(outline for Sunday evening January 11)
Genesis
Central Idea: As a follower of Jesus, God has commissioned you to care for God’s great big planet.
God spoke: "Let us make human beings in our image, make them
reflecting our nature
So they can be responsible for the fish in the sea,
the birds in the air, the cattle,
And, yes, Earth itself,
and every animal that moves on the face of Earth."
God created human beings;
he created them godlike,
Reflecting God's nature.
He created them male and female.
God blessed them:
"Prosper! Reproduce! Fill Earth! Take charge!
Be responsible for fish in the sea and birds in the air,
for every living thing that moves on the face of Earth."
Genesis 1:26-28 The Message
Introduction:
1. Creation care means caring for all of God’s creation by stopping and preventing activities that are harmful (e.g. polluting air and water) and participating in activities that further Christ’s reconciliation of all of creation to God.
2. Creation Care is a life discipline, or a spiritual discipline with life application.
3. Creation Care is an act of obedience to scripture.
4. Creation Care is form godliness or holiness.
5. Quotes:
If I am going to be in a right relationship with God, I should treat the things he has made in the same way that he treats them.
Frances Shaeffer, Pollution and the Death of Man
I find myself becoming more and more an advocate of the true ecologists where their recommendations are realistic. Many of these people have done us an essential service in helping us preserve and protect our green zones and our cities, our water and our air.
Billy Graham
Outline:
1. Cultivate and enjoy the beauty.
2. Preserve and replenish the environment.
3. Appropriate and share the resources.
4. Study and protect the inhabitants.
5. Praise and worship the creator.
The heavens declare the glory of God, the skies proclaim the work of his hands. Psalm 19:1 NIV
Summary: As a follower of Jesus, God has charged you to adopt a style and standard of living that demonstrates good management of the earth.
