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Music Good morning, we're in Genesis chapter number one. Genesis chapter one, the Bible reads, 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, and God said, Let there be light, and there was light. And God saw the light, that it was good, and God divided the light from the darkness. God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night, and the evening and the morning were the first day. God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters. God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament, and it was so. God called the firmament Heaven, and the evening and the morning were the second day. And God said, Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry land appear, and it was so. God called the dry land earth, and the gathering together of the waters called he seas, and God saw that it was good. God said, let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself upon the earth, and it was so. The earth brought forth grass, and herb yielding seed after his kind, and the tree yielding fruit whose seed was in itself after his kind, and God saw that it was good, and the evening the morning with the third day. God said, let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night, and let there be for signs, and for seasons, and for days and years, and let there be for lights in the firmament of the heaven to give the light upon the earth, and it was so. God made two great lights, the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night. He made the stars also, and God set them in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth, and to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness, and God saw that it was good, and the evening and the morning were the fourth day. And God said, let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life, and fowl that may fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven. God created great whales, and every living creature that moveth, which the waters brought forth abundantly after their kind, and every winged fowl after his kind, and God saw that it was good. And God blessed them, saying, be fruitful and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let fowl multiply in the earth, and the evening and the morning were the fifth day. God said, let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind, cattle and creeping thing and beast of the earth after his kind, and it was so. God made the beast of the earth after his kind, and cattle after their kind, and everything that creepeth upon the earth after his kind, and God saw that it was good. And God said, let us make man in our image, after our likeness, and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. So God created man in his own image, and the image of God created he him, male and female created he them. And God blessed them, and God said unto them, be fruitful and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth. And God said, behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree in which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed, to you it shall be for meat. And to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to everything that creepeth upon the earth wherein there is life, I have given every green herb for meat, and it was so. And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good, and the evening and the morning were the sixth day. Let's pray, dear Lord God, we thank you for your word, thank you for preserving it for us, just ask that you be with our pastor now. Please strengthen him, fill him with your Holy Spirit, and please bless the preaching, and just give us all readiness of mind to receive it, in Jesus' name we pray, amen. Amen. Okay, we're in Genesis chapter one this morning, and it says, in the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. God created the heaven and the earth. And what I'm gonna preach on this morning is the creation story, I wanna go through Genesis chapter one, and go through the sixth day literal creation of all things this morning. Now obviously, as Christians, we understand that we are creationists, right? Meaning that we believe that God is the maker of all things, he's the one who originated all things, he's the one who created all things within six 24-hour days, right? We as Christians, as Bible-believing people, we reject the theory of evolution, we also reject theistic evolution, and we also reject the gap theory as well, which we might even hit on in just a bit. And so this morning I wanna talk about the creation story, and just go verse by verse, and give the interpretation of each verse, and see some application as well. Now contrary to what a lot of Christians believe, especially in the independent fundamental Baptist movement, I actually don't hold to a young earth position. And a young earth position is simply the belief that because the earth is 6,300 years old approximately, that a lot of what we see today will actually reflect that. And although I do believe that the earth is approximately 6,300 years old, and it's young in the sense that it's 6,300 years old, I do believe that God created it to look mature. And so obviously we know that the flood has altered a lot of what's taking place here on this world, and its appearance, but in general, you know, essentially God created it to look at a certain age, to look mature, and that should be not controversial. A lot of people will take conflict with that, and say, well you're just trying to capitulate to the evolutionists of this world, you're just trying to placate science, and trying to make the Bible fit with science, but really what it is, it's a narrative that we find in the very first chapter of the Bible, okay? You say, well how so? Well, because of the fact that when you look at the creation period, you know, God didn't create, he didn't place seeds in the ground and wait for it to become a redwood, he didn't put tadpoles in the river and wait for them to become frogs, he didn't put a baby in the Garden of Eden and wait for him to get grown to, you know, calling him Adam, and placing him in the Garden of Eden, he obviously created everything to be a particular maturity and a particular age, and that's exactly what the first chapter of Genesis reveals to us. And in fact, it says in chapter two in verse four, these are the generations of the heavens and of the earth when they were created in the day that the Lord God made their earth in the heavens, and every plant of the field before it was in the earth, and every herb of the field before it grew, for the Lord God had not caused it to rain upon the earth, and there was not a man to till the ground. Now this is very important because of the fact that there are Christians out there so called that believe in something called theistic evolution, meaning that they believe God put all of the components together to create life, and then over thousands of years, millions of years, you know, these things became what we see today. But that is false, the Bible literally teaches that God created in six literal days because of the fact that we see in the Bible over and over again in chapter one that the evening and the morning were the first day referring to a literal 24 hour period. And so yeah, I do believe the earth is young, but that God created it to look mature and in some cases even older. That is not a denial of the creation story that is actually in conjunction with the narrative of chapter one. Now as I mentioned, I do believe that the earth is about 6,300 years old and 298 if you want to be exact. And the way you basically come up with that number is you have to add some of the numbers, the numerical values that are given to us throughout the Old Testament starting off with the creation period to the flood, from the flood to Abraham, from Abraham to the children of Israel going into Egypt, the children of Israel going into Egypt to the Exodus, the Exodus to the construction of the temple, the construction of the temple to the Babylonian captivity, the Babylonian captivity to the return, and then pretty much after that there's a lot of historical records that are very valid that can essentially take over and give us a lot of the times. For example, you have Cyrus the king of Persia ruling in 536. So when you look at all these numbers, it gives you a numeric value of about 6,298 years, give or take about 50 to 100 years. Not millions of years, not billions of years, but 6,300 approximate years old. Now the first thing I want to mention regarding the very first chapter, the very first verse of the Bible is that it says, in the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. And if you've read the Bible, even if you've done just a casual reading of the New Testament, one thing that should come to mind is John 1 and verse number 1, where the Bible says that in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God, all things were made by Him, and without Him was not anything made that was made. And obviously that's written