Text Study for Sunday, September 7, 2025.

Series Theme: "First Things”

Reading: Genesis 1:1-4, 26-27, 31

CONNECTING QUESTIONS

What’s on your to do list today? Why?

PRAYER FOR ILLUMINATION

Loving God, as I see Your great wisdom reflected in Your wonderful creation, I want to praise You with my whole being. Thank you for the creative Word of God Who not only spoke the world into being from nothing but died for me so that I could have life – everlasting life and life more abundantly. Thank You, in Jesus' name, AMEN.

CONTEXT

Let us focus on some of the firsts from Genesis and Exodus, in all these stories God does something new! God takes the time to show the people more than they expected. Our series, First Things, will question what this means for us as we prepare to do something new here at Easter. What is God doing in our familiar things? September is a time when Easter returns to certain elements of programming, let’s look at those things in a new light. A light where God is up to something new with Easter, our community, and each of us!

From Dr Terry Fretheim at EntertheBible.org:

Genesis is a book about beginnings. It moves from the morning of the world to the ordering of families and nations to the birthing of the fathers and mothers of Israel. The ancestral stories begin with Abraham and Sarah and continue with Isaac and Rebekah, Jacob and Leah and Rachel, and the sons of Jacob, focusing on Joseph. While God was there “in the beginning” (1:1), Genesis also testifies to the beginnings of God’s activity in the world. It is a new day for God, too. And, given the divine commitment to the creation, God will never be the same again.

LOOK AT THE BOOK

How is it with your spirit this week?
This past summer, cover to cover in the Bible, we encountered stories of hospitality. What is one thought, encouragement or take away from our summer series?
What was one take-away from listening to the Carry On Cast podcast that connects with this Grow Guide?
Open to Genesis 1. Genesis means beginnings. What is something that recently ended for you? What was that like?
In Genesis 1, what does God first create? What was the situation that prompted God’s creative work?
What is something you have helped create? How do you feel about that creative act?
In verse 2, “the deep” is a powerful image. What does it speak to you? Jump to Psalm 42:7. What do you think “deep calling to deep” might mean? What kind of depth is inside you?
Jump to verse 26. Notice the plural for God: “Let us make humankind in our image.” What might that mean?
“Made in the image of God” is a core Christian conviction. Who is made in the image of God? Who is not? Who decides?
What is the responsibility given to humankind by God in Genesis 1? What does that task mean? How is that going?
What is a place in creation that speaks to you, whether you have been there or not?
Jesus is good news. Forgiveness of sins is cornerstone. How does this help “restore” creation?
Jump to verse 31. What is God’s conclusion about creation? How is this good news for us?
In what places does Easter share this good news that God has made everything good. Why does that matter?
What would you like to talk about that we have not yet?

TAKING IT HOME

Take a moment to put your bare feet on the grass or ground. Thank God for this day.

God of the promise, you call your people together into your one mission in Christ’s name. Make us brave, grant us peace, challenge our expectations, and empower us to truly follow your Spirit’s lead. You are our one God who calls us together as one people, and we thank you in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Grow Guide | September 7, 2025