"Cry aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet, and shew my people their transgression…" Isaiah 58:1
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Author: Lungisa Joctrey
Lungisa Joctreyhttps://thespokesdude.wordpress.comLungisa Nhlakanipho Joctrey, is a controversial preacher of the gospel of Jesus Christ. He was born May 30, 1984 at Greytown, KwaZulu Natal, South Africa. He began school in 1990 at Khanyisani LP School, Mpolweni Mission and finished high school in 2001 at Amakholwa Secondary School, Pietermaritzburg, he went to the University of KwaZulu Natal for BSc Science Foundation Programme but wasn’t invited to the university in 2005, He was enrolled at Teamwork Bible College as correspondent student in 2005 from which he didn’t graduate due to financial issues.
He was then employed as a waiter at Nino’s restaurant, in January 2005 but resigned in June of the same year. In October 25, 2005 he was employed by McDonald’s SA as Drive-Thru ordertake/cashier. In February 2007 he was promoted to a Cash/Floor Supervisor position. He resigned from McDonald’s in 2008 to focus on Ministry work. He managed to start a small business called Typical Prints in 2009 and ever since he has headed this business until today. He was pastor at Fireword Ministries International from 2006-2011. He worked with Africa Evangelical Church, International Christian Brethren Church and others.
In January 2015, He founded The SpokesDude Network (TSDN) which published its First Show Episode on the 21 of January 2015.
To be an expect in any thing requires commitment, and daily practice. A top sportsman or sportswoman becomes the best not by chance but by that they keep on training daily and avoiding certain habits in order to improve their perfomance. The same principle applies to us as Christians, especially to leaders.
For anyone to be a successful preacher or pastor, it is necessary that they give themselves to prayer and studying of the Bible. This should be their daily practice. These two things are none negotiable. They are critical in the life of any church leader. For us to be able to teach well and shepherd the flocks of God faithfuly we must always meet our Master in prayer, to report our concerns and our progress in the work we do and also to request more grace to help us carry on with serving Him. We must soak ourselves in the word of God and be instructed of the Lord by means of his written word. We should learn from the example of the apostles, in that, when matters of food and waiting of tables arose in the church, the apostles set themselves apart by refusing to get involved in such matters and suggested that deacons be appointed for the purpose of waiting tables and managing distribution of food. The apostles said, “It is not reason that we should leave the word of God, and serve tables… but we will give ourselves continually to prayer, and to the ministry of the word.” (Acts 6:2,4). There are certain things, though they be good, which are to be abandoned or avoided in order to excel in the most important duty into which one is called.
Paul affirms that the written word of God is critical for our lives. After showing in 2 Timothy 3:16, that all scripture is inspired by God. He then shows us that the same is profitablefor doctrine, for reproof, for correction, and for instruction in righteousness. This is all necessary, so that, “the man of God may be perfect, and throughly furnished for all good works.” (2 Timothy 3:17) This means that the Bible is enough, for our perfection and to have us totally equiped to do every good thing required by the Lord from us. We cannot raise healthy churches if we ignore the word of God. To ensure that the church members are growing, pastors must be committed in prayer and be full of the Bible and then train their members to do the same.
If we as pastors commit ourselves to do thus, there won’t be a need to fake miracles or even to resolve to magic and manipulation in order to woo the crowds for the purposes of gaining a large following.
“And through covetousness shall they with feigned words make merchandise of you…” (2 Peter 2:3a)
Gone are those days where a person who wanted to rob you had the decency of wearing a balaclava and for his dignity, his conduct was in such a manner that he would wait in the bushes or around a street corner at night in order to carry out his evil purposes. Today that is not the case. You get robbed right in broad daylight by a man who is well known and who has no shame of carrying a Bible. Not only does this unscrupulous devil’s advocate have the guts to carry the Bible in public but he is bold enough to open it, read it to you and make damnable claims about it. If you don’t know your Bible, you will sure go down and the “Bible Crook” will walk all over you. Peter warned the brethren in his days that there were false prophets in the olden days and there sure will be false teachers among the brethren. This warning is very relevent for us today because what I choose to call the “Bible Crooks,” are the false prophets of today.
1. Through Coveteous
Peter speaks about the driving force behind the “Bible Crooks.” These men and women are driven by coveteousness. Their apetite for wealth and power is a bottomless pit which gets bigger and more demanding each time it is fed. These are hungry wolves who will do anything in their power to deceive and to loot the people off their money and prized possessions. They teach not the words of Jesus. If they ever try to teach what Jesus taught, they would twist His words in order to benefit themselves. Like a pack of hungry wolves they team up against God’s people to devour and to scatter them.
