In the Beginning: Embracing a Creator-Centered Worldview

So here's the thing I want you to consider today. How closely connected are you to the Lord this morning? How connected are you? Is the idea of God just being a God that created everything just an intellectual thing? Yep. I'll send to that. I'll agree to that. It's better than just some of the alternatives. Well, the Bible said so and it's true for me. But rather, do you have a true connection with Jesus? Because, man, you can live in the intellectual thing the whole time. You can argue about all the things all the time. But do you have a connection with Jesus Christ? A personal relationship with God? Because the Bible tells us that same God that created everything put on human flesh became just like his creation in his form, not his essence, not his nature, but became a man and walked among us so that we could have a connection with God. That's what we're celebrating today when we gather together as a church, that connection with God. So I want you to consider, what does it look like for you to connect with Jesus today? [00:51:28] (60 seconds)  #ConnectWithJesus

There's the idea out there of irreducible complexity, which means that if you like get something super simple to the simplest point, it it can't no longer function. Like it has there's gotta be some level of complexity. This looks incredibly complex, doesn't it? What evolution is telling you is that this just came into being because it just wanted to on its own. See, one part of the foundational ideas of of of, evolution is that, hey, at one point, things weren't alive and then they just chose to be alive. And then all of sudden now they become more complex over time. But part of that was because the science wasn't good enough to actually look inside the cells and go, wow. That's incredibly complex. Like, how do all that happen? How the RNA, how the how the mitochondria, how all that stuff, like, actually function and correlate with one another. Even on a molecular level, everything you see is incredibly complex, and I would argue that it's designed. [00:41:09] (63 seconds)  #DesignedComplexity

And a worldview is like, how do I process that information and understand it? And I want you to have a way of processing the world, the way that you see the world, understand information with a God out there that created it all and created with you in mind. And it has a purpose and a plan for humanity and for you. You see, if you don't have that worldview, it's hard for you to think like a Christian or think like somebody who's following Jesus. Ultimately, you wanna have the same worldview as Jesus Christ. The way that he saw the world, you should see it too. Okay? And so this is an important one that God created everything. In the beginning, God created everything. Now the reason this is important is because there is a competing worldview, a way of looking at the world called naturalism. [00:38:36] (52 seconds)  #SeeWorldThroughGodsLens

the earth and all of the heavens. And this is a central claim of the Bible, that God is the creator, that there is a creative intent behind everything that you see, that the world did not come by chance, but that there is a personal God who created everything. And that's where we're gonna be spending our time on today. Genesis one one, a foundational idea that's important for every believer to hold fast to, that the world did not come by simple chance, but rather that God created everything and he created you. If we pull that piece out of the Jenga pile, the whole thing collapses, [00:31:19] (42 seconds)  #GenesisOneCreator

And I can I just speak to your heart for just a minute? Like, listen, I don't know what's going on in your life, but if you're like me, busyness breaks the connection. Right? I mean, like, carpooling your kids to school, showing up at whatever thing you're volunteering at, going to work, stress, anxiety, and they just break my connection with God where I'm just busy. And for just a minute, before we go back to the hectic nature of life and we go back to just like how hard things can be, just take a break and connect to Jesus. [00:52:47] (40 seconds)  #PauseAndConnect

Now here's something you might wanna pray too. So just taking this moment to connect with the creator. Ask him this, God show me your purpose for me. God, show me why you made me. Show me what it is. Listen, that prayer right there is a major unlock in your life. God, why am I here? You know, there is a general reason which is that you would enjoy God. That you know him, how good he is, but there's also a specific reason why you're here. So just ask him, like, God show me, I wanna see it. And then lastly, close with just doing this, just say Jesus, I'm gonna follow you. I'm following you. [00:53:56] (61 seconds)  #PrayForPurpose

They're connected. And I've got a lot of things to say about evolution. I'm not gonna say them all here today, but what I am gonna say is that evolution as a concept is an explanation of how life came into being today without God being really a part of it. And I know that some Christians will be like, hey. I I hold to theistic evolution or God used evolution to create the world. I will simply say that if you divorce the creator from all of that, you're losing a Christian worldview. Okay? But also the very foundations, underpinnings of evolution, I think are untenable if you're really honest with the data. Okay? So that's just my position. I would just submit that to you humbly. This is what I believe is is part of the problem with naturalism and evolution is that the data, the science doesn't really hold up. And I can spend all day talking about it. I could go full nerd today and go down that road. I just wanna show you an image. Here's an image that I think you need to see. Do you know what this is? This is a human cell, a three d rendering of a human cell. [00:40:26] (65 seconds)  #EvolutionDebateAndDesign

