The Beginning: Why Genesis Still Matters Today

Complete sermon - The Beginning

It was 1977. A desert planet. A young man named Luke Skywalker. A strange old man named Ben Kenobi. You thought you were getting the beginning of a story—but then came that famous twist…

“This isn’t the beginning. It’s Episode IV.”

That’s how Genesis begins. Not with your story, not with mine—but with the story we were born into. A story older than time itself. One that gives meaning to everything you’ve ever known.

Most people come to Genesis looking for answers to the wrong questions.

• Did Adam have a belly button?
• Where did Cain get his wife?
• Were dinosaurs on the Ark?

But those aren’t the real challenges. The real challenge is perspective.

We all bring a lens to Scripture—maybe a Christian trying to defend creation, or a skeptic looking to dismantle faith. But Genesis wasn’t written to answer 21st-century science debates. It was written to freed Hebrew slaves standing on the edge of a promised land, asking, “Who is this God, and why should we trust Him?”

They had no Bible. No seminary. No military. Just 400 years of Egyptian culture in their blood—and a God they barely knew calling them into battle. Genesis was their introduction to Yahweh, their Father, their Creator, their Deliverer.

“In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.”
Five words in Hebrew. But those five words dismantle every false worldview:

• Atheism: Refuted — there is a God.
• Pantheism: Refuted — God is not the universe.
• Polytheism: Refuted — there is One Creator.
• Materialism: Refuted — matter had a beginning.
• Humanism: Refuted — you are not the center.

British philosopher Herbert Spencer once said all reality fits into five categories: time, force, action, space, matter.

Genesis 1:1 already told us that:
In the beginning (time), God (force) created (action) the heavens (space) and the earth (matter).

You can’t reproduce it in a lab. Creation wasn’t natural—it was supernatural. You either believe it, or you don’t.

Genesis 1:2 paints a picture of the earth: formless, empty, dark.

It was a lifeless void—just like some of us before we met Christ.

Paul put it this way in Ephesians 2:12:

“… having no hope and without God in the world.”

But the Spirit of God was hovering. Fluttering. Vibrating over the deep.

He was present, even in the darkness. Just like He was for me. Just like He may be for you, right now.

Jesus quoted Genesis as historical fact. Whether it was the creation of man (Matt. 19:4), the flood of Noah (Matt. 24:37), or the days of Lot (Luke 17:28), Jesus saw Genesis as foundational truth—not myth.

And if the One who died for my sins believed it, I’ll believe it too.

Critics say they only trust what can be observed, measured, and repeated. But that’s not how we study history. History relies on evidence, testimony, and corroboration.

And when it comes to Genesis, the evidence is compelling:

• DNA confirms we all came from one man.
• Marine fossils sit atop the world’s mountains.
• Flood myths exist in nearly every ancient culture—Babylonian, Greek, Native American, Aztec.
• The Grand Canyon itself looks like a world carved by catastrophe, not eons.

Genesis doesn’t just offer a theological framework—it offers a worldview that actually makes sense of the world.

I once took my family to Caney Creek Falls. The trail disappeared, the GPS cut out, and for a moment—I was ready to camp in the wilderness for the night.

But then… one tiny bar of signal lit up. The trail was just ahead.

That’s what Genesis does. It’s God saying to His people:

“You’re not lost. There is a path. And it starts here.”

It’s not just about ancient history. It’s about you—right now. If you feel the tug of Egypt still pulling at your soul… if you’re wandering in a spiritual desert… if you’re tired of trying to write your own episode one…

God has given you Genesis.

Because the path forward always starts with the beginning.