Hey All,
I know that I just started this blog, but I am realising that the level of commitment which managing it is going to take will be too much to sustain in the future, especially as I go on to year 11 and 12. I'm keen to keep blogging, But my blogs will be much further apart. I hope what has been said so far has been helpful, and I'm thinking of changing up my other blog (http://theboywhohasbeensaved.blogspot.com/) and doing a short daily devotional sort of thing. If anyone wants to take up this blog, or can help me out then email me at nicknacken@hotmail.com.
God Bless,
Nat :)
Sunday, December 11, 2011
Thursday, December 8, 2011
Genesis 1:16-19 - The Sun, Moon, Stars and Planets (Part 2)
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.
These verses are an explanation of verses 14 and 15.
'God made two great lights' - We are first told here that God made the two great lights. God made them, nothing and no one else. He did it by himself, without any help. God reigns, he does not need our help to do things (although he does choose to use us for his glory) - He is all powerful, and he is to be glorified. God made these things, not a random group of processes which somehow made everything, not a big bang or anything - God made it, and he deserves all glory for it.
'Two Great Lights' - this refers to the sun and the moon (Psalm 136:5-9). The sun:Was to govern the day. This does not mean that the sun was a person, who rules over the day - the sun is not a deity, it is not a 'god'. God made the sun, and he alone should
'God set them in the vault of the sky' - God didn't only create the sun, moon and stars, but he put them in place and set them in their orbits. Again we see God's infinite power and wisdom.
'To give light on the earth, to govern the day and the night, and to separate light from darkness' - These are the three purposes of the sun, moon and stars - to give light, to cause day and night and to separate light from dark.
'God saw that it was good' - It was good, there was no death, no sin, no evil - it was good. It was ready for habitation, and that was what day 5 and 6 would bring.
'There was evening and Morning - the Fourth day' - Again, a 24 hour day, set out by God in which all this occurred. God is awesome, worthy of all praise.
God created all things for his glory, we must praise him. What does evolution do? It robs God of the glory that he deserves, It denies him of his right, and it will lead to judgement from God on all who take part in it. God reigns, he is worthy of all praise, honour and worship.
Further reading: Psalm 8
These verses are an explanation of verses 14 and 15.
'God made two great lights' - We are first told here that God made the two great lights. God made them, nothing and no one else. He did it by himself, without any help. God reigns, he does not need our help to do things (although he does choose to use us for his glory) - He is all powerful, and he is to be glorified. God made these things, not a random group of processes which somehow made everything, not a big bang or anything - God made it, and he deserves all glory for it.
'Two Great Lights' - this refers to the sun and the moon (Psalm 136:5-9). The sun:Was to govern the day. This does not mean that the sun was a person, who rules over the day - the sun is not a deity, it is not a 'god'. God made the sun, and he alone should
'God set them in the vault of the sky' - God didn't only create the sun, moon and stars, but he put them in place and set them in their orbits. Again we see God's infinite power and wisdom.
'To give light on the earth, to govern the day and the night, and to separate light from darkness' - These are the three purposes of the sun, moon and stars - to give light, to cause day and night and to separate light from dark.
'God saw that it was good' - It was good, there was no death, no sin, no evil - it was good. It was ready for habitation, and that was what day 5 and 6 would bring.
'There was evening and Morning - the Fourth day' - Again, a 24 hour day, set out by God in which all this occurred. God is awesome, worthy of all praise.
God created all things for his glory, we must praise him. What does evolution do? It robs God of the glory that he deserves, It denies him of his right, and it will lead to judgement from God on all who take part in it. God reigns, he is worthy of all praise, honour and worship.
Further reading: Psalm 8
Tuesday, December 6, 2011
Genesis 1:14-15 - The Sun, Moon, Stars and Planets (Part 1)
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, 15and let them be lights in the vault of the sky to give light on the earth.” And it was so.
“Let there be lights...' - We have here the start of Day 4. Previously, God had already created light, but now he creates the sun, moon and stars to shine that light. God assigns them their roles, and they obey his will. Everything in creation is under God's command, we must obey him. We also see here that God issues a command, and as per usual it is obeyed (Verse 15 b). A good quote by Paul Washer was pointed out to me the other night:
“Here stands God on the day of creation. He looks at stars and He says “all you stars move yourself to this place and start in this order and move in a circle and move exactly as I tell you, until I give you another word. Planets-pick yourself up and whirl, make this formation at my command, until I give you another word. He looks at mountains and says “be lifted up” and they obey him. He tells valleys “be cast down” and they obey him. He looks at the sea and says “you will come this far”, and the sea obeys. Then, he looks at you and says “come” and you shout “no!"" We are nothing, yet we, unless converted all naturally disobey God and want to live our own way.
