We are looking for sermon transcribers/transcript reviewers.
Email [email protected] to serve or to report transcription errors.

A very good morning to all of you. And once again, welcome to Gospel Light Christian Church and our online service this morning. We're so glad you can join us and I am so glad to be able to come back and preach God's Word. It is a joy and privilege always to be able to study the Bible together with you.

Now, this morning, we begin a brand new series. We had a three and a half year journey through the book of Matthew. And today, we embark on an … on a new adventure through the book of Genesis. Now I got a bit of a stock take, as it were. I looked back at my years of preaching here in the English congregation, and I realized that I was ordained officially into the pastoral ministry in 2007. So that's about 13, 14 years ago.

And from that time, till now, it has always been my goal and desire to take God's people through the Bible, through the Word of God. Now, I did not want to do it in a sequential way, because we will have to start in the first book of Genesis and work through Exodus, and so on, without us ever having to look into the New Testament.

So as a result of that, I decided to go on an alternating fashion, to look at a book in the Old Testament, and then look at a book in the New Testament, and then go back to the Old Testament. You see, I think it is very important that we should know the whole Bible, as far as we can. There are some who are very fearful about the Old Testament — they think that it is too hard, or that God is too harsh, or that it is irrelevant.

I think all those are just satanic lies, actually. I think the Old Testament is so beautiful. It is so relevant, and it is something that you and I can easily benefit from. So that has been my principle, to take you through the Old Testament and the New Testament.

So as a kind of recap, as a kind of stock take, I share with you that as a church, for these 13, 14 years, we've gone through the books of Exodus, and well, the next one is not quite a book but a segment of the historical books. And that is a segment on the life of David. And then we looked also at the book of Nehemiah. And also the poetical books like Ecclesiastes and Song of Solomon. Real tough ones! And of course, we looked at a prophetic book, the book of Daniel.

So I hope that as you kind of take a journey, a trip back to memories lanes, you could appreciate we got through some of the different genres in the Old Testament. From the Torah — the first five books — Exodus there to the historical books, David and Nehemiah, to the poetical books and then to the prophetic books. So that's our journey in the Old Testament thus far.

How about the New Testament? Well, three and a half years, close to 150 sermons were spent on the book of Matthew — how we learn Jesus is King. Some years before that, we actually looked at the book of John.
And my favorite thus far, must be the book of Romans. It has been a solid study for me. It has laid a wonderful Gospel foundation in my life. And I trust it has been a blessing to you as well. And we have looked at the book of Ephesians and Philippians, shorter books.

We also tackled a very important book, in my opinion, the book of Hebrews. Some think it's very difficult. Actually, I think it's very logical. And then I looked at the book of 1st John together with you. So that has been the journey. So as you can see, we are short of one Old Testament book to balance it out. So we just finished Matthew; today onwards, we are embarking on an adventure through the book of Genesis.

Now, one of the favorite places for my kids and I, at least when they were younger, must be the Botanic Gardens. We visit that place very, very often. And if you go to Botanic Gardens, you would see this huge tree in the middle of the gardens. This is an Angsana tree; the scientific name is Pterocarpus indicus.

It's a beautiful, big, majestic tree with long branches and with a gorgeous canopy. You could see, it's quite big here. And you would also be familiar with the fruit that this tree gives forth. You would be able to hold it in your hands. You must … must have thought very little about it. But if you were to peel it open, when it is ready, you would see that they are little, little seeds there in each of the fruit.

And I thought about it. It is amazing, isn't it? That within that one tiny, little seed, that is about one centimeter long, contains all the potential for the huge, majestic Angsana tree. Its beginnings — this majestic tree's beginnings are all in this one tiny seed.

And that's what I think of, when I think about Genesis. It's a … it's a short book, 50 chapters, not long. We're just going to take 56 weeks to cover this book. But from this one book would spring forth all the potential, all the beautiful teachings — the doctrines of the Bible.