on purpose in such the style that it would help us to attach Genesis 1-1 to that. And what it's showing us is that Jesus Christ was not a created being, but rather He is the Creator who was there in Genesis 1 creating all things. He's not only the Son of God, but He's also God Himself used to create all things. The Bible tells us in Colossians 1, you don't have to turn there, in verse 15, that Jesus Christ is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature, for by Him were all things created that are in heaven and that are on earth. It says visible and invisible, whether they be thrones or dominions or principalities or powers, all things were created by Him, and listen, and for Him. And so we see that Genesis 1-1 essentially undertone of the Trinity there, because we know that God the Father was present, God the Son was present because He is the Word that created all things. And then in verse 2 you have the Spirit of God moving upon the face of the waters, showing us a picture of the Trinity. And so it's very important to note that John 1-1, Genesis 1-1 are tied together, giving us this wonderful picture of our Savior Jesus Christ. Now again, we don't adhere or ascribe to evolution, theistic evolution, or even the gap theory. And people would say, well, your position on mature earth is kind of like a capitulation, because how can you even prove that? Well, you can't, other than through the Bible. And it's important to note that God doesn't want to prove Himself to this world using science, using archeology. You say, how are people supposed to believe on the Lord then? Through the Word of God. The Bible says that faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God. And in fact, the Bible also says in Hebrews 11, verse 1, that faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. God doesn't want us to depend upon archeological discoveries, or even science, though science is true in many cases. For the existence of God, He wants us to look to the Bible, He wants us to believe on Him and have faith in the Word of God. You say, well, that's not enough for me, then you're not going to get anything else. Because that is the sole source that God wants us to use to believe on Him. And the Bible tells us that we walk by faith and not by sight. And make no mistake about it, don't let these evolutionists tell you, well, you guys are just a bunch of religious zealots or whatever, don't know what you're talking about. Well, if you're an evolutionist, you are also religious. Because evolution cannot be proven with science, you have to believe in it by faith. Because no one's been here for millions of years to observe those things taking place. So it has to be believed by faith as well. Don't allow people to try to mix in evolution with science. Faith is that which can be tested and proven and seen and observed, whereas evolution, you have not seen any of those things. And we've never seen a monkey turn into a man, we've never seen anything turn into anything else, it's not there. And so let me also say one more thing before we get into the very chapter itself. When you look at the six day creation period, you'll see that a lot of the days actually parallel one with the other. And what I mean by that is that let's look at day one, two, and three, four, five, and six. On day one, you have the creation of light and darkness. Day two, you have the creation of the firmament. Day three is where the land appears, right? So you have light and day, day one, firmament on day two, and then you have the land appearing on day three. Four, five, and six, those days, the fourth day is what? The two great lights, okay? What we know to be the sun and the moon. Day five is marine life. Day six is the beast of the earth and man. And if you look at that, they kind of parallel the first half, right? Because the two great lights on day four parallel with day one being light and darkness. The marine life in day five parallel with the firmament, because they are inhabiting, the fowls are inhabiting the firmament in the sky, as well as the marine life there as well. And of course, day six parallels with day three, because of the fact that on day six, you have the creation of the animals and man inhabiting the land that's appearing on day three, okay? And the spiritual significance to that is the fact that God is trying to teach us that God made the earth to be inhabited. He's preparing a place for creation to dwell in, right? He's preparing the world to be inhabited by animals, but more specifically by man himself. Now let's go ahead and go through the creation period here. Let's talk about day one of the creation, the creation of heaven, earth, light, and darkness. It says, 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, and God said, let there be light, and there was light, and God saw the light that it was good, and God divided the light from the darkness, and called the light day, and the darkness he called night, and the evening and the morning were the first day. Now first of all, I want you to notice that in the very first verse, it actually says that God created the heaven and the earth, not the heavens, okay? Now if you have a modern version of the Bible, you should throw it in the trash, but before you do so, you'll notice that it actually says heavens, not heaven. Now that is inconsistent with the creation period, because the heavens are actually not created until day two, when the firmaments are created, and the synonym for firmament, according to verse two, is heaven, you understand? And that's obviously not referring to the place where God dwells. God actually created the place in which he dwells on day one, okay? So when he says that he created the heaven, he's referring to that celestial place where God occupies and the angels. He said, well why would God create the heaven, that sounds kind of weird, didn't heaven always exist? No, God is eternal, but the habitation of heaven was a created place. He said, what's the purpose of that created place? Well in his foreknowledge, he knew that one day the righteous will inhabit heaven. So he created it knowing full well that in the future, the redeemed would one day inhabit that place, you understand? And so he created the heaven and the earth, referring to the third heaven, as the Apostle Paul put it, the place where God dwells, the holy hill, the holy tabernacle in heaven, okay? And of course everything that's in heaven. And so you have the creation of heaven and earth, and someone even speculate that it's possible that this is when the angels were also created. People would say that maybe it was on day four where the stars were created because stars in the Bible is something that is often synonymously referred to as angels, okay? You see this kind of used interchangeably, but it's more likely that it happened on day one since he's creating heaven and everything that's in them, you understand? And so that's possibly when the angels were created. And of course, you know, the Bible tells us in the New Testament that the angels left their first estate and it talks about their habitation, it's referring to heaven. We also see in the very first day that the earth was without form and void, okay? Now, what does that mean? Well, when God created the earth, you know, contrary to modern science and modern theories of how the earth looked like billions of years ago, the earth was actually just a ball of water, okay, according to this account. And when it says that it's without form and void, it just means that it's uninhabited, there's nothing necessarily special about it, and in fact, at this day, there is no atmosphere involved, okay? The atmosphere is actually not created until day two. So it's without form and void. Now, there is a false doctrine out there that is often talked about as the gap theory, okay? And what they'll say is that there's actually a gap between verse one and verse two of Genesis chapter one. And what they refer to that as is the gap theory, and they'll say that essentially in chapter one, there is this pre-Ademic fall that took place prior to verse number two where Satan was loose, he destroyed the earth, he brought and introduced iniquity. I mean, don't you see it in verse number one? Don't you see all of that taking place right there? It's right there, right? No, it's not. But they'll say, you know, Satan fell in verse one, before verse two, and he destroyed this earth, he left it desolate, and this is why it says that the earth is without form and void. And you say, where do they get that from? Well, Satan, of course, you know, he's the source of that. But they'll often use Jeremiah chapter four describing Jerusalem as being without form and void. And of course, that without form and void is a result of destruction that came upon that city. So because the city is described as being without form and void in Jeremiah chapter four, then they automatically assume, oh, because it says without form and void in Genesis one, then automatically that means that something was destroyed there. But