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[0:00] So today, it is our, we call it our family picnic day or our church picnic or whatever you want to call it. But what I want us to be thinking about this morning is God's amazing creative ability.

[0:17] Because it is really vital that we understand that because it's kind of the basis for everything else. And we're going to start this morning in Genesis chapter 1, the very beginning of the Bible, the first thing that it tells us about God.

[0:33] Genesis chapter 1 verse 1. And here's the thing. I first thought about sharing the whole first chapter of Genesis and actually the first two or three verses of the second chapter.

[0:46] And then I thought, well, that's an awful lot to just stand up here and read. The whole first chapter of Genesis. No, maybe I shouldn't read all that. That's a lot. And then I decided, no, I'm going to anyway.

[0:59] Because if I'm accused of reading too much of God's word, I'm okay with that. So Genesis 1.1 is where we're going to start this morning. You can follow along.

[1:09] I'm not going to ask you to stand this morning. You can remain seated. But I want you to listen. These are the first things it tells us about God. And it is vital that we understand what the Bible tells us here.

[1:21] In the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was without form and void and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.

[1:34] And God said, let there be light. And there was light. And God saw the light, that it was good. And God divided the light from the darkness. And God called the light day and the darkness He called night.

[1:47] And the evening and the morning were the first day. And God said, let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters. And let it divide the waters from the waters. And God made the firmament and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament.

[2:00] And it was so. And God called the firmament heaven, and the evening and the morning were the second day. And God said, Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together to one place, and then let dry land appear.

[2:13] And it was so. And God called the dry land earth, and the gathering together of the waters he called seas. And God saw that it was good. And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass and herb-yielding seed and the fruit tree yielding fruit after its kind, whose seed is in itself upon the earth.

[2:31] And it was so. And the earth brought forth grass and herb-yielding seed after its kind and tree-yielding fruits whose seed was in itself after its kind. And God saw that it was good.

[2:43] And the evening and the morning were the third day. And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night, and let them be for signs and for seasons and for days and years.

[2:54] And let them be for lights in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth. And it was so. And God made two great lights, the greater light to rule the day and the lesser light to rule the night.

[3:04] He made the stars also. And God set them in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth 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.

[3:18] And the evening and the morning were the fourth day. And God said, Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that has life and the fowl that may fly upon the earth in the open firmament of heaven.

[3:28] And God created great whales and every living creature that moves, which the waters brought forth abundantly after their kind, and every winged fowl after its kind. And God saw that it was good.

[3:40] And God blessed them, saying, Be fruitful and multiply and fill the waters and the seas and let fowl multiply in the earth. And the evening and the morning were the fifth day. And God said, Let the earth bring forth the living creature after its kind, cattle and creeping thing and beast of the earth after its kind.

[3:57] And it was so. And God made the beast of the earth after its kind and cattle after their kind and everything that creeps upon the earth after its kind. And God saw that it was good.

[4:08] And God said, Let us make man in our image after our likeness and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the fowl of the air and over the cattle and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth.

[4:21] So God created man in his own image. The image of God created he him, male and female created he them. And God blessed them. And God said to them, Be fruitful and multiply and replenish the earth and subdue it.

[4:33] And have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the fowl of the air and over every living thing that moves upon the earth. And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed which is upon the face of all the earth and every tree and which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed.

[4:48] To you it shall be for meat. And every beast of the earth and every fowl of the air and everything that creeps upon the earth wherein there is life. I have given every green herb for meat. And it was so.

[4:59] And God saw everything that he had made. And behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day. Thus the heavens and the earth were finished and all the host of them.

[5:11] And on the seventh day God ended his work in which he had made. And he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made. And God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it.

[5:23] Because that in it he had rested from all the work which God created and made. Let's pray together. Lord God, I thank you for this morning that we can come together.