2. With Feign Words
These crooks have a very powerful tool they use to make their kill. Peter says that, they use “crafty words.” These people are not idiots, they are endowed with tremendous amounts of deviousness. They are able to make people do unimaginable things through their crafty speeches. They have the gift of the gap and have no shame of speaking on subjects about which they have no clue whatsoever. They can pretend to be medical professionals, business owners, pastors and many others. These crooks enjoy the spotlight and are very egocentric, in fact, they make people think very high of them, even higher than God. I know it is absurd to say such a thing. Allow me to explain.
A Bible Crook always has a story that would protray him or herself as a close friend of God. They never fail to tell their audience about the private conversations they get to have with God. Once they win their audience’s hearts through such stories, they proceed to paint a picture of a puny god, the one who is absolutely under human control. They seem to know better than God. You will see this in their constant critique of the difficult parts of the Bible. They would resolve to some weak and shallow human philosophy and they have no shame to present their opinion as though it is the word of God. Their victims are caught in the nets of their deception, thinking that the men they feed is the man of God, not knowing that it is only an impostor, who is well versed in the matters of holiness yet lacks the skills to apply such matters in his own life by means of practice.
Charles H. Spurgeon puts it well when he says, “A graceless pastor is a blind man elected to a professorship of optics, philosophizing upon light and vision, discoursing upon and distinguishing to others the nice shades and delicate blendings of the prismatic colors, while he himself is absolutely in the dark! He is a dumb man elevated to the chair of music; a deaf man fluent upon symphonies and harmonies!” (Lectures To My Students, Pg 14). The Apostle Paul said that these men had a form of godliness yet they deny its power. They profess to be godly yet in their private quarters they perfom terrible acts of blasphemy. They preach about humilty yet they themselves are plagued with an incurable desease of pride.
3. Make Merchandise of You
The Bible Crooks are not the friends of God, neither are they the shepherds of the flocks of God. These are business men and business women. Their expectation is profit. They fleece their followers and do whatever they can to establish and sustain their empires. Peter says, “they shall make merchandise of you.” What he is saying is, they shall make business of you. They will sell you out without thinking twice. Their involvement with you would be pure business. How often are you told, “In order to be blessed sow a financial seed to a pastor or to a prophet?” Today churches have sales stands where Bible Crooks display their products. These product range from “anointed soap,” to “anointed oil,” to “anointed condoms” and to many other outrageous items of the “anointed” series. The Bible ignorant people will be pouring their money into these shops which are disguised as churches. Like shops in a shopping mall, so are the churches in the residential areas.
There are very few churches which are interested in the glory of Christ and to assisting people into becoming more like Christ. Many churches have discipleship goals written down but now those goals are collecting dust in some shelf as the pastor forgets that he has a Master before whom he shall give account and he roars away with appetite for power and wealth.
One sad and probably the most shameful trend among the Bible Crooks is the lack of self control, particularly in sexual context. They use the gullibility of desperate women to satisfy their own sexual desires. They promise them a wide range of possibilities in exchange for sex. These silly women would believe the crook and would allow him to do as he pleases and in the end the woman is shamed and the crook escapes unharmed. Paul did warn of this kind of immorality. He said,”For of this sort are they which creep into houses, and lead captive silly women laden with sins, led away with divers lusts,” (2 Timothy 3:6)
Conclusion
What then can be done with the information on this post? Well, Jesus said, “Beware of false prophets” (Matthew 7:15) That means, be on guard always. Don’t fall asleep. Always keep your eyes on Christ Jesus. Don’t rely on men. No matter how big the claims they make about themselves and about their walk with God. Fix your eyes on Jesus. If you are strong in the word of God, protect those who are weak. If you have knowledge on things of God, help those who don’t have it. Like a good soldier of Christ, stand your ground and fight for TRUTH. Reject and expose the Crooks. Call them out by name with the hope that God will give them true repentence. Remember, in the Kingdom of God there is no room for a coward.
Seven years ago, if you asked me to visit your church for the purpose of sitting down and listening to the preaching being done there, I would. Seven years later I have completely changed. I now choose carefully the churches I go to. There are many reasons for this but I will give you two which I believe are critical.
