Central Truth: God created an orderly world and made humans in His image.

Focus: Affirm the eternal God as Creator of the universe and live as people create in His image.

Evangelism Emphasis: Being created in God's image should compel us to love and seek lost people in the way He does.

Key Scripture (Genesis 1:1): In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.

• A book of facts
• A book of firsts
• A book of faith
• A book of funerals

Genesis: Greek word meaning origin, source, generation, or beginning. Hebrew word is Bereshith meaning "In the Beginning".

Key Scripture (Genesis 1:1-2): In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. 2 And the earth was without form, and voice; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.

• The world had a beginning.
• If we cannot grasp that truth, we accept it by faith. 

(Genesis 11:3 ESV): 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.

• The existence of God is a matter of fact. 
• His existence came by revelation. 
• He made the universe from nothing. 
• Varying opinions about verse 2

(Isaiah 45:18 NET): For this is what the Lord says, the one who created the sky--he is the true God, the one who formed the earth and made it; he established, he did not create it without order, he formed it to be inhabited: 'I am the Lord, I have no peer".

• Creation is attributed to the Holy Spirit and Jesus. 

(Job 26:13): By his spirit he hath garnished the heavens.

(John 1:3): all things were made by him [Christ]; and without him was not any thing made that was made.

• The work of the Father is noted throughout scripture. 

Key Scripture (Psalm 96:5): For all the gods of the nations are idols: but the Lord made the heavens. 

• Idols are worthless
• Idols are nothings; vain things. 
• A nothing can make nothing
• God is the Creator of the universe and deserves our worship and praise. 

(Revelation 4:11 NIV): You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they were created and have their being.  

Q: Why are people attracted to false gods?

Key Scripture (Jeremiah 10:11-12): Thus shall ye say unto them, The gods that have not made the heavens and the earth, even they shall perish from the earth, and from under these heavens. 12 He hath made the earth by his power, he hath established the world by his wisdom, and hath stretched out the heavens by his discretion.

• Jeremiah was intended to show Israel the folly of following idols.
• Idols are made with human hands.
• Verse 11 was originally in Aramaic, the language of the pagan idolaters.
• Pagan idols will disappear from this earth.
• God is the true origin of things.

Q: How is the relationship of "the gods" with the heavens (v. 11) different from God's relationship with the heavens (v. 12)?

Key Scripture (Genesis 1:3-5, 14-19) And God said, Let there be light: and there was light. 4 And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness. 5 And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and morning were the first day.

14 And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heavens to divide the day from night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years" 15 And let them be for lights in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth: and it was so. 16 And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night; he made the stars also. 17 And God set them in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth, 18 And to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness: and God saw that it was good. 19 And the evening and the morning were the fourth day.

• God speaks
• There are more stars in space than grains of sand on all the seashores of the world.

Q: How does the sun benefit daily life on earth?

Q: How is the moon significant to earthly life?

Key Scripture (Genesis 1:6-11): And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters. 7 And God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament: and it was so. 8 And God called the firmament Heaven. And the evening and the morning were the second day. 9 And God said, Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry land appear: and it was so. 10 And God called the dry land Earth; and the gathering together of the waters called he Seas: and God saw that it was good. 11 And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth; and it was so.

• 3 layers of water: under the earth, on the earth, and above the earth.

(Malachi 3:10): I will pour out a blessing so great you won't have enough room to take it in!

• Firmament = Heaven or sky (entire universe)

(Job 38:11 NKJV): This far you may come, but no farther, and here your proud waves must stop!

Key Scripture (Genesis 1:20-25) And God said, Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life, and fowl that may fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven. 21 And God created great whales, and every living creature that moveth, which the waters brought forth abundantly, after their kind, and every winged foul after his kind: and God saw that it was good. 22 And God blessed them, saying, Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let fowl multiply in the earth. 23 And the evening and the morning were the fifth day. 24 And God said, Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind, cattle, and creeping thing, and beast of the earth after his kind: and it was so. 25 And God made the beast of the earth after his kind, and cattle after their kind, and every thing that creepeth upon the earth after his kind: and God saw that it was good.

• Hebrew word bara is translated as created.
• Bara is used for: original making of matter, fish and birds, and man.
• "Great whales" could translate as "great sea monsters" or "large sea-creatures".
• Hebrew word tannin is a regular word for 'dragons' and likely refers to great marine reptiles often called dinosaurs.

(Psalm 148:5 NLT): Let every created thing give praise to the Lord, for he issued his command, and they came into being.

Q: Why do you suppose God created everything over a period of six days?

Key Scripture (Genesis 1:26-27): And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. 27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.

• Our personality traits reflect the image of God.
• We can enter into a spiritual relationship with God.

Key Scripture (Psalm 139:13-16): For thou hast possessed my reins: thou has covered me in my mother's womb. 14 I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvelous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well. 15 My substance was not hid from thee, when I was made in secret, and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. 16 Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being unperfect; and in thy book all my members were written, which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them.

• Reins means the soul, the seat of the emotions.
• The womb does not hide us from God.
• David suggests God wrote down our future.

Key Scripture (Psalm 139:17-18): How precious also are thy thoughts unto me, O God! how great is the sum of them! 18 If I should count them, they are more in number than the sand: when I awake, I am still with thee.

• God's thoughts are directed towards us because He cares for us.

Q: Is God in your last thoughts before you fall asleep at night, and in your first thoughts when you awake in the morning?

• Each phase of creation is a function of the will of God.
• He spoke it and it was so.

M - God Gave Order to Creation (Psalm 8:3-8)

T - God Spoke Creation Into Existence (Psalm 33:6-9)

W - God Alone Is Creator (Isaiah 45:5-8)

T - God Is Above All Creation (Acts 7:27-50)

F - God's Image Renewed in Us (Colossians 3:9-13)

S - God Created All (Revelation 4:9-11)