????? ????????, ??? ???????????, ????? ???????. Look like Greek to you? It’s Hebrew! In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. That’s the beginning of the beginning. The God we worship reigns at the beginning of all things. I’d like to kick off my preaching year reminding us of the signficance of that beginning, and challenging us to resolve to live it out in our daily lives. So let’s begin! The first beginning is…Creation. The Bible says that our awesome, Creator God simply spoke, and nothingness transitioned to everything-ness in a thunderous instant. God spoke, and splashed all the bountiful beauty and rich resources of the universe onto creation’s canvas. God spoke, and the extravagantly-varied plant and animal world materialized and gulped in God’s breath of life. God spoke, and the glorious complexity of the human body took shape. God spoke, and positioned the forces of physics so that the connective miracles of Facebook and Twitter could develop. In the Beginning, God! We frequently get so hung up on the how and the how long of God’s creative activity that we’ve all but ignored the more fundamental question, Why? Why would the infinite and independent Power of the universe craft what turned out to be such miserable rascals as ourselves? The Bible says so that this same Being might have someone to love and to bless. So, "God created Adam—humans—in his image, in the image of God he created them; male and female God created them....And God blessed them." God decreed that there would be more to the universe than God; and there was; and it was good. In the Beginning, God! The second beginning is the establishment of our faith life. Standing at the beginning of faith is a commitment to worship. From of old, God directed how people should shape their rites of praise. Humans, being frequently fickle, turned their backs on their Creator. In time, God sent the Son to speak another word: a word of recreation and renewal: And the word became flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth. We have beheld his glory. (John 1:14) Paul affirms in Eph. 2:8, For by grace you have been saved through faith; and this is not your own doing, it is the gift of God.Our response to God’s grace-filled Word begins with our adoration and praise. Christ’s Church—Westminster Presbyterian Church—stands on the foundation of worship that God has built for us. The fear—the reverence, awe, worship—of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom; all those who practice it have a good understanding. God’s praise endures forever. (111:10)Thus says the Psalmist. However, people through the ages have come to believe that they can fulfill their divinely-instilled potential without paying proper homage to their Creator. A grievous error, to be sure. Know and grasp this truth: we will never be truly wise until we worship and become wise in God before all else. In the Beginning, God! At the beginning of this worship and reverence for God resides a faithful devotional life—a life that springs from two primary spiritual sources. First, there is prayer. Powerful prayer supports Christians as nothing else can. I suspect that WPC has some, perhaps several, dedicated prayers among us. I also appreciate my opportunities to pray with you; but I would like to suggest that we can do even more; even better. My three-month old experience here leads me to believe that prayer serves a rather cursory purpose. Maybe I haven’t been as vigorous in my spiritual leadership in this matter as I should. Prayer is the lifeblood of a church. We can’t grow in faith and spirit without it. I want to encourage all of our ministry groups to devote even more time to prayer this year, especially as it relates to the upcoming congregational mission and vision study, and the challenging and vital work of our pastor nominating committee. I’ll be saying more about both of these activities in the weeks ahead. The second spiritual source is Bible study. Trying to build a faith life without Bible knowledge is as futile as building a house on soggy sand. I believe every Christian ought to endeavor to read the Bible on a daily basis. Along with personal reading, family, and group study is essential. Here’s my usual word of advice: Don’t try to accomplish too much too quickly. If you haven’t been a regular reader of God’s Word, covenant with yourself and someone else to open the Bible on a daily basis. Don’t promise to read the whole thing this year. Rather, read a little, think about it a lot, and stick with it over the long haul. Just like anything else, you’ll be amazed how well you get to know the Bible and God through your efforts. In the Beginning, God! The final beginning involves making God the beginning of our lives in our community and the world. Our surrounding culture is becoming more and more secular and godless. Not always actively atheist, but practically godless; and we Christians bear the brunt of the blame. God just doesn’t seem to fit into the schedules of a lot of people, including ourselves. We are pressured to leave God at church or at home, or completely out of our daily activities. And often we relent. I challenge you to resist the pressure, and to remember: God so love the world that God sent Jesus to save it. God wants us to grow and accomplish great things, both in here, and especially out there in our Monday through Saturday existence. It’s up to each of us to put God at the beginning of every day in our lives. No one can do that for us; and no one can take that privilege away from us. In the Beginning, God! The beginning of a new year is a good time to recommit to one of the most important biblical truths of our faith: ???????????, ?????? ????????, ??? ???????????, ????? ???????.It’s Hebrew, but it makes sense to me—in the beginning, God! God, at the beginning of all things—that once again is my resolution—my theme for living—this new year. It’s served me well now for a good long time. I invite you to make it your resolution for 2014 as well. ................
................

In order to avoid copyright disputes, this page is only a partial summary.

Google Online Preview   Download