The very first verses of the Bible reveal interest of God in our chaotic lives. When everything feels as if it is falling apart, that is when the Spirit is moving most profoundly. God loves to order chaos. This is the gospel right in the first verses of the Bible.

<p>The very first verses of the Bible reveal interest of God in our chaotic lives. When everything feels as if it is falling apart, that is when the Spirit is moving most profoundly. God loves to order chaos. This is the gospel right in the first verses of the Bible.</p>

<p>Free sharing permitted under the Creative Commons <a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/us/">BY-NC-ND 3.0 (US)</a> license.</p>

Great Lakes Adventist Academy

Sebastien Braxton

Fall Week of Prayer 2012

In the Midst of Chaos

The Heartless, the Spineless, and the Nameless

Reality Check

Why People Don’t Do Right

The Divine Process

Yes, Lord

The Questions of God

I Need A Miracle

Christ in Job

The Good Soldier


Father in heaven, you know that this man is but dust in your sight. And Lord, we are praying for your blessing not because the speaker is special, but because the People who are here are special. You have paid an immense cost for every life in this room. So it is our prayer that as we study being Not only Yours by creation, but Yours by redemption, that You would speak to our hearts in a very special way. That You would show us Christ as we've never seen Him before, and that we would not resist the drawing of His Holy Spirit.

This is our prayer, And we trust that you will help this to be our experience for we ask in Jesus name. Amen If you have your Bibles when it'll be starting in Genesis chapter 1 and verse 1. Genesis chapter 1 and verse 1, probably the easiest verse for many of you to quote. The Bible says, in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form and void and darkness was upon the face of the deep and the Spirit of God moved The midst of the deep The Bible assumes from the very first verse the existence of God So just from Genesis chapter 1 in verse 1 it says in the beginning God first thing off atheism is not an option according to the worldview of the Bible And just by the way, there are many individuals who don't know this, but speaking on secular universities, many people don't really claim to be atheists.

And there's a reason for that. Because for an individual who believes in God, I make a claim according to Genesis 1 verse 1 that God is there But not only God is there God was there before the beginning and they say well I'm atheist and atheist is just a common a combination of 2 Greek words the first Greek letter alpha That's the a and theos God, But whenever you put Alpha in front of another word in Greek, that is the negation of the thing. So to say, A-Theos, Which means there is no God. But here's a problem with that. In order for you to say there is no God, nowhere in the universe, you'd have to be the very thing that you don't believe in.

Because an individual in debates, This happens all the time on secular campuses. You said you're an atheist. Yes, and you're 100% sure there is no God Yes, what about in drama to galaxy could God be there? I? Don't know so then you're not an atheist.

You're an agnostic Alpha the negative gnosis means knowledge. This is where we get the word ignoramus. Means you don't know. You are ignorant. Ignoble.

We can go on and on. So you're not an atheist, you're an agnostic. You don't know if God is in Andromeda or what about the other 200 billion galaxies that are out there? Are you confident that God is not there? I'm not confident.

Okay, so you're not an atheist, you're an agnostic. But Genesis 1 says, no, it's not agnostic. You can know that God is there In the beginning God, but not only is it that God is there the Bible says that God created the heavens and the earth, which means God existed before the heavens and the earth and if God existed before the heavens and the earth, the heavens and the earth are not God that is a belief of what we call pantheism that all things, pan meaning everything, world, like if you ever heard of a pandemic before That means a disease that is spreading globally Pantheism is God is Everything so your God. I'm God the acorn is God the tree outside is God That's pantheism and by the way 1 of our pioneers got into that his name was Kellogg That's how he apostatized You think people don't believe it but as bright as he was and he went to the University of Michigan Medical School As bright as he was he fell into pantheism So no atheism no agnosticism no pantheism And then there's 1 more ism that we need to discuss and that is materialism Things that are physical are not eternal God created things Once something has a physical existence, it had a beginning.

Immediately. The heavens, the earth, anything that is in them, He created them, which means He existed before them. They have not always been, And they probably will not always be But there are some individuals who believe in materialism But the Bible goes on to say in verse 2 that the earth was without form and void And it says darkness was on the face of the deep and the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. I love this because Whenever you had a Jewish family that was raising their children and they wanted to teach them Hebrew They start from Genesis chapter 1. I grew up in a Jewish community just north of Chicago They all after school.

Can you imagine right after school? They go to Hebrew school So we're waiting for the bus. They're like, yeah I have to wait for my dad because I have to go to Hebrew school I'm like you going to another school after you got out of school. Yes To learn Hebrew so that when they get to their bar and bat mitzvah when they turn 13 Then have to quote certain portions of the Old Testament in Hebrew. And that is evidence that you've now transferred from boyhood to manhood.

But they start from Genesis chapter 1 and you say right here in the beginning When the Bible says the earth was without form and void, it is this Hebrew phrase, tohu vobohu. Can you say that? Tohu vobohu. Try it. Sounds kind of weird, kind of like tofu, right?

