Today we start a 3-week sermon series about the two stories of creation found in Genesis Chapters 1 and 2. There is a lot of controversy over whether or not these stories contradict and why there are two stories that detail how God created the world. I hope to clear up some of that controversy and help us understand why both stories are essential for our faith.

One story of creation is found in Genesis Chapter 1. This story tells us that God created the world in 6 days, and on the 7th day, he rested. This story focuses on what God did during each day of creation.

The other story is found in Genesis Chapter 2, and it gives us a different perspective on how God created the world. In this story, we learn that God created Adam from dust and then placed him in a beautiful garden called Eden, where he was to live forever. But when Adam disobeyed God, he was banished from paradise and ever since then, humans have been trying to find their way back home by doing things like going to church or serving others.

Why are these two stories important? Well, they both give us different but essential truths about who God is and who we are as his people. Chapter 1 teaches us about how powerful and awesome our Creator is, while Chapter 2 shows us exactly how much he loves his creatures, even though we often sin against him.”

This week is an overview. We will dive into how, as a Christian, you need to be aware of the scriptures that others may see as contradictory, and you need to know what to say about them to defend your faith. Therefore, please stay tuned during the entire series to learn more about each account of creation and how you can help shed some light on it for others as well.

Referenced Verses:
1 Corinthians 16:13
1 Peter 3:15
Luke 12:12
Genesis 12:1
Matthew 17:24-27
Genesis 1:1-31
Genesis 2:1-25

 

Video Transcript

Hello and welcome to Social Media Ministries, my name is Spencer Coffman. Thank you so much for tuning in today. For dedicating a part of your day to listen to the Word of God. We have got a great message for you, one that could be a little bit different and somewhat controversial. We are going to dive right into it.

The purpose of Social Media Ministries is to spread the living Word of God to as many people as possible through the use of social media and also to help them understand and interpret the scriptures in the Bible. If you would like to help us with that, we would greatly appreciate it. All you have to do is hit the like button and the share button on this video so that more and more people can see these messages. If you want to support us financially you can do that as well, there will be all kinds of links in the description. You can always comment below or contact us on social media.

Let’s get busy. We have two stories of creation. What? Two stories? Yes, there are two different stories, two different accounts of how the world was created, of course, they are both in the Book of Genesis which is in the very beginning of the Bible. Now this is going to be a three-part sermon series, so tune in for the next three weeks. We have got three parts to this, on the two stories of creation.

Today we are giving an overview of it and what is going on with them and how you need to be prepared, because this is a very very fundamental method of people, that they will use to attack your faith. When you tell others that you are a Christian or if the topic of evolution comes up and you say, nope, I believe that God created the earth. Bam, this is ammunition that they are going to use to shut that down, they are going to say there are two different stories and you are probably going to say, well what are you talking about, evolution and creation? No, there are two creation stories, and then you won’t know what to say.

This is very important. This is a form of apologetics which means; defending the faith, and as a believer, and as someone who is called to share the Gospel with others and to bring salvation to other people you need to know the different stories or the different types of attacks that people could use on you and you need to be prepared to defend against them. Of course, offense is the best defense, but in this case, you still need to know what you are talking about and you need to be prepared for when someone attacks you with these types of things.

There are two different stories of creation, we are going to go through a little bit about them, we are going to also talk about each of the stories. Like I said, stay tuned. Next week we are going to talk about the first one, and the week after that we are going to talk about the second one. We have a lot of people claiming that these stories contradict and are thus invalid.

Major proponents of evolution do this and they say, well the Bible doesn’t even know how the world was created, they contradict each other, so that proves evolution or that supports evolution. I don’t know how it supports it, they are just kind of disproving creation by saying they are contradictory. This is not the truth. This is a myth. They are not contradictory, they go together, they go hand in hand.

They are in the first part of the Bible, it was done for a reason. The whole Bible was divinely authored by God. Through man, He gave words to people and they wrote them down and these words are perfect. If you look them up in the original Hebrew, all of the words, it is called gematria, they go together mathematically. If you substituted one out for another, it wouldn’t work. They were divinely authored, that is a whole nother topic that we won’t get into. But if you are an analytical-minded person, you like numbers, accountants, stats, type in gematria and look that up, it is very very cool.

When someone comes at you with this, don’t be shaken, you must stand firm in your faith. Again this is an overview. We are going to tackle a different topic, stand firm in your faith. Why? Well, we are going to check out 1 Corinthians 16:13.

Let’s go there. If you have your Bible, turn with me 1 Corinthians 16:13. I am going to read it here. If you don’t have your Bible, don’t worry, because I am going to give you the verse. ‘Be on your guard, stand firm in the faith, be men of courage, be strong, do everything in love.’

Now of course at the time this was written, it is talking to the men because men were primarily the ones that were out there. That is who they counted when they gave totals, they counted all the men and then they would say, besides women and children. Really the numbers were a lot higher, side point. Anyway, in today’s modern translations or modern versions, it might say, people, humans, be people of courage, men and women of courage, the point is you, it is not specifically talking to men if you are a female out there listening, this is speaking to you too.