'to separate the day from the night' - Previously God separated light and darkness, not he separates night from day. So far we have seen 3 complete days, where God had been keeping time, now God sets the sun and the moon to govern the course of what we call 'day'.
'let them serve as signs to mark sacred times, and days and years' - Here we have God setting out how the sun and the moon will be used - to serve as signs. This I would say includes setting out the seasons, which are signs of when to plant and harvest food, but also includes our systems of months and days and years and weeks. This does not give a biblical basis for astrology though. This also probably refers to festivals (Especially Jewish festivals).
"let them be lights in the vault of the sky to give light on the earth.” - God gave the stars their purpose, ad likewise he has given us ours. Like the stars, we are called to be 'salt and light' - to be a repellent of sin and to show who God is through our lives, for his glory. This is why we were created - Are you shining forth God's light? Are you sharing the gospel?
'And it was so' - We see again God's infinite power, He speaks and it happens, he does his will, He reigns, we are called to serve him. God made the stars with a few words, He is worthy of all honour glory and praise! This phrase also means that it was fixed, that it remained the same, it was firmly established.
So what should we learn from this? We should glorify God, because he set all things which we know in place. He gives time of enjoyment, he sets out how we live our lives. He created day and night, and he causes it to continue onward. He has created everything wonderfully and causes it to work together amazingly, he is worthy of all praise.
“Let there be lights...' - We have here the start of Day 4. Previously, God had already created light, but now he creates the sun, moon and stars to shine that light. God assigns them their roles, and they obey his will. Everything in creation is under God's command, we must obey him. We also see here that God issues a command, and as per usual it is obeyed (Verse 15 b). A good quote by Paul Washer was pointed out to me the other night:
“Here stands God on the day of creation. He looks at stars and He says “all you stars move yourself to this place and start in this order and move in a circle and move exactly as I tell you, until I give you another word. Planets-pick yourself up and whirl, make this formation at my command, until I give you another word. He looks at mountains and says “be lifted up” and they obey him. He tells valleys “be cast down” and they obey him. He looks at the sea and says “you will come this far”, and the sea obeys. Then, he looks at you and says “come” and you shout “no!"" We are nothing, yet we, unless converted all naturally disobey God and want to live our own way.
'to separate the day from the night' - Previously God separated light and darkness, not he separates night from day. So far we have seen 3 complete days, where God had been keeping time, now God sets the sun and the moon to govern the course of what we call 'day'.
'let them serve as signs to mark sacred times, and days and years' - Here we have God setting out how the sun and the moon will be used - to serve as signs. This I would say includes setting out the seasons, which are signs of when to plant and harvest food, but also includes our systems of months and days and years and weeks. This does not give a biblical basis for astrology though. This also probably refers to festivals (Especially Jewish festivals).
"let them be lights in the vault of the sky to give light on the earth.” - God gave the stars their purpose, ad likewise he has given us ours. Like the stars, we are called to be 'salt and light' - to be a repellent of sin and to show who God is through our lives, for his glory. This is why we were created - Are you shining forth God's light? Are you sharing the gospel?
'And it was so' - We see again God's infinite power, He speaks and it happens, he does his will, He reigns, we are called to serve him. God made the stars with a few words, He is worthy of all honour glory and praise! This phrase also means that it was fixed, that it remained the same, it was firmly established.
So what should we learn from this? We should glorify God, because he set all things which we know in place. He gives time of enjoyment, he sets out how we live our lives. He created day and night, and he causes it to continue onward. He has created everything wonderfully and causes it to work together amazingly, he is worthy of all praise.
Sunday, December 4, 2011
Genesis 1:11-13 - Plants
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.
Then God said - Unless God has spoken, the earth would have remained barren, an there would be no life on it. All of creation owes its existence to God, he deserves all praise and glory.
