In the beginning, God created man in the Garden.

God, light Himself, created light, spoke breath into existence, and divided light from dark.  He spoke the plants, and the animals, the sea and all that is in it, and it came into being.  He divided, formed, and fashioned, and called it good.  Very good.

From the beginning, He created it good.

There was nothing that was not good in all that He had made.

From the beginning, God placed man in Eden.

In a garden, with a mission, to subdue.

This was the call and the commission of the man.  It was his beginning, his calling, his purpose, and his role.  He was to be the subduer, he was to be the ruler, he was to be its sergeant.

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So I tell you this, and insist on it in the Lord, that you must no longer live as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their thinking.

Ephesians 4:17

The mind is of the flesh, and is no more capable of producing the righteousness of God than anything else.  All of the Gospel is supernatural, from it’s birth, to it’s resurrection.  What man could not do, either through the law or otherwise, in his weakened state of the flesh, God has done.  Any notion of Gospel thoughts that does not entirely depend upon the Lord, from inspiration and revelation, to the walking out of it in the streets and the paths of men has no more possibility of producing an Eternal result than would planting a seed from one type of tree with the expectation of producing another.

That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the spirit is spirit (John 3:6).  It is only the anointing that breaks the yoke (Isaiah 10:27).  The end sum of the matter, when we are desiring to see the change in the Earth for the sake of His Kingdom, is if the miracle does not come the way we wanted, it is simply because of our own faith (Mark 11:23).  While God, who is rich in mercy, knows all along when something truly is too much for us, and sends us by another way (Exodus 13:17).  He will often take us a longer way, simply to teach us how to walk by faith, so that once we reach our Jordan, and our promised land, that we are fully prepared in faith and His Spirit to take the land before us.

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In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.

Genesis 1:1-2

God spoke, and there was light.  His Word entered creation, and light was over the vast expanse of the deep.  God approved of this light, and as He separated light from dark, there was day and night.  The first day.

God created the skies, and the lands beneath.  His Word set the boundaries for the sea, so that it might only come so far.  His Word called forth, and it came into being.

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A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit.

Matthew 7:18

That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit (John 3:6).  The physical body and the physical soul are not evil creations.  In the beginning, God created them, and He called them good (Genesis 1:31).  Yet, fallen man is completely incapable of pleasing God on his own (Romans 3:11).  It takes Faith to please God (Hebrews 11:6), and this is given (Romans 12:3).

The life of the Christian is marked by ‘baptisms’ (plural, see Hebrews 6:1).  We are baptized (immersion, you go down into it) into Christ, and we are baptized (immersion, you come underneath it) into the Holy Spirit.  This was depicted in the wilderness by the Israelites being baptized into the Red sea (water baptism) and the cloud (the Holy Spirit) (1 Corinthians 10:2).

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Jesus answered and said to him, “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our abode with him.  “He who does not love Me does not keep My words; and the word which you hear is not Mine, but the Father’s who sent Me.

John 14:23-24

What are the teachings of Jesus?  What are the lessons that He gave us?

Have you ever stopped to consider the parables?  Do you know what they mean?

Christianity today has done a good job with the main parts.  Jesus is the Way, there is no other.  No one comes to the Father, but by Him…   But, what of the rest?

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His mouth is sweetness itself;

Song 5:16 (portion)

Oh, how I love His Word.  His mouth is sweetness itself.  There is nothing finer, nothing more pleasant, nothing more desirable, than His mouth.  Taste and see that He is good.

If ever there was a question about God’s greatness, it is settled in this.  You may talk about love, but He is it.  You may talk about justice, but He is it.  You may talk about joy, but He is the only source.  You may talk about peace, but He is its prince.  You may talk about patience, but who is more than He?  You may talk about kindness, but show me another father willing to send all his prophets, and then, at the last, His son.  You may talk about anything that it is to be human, and, you may see someone demonstrate some portion of it, or you may see idealized someone who is famed for it, but Jesus is it all.

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This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what he has done has been done through God.

John 3:19-21

This is the verdict.  Light has come.  Men didn’t want it.  They wanted something different.

The difference here is important.  Jesus contrasts the two walks.  One is those who do evil.  The other is those who do Truth.

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