We're going to learn about God and His attributes. We're going to see how sin came into the world. How God promised salvation, and promised, indeed salvation in his Savior. We're going to learn about the promise of God to those who believe upon Him. So from this one book, from this seed springs forth the wonderful teachings about God, about the Gospel, about grace and about glory. It's a beautiful, beautiful study. Full of potential.

Maybe you, you may not be so familiar with this illustration; let me give you another illustration — of a river. This is the famous Yangtze River in China. It is a long river; it's 6300 kilometers long. You say, “How long is that?” Well, just for comparison, Singapore is 50 kilometers in our width. The land itself, about 50 kilometers. This is 6300 km long! It's more than 100 times of the size of Singapore. Massive river! The biggest in Asia.

It is said to cover, with its tributaries, cover about one fifth of the land mass of the country of China. And it is home to a third of the massive population there. So this is a huge river. But it all springs from this source. Where is the source? To the right of your diagram, or to really the left of your diagram, will be the Tibetan Plateau. And that's this place called Jars Hill — this is where the source of this river is.

So from this one place, the river flows into many, many lands and blesses many, many people. And Genesis is like that Jars Hill. It's like this source, where the doctrines just develop and come to greater beauty and fulfillment in the rest of the Bible.

I would say it is very important therefore for us to know Genesis. In fact, I would even say you cannot really understand the … the major doctrines of Scriptures without having an understanding of the book of Genesis.

In Chinese we say, you can't be 没头没尾 [méi tóu méi wěi] — no head, no tail. Now, even the English language, we say, you cannot make heads nor tails of this matter. In other words, if you do not have a knowledge of the beginning or the end, you can't really make sense of this entire thing or teaching.

And I think it is so true. Without a proper look at Genesis, we cannot really understand God. We cannot really understand sin. We cannot really understand the promise of the Savior. We cannot really understand faith. Because Genesis is where it all begins to unfold before us.

The New Testament writers definitely know about this; it is said that the book of Genesis is quoted no less than 200 times in the New Testament. And just from chapters one to eleven, there are quotes or quotations that number up to 100, or even more.

So, if you want to make heads nor (sic :or) tails, about doctrine, about theology, about God and His Word, this is the adventure we must be on. I would even say that knowing Genesis is crucial if you want to help people understand more about the Gospel.

You know, when you tell people about Jesus and about sin and about God, it's … it's not easy if they do not get to understand what happened, at least in Genesis chapters one to three. I mean, when you talk about God, in Singapore today, they will think about some deities in Chinese folk lore, or they are ancestral gods whom they worship. They will not think about the God of the Bible. There is no context for them to do so.

When you think about — when you talk about sin, for example, they will think about rape and murder. But they won't understand that its basic element or essence is disobedience or rebellion against God, because they have no context in Genesis, chapter three.

When you talk about salvation, they will think about health and wealth because they don't have a context in Genesis as well. So if you really want to know the Bible, know God and be able to share with others about the teachings of the Bible, evangelize and give the Gospel, you really got to know Genesis.

Alright, so that's all the "sales pitch", if I may say, for you to hang in there with us through these 56 weeks as we go through the book of Genesis together. We are going to dive right into Genesis today.

Now I know what you're thinking — you're looking at your watch and say, “Hey Jason, you just spent what — 10, 15 minutes — I'm not sure, on that introduction. Isn't this sermon going to be super, super long?” I say, don't you worry. I understand it's not easy for you to follow on online. The sermons now are short and punchy; I want to keep it concise for you. Not, in a sense lazing or cutting out good stuff, but I want to make it concise for you.

I want to also assure you, in this morning's sermon, in our first installment in Genesis series, I'm not going to overload you. Because all I'm going to cover from now on is to look at one verse. Alright, it's as simple as that; we're just going to look at Genesis, chapter one and verse one, and we will call it a day. Okay? So follow with me or follow me, as we look at these beautiful words.

