OPENING STATEMENT:
I’d like to welcome each of you to “Good News” Biweekly On-Line Bible Study!! On the FIRST and THIRD WEDNESDAY we will return back to these blog pages as we journey with the Women in God’s Word.
I will try my best each week to keep the reading within a 10-15 minute time frame, but know that some postings may be slightly over at times. I will also try my best to have each week’s posting on the Blog by noon on the FIRST and THIRD Wednesday, but that may vary some weeks. Many of us are friends on FaceBook, so I will post notification on FB moments after the posting onto the Blog is made.
If you miss a week, not to worry, each posting will go into archives under LABELS, and you can pull it up by week date and continue where you left off. I’m not happy with how this blog lines up the dates, but just notice even though it’s not lined up in numerical order it’s easy to find your next week’s study.
A LITTLE ABOUT ME… I write with much in-depth research and prayer before putting words onto paper. I also write with the confidence that God is guiding my thoughts and beliefs. You'll notice I give into humor at times because, well, that's just how God designed me...having humorous thoughts! I love looking on the humorous side of some things, but all my writings I give much thought to seriousness! I totally rely on God to reveal His message to me each time, even though I do use helpful materials as commentaries and Bible footnotes at times. Where-as-much as I rely on God to give me the message for each lesson, sometimes misspelling of words and incorrect grammer and the wrong punctution may fall onto my paper, that of which I will aplolize for right now!And my proofreading is not always as sharp a I would like it to be.
Will Admit to Something… I have my shortcomings t=in these areas, and, in hitting the right kays too! I say all that with laughter, as you have already noticed I left some words in the above and this paragraf spelled incorrectly, and some of you I know as expects in spelling, grammer and punctuation will find much needed improvement in all my writings! HAHAHA! Just overlook it and know, 'that’s just CJ'. But please note… there will be a mighty message from God mixed in the misspelled words, incorrect grammar, and wrong punctuation!!!
ENCOURAGING YOU… to have your Bibles open and read from it the noted verses that are displayed on the postings. Keep a notebook ready for your own personal notes and write out your answers to the questions you'll see at the end. You can leave your comments on the blog, I'd love reading them.
Feel free to invite your friends to this blogsite, all will be welcome. However, please honor the statement written at top of Blog Page on re-publishing any of the writings without permission. I Thank You in advance for that!
Pray for God to open our eyes to His Word, and pray He will reveal His private message to each individual that drops by to read His Word!!
OK, here we go… our first study together!!! May God be forever in our thoughts and actions.
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Welcome to...
The Confidence Walk & Posture ‘In Christ’
A Walk Through the Bible with the ‘Women of Promise, Perseverance and Purpose'
Sequence ONE…
“THE BEAUTY & FALL of Ms. EVIE”
“THE BEAUTY & FALL of Ms. EVIE”
PART ONE
The Beginning of Beginning -“Creation”
THE OVERTURE:
READ Genesis 1… The Account of the Beginning of All Life.
READ Genesis 1… The Account of the Beginning of All Life.
The order in
which God created…
1) Heavens and Earth, and Night and Day
2) Waters and Sky
3) Land and Sea and Vegetation
4) Stars
5) Living creatures in the waters, and
the birds in the sky
6) Animals of the Land, Creation of Man
7) God Rested
*****
Definition…. (Strong’s Hebrew & Greek Dictionary)
“Beginning”
– Greek 509 - anothen (an-o-then) – from above; from the first;
anew; from the beginning “Create”
– Hebrew 1254 – bara, (baw-raw) - to make, create out of nothing
In the Beginning…before anything was in existence
In the Beginning God… One Divine Power before any other powerless gods ever existed
In the Beginning God Created the heavens and the earth and every living thing that roams on the face of the earth, above the earth and within the waters of the earth!
POINTS to MAKE...
POINT
ONE… FROM THE
BEGINNING
“In the beginning God
created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness
was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the
waters.” Genesis 1:1-2
There was no pre-existent matter floating around in empty space out of which the
world was produced on its own. The earth and waters were created from words out of the
mouth of God and His creative hands.
You ask; “How can that
be, that He started with nothing?” I
cannot answer that, other than the fact that God created all into being because…
1. We are walking here upon the earth…
2. God had a plan for all...the earth and the people!!! Not much of an insightful answer is it? That's one of those 'Will Know Once In Heaven' questions!
