Starting Over
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1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. 2 Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness covered the surface of the watery depths, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the surface of the waters. 3 Then God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. 4 God saw that the light was good, and God separated the light from the darkness. 5 God called the light “day,” and the darkness he called “night.” There was an evening, and there was a morning: one day. 6 Then God said, “Let there be an expanse between the waters, separating water from water.” 7 So God made the expanse and separated the water under the expanse from the water above the expanse. And it was so. 8 God called the expanse “sky.” Evening came and then morning: the second day. 9 Then God said, “Let the water under the sky be gathered into one place, and let the dry land appear.” And it was so. 10 God called the dry land “earth,” and the gathering of the water he called “seas.” And God saw that it was good. 11 Then God said, “Let the earth produce vegetation: seed-bearing plants and fruit trees on the earth bearing fruit with seed in it according to their kinds.” And it was so. 12 The earth produced vegetation: seed-bearing plants according to their kinds and trees bearing fruit with seed in it according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good. 13 Evening came and then morning: the third day. 14 Then God said, “Let there be lights in the expanse of the sky to separate the day from the night. They will serve as signs for seasons and for days and years. 15 They will be lights in the expanse of the sky to provide light on the earth.” And it was so. 16 God made the two great lights—the greater light to rule over the day and the lesser light to rule over the night—as well as the stars. 17 God placed them in the expanse of the sky to provide light on the earth, 18 to rule the day and the night, and to separate light from darkness. And God saw that it was good. 19 Evening came and then morning: the fourth day. 20 Then God said, “Let the water swarm with living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the expanse of the sky.” 21 So God created the large sea-creatures and every living creature that moves and swarms in the water, according to their kinds. He also created every winged creature according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. 22 God blessed them: “Be fruitful, multiply, and fill the waters of the seas, and let the birds multiply on the earth.” 23 Evening came and then morning: the fifth day. 24 Then God said, “Let the earth produce living creatures according to their kinds: livestock, creatures that crawl, and the wildlife of the earth according to their kinds.” And it was so. 25 So God made the wildlife of the earth according to their kinds, the livestock according to their kinds, and all the creatures that crawl on the ground according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good. 26 Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, according to our likeness. They will rule the fish of the sea, the birds of the sky, the livestock, the whole earth, and the creatures that crawl on the earth.” 27 So God created man in his own image; he created him in the image of God; he created them male and female. 28 God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth, and subdue it. Rule the fish of the sea, the birds of the sky, and every creature that crawls on the earth.” 29 God also said, “Look, I have given you every seed-bearing plant on the surface of the entire earth and every tree whose fruit contains seed. This will be food for you, 30 for all the wildlife of the earth, for every bird of the sky, and for every creature that crawls on the earth—everything having the breath of life in it—I have given every green plant for food.” And it was so. 31 God saw all that he had made, and it was very good indeed. Evening came and then morning: the sixth day. 1 So the heavens and the earth and everything in them were completed. 2 On the seventh day God had completed his work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work that he had done. 3 God blessed the seventh day and declared it holy, for on it he rested from all his work of creation.
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God made us in His image in order for us to have a relationship with Him forever. A good and perfect relationship, where we only know good and not evil. In order for that loving relationship to be real He gave us the ability to choose to love or not to love Him. He knew what we would choose, but He also knew that many of us would regret that choice and we would realize that we made a horrible mistake and we would want God. We would eventually realize that nothing the world has to offer us compares to being loved by God and being in His presence, living with Him, being in His family forever. So He made a way for us to be forgiven of our sinful rebellion against Him. He knew that we not only would change our minds about submitting ourselves to Him as our God, but that we would need our hearts changed as well. We would need to be reborn with His Spirit inside of us to make us new. To be redeemed. and He built that concept right into creation. We’ve seen it all of our lives but have we ever taken the time to appreciate it? Look at verse 14 again.
14 Then God said, “Let there be lights in the expanse of the sky to separate the day from the night. They will serve as signs for seasons and for days and years.
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You see God could have made the universe and our solar system and our planet any way that He wanted to, but He didn’t. Let’s take a minute and think about it.