[5:34] That we can worship you together. That we can sing songs of praise to you. That we can share our praises of you together. Lord, that we can look at your word. And Lord, I pray as we look at your word this morning that you would just open our ears, our hearts, our minds.

[5:47] Help us to understand the things that you want us to understand. Help us to recognize you for the God that you are. And I pray, Lord, that you would work on our hearts on this day. And it's in the name of Jesus we pray.

[6:00] Amen. Amen. So as we look at Genesis chapter 1, and I know I read a lot. I read the whole chapter. Why is that chapter so important? It's how it all started.

[6:16] It's the beginning of time. I heard somebody else over here. It's foundational. It is vital that we understand this. And I know we've heard the story of creation before.

[6:28] But sometimes we look at that as a kid's story that we just teach children. But, folks, it is vital that for every believer, for us as Christians, that we understand this chapter is foundational.

[6:38] It is necessary that we understand this. Because if you don't believe in God as the creator, how are you going to believe in the rest of it? How are you going to understand the rest of it unless you understand who God is?

[6:52] And at his core, what it talks about here is God is a creator. And that is an amazing thing in and of itself that God is able to create.

[7:04] Because God is the only one that can take nothing and make it into something. Can you do that? Sometimes we think we can do that.

[7:19] We can't take nothing and make it into something. We can take some pieces and parts and rearrange them and build something. We can do that. But to create is taking something that's not there and forming it.

[7:33] We can't make something out of nothing. Only God can do that. He is the creator. And look at the list of things he created. What did we just cover that God created?

[7:49] Everything. Look around this sanctuary right now. What in here was God not at the root of? Did God really not create at its core? Can you find anything?

[8:02] Well, you can look at our pews. Somebody made those, right? Well, who created the trees in the first place to make those out of? Well, you can look at other things that are in here that are man-made.

[8:14] But again, we rearrange stuff to make that. Stuff that God created to begin with. It talks about the plants and the animals and even light, night and day.

[8:25] God created. All of it. I know we had a, at our house with our granddaughters the other night, we had a campfire in the evening. And we were sitting outside at the campfire.

[8:38] Girls, you remember that? Yeah. Remember that? And Liana, what were we looking at while we sat at the campfire? Up in the sky. What were we looking at?

[8:50] Do you remember? Think real hard. What were we looking at? Planets. We were looking at planets.

[9:01] The other night, you were actually able to see Jupiter, Venus, and Mercury. All of them were in the western sky. And you could see all of them.

[9:13] And we had a little, not a telescope, but a little spotting scope out there. And we were finding them and looking at them. And then Liana spotted the first star in the evening that you could see because it was still a little bit light out. And we found out that was, you remember the name?

[9:26] It was really hard. Arcturus. Arcturus was the name of the star that we saw. Who created all that?

[9:38] God. Is that not amazing? Oh, yeah. That's kind of amazing. Yeah. It's mind-boggling. And Liana asked me at one point, how many stars are there?

[9:51] Well, you know, Papa likes to have all the answers. However, how many stars are there? I don't know. Lots. More than I can count.

[10:02] More than you can count. Who created every one of them? God. Every one of them. And, you know, you think about our universe. And have we even found the end of our universe?

[10:14] No. We don't even know where it ends. Who created all of it? God. And that's what this is telling us, that God is the creator.

[10:25] He created all of it. Everything we see and know, God created. Just for us, right? You're like, is this a trick question?

[10:40] Well, kind of. I want you to look at another scripture in the New Testament. Look in Colossians. Colossians 1, verse 16. Because sometimes we do look at creation and we begin to think that, you know, yeah, God created it all just for us.

[10:57] And we begin to think that things focus around us. Are we ever guilty of that? Are we? You know, even as children. Children sometimes think, and even sometimes into your teenage years and oftentimes into adulthood, we like to think that the world revolves around who?

[11:15] Us. That everybody should cater to who? Us. That everybody should agree with who? Us. With me. We think the world revolves around us and is here for us.

