“CREATION APPRECIATION
Mike Barnett
THANK GOD THAT HE CREATED THE UNIVERSE
AND EVERYTHING IN IT!
Genesis 1 says:
1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the
earth.
2 Now the
earth was [a] formless and empty, darkness was over the
surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.
3 And God
said, "Let there be light," and there was light. 4
God saw that the light was good, and He separated the light from the darkness. 5 God called the light "day," and the darkness he
called "night." And there was evening, and there was morning—the
first day.
6 And God
said, "Let there be an expanse between the waters to separate water from
water." 7 So God made the expanse and separated the
water under the expanse from the water above it. And it was so. 8 God called the expanse "sky." And there was
evening, and there was morning—the second day.
9 And God
said, "Let the water under the sky be gathered to one place, and let dry
ground appear." And it was so. 10 God called the
dry ground "land," and the gathered waters he called
"seas." And God saw that it was good.
11 Then God
said, "Let the land produce vegetation: seed-bearing plants and trees on
the land that bear fruit with seed in it, according to their various
kinds." And it was so. 12 The land produced
vegetation: plants bearing seed according to their kinds and trees bearing
fruit with seed in it according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good. 13 And there was evening, and there was morning—the third day.
14 And God
said, "Let there be lights in the expanse of the sky to separate the day
from the night, and let them serve as signs to mark seasons and days and years,
15 and let them be lights in the expanse of the sky to
give light on the earth." And it was so. 16 God
made two great lights—the greater light to govern the day and the lesser light
to govern the night. He also made the stars. 17 God set
them in the expanse of the sky to give light on the earth, 18
to govern the day and the night, and to separate light from darkness. And God
saw that it was good. 19 And there was evening, and
there was morning—the fourth day.
20 And God
said, "Let the water teem with living creatures, and let birds fly above
the earth across the expanse of the sky." 21 So God
created the great creatures of the sea and every living and moving thing with
which the water teems, according to their kinds, and every winged bird
according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. 22
God blessed them and said, "Be fruitful and increase in number and fill
the water in the seas, and let the birds increase on the earth." 23 And there was evening, and there was morning—the fifth day.
24 And God
said, "Let the land produce living creatures according to their kinds:
livestock, creatures that move along the ground, and wild animals, each
according to its kind." And it was so. 25 God made
the wild animals according to their kinds, the livestock according to their
kinds, and all the creatures that move along the ground according to their
kinds. And God saw that it was good.
26 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, [b] and over all the creatures that move along
the ground."
27 So God
created man in his own image,
in the image of God he created him;
male and female he created them.
28 God
blessed them and said to them, "Be fruitful and increase in number; fill
the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air
and over every living creature that moves on the ground."
29 Then God
said, "I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth
and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food. 30 And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds of the
air and all the creatures that move on the ground—everything that has the
breath of life in it—I give every green plant for food." And it was so.
31 God saw
all that he had made, and it was very good. And there was evening, and there
was morning—the sixth day.
CHRISTIANS THANK GOD FOR CREATING THREE
THINGS:
1. I THANK GOD FOR
________________(CREATING) THE ___________________(UNIVERSE) AND EVERYTHING IN
IT!
THANK GOD FOR CREATING THE EARTH!
Genesis 1:1 says:
1
In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
Genesis
21 So God created the great creatures of the sea and
every living and moving thing with which the water teems, according to their
kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was
good.
·
THANK GOD
THAT HE CREATED TREES, MOUNTAINS, RIVERS AND LAKES.
Romans
20For since the creation of the world God's invisible
qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being
understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.
·
THANK GOD
THAT HE CREATED SNOW.
·
THANK GOD
THAT HE CREATED THE SUN.
·
THANK GOD FOR
CREATING THE ANIMALS.
WHAT ARE YOU THANKFUL FOR WHAT GOD
CREATED?
2. I THANK GOD THAT HE CREATED
______________(PEOPLE) IN HIS _____________(IMAGE) AND HE CREATED ONLY
__________(ONE) OF ___________(ME) AND ONLY ONE OF _____________(YOU).
Genesis
27 So God created man in his own image,
in the image of God he created him;
male and female he created them.
THANK GOD THAT HE CREATED
US!
Genesis 5:1-2 says:
1 This is the written account of Adam's line.
When God created man, he made him in the
likeness of God. 2 He created them male and female and
blessed them. And when they were created, he called them "man. [a] "
QUESTION: IF YOU SPEND ALL YOUR TIME
TRYING TO BE SOMEONE ELSE, THEN WHO IS GOING TO SPEND TIME BEING YOU?
Psalm 139 (pg. 444) says:
1 O LORD, you have searched me
and you know me.
2 You know
when I sit and when I rise;
you perceive my thoughts from afar.
3 You
discern my going out and my lying down;
you are familiar with all my ways.
4 Before a
word is on my tongue
you know it completely, O LORD.
5 You hem me
in—behind and before;
you have laid your hand upon me.
6 Such
knowledge is too wonderful for me,
too lofty for me to attain.
7 Where can
I go from your Spirit?
Where can I flee from your presence?
8 If I go up
to the heavens, you are there;
if I make my bed in the depths, [a] you are there.
9 If I rise
on the wings of the dawn,
if I settle on the far side of the sea,
10 even
there your hand will guide me,
your right hand will hold me fast.
11 If I say,
"Surely the darkness will hide me
and the light become night around
me,"
12 even the
darkness will not be dark to you;
the night will shine like the day,
for darkness is as light to you.
