Old Testament in a Year: Genesis 1-11

If you were here last Sunday, you know that I. One of the many things that I announced was something that was a little different for us in terms of the preaching of the word that myself and our team would be involved in over the next two years. If you've been around for a while, you know that I'm a series guy. I preach a lot of series, and I have for decades. But I really felt like this past year, the Lord directed me as the shepherd of this house, that we were to take the next two years and walk through the entire Bible together.

Old testament in 2026, new testament in 2027. So we're beginning that today, and we've put together a reading plan for you that corresponds with the messages that we'll be bringing for the next two years. And the first quarter of that reading plan is available today. If you were not here last Sunday, we had them last week for people to take because this began this past Thursday on January 1st. So if you haven't started yet, it's going to be easy for you to make it up.

But here's the beautiful thing that together as a church body, over the next two years, we're going to read through the entire Bible together. We're going to all be reading the same things on the same days. And this Bible reading plan is available on the Refuge app right now. You can go to it, or if you're old school, you want a hard copy. You can pick one of those up at the info desk out in the concourse this morning, along with the Selah prayer guide that Pastor Abe mentioned that looks like this.

It's got every day in the prayer target for the 21 days, as well as the prayer times that we're gonna be gathering. Both of those are available out at the info desk. And I really want to encourage you that you read through the Bible together. Some people I know have never read the Bible cover to cover. We're giving you an opportunity to do that over the next two years, and we're going to all do that together.

I'm excited about journeying through the Bible together, and it's going to be a bit of a challenge. And here's why. In order for us to get through the Bible in two years, we're going to have to take rather large chunks Scripture and go through pretty large chunks. And the reason for that is that there are 1189 chapters in the 66 books of the Bible. So if we took one chapter a week, it would take us almost 23 years to get through the entire Bible.

I don't know if I'm going to be around that long. I don't know if I'll be preaching that long. So in order to do it in two years, large chunks of of the Bible beginning today in Genesis chapter one. And I'm super excited because the Bible, if you didn't know, is such an amazing supernatural book. The Bible, these 66 books of the Bible written by 40 different authors over a 1600 year period.

And one of the things that's so supernatural about the word of God is that when the Bible was written by these 40 authors over 1600, 1600 year period, they wrote in three different languages from three different continents. But yet the Bible is seamless in its unified message. Even though this guy was writing at a time that was hundreds of years later than the other guy that was writing still under the unction and the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, they write a unified message that never contradicts itself. That's supernatural, my friends. That's incredible and amazing.

And the only reason it happened is that as those men were writing, there was a person by the name of the Holy Spirit who was guiding their pen and guiding their thoughts. So that now we hold in our hands a book that is absolutely unlike any other book that has ever been written. And you know, this is the best selling book of all time. In fact, since the Bible began to be printed, there have been somewhere between 5 and 7 billion copies of the Bible that have been printed. And it's been translated into over 700 different languages.

It is supernatural in its nature. And the beautiful thing is that it speaks to us every time we open it. It's timeless. Its words are living. As the writer of Hebrews says, they're active.

They cut deep into our hearts and cause us to become more and more like Jesus. Today we're looking at Genesis chapter one through chapter 11 and we're going to look at three things. They're there in your notes on the refuge app. But three things that we're going to focus on. Number one, the formation of creation, Number two, the fall of man.

And number three, the faithfulness of God. The formation of creation. Beginning in Genesis chapter one, verse one, we're starting right at the beginning. And it says this. In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.

The earth was formless and empty and darkness covered the deep waters. And the spirit of God, I want you to notice this, was hovering over the surface of the waters. The Spirit of God present at creation. The spirit of God that was there involved in the whole Process of creation, hovering over nothingness to form beauty. Listen.

The Holy Spirit can hover over darkness and produce light. He can hover over chaos and create order. He can hover over emptiness to create fulfillment. So listen to me. In 2026, if there's darkness in your life, or if there's chaos, or if there's nothingness, or if you find yourself empty or without purpose or without fulfillment, here's what I want to encourage you to do.