[11:27] Folks, that's not the case. Look in Colossians 1, verse 16. For by Him were all things created that are in the heaven and that are in the earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones or dominions or principalities or powers.

[11:46] All things were created by Him. Who's it talking about here? God. Jesus. Not us, right? Not us. Created by Him. But what are the last three words of that verse?

[11:58] For Him. For Him. For Him. And for Him. Is your name in there? Does it say it was created for, put your name in it. Is that what it says? No. This is all created for who?

[12:12] For God. We were created for who? Because we're part of creation, right? It talked about God creating man and woman, male and female. We were also created for Him.

[12:26] For God. Not for ourselves. For Him. Everything focuses or should focus and is intended to focus not around us but around God.

[12:38] Our lives should focus not around ourselves but around God. Again, that is why it's so important that we understand the first chapter of Genesis.

[12:49] That all that creation that we are a part of is not just for us but it's for God. And we as part of that creation are also created for God.

[13:03] Not just for ourselves. And that is a kind of a different way of thinking, isn't it? The world today focuses around me, me, me. And the Bible is telling us to focus on God, God, God.

[13:18] The other thing, though, that I would like us to think about this morning is we think about the amazing creator that God is. You know, in chapter 2 of Genesis that we read, it said on the seventh day, God did what?

[13:31] He rested. Because He had done what? Wonderful work. And a lot of times we think, well, God created everything and then He rested.

[13:43] So was He done? Did God say, all right, I'm done? I can sit back and rest now. I'm all done. No? Does God still create?

[13:58] Again, you're all looking at me like, is this another trick question? Does God still create? You know, and that's really what has been a little bit on my heart and on my mind the last week or two that God was not done creating there.

[14:13] He was done with that aspect of His creation. He had put it all together. He had formed it. But God still creates today. That is part of who God is. God is a creator. And that means He continues to create in some pretty amazing ways.

[14:29] You know, one of the things that got me thinking about it when we were on our trip, our anniversary trip, is there's an island about 30 miles from where we were at at one point. Do you know what's unique about that island?

[14:41] The name of it was Suitsay? Suitsay, I think was the name of it. Any idea what was maybe unique about this particular island?

[14:53] It's still enlarging. Any other guesses? What's that? Yeah, it's volcanic.

[15:05] And it's out in the middle of the ocean, about 30 miles offshore. And in, I think it was the late 60s, early 70s, it was not there. And then guess what?

[15:17] It was there. The volcano erupted underneath the bottom of the water. All the lava came up and it formed an island. It wasn't there and then it was.

[15:28] Can you do that? Can I do that? God created it. They've been studying it ever since because it's a new island that was just created.

[15:39] Who did that? God. You know, and we can look at other things that we know a little bit more. You've all heard of a place called Hawaii, right? How many of you have been there?

[15:51] I haven't, but how many? Okay, lots of hands. Hawaii currently is gaining about 42 acres a year. Did you know that? Why?

[16:03] Yeah, it's a volcanic island too. And volcanoes keep erupting and the lava cools and melts. And guess what? It just keeps expanding. How does all that happen? I mean, you could take a shovel and start shoveling dirt in the ocean.

[16:19] How long is it going to take you to make an island? You going to get there? No. So, again, how does that happen? God.

[16:30] God creates. God controls. God, His hand is on all of it. Because it is His creation. And He is continuing to work with it and continuing to create.

[16:43] And folks, that is the amazing thing about our God. But it's not just islands that God is still creating. We need to change our thinking a little bit. And this morning, I hope that's what we do.

[16:55] And I want to look at a couple other verses. And these are all in Psalms. So, look in Psalms. We'll stay in Psalms after this. Psalms 118. Turn to Psalms 118, verse 24.

[17:09] And again, I told you the songs that we sang earlier, there is a reason that we sang them. To help get this thought in our head.

[17:19] What was the first song with the guitar, anyway, that we sang? This is the day. How does it continue after that? That the Lord has made.