'“Let the land produce vegetation...' - We see that God created the plants before creating the sun and the moon. This is a reminder to us that God can do anything, he is all powerful and can do the impossible. We too often think God is weak, that he cannot do things without help, for example - that he cannot create plants without using the sun. We are reminded that God can do anything, he doesn't need the sun to make plants grow. Likewise, God doesn't need us to accomplish his will, but he chooses to use us for his glory - in spreading the gospel and serving him. It is an honour to serve God.
God created all things for his glory, we are blessed to be able to enjoy his creation, We should use it for his glory, and thank him that he has given us so much.
'...seed-bearing plants and trees on the land that bear fruit with seed in it, according to their various kinds.”' - We also learn that God not only created plants, but gave them the ability to reproduce. God set everything to work, so that it would continue onward until he stopped it. The world works because God made it to work, he made everything perfectly. There will come a time though when God will judge, he will destroy the earth and all who are not his because of our sin. Repent and Believe and be saved (Revelations 19:20-21, Joel 2:32)
'And it was so.' - God is all powerful and is able to bring about what he plans. We must trust him. What God says he will do, he does. He keeps his promises (Matthew 5:18) and does not lie (Numbers 23:19).
'And God saw that it was good' - God does everything perfectly, he himself is perfect and good (Psalm 119:68). As of yet, there was no sin in the world, everything was good.
'Evening and Morning-the third day' - Again, it was a 24 hour time period. (As far as we can tell from the bible) - God can do whatever he wants. He is powerful enough to do it in 24 hours (In fact, he is powerful enough to do anything in any time frame), so why doubt that he created in 6 days which were literally 24 hours?
 |
| http://www.blotspace.com/plants-vs-blotspace/ |
'“Let the land produce vegetation...' - We see that God created the plants before creating the sun and the moon. This is a reminder to us that God can do anything, he is all powerful and can do the impossible. We too often think God is weak, that he cannot do things without help, for example - that he cannot create plants without using the sun. We are reminded that God can do anything, he doesn't need the sun to make plants grow. Likewise, God doesn't need us to accomplish his will, but he chooses to use us for his glory - in spreading the gospel and serving him. It is an honour to serve God.
God created all things for his glory, we are blessed to be able to enjoy his creation, We should use it for his glory, and thank him that he has given us so much.
'...seed-bearing plants and trees on the land that bear fruit with seed in it, according to their various kinds.”' - We also learn that God not only created plants, but gave them the ability to reproduce. God set everything to work, so that it would continue onward until he stopped it. The world works because God made it to work, he made everything perfectly. There will come a time though when God will judge, he will destroy the earth and all who are not his because of our sin. Repent and Believe and be saved (Revelations 19:20-21, Joel 2:32)
'And it was so.' - God is all powerful and is able to bring about what he plans. We must trust him. What God says he will do, he does. He keeps his promises (Matthew 5:18) and does not lie (Numbers 23:19).
'And God saw that it was good' - God does everything perfectly, he himself is perfect and good (Psalm 119:68). As of yet, there was no sin in the world, everything was good.
'Evening and Morning-the third day' - Again, it was a 24 hour time period. (As far as we can tell from the bible) - God can do whatever he wants. He is powerful enough to do it in 24 hours (In fact, he is powerful enough to do anything in any time frame), so why doubt that he created in 6 days which were literally 24 hours?
Friday, December 2, 2011
Genesis 1:9-10 - Land
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.
'And God said' - Again we see that God is living and active, he is in command and nothing happens besides by his will. If he had not acted then the earth would not have been created. We owe our very existence to God. We also see, by him speaking, that he is intelligent. God is truly awesome, all he has to do is speak and it happens.
“Let the water under the sky be gathered to one place, and let dry ground appear.” - Here we see God's complete control over nature. He moved the water, he set the boundaries and said thus far an no further (Job 38:11). This also points through to Jesus, who has command over the waves also (Matthew 8:23-27, Mark 4:35-41 and Luke 8:22-25) which is more proof that he is truly God.
'And it was so.' - God speaks and it happens. He is all powerful and worthy of all glory honour and praise. Serve God!
'And God saw that it was good.' - This is the second time God says something was good (see verse 4) God is good, and creates good things. All that we have from him is good (Matt 7:11 - If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!). Without God, there is nothing Good, he is the definition of good. He is 100 % perfect, holy, powerful and Just. We are 100 % depraved because of sin, we are unholy, broken, weak and deserve eternal judgement. But, God is also merciful, Loving and compassionate. So much so that he sent his only son Jesus who died for us, so we can see his goodness, not his judgement.
