Sermon Starters -- God of the New Year

Brookside Wesleyan Church, Wellsville, NY

January 2, 2022

(Text: Genesis 1:1-2:3)

Intro: A different way to read Genesis 1

• Brief summary of the chapter
• A different picture of God than the Babylonians
• John Walton -- the New Year's festival of Yahweh, the reinstallation of God as king of the universe

Genesis 1:1-2

1. Do you come to this year with any "tohu vavohu"?

• Genesis 1 isn't like other creation stories. Chaos but a conflict between gods.
• The world is a mess. Is your world a mess? What's not working in your life?

Genesis 1:3-5

2. God brings light out of darkness.

• Illustration (e.g., dressing in the dark)
• Walton -- the creation of time (days and nights)
• Time is a path to walk out of any sorrow.

Genesis 1:6-10

3. God clears a space in the mess. He brings dry ground.

• Hoarders
• The seas were chaos to them, full of danger and fear.

Genesis 1:11-13

4. God provides food.

• We know where the story is heading--to the creation of us. This story, after all, is for us. If God were writing it for the angels, it would look different. Let's not get too cocky. We are sparrows, after all.

Genesis 1:26-28

5. God gives us a charge in his world.

• This is the "political image of God. We should steward the world as God wants us to.
• All humans are valuable, because we are made in God's image.

Genesis 1:31-2:3

6. It's all good. God rests.

• Everything's working. (we're good)
• The world is built, God's temple. Everything is ordered. Chaos is beat. Now he can rest from creating and get down to ruling. (Walton)

Conclusion

• Is God resting over your life?
• Install him again this year.