[17:30] Look at Psalms 118, verse 24. If you didn't know where that song came from. Psalms 118, verse 24. This is the day which the Lord has made. And we will rejoice and be glad in it.

[17:44] This day that we are experiencing right now, how did it come to happen? Did you realize God made it for us? God created it? This is a day which the Lord has made.

[17:58] Part of God's creation. And He's allowing us to experience it, isn't He? Isn't He? Are you grateful for this day? How many times have you woke up and thought, God, thank you for creating and making this day for me.

[18:11] That I can experience it? Is that the way we often think? Or do we just get up every day? Oh, here's just another day. The sun just happened to shine.

[18:25] It happened to come up. And it'll probably set at the end of the day. How much thought do we give just to that? Who created that? Who gives us each day?

[18:37] God. Isn't that amazing? Isn't that amazing? Am I the only one amazed by that? And how much time do I just waste and fail to be thankful for? You know, some days, you ever want days you just want to get over with?

[18:51] I just want to get this day over with. I'm looking forward to the weekend. Just bring on the weekend. And we want to skip over so much of our lives. But each day is a day that God creates. And He says, here, this is part of my creation for you to enjoy today.

[19:05] Are you thankful for it in the way that we should be? So God creates each day that we experience. Look in Psalms 139. And I'm guessing you know where I'm going with this one.

[19:18] Psalms 139 talks about what? Anybody? Well, if you don't know this, you should. Psalms 139.

[19:30] I just want to look at verses 14, 15, and 16. Thinking again about what God makes and creates. I will praise you for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.

[19:43] Marvelous are your works and that my soul knows right well. My substance was not hidden from you when I was made in secret and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. Your eyes did see my substance, yet being imperfect.

[19:55] And in your book all my members were written, which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them. What is that talking about? Life.

[20:07] It's talking about a baby. It's talking about birth. What is a baby? What is a birth? What is it? It is a creation. Of who?

[20:18] God. I hope we look at that that way. That is why I believe with all my heart that abortion is wrong, that it's a sin, because life is a beautiful creation and gift that God has done, that God has formed.

[20:33] Can we do that? Can we just say, Oh, I'm just going to put this stuff together and make a human being. Are we able to do that? And you think, Oh, we can figure a lot out. We can even sometimes, we can clone some life, can't we?

[20:48] Can't they clone things? Haven't they cloned like sheep or whatever? I don't know what all they've cloned lately. And we think we're pretty smart for doing that. But again, when we do that, what are we really doing? We're taking something that's already there and just trying to replicate it, aren't we?

[21:04] Are we really creating that? No, we're copying it. That's all we're doing or trying to, and we don't even always get that right. Is there a big difference between copying something and creating something?

[21:17] Yeah. Yes. It's kind of like, you know, I've never been an artist. Never at all. But I always liked it when you could lay a piece of paper on top of it and just trace what's already there.

[21:31] I'm pretty good at that. But is that really creating something? No. That's what we do. And we like to think we're so intelligent for that. God is the one that creates. And it's talking about a child still in the womb.

[21:44] That God takes nothing and makes it into something. And you know who he did that for? Every one of us that are sitting in here.

[21:56] Didn't he? God formed you. He made something that was nothing and made it into you. So you know what? You come from nothing. How do you feel about that?

[22:10] What I mean for us to realize is we are an amazing creation of God. Every one of us. And again, you look at God's creation and how unique it is.

[22:21] I love going on trips. And whether it was this last trip or any other trip we've been on, it doesn't matter where you go. If you open your eyes and look around, isn't God's creation amazing?

[22:33] To look at the different animals, the different plants, the different flowers, the different birds, the different scenery, the different topography, all the different scenes that we can see. That is God's creative ability.

[22:44] And we can look at scenery and think that, but we don't even have to look that far. Look around this room. Guess what? None of you look identical to the person sitting next to you.