“In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.” [Genesis 1:1] So straight away, we come to this statement, “In the beginning, God created …” I just want to pause here and say the book of the Bible is not about you, primarily. Yes, it does speak about you, but it is not ultimately about you, because the Bible ultimately, is about God.

“In the beginning, God …” — He is the central actor. He is the central mover. He is who we need to see, when we study Genesis, or when we study the entire book of the Bible. It's about God! Now, I know, God loves people. He loves us — the Bible says so. And so, there are many beautiful things that He writes for us. But ultimately, I want you to know that God is most for Himself; God is most for God. He is ultimately about Himself and the Bible must be read in this right context.

Yes, we may pick wonderful promises that we can learn and apply in our lives. But let's realize that we are here to study God, to know God — to know His will, to know His words, to know His ways, to know His works, to know His wonders. It's about God! We are coming to the Word of God that we may know the God of the Word.

So I hope we will come with this attitude that says, “O our God, Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your Name, let Your Name be set apart. As we study this book, this is our goal, that you would be made famous, you will be made glorious before the eyes of the world. You will be seen as supreme in my life. Hallowed be Your Name. Your Kingdom come, Your will be done.”

So, Genesis is about God. But what can we learn about God even, in this one verse? I suggest three things for you to consider about God.
[1] God Is Before Time
Number one, I like us to see that God is before time. Now, this is a huge statement, because we are all fascinated with time. We as human beings are imagining what it would be like if we could time travel, what it will be like if we could transport ourselves 500 years ago or 500 years later. We are fascinated with time because we are a people, a creature, bound in time.

But God is before time. The Bible says, “In the beginning, God created …” In other words, everything here has a beginning, but God is before the beginning. In the beginning, God is already there. He created all things.

So the Bible tells us that, “God is eternal.” God is unbounded by time. Jesus Christ, later on in His prayer, affirmed this reality as well. He prayed, “And now, Father, glorify Me in Your own presence with the glory that I had with You before the world existed.” [John 17:5] Jesus and the Father existed before the world.

So the world came about because the eternal God decided at a particular point to create. And now, every part of creation is bound to this time but God is existent above time. He's not bound by time.

I think Moses said it most eloquently, “Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever You had formed the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting You are God.” [Psalm 90:2] The word, ‘everlasting’, `owlam, is a word that means, that describes something that is called the vanishing point. "From the point that you can't see, to another point you can't see, You are God." In other words, God exists before anyone else, any one of us could imagine or see. And He will exist beyond what we could see or imagine today. “So from vanishing point to vanishing point, from eternity to eternity, O God, You are eternal.” That's the idea!

So there is nothing that God does not know. There is nothing that God will be surprised by. He is the eternal God who sees and knows all things. “In the beginning …” reminds us that God is before time.

You know, sometimes you are so fearful. We are fearful about the future. We are fearful because we do not know what's going to come. But you know something? God is eternal. Yesterday, today, tomorrow is the same for God. There is no surprise, and there is nothing we need to fear if we know that we belong to Him. It is often said, “We do not need to fear what the future holds, if we know who holds the future.” The eternal God, from vanishing point to vanishing point, holds the future.

Maybe today you are wondering when will this COVID pandemic be over? When will the vaccine be found? When will my life turnaround? When will it get better? My friends, you don't have to fear. You don't have to be stricken with anxieties and worries if you know that God is supreme above time. He knows the end from the beginning; there is nothing that catches Him by surprise. He is sovereign over all; He is your God.

So what a thought, that the God we worship is a God who is transcendent above all. He is before time. He is a God we can trust.
[2] God Is The Uncreated One Who Created All Things
Number two, I'd like us to see in Genesis, chapter one, verse one, that God is the Uncreated One, who created all things. Very simple, very obvious. “In the beginning, God created …”

Now, there was nothing in the beginning, but the Bible simply declares, “In the beginning, God created …” He was not created. He is not created. He is the Uncreated One, but He is the Source. He is the Creator of everything we see today and even things we can't see today. He is the Creator; He created out of nothing. We say that’s ex nihilo — out of nothing.