here's the problem with that is that the narrative of chapter one is that everything was very good. And you cannot say that everything was very good if the earth has been just completely decimated and destroyed by Satan, okay? Number one. Number two, if Satan is the one introducing sin and destruction to this world, then you have a conflict of doctrine, since the New Testament teaches that by one man sin entered into the world and death by sin, not by Satan, okay? Problem number three is that the text doesn't say that at all. You have to infer that into the text, you know, between, not even within the text, it's like squeezing in between verses one and two to even get that narrative, okay? So that's a false doctrine. It doesn't exist. It comes from dispensationalist, and in particular, the Schofield Reference Bible, okay? Which by the way, let me just say this is that, you know, we as Christians should stay away from reference Bibles, not utilize commentaries. You say, well, they're very helpful. They aid me in my understanding of the Bible. Well, how about you use the Holy Spirit of God that dwells within you, who the Bible says is the spirit of truth that can aid you in your understanding. Why not adhere to the author of the Bible? I'd rather just listen to the author, the creator of the Word of God to teach me the Bible. It may take a little longer. It may not be like the drive-through commentary that you're used to, but at least you'll get the truth and nothing but the truth, okay? You know, a lot of these reference Bibles, it'll be like, in the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth, and then the entire page thereafter is just commentary and all these extra biblical revelation that's just not in the Word of God. And it causes people to have a preconceived idea of what the Bible teaches and causes them to view the Bible through lenses that are erroneous and not biblical. And so it's important to stay away from that. Because here's the thing, if you were to just read Genesis chapter 1 on your own without any commentary, you wouldn't come to the conclusion that there is a gap, right? You wouldn't be like, wait a minute, wait a minute, I'm missing something here. I know there's something here that I'm missing. I feel like there's like a gap, you know? It's not there, okay? And so the earth is without form and void at the time because of the fact that the earth at this point is a ball of water. It says that darkness was upon the face of the deep. And then it says in verse 3 that God said, let there be light and there was light. And I want you to notice this in verse 4, God saw the light that it was good and God divided the light from the darkness, okay? And this is very interesting because we automatically assume that light stems from the sun, right? The light stems from the sun in the morning and of course, the moon reflects the sun in the evening but light is from God, okay? And obviously, he projects light in a spiritual manner but also I believe in a physical way as well because in the new heaven and the new earth, we see that the holy city doesn't need the light of the sun in the city because God is the light, the Bible says, that actually illuminates that entire city. So obviously, there's a physical light there. And there's an important principle that is stated here in the very first chapter of the Bible and that is that there should be a division between good and evil, right? Because he divides the light from the darkness and obviously, that's a physical way but there's a spiritual undertone there that ends up carrying out throughout the entire word of God and that is that light should be separated from darkness, good should be separated from evil. The Bible says in the New Testament, have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness but rather reprove them, the Bible says. And then Corinthians chapter 6 tells us, be not unequally yoked together with unbelievers for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness, the Bible says, what communion hath light with darkness, right? Showing us that there should be a distinction between believers, that which is righteous and that which is unrighteous. And we see this pattern being followed throughout the word of God that we should constantly make that division there. And I want you to notice that he makes the light to shine or should I say, he divides the light from the darkness, meaning he's calling the light to come out of the darkness. You know, and in like manner, we as Christians, God is calling us out of the world, come out from among them, be separate, saith the Lord and touch not the unclean thing and I will receive you, the Bible says. You know, God is calling us to separate from unfruitful works of darkness, from the evil, from that which is wicked. The Bible says in 2 Corinthians 4 verse 6, for God who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, referring to Genesis chapter 1, hath shine in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ, the Bible says. So obviously the spiritual application there is that we are the light of the world, a city that is set on a hill cannot be hid. We should let our light so shine before men that they may see our good work, glorify our Father which is in heaven, but you know what, that requires us to be removed and be divided from the darkness, okay? You will be a completely spiritually incapacitated believer if you're just dwelling and fellowshipping amongst the darkness. You will not be useful for the Lord, you will not be a good testimony unto the Lord, and in fact, you will not be able to shine the light of the glorious gospel of Christ who is the image of God unto the world. The Bible says that we have this treasure in earthen vessels that the excellency of the power may be of God and not of us, but it's not going to happen if we're not taken from the darkness, you understand? And so this is why it's important to live a separated life. So the first thing we see in the very first day is the creation of heaven. We see the creation of earth which at this particular point is just a ball of water. Don't let that term ball offend you either, okay? The earth is not flat, okay? We believe the Bible here, and we believe in education, and we believe in knowledge. We do not ascribe to, we object foolishness of the teaching of the flat earth, okay? So he created heaven, earth, he created light and darkness that would eventually be the narrative, the theme throughout the word of God of separation from God's people from the world, okay? Now let's look at day two here, it says in verse number six, God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters. God made the firmament and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament, and it was so. And God called the firmament, listen to this, heaven, and the evening and the morning were the second day. Now, firmament is not a word that we typically use today, but a simple definition, even if we were to look this up on the internet, on a dictionary, or if you were to just take the narrative of the Bible, simply means the sky or an open space. That's what a firmament is. And the flat earthers have used this to try to push their narrative that the earth is flat and there's a dome or whatever, but you know what? One thing I've noticed about flat earthers is that they don't like the Bible. And they ignore a lot of clear teachings of the Bible, and when you quote scriptures that refute the flat earth, they just ignore you. They just don't want to listen. They're like, yeah, but. What do you mean, yeah, but? The verse is right there. Because in their minds, well, a firmament is actually a dome, it's something that's hard, it's something that's visible, it's something that was there at one point. But the Bible also records in the creation period that the fowls, referring to birds, are flying in the firmament. Well, how can you fly in something that's hard? Firmament is simply referring to the expansion, what we would say today is the atmosphere. And it's not just the atmosphere that was created on day two, but also space. Anywhere where there is an expanse of just emptiness, that's what the firmament is. The stratosphere, the atmosphere, things of that nature. So the water on the surface of the earth is separated from the moisture in the air, and you can think about this like, for example, clouds, that would be a great example of that. Clouds are that which is filled with water, but they are above the firmament, but they're also under the firmament, and they're in the firmament, you understand? Even though it's water, and I believe that this is where the water cycle would be formed. The water cycle that we have on this earth, and obviously it was not raining during this time, it didn't rain until Noah's flood, but the systems are being put in place for the future. So there's water vapor in the sky, and of course he calls. This is where the heaven is created, not referring to the place where God dwells, but just the atmosphere, space, the stratosphere, things