Now today, this passage is critical in understanding the world because what it points to is that in the beginning, God created everything. Now I wanna just walk through this real quick and then we'll unpack why it what it means and what it means to our life. But this this verse really has three major components. Okay? The first one is in the beginning. So what this is pointing to is that [00:29:09] (25 seconds)  #GenesisVerseExplained

that what we have, what we hold is not simply just something that's passed down to us. We believe that it actually is backed up by science, by reason, by understanding. And I probably won't be able to bring all the pieces to bear in the next like twenty, thirty minutes that we need to bring to bear to this subject, but we're gonna get started here at the very beginning of the Bible. If you've got a copy of the scriptures, why don't you open it to the very first page? It's the easiest it's ever gonna get to find our passage today. Right? Genesis chapter one. [00:27:58] (33 seconds)  #ScriptureBackedByReason

which is why there's so much conversation about it and why there are so many different worldviews that are tied into it. And we're gonna get into some of that today. We're gonna get a little nerdy, not full nerdy. Okay? But just like medium nerdy. Okay? Talking about that just for a moment and just in a minute. But this idea that God created everything is important. Now when you look at the book of Genesis, you may be asking, well, how do I know that I could, like, hold fast to this? Like, how do I know this isn't just simply just like a creation fable that you might see in other [00:32:01] (33 seconds)  #GenesisIsContested

Well, this past week, the entire earth has been captured by the Artemis mission. As we've seen four brave astronauts go to the other side of the moon and back. Now I love some of the images. We've seen some images we've never seen before as a human race. Think about that. In the entire history of the world, there are things that we've seen this week that have never been seen before, images that have been taken. My favorite image is actually this one of the moon transiting in front of the earth. You see that? It's incredible. Right? [00:25:58] (35 seconds)  #ArtemisMoonMoment

I want you to just turn your brains on. I know that it's early on a Sunday morning. Some of you are like, man, I have not had enough caffeine yet to really lock in. So I'm inviting you to lock in. Today, we're gonna be doing some heavy lifting when it comes to understanding where we are. It's gonna be also really challenging. So I know that some of us there's many of us watching this who have all different worldviews from different backgrounds, maybe different religions. [00:27:09] (24 seconds)  #EngageYourMind

Well, good morning, everybody. Good morning. Welcome to church. Welcome to First Baptist. I'm so glad that you're here. If you're new, I'm so glad that you came today. I know that God has a purpose on your life and he wants to do something in your story. We would love to be a part of that. We love for you to be a part of this church, [00:24:47] (19 seconds)  #WelcomeToFirstBaptist

And I know that a lot of us have a lot going on. Sometimes we don't know where to turn. Sometimes we may feel overwhelmed. If you're feeling that way, it's because Jesus wants to get in the middle of those things with you. If you've never trusted Jesus with your life, it's very simple. All you have to do is tell him that you want him to take over, that you're trusting him with your story and your future. And you can do that by a prayer. Now, some of us are really good at praying. Some of us really are new to it. So if you don't know how to do that, I would love to lead you in a prayer of just trusting Jesus. So just right you are, just close your eyes and pray this with me. Just say, Jesus, I need you. I need you to save me, and I trust you with all of my life. Not just a part of it, but a 100% control. I'm trusting you, and I wanna follow you because I believe that you are who you said you are. [01:05:18] (52 seconds)  #SimplePrayerToTrustJesus

Listen. If you prayed that prayer, it's a very important prayer. In fact, it's the most important thing you've ever done in your life, where you've given your life to Christ. And he's gonna come in and start doing some cool things in your life. But you don't have to do it by yourself. We'd love to help you. We'd love to find a way to help you take that next step. So just reach out to us at the number on the screen. We'd love to help you whether you text us or call us and help you take a next step in following Jesus. We're with you. We love you, and we'll see you soon. [01:06:10] (26 seconds)  #WellHelpYouFollow