Invite the person of the Holy Spirit to hover over your life, to hover over your thoughts, to hover over your family, to hover over any chaos, and to create beauty as only he can do. In other words, in 2026, you have an opportunity and an invitation to invite the same person that was there at creation, who hovered over darkness and nothingness and created these beautiful mountain ranges and oceans and scenery that takes our breath away. You have the opportunity to invite that same person to hover over you and to hover over your family and to hover over the emptiness of your life and to create things in you and through you that will blow your mind in 2026, that's the person of the Holy Spirit. That's what he did then. That's what he can do now.

And the Bible says then that God spoke, and with his words, he began to create man. What power. On day one, the Bible says that he created light, and then he separated the light from darkness. On day two, he created the heavens and the earth, and he separated the sky from. From the land.

On day three, he separated the water of the earth from land. And then he created vegetation, trees and plants of all kinds. On day four, he created the sun and the moon and the stars, and he put them all in their place. He numbered every one of them billions and billions of stars. And According to Psalm 147, verse 4 and 5, he named every single star.

And Isaiah, chapter 40 tells us that there's not one star that goes missing without his notice. Because he sees everyone. He created everyone. And he put every single star and galaxy and moon and sun in its proper place. And then the Bible says on day five, he creates birds and fish of all kinds.

On day six, he makes all the animals of the earth. And after each one of these things that he created, the Bible tells us that he stepped back every single day after he created light, after he created fish, after he created trees and vegetation. Each time, he would step back and he would say, mm, that's good. That's good. But then the Bible tells us on day Six.

In addition to all of these things that he created that he decides he's going to create mankind. Look what we find in Genesis 1:26 and 27, it says. And then God said, watch this. Let us. Let us.

That's a clear indication that the Trinity, God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit, are all present at creation. They're all there. Let us make human beings in our image to be like us. Referencing the Trinity, he says, they'll reign over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, the livestock and all the wild animals on the earth and the small animals that scurry along the ground. So God created human beings in his own image?

In the image of God, he created them. Male and female. He created them. Listen to me. If God created you as a male, and you're trying to be something other than a male, you are accusing God of making a mistake.

If God created you to be a female, and you're trying to be something other than a female, you are saying to God, God, you messed up. You made a mistake. And let me tell you something. God made no mistakes when it came to creating mankind. When it came to creating you and I.

No, he did a perfect job of creating us.

In fact, the Bible says in chapter two, verse seven, then the Lord God formed the man from the dust of the ground. Watch. He breathed the breath of life into the man's nostrils, and the man became a living person. Listen. With everything that God created, the Bible is clear that he spoke.

And with his words, he created all of these things. But when it came to creating mankind, God did something different. He didn't speak. The Bible says that he kneels down and he takes the dirt of the earth, the dust of the earth, and with his own hands, he forms and fashions mankind. In other words, you and I were the only things that he touched at creation.

Everything else he spoke, but he shapes us with his own hands. And then the Bible says He breathes his own breath into mankind. Listen to me. You contain the very breath of God on the inside of you. And let me tell you something.

When God made you, he made you unique and individual. And there's never been a person alive in all of history, and there never will be another in all of the future that is like you. You're one of a kind. You're special. As a matter of fact, you are the masterpiece of God.

And when he made mankind, he stepped back and he didn't say, mmm, wow, that's good. No, the Bible says. Well, when he looked at you, he said, mm, that's very good. Very good. You are the masterpiece of God.

In fact, the Apostle Paul says in Ephesians, chapter 2, verse 10, for we are God's masterpiece. He says. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus so we can do the good things that he planned for us long ago. The word masterpiece in the Greek, in the original language is the word poema. And it actually means divine craftsmanship.