[22:55] Not one. Now, I know we can have twins and they can be awful close and all that, but isn't God's creativity amazing? To make all, I don't know, a hundred and some of us that are here pretty unique that I can look at you and if I don't forget your name, I can tell you your name because you're created differently than somebody else.

[23:15] God's creative ability. And we appreciate that in nature. Do we appreciate that in each other to the same degree and extent? And not just the way we look.

[23:26] We don't all act the same either, do we? Yeah, some of you are laughing at that. Do we all act the same? Do we all have the same personalities? No, I think you should all have mine.

[23:38] No, I don't really. We all have unique personalities, don't we? Creations of God. And I know that it's partly our upbringing, but, you know, as I watched my grandchildren, as I looked at my children brought up in the same house in the same circumstance, and you know what?

[23:56] They're all very unique. Why? Because God made them that way. God is still creating. Every time you see a new life, every time you look at another person, be reminded God is still creating.

[24:10] I want you to look in Psalms 68. We're not done. Look in Psalms 68. This has to do with the second song that we sang with the guitar, which was what?

[24:26] You've forgotten already? Family of God. Psalm 68, verse 6. And this is what it shares. God sets the solitary in families.

[24:37] He brings out those which are bound with chains, but the rebellious dwell in a dry land. I want to look at the beginning of that verse. He sets the solitary in families. You know what else God creates?

[24:49] God forms? Family. It's a beautiful thing that God creates. And we can think of a couple different kind of families. Certainly a physical family.

[24:59] When a baby is born or when people get married, a family is formed, isn't it? That is a miracle creation of God. He says when a man and woman commit themselves together before God, two become one.

[25:11] That's a new creation, isn't it? That God has created. And then He creates, if they have children, He creates these beautiful, wonderful, amazing creations called children. And He continues to create what?

[25:23] A family. And that family grows. That is God's creation. But we don't have to just look at physical family. We can look at a church family. Has God created this family?

[25:35] Yes. God has called us. God has brought us. We have chosen to be here. But God fits it all together in a way that only God can. And it's an amazing thing because the way God intends it.

[25:48] Again, we don't all think the same, do we? We don't all have the same opinion as me, do you? You should. I don't mean that.

[25:58] I don't even always agree on everything with my wife. How am I going to agree on everything with all of you? I'm not. Are you going to agree with the person sitting next to you or behind you or in front of you?

[26:09] Are you always going to agree with them? No, because you're always right, right? That's how we think. And yet, isn't it an amazing thing that God can create a church family?

[26:19] And even though we have all these differences, even though we have all these opinions, even though we have different thoughts, God can just put it all together and bind it together with His love.

[26:32] Is that not an amazing creation of God? Does that mean we never have any disagreements? No. But if we practice the forgiveness that God teaches, guess what?

[26:44] That family works the way that it's intended. That is a creation of God. And today as we have our family picnic or church, whatever you want to call it, be grateful for that.

[26:58] Think of our church family as God's creation that He allows us to experience. One more. Psalms 51. It's the last place I'm going to have you turn.

[27:11] Psalms 51, verse 10. And this is perhaps the most important creation that we can talk about. Psalms 51, verse 10.

[27:23] And this is a psalm of David. Again, not all the psalms were written by David, but the majority were. This one was written by David. A man who's called a man after God's own heart.

[27:34] Far from a perfect man. We're studying him on Wednesday nights in 1 Samuel. Far from a perfect man. But look at what he says in Psalms 51, 10. Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.

[27:54] So God has created each one of us as human beings, right? Right? He creates us. And then we make every right decision in our life and always do the right thing after that.

[28:08] Is that the way it works? No. God creates us. He gives us life. And then what are we so very good at? Messing it up.

[28:19] We muck it up in some pretty big ways. That is what we're good at. God gives us this amazing life. And then we are perfectly capable of making one bad decision after another.

[28:31] And erring and sinning and all kinds of things. That is us, isn't it? But you know what God can continue to do because he's not done creating?

