The Forming

Trinity Church of Portland - Sermons

Welcome to the sermon podcast of Trinity Church of Portland. This week, we continued with our new sermon series for 2025, "Genesis: A Beautiful But Broken World" preaching through the first eleven chapters of Genesis.

Our sermon this morning was preached by Thomas Terry. In this sermon we saw "The Forming" from Genesis 1:3-13—the first three days of creation. When Moses wrote Genesis he began with the creation account—light from darkness, order from chaos, something from nothing. Christians throughout history have held different perspectives on the creation timing and explanation of the days of creation. We must approach this with some humility and charity, yet at the same time affirm that in the beginning God created everything.

On the first day, we see that God Himself is light as He lights up the darkness prior to creating the Sun and Moon. This establishes time—light from darkness, the ordered way in which time is measured. On the second day God creates space, called the expanse which is the sky that exists between the ocean and the clouds. Finally, on day three God arranged lands between the waters below, which are the seas. God then commands the seeded plants to grow on the lands, many of which will be for food to sustain life. This should encourage us to be light in the dark world in which we live. We are children of light and able to bring the light of the Gospel to the people we know and meet in our world. Let this remind us of God's great provision for us in His creation, and in His saving work that brought us into the light, the Light of Jesus Christ.