‘Be on your guard, stand firm in your faith, have courage, be strong, do everything in love.’ That is meaning, don’t be spiteful about it, don’t come across as arrogant with it. You need to stand firm and you need to know how to talk about this. If you don’t know that there are two different stories of creation, pay close attention, the next two weeks are going to reveal that they are in Genesis chapter 1 and Genesis chapter 2. We are going to go through each of those chapters and you need to be aware. You need to know all about the Bible, everything you can, so study, meditate on the word day and night, learn everything you can, be prepared to defend your faith.

We are gonna go to 1 Peter 3:15. So check it out, turn with me there, 1Peter3:15 says, ‘But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord, always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you, to give the reason for the hope that you have, but do this with gentleness and respect.’

We have a common theme here, always be prepared to give an answer for the hope that you have. Why do you have hope? Why, when negative things happen do you look on the bright side? Why are you a half full, rather than a half-empty type of person? It is because you know that there is joy down in your heart, provided by Jesus Christ. So if someone asks you that, be prepared. What is your reason? You have Jesus, that is the reason why.

Two stories of creation, don’t rattle or shake you when someone attacks you with it, because I have hope, I have Jesus in me and it says, do this with gentleness and respect just like the other verse, in Corinthians it says, do it in love.

You need to be kind. You are not talking at people, you are not saying, you are so foolish, you don’t know what you are talking about, you are saying, okay I see what you are saying however this is what it means, and you are progressing, you are giving them answers, you are combating their arguments with facts, with calmness, peace, love, and respect. The Holy Spirit will tell you what to say, even if you don’t know what’s going on. If you step into the ring and start defending your faith and start defending Jesus Christ here on earth, He will speak for you.

We are going to go to Luke 12:12 just in case you don’t believe me. Go to Luke 12:12, it says, ‘For the Holy Spirit will teach you at that time what you should say.’ Right there. Now we have got a little bit more support for this. When you look at the Old Testament, you look at Moses who was out in the wilderness and God said, go back, talk to pharaoh and Moses said, hey man, I can’t speak very well, I stutter.

You might have a speech problem, some type of impediment, so for those of you that struggle with speech maybe you stutter and you don’t have the confidence to talk to people because you are worried what they might think about you. Moses was the same way, don’t worry about it. God told Moses, I will speak for you and he says, no God I can’t do it, okay fine take your brother Aaron with you and he can speak for you but you are still gonna speak. God wouldn’t let him off the hook.

You step into the ring, God’s gonna back you, He will help you, the Holy Spirit will tell you what to say. Right here, for the Holy Spirit will teach you at that time what you should say, you may not know, you may not have it prepared or planned, but you will be spoken through, you are a vessel, you show up, and bam, things happen.

This verse in Luke is a context thing, these are Jesus’s words, if we go back to verse 11 it says, ‘When you are brought before synagogues, rulers and authorities, do not worry about how you will defend yourselves or what you will say, for the Holy Spirit will teach you at that time what you should say.’

When someone starts questioning your faith when someone starts attacking your beliefs, when someone says, hey the Bible doesn’t make sense, it contradicts itself on the stories of creation, hey the world wasn’t created, evolution happened, any of those questions, be prepared to defend your faith. Do not worry about how you will defend yourselves or what you will say, the Holy Spirit will speak for you, so keep that in mind. Always trust that the Holy Spirit will come through for you.

You gotta take that first step, God isn’t simply going to speak for you though about something you know nothing about. If you have already stopped or you say, all right well I don’t need to tune in for the next two weeks because I don’t need to learn about the two different stories of creation, because you just said the Holy Spirit will speak for me, you have to do your part, your part is more than just opening your mouth and starting to speak. That is foolishness, a babbling fool comes to ruin, don’t be a babbling fool, you got to have knowledge behind what you are saying, so learn about this.

You need to meet God halfway, now that is a very popular saying from a very popular old movie, Where the Red Fern Grows, where the little boy wants some dogs and the grandfather or the storekeeper, pretty sure it is the grandfather, says, you got to meet God halfway. Then you see the next scenes, the boy is working hard, saving up his money to get some dogs. He met God halfway.

A lot of people say this isn’t true, but it is, you have to do your part, God isn’t simply going to do everything for you. If you step into the ring to defend the faith, you need to have some knowledge that God can put together out of your mind and make sound good. Yeah, you might not have prepared it all, but deep down it has been buried in your heart, you have learned it. That is what God will use.

How do we know that the concept of meeting God halfway is a true thing? We are going to take a look at two stories. Number one is Abraham, if you know the story of Abraham you will know a little bit about what I am going to say. There are a lot of things with Abraham. We are going to go to Genesis 12:1. This is in the very very beginning when his name was Abram. ‘The LORD said to Abram, leave your country, your people, your father’s household, and go to the land I will show you.’

Before God changed his name and he became Abraham, He said, leave your country and your people, leave everything, your father’s household, leave that, go to the land I will show you. Abram is probably saying, what are you talking about God, just start walking? God says, yes, take those first steps in faith. I will show you what to do. Meet me halfway. I will provide the rest. Start doing what I am telling you to do. Everything else will fall into place.