Our earth spins in a circle on its axis. It also spins in a big elliptical circle around the sun. The sun is also flying through space which orbits around the center of the Milky Way galaxy. Our Milky Way galaxy is moving inside of what’s called a local group, and our local group moves inside our cosmic supercluster. And our cosmic supercluster moves inside the KBC void. So how fast do scientists think we are moving right now? Approximately 230 miles/sec. Now I have no idea if those numbers are true or not, but think about how the earth moves around the sun.
Seasons, rotation, starting over every year
Could move parallel together around the galaxy. Could spin and not have seasons. It would just be linear time with no cycles. But that’s not what God chose. He chose to create the world we live in to point us toward this idea of renewal. Of starting over. of Second chances. Of being made new.
2 Corinthians 5:17 says:
17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has passed away, and see, the new has come!
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Jesus told Nicodemus:
3 Jesus replied, “Truly I tell you, unless someone is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.”
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Jesus said we must be born again, we must be reborn, remade. That when the Holy Spirit comes to live in us that He changes us, not just a little, but into an entirely new creation. We are no longer the same creatures we were before He saved us. He places His Spirit within us and our bodies become the temple of the Spirit of God.
16 Don’t you yourselves know that you are God’s temple and that the Spirit of God lives in you?
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and again
19 Don’t you know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God? You are not your own,
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God is the God of second chances, but only in this life. There is no purgatory. There is no second chance after you die in this world. But if you are still breathing. If you are still here, then you have an opportunity to start over right now.
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When we start over, we must live differently. We must leave sin behind us and walk hand in hand with God. We must keep in step with the Spirit.
25 If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit.
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17 Therefore, I say this and testify in the Lord: You should no longer live as the Gentiles live, in the futility of their thoughts. 18 They are darkened in their understanding, excluded from the life of God, because of the ignorance that is in them and because of the hardness of their hearts. 19 They became callous and gave themselves over to promiscuity for the practice of every kind of impurity with a desire for more and more. 20 But that is not how you came to know Christ, 21 assuming you heard about him and were taught by him, as the truth is in Jesus, 22 to take off your former way of life, the old self that is corrupted by deceitful desires, 23 to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, 24 and to put on the new self, the one created according to God’s likeness in righteousness and purity of the truth. 25 Therefore, putting away lying, speak the truth, each one to his neighbor, because we are members of one another. 26 Be angry and do not sin. Don’t let the sun go down on your anger, 27 and don’t give the devil an opportunity. 28 Let the thief no longer steal. Instead, he is to do honest work with his own hands, so that he has something to share with anyone in need. 29 No foul language should come from your mouth, but only what is good for building up someone in need, so that it gives grace to those who hear. 30 And don’t grieve God’s Holy Spirit. You were sealed by him for the day of redemption. 31 Let all bitterness, anger and wrath, shouting and slander be removed from you, along with all malice. 32 And be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving one another, just as God also forgave you in Christ. 1 Therefore, be imitators of God, as dearly loved children, 2 and walk in love, as Christ also loved us and gave himself for us, a sacrificial and fragrant offering to God. 3 But sexual immorality and any impurity or greed should not even be heard of among you, as is proper for saints. 4 Obscene and foolish talking or crude joking are not suitable, but rather giving thanks. 5 For know and recognize this: Every sexually immoral or impure or greedy person, who is an idolater, does not have an inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God. 6 Let no one deceive you with empty arguments, for God’s wrath is coming on the disobedient because of these things. 7 Therefore, do not become their partners. 8 For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light—9 for the fruit of the light consists of all goodness, righteousness, and truth—10 testing what is pleasing to the Lord. 11 Don’t participate in the fruitless works of darkness, but instead expose them. 12 For it is shameful even to mention what is done by them in secret. 13 Everything exposed by the light is made visible, 14 for what makes everything visible is light. Therefore it is said: Get up, sleeper, and rise up from the dead, and Christ will shine on you. 15 Pay careful attention, then, to how you live—not as unwise people but as wise—16 making the most of the time, because the days are evil. 17 So don’t be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is. 18 And don’t get drunk with wine, which leads to reckless living, but be filled by the Spirit: 19 speaking to one another in psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, singing and making music with your heart to the Lord, 20 giving thanks always for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, 21 submitting to one another in the fear of Christ.
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