13 For you
created my inmost being;
you knit me together in my mother's womb.
14 I praise
you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
your works are wonderful,
I know that full well.
15 My frame
was not hidden from you
when I was made in the secret place.
When I was woven together in the depths of
the earth,
16 your eyes
saw my unformed body.
All the days ordained for me
were written in your book
before one of them came to be.
17 How
precious to [b] me are your thoughts, O God!
How vast is the sum of them!
18 Were I to
count them,
they would outnumber the grains of sand.
When I awake,
I am still with you.
19 If only
you would slay the wicked, O God!
Away from me, you bloodthirsty men!
20 They
speak of you with evil intent;
your adversaries misuse your name.
21 Do I not
hate those who hate you, O LORD,
and abhor those who rise up against you?
22 I have
nothing but hatred for them;
I count them my enemies.
23 Search
me, O God, and know my heart;
test me and know my anxious thoughts.
24 See if
there is any offensive way in me,
and lead me in the way everlasting.
A. GOD GAVE YOU YOUR
_____________(LOOKS), SO PRAISE GOD THAT HE DOES NOT MAKE MISTAKES AND KNOWS
WHAT HE IS DOING!
B. GOD GAVE YOU YOUR
________________(PERSONALITY), SO PRAISE GOD THAT HE DOES NOT MAKE MISTAKES AND
KNOWS WHAT HE IS DOING!
C. GOD GAVE YOU YOUR ____________(GIFTS)
AND ________________(TALENTS), SO PRAISE GOD THAT HE DOES NOT MAKE MISTAKES AND
KNOWS WHAT HE IS DOING!
QUESTION: IF YOU SPEND ALL YOUR TIME
TRYING TO BE SOMEONE ELSE, THEN WHO IS GOING TO SPEND TIME BEING YOU?
3. THANK GOD THAT HE ______
_____________(RE-CREATED) YOU IN CHRIST BY BORNING YOU AGAIN THROUGH THE HOLY
SPIRIT!
John 3:1-21 says:
1Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus,
a member of the Jewish ruling council. 2He came to Jesus
at night and said, "Rabbi, we know you are a teacher who has come from
God. For no one could perform the miraculous signs you are doing if God were
not with him."
3In reply
Jesus declared, "I tell you the truth, no one can see the
4"How
can a man be born when he is old?" Nicodemus asked. "Surely he cannot
enter a second time into his mother's womb to be born!"
5Jesus
answered, "I tell you the truth, no one can enter the
9"How
can this be?" Nicodemus asked.
10"You
are
16"For
God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son,[f] that whoever believes in him shall not
perish but have eternal life. 17For God did not send his
Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. 18Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does
not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of
God's one and only Son.[g] 19This is the
verdict: Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light
because their deeds were evil. 20Everyone who does evil
hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that his deeds will
be exposed. 21But whoever lives by the truth comes into
the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what he has done has been done
through God."[h]
·
AS
CHRISTIANS, WE ARE BORN AGAIN OF THE HOLY SPIRIT!
2 Corinthians
17Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new
creation; the old has gone, the new has come!
WHEN A PERSON IS BORN AGAIN AND MADE NEW
SPIRITUALLY IN CHRIST:
A.
CHRISTIANS
ARE _______________(FORGIVEN) FOR PAST SINS.
B.
CHRISTIANS
ARE __________(FREE) FROM SIN.
C. CHRISTIANS
___________(THINK) GOD’S THOUGHTS.
D.
CHRISTIANS____________(SPEAK) GOD’S WORDS.
E. CHRISTIANS
____________(BEHAVE) LIKE GOD/CHRIST THROUGH THEIR BEHAVIOR.
Ephesians 4:22-24 says:
2You were taught, with regard to your former way of
life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful
desires; 23to be made new in the attitude of your minds;
24and to put on the new self, created to be like God in
true righteousness and holiness.
·
CHRISTIAN
MEANS ___________ __________(Little Christ)
Colossians
20I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer
live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in
the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. 21I
do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could be gained through
the law, Christ died for nothing!"[a]
EPHESIANS 1 says:
3Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus
Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing
in Christ. 4For he chose us in him before the creation
of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love 5he[c] predestined us to be adopted as his sons
through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will— 6to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely
given us in the One he loves. 7In him we have redemption
through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of
God's grace 8that he lavished on us with all wisdom and
understanding. 9And he[d] made known to us the mystery of his will
according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ, 10to
be put into effect when the times will have reached their fulfillment—to bring
all things in heaven and on earth together under one head, even Christ.
11In him we
were also chosen,[e] having been predestined according to the
plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his
will, 12in order that we, who were the first to hope in
Christ, might be for the praise of his glory. 13And you
also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of
your salvation. Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the
promised Holy Spirit, 14who is a deposit guaranteeing
our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God's possession—to the
praise of his glory.
17Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new
creation; the old has gone, the new has come!
1 Peter
0He was chosen before the creation of the world, but
was revealed in these last times for your sake.
Colossians
20Since you
died with Christ to the basic principles of this world, why, as though you
still belonged to it, do you submit to its rules:
·
THANK GOD
THAT YOU WERE CREATED TWICE – ONCE __________________(PHYSICALLY) AND ONCE
__________________(SPIRITUALLY).
·
THANK GOD
THAT YOU HAVE ___________(TWO) BIRTHDAYS
1. When you were born into this world.
2. When you came to faith in Christ.