I know because we have this on television, you may be watching this right now or on the Internet screen somewhere around the world, and you may come from a different worldview, different understanding of the world. You may be somebody who's a scientist. You may be somebody who's just completely from different culture. But today, what we're gonna be talking about is we're gonna be talking about the origin of the world from a Christian perspective. And I want you to know this. We believe [00:27:34] (24 seconds)  #ChristianOriginPerspective

is the atmosphere. So when you think about heavens, we're thinking about, hey, it's the atmosphere, the air that we breathe, the sky when you look at it outside. And then the second heavens is the solar system, what you see when the sky is dark at night. So the heavenly hosts of the stars and the moon and the night sky. And the third heaven is the heaven that we all think about when we we use the word heaven, which is where you go when you die. The bible is basically saying here is that God created everything. In the beginning, God created everything you see, [00:30:37] (42 seconds)  #ThreeHeavensExplained

as humans are behind it looking at the earth. Now this is incredible and it's incredible to see the science behind this, but all of this begs to where did all of this come from? How do we tell the story of where we came from and what the world's ultimately about? How do we understand who we are as people in the middle of this? How do we connect with the creator, the one who created all of this if he did create it? And these are the questions that must keep us up at night. So today, [00:26:39] (30 seconds)  #BigQuestionsAboutOrigin

And and the the the incredible complexity of its relationship to the earth is fascinating because if it was any closer to our planet, there'd be no life on planet earth. And if it was any further, there'd be no life on planet earth. The moon is what allows the tides to churn on our planet, which has created a stable environment for planet Earth to have life altogether. There is incredible complexity to the system that we live in that we just take for granted, which has led people who are not Christians, people who are actually non theists, so it means they're not interested in any kind of God at all, to conclude that the universe has been tailor made for life. Here's a quote from two guys who are leading thoughts thought thought makers in this space. They're not they're not Christians. They would not say they're Christians in any way. But DJ JD Barrow and Jay Silk write this [00:45:09] (60 seconds)  #FineTunedMoon

But the beauty is that God came to earth. He sent Jesus so that we could have a reconnection with the creator. That we would connect to the one who created the heavens and the earth, the one who created us. And if God created you and created you with a purpose, that purpose is what's gonna give you true joy and satisfaction more than anything else, more than just trying to just live it up, more than YOLO, more than, like, anything you're trying to, like, just pursue in life, more than your career, more than the relationship you're pursuing. Knowing God gives you true purpose, gives you a true north star, gives you a true clarity on what really matters. [00:50:20] (41 seconds)  #MoonMakesLifePossible

And so I want you to reject naturalism. Now, when I say reject naturalism, I don't mean rejecting science. Sometimes you hold those two together. That's a great lie that science and naturalism are the same, that just looking at the world naturalistically means that you're looking at it scientifically. But that's not true. Science is simply, hey, we're observing and trying to understand the way the world works. Naturalism is a faith claim saying, I can't prove that there's no God. I'm just gonna choose that there isn't one because I don't like the consequences of it. [00:40:08] (33 seconds)  #UniverseHadABeginning

Now today, this passage is critical in understanding the world because what it points to is that in the beginning, God created everything. Now I wanna just walk through this real quick and then we'll unpack why it what it means and what it means to our life. But this this verse really has three major components. Okay? The first one is in the beginning. So what this is pointing to is that one point in human history and world history, the universe's history, there was a beginning. Things started and God started all of it. So at one point there was nothing, then there was something. [00:29:09] (42 seconds)  #RelationshipNotJustIdeas

And if you're missing that connection, you'll always be searching for it. So here's what I want you to consider. The greatest purpose in life is to connect with the creator who knew you, who saw you before you were born, who had a purpose on your life, and who loves you more than you can imagine. That's the story that God is telling from Genesis one one all the way to the end of Revelation. That God has a purpose and a plan for you and he wants you to know him. So here's the thing I want you to consider today. How closely connected are you to the Lord this morning? How connected are you? [00:51:00] (36 seconds)  #TrustJesusNow

So he wouldn't have done that if he didn't believe that it was true and accurate in the way that you see. In fact, the other times so we can just go through a whole list of them. Jesus goes, yep. I'm gonna uphold Adam and Eve. I'm gonna uphold the stories that you find in the book of Genesis. These are all true events that you can believe happen. So listen. If you don't believe in Jesus, that's that's a whole different thing. But for those of us who are Christians, if Jesus held that position, we should probably do it too. Just gonna just humbly submit that to you. Okay? [00:37:32] (29 seconds)  #WorldviewShapesBelief