of that nature. And this is why the Bible says that the heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament showeth his handiwork. If you were to ever go to the desert, if you were to go to Big Bear, or any places of high altitude where there's no light pollution, you would look at the sky and see how beautiful, and grand, and glorious it is, and as a believer we would look at that and glorify God because of his handiwork. We would look at the firmament and behold the heaven, and glorify God on that behalf. And so this is where this empty space is created. So keep in mind that on day one you have this ball of water, no atmosphere, on day two the atmosphere is introduced separating water that's on the surface of the earth from the moisture in the air, and of course you have the stratosphere and so on. Look at verse number nine. Day three, what we're going to look at is the formation of land, mountains, hills, vegetation, and fruit. Look at verse nine, it says, and God said, let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry land appear, and it was so. And God called the dry land earth, and the gathering together of the waters called he seas, and God saw that it was good. And God said, let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself upon the earth, and it was so. And the earth brought forth grass and herb yielding seed after his kind, and the tree yielding fruit, whose seed was in itself after his kind, and God saw that it was good, and the evening and the morning were the third day. Now let me make a couple comments regarding this, because I believe that on day three is where the continents were formed. And there's a theory out there proposed by scientists, a lot of scientists so-called, and they'll often claim that, in this theory called Pangaea, how many of you have ever heard of Pangaea? And Pangaea just simply means all earth, 200, 300 million years ago that there was a super continent on this earth, that over time, I think they even said during the Triassic period, began to drift and create the current continents that we have now. And often their smoking gun would be that South America can be attached to Africa, because it kind of looks the same. And they're at one point together, but then slowly began to drift apart. Now let me just say this, is that I obviously do not ascribe to the theory of Pangaea and the fact that they claim that it drifted, the continents drifted and created the continents that we have now, but there is a level of truth of what they're saying in the first half. You say, how so? Because what they're claiming is that at one point, there is just this super continent that all the land masses were connected. And if you think about it, when God created the earth, it was a ball of water, but under that water was land. And guess what? All that land was connected at one point. And in fact, folks, if you were to remove all the water from the ocean, I know this would be shocking to you, if you remove all the water from the ocean, the continents are still connected, because you would see great valleys and chasms where the water has filled and the continents are still connected. So obviously, the first half, there is some truth to it that they were all connected. The part that we would reject and not ascribe to is that they drifted apart or something like that. They had their differences and they drifted apart and now they are various autonomous continents because at that point you would say, well, are we talking about islands here? But obviously they're still connected. Now people would say, well, that doesn't explain then, why is there kangaroos in Australia? Why are there so many marsupials in Australia and nowhere else? You've heard those arguments. And I'm going to give you what my opinion is, what I think is taking place there. I do believe, and obviously I'm not dogmatic about this, I just think it's a possibility. And if you think it's something different, you can let me know after the service. Again, I'm not dogmatic about this, but I do think it's a strong possibility that the continents were essentially formed in two phases. Phase one would be the creation, where he makes the land appear, meaning that at one point when the earth was just filled with water, he's causing the earth to essentially surface to the atmosphere, creating these mountains. And then after the flood, the post-flood, the flood obviously alters a lot of what the world looks like. And post-flood, there's possibly low sea levels. And that's not a preposterous theory, only because of the fact that Australia is actually still connected to Southeast Asia. There's a lot of still continents that are connected underwater. And it could be that over time, the sea levels, they dropped after the flood and people are migrating during this time. And the reason I don't think it could be a preposterous theory is because of the fact that if that were to take place post-flood, what happened 100 years after the flood? Babylon. Babylon took place, the Tower of Babel, where the languages were dispersed, they were created and dispersed, and people began to migrate into different parts of the world. That's when you have that. Again, I'm not dogmatic about it, but I do think it is a possibility that that's how it took place. And so the formation of continents, I believe, happened in two phases. Phase one would be the creation period on day two, or day three, excuse me. And then later on, hundreds of years later, you have the flood taking place that's altering the face of the planet, and it's creating the continents that we have now. Now another principle that we can learn from day three is the fact that everything brings forth after its own kind. As he says there, God said in verse 11, let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself upon the earth. It was sown. The earth brought forth grass and herb yielding seed after his kind, and the tree yielding fruit whose seed was in itself after his kind and so forth. And you kind of see that throughout the entire chapter, meaning that virtually all of creation produces after its own kind. Now that's common sense, but folks, we got to say that because of the fact that people think we came from monkeys, right? Even today in 2024, people still believe that we came from monkeys, that we came from primordial soup. And here's the thing, here's the problem with that is that we still have monkeys today. So why haven't we seen, we have so many records over the last 6,000 years, we've never seen a monkey turn into a human being, or any other, we've never seen a cat become a dog, a dog become a giraffe, you say well you know, there are some finches though, where the beak has gotten smaller, has gotten bigger, but that's a variation within the kind though. For example, human beings have variations based upon where they live in this world. Some people are lighter skinned, some people are darker skinned, some people have bigger eyes, some people have slanted eyes, it just really depends on where you're at. It's an adaptation that people develop based upon the area in which you live. That's not evolution, that's called an adaptation. And so the Bible teaches us that kinds are produced, you know there's two dogs that went on Noah's Ark that produced the wolves, the coyotes, not your Chihuahua. You made that, that abomination, I'm just kidding. But animals cannot evolve into another animal. Monkeys do not evolve into people, a T-Rex did not evolve into a chicken. Microevolution is an adaptation within a kind, and obviously I don't like to use microevolution, it's just an adaptation. And so that is the theme throughout the creation period is that everything produces after its own kind. And you know people mock us for that, but what about the stuff that you believe though? Everything came from primordial soup, some big bang out there, and you know it's nonsense. You know we're still looking for the missing link, I found the missing link already though. Here's the missing link. This is the link that's going to link you to eternal life, link you to knowledge, link you to the truth. And the majority of the so-called missing links end up being hoaxes anyways. And when they do find a person, a person, a skeletal remains of a person which they think is like the missing link, you know it's just a regular human being who has big eye bridges or whatever, eyebrows or you know a large skull or whatever, you know it's pretty offensive that you would think it's an animal, just because they look different, okay? Still a person. Look at verse 14. So we went through the first three days, which is earth, heaven, light and darkness. Second day is the firmament, which is referring to the space in between the waters. Third day is the appearance of land, creating the continents, okay? And of course the herb yielding fruit, grass, vegetation, things of that nature. Now we're going to get into the sun, moon and stars. Verse 14 said, and God said, let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night, and let them be for signs