. The congregation, here at the Community Christian Church of Christ has grown in the past several months and is exited about what the future holds. We have had some visitors and others have come on a more regular basis. Yes the preacher still works full time for his support but has high hopes for the future. If you've never come and visited and met the new preacher come and meet him sometime. We could use your support. We're just preaching the truth of the word of God to the best of our ability, as God would want it.

    Sometimes it is hard to know where to start a subject because you don't know if your audience is knowledgeable about the subject. Today I want to start from the beginning.  Genesis 1:1-2 (NKJV) "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form, and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters." We see from the language in verse one that there is a God and there is only one God. James Smith in his book The Pentateuch says the first verse indicates 7 things, 1. God exists. The name 'Elohim is used emphasizing the  "power and transcendence of God."  2. Only one God exists. The verb used is singular necessitating the conclusion that the world was created by one God. Thus polytheism is opposed. 3. The pluralistic unity of the Godhead is suggested by the fact that the word for God ("Elohim) is plural while the verb is singular. Later revelation will make it clear that the one God manifests Himself as Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Thus Unitarianism is opposed.4. The universe had a beginning. Matter is not eternal. Thus materialism is opposed. 5. God is distinct from nature, for He created the heavens and the earth. Thus pantheism is opposed. 6. Since God created the material universe He is obviously superior to it and therefore in control of it. Thus the doctrine of fatalism is opposed. 7. In creating the material universe God, a non-material being, of necessity had to interact with the material realm. Thus the doctrine of dualism is opposed.
    Batsell Baxter in his book "I Believe Because," says we shouldn't be too dogmatic about how the world began. He comes to the conclusion that "We have the faith to believe that God had the power to create the universe instantaneously, by fiat creation, if that is the way He wished to do it." His observations of the first chapter are as quoted from Wilber Smith: "1.to show mankind that the world in which we live originally proceeded from the creative activity of God; 2. That God alone, the one true God, is the creator of the world; 3. That in creating the world He reveals Himself to be the eternal God, of omnipotence, omniscience and infinite goodness; 4. Finally to inform man of the noble origin of the human species, and of the exalted dignity which must ever attach to the human race, because of the fact that, man was originally made in the image of God."
    Verse two Mr. Smith says, "is best viewed as a description of the earth in the first stage of a process." Although Mr. Baxter doesn't seem to want to commit himself too strongly to any one view he does lean toward the earth being formless and void but not because God had previously destroyed it in a Ruin-Reconstruction Theory. They both seem to agree that the earth was formless and void and was that way because it was in the process of being created for the first time. Psalm 89:11 (NKJV) "The heavens are Yours, the earth also is Yours; The world and all its fullness, You have founded them." Psalm 90:2 (NKJV) "Before the mountains were brought forth, Or ever You had formed the earth and the world, Even from everlasting to everlasting, You are God." Hebrews 11:3