JAY — At April 27 Jay Baptist Church service, Pastor Chris Dalessio opened the service with prayer, and old-fashioned hymns were sung.

Today, teaching was from the book of Genesis. It is a book of beginnings. It records how the world began and how God created it to be good. It tells us about the first people and how God made them to be excellent. But then it tells us about the beginning of sin – about the first time people decided to reject the program that God had laid out for them. It records the first days of shame and of covering up. It records the beginning of our separation from God, each other, and the world God gave us.

Genesis 1:1 states, “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.” It describes a seven-day creation process, where God creates the heavens, earth, and all its inhabitants in a broad, sequential order.

Genesis 2 focuses on the creation of Adam, the Garden of Eden, and the creation of Eve, providing a more detailed personal view of the creation.

While the creation story is primarily about God’s creative power, it also sets the stage for the fall of humanity through sin and its subsequent consequences, including suffering and death.

The creation story also provides a framework for understanding God’s plans for redemption, with a promise of restoration of creation through Jesus Christ.

Genesis reminds us where all our problems began, but it also begins the age-long story of God’s amazing love for the human race.

Weekly Announcements: Sunday worship at 10:30 a.m., Tuesday fellowship at 6 p.m., and Wednesday Bible study is at 9:30 a.m. & 12:30 p.m. All are invited to attend.

May 4 service

Today’s sermon: The Fall of Man

As we continue in Genesis, chapters 3 and 4 recount the story of the Fall of Man (the first sin), the consequences of disobedience, and the early history of mankind after Adam and Eve’s expulsion from the Garden of Eden.

Chapter 3 tells the story of a paradise lost by the willfulness of human sin.  Humanity was originally given every perfect thing they could want or need, and virtually no restrictions. Despite that, Adam and Eve needed only a bit of prompting from a talking serpent to disobey God.  Chapter 3 introduces sin into the world, but also alters the perfect creation, bringing about pain, labor, and mortality.

Humans continue to act selfishly (thinking only of themselves) and do evil, but God remains faithful and refuses to abandon them or his world. We need to take responsibility for our own mistakes and failures. Staying close to God and maintaining our faith in Him will weaken the power of temptation in our lives.

Chapter 4 is the first recorded death and murder, and once again sees God confronting His own creation over their sin. It follows the story of Cain and Abel, their offerings to God, how it revealed the true nature of their character, and Abel’s murder. God confronted Cain with the murder of his brother and assigned the consequences of a long exile, wandering in lands far from his family. God placed His mark upon Cain to keep him from being killed.

The birth of Seth. Eve gave birth to another son, Seth, and she said, “God has granted me another son in place of Abel, whom Cain killed.” When Seth grew up, he had a son, Enoch. At that time, people first began to worship the Lord by name.

In closing, Genesis 3 and 4 provide an insight into the nature of temptation, the ease with which humans succumb to it, and the far-reaching consequences of sin, and how humanity can be restored in a fallen world. Humanity can be restored by our relationship with God through faith and obedience.

God is sovereign. We’ll keep our eyes on him and pray. We won’t seek vengeance because we know vengeance belongs to God.

Communion followed, and the service ended with the Lord’s Prayer. Go in Peace!