and for seasons for days and years, and let them be for lights in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth and it will sow. And God made two great lights and the greater light to rule the day, the lesser light to rule the night and he made the stars also. God set them in the firmament of heaven to give light upon the earth and to rule over the day over the night and to divide the light from the darkness and God saw that it was good. The evening and the morning were the fourth day. Now what we see here is the creation of the sun, moon and stars, but notice that it doesn't really use sun, moon. It doesn't use stars, but it doesn't use the sun or the moon. It just says two great lights. And some have theorized that the reason for that is because when this is being written, it's almost, it's essentially trying to slight the false religions of their day, the pagan religions of their day, because many pagan heathen nations have worshipped the sun as being a deity, right? And the sun god Helios and whatnot. And so this is essentially devaluing those gods, those false gods, by just calling them two great lights. Not necessarily even using the sun or calling it the moon, but just referring to them as great lights. And of course, we know them to be the sun and the moon. Now I want you to notice that what's the purpose of these lights? Because it says in verse 14 towards the latter end, let them be for signs and for seasons and for days and years. Now those last three are pretty easy to understand, right? The seasons, days and years, essentially what it's telling us is that the sun and the moon stars are there to help us to measure increments of time, right? To calendarize our days, to be able to number our days. That's pretty simple to figure out. It's the first one that can be a little cryptic, which is for signs. And people have often used the stars, the sun and the moon, for signs, but not the kind of signs that God was talking about, okay? You know, they'll often use it for, you know, to tell their future, to tell their destiny, what their zodiac sign is. They'll use the constellations to determine, you know, what decisions they should make. But here's the thing, that's not what this is referring to at all. So well then why does it say signs? And let me just say this. The reason we know that it's not referring to looking to the stars, the sun and the moon to determine spiritual matters is because God consistently condemns that throughout the Bible. He says don't go to the prognosticators, the astrologers, don't go to these people who are dismayed at the signs of heaven. And in fact, he says in Jeremiah chapter 10, be not dismayed at the signs of heaven, for the heathen are dismayed at them. You know, these ass ticks and minds back in the day, they're looking at the eclipse and they're just like freaking out and, you know, oh, I guess we got to sacrifice more people or whatever, you know? You say, yeah, but that was then. No, people are still like that today. We literally just had a solar eclipse earlier this year, you guys remember that? People on the internet were freaking out about it, perverting the Bible to promote this narrative that something bad was going to happen to America on that day because there's a solar eclipse. It's like, oh man, the shadow was going to pass through the United States and coincidentally it's going through cities called Nineveh. And what's going to happen to the world, you know, and all these videos are being promoted and you said, what happened? Nothing! You know, why don't you just enjoy the solar eclipse? Like do you have one group that's just like, ahhh! And then another group is like, that's cool. And then another group is trying to keep our kids from looking at the solar eclipse without the shades and then we just move on with our lives. Here's the thing about solar eclipses too. You know, they're very predictable because the heavenly bodies can be calculated, they're very predictable, that's why we know when they're going to happen. We know where they're going to be, when they're going to happen, at what specific time, because they're very much orderly and predictable. This is why the Bible tells us not to be dismayed at them. He said then, what spiritual application can be gathered from the heavenly bodies? Well how about the heavens declare the glory of God and the firmament showeth his handiwork. You know, God created all these things so that we can be in awe of his power, of his glory, the fact that he has organized all of creation, the universe, the solar system in such a way that it can literally be predictable what's going to happen. That's amazing! But again, people use them for signs. What's your zodiac sign? What's going to happen? And cultures throughout history have done this, heathen cultures have done this. They're like, okay, okay, okay, stop mocking them, tell us what it's really for then. It says signs, well often the answer is the most obvious, okay? You know, and if I were to ask you, how do you get around this city or around where you live, you'd say, well I just use my GPS. But before the GPS, you would just use like street signs. Do you guys know what street signs are? I know this generation doesn't really know what a street sign is. You guys probably don't even know what street our church is on. Most people are like, I just followed my GPS. You understand what I'm saying? Can I get a witness? Most people are just like, type in the address and it'll take you off a cliff and you just follow it. That's how the antichrist is going to get you in the end times. It's going to GPS it straight to the abomination of desolation and just get you. But there are street signs, right? And the street signs are there to help you to navigate. Well, in like manner, you know, God essentially put a built-in GPS in this world, known as the sun, moon, and stars, to navigate geographically. That's how people have done it for thousands of years, where they've used the sun and moon and stars for that. They'll use where the sun is to determine a particular location, to chart a course. And even when the sun went down, they would use the stars and the constellations and, you know, where they're at in the horizon to be able to determine a particular destination that they want to go to. That's what he did. And so, you know, God did that because he's just gracious and ultimately, it would allow mankind to spread throughout the world, to navigate, to visit, to spread upon the face of the planet. And then, of course, ultimately, to help missionaries and preachers of the gospel go to different parts of the world to promote the Word of God, right? And so, don't be dismayed at the signs of heaven and don't freak out every time there's a lunar eclipse or a solar eclipse. And here's the thing, I want to go to those people who are making such a big deal about it, you know, during that time and say, what now? You know, you made that video scaring everyone half to death, scaring all these Christians unfortunately, and then the next day just rolls around and absolutely nothing happens. And then, you know, there's this guy on there who's just like, you know, it happened but we have to wait like another six months for the results though or something. Well, how convenient, you know? But what's going to happen? Absolutely nothing. And the reality is this, you could probably just point to any day of the year and find something catastrophic happening in this world, okay? But it's not a result of a solar eclipse, you know, it can be predictable, it's predictable, it can be determined where it's going to be, where it's going to show up. And so, that is the purpose of the sun, moon, and stars. They are not to be worshiped. They're not to be looked to toward as deity or at, you know, you say, what about the light? You know, God is the light, okay? And obviously, they picture other spiritual truths but the point that's being made here is the fact that God is creating a world in which we can function, travel, navigate, determine time, seasons, days, and years, okay? And so, that is the purpose of the light. Now look at verse 20, let's move on to day five here, it says, And God said, Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life, and thou that may fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven. Would you look at that? Verse 21, And God created great whales, and every living creature that moveth which the waters brought forth abundantly after their kind, and every winged fowl after his kind, and God saw that it was good. And God blessed them, saying, Be fruitful and multiply, fill the waters in the seas, and let the fowl multiply in the earth, and the evening and the morning were the fifth day. Now let me make a couple comments here regarding verse 21. And this kind of jumped out at me as I was studying this, that it says that God created great whales, okay? And the reason that jumped out at me is because, in general, during the creation period, when God describes that which he's creating, he gives a very general