Once Upon A Time

Genesis 1:1

January 7, 2024 • Ben Potloff • Genesis 1:1

Genesis 1:1 | Ben Potloff | "In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth" (Genesis 1:1 ESV). What Christians believe to be true comes from what the Bible teaches the most and the clearest (Gavin Ortlund, Finding the Right Hills to Die On). From the very first verse of our Bible, God clearly and epically reveals one of the most important and foundational truths about himself: Before anything was made, there was God, and God made everything.

MAIN IDEA

God made everything.

OUTLINE

I. There is a God who has always been.

II. There is a God who created all there is.

Bad News

February 25, 2024 • Ben Potloff • Genesis 3

Genesis 3:1-24 | Ben Potloff | Over and over, the opening chapters of Genesis show us something being made from nothing, order brought to chaos, life and vitality where there was only a void, God's image bearers ruling over his creation. But, in chapter 3, everything goes wrong; created things misrepresent God, His image bearers rebel against his rule, and Paradise is lost at the foot of the forbidden tree. Now we ask, "Is God done with this world and this people that have rebelled against Him?" MAIN IDEA Disobedience leads to death. OUTLINE I. Eve was deceived by the serpent and Adam disobeyed God (vv. 1-13) II. God declared that the consequence for human sin is death (vv. 14-19, 22-24) III. In the midst of retribution God promised redemption (vv. 15, 20-21)

Wedding Day

February 18, 2024 • Ben Potloff • Genesis 2:18–25

Genesis 2:18-25 | Ben Potloff | Moses' closer look at the creation of humanity continues as, for the first time, God says that something is "not good." God creates woman from man in a wonderful and glorious act of creation that completes God's initial work of creation and begins human history. MAIN IDEA God created woman to complement man in the one flesh union of marriage. OUTLINE I. God created the woman to be the perfect helper to the man (vv. 18-23) II. God created marriage to be a permanent and exclusive union (vv. 24-25)

Paradise

February 11, 2024 • Max Janusch • Genesis 2:1–17

Genesis 2:1-17 | Max Janusch | At the finale of God's creation work, God rests and blesses the seventh day. Moses then returns his focus to the creation of man, the garden of Eden, and God tasking man to "work the ground" in obedience to God. Here, we are reminded that God is the Creator and we are the creatures. MAIN IDEA God places his people in paradise. OUTLINE I. God modeled rest for man as the finale to his creation. (vv. 1-3) II. God created man from his creation. (vv. 4-7) III. God put man in the best of his creation. (vv. 8-14) IV. God tasked man to obediently cultivate his creation. (vv. 15-17)