A Biblical Theology of Life, Genesis 1:26-31

Scripture Reading: Genesis 1:26-31

26 Then 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 birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”

27 So God created man in his own image,

in the image of God he created him;

male and female he created them.

28 And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” 29 And God said, “Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit. You shall have them for food. 30 And to every beast of the earth and to every bird of the heavens and to everything that creeps on the earth, everything that has the breath of life, I have given every green plant for food.” And it was so. 31 And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.

Sermon Outline:

1. God’s Own Goodness

2. Derived Dignity

3. The Mandate to Multiply

4. Life in the Womb

2 Chronicles 7:14

Scripture Reading: 2 Chronicles 7:11-22

11 Thus Solomon finished the house of the Lord and the king's house. All that Solomon had planned to do in the house of the Lord and in his own house he successfully accomplished. 12 Then the Lord appeared to Solomon in the night and said to him: “I have heard your prayer and have chosen this place for myself as a house of sacrifice. 13 When I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or command the locust to devour the land, or send pestilence among my people, 14 if my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land. 15 Now my eyes will be open and my ears attentive to the prayer that is made in this place. 16 For now I have chosen and consecrated this house that my name may be there forever. My eyes and my heart will be there for all time. 17 And as for you, if you will walk before me as David your father walked, doing according to all that I have commanded you and keeping my statutes and my rules, 18 then I will establish your royal throne, as I covenanted with David your father, saying, ‘You shall not lack a man to rule Israel.’

19 “But if you turn aside and forsake my statutes and my commandments that I have set before you, and go and serve other gods and worship them, 20 then I will pluck you up from my land that I have given you, and this house that I have consecrated for my name, I will cast out of my sight, and I will make it a proverb and a byword among all peoples. 21 And at this house, which was exalted, everyone passing by will be astonished and say, ‘Why has the Lord done thus to this land and to this house?’ 22 Then they will say, ‘Because they abandoned the Lord, the God of their fathers who brought them out of the land of Egypt, and laid hold on other gods and worshiped them and served them. Therefore he has brought all this disaster on them.’”

Sermon Outline:

1. My People

2. The Root and Fruit of Sin

3. An Invitation to Repent

4. The Promise of Mercy

Father and Son, John 5:18-29

Scripture Reading: John 5:18-29

18 This was why the Jews were seeking all the more to kill him, because not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God.

19 So Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of his own accord, but only what he sees the Father doing. For whatever the Father[a] does, that the Son does likewise. 20 For the Father loves the Son and shows him all that he himself is doing. And greater works than these will he show him, so that you may marvel. 21 For as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so also the Son gives life to whom he will. 22 For the Father judges no one, but has given all judgment to the Son, 23 that all may honor the Son, just as they honor the Father. Whoever does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent him. 24 Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life.

25 “Truly, truly, I say to you, an hour is coming, and is now here, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live. 26 For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself. 27 And he has given him authority to execute judgment, because he is the Son of Man. 28 Do not marvel at this, for an hour is coming when all who are in the tombs will hear his voice 29 and come out, those who have done good to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgment.

Scripture Reading:

1. The Glory of Christ

2. The Blessings of Salvation

3. The Certainty of Judgment

Joy to the World, Psalm 98 - Advent 2025

Scripture Reading: Psalm 98

1 Oh sing to the Lord a new song,
    for he has done marvelous things!
His right hand and his holy arm
    have worked salvation for him.
2 The Lord has made known his salvation;
    he has revealed his righteousness in the sight of the nations.
3 He has remembered his steadfast love and faithfulness
    to the house of Israel.
All the ends of the earth have seen
    the salvation of our God.

4 Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth;
    break forth into joyous song and sing praises!
5 Sing praises to the Lord with the lyre,
    with the lyre and the sound of melody!
6 With trumpets and the sound of the horn
    make a joyful noise before the King, the Lord!

7 Let the sea roar, and all that fills it;
    the world and those who dwell in it!
8 Let the rivers clap their hands;
    let the hills sing for joy together
9 before the Lord, for he comes
    to judge the earth.
He will judge the world with righteousness,
    and the peoples with equity.

Sermon Outline:

1. A call to worship.

2. The Lord the King.

3. As far as the curse is found.

Hark the Herald Angels Sing, Hebrews 1:6

Scripture Reading: Hebrwes 1:6

6 And again, when he brings the firstborn into the world, he says,

“Let all God's angels worship him.”

Sermon Outline:

1. A World of Wonder

2. The Announcement

3. The Explanation

4. The Worship

Hark the Herald Angels Sing: Lyrics

Verse 1

Hark the herald angels sing

Glory to the newborn King

Peace on earth and mercy mild

God and sinners reconciled

Joyful all ye nations rise

Join the triumph of the skies

Nature rise and worship him

Who is born at Bethlehem

Hark The herald angels sing

Glory to the newborn King

Verse 2

Christ by highest heav'n adored

Christ the everlasting Lord

Late in time behold Him come

Offspring of a Virgin's womb

Veiled in flesh the Godhead see

Hail the incarnate Deity

Pleased as man with men to appear

Jesus our Emmanuel here

Hark The herald angels sing

Glory to the newborn King

Verse 3

Hail the heav'n-born Prince of Peace

Hail the Son of Righteousness

Light and life around He brings

Ris'n with healing in His wings

Mild He lays His glory by

Born that men no more may die

Born to raise the sons of earth

Born to give them second birth

Hark The herald angels sing

Glory to the newborn King

Verse 4

Come, Desire of Nations, come

Fix in Us thy humble Home

Rise, the Woman’s Conqu’ring Seed

Bruise in Us the Serpent’s Head

Now display thy saving Pow’r

Ruin’d Nature now restore

Now in Mystic Union join

Thine to Ours, and Ours to Thine

Hark The herald angels sing

Glory to the newborn King

Verse 5

Adam’s Likeness, LORD, efface

Stamp thy Image in its Place

Second Adam from above

Reinstate us in Thy Love

Let us Thee, tho’ lost, regain

Thee, the Life, the Inner Man

Oh! to All Thyself impart

Form’d in each Believing Heart

Hark The herald angels sing

Glory to the newborn King

© Words: Public Domain; Ryan Foglesong

CCLI Song # 7112981 -- CCLI License # 3168259 2