Repent and Believe! Turn to God.
Parallel Verse:
Job 38:11
When I said, ‘This far you may come and no farther;
here is where your proud waves halt’?
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| http://www.desktopedia.com/wallpaper/Beach-Vacation/ |
“Let the water under the sky be gathered to one place, and let dry ground appear.” - Here we see God's complete control over nature. He moved the water, he set the boundaries and said thus far an no further (Job 38:11). This also points through to Jesus, who has command over the waves also (Matthew 8:23-27, Mark 4:35-41 and Luke 8:22-25) which is more proof that he is truly God.
'And it was so.' - God speaks and it happens. He is all powerful and worthy of all glory honour and praise. Serve God!
'And God saw that it was good.' - This is the second time God says something was good (see verse 4) God is good, and creates good things. All that we have from him is good (Matt 7:11 - If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!). Without God, there is nothing Good, he is the definition of good. He is 100 % perfect, holy, powerful and Just. We are 100 % depraved because of sin, we are unholy, broken, weak and deserve eternal judgement. But, God is also merciful, Loving and compassionate. So much so that he sent his only son Jesus who died for us, so we can see his goodness, not his judgement.
Repent and Believe! Turn to God.
Parallel Verse:
Job 38:11
When I said, ‘This far you may come and no farther;
here is where your proud waves halt’?
Wednesday, November 30, 2011
Genesis 1:6-8 - Sky
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.
'And God said' - Again we see that God speaks. God is intellegent, all wise, all knowing. He deserves all honour, glory and praise for all eternity. Without God nothing would have changed in the earth, it was by His word that things changes, everything happens in his timing and according to his will, his plan. He is all powerful, He can do anything. Trust him!
'Let there be a vault...' - The word here which says Vault can also be translated as expanse or separation. This (I think) is the creation of the atmosphere, which is needed to sustain life here on earth. God created everything in order: Without the atmosphere, or light, the plants (which were created on day 3) could not have survived. Without the plants to make oxygen, the Birds and fish (from day 5) wouldn't have survived either, nor would have the other animals (Day 6). God knows our needs, and he will meet them according to his will, and in his timing. We must trust him. This also probably refers to the water cycle, the water on earth is separated from the clouds. Some say (and I agree with this) that before the fall there was no rain: The earth was covered in clouds, which created a perfect atmosphere, so it let enough heat in and created a perfect ecosystem for everything - there wouldn't be any sunburn or any problems caused by the sun. But we also learn that while it didn't rain, there was water from the ground which watered everything. (Genesis 2:5-6)
'And it was so' - God does his will, what he plans comes to pass, he is all powerful and reigns eternally. Put your trust in him!
'Evening and Morning' - Again, there is evening and morning, as happens every 24 hour day. Some would argue that this just refers to the end of a long period and the beginning of the next one. This is called old earth creationism, and I have yet to come across any biblical reasoning behind it. (Feel free to comment below if you have some)
Jeremiah 10:12 But God made the earth by his power; he founded the world by his wisdom and stretched out the heavens by his understanding.
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| http://blog.omegazadvisors.com/tag/london-business-school/ |
'Let there be a vault...' - The word here which says Vault can also be translated as expanse or separation. This (I think) is the creation of the atmosphere, which is needed to sustain life here on earth. God created everything in order: Without the atmosphere, or light, the plants (which were created on day 3) could not have survived. Without the plants to make oxygen, the Birds and fish (from day 5) wouldn't have survived either, nor would have the other animals (Day 6). God knows our needs, and he will meet them according to his will, and in his timing. We must trust him. This also probably refers to the water cycle, the water on earth is separated from the clouds. Some say (and I agree with this) that before the fall there was no rain: The earth was covered in clouds, which created a perfect atmosphere, so it let enough heat in and created a perfect ecosystem for everything - there wouldn't be any sunburn or any problems caused by the sun. But we also learn that while it didn't rain, there was water from the ground which watered everything. (Genesis 2:5-6)
'And it was so' - God does his will, what he plans comes to pass, he is all powerful and reigns eternally. Put your trust in him!