And I want you to have a way of processing the world, the way that you see the world, understand information with a God out there that created it all and created with you in mind. And it has a purpose and a plan for humanity and for you. You see, if you don't have that worldview, it's hard for you to think like a Christian or think like somebody who's following Jesus. Ultimately, you wanna have the same worldview as Jesus Christ. The way that he saw the world, you should see it too. Okay? And so this is an important one that God created everything. In the beginning, God created everything. [00:38:42] (37 seconds)  #ArtemisRevealsWonder

Now I love some of the images. We've seen some images we've never seen before as a human race. Think about that. In the entire history of the world, there are things that we've seen this week that have never been seen before, images that have been taken. My favorite image is actually this one of the moon transiting in front of the earth. You see that? It's incredible. Right? The incredible detail, the craters, the image of the moon as humans are behind it looking at the earth. Now this is incredible and it's incredible to see the science behind this, but all of this begs to where did all of this come from? [00:26:08] (44 seconds)  #ChooseCreatorLens

And so here we find Jesus upholding the stories that you find in in Genesis and the stories of creation. And so here's what I want you to walk away with if you don't walk away with anything else. Okay? Is that what I want you to walk away with? I want you to choose a worldview centered on the creator. I want you to choose a worldview centered on the creator. What's a worldview? Well, worldview is a lens. It's a way that you see the world. It's how you interpret it. There's information all around us. And a worldview is like, how do I process that information and understand it? [00:38:01] (40 seconds)  #EvolutionUnderminesWorldview

Now if you spend time with your friends, what happens? You get to know them. You ask them questions. If And you had time to spend time with God, what would be on your list of things that you would ask God for? Well, I think one of them would probably be like, hey, how did all this thing start? Just like, where where did this all come from? Right? And I guarantee you, Moses had that conversation with him because what you see happening in the in the book of Genesis is you find stories that he received from God that he couldn't have got from anywhere else. [00:35:22] (30 seconds)  #JesusValidatesMoses

And I can I just speak to your heart for just a minute? Like, listen, I don't know what's going on in your life, but if you're like me, busyness breaks the connection. Right? I mean, like, carpooling your kids to school, showing up at whatever thing you're volunteering at, going to work, stress, anxiety, and they just break my connection with God where I'm just busy. And for just a minute, before we go back to the hectic nature of life and we go back to just like how hard things can be, just take a break and connect to Jesus. Would you just do that with me right now? Where you are, close your eyes and just go, Jesus, thank you for making me. [00:52:47] (52 seconds)  #PrayerUnlocksPurpose

Listen, that prayer right there is a major unlock in your life. God, why am I here? You know, there is a general reason which is that you would enjoy God. That you know him, how good he is, but there's also a specific reason why you're here. So just ask him, like, God show me, I wanna see it. And then lastly, close with just doing this, just say Jesus, I'm gonna follow you. I'm following you. I wanna just pray over us. Jesus, I know there's some here today who've been just busy and they've not connected with you in a long time. I know that some of us have questions and we're like, man, I don't know. [00:54:22] (51 seconds)  #WakeUpAndThink

And I know that a lot of us have a lot going on. Sometimes we don't know where to turn. Sometimes we may feel overwhelmed. If you're feeling that way, it's because Jesus wants to get in the middle of those things with you. If you've never trusted Jesus with your life, it's very simple. All you have to do is tell him that you want him to take over, that you're trusting him with your story and your future. And you can do that by a prayer. Now, some of us are really good at praying. Some of us really are new to it. So if you don't know how to do that, I would love to lead you in a prayer of just trusting Jesus. So just right you are, just close your eyes and pray this with me. Just say, Jesus, I need you. [01:05:18] (38 seconds)  #GiveYourLifeToChrist

I need you to save me, and I trust you with all of my life. Not just a part of it, but a 100% control. I'm trusting you, and I wanna follow you because I believe that you are who you said you are. Listen. If you prayed that prayer, it's a very important prayer. In fact, it's the most important thing you've ever done in your life, where you've given your life to Christ. And he's gonna come in and start doing some cool things in your life. But you don't have to do it by yourself. We'd love to help you. [01:05:56] (27 seconds)