Divine craftsmanship. Not something that man could do, but something that only God could do. When he made you, when he made mankind, that he creates this masterpiece, divine workmanship of God himself, and then breathes his breath into you. And I. Listen to me.

We're designed, we're created, we're formed in the image of. Of God. And that's why the enemy is constantly trying to vandalize and destroy the work of God. Secondly, we see in these chapters of Genesis the fall of man. Beginning in Genesis chapter 2, it says in verse 8 and 9, and then verse 15 through 17.

And then the Lord God planted a garden in Eden in the east. And there he placed the man that he had made. And the Lord God made all sorts of trees grow up from the ground. Trees that were beautiful and that produced delicious fruit. And in the middle of the garden he placed the Tree of Life and the tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.

And the Lord God placed the man in the Garden of Eden to tend and watch over it. But the Lord God warned him, you may freely eat the fruit of every tree in the garden except the tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. If you eat its fruit, you are sure to die. Now, the last verse of Genesis chapter two tells us that Adam and Eve were both naked and they felt no shame. Listen to me.

God never intended for you and I to ever feel shame. God never intended for us to ever be introduced to the emotion of shame. It's a tool of the enemy to destroy the image of God. And listen to me. We see it in Scripture.

Satan uses deception to lure us into decisions that will lead us to shame. That's what he did with Adam and Eve. He lures people into a place that we make decisions that will then produce an emotion that God never intended for us to understand or for us to experience. Look what we find in Genesis, chapter three, verse one. The serpent was the shrewdest of all the wild animals that the Lord God had made.

And one day he asked the woman, did God really say that you must not eat the fruit from any of the trees in the garden? Listen, to me, the enemy always wants you to question the authority and the authenticity of the word of God. The enemy's goal is to pervert Scripture so that you question what it really means and what it really says, so that you'll then justify the things that you want to do which will lead you into a place of shame. The enemy wants you to question what God says, and that's why he poses the question to Eve. Did God really say, of course we may eat fruit from the trees in the garden?

The woman replied, it's only the fruit from the tree, the middle of the garden that we're not allowed to eat? God said, you must not eat it or even touch it. If you do, you will die. Verse four. You won't die.

The serpent replied to the woman, God knows that your eyes will be opened as soon as you eat it, which is true. And you will be like God. Notice those words. Knowing both good and evil, you will be like God. Listen, the very thing that got Lucifer kicked out of heaven was his desire to be like God, to be equal to God.

And so when he's kicked out of heaven and you and I are created in the image of God, the enemy's mission at that moment became or became the goal and the mission to destroy the image of God in you and I. Because the enemy said, if I can't have that, then neither will you. And so he does everything he can to disfigure and mar the image of God in mankind, because he's jealous of the fact that you and I bear the image of God. We're bearers of the image. We're created in the image of God.

And he's after that in you. His goal is to cause you to make decisions that are not godly, so that the image of God is covered over with shame, the image that you bear. One thing worth asking when we read this passage in Genesis chapter three is where was Adam when Satan was tempting Eve?

You see, I believe that so many men have abdicated their responsibility to be protectors of their wives so that the enemy does not have success in accusing or deceiving their. Their wives. And we read as. As the. The.

The. The devil approaches Eve. Adam is nowhere in the picture. Where was he? He should have been there with his wife.

He should have been there to protect her from the deception of Satan. He shows up later, after Eve begins partaking of the fruit, and then she offers some to Adam, and all of a sudden he's back in the picture. But at that point, it was too late. In Fact we read in verse 6. The woman was convinced.

She saw that the tree was beautiful. Its fruit looked delicious. She wanted the wisdom it would give her. So she took some of the fruit and ate it. And then she gave some to her husband, who now was with her.

And he ate it too. At that moment, their eyes were open and they suddenly felt shame at their nakedness. So they sewed fig leaves together to cover themselves. And when the cool evening breezes were blowing, the man and his wife heard the Lord God walking about in the garden. Watch.