Now, we say people can create. We say people are creative; they create art, they create architecture, they create music. But let me tell you something, they never created ex nihilo. We, as men create in a sense of using existing material and modifying. God created without using existing material; He created ex nihilo.

You see many people who are atheists, they think about the origin of creation, or the origin of everything they see. And they like to explain things, like how it is all about ‘The Big Bang Theory’ or whatever other theories I'm not familiar with. But you will always come to this question — what is the beginning of even ‘The Big Bang’?

Something's got to start somewhere. Some atom must be there, some proton must be there. I'm told today, some quarks must be there — the smallest element of anything. I mean, something must exist. And if something exists, what existed before that something?

No matter how you trace it, you have a problem to explain the origin of all things. Not the Bible! God simply declares, “In the beginning, the Uncreated God created all things.” Wow! This is not a figment of imagination. This is not something that is left up to speculation. This is not something you can reproduce by experimentation. This is something we know simply by revelation, by declaration of God.

God, who is before time, is the Uncreated One, who created all things. You know, I think that is so comforting, actually. Because I now see that the world and my life is not an accident. It is not an outcome of chance, but that everything is part of intelligent design — that the world I live in is part of intelligent design.

Now, I know that there are many broken things in the world — the Bible will explain why later on. Through the introduction of sin, through the penetration of sin into this world, many things break down. It is not what it should be. But I see so many evidences of intentionality, and of intelligence and purpose, in the world around us.

And so, you are not a mistake. No matter what scientists like to tell you, that we are just evolved from some cells or some toads or some frogs — you are not! You are designed by God. This world is designed by God, and there is a purpose and plan for each one of us.

Deep in your heart, there are existential questions like: Where do I come from? What's my purpose in life? And where do I go to ultimately? You know, these are questions scientists cannot tell you. But they are real because you feel it, you know it in your life. Let me tell you, the Bible offers the answer — the true answer.

Where do you come from? God.

What's your purpose? God. To know Him, to serve Him, to worship Him.

Where do you go to one day? God.

You will face Him one day, either as a Judge, who will sentence you to judgment forever for the sins and rebellion you have committed against Him, or that you'll receive from Him everlasting life because you have repented and trusted in His Savior, Jesus Christ, for you.

But you see, those are the existential questions we all have to face. And Genesis 1:1 offers the answer to you. Now, the Bible tells us that, “The heavens declare the glory of God, the sky above proclaims his handiwork. Day to day pours out speech, and night to night reveals knowledge.” [Psalm 19:1-2]

Look at verse 4, “Their voice goes out through all the earth and their words to the end of the world.” You say, what is this whole creation for? Let me tell you why. God is using creation, God is using bees and ants and dogs and clouds and rivers and mountains to preach to you, my friend. To tell you, there is a Creator. His Name is God.

Day by day, as you see human life, water cycles, electricity, as you see these wonders around you, God is preaching to you. His voice is shouting out to you, “Come and know Me, Your Creator.” Oh how sad it is, when men will not come! How culpable and how guilty we are, that we should see all this creation and still suppress the search for God and say there is no God.

Oh, no. Creation is the most eloquent preacher. “From the telescope to the microscope, God's creation is declaring His glory.” [Jon Bloom] Do you know that? There are more stars than we could ever number. There's more beauty in a flower if you look under the microscope than we can ever imagine. And whether it's things far away or things near to us, things massive or things small, they all work together to declare the glory of God.

When we look at creation, we see the Creator. People always ask me, how do you know that there is a Creator? Very simple! Look at creation. Look at the world around you. I studied medicine, I looked at science and I realized that no matter how I try to deny it, at the end of the day, I've got to bow before the magnificence of the world before me. And admit deep in my heart, I know deep in my heart, there is someone real great, real intelligent, real powerful. He's God, who created all these things.