Which is true, without form and void of flavor. You should have said amen. So here you have tohu vobohu, which means this. Without form, that means it has no structure. You see, when I look at you, you have a form, Which means there is a boundary between you and the things around you Like your body ends your skin ends so you can say he has a form right?

So when Jesus humbled himself and took upon himself the form of a man Before this Jesus had no form But he took a form defined this is a triangle this is a square It's a formed this thing into a ball But the Bible says the earth had no form there was no boundaries, but not only that it was void That means it had no substance So it has no boundary and it has no substance. It's empty and it has no shape. What in the world is that? Well this phrase throughout the Bible in the Old Testament is used to relate to wilderness to chaos and The Bible says that here God is looking down at the earth and he says the earth is in chaos It is without form and it is void and the question is What does God do when he sees chaos? This is how he met the world.

And as God comes in, the Bible says, and darkness was on the face of the deep. So not only is this thing without form, not only is it void, it's empty, It's covered in darkness So you have dark voiceless formless, whatever and It says the very first thing that happens is the Spirit of God moves on the face of the waters In other words this young Hebrew boy as he's learning the Hebrew scriptures the first thing he learns about his God, when he goes back to the lessons of creation, is that God's Spirit moves in the midst of chaos. In other words, that when things are falling apart, when things are not coming together, when things don't make sense, when things have turned into chaos, and please believe, chaos is not just reserved for the physical world, it's reserved for the emotional world. According to statistics, 40% of you should be cutting yourselves because of emotional pain. That's what the statistics say.

You are the most suicidal group of people on the face of the earth are high school students. Next is college students. Chaos. Not just outside, but inside. And the Bible says that the Spirit of God moves in the midst of chaos.

You say, Sebastian, what are you talking about chaos? You know, I was in the United States Marine Corps when September 11th happened. And that's what was interesting for me last week, when it was 9-11, it was Tuesday again, just like the first 9-11. And I remember being in the military, and when I saw this thing on the news, I already knew I was going to get the phone call. And I was in Atlanta at the time and so they had to shut down the CDC.

They were afraid that something else would be attacked, like the Center for Disease control, which would be a very bad thing to release all those diseases on the public at the same time. So anyway, I had an opportunity to go in and as we checked in, you know, we had a video from the president, George W. Bush, and he says, we are in a state of emergency, et cetera, et cetera, as our servicemen to our country, we're gonna need you more than ever, da, da, da, da, da, the whole inspirational thing from the president. But then you start getting these stories in about what's happening actually on the ground in September 11th. And so in the light of defining for you and I what chaos looks like, I'd like to tell you this story about 9-11.

Then I'll tell you another story at the end. This story is about 2 individuals. 1 girl lives in California. And while she's on the West Coast her significant other lives in New York City he works in these high-rise buildings in New York and while they were dating he decided in 1 of his trips, you know, to fly her out to New York and he was gonna wine and dine her and then he was gonna ask her to marry him. He said, this is the person.

I have decided I'm ready to spend the rest of my life with this woman. So he flew her out, took her around, and then boom, the last day before it was time to leave, he got down on 1 knee and he said, hey, listen, I want to spend the rest of my life with you. Will you marry me? And she says, I have to think about it. And she gets on a plane and she flies back to California.

Then on September 10th, 2001, in the evening she said, you know what, I'm ready to make my decision. And so she calls his work office to leave a voice message. So when he comes in, in the morning of September 11th, that he will hear her emphatic yes, I wanna spend the rest of my life with you. Only to find out when she turns on the news that day that her would-be fiance just died in a plane crash, except he was in a building on 9-11. And this woman said, now that I found the person that I want to spend the rest of my life with, snuffed out by terrorism.

And her word to describe life was chaos. How do I even make sense? Can they even find the body? I'd love to at least see the body. Ma'am, we can't find the body.

That's chaos. That's chaos. And the Bible says that somehow the Spirit of God moves in the midst of chaos. But at the same time, while this young lady was losing her fiancé, on floor number 9, there was an elderly woman who had worked in this building for who knows how many years. And the fire department ran up the stairs, and they're trying to find out if there's anyone in the stairwell who is stuck.

This building is now shaking, it's on fire, there's smoke all over the place. So they run up, and they get to the ninth floor, and they see this woman, this elderly woman who has arthritis. And they're like, ma'am, we need to get you out of this building right now. You don't understand. This building is about to go down.

She's like, I will try to walk as fast as I can. The fireman says, no, no, no, We cannot walk out of this building. I'm going to have to carry you. She looks at him and she says, listen, I have arthritis. That'll be more painful for me than this building falling upon me.

Let me walk. So the Firemen are walking with this woman down the stairs of a building that has just been hit by 2 planes. They all have families, and they're thinking, I'm about to possibly lose my life. My daughter is going to go fatherless because I'm waiting for This elderly woman with arthritis to walk out of a burning building. Floor 8, floor 7, floor 6, she sits down on the steps.

The firemen are like, Ma'am, please, let me carry you out of this building. She says, no. She says, let me catch my breath. I promise I'll get up. So they let her sit there.