This happens time and time again throughout the Bible, where God says, go, do, start, the rest comes into place. There are stories throughout history of pastors or preachers or orphanages or anybody, Christians who are trying to do something and God says, pour the foundation. God, we don’t have enough money to do that. Go ahead. So they start the construction and all of a sudden the money comes and the foundation is poured.

Or there is a story of orphanages overseas in the 1800s where the guy sits down to pray and they have 200 kids to feed and they have no food and he says, Lord thank you for the food we are going to eat and about to receive, and all the cooks are like, what is going on, this guy he’s nuts, we have nothing. All of a sudden the milk truck broke down outside and they got all kinds of food to feed the orphans because if they don’t use it, it will go bad. Bam, he took the first step, that is the point here.

Let’s go to Matthew 17:24-27. This is a very very popular story and a lot of people don’t quite know what it means. There are also various meanings for it, but we are going to take one very important point from it.

Let’s check this out here, ‘After Jesus and his disciples arrived in Capernaum, the collectors of the two-drachma tax came to Peter and asked, doesn’t your teacher pay the temple tax? Yes he does, he replied. When Peter came into the house, Jesus was the first to speak, what do you think Simon, he asked, from whom do the kings of the earth collect duty and taxes, from their own sons or from others? From others, Peter answered. Then the sons are exempt, Jesus said to him, but so that we may not offend them, go to the lake and throw out your line, take the first fish that you catch, open its mouth and you will find a four-drachma coin, take it and give it to them for my tax and yours.’

The taxes are beside the point, the point Jesus says, that they don’t take it from the sons, they take it from others. If He is the son of the government, okay it doesn’t matter, He doesn’t need to pay it but guess what, He is in this area, He is under this world temporarily, so that we may not offend the rulers of this world we will pay the tax. That is where people get caught up, that this is about paying taxes.

However, there is another meaning here that I want to point out. Right here, go to the lake and throw out your line, take the first fish you catch, open its mouth and you will find a four-drachma coin. Jesus could have snapped His fingers and said, here you go, here is a coin, go give it to them or hey, guess what, check your pocket, there is a coin there or Here I got a coin, pay him for the tax. No, He made Peter meet Him halfway, go to the lake, throw out your line, take the fish, pull out the coin, then go give it to them. There are a lot of steps there. There are a lot of steps there to meet God halfway.

You need to give God something to work with. You can’t simply go through life expecting that everything is going to happen exactly as it should be or as in some fairy tale. You got to work, you got to put in some effort, meet God halfway.

The next two weeks you are going to learn about the two stories of creation. We are going to learn them in chronological order. You are going to learn the first story and then years later, decades later, another story was written, and that story you are going to learn about second. Now this means, in case you don’t know, the first story, the original story of creation is Genesis chapter 2.

We are going to learn about Genesis chapter 2 next week, and then after that, we are going to examine Genesis chapter 1. Now you might say, wait a minute, why wouldn’t Genesis chapter 1 be the older story of creation? Well, there are some reasons for that, on why they put a newer story of creation in front of the Bible, in front of the original story. We are going to get to that at that point in time. This is kind of like a hook to get you to come back, listen to this, and find out why.

Maybe you already know. This isn’t some newfound revolutionary notion, people have been debating this for long, many years before you and I were even born they were talking about this issue. It is a very popular thing, it is a very popular issue. The point that I want to make in this sort of introductory sermon, is that you need to be aware of these types of things in the Bible. You need to know that yes, there are some areas that might seem contradictory or controversial, but you have to remember you must stand firm in your faith.

All of this, the whole Bible, is divinely authored. That means it is 100% true. You take it all. If there is something in the Bible you don’t believe, that is a problem, you need to believe everything in here, everything in here was written to teach us. So take in that knowledge, this is everything, everything you need to know on how to live the best life you could possibly live. Soak it in, learn as much as you can and be prepared to defend your faith, and always give an account for the joy and the hope that is within you.

Let’s pray. Father God thank you so much for this time together. Thank you for this introductory lesson into the next two weeks of this sermon. Lord, I ask that each and every person who is tuning in comes back and that they continue to learn about this and that they will be fascinated by the discrepancies that are perceived in your Word and that they would know and understand that they aren’t discrepancies at all.

But that you put them there for a specific reason and that reason might very well be to have other people think that there is something wrong or point out a discrepancy or a contradiction, but the reason you did that was so that believers and people who study and know the Word can easily and effortlessly speak against that and convince those other people, those critics, and naysayers, that no, it actually does make sense, that they are wrong and that we know what we are talking about, and that you put that in there to give us an opportunity to bring more people to you.

We thank you so much for that. Thank you for the ability to learn about these and Lord I ask that every single person out there listening and watching would really really have a desire to learn more about your Word and that they would use that knowledge to share it with other people. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Thanks again for tuning in, for giving me your time tonight or today, whenever you are listening or watching. Thank you very much. Please stay tuned, tune in next week, set your calendars, get an alert, hit the bell icon below if you are watching on YouTube, and the subscribe button so that you can be alerted when the next sermon in this series comes out. It will be next week, same time, same place, so tune in for the next two weeks to get this and I hope that you continue tuning in for more and more messages.

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