1. We are walking here upon the earth…
2. God had a plan for all...the earth and the people!!! Not much of an insightful answer is it? That's one of those 'Will Know Once In Heaven' questions!
Evolutionist has never had
a logical answer to that question either...of how something came from nothing!
The Big Bang Theory does not hold true in God’s creation.
A quote
from John Wesley’s Commentary… Observe:
When this work was produced; In the beginning of time. Before the beginning of
time there was none but that Infinite Being (God) that inhabits eternity. Should we ask how God made the heavens and the
earth or why God did not make the world sooner? If we should have words of
explanations, keep in mind that our words would be without knowledge of the ‘how’
He made the heavens and the earth. And the why sooner? For how could there be
sooner or later in eternity?
No
human today could ever fathom or begin to understand what God did or how He did
what He did in those six days! I don’t think that is where God wanted our focus
to dwell for long periods of time, for He has so much more to show and reveal
to us in our lifetime! However, He truly showed His Majesty and Supreme Power
and Love within those six days, didn’t He?
In Deuteronomy 3:24 Moses said… “O Sovereign Lord, You have begun to show to Your servant Your greatness and Your strong hand. For what god is there on earth who can do the deeds and mighty works You do?” And together we would all say… “NONE!”
In Deuteronomy 3:24 Moses said… “O Sovereign Lord, You have begun to show to Your servant Your greatness and Your strong hand. For what god is there on earth who can do the deeds and mighty works You do?” And together we would all say… “NONE!”
1st MEMORY 'STATEMENT' FOR THE WEEK… God
started with nothing and then created everything! Then He declares that all was
“very good!”
End
of OVERTURE
****
CHAPTER ONE… “LET US MAKE
MAN!”
POINTS to MAKE…
POINT
ONE... IN THE BEGINNINGIn the Beginning God Created Man... Created Man just as we know Man today!!! (not as of an image of apes that over time would form into a human Man!
JUST A THOUGHT...why is it so easy for some people to believe we began as a form of an ape then became human as we are today? Picture it if you can...an ape one day then years down the road a man! Can you just hear some of the conversations through the years in the beginning? "My great great grandmother was an ape but look how I turned out to be...Human!!" Can't see it, can you? These people choose to believe this idiotic belief but yet cannot see how it could be possible that an ALL MIGHTY GOD could form an walking upright Man with His own breath and hands.
OUR
FOCUS TEXT….Gen. 1:26 (NIV) On the Sixth day… ‘Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them
rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock,
over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.”
Man was made last of all
the creatures. I believe this was both an honor and a favor to God, for He
wanted companionship with Man. His creation of Man was
to bring forth an image of less-perfect of Himself, from He which was perfect, to be His beloved! Man was
a creature different from all that had been created up till then. The animals
were made of flesh and bone but three of
the greatest differences between Man and animal are… God gave Man a soul, a
voice for speech, and means to communicate with Him (and the ability to walk only ‘upright’ and not with hands and feet!). That
of Man's creation was a mere signal act of divine wisdom!
There
were no errors or mistakes in God’s knowledge upon creating Man.
I
want us to get into this next statement with excitement!...
God’s delight was with Man! (Prov. 8:31) It seems as if this was the work of which he longed to do; as if he had said, "Having at last put all the preliminaries into place, let us now apply ourselves to the bigger business… Let us make man.’’
God’s delight was with Man! (Prov. 8:31) It seems as if this was the work of which he longed to do; as if he had said, "Having at last put all the preliminaries into place, let us now apply ourselves to the bigger business… Let us make man.’’
“Let us make man…” Notice it did not say.… “Let man
be made. Waw-la!” as He swings His arms over the land. Instead, I feel like very proudly He said, “Let us make man.” This says that ‘making man’ was the
crowning work of creation that God did within those six Days of Creation, and
it’s the highest of development!
Max
Lucado once wrote talking about the creation of Man… “His (God) greatest
work hadn’t been completed. One final masterpiece was needed before He could
stop!”
What
was the masterpiece?? God’s masterpiece was giving form to Man and then
breathing life into him!
Do you
think God was weary by the Seventh Day? Probably, because look at all He had accomplished!
But I feel He was well-pleased with all His creations coming from His own goodness
and the manifestations of His own glory. After all, after each creation what
did He say?? “And God saw that it was GOOD!”