1. Doctrine
The doctrinal stand point of your church is critical. If your church stands on unstable grounds with regards to basic biblical doctrines, then I won’t be coming there again to listen to the preaching because it would be poisonous to my spiritual life. If a church does not hold to the sound doctrine, then it is clear the same is a carrier of false doctrine. A false doctrine is not the word of God at all and the men who are preaching false doctrine are not men of God but they are the servants of the entity whose doctrine they teach and in most cases that entity is the devil. We often hear people say, “Love unites, Doctrine divides” whenever we speak of doctrinal issues. Love won’t overlook false teaching. If we throw away sound doctrine in favour of love then it would not be the love of God we would be favouring. We would be embracing an emergent poison that shall see millions of people to hell.
Example 1: The Doctrine of Hell
The truth is, false doctrine is blasphemous against God. If one believed that hell will be empty and everyone will go to heaven irrespective of their religion and lifestyle, as this is the message propagated by the “Love and Acceptance Movement,” the same person would be contradicting Jesus Christ, as He said :
“So shall it be at the end of the world: the angels shall come forth, and sever the wicked from among the just, And shall cast them into the furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth.” Matthew 13:48-50
Jesus made it clear, not only in this passage but in many others, that there are people who shall go to hell. In His sermon on the mount, He told those who were listening to Him that many people shall go into destruction but few shall find the way to life (see Mat 7:13-14). There is not a single human being who knows better than Jesus Christ. If Jesus says that there is hell, then there is hell and there is no amount of argument anyone can raise to do away with that fact. No amount of “love and acceptance theology” can do away with the factuality of the doctrine of hell.
Example 2: World religions
Another doctrinal problem that we witness is that of different religions. Hundreds of people believe that “all religions lead to the same God.” This statement is a lie, in fact nothing could be this further from the truth. The bible is very clear, Jesus Christ made this bold statement, “I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me” (John 14:6). When Jesus the Head of the church has thus spoken and we choose, under the false gazebo of love, to ignore His word and embrace the heresies of Islam, Roman Catholicism and many more, we become prostitutes and blasphemous breed in the sight of the Holy God. Those who teach that Allah is the same God which the Christians worship but under a different name, they teach a lie. Allah has no son but our God has a Son, and His Son is Jesus Christ. It is no rocket science to notice that one God has a Son and the other god is totally incapable of having a son no matter how much he wanted to.
2. Preachers
Another critical element that would determine whether I would come and listen to the preaching in your church, is the preacher. There are preachers I know for sure that they would speak nonsense because I have listened to them over and over again and they haven’t changed. Just to give an example of this, I would not waste my time and hard earned money going to a stadium to listen to Benny Hinn or Joel Osteen or even that crook from Malawi who goes by the name of Shepherd Bushiri. There are hundreds of wolves who come to steal people’s money under the guise of ministry. I am very careful and very selective as to whom I listen to. I don’t wish to spend 90 minutes listening to a sermon that tells me how powerless is Satan and what I should do to him. My aim is to hear about Jesus and be told how I should please Him. I don’t wish to be told how great I am or I could be, I wish to be reminded how great God is. I wish to be told how powerful Jesus is. If I am to believe on God then preach on God and glorify Him.
I had a very unfortunate experience in 2011 where I was invited by one friend to visit their church on a Sunday. I was very uncomfortable when a preacher took Psalm 23 and narrowed and centered its application upon the pastor. Without any shame whatsoever, he proclaimed that the pastor as a shepherd will lead the people to green pastures and to the still waters. This man deliberatly dethroned God and put his pastor friend on the throne instead. Jesus was not glorified in that preaching but the pastor received every last once of glory there was to be offered.
Friends, Psalm 23 is very clear as to who it refers to. The very first line says, “The Lord is my shepherd.” There is therefore no way whatsoever that one can accredit the verses that follow to a pastor and still be exonerated from being a heretic. It was at that moment that I decided never again to just go to any church and sit through a poisonous sermon.
“Is there a perfect Church?” You may ask. Of course there is no perfect church but there are worse churches out there and what makes them worse is the preaching that goes on in them and the lifestyle of their preachers. I would prefer to go to a church that has preachers who love Jesus and who seek to honour Him in their preaching and through their lifestyle. The bible tells us to take note of those who cause divisions among the brethren and this is what Paul says,
“Now I beseech you, brethren, mark them which cause divisions and offences contrary to the doctrine which ye have learned; and avoid them. For they that are such serve not our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own belly; and by good words and fair speeches deceive the hearts of the simple.”
