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(Genesis) God Created
J. Vernon McGee

John Vernon McGee (1904 - 1988). American Presbyterian pastor, radio teacher, and author born in Hillsboro, Texas. Converted at 14, he earned a bachelor’s from Southwestern University, a Th.M. from Dallas Theological Seminary, and a D.D. from Columbia Seminary. Ordained in 1933, he pastored in Georgia, Tennessee, and California, notably at Church of the Open Door in Los Angeles from 1949 to 1970, growing it to 3,000 members. In 1967, he launched Thru the Bible, a radio program teaching the entire Bible verse-by-verse over five years, now airing in 100 languages across 160 countries. McGee authored over 200 books, including Genesis to Revelation commentaries. Known for his folksy, Southern style, he reached millions with dispensationalist teachings. Married to Ruth Inez Jordan in 1936, they had one daughter. Despite throat cancer limiting his later years, he recorded thousands of broadcasts. His program and writings continue to shape evangelical Bible study globally.
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In this sermon, the preacher begins by discussing the importance of understanding the principles of creation as outlined in the Bible. He references Herbert Spencer's division of the manifestation of the unknowable into time, space, matter, force, and motion. The preacher then shares an anecdote about a personal worker who used these principles to witness to a law graduate who was familiar with Herbert Spencer. The preacher goes on to explain that the first verse of Genesis establishes the majestic and timeless nature of God as the Creator, emphasizing the need to believe in His existence. The sermon also highlights the concept of creation out of nothing and the subsequent creation of life as described in the book of Genesis.
Sermon Transcription
I'm of the opinion that first verse, it's a majestic verse, it's a tremendous verse, this is the Doa into which you will have to walk into the Bible. You have to believe that He is the Creator. He that cometh to God must believe that He is. In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. Now, let's look at the little verse for just a moment, in the beginning, and that's a beginning you cannot date. You can put it down as billions of years, and I think you probably would be accurate, but who knows how many? Man certainly does not know. And God created, and the word create here is bar off, that means out of nothing, and actually in the first chapter of Genesis it's only used three times. There are really only three acts of creation that we have here. You have first of all the creation of something from nothing. In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. Then you have the creation of life. God created great whales and every living creature that move it. That's down in verse 21, which the waters brought forth abundantly after their kind and every winged fowl after his kind, and God saw that it was good. That's animal life of all kinds. And then the third act of creation you find in verse 27, so God created man in his own image, in the image of God created him, male and female created him. You have the creation of something from nothing. You have the creation of life, and then the creation of human life, of human beings. And believe me, theistic evolution is not the answer at all. Theistic evolution, of course, is rather untenable, but it attempts to follow creation until you come up to man, and then Adam and Eve were the products of some evolutionary process. The theistic evolutionist makes the days in Genesis a period of time, a long period of time, and we do not believe, of course, that that is true, and I think that it's very clear that that is not true. God called the evening and the morning the first day, and I'm of the opinion that it's quite clear in this chapter as we shall see in another place. But now coming back to verse 1 again, he created the heaven and the earth. Now the earth is separated from the rest of creation here. Why? Well, that's the hometown of man. That's where man is to be placed. We're very much interested in him because we belong to this creature. We need to realize that we're a creature and a creature of God, and as a creature of God, we owe him something. Now, we have in this something that is very important. It was years ago that Herbert Spencer said that the most general forms into which the manifestation of the unknowable are re-divisible, and this is the way he divided it, time, space, matter, force, motion. And many years ago, a very fine personal worker, it was George Dewey Blomgren, he was talking to an army sergeant who was a law graduate, and he was attempting to witness to him, and this sergeant mentioned Herbert Spencer. And Blomgren said to the soldier, did you know that both the Bible and Spencer teach the great principles of creation? And the sergeant's eyes widened, and he said, well, how's that? Well, he says he talked about time, space, matter, force, motion. You have in the first verse of Genesis, time, in the beginning. You have space, the heavens. You have matter, the earth. You have force, the Spirit of God, and that's in verse 2, by the way. And you have motion, and that's moved upon the face of the water. So in the first two verses of Genesis, why, you have these great principles that have been put down, and how important it is for us to see that.
(Genesis) God Created
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John Vernon McGee (1904 - 1988). American Presbyterian pastor, radio teacher, and author born in Hillsboro, Texas. Converted at 14, he earned a bachelor’s from Southwestern University, a Th.M. from Dallas Theological Seminary, and a D.D. from Columbia Seminary. Ordained in 1933, he pastored in Georgia, Tennessee, and California, notably at Church of the Open Door in Los Angeles from 1949 to 1970, growing it to 3,000 members. In 1967, he launched Thru the Bible, a radio program teaching the entire Bible verse-by-verse over five years, now airing in 100 languages across 160 countries. McGee authored over 200 books, including Genesis to Revelation commentaries. Known for his folksy, Southern style, he reached millions with dispensationalist teachings. Married to Ruth Inez Jordan in 1936, they had one daughter. Despite throat cancer limiting his later years, he recorded thousands of broadcasts. His program and writings continue to shape evangelical Bible study globally.