So they hid from the Lord God among the trees. Listen to me. The thing that shame does to you and I is to cause us to run away from God rather than running to God because we think I've been too immoral. I've been too addicted. I've gone back into that same pattern of sin or of rebellion.

So I can't go to the house of God. There's so many people I'll see in church. And then all of a sudden they disappear. And I find out that they've gone back into a lifestyle that's not pleasing to the Lord. And.

And it's shame. I know it's shame that's keeping them out of the house of God because they think, I can't go back into the presence of God until I get my act together. That's not the way God operates. God says, when you blow it, rather than running away from me, the greatest thing you can do is to run to me. Don't hide from me.

And God asks them the question. He begins calling out to them, adam, where are you? It's not because it's like, where's Waldo? It's not because God was confused and I can't find this guy I created. No, God knew exactly where he was.

But he wanted Adam to see where he was. He wanted Adam to realize, man, I'm hiding from my Creator. He hid from God among the trees. And the Lord God called to the man, where are you? He replied, I heard you walking in the garden.

So I hid. I was afraid because I was naked. Who told you that you were naked? The Lord asked, have you eaten from the tree whose fruit I command you do not to eat? And the man replied, it was the woman you gave me who gave me the fruit.

And I ate it. Then the Lord God asked the woman, what have you done? The serpent deceived me, she replied, that's why I ate it. And the blame game begins. Isn't that what we do Oftentimes when we blow it, we just find the most convenient person we can find to blame.

Rather than taking responsibility for our rebellion or our sin or our mistakes, we just say, well, if that husband would so and so if that wife of mine, or if that pastor had not, or if my dad had not walked out on us, or we just immediately find the most convenient person to blame. Let me tell you something in 2026. The best thing that you can do when you blow it is to own your mistake and take responsibility, responsibility for your sin and throw yourself on the mercy of God. Don't blame other people for the things that you've done. Just say, God, I blew it again.

And I call on you, God, for your mercy. The Bible tells us a steadfast love of the Lord never changes. His mercies never come to an end. They are new every morning. Great is your faithfulness.

Come on. Are you thankful for that? This morning leads us to the last thing that we see, and that is the faithfulness of God. Sin entered the world, and the perfection of God was marred and broken and disfigured. In Genesis 6, verse 5 says this.

The Lord observed the extent of human wickedness on the earth, and he saw that everything they thought or imagined was consistently and totally evil. In the midst of that, in the midst of the corruption, the rebellion, in the midst of the evil, a man enters scripture who would become the embodiment of the faithfulness of God. Genesis, chapter six, verse nine. This is the account of Noah in his family. Noah was a righteous man, the only blameless person living on earth at that time.

And he walked in close fellowship with God, verse 11 through 13 of chapter 6. Now God saw that the earth had become corrupt and was filled with violence. And God observed all this corruption in the world, for everyone on earth was corrupt. So God said to Noah, I've decided to destroy all living creatures, for they have filled the earth with violence. Yes, I will wipe them all out along with the earth.

And then God instructs Noah to do something that was very unconventional. Genesis, chapter 6, verse 22. He tells Noah to build this boat. Tells Noah, I'm going to destroy the earth. There's a flood coming.

And he gives him the dimensions of the boats. Massive, three levels. How to build pens for the animals and all these other things. And Noah begins building.

Can you imagine the mockery and the ridicule that Noah had to endure as he starts working on this project? And people would come along and say, what are you. What are you doing? What are you building? I'm building this boat.

Why? Well, there's a massive flood coming. God's going to destroy the earth.

Five years later, Noah's still working. Hey, man, you're still working on this boat? Yeah. Why? There's a big flood coming.

You've been saying that for a while. 15, 20 years later, same people come along. Noah, how's that boat coming along? Big boy still working on that thing, are you? Noah, when's that flood coming?

I don't know, but it's coming. Hmm. I've been saying that 20 years now. Twenty years later, the kids of these people are coming along. Hey, that's a crazy dude.