“By faith …” [Hebrews 11:1-3] Now, we were not there during that day in Genesis 1:1. None of us was there. So we look at God's Word, and we trust God's Word. That's faith. “By faith, we understand that the universe was created by the Word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible.”

At the end of the day, I'm not here to engage you in a debate about creation versus chance. I think it is clear to me, God is Creator. This is His creation. But I do want to say it is also a matter of faith. However, the Bible is clear also, when it says, when God says, “The fool says in his heart, “There is no God.”’ [Psalm 14:1]

Now, I was a fool. I, for many years in my life said there is no God. But I now realize I'm a fool. I realized that I was just being stubborn. I was just not willing to accept that there is a higher Being than myself. So with my heart darkened in rebellious pride, I say, there is no God.

Well, there is a fate for those, a fearful fate for those who will remain in that state to the day they die. Because the Bible says, “The wrath of God, the anger of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth.” [Romans 1:18]

Men suppress truth. Why? Because they are unrighteous, because they are ungodly, because they do not love God, and they do not fear God. So, they suppress truth. They suppress what truth? “For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them, for His invisible attributes, namely, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world.” [Romans 1:20]

So what is the truth that they are suppressing? That there is a Creator God. They will not want to acknowledge that because of their sin. And so one day, in fact every day, God is manifesting His wrath against rebellious people like I was, because we are really without excuse. When you look at creation, there is "no excuse.” [Romans 1:20] It is the eloquent preacher that tells you, “God created it all.”

I pray today, as you look at Genesis 1:1, you'll be willing to humble yourself a little. You'll be willing to say, “Hey, I know deep in my heart, I can't explain this world, my life, my purpose, where I'm going, apart from what the Bible has to say. I can't quite explain that. I can't quite understand why, but there is that instinct in me that is corroborated when I see that creation around me, that there is God.”

I hope you will humble yourself and acknowledge that, and see that if there is a Creator, He has also left for us a Book. And He has given us wonderful teachings and promises about a Savior for our sins.
I hope you'll realize that if there is a Creator and you're created by Him, you owe Him something. You owe Him your life, and you're accountable to Him, and you will have to stand before Him one day.

And I hope all that will lead you one day, to turn from your sin, and to believe in His Son, Jesus Christ, whom He has sent to save you from your sins. Because, “In the beginning, God, before time, the Uncreated One created all things.” [Genesis 1:1]

And I pray today that for Christians, for my church, for my brothers and sisters in Christ, you can be comforted with the glorious fact and reality, that God created everything out of nothing. What is it in your life that He can't do for you if it is His will?

You know today, in COVID-19 situation we fear, because we see our bank account running low, we see our jobs being threatened. We fear that there will be nothing left for us. My friends, God created everything out of nothing. In a sense, if it is necessary, there will never be a running out of oil, there'll be a never running out of food, there will never be a running out of water — if that is what He wants for you. Our God is a Creator God, ex nihilo. We can trust Him.

Just this morning, I received a call from two persons in our church, telling me about three of our people getting diseases, sicknesses, asking for prayer. One in particular is a young man, like myself, similar age, who is stricken with an incurable nerve disorder, a neurological problem.

And you know, the thought we have is oh no, such a disaster! Maybe he's incurable, maybe nothing can be done! Maybe God is impotent! No, no, no, no. Let us remember; in the beginning, when there was nothing at all, God created this world. God created the human body. God created all things. He is the God we can trust. He's the God you can trust. What a verse! What a reality!

I like you now to take a nap. Alright, I allow you to take a nap for one to two minutes. If you're not that interested, that's fine. Especially if you're not a believer, you're not a Christian, I understand this might be too deep a dive for you. So one, two minutes — I'll wake you up after this.

