October 23-27

Monday, October 23, 2000 - Part I. Lessons from Creation, part I.

All is Complete in God

And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day.

(Genesis 1:31)

Have you ever stopped to look closely at the creation account as given in Genesis? Notice, that at the end of the first day, God said it was good. At the end of the second, third, four, fifth days the same, but He added very good on the sixth. But look now, He doesn't say that about the seventh day. Isn't that strange? Have you ever wondered why?

Let's take a deeper look!

Day one, God made light. Day two, He divided the firmaments. Day three, He made land. Day four, He made the sun, moon and stars. Day five, He made the birds and creatures of the sea. Day six, He made the animals and man.

There you have it. Did you catch it? Did you see why God said very good on the sixth day and good on the others?

You see, on the first three days, God's creations were complete in themselves, but void of life or something to fill them. The second three days, He used to fill those voids. So on day one when light was created there was no sun, but the sun would come on day four to fill the void. With the firmaments divided on day three, birds and water creatures would fill them on day five, until finally the emptiness of land that was created on the third day was filled with life on the sixth.

But now the seventh day! Why is there no "very good" given?

You see, God, who is life eternal came and dwelt with man. He was the one who had put life into the other days. He was the sustaining force that held all worlds in balance. So now on the seventh day, God would end His work and create a day of remembrance of His wonderful creation.

On that day in Eden, Adam and Eve along with all creation, had the opportunity to be in the presence of the Life giver Himself, and His presence made the seventh day blessed, sanctified and complete: because God Himself had rested from all His work which He created and made. The seventh day now becomes a day of remembrance, when all creatures could look to Him and give thanks and praise for giving life.

So there you have it. All the other days needed to be filled, but on the seventh day God's completeness filled it all.

Don’t take my word for it see for yourself: Genesis 2:1-3; Colossians 1:16, 17; Hebrews 4:1-4.

Walk with the Lord today and be a blessing to someone else.^TM

Maranatha - The Lord Is Coming!

Tuesday, October 24, 2000 - Lessons from Creation, Part II.

The Building Blocks of Man

And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed

into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.

(Genesis 2:7)

When I was growing up in New York City, the boys in my building raised pigeons. We had all types of birds: flights, tumblers, homers and even clinkers, regular street pigeons. We would fly our birds all day. We loved the birds, but the most important thing that we had was our coop.

It was quite an architectural masterpiece, if I say so myself. It was a multilevel dwelling for the birds with separate sleeping and breading quarters. We had elaborate trapping devices that we would use to capture stray birds as well as a solar heating system to help maintain the proper temperature in the winter months.

I can remember the planning that went into the building of the coop and the days we spent gathering all the supplies. We had to get wood panels, tar paper, insulation, heavy-duty glass and a large mirror. We collected hinges and nylon string for the strap doors and chicken mesh wiring to incase the outer court of the coop.

But here is my question to you. Which one of the building materials was the coop? As much as the wood was the main build block. Was it the coop? How about the mesh that would keep the birds form flying away. Was that the coop? None of them were! The coop in essence is the combination of all the parts. The same can be said for the soul of man.

At creation, God gathered all the parts together. He formed man from dust of the ground; fashioning every aspect with exacting detail. When He was finished, the lifeless body, man, was before Him. God then breathed into man the spark of life and man would became a living soul.

So my question now is this. What then is the soul? Is the soul the lifeless body that was lying before God? Or was it the breath of God that was here from all eternity past? Or as before, was it the combination of both?

You see many people never stop to reason, but God wants us to reason. He wants us to use our minds and prove all things. He says, "Come now, and let us reason together."

Many religious denominations preach that the "breath" is the soul of man. But the bible never said that man got a soul, but rather "BECAME a living soul." Because of that teaching, they say the soul returns to God when you die and lives on. But the bible says, "the soul that sinneth, it shall die" and to "fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell."

Friends the lesson from the Garden of Eden is this:

BODY + BREATH = LIVING SOUL

And the soul that sins will die. As Eve spoken to the serpent she said, "But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die." But the serpent would reply, "Ye shall not surely die." Eve then took and was deceived. 