statement regarding that creation. He's not very specific about the kind. You understand what I'm saying? Like later when we see that he creates the beast, he doesn't say he created great lions, right? Or he created great giraffes or something. He's not really specific about the kind. But it seems as though he's specific about the kind here, okay? When he says great whales. And people have just interpreted this to mean that he's referring to the sperm whales or blue whales because they're so massive. They're some of the largest creatures in the oceans in the world, right? And so it's almost as if they merit their own call-out. They created the great whales, right? But here's the thing. Two comments that I want to make about this is that, number one, according to the Bible, a whale can be a fish, okay? Because we think of a whale as being a mammal of the sea, right? But according to the Bible, it can also classify it just as a fish. And the reason we know that is because in the New Testament, Jesus Christ says, for as Jonah was three days and three nights in the whale's belly, so shall the son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. But then when you look at Jonah chapter one where the account is found, it says that a great fish was prepared to swallow up Jonah. Kind of showing us that basically during this particular time when the Bible was written, a whale is simply referring to, it could be referring to a fish, not just a mammal. Everyone following, okay? But here's another thing that I want to mention regarding that is that it's possible, and I believe this to be true, that when the Bible says great whale or just uses whale period, it's actually referring to just any large sea creature, not just a blue whale, not just a sperm whale, orcas, or any kind of mammal of the sea, it's actually referring to just any large creature whatsoever. And the proof of that is the fact that the pattern that we see here in the narrative is that God only describes the general kind, right? The general creation, and then you just use your imagination and think, okay, beast is referring to an ox, it could be referring to coyotes, it could be referring to anything, it's just a beast of the field. Well in verse 21 when he says great whales, he's just simply referring to large sea creatures, not just these whales. And the reason I believe that's important is because that would include dragons and dinosaurs. Now let me clarify because we got visitors here and they're like, oh no, pastor believes in dragons. You know, let me just say this is that when I say dragons, I'm not referring to these mythological dragons, you know, what's that called, train my dragon or whatever, I'm not referring to, that's not what I believe in, okay? Because a dragon is simply another word for serpent in the Bible. And dinosaurs obviously is not a term that was coined in the Bible, that's more recent, but it simply means terrible lizard. So it's just a large creature, serpent of some sort, okay? And you say, so where are you getting at with this, with great whales? Well that would also include leviathan. So leviathan that's found in Job chapter 41 and elsewhere is described as a very large sea creature, possibly maybe even bigger than a sperm whale or a blue whale, okay? And that would fit the narrative because when was leviathan created? Because he was created at one point, he said well where can we, you know, on day five somewhere because that's the marine life. But more specifically I think it's referring to the great whales, okay? And we're not gonna use, we can't use modern terms necessarily to define or classify terms in the Bible because words change over time. Words change definitions, classifications change over time. The point that I'm making here is that when the Bible uses whale, it's not referring to a mammal, it's referring to just a very large sea creature. Now go to Job 41 if you would, hold your place there in Genesis 1, and go to Job 41. I'm gonna read to you from Psalm 74 and verse 13, you can write this down and read it later. It says, thou didst divide the sea by thy strength, thou breakest the heads of the dragons in the waters. What are dragons? Sea serpents or serpents of some sort, thou breakest the head of leviathan in pieces and gave us him to be meat to the people inhabiting the wilderness. So obviously if God is talking about destroying leviathan, if leviathan was just a small little seahorse or something like that, that's not very impressive. But the fact that he is a very large sea creature, it's essentially an expression of God's power that he's able to break his head and then use his body to feed people. Psalm 104 verse 25 says, so is this great and wide sea wherein all things creeping innumerable, both small and great beasts, there go the ships, there is that leviathan whom thou hast made to play therein. And so for the Bible to say the leviathan uses the seas to play therein, it's obviously trying to communicate the fact that leviathan is a very large creature since the ocean is also very large, but he's using the seas and oceans to play. You know, I wouldn't necessarily play in the ocean. It's absolutely terrifying. You know, thalassophobia is a real thing. Look at Job 41 and verse 1, canst thou draw out leviathan with an hook? Of course, this is God speaking, rebuking Job here, or his tongue with the cord which thou let us down? Canst thou put a hook into his nose or bore his jaw through with a thorn? Will he make many supplications unto thee? Will he speak soft words unto thee? Will he make a covenant with thee? Will thou take him for a servant forever? Wilt thou play with him as with a bird, or wilt thou bind him for thy maidens? Shall the companions make a banquet of him? Shall they part him among the merchants? Canst thou fill his skin with barbed irons or his head with fish spears? Now what this is saying is that leviathan is such a large creature that mankind in general can't just dominate it. And according to Psalm 104, God has to break the head of leviathan in order to conquer it because he's saying, what can you do to defeat leviathan? And obviously there's a spiritual application to this, it's basically saying leviathan is a picture of satan. And the only way we overcome satan is by Jesus Christ, you understand, who essentially breaks the head of leviathan. That is the picture that's being given here, and it's possible that because of this, that's why leviathan probably no longer exists, it went extinct. There's a lot of animals that have gone extinct since then. Look at verse nine, behold, the hope of him is in vain, shall not one be cast down even at the sight of him? What does that mean? When leviathan comes out of the water, you just faint, you just fall over, you're cast down because he's such a terrifying sight to behold. He says in verse 10, none is so fierce that dare stir him up, who then is able to stand before him. Verse 15, his scales are his pride, shut up together as with a close seal. None is so near to another that no air can come between them. They're joined one to another, they stick together that they cannot be sundered. What is he saying? You know, good luck trying to get a spear through leviathan because his scales are so close together that the air can't even get through, let alone spears or weapons, swords of any nature. Verse 18 says, by his kneesings, a light does shine and his eyes are like the eyelids of the morning. In other words, kneesings is referring to like his sneezing. So when he sneezes, it just creates a mist of just light, okay? That's how big his sneeze is. Something like you guys is when you sneeze, like my daughter, when she sneezes, she can't just sneeze like a regular sneeze, it's just like an explosion is just coming out. She's like, whoa, you know, and just, well, leviathan is kind of like that, okay? And it says that his eyes are like the eyelids of the morning. So when he opens his eyes, it's almost as if like the white of his eyes or the color of his eyes kind of shines because it's so big, okay? It says in verse 19, out of his mouth go burning lamps and sparks of fire leap out. Out of his nostrils go with smoke and out of a seeding pot or cauldron. His breath kindleth coals and a flame goeth out of his mouth. In his neck remain the strength and sorrow is turned into joy before him. The flakes of his flesh are joined together. They are firm in themselves, they cannot be moved. His heart is as firm as a stone, yea, as hard as a piece of the nether millstone. When he raiseth up himself, the mighty are afraid. By reason of breakings, they purify themselves. So what does he say? He's like, even the toughest dudes in this world, when they stand before leviathan, they're like getting right with God because as they purify themselves, they're just like, you know, these are the fox hole soldiers, right? It's just like, I'll take down anything and the leviathan comes, they're just like, Lord, save me. You know, they purify themselves, you know, because they feel like they're going to die. The