Good evening.  What I want to do first is just start our Wednesday Bible Study off with a time of prayer.  So Let’s Pray.

Now, in preparation for the Wednesday evening services I tried thinking of what would be good to cover, and how to cover it.  Finally I came up with an idea.  It’s going to take a long time, but I want to work our way through the Bible on Wednesday nights.  My goal is to get through 2-3 chapters each week depending on the length of the chapters and the content to each chapter.

Now before we start, I want to read a few quotes that I found this week about the Bible.  First, John Snider once wrote that is was the Universal Book.  Here is what he said, “The Bible is not only many books.  It is a literature.  History, poetry, prophecy, philosophy, theology, oratory, humor, sarcasm, irony, music, drama, tragedy, strategy, love tales, war tales, travelogues, laws, songs, sermons, warnings, prayers, all are here.  Was there ever such a literature?  The Bible begins with a garden, and ends with a city.  It starts with a morning followed by a night, and ends with a day that shall know no night.  It breaks the silence with “In the beginning,” and it hushes the universe to sleep with “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with you all.””

Philips Brooks has said that it is more than a dead letter.  He wrote, “The Bible is like a telescope.  If a man looks through his telescope, then he sees worlds beyond; but if he looks at his telescope, then he does not see anything but that.  The Bible is a thing to be looked through, to see that which is beyond; but most people only look at it; and so they see only the dead letter.”

And finally, if you look up the word Bible in the thesaurus, here is what it will give, “guide, handbook, gospel, manual, sourcebook, guidebook.”  And that is exactly what it is, it is our guide, it is the sourcebook to living a Godly life, and it is the manual that tells us how to gain salvation and eternal life.

So, as we examine the scriptures on Wednesday evenings, may we be looking for the “Keys To Life.”

Now let me just explain how I hope this time will go.  Each week, obviously I hope that you will bring your Bible along, and that throughout the week maybe you will have skimmed over what we will be looking at.  I will have a little bit to go with, but I hope that you will truly discuss and give input each week.  It will hopefully be more discussion generated than what we do on Sunday nights.

Now, I have some notebooks here, and what they are for is if you plan on taking notes, because I will not have a handout each week.  So if you want one, then take one, if not, just pass then on.  I would also encourage you that if you take one, to take it home with you and write in it when you read ahead.  Write down questions, thoughts, whatever you what, that way it will help us in the week as we discuss each chapter.

Now tonight, what I want to do is get through the introduction to the Bible.  I hope to get through chapter 1 of Genesis.  Then I can judge how many chapter to do each week from here on out.

Before we get started, let’s have a word of prayer.

Now as we get started in this study, the first 5 books of the Bible are called the “Pentateuch.”  All 5 of these books have been written by Moses.  These 5 books tell the history of the nation of Israel.

So we start with Genesis.  Geneses is a book of beginnings.  You have: creation (ch. 1), human history, including marriage (ch. 2), sin and death (ch. 3), and a whole lot more.  The things that start in Geneses are carried through the Bible and are fulfilled in the book of Revelation.

Genesis focuses on 6 people and their families.  You have: Adam (1-5), Noah (6-10), Abraham (11-25), Isaac (25-27), Jacob (28-36), and Joseph (37-50).

Let’s get started.  Some of you were given a key when you came in, that represents what verses you are going to read for us.  So go ahead and start with the first key.  (Read)

This passage is a summary account of how God created the world.  The Bible always assumes rather than argues that God has always existed.  As Psalms 90:2 states, creation had a begging, but God has always been.

What modern creation is the most important to you?  Car?  Computer?  ?

When you read the story of creation, what is your first impression?

We are conscious every day of the visible world around us.  We need to remember that this world speaks to us of God, His existence, His wisdom, and His power.  In fact, in Romans 1:20 it says, “1”

So, as we look at this chapter on creation, I think that there are 4 keys that we can pull out of this passage.  First, is that God Creates.  Everything begins with God and fulfills His purpose.  At that time He worked through the power of His Word, the same Word that can work in our lives today.  And what is neat is that God has a plan for us.  Well in the same way He had a plan at creation as well.  First, He forms, and then He fills.

He formed the earth, and then He filled it with plants and animals.  He formed space, and then filled it with starts and planets.  He formed the sees, and then filled them with living creatures.  And today, He can form and fill our lives if we will allow Him to.  In fact, there is a new creation, and those people who have trusted Jesus are a part of that new creation.  In fact in Ephesians 2:8-10 it says, “2”

What is something that God created that you are glad He did?

The next thing that we can see in this passage is that God Names.  Not only did God create things, He then went on to name them as well.  He named what He made, and we have no right to make any changes.  In fact in Isaiah 5:20 it says, “3”

You see, God calls things by their rightful names, and if we are going to use His vocabulary, then we need to use His dictionary as well.  As we look at our lives, God has given us a name to identify with as well.  We are Christians, which means we need to be Christ like.  So remember, God names things as well.

Third, God divides.  What in this passage did God divide?

God separated darkness from light, dry land from wet land, and the waters from above from the water beneath.  But you know what, the idea of God separating things is basic in all the Bible.  He separated Abraham from Ur, the nation of Israel from the Gentiles, and He has especially separated His church from the rest of the world.  Turn with me to John 17:14-16.  Here in John 17:14-16 it says, “4”

You see, we are to be in the world, but not of the world.  We are to be separate from the way the rest of the world acts and speaks.  We are to be different.

And I think that the last thing we can gain from this passage is that God Blesses.  What are some of the blessings that you personally have been given by God?

Well, the first man and woman were the only part of creation to be blessed by God.  Because we are made in the image of God, we are different than all of the other animals that God created.

How does it make you feel to know that you were made in the image of God?

Well, something happened, and we will get to that in the future, but sin entered in and distorted that image, but one day, all of the true believers will once again take on the image of Christ.  In Roman 8:29 it talks about us being formed into the image of Christ.

The great thing about God’s blessings is that the more we are like Christ, the more we will enjoy His blessings.  We will see them as blessings, and we will enjoy them all the more.

Okay, before we close, does anyone have anything that they would like to add to our discussion before we leave?

Well then let me end by asking, how aware are you of the created world around you, and how does that affect the way you view God?

Well as we leave today, let’s remember that first, God creates, second, God names, third, God divides, and fourth, God blesses.

I’m going to close us with a word of prayer, and then to get yourself ready for next week, try and read over Genesis 2-3.

Let’s Pray.