Floor 5, she sits down on the steps. Eventually a couple of the firemen are like, maybe you 2 can handle this, we'll just exit the building. But of course, you know, you don't leave anybody behind. So they decide to stay, New York's finest. She gets up, slowly walks down to floor number 4, and she sits down.

They're like, ma'am, please, every floor beneath them collapses. Just as they're asking her to get up and they walk out of the building without a scratch And they go to the news and as they come to the news they're like Ma'am you According to these firemen they came up to save you and you're on the fourth floor, you were sitting down on the steps. What was going through your mind?" She said, you know, I was in so much pain, I couldn't make it and these men were such angels to me. They helped me along and the fireman interrupted her in the news interview and the fireman said no no No, she was the angel sent to us Because if she had gone at our pace we would have been on those floors 1 2 or 3 and all of the building would have collapsed on top of us and we would have died and The news reporter turned to the camera and he said who do you think for that? Was the Spirit of God moving in the midst of chaos?

I want to suggest to you tonight, this morning, in Genesis 1 and verse 1 and 2. The earth was without form and void and darkness was on the face of the deep and The spirit of God moved in the midst of chaos. That whatever the chaos is that is going on in your life right now, I can tell you right now, chaos for a lot of people your age is divorce. That's chaos. When you go to 1 parent on 1 weekend, another parent on another weekend, that's chaos.

You know how many young people have asked me, I don't understand why my parents cannot just get along? Why do they have to separate? It's chaos. But the Hebrew child learns that if I'm in a situation of chaos, I can be confident that the Spirit of God is moving in the midst of chaos. But not only is the Spirit of God moving in the midst of chaos, the Bible says the very next thing God does is he speaks to the chaos.

He says, let there be light. God's first response Is not to deal with the chaos his first response is to bring light so that you can see it That's a very interesting choice Your first act is not to deal with the chaos. It's to speak light. So there's no longer darkness and you're comfortable just making light 1 day That's all you do the first day. Let there be light there was light and I divide the light from the darkness And I called the light day the darkness I call night and that was it I would like to suggest to you a couple lessons from this.

Number 1, God is not afraid of your chaos. He's not intimidated. It's not beyond His ability. We are told in steps to Christ that you should keep your cares, your wants, your fears, your anxieties, your pain before God. You cannot weary him because he holds up worlds.

There is no experience so confusing that God cannot unravel. There is no chapter in your life so dark that he cannot read. There is nothing that concerns your happiness that he does not take immediate interest. Nothing. But also God doesn't deal with chaos in 1 day God goes through a process He has step by step day by day Does he turn chaos into paradise?

And lastly, before he speaks, his spirit moves. See, before you came, the spirit was already working on your heart, preparing you for what God was going to say. Every head is bowed and every eye is closed. Every head is bowed and every eyes closed. I asked you 1 request and that is to be real.

So I'm gonna make an invitation this morning. Maybe God was speaking to you today. And maybe you're a person that says, I need God. I need God to have his spirit move in the midst of my chaos. You want to say, that's me.

I ask you to Raise your right hand. Say, I have chaos. I need God to move in. Okay, put your right hand down. My second invitation or appeal is for that heart that says, I am in darkness.

I'm in confusion. I'm perplexed by the things that I'm facing right now. I'm perplexed and I need God to give light, to shed light upon my situation to help me to understand. Raise your right hand. I need God to give light.

You can put your hands down. My last invitation is for that soul that says, Lord, I need patience. I wish you could deal with my chaos today, but your word says it takes time. And so you want to ask God to help you to be patient with him as he turns your chaos into paradise. If that's your desire, I invite you to stand as I pray.

You wanna ask God for patience. Father in heaven, we wanna thank you so much for the privilege of hearing your Word. We want to thank you that right here and there in the very first 2 verses of the Bible do We find the power of the gospel. We pray that you would make us men and women of prayer. Men and women who keep our cares and our fears and our wants and our joys before the Lord because we cannot weary him.

To know that God holds up worlds and that there is no perplexity that we face that he cannot unravel. There is no chapter so dark that he cannot read. And for us to be confident that God is not afraid of our chaos. We do not have a situation too great for him. And so we stand just now, Lord, praying for patience to be confident that He that has begun a good work will complete it in His time.

Help us to learn the science of waiting on Jesus. And may this bless us today with encouragement, with hope, and with the willingness to be faithful and to be often in prayer over the trials and the difficulties of life. This is our prayer and we trust that you will help this to be our experience. For we ask in Jesus' name, amen. This media was brought to you by AudioVerse, a website dedicated to spreading God's Word through free sermon audio and much more.

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Series

Fall Week of Prayer 2012

In the Midst of Chaos

Description

Parent Series

Sponsor

Recorded

Other Teachings in Series

In the Midst of Chaos

25m

The Heartless, the Spineless, and the Nameless

47m

Reality Check

35m

Why People Don’t Do Right

39m

The Divine Process

39m

Yes, Lord

34m

The Questions of God

34m

I Need A Miracle

46m

Christ in Job

43m

The Good Soldier

54m

Sound Doctrine