sword, verse 26, of him that lay at him cannot hold the spear of the dart nor the habergian. He esteemeth iron as straw and brass as rotten wood. So it's like your strongest weapon that you can use, he's just like, snap, this is a very strong creature, very powerful, dominant creature. Verse 28, the arrow cannot make him flee. Sling stones are turned with him into stubble. Darts are counted as stubble. He laugheth at the shaking of a spear. So you got these, he's like, and he's just like, oh, this is exaggeration, no, actually, this is God talking because he created this thing, okay? He's kind of bragging on his creation, showing like how strong he is. And I think the reason, possibly the reason the leviathan was created is to kind of demonstrate to mankind that only he could, you know, destroy leviathan, understand? Because obviously we're made to dominate this world, according to day six, we're made to dominate it and to have dominion over it, but, you know, there comes a point where there's certain things that we just can't dominate and it requires God to do it, okay? He says in verse 31, let's keep reading here, he make it the deep to boil like a pot. He make it the sea like a pot of ointment. In other words, when he, or let's keep reading, he says, he make it the path to shine after him. One would think the deep to be hoary. So as he swims in the water, he creates such a foam that it looks like a boiling pot, okay? Bubbles are coming out, white foam is coming out. Verse 33 says, upon the earth, there is not like, there is not his like who is made without fear. He beholdeth all high things. He is a king over all the children of pride. And this is one of the reasons I believe that it's obviously a picture of Satan because Satan is the, he's over all the children of pride. And so the point that I'm making here, go back to Genesis chapter one, is that leviathan was obviously created on day five when the marine life was created and when he says great whales is referring to just large sea creatures that would include leviathan and he probably does not exist anymore, okay? And I don't think it's all, I don't think that it's referring to like the Loch Ness monster or something, okay? What is that, a platiosaurus or something? I don't think it's referring to that particular thing because that thing, you know, doesn't look that, it doesn't look like it could do what this guy's doing, okay? This guy is obviously a terrifying sight to behold. Go back to Genesis chapter one and verse 24, so we see that on day five marine animals are created, the great whales, the great sea creatures and of course the fowls begin to inhabit the firmament, the atmosphere. He's setting this up to be inhabited. Verse 24, he says, and God said, let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind, cattle and creepy thing and beast after the earth, of the earth after his kind and it was so. And God made the beast of the earth after his kind and cattle after their kind and everything that creepeth upon the earth after his kind and God saw that it was good. So we see here that he begins to create land animals, insects and then in verse 26 we see that he creates man. God said, let us make man in our image after our likeness and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the fowl of the air and over the cattle and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. So God created man in his own image and the image of God created him, male and female, created he them. Now, two things I want to mention here is that one, you have the overall summarization of the creation in Genesis chapter one, but then it specifically addresses the creation of man in chapter two, okay? And kind of more so focuses on Adam and of course what happens there. And so, you know, the reason that's important to know is because people often say these are two different creations. People have often said that, which is ridiculous. And Genesis one is the summarization, the specifics are given in Genesis chapter two. The second thing I want to mention is that when land animals are created, it talks about the beast, but this would also include dinosaurs, okay? Now I know that there isn't, you know, there's certain dinosaurs that people claim existed that for sure just could not exist, okay? And I feel like Jurassic Park is just always coming out with like new dinosaurs or something. The Spinosaurus. I was like, why? I never heard of that when I was a kid. Where do you guys, you guys are just making this stuff up. You know, Injun keeps making up these new dinosaurs or something, you know? And I'm not saying that a lot of the dinosaurs didn't exist because I believe a lot of them did. And we obviously understand that we can't necessarily determine exactly how they look based upon their skeletal structure because of the fact that, you know, if you were to strip a rabbit of his, you know, muscles and tissue and just look at its skeletal structure, artists can basically make anything out of that, okay? Or the skeletal structure of a hippopotamus, right? So we obviously have to use our imagination, but in general, I think they go, they fall into the actual ballpark of maybe what it looks like. And you know, I do believe that there might have been of some sort of Tyrannosaurus Rex. I know some people don't agree with that because of how it looks, but you know, we do have bones of a Tyrannosaurus Rex skull and it's a freaking massive skull. So I don't think it was just like a massive skull and then it's just like this little body. Obviously, the size of the head would indicate that the body was probably larger than that, okay? And so those are observable. You can see those things. You can go into a museum, the LA Museum has tons of dinosaur bones. It has bones of the triceratops and you can see those intact. And not everything that's there, obviously, is the actual bones themselves. They'll tell you, you know, the darker part of the bones are the actual bones. The lighter ones are what we speculate to be a part of it, okay? And so, you know, obviously, they're not 100% accurate, but it's around the same ballpark, especially if you have a giant skull completely intact, you can essentially surmise what the rest of the body, how big the size of the rest of the body would have been. But the point that I'm making here is that regardless of what you believe about dinosaurs, you for sure have to believe in behemoths. And when you look at the description of behemoth, the reasonable conclusion is that it was a dinosaur. Now, what type? I don't really care, okay? You know, brontosaurus, a brachiosaurus, I don't know, whatever. The long neck one, okay? The massive dinosaur with the long neck that we all first saw in Jurassic Park 1 that was eating the leaves of the top of the tree, okay? You know, I'm not really concerned about the classification of what type of kind it was. I just know behemoth was a real thing because the Bible says it. Oh, you have a bias. Yeah, of course, I have a bias. Yeah, the bias is the Bible, okay? And you know, when you look at certain commentaries about behemoths, they'll often say, oh, it's just like an alligator or something. It's just like, come on, man. But let's just briefly look at that. Go to Joe, I should have had you stay there. Go to Joe 40, if you would. Joe 40. Now, again, the Bible doesn't say dinosaurs because there is a movement out there of truthers that delve into a lot of truth, but they become so overly zealous about the truth that when they come to this, you know, the truth of the gospel, they reject it, they end up going into vain janglings and rejecting some things that are true, okay, and classifying them as false. And you know, dinosaurs are one of them. And it's just like, well, I agree that certain dinosaurs didn't exist, but you know, the Bible talks about behemoth, they're like, no, no dinosaurs ever existed at all. It's false, you know. And it's just like, you know, you can believe in behemoth and still be against fake dinosaurs if you want. And it's just like they throw out the baby with the bathwater. But you know, the Bible does talk about, look at Joe 40, verse 15, it says, behold now behemoth. Now, I want you to notice this, which I made with thee. What does that mean? It means he created him with man. Now, what does the creation account tell us? One more dinosaurs created on day six, right? When God created man and land animals, so that would make, that just fits the creation narrative, that he created behemoth with him, not with Job, he's just saying with man is what he did. Behold now behemoth, which I made with thee, he eateth grass as an ox, check, lo now his strength is in his loins and his force is in the navel of his belly. That would fit some sort of brontosaurus, brachiosaurus. His strength is in his loins. He moveth his tail like a cedar. You know, I don't think an alligator has a tail of a cedar. Cedar is a tree. That would fit the description of some sort of brachiosaurus, flinging his tail like a cedar. It says the sinews of his stones are wrapped