Who do you believe - God or the serpent?

Walk with the Lord today and be a blessing to someone else.^TM

Don’t take my word for it see for yourself: Genesis 2:7; Isaiah 1:18; Ezekiel 18:4, Matthew 10:28, Genesis 3:3,4; 1 Timothy 2:14. 

Maranatha - The Lord Is Coming!

Thursday, October 26, 2000 - Lessons from Creation, Part III. (Updated 6-24-03)

Self Righteousness Won't Do

And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith.

 (Philippians 3:9)

Adam! Adam! Come quickly! You won't believe this! You know that fruit that we weren't suppose to eat, it's great!! I tried it and boy I never tasted anything better!

But Eve!

I know Adam, but the serpent, the wisest creature in the garden told me other wise. Look Adam, if God was really telling us all that there was why didn't the serpent die when he ate?

But Eve -- God said!

Adam, you don't love me do you? I'm not trying to hurt you! Do I look dead Adam? Come on, join be. Remember we are family?

So he took and their eyes were open and they notice that their covering of light was gone. They quickly ran and made aprons of fig leave and moved away from God.

What a day! The day that man fell, the day that we all began to die. But something, very subtle, but very dangerous, had begun to happen.

You see man began to rely on himself. He began to believe that he could restore himself back to the glory that he once had. In Adams mind, all he had to do was to dress himself and everything would be fine. So they made aprons attempting to restore the glory that once surrounded them. For a while they were fine. But then "they heard the voice of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God amongst the trees of the garden."

You see they were not ashamed of their naked bodies, but rather ashamed that they had sinned. They recognized sin but instead of coming to God their Father for forgiveness, they moved away from Him and hid.

Today, many religions teach the same things. They make you go on pilgrimages, sell books, sit in a sinner corner, pay penance, or even force you to confess your sins to another man. But friends, we cannot save ourselves. After we have done the best we can; helping in church, giving to the poor, we stand before Jesus as filthy rags. Man’s best efforts produce not righteousness at all, but far from it, it produces imperfection. Only the robe of righteousness that Christ has provided will allow man to appear in the presence of God.

But beloved, here's the good news. As Adam and Eve hid, Jesus would come calling. His mission had been set from the foundation of the world, that if any creature would sin He would come "to seek and to save that which was lost."

So Jesus came and dressed Adam and Eve with the apron that He only could provide, so that they would be "accepted in the beloved." Wont you answer His call today and become accepted by His blood.

Walk with the Lord today and be a blessing to someone else.^TM

Don’t take my word for it see for yourself: Genesis 3:8; Isaiah 64:6; Luke 19:10; Ephesians 1:6.

Maranatha - The Lord Is Coming!

Friday, October 27, 2000 - Lessons from Creation, Part IV.

Chosen or Fooled

And the man said… she gave me of the tree, and I did eat...

And the woman said, The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat.

(Genesis 3:12b, 13b)

We all know how the story goes. He said she said. It wasn't my fault. The devil made me do it. On and on it goes, but when the end comes, where will you be standing?

Adam confessed that he wasn't fooled, but at the same time he sort to blame Eve. Wasn't she the one who he had cherished so much that he intentionally violated God’s command in order to be with her? Now he turns on her “the woman whom thou gavest,” she caused this. I didn't make her, You gave her to me!

Eve on the other hand: well I didn't fully understand, the serpent was just so wise, he confused me, he "beguiled me." That's it! I had no control over the situation. It wasn't my fault. I'm the weaker vessel. I didn't make myself! You made me!

Do you find yourselves in this dilemma? You know, playing the blame game. Or admitting to something, but with a reason - Guilty But!

Friends, the Bible says this, "There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it" (1 Corinthians 10:13).

Remember that temptations will come into your life, but God has made a way out, for there is victory in Jesus.

Walk with the Lord today and be a blessing to someone else.^TM

Don’t take my word for it see for yourself: 1 Corinthians 15:57, 2 Corinthians 2:14.

Maranatha - The Lord Is Coming!