[28:41] You know what God can do? Create in me a clean heart. God can take that sinful, that black, that heart that has made so many mistakes, and God can create something new.

[29:01] A clean heart. Isn't that amazing? You know, to me, I think sometimes we don't really think what an accomplishment that is. I am one that, I do not own very many white clothes.

[29:17] At all. I have like two dress shirts that are white. They're for funerals and weddings. It's the only time you're going to see me wearing a white shirt. Why? Because I attract dirt.

[29:33] It has always been an amazing thing. Whenever I'm working on something, and if I happen to be working with my father, he can do just about anything. And you look at him when he's done, oh, he's got a little smudge of dirt right on that one finger.

[29:47] I can work on the same thing right next to him. And by the time we're done, I look down, it's like all over me. And he's clean. And he did more work than I did. I collect dirt.

[30:00] Why don't I own a white shirt? Well, yeah, but you put it in like Tide or something, and it's going to be just like new, right? Take out all the grease.

[30:12] That's what the commercial says. It's just going to make it look like it was just off the shelf. Is that the way it works? You wish. Eventually, that white shirt, no matter how many times you wash it in Tide or use bleach or whatever, what is that white shirt going to look like?

[30:27] Is it ever going to look really new again? No. But here it says that God is capable of taking our hearts, which can be so messed up, which can be so filthy, and he can create a clean heart.

[30:46] And when it says create, he's giving us something new there, a new perspective, a new heart, a heart that that sin is erased from, a new life.

[30:57] That's what God creates within us. Isn't that an amazing thing? And it doesn't matter how dirty it was before. God can create a clean heart in us.

[31:10] And whenever we ask him for forgiveness and do it with sincerity and believe in Jesus Christ and his death on the cross, that that's where our sin can be forgiven, when we do that, God does that.

[31:21] He creates a clean heart in us. And if you want to talk about God's amazing creative ability, there it is. That God can take our hearts and create a new heart that's clean in us.

[31:37] Does that mean we'll keep it clean? Nah, we're going to mess up again. But as many times as we ask for forgiveness, God's going to take that heart and make it clean and new. That is the creating God that we serve.

[31:50] A God that is in no way, shape, or form done creating. He creates new life. He creates new hope. He creates a new heart within us when we ask.

[32:02] Do you praise God for that? I hope we do on a regular basis. Please always remember our God is not done creating. And the most amazing creation that he desires to do is in your heart and in my heart.

[32:18] Thank him for that. Take advantage of that. You know, if I had a dirty, messed up white shirt and somebody continually offered, here, take this new one. And I said, nah, just keep the filthy one I have.

[32:31] What would you think? What would you think? You'd think I had a problem, wouldn't you? But how often do we do that? We have this corrupted, sinful heart, and we say, nah, I'll just keep this one.

[32:46] Thank you very much. I don't want the new, fresh one. I'll just keep this gross one. Folks, take advantage of God's creative ability. Seek his forgiveness in your life.

[32:57] If you've never invited him into your heart, do it this morning. Ask him to forgive, and he will create that new heart in you. But folks, also remember that that's a continuous process, that we continue to need God's forgiveness because we continue to mess up.

[33:12] But as many times as we ask, God will create that clean heart in us. Let's pray. Lord God, thank you again for this morning. Thank you for your word. Lord, remind us that you are a God of creation, that created it all, but you are not done creating.

[33:27] You continue to create. You create family. You create life. You create clean hearts within us, and we thank you for all that. Thank you for being the God that you are. Lord, if there are any here that have never had that clean heart, I pray this morning is a morning that they invite you in, that they seek your forgiveness, so you can create in them a clean heart.

[33:49] And Lord, for those that have sought your forgiveness and received it before, just remind us that you're always there ready to create that new heart within us whenever we ask.

[34:00]  Thank you for that, Lord. In the name of Jesus, we pray. Amen.