together. His bones are strong pieces of brass. His bones are like the bars of iron. Now when we went to the LA Museum, they had a bone of a brontosaurus, and it was a massive, thick bone. I mean, the girth was just massive. And I just kept thinking about this verse, like the bones are like the bars of iron. Okay? It was such a thick, massive bone. He says he is the chief of the ways of God. He that made him can make his swords to approach unto him, which is a great verse here, right? Because when you look at behemoths, you're just like, this is insurmountable, but hold on a second. God can actually make swords to help you approach unto him. In other words, there is no challenge in this world that is so big that you can't overcome it by God, right? I can do all things through Christ with strength in this way. So when there's challenges and hurdles and difficulties in life, God can provide the sword whereby you can approach unto that particular challenge, that particular difficulty. He'll never give you a trial. Let's get some application here, because you may not be interested in creation, but hey, he's not going to give you a trial that you can't handle. He's not going to give you a behemoth that you can't take down. Now, when you look at your behemoth of a trial and difficulty, you're just like, I can't. This is too hard for me. I can't do this. I can't overcome this temptation, or I can't overcome this problem in my marriage. I can't overcome this financial problem that I'm having, this health problem. I can't overcome this. But hold on a second. If God allowed it, he can provide the sword whereby you can approach unto it. So never think that just because you're facing a difficult trial and it's too hard for you that somehow that means that you can't overcome it, because if he allowed it for you to have it, he's going to give you the proper weaponry to approach it as well. Okay? It's a great application there. Verse 20 says, surely the mountains bring him forth food where all the beasts of the field play. He lies under the shady trees in the covert of the reed and fens. The shady trees cover him with their shadow. The willows of the brook come pass him about. Behold, listen to this, he drinketh up a river and hasteth not. In other words, he goes there and he just drinks up the river and no one's rushing him. If the animals are like, can you hurry up? I'm thirsty. He's just like, he's like a slow drinker. Who's going to rush? Who's going to force him to stop? Who's going to move him? He trusted that he can draw up Jordan into his mouth. That's how much liquid he drinks. He taketh it with his eyes. His nose pierceth through snares, the Bible says. This is essentially showing us the magnitude of behemoth, which based upon the description, would fit the classification of what we would call today a dinosaur. Now go back to Genesis 1 and we're done, Genesis chapter 1. So on day six, he creates beasts on the land, but he also creates man and he commissions mankind. Now this is not a commission to Christians per se, it's just a commission to mankind, the responsibility that mankind has in general. And the first commission is that he wants them to produce offspring and to replenish the earth. He says in verse 21, God blessed them and God sent them to be fruitful and multiply and replenish the earth, the Bible says. What is that saying? That God wants us to have kids and have many of them, to be fruitful and multiply means to have many children without obstruction. And obviously that is a Christian doctrine, but it should just be a mankind doctrine, that God created us to have children. And sometimes people say, well, how many children? And here's the answer, as many as God gives you, because of the fact that there could be an instance where maybe God doesn't give you children. There's people who just can't have children, or they have difficulty having children, and that's how God ordained it. So be it. However, what Christianity, what the Bible teaches in general, is that we should have children or seek to have children, participate in the act of marriage to produce children and not obstruct that by any means. However many God gives you, that's what you should have because the command is to be fruitful and to multiply, to replenish the earth. Jesus goes on to say, and subdue it, have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the fowl of the air and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth. What does that mean? Everything belongs to us, not the animals. This movement today of worshiping the creature more than the creator is nonsensical, folks. God made us so that we just go into a particular part and it's just like, I like this land, tear it all down, let's use it. That's 100% biblical. Using the beasts of the field to eat, and obviously at this point they're still vegetarian, but using the beasts of the field to eat, using the trees of the land to create housing, to create habitable habitations for people, that's 100% biblical. Not this idea of like, well let's save the Amazon rainforest or something like that. Why? Well then we're not going to have any air. Of course we're going to have air. What do you mean? Now I'm not proposing let's go to the Amazon to go destroy it or whatever. I'm just saying, you know what? It's our duty to dominate this world in every aspect. That's why I don't live in Florida, amen? They're having a hard time doing that over there. Got alligators popping up everywhere and snakes. That's why I don't, hey Australia, you know, you guys seem to have a little trouble down there too, okay? You know, spiders the size of heads over there and all that, you know, dominate, okay? Have dominion over the animals, have dominion over the seas, and you know what? If a token that man is not having dominion over the land is when animals begin to take over. For example, in 2020 when COVID was taking place, they had closed down Yosemite and a lot of these national parks. You know, people weren't allowed to go there, and then it was kind of hard to kind of reintroduce humans because animals were like, oh, the humans are gone, and then they started taking over those national parks again, okay? It became more comfortable being around, you know, areas that were dominated by humans. And so he wants us to subdue and have dominion over everything. We are the lords of this earth. That's what the Bible actually teaches, okay? And then he wanted us to have a vegetarian diet, okay? Now this is during the creation though, okay? And so during the creation, he wants us to have a vegetarian diet, but obviously when sin is introduced, animals are killed at that point, meat is introduced, and eventually during the millennial reign, we will go back to a vegetarian diet. Not the millennial reign, excuse me, the new heaven and the new earth, we will go back to a vegetarian diet because of the fact that everything kind of works its way backwards to where it originally was. And that's a sermon for another day, okay? And lastly, look at chapter two, verse one, the heavens and the earth were finished and all the host of them. And on the seventh day, God ended his work, which he had made, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work, which he had made. And God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it because that in it, he had rested from all his works, which God created and made, and that is the creation, the six-day creation period. What's one thing we can learn from this? You know, let's give God the glory for the creation, and you don't have to capitulate to modern narratives of science falsely so-called to teach you, you know? And here's the thing, he's like, well, I don't really understand all that scientific stuff. Well, you know what? It's not wrong to delve into and be educated in those areas, but just make sure you're looking at it through the lens of scripture too, though, okay? Not to be tossed to and fro, carried about with every wind of doctrine and science falsely so-called. We are creationists, and this is what we believe. You say, well, you know, it's just the sixth day, though, it's just kind of hard to kind of, you know, why would God do it in that way? To add the element of the miraculous, that's why, because it takes faith to believe that, okay? Let's pray. Father, we thank you so much for your word, and thank you for all things that were created by you, Lord, and what a magnificent supernatural occurrence in the beginning 6,300 years ago, Lord. And, Lord, I pray that you'd help us to carry the principles that we learned in the very first chapter of the Bible. Ask Christians and help us to apply those to our lives. Bless us as we're going our way. We do want to pray for maybe Maury to continue to heal and get better, and of course, for Hazel, for her surgery, that all would go well with that as well, and that you would help her to recover, and that everything, there'd be no further complications. Bless them, Lord, and their families. We love you. We thank you. Pray these things in Jesus' name. Amen.