The word, ‘God’ is the word, ‘Elohim’ in the Hebrew. The word comes from a root that means might or power or strength. So the God who created this world is a God of might and power and strength. I think that's clear. But the part that I think you would, maybe switch off a bit here is, is … is the fact that this word, ‘Elohim’ is in a grammatical form that speaks of a uniplural noun.

You say, what in the world is that? In other words, this is a word in the Hebrew that can really be translated 'Gods'. That can suggest a plurality of persons. “In the beginning, Gods created” — that's a uniplural noun, something that refers to one that can have … have a plurality of persons there.

Now, I know what you're thinking about; if you're a Christian for some time, you say, ha! This is where we learn about the Trinity. Oh, the Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit. 3 Persons in one Godhead. Now, I used to teach this word like this, that right in the beginning, we see ‘Elohim’, the plural form, and say that there are three persons in the Godhead.

Now, of course, I don't say three because it doesn't say three, but it does suggest that there are multiple persons — at least more than one in the Godhead. However, I've also since realized and learned that it does not always need to be read that way.

There is this ‘royal we’ — I'm not sure if you've heard that before. But this plurality in a singular noun can be used in a ‘royal we’ context. In other words, when it refers to someone very important, that person can say, “We”, even though it's just him or her.

Have you heard the Queen of England say, “We are not very amused?” Now, she's talking about herself but she uses the word ‘we’ because that's the plurality that speaks of her majesty. So we call this, the ‘royal we’, or ‘nosism’ [the practice of using the pronoun 'we' to refer to oneself when expressing a personal opinion] — you can Google that up.

In essence, what I'm saying is, whilst there are some who see the plurality of persons in the word, ‘Elohim’, it does not always need to be dogmatically insisted as such. And I think at the end of the day, on all things considered, other things considered, probably the translators have got it best here, “In the beginning God..”, rather than ‘Gods’.

Now, I'm not saying, I’m … I do not believe the Trinity. Of course, I believe the Trinity! There are other passages of the Bible that teach that. It's just that, that's maybe not the truth of the text that is found before us right here. Alright, okay, you can wake up now. Let's go on.

We learn in this one verse that God is before time. And we learn number two, that God is the Uncreated One who created all things.
[3] God Will Do A Re-Creation One Day
And finally, I want to say this — that God will do a re-creation one day. I want to put a hyphen there; it's not recreation, but He will do a re-creation one day. And I think it is hinted in those words, "heavens and the earth". [Genesis 1:1]

Now, I am not a very good reader. Growing up, I hate to read, I love to watch television. But I, I'm a bad reader. I often say to my wife, I've read less than 10 storybooks in my life. Truth be told. Now, of course, maybe if you … if you include those that I need to read for English Literature, which I took for my O Levels, I may have slightly more than 10. But in general, I read very, very little.

Certainly over the years, my teacher has given us assignments to do — book reviews. And I have to do them, to hand up as a homework. But this is what I do … I hope my kids are not learning from me, but this is what I do. I read the foreword, I read a bit of the first chapter, and I read the last chapter, and some of the comments that other people have to say. And I sort of write my book review based on the introduction and the conclusion, or based on the recommendations by people. That's my cheat code, alright.

And if I tell you, if you want to know the Bible, not a very good cheat code, but still reasonable to tell you that the book of Genesis tells us about God creating the heavens and the earth. The end of the Bible will also tell us that God will do a re-creation.

In Revelation 21:1, we see that God reveals to us, “A new heaven, and a new earth.” “… For the first heaven, and the first earth had passed away and the sea was no more.”

So here is the cheat code. In a sense, this world we are living in will be no more. But that doesn't mean that we will now cease to exist, or we will be in a vacuum. Because the Bible tells us, “God on that last day …”, on the last chapter, or the last book of the Bible, “… He will do a new creation. He will give us a new heaven and a new earth.” [Rev 21:1]

Now, you say, what? Why does He have to do that? What went wrong? Again, I give you a cheat code. In 2nd Peter 3:12-13, one of the last few books of the Bible, we read that, “We are waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be set on fire and dissolved, and the heavenly bodies will melt as they burn! But according to His promise, we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.”