You see that Paul points out, that the trouble makers came with a false doctrine and Paul says, “avoid them.” In other words they should exclude and shut out false teachers because their “new doctrine” will cause division among the brethren. He continues to say that these false teachers are servants to their bellies and not of the Lord Jesus. These preachers are only in ministry as a means of getting a quick buck. They preach what men want to hear and not what God commands. He also points out that the false teachers are talented with words, they are eloquent oraters and they aim to deceive those who are gullible and stupid. So be watchful and be on your guard lest you be deceived also. I choose not listen to any garbage no matter who dishes it out.
Conclusion
I stand with conviction that there are people who are to be avoided at all possible costs due to their false doctrines and that I should not be under any obligation to continue listening to a preacher who has stopped proclaiming the pure and unadulterated word of God. The key factors that would determine if I would come to your Sunday church meeting are the doctrinal stand point of your congregation and the preachers. There are other factors that may influence my decision not to honour any invitation to any church but such shall be discussed when I find convenient time.
The youth ministry is one of the most important department in the modern church. If we get it wrong, we would set hundreds of young people on a pathway to hell and see the church die a slow and painful death. Many churches prefer not to do youth ministry nd the reason for that is, it is not an easy thing to do. While some churches decide to ignore that young people exist, many churches have embarked onto this journey of working with young people but they are failing heavily. Only a select few are succeeding in evangelizing and discipling young people.
The book, No Guts No Glory: How to Build a Youth Ministry that Lasts by Alan Stewart, is so far the most insightful work I have ever read on youth ministry. It gives reasons as to why we are to do youth ministry and how. It also allows us to identify those who qualify to lead young people in the church. This book is a “must have” for all those who want to evangelize young people and also to grow a healthy youth ministry. GET YOURS NOW!!!
Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine.” – 2Timothy 4:2
INTRODUCTION
In this post I am going to deal with the subject of Biblical Preaching. It is quite obvious that in this day and age we need biblical preachers. There is too much circus going on in the church circles to the point that the bible has been evicted from the pulpits and has been replaced by the books written by these false and egomaniac preachers. There are only three points I am going to treat. First we are going to look at the content of preaching, and then move on to the timing of preaching, and then we shall look at the application of preaching.
I. The Content of Preaching
“Preach the word”
Paul gives Timothy a charge before God and before the Lord Jesus Christ. He tells him to preach the word. There is nothing more Timothy is told to preach apart from the word of God. It shouldn’t be a surprise as to why Timothy must preach the word. It has been explained in the preceding verses, that, “All scripture is given by inspiration of God.” The Scriptures are God’s word and therefore they must be preached. Amos says, “The Lord GOD hath spoken, who can but prophesy?” (Amos 3:7). So if God speaks to us today, there is no need then to listen to anything else except the preaching of God’s word.
There could be a number of activities at the gathering of believers but those activities no matter what they may be, are not worthy to be compared to the word of God in terms of importance. The word must be preached at all costs and irrespective of what activity we have in place. When we go to church we enjoy socializing and eating. We also enjoy having fellowship with other believers in singing or in dancing to music but the ultimate purpose is to have fellowship with God in hearing Him as He speaks to us through the preaching of His word. Paul says, “Preach the word, Timothy!” No gibberish! No funny stuf! Just preach the word of God without any reservation whatsoever. It is through the word of God that a man can live. The responsibility therefore, of the preacher, is to preach and to teach the word of God to the people.
II. The Timing of Preaching
“Be instant in season, out of season”
If one were to ask, “When should the word be preached?” this section of the verse covers it. It says, “In season and out season.” Lets us explore the two words. What does Paul mean by “In season, out of season?”
1. In Season (ευκαιρως)
a. Time
Paul tells Timothy to preach the word in Season. The Greek word is “Eukairos” which is made up of two words, “Eus” an adverb which means “good” or “well” and “kairos” which means “opportunity,” or “proper time.” What Paul tells this young preacher is, he must make use of proper time to preach the word. He must preach whenever he is expected to preach.
b. Place
Time is always bound up with space. So this also implies that Timothy must preach the word at the right place for the preaching of the word. He must preach at church services, funerals, weddings and many other places where the word is always expected to be delivered. He must preach the word where and when it feels right to preach.
c. People
Preaching involves not only space and time but it also involves people. There are different kinds of people but the word of God must be preached to all the people whom God loves. To preach at the right time (in season) means to preach to believers. The people who needs to be edified and to be encouraged in the faith
2. Out of Season (ακαιρως)
a. Time
Again we look at the Greek word used in this text. The word is “akairos” which is a negative of “kairos.” The word ought to be preached also in times viewed as inconvenient to preach. These are the times where people do not think that there could be any preaching done. Preach it while waiting for the bus and on board the bus. Preach it while watching a football match.