POINT
TWO… ACCORDING
TO ITS KIND
With the creation of all other living breathing things it is described as… “according to its kind.” Grouped together
by like species, by natures, manners, and the way they would be hunting for
food; this was all given to the fact of the Creator’s manifold wisdom!
Whereas, with the
creation of Man (Male & Female) God specifies that we are simply not only that
of a human-being but we share an image of likeness to the Creator. He did not create
that likeness within the animals! (We will explore more on that topic next week)
POINT THREE … SAVING THE BEST FOR LAST
If you’ll noticed too, that as God created all animals He didn’t specify that
they were male or female, therefore noting… that His best work of creation was
that of Man and Woman… taking on a more important role in the creation of all
life! After all, He put Man in charge of all other living things. (That topic will
be covered next week as well)
POINT FOUR… THEN GOD
MADE IT MORE PERSONAL
In Verse 26 God made it more
personal (first person)… “Then God said, “Let us make man in our image…”
The narrative up till now
was introduced with somberness… “Let there be….” but
now it seems like the word of command is turned into words of consultation… “Let us make man…” a manifest distinction from the rest of what He had spoken
into creation up till now.
On the second half of the sixth day of
creation, we are taken into an unexpected scene, into the secret council of
God, where we overhear a conversation among the Father and ???... Some have
asked me where did the ‘us’ come
from. Who were the others that God was conversing with?
Well, I've done a lot of research on this and
what I found differs in some ways. Some proved to be so farfetched that it’s
not worth mentioning their explanations. When yet, the other two perceptives
were closer to belief. Some commentary’s think it could have been God
speaking in a council of angelic beings (the NIV Bible states it as God’s
heavenly courts), while others interpreted it as the Holy Trinity - God the
Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit; because Man was made to be dedicated and
devoted to the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Into that these great names
we are baptized, for to these we owe our entire being.
We’ll
only know the answer when we see God face to face! Meanwhile, the point we’ll focus
on is… that of which the creation of Man marks
a closer relationship between God and Man over-and-above the rest of His
creations! We belong to the family of God!
Go
back and read verse 26 again and see if you’ll agree… Whomever or whatever was
in the presence of God the Father during His time of forming Man, we can
actually sense the moment of excitement and the exhilaration of pridefullness! I know, I know the three words, pride-full-ness,
are not words to be connected together and be correct spelling (Spellcheck just
pointed that out to me) and a word normal people would use, so I’ll write it
as, pride-fullness. LOL. My point is…it gives us an overall picture of that
moment, does it not?? Definition of fullness… satisfied, pleased,
rewarding and achieved. Therefore, God was filled with pride over His latest
creation!!
As it is stated in
Chapter 1, God didn’t go into great detail about the five days of Creation,
only when He created Man did He give explicate details! Have you ever
thought about that?? It was as if He said to all generations to
understand, “I wanted you to pay more attention
to your own creation rather than to be speculating or second guessing about why
or how I created the universe.”
2nd MEMORY STATEMENT FOR THE WEEK… God’s masterpiece was giving form to Man and
then breathing life into him!
3rd MEMORY STATEMENT FOR THE WEEK… From the reading of this week’s study and after you have meditating on it, what would be your ‘Memory Statement for the
Week??
AND THE MESSAGE IS???
- “And God said, …” (Genesis Chapter One) All it took was God’s Word and it happened! READ… Ps 33:3-11
- “Let there be…” God was and still is in control! READ… John 1:1-4
THIS WEEK'S QUESTIONS...
#1.
What are your opinions why God made it more personal when He created Man? (Vs.
26)
#2.
Can you fathom or begin to understand what God did or how He did what He did in
those first six days?
#3.
Give us your thoughts on who or what was the “us” in verse 26!
#4.
Other than the three differences I stated of how we are different than animals,
what can you add to the list?
#5.
What can you add to the ‘POINTS to MAKE’ to give your thoughts to each topic??
See
you next WEDNESDAY! Our topic next week will be…‘Created In His Image’! And WOW, what a message God has given me on
that topic, you will not want to miss it!!!
Have a blessed week in
the LORD!
cj
fortson
(other references used
this week… ‘Thru the Bible’ J.Vernon McGee Commentary; Zondervan NIV Bible
Commentary; NIV Bible)
