Genesis 1 (The Clapps Chapel online Bible Study)

Genesis 1 (NIV translation)

1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. 2 Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.


3 And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. 4 God saw that the light was good, and he separated the light from the darkness. 5 God called the light “day,” and the darkness he called “night.” And there was evening, and there was morning—the first day.
God's Creative act started history, this act created time, space and Matter, Before this there was only GOD.

6 And God said, “Let there be a vault between the waters to separate water from water.” 7 So God made the vault and separated the water under the vault from the water above it. And it was so. 8 God called the vault “sky.” And there was evening, and there was morning—the second day.

9 And God said, “Let the water under the sky be gathered to one place, and let dry ground appear.” And it was so. 10 God called the dry ground “land,” and the gathered waters he called “seas.” And God saw that it was good.

11 Then God said, “Let the land produce vegetation: seed-bearing plants and trees on the land that bear fruit with seed in it, according to their various kinds.” And it was so. 12 The land produced vegetation: plants bearing seed according to their kinds and trees bearing fruit with seed in it according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good. 13 And there was evening, and there was morning—the third day.

14 And God said, “Let there be lights in the vault of the sky to separate the day from the night, and let them serve as signs to mark sacred times, and days and years, 15 and let them be lights in the vault of the sky to give light on the earth.” And it was so. 16 God made two great lights—the greater light to govern the day and the lesser light to govern the night. He also made the stars. 17 God set them in the vault of the sky to give light on the earth, 18 to govern the day and the night, and to separate light from darkness. And God saw that it was good. 19 And there was evening, and there was morning—the fourth day.

20 And God said, “Let the water teem with living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the vault of the sky.” 21 So God created the great creatures of the sea and every living thing with which the water teems and that moves about in it, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. 22 God blessed them and said, “Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the water in the seas, and let the birds increase on the earth.” 23 And there was evening, and there was morning—the fifth day.

24 And God said, “Let the land produce living creatures according to their kinds:the livestock, the creatures that move along the ground, and the wild animals, each according to its kind.” And it was so. 25 God made the wild animals according to their kinds, the livestock according to their kinds, and all the creatures that move along the ground according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good.
At this point we should realize the design that is taking place. order coming from nothing that is heading somewhere, being prepared for some crescendo. God declares his work good
26 Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals,[a] and over all the creatures that move along the ground.”
Now we see why God created such a good place and what it was designed for. His creation is completed with his image bearers, this act of creation will bring Love into the world since he has now created the object of His love. With it will come what love is compared to....hate.
27 So God created mankind in his own image,
in the image of God he created them;
male and female he created them.

Here is a declaration that not only gives all mankind worth but also defines mankind as male and female. two parts of one whole. The foundation of love, togetherness, and dependence on on other.


28 God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.”

The original God ordained vocation. God said to be fruitful and multiply to His original children, He has repeated this command to his disciples to be fruitful and make more disciples.
29 Then God said, “I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food. 30 And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds in the sky and all the creatures that move along the ground—everything that has the breath of life in it—I give every green plant for food.” And it was so.

31 God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning—the sixth day.

While God is always sovereign He enjoys employing His image bearers in the creative process as he has given us dominion over nature (and therefor a directive to conserve and protect it) and a role to play in his next act of creation which will end in a full family of God and the New Heaven and New Earth to come.




Grace and Peace

Gabe

Five plagues of the Churches of your Town.

 The Study of the Book of Revelation has me thinking of the seven churches of 90AD and the churches of today.  I have often heard the arguments about which is better, a small church or a large church. You might say the little church doesn't have the resources to reach more people, or that someone can just be lost in the crowd in the large church. I will submit to you that  both sizes of church have many advantages and disadvantages but the both should have the same Lord. I do not want to focus on what is different between the two here but on what problems they share. I put forth for your consideration the five disciple destroyers that plague churches of all sizes.

1. Theological drift- I have seen the Gospel take a back seat to all kinds of crazy teachings in churches of all sizes. Whether a charismatic leader is taking the church down a path he claims God is leading him or changing political and cultural winds blow whole denominations off course, the drift away from orthodoxy can wreck churches of any size. Church discipline and a steady course of proper teaching and discernment is required to stave off this illness.
2. Growth over Gospel- Small churches need to grow to keep the lights on and pay bills while large ones need to grow to support the huge amount of continuing maintenance caused by large buildings and growing technology needs. These aren't bad things but our faithless reaction to them can be. Sometimes in the name of putting but in seats we make decisions to please the seeker instead of praising the Lord. Growth comes from the Holy Spirit and not by making the Gospel so palatable that it offends no one. The true Gospel is very offensive but it has the power to save. the key to avoid placing to much importance on growth is to put your faith in God to fill the pews as long as you are truly faithful to his message
3. Serving the servers- in every church there is always people complaining about what the church is or is not doing most of the time the topics they raise have more to do with services provided by the church or a lack of appreciation for the work someone has done in the Church. People demand their name be put in the bulletin or an award be given (like the Susanna Wesley award) and Church leaders fear if they don't feed the ego of church members some may withhold tithing or worse leave. Pastors are attacked based on their personality instead of the substance of their sermons or work. Pastors are worried about the attendance and pension more than they are about getting the Gospel to the community and Bishops become rich and entitled worrying about appointments and who is paying apportionments. It often feels like the job of the church is to supply employment instead of make disciples. 
4. "Working" for the church- More time has been spent by"leaders" trying to save the crumbling UMC than in developing ways to evangelize and disciple a growing non Christian population. Bishop's and pastors like Adam Hamilton are willing to give theological ground in any direction to save their beloved UMC. I've heard many refer to it as THEIR Church the same way local congregations do allot when talking about saving THEIR Church from shrinking congregations. They make an Idol out of the"church" when they are willing to change the Gospel to"save" it. We should double down on the true Gospel and be willing to sell buildings and divide from those who appose the Gospel in order to spread It.
5. Dumb disciples-the modern Church has the most access to the most reliable translations of the Bible ever in history yet a large number of the layman in the pews know little to nothing of theology. This has definitely been a failure of church leadership who are afraid to push people to spend time and effort and study out of a fear that they will find the church boring and move on to more fun and entertaining diversions. But a lot of the blame also lies on the individual Christian who's laziness has caused them to not only neglect their own study and spiritual growth but also that of their children. these parents who feel inadequate because of their own lack of knowledge have been trusting local churches to teach their children about the Bible. And when faithful teachers try to get serious when it comes to teaching the young people the doctrines that will keep them in the faith the rest of their life the same parents will allow their students to skip Sunday School and spend zero time reading the Bible at home. This has caused an entire generation of people who are biblically illiterate and therefore are handicapped when it comes to sharing the gospel with others. These parents would never dream of letting their children skip math class or English and be illiterate for the rest of their lives but if the child says they don't like Sunday school or their friends aren't there or it's boring then they'll let them skip or switch to a different church that's more about fun then education. Regardless of our age it is time for Christians to dedicate ourselves to the study of the scriptures again so we will not be fooled by false leaders or use as an excuse of inaction that we don't know what to do.

Here at Clapp's Chapel we are trying to turn a corner by inviting a ministry called the Spirit and Truth into our congregation to help us with evangelism and and discipleship. I truly believe if we are faithful to evangelizing and discipling that God will be pleased and our church will be whatever he wants it to be, small large are no longer.

Grace and Peace

Gabe