So I would say to you, this world — Singapore, America, Yangtze River, your dog … no … not your dog, may not be your dog, alright, but all of this world — we know, these planets, these suns, these moons, these galaxies, I tell you what will happen to them — they will all dissolve and melt away.

But in its place, there will be a new heaven and a new earth. Why? Because this earth, and this heavens as we know it, is a place where there is unrighteousness. If I may put it in another way — where it is tainted by sin.

So even before you read the details within the Bible, I can tell you right here, God created this world, but men sin against God. And now this whole creation is polluted by unrighteousness and sin, and God will have to do away with it all. Because in that final, eternal abode with God, it will be perfect, spotless and clean. That's the new heaven and new earth!

But before that, this world would be reeling in pain because of sin and because of the curse pronounced upon sin. But that's why we wait; we wait for the day of God. We wait for the day Jesus will return. We say, return, because we know 2000 years ago, Jesus came. He came to be born into this world, lived a perfect life, and He went to the cross.

Why? Because He went to the cross in order to be the substitute to pay for the sins of those who believe upon Him. Jesus came the first time to be our sin bearer. He died a tragic death, so that He can pay the price due for our sins. So that God can now forgive us and still be righteous because sin is punished and dealt with.

But Jesus left; the Bible tells us He’ll return. And we are waiting for the day. The world has been waiting for some 2000 years now. But we are still waiting for the day of the Lord. When Jesus will return, He will usher in a new era and ultimately result in the burning away of this whole universe. And He will bring in the new heaven and a new earth, where there will be no more sin, no more unrighteousness. But it will be unmolested, purity, holiness, joy and communion with Him and the Father forevermore.

This is the hope of the Christian! What is the hope? God will do a re-creation one day.

Are you going through hardships? Are you going through sickness? My friends, this world — whatever, however beautiful it may seem — it will all pass away. But in its place will be something far more splendid, far more glorious. And this is where our hopes go to. Not on the things, temporal things of this world, but for that eternal, new heaven and new earth. That's what Genesis is hinting of, you see.

So what a glorious text is this! We learn that God is before time. You don't have to fear what the future holds if you fear Who holds the future. That God is the Uncreated One who created all things, and we owe our lives to Him; we need to worship Him, we need to serve Him. I pray you will humble yourself and turn from your sin and believe in His Son Jesus Christ, that you might be reconciled with your Creator God, whom you have sinned against.

And I pray today, my brothers and sisters in Christ, you will trust Him. You will not fear. You will not be shaken in anxiety, with this COVID pandemic because God who made all things ex nihilo, can provide all things for us. Isn't it?

And may we learn today that God will do that which is right. This world has been sabotaged by sin. This world has been usurped by the devil. But one day Jesus will return to crush the devil's head. He will usher in glorious eternity with righteousness and purity and everlasting bliss. This is our hope!

And I pray this morning, we have taken a little look at that seed, that little Angsana seed. And may these teachings about God, grace, Gospel, and glory, one day bring forth an abundant, majestic tree in our lives. A life that is rooted and grounded in Scripture.

I hope this whets your appetite for the next year of journeying through the book of Genesis. May God bless you. May God lead you to repentance and faith. May God strengthen your faith and may God encourage you to live for what really matters — for Him. That's the purpose of your life. Let's pray.

Father, we are so thankful; this morning we can look into Your Word. Just one verse, but so rich, so packed. And I pray that Your Spirit once again will take Your Word and bless it to our hearts.

I pray for salvation. I pray for hope. I pray for strengthening of our lives. I pray for a consecration to live for You and to serve You. May the Spirit of God bless each one. We thank You in Jesus’ Name. Amen. God bless.

We are looking for sermon transcribers/transcript reviewers.
Email [email protected] to serve or to report transcription errors.