Outline
Live Stream Bible Study 11/21/19
Golden Text: Genesis 1:1

1. God is at every beginning
Gen 1:1 is the first beginning that we are aware of, this is the beginning in which God makes his grand entrance, it is the first of many beginnings that God is a part of.

God is at every beginning. Psalm 139:13 tells us that God was at our beginning:
For You formed my inward parts; You wove me in my mother’s womb.

He is there at the beginning of marriage, if you have ever attended a traditional Christian wedding you most likely heard the officiant quote Mark 10:9:
…[what] God hath joined together, let not man put asunder.

There is something special about being at the beginning.

To be at the beginning is to understand the story because it is at the beginning that we learn the plot, the characters and their motivation.

Isn’t it frustrating to walk into the middle of a story, you don’t know what’s going on, who the people are, why they are saying what they’re saying or why they are doing what they’re doing.

The only thing more frustrating than walking into the middle of a story is being the one who started at the beginning but now you are answering questions from someone who has walked into the middle of the story. It can be infuriating answering question after question when all you are trying to do is to focus on the story being told.

I think this is one reason why we can become so frustrated with one another, we are walking into the middle of each other’s stories. We forget there was a beginning that we know nothing about, a beginning that would explain a lot of what we currently don’t understand.

2. We partner with God in the writing of our story
In the garden, God created everything man would need. He then created man, blessed him and gave him a job to do, Genesis 1:28
Be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth and subdue it.

2 Peter 1:3 says:
For His divine power has bestowed on us [absolutely] everything necessary for [a dynamic spiritual] life and godliness, through our knowledge of Him

Another translation says: God’s power has given us everything we need for life and godliness, through our knowledge of Him

Much like back then in the garden, where God created everything man would need, then gave man a job to do, it is much the same way with us today. He has provided everything for us, but we have a part to play.

We’ve already established that God is at the beginning, but Isaiah 46:10 tells us that God declares or knows the end from the beginning. There is a gap between the beginning and the end that I believe is our job to fill.

This is not to say that God is not present in the gap and that we are left to fill the gap on our own. Even after giving man his job in the garden, the Bible tells us that God would come and walk with man during the cool of the day. I imagine God was teaching man, instructing man, guiding man.

1 Corinthians 3:9 tells us the we are co-laborers or co-workers with Christ. There is something to be accomplished and we partner with Him to get it down. How do we partner with Him? We must know Him, learn his principles and the ancient wisdom He has made available to us. We live according to His principles and we will begin to see His story for our lives unfold.

I know that there is some of us, who feel like we are simply subject to and products of these unfair and some very tragic things that have happened to us or been done to us and we are merely plastic bag being blown in the wind, but this is not the truth of the matter.

As we read the creation story we come across the man and women in the garden and the enemy comes to them, the enemy deceives the women. The enemy takes advantage of her and tricks her. The man on the other hand acts in willing disobedience to God’s command, but despite the deception of the women and the willing disobedience of the man, God finds them and the Bible tells us that He covers them. He does for them what they could not do for themselves. He fills in that gap.

Despite what life has thrown your way, despite of what you have fallen victim to, God can cover it. He can bring healing and wholeness to any situation. To paraphrase what activist/evangelist/international speaker Christine Caine says, what must never let what has been done to us become greater than what God has done for us.

3. It is never too late for a re-write
We can partner with God but ultimately we are free to fill in the gap anyway we choose.

There is no better example of this than the story of the Prodigal Son found in Luke 15:11. The son starts out in the father’s house and he ends in the father’s house but he filled in the gap his own way and it lead him nowhere. Despite this, he was welcomed back to the father’s house with open arms.

It does not matter how you have filled in the gap, and how far it has taken you from the father’s house, you can ALWAYS return.

Jeremiah 29 we see that God’s people had fallen into captivity as a result of their disobedience to God, and in verse 11 God tells them that despite their current circumstances He still had a plan for them. Yes they got themselves there into that mess, but He had a different ending in mind for them all along.
For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and
not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.

How would you like your story to end? Would you like to leave behind a legacy for your family and community?
Decision making becomes much easier once you have the end in mind. All of a sudden saying no to wrong relationships, bad and unwise decisions are easy to avoid once you know where you’re headed. He has promised to be with us every step of the way, to guide us every step of the way.

It is NEVER to late for a re-write, to find out what He has had in mind for you all along, but you have to make room for Him. Room to hear Him, room for Him to show up and guide you. Find a good church to attend, make friends with others who are filling in the gap well hand and hand with the original author, God.