Genesis 1-8

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Intro…The beginning of our journey through the story of the Bible is like the beginning of an action-packed movie.
• If you miss the opening minutes of a movie with its fast-paced scenes, you will not understand the rest of the story.
• It is the same with the Bible’s grand Story. The Story opens with “intense action sequences”.
• If the Bible were a movie…
• The creation of the world, animals, humans, The Fall, Cain and Able, the first murder, Noah, the flood…talk about some action!
• These opening chapters of the Bible introduce us to God who is the main character of the Grand Story.

Big Picture: Our universe was created by a personal, loving God who allowed The Fall but had a plan for our salvation from the start.

Text: Genesis 1:1

The Bible Story opens with the account of creation.
• The creation is not an impersonal accident, but the creative purpose of a personal God.
• Big Bang vs. Personal creation.
• If we came from nothing and have no greater purpose for being on this planet, then life can be shallow and meaningless.

Creation is presented poetically and artistically.
• Genesis 1:3 Day 1—Light and Dark
• Genesis 1:6 Day 2—Sky and Water
• Genesis 1:9-13 Day 3—Land and Vegetation
• Genesis 1: 14-19 Day 4—Sun and Moon/stars
• Genesis 1:20-23 Day 5—Birds and Sea creatures
• Genesis 1:24-31 Day 6—Animals and human beings

The story of creation concludes with God’s core passion: human beings.
• God’s passion is people made in His image.
• Genesis 1:26-27…Adam and Eve

• All the beauties of creation are secondary to you. This truth is
a self-esteem builder.
• God’s supreme passion is to be with us at all costs.
• We are God’s highest creation…believe it or not…..I love animals and all…
• We have an enormous responsibility not only to take care of the planet, but animals and each other!

The Bible Story continues with the story of the Fall (Adam and Eve’s rebellion) in Genesis 3.
• Adam and Eve were created with the freedom and power to choose. God will never force his love on anyone. We have to make that choice.
• Next we have the tale of two trees.
• The “tree of life” and the “tree of the knowledge of good and evil” present a choice: Genesis 2: 9 and 15-17
• Adam and Eve rebelled against God and ate from the forbidden “tree of the knowledge of good and evil” and God’s vision to be with people was ruined.
• The rest of the Bible is about God’s pursuit to get us back.

The Bible reports the story of sin’s damage to the human race.
• Because Adam and Eve chose a different vision than God’s vision, sin became part of their spiritual DNA and they passed that on to everyone else.
• Instead of getting all freaked out over that…know that this was all part of God’s plan and that he had a remedy to our sin problem…Jesus!

Genesis 3 – 9 show us the consequences of sin.
• Adam and Eve’s relationship with God was strained, pain in childbirth, work the soil, Cain and Able, jealousy, the first murder, punishment, Cain forced to become a fugitive and wonder the earth.


• There was Increased corruption on the earth from Adam to Noah, (about 1600 yrs. and roughly 10 million people) to the point where God’s chooses Noah to build the ark and God does a “do over” of the human race after the judgment of flood waters.
• God regretted that he had made humans…Gen. 6:6
• The flood erased the wicked human race, but did not erase the sin nature from Noah and his family: Genesis 9: 20-23.

The Bible offers a salvation clue even in the midst of the opening story.
• After Adam and Eve sinned and became aware of their nakedness, they made fig leaf clothing to cover their nakedness.
• God took away the fig leaves and covered Adam and Eve with the skins of animals.
• The Clue: For God to restore the vision that human beings are His supreme passion will require the shedding of blood.

Application:
From the creation story we discover the value of all human beings.

God wants to be with you. Think about that. You. God wants to personally be with you.

At great cost to God, God has done everything possible to get you back.

You are valuable. True, lasting self-esteem begins by believing what God says about you.