b. Place
The word of God can be preached at a street corner or outside the sports stadium as people go in to watch the match. Preach the word at a community meeting or at the art in the park event. Anywhere and at anytime, preach the word of God, O man of God.
c. People
Preaching out of season means you are going to be preaching to people who do not care about the word of God. People who do not want to hear about Jesus. Sometimes they will be offended but some will be converted. The president of the country needs to hear the preaching. Your boss needs to hear the gospel and that potty mouthed neighbour of yours who is always drunk needs to hear the gospel from you. Since he won’t go to church to hear it there, intrude on his time like an angel of dead and preach the hell out of him. Who knows maybe God will touch his heart and he will come to repentance.
III. The Application of Preaching
“Reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine.”
Paul tells Timothy of four things which his sermons should aim to do. These four things should also be seen in our own sermons.
1. Reprove (correct)
At times people get wrong ideas about many things. When this happens, it is the duty of the preacher to bring about correction. A pastor’s role is to shepherd or guide his flock. When one sheep strays from the way, the pastor must bring them back onto the right path. The preaching must bring correction. It must turn the prodigal son back to the Father’s arms.
2. Rebuke
When people are doing wrong things, they need to be rebuked. We need preachers who will rebuke wrongdoers without fear. We need the kind of preaching that would rebuke those people who are continuing in sinful practices. Under good preaching, people should have a vivid understanding of right and wrong. If this is not happening then the preacher has failed to execute his job properly.
3. Exhort (encourage)
a. Encouragement
Sometimes people got through seasons of drought and difficulty. Some are even on the verge to lose their faith. The preacher must encourage them to press on and never to give up. As a preacher you must encourage people to do the following (just to name the few):
i) Pray
ii) Read the Bible everyday
iii) Tell others about Jesus
iv) To live in holiness
v) Fellowship with other Christians
vi) Be kind to other people
b. Patience
To encourage people is not an easy job. Often the result would not be seen as soon as we would like them. Therefore it is necessary to keep sharing and encouraging people with a great deal of patience. Don’t stop preaching just because you think there are no results.
3. Doctrine
Every preacher must understand the doctrines which the bible teaches and therefore must pass them on to the people of God. The people must understand the subjects like Justification, Sanctification, Resurrection and any other doctrine that we have in the word of God. We must always uphold the true doctrine in our preaching.
a. The Bible
As Paul had pointed out that “All scripture is given by the inspiration of God” He also pointed out that they are “profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:”
Note: The scriptures are profitable (useful) for Doctrine. This means every doctrine that is taught in our preaching should always be based on the Scriptures, particularly the Bible.
b. Authority
To say that the scriptures are useful for Doctrine implies that in the matters of teaching, the Holy Scriptures are the only literary work that bears authority in the Christian body. Any other text should therefore be looked at with careful consideration and scrutiny. We teach the Bible and we preach from the Bible.
CONCLUSION
We have established that Paul teaches Timothy to preach the word of God. He must preach the word of God to those who believe and he must preach to those who don’t believe. There is no place on earth where Christ shouldn’t be preached. Christ must be preached anywhere, anytime and to anyone.
To preach the word of God in our time means to preach Jesus Christ being the Saviour who was crucified and then raised from the dead, and then ascended to heaven and who is soon to return. Jesus Christ should always be the centre of attention and the centrifuge of our preaching. Jesus Christ at the Centre of it all.
“In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.” Genesis 1:1-2
INTRODUCTION
There is no doubt in my heart that this post is not going to be accepted by some people, particularly, the liberal theologians and atheists. Nevertheless, I am determined to write this post about the beginning. There is no other authority to which I shall refer except the bible. I believe the bible gives us an accurate account of the creation of the world and the origin of mankind. We shall look at verses 1 and 2 of Genesis chapter 1.
I. THE FIRST VERSE
“In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.“
There is so much information contained in the first verse of the bible. We are given the foundation and the beginning of the whole visible and invisible universe. These ten words are very important and if they are ignored, anyone attempting to describe the origin of the universe will by all means sound stupid.