'Evening and Morning' - Again, there is evening and morning, as happens every 24 hour day. Some would argue that this just refers to the end of a long period and the beginning of the next one. This is called old earth creationism, and I have yet to come across any biblical reasoning behind it. (Feel free to comment below if you have some)
Jeremiah 10:12 But God made the earth by his power; he founded the world by his wisdom and stretched out the heavens by his understanding.
Genesis 1:3-5 - Light
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.
Here we have the second part of creation - God made light.
Psalm 33:9 For he spoke, and it came to be; he commanded, and it stood firm.
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| http://www.dedleg.com/wordpress/2011/01/light-and-dark/ |
'Then God said' - The first part of Verse 3 tells us that God speaks. God doesn't just exist, he is wise and intelligent. In fact we know that he is all wise and all knowing. (Hebrews 4:13).
'"Let there be light", and there was light' - We see from this that God is also all powerful: He speaks and it happens straight away. God is worthy of all praise, He is truly awesome and can do anything. This verse seems to convey absolutely no effort on God's part - he speaks and it happens. God reigns. One thing has often been pointed out - God created light on Day One, yet created the sun on Day Four - How does that work? I think the most biblical answer is that God himself gave off the light. We know that Jesus is the light of the world (John 8:12) and also that in heaven there will be no sun - God's glory will be our light. (Revalations 21:22-24). God is truly almighty, creator of everything.
'Saw that it was good' - God created and it was good. God is good, and all he does is good and wonderful (Mat 19:17, Psalm 139:14). At this point of creation, there was nothing evil, all was good. There was no sin.
'Separated light from darkness' - God separated light and dark into day and night (Verse 5). A parallel that could be drawn: Just as God separated physical light and darkness in the beginning, he will also separate spiritual light and darkness at the end. This means that God will judge all people, he will separate Christians from Non-Christians, Christians are forgiven for their sin (Darkness) through Jesus Death, which payed the penalty for it and will be accepted into heaven for eternity to enjoy God and his blessings, while Non-Christians will be sent to hell for eternity to suffer God's wrath because of their sins. So, the questions: Are you a Christian? If not, why not? Think about this seriously, this is your eternity we are talking about and this life is your only chance to be forgiven.
'God called the light day and the darkness night' - Here we have the 24 hour cycle of day and night put in place. I believe 100% that God created in 6 days, and we see here at least that he created literal 24 hour days on Day one. Some might argue that because the sun wasn't created till day 4 We don't know if it was a 24 hour period, but I'd say The repetition of the next bit after every day doesn't change between here and any of the other days, so I think its safe to say that the days didn't either
'There was evening and there was morning, the First day' - God, as well as making light and dark, made morning and evening. A thought, The earth was probably spinning, if there was morning and evening, if the light was moving, then the earth was probably spinning. Does this mean that the earth was in orbit (Before the sin was created)? If so, is it the sun which keeps us in orbit, or is it really God who sustains us completely? We know that God does sustain all of creation (Colossians 1:17, Hebrews 1:3, Job 12:10), he is truly worthy of all praise. He created us, and continually sustains us, we owe God our lives. Besides this, we (Christians) owe him doubly because he sent his only son Jesus Christ to die for us and give us eternal life (John 3:16), because we were dead in sin, and cannot save ourselves. Through Jesus, God offers forgiveness to those who will turn to him. Will you turn to him? Repent and Believe for the kingdom of God is near! (Mark 1:15)
Parallel verses:
Psalm 33:6 By the word of the LORD were the heavens made, their starry host by the breath of his mouth.
Psalm 33:9 For he spoke, and it came to be; he commanded, and it stood firm.
Monday, November 28, 2011
Genesis 1:2 – The Earth
‘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.’
 |
| http://www.yorkblog.com/teentakeover/2010/08/night-at-the-beach.html |
We also learn here that at first the world was covered in water
(here described as ‘the deep’).
‘The Spirit of God’: This is our first specific
reference to the Holy Spirit, who is part of the trinity. God is three persons,
the Father the Son and the Holy Spirit – described as Elohim (See verse 1). All three persons of God are equal, but they have different roles - God the father is King, ruler of everything and he is in control of everything. God the son came to earth and humbled himself to death so that we can live and be forgiven. God the Holy Spirit lives in us (Christians) and helps us, teaching us, rebuking us and helping us understand and apply the bible.
Genesis 1:1 - The Beginning
'In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.'
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| http://essex1.com/pages/paul/beginprolog.html |
Parallel Verse:
John 1:1-5
'In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.'
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