That guy's lost his mind. He's been saying for 40 years that this big flood's coming. He's been working on this boat for 40 years. That guy's off his rocker. 120 years it took him to build the boat.

Can you imagine the mockery and the ridicule he had to endure as generation after generation would come along and say, there's that crazy guy. There's that guy that's been saying for a long time that this flood's coming. We've seen no evidence of a flood coming. And there's Noah building this ark. But I want you to notice Genesis, chapter 6, verse 22.

It says this. So Noah did exactly everything as God had commanded him.

Can you just imagine with me in 2026, the headaches that we could avoid if we would just do exactly as God tells us. But we want to negotiate with God. We want to logically explain to God why it's not a good idea, why people are going to think I'm crazy if I do this, or if we would just do exactly what God tells us when he says, break up with that person, or, I want you to get involved in this ministry. God says, I don't want you to take that job. Although in the natural, that looks like the best job.

I want you to take this job. Can you imagine how good life would be if in 2026, when God speaks to us, that we just do everything exactly as he tells us? I'm just trying to help you.

In spite of the rebellion of mankind, God was committed to preserving humanity by protecting Noah and his family in the ark for one year and two weeks. That's how long they were on the ark. One year and two weeks. And then in chapter nine, God confirms his covenant love by giving a sign that he would never again destroy the earth with a flood. Genesis, chapter 9, verse 12.

And then God said, I'm giving you a sign of my covenant with you. And with all living creatures for all generations to come. I've placed my rainbow in the clouds. It's a sign of my covenant with you and with all the earth. And when I send clouds over the earth, the rainbow will appear in the clouds.

And I will remember my covenant with you and with all living creatures. What a faithful God. Never again will all the flood. Will the flood waters destroy all life. When I see the rainbow in the clouds, I will remember the eternal covenant between God and every living creature on earth.

And as the enemy loves to do, he takes the sacred things of God and perverts them to mean something other than what God intended. The rainbow, that's to serve as a sign for you and I, as a promise of the covenant that God's made with mankind has now been perverted to represent something that is absolutely the opposite of who God is.

But every time we see it in the clouds, it's a reminder. We have a faithful God. We have a faithful God. No matter how many times you blow it, no matter how rebellious you may be, no matter how addicted you may be, no matter how immoral you may be, we have a faithful God. And if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us of our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

His covenant love for us never changes. And from the moment that he preserved Noah and his family until today, he's always made a way for us to remain in relationship with Him. Come on. Are you thankful for that? I said, are you thankful for that church he gave his son, Jesus.

Listen. He gave the one and only Son that He had so that a new covenant could be implemented, signed by the blood of Jesus that the enemy could never undo again. A new covenant. He's made it possible for us to have relationships. And regardless of what we've done or how many times that we've done it, he gives us His Son and the opportunity to be forgiven of our mistakes and our sins.

If we'll own it, if we'll take responsibility for it. He gives us the opportunity to be restored back to the image of God that He put on the inside of us. We are image bearers of God. I just believe that he wants to remind US on this first Sunday of 2026, first of all, that you are a masterpiece. You're a unique work of divine handiwork and workmanship of God himself.

With his own hands, he formed you and he did not make a mistake. You're beautiful. Perfect in his eyes. Because of the blood of Jesus. God wants to remind us on this first Sunday of 2026 that the enemy is constantly after the image of God inside of each one of us.

He wants to do everything he can to cover the image of God with shame, to lead us into decisions that will then take us to a place that we were never intended to go and that is the domain of shame. And I believe God wants to remind us on this first Sunday of the year that he is a covenant keeping God, that He's faithful always to forgive and to restore, that he's always there for us at our time of need. That the greatest thing we can do, rather than hiding from him and running from him, is to run towards him and say, God again, here I am. I've blown it and I'm so sorry. But I ask you for your forgiveness.

I ask you for your mercy. Do me a favor, bow your heads and close your eyes.