Here we are:
a) God
There is no questions to who is the subject of this verse. God is the main character in this verse. It is very interesting that the word for God in Hebrew appears as a plural. The singular for God is ‘El’ but in Genesis 1:1, it is ‘Elohim.’ So it suggest to us that God is more than one person. Moses clarified this in Deuteronomy 6:4 by saying “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God (Elohim) is one Lord:” God is more than one person but He is one God.
b) In the beginning
We are given the timing of the creation of the whole universe. It happened in the beginning. Some people would ask, “Beginning of what?” Well, this is the beginning of time and also the beginning of God’s work of creation. This is when everything started. I don’t know if there was a bang or it was just deafening silence but whatever it was, it marked the beginning of the whole universe. And God was there before it started.
c) Created
In this single verse we are also told of the action that God took. He created. The word used in the Hebrew language is ‘Bara.’ This particular word can only be used with respects to God. This is because it is only God who created everything out of nothing. He created everything without the use of pre-existing material. None of us can ever create anything at any given time. We can only make things out of materials that already exist, but to create was only pulled off by God alone in the beginning. Therefore God is the sole creator.
d) The heaven and the earth
• The Heavens
This tells us about what God really created. He created not only time (the beginning) but also He created space (heaven) that can be occupied. He created the heavens in their divisions. I am very much convinced that on the very first day the heavens and the host of them were brought forth. The Hebrew word for heavens is שָׁמָ֑יִם “shamayim.” This word is in the plural form and it suggests to us that in the beginning, there existed more than one heaven. It does not matter how many heavens are there, what matters is they did not just pop up by themselves. God created them.
• The Earth
Like the heavens, the earth was also created in the beginning. There shouldn’t be any doubt about the origin of the earth. The earth was created by God and the case rests there. The psalmist sang, “Of old hast thou [God] laid the foundation of the earth:” (Psalm 102:25a). God created the earth and established it. He set it up for his own pleasure. He was pleased to create it. The earth was completely his own idea. It is God alone who could have thought of creating the earth and also to know what to do with it. He had the means and infinite wisdom to create it. No evolutionist, astronomer or even an atheist who can possess enough wisdom and knowledge to successfully contend or do any other thing against the fact that God created it all.
II. THE SECOND VERSE
“And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.“
• THE GAP THEORY
This verse has been for centuries a seat for argument among the theologians. There are many views surrounding this verse. With the rise of Darwinian evolution, there has been theologians who came to believe that between verse one and verse two, there are millions, if not billions of years. This idea is called “the gap theory.” There is a suggestion of a pre-Adamic creation, which existed and was destroyed with the earth somewhere between verse one and verse two. As for the author of this post and those who are of like mind, we reject this notion.
• CONTINUATION
It is very clear that verse two is simply the continuation of the first verse. Any intelligent human being can see that the first verse introduces the story of creation by mentioning the earth’s creation in the beginning and then proceeds into the second verse to tell us about the condition of the earth at the moment of it’s creation. If one would continue reading verses 3-31, they would notice that these verses are summarized in verse one. Then in Genesis 2:1-3, the story of the six day creation which was introduced in Genesis 1:1 is concluded. God did not finish the work of creation in verse one and then waited for millions of years to start over in verses 2-31. God started His work of creation on the first day and finished it on the sixth and on the seventh day he stopped creating because He was done. Here is the conclusion statement on creation, “Thus the HEAVENS and the EARTH were FINISHED, and all the host of them.” (Genesis 2:1). This verse tells us that the heavens were created and were completed at the same time as the earth. Exodus 20:11 tells us, “…in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day:…“
• And the earth was without form and void
Here in this verse we learn that the earth itself in the very beginning was not organized. There was no atmosphere, there was no land but it was a large mass of probably frozen water. There was no life of any sort. The planet was not suitable for any kind of life to thrive there on. There was no sun to give it light and warmth. But God was still at work and six days later the earth would be filled with light, life and beauty.
• And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.
This is the first mention of the Spirit of God in the Bible. The Holy Spirit was waiting to begin the work of arranging the earth into a life sustaining environment. He moved across the face of the waters, waiting for God’s instruction. God himself worked the earth by the power of his Spirit. He gave it life and beauty and all was pleasant to Him.
CONCLUSION
There is no question that the Bible teaches that God created the heavens and the earth in six days and that He rested from all His work of creation on the seventh day. The first and the second verses of the Bible give us the introductory summary into the six day creation campaign and there was no million or billion year gap between verse one and two. By God’s grace on the next post, we shall look at the events that take place during the six days in verses 3 -31 of Genesis 1.
This is the first episode of The Spokesdude Podcast Season 2. And we are dealing with racism in South Africa. We talk about Penny Sparrow’s comments and Gareth Cliff’s dismissal from Idols SA. In this show it is explained why black people should not take offence on being called monkeys.
