Lessons from The Bible.

At first everyone spoke the same language, but after some of them moved from the East and settled in Babylonia, they said.
"Let's build a city with a tower that reaches to the sky! We'll use hard bricks and tar instead of stone and mortar.
We'll become famous, and we won't be scattered all over the world".
Genesis 11. 1~4.
Why was The Tower of Babel Bad?
The people wanted to build a tower that reached the sky. The problem with them wanting to do this was they were building a tribute to themselves, not to God.
They though the tower would serve as a way to keep their people together.
many people make the same mistake today.
They want everyone to notice the "tower" they are building to honour themselves.
Their tower might be a big house, a big bank account, a big name in town, or anything that takes first place in their lives, other than God.
We are free to use God's gifts, but they should not lead us to think we are greater than God.

Jesus, by Your wounded feet,
Direct our path aright.
Jesus, by Your nailed hands,
move us to deeds of love.
Jesus, by Your pieced side,
cleanse our desires.
Jesus , by Your broken heart,
Knit ours to Yours .
Amen.

Richard Cranshaw.
1613~1649.

When Enoch was sixty five, he had a son
named Methuselah, and during the next
three hundred years he had more children.
Enoch truly loved God, and God took him
away at the age of three hundred and sixty five.

God's promise to Adam and Eve in 3.15 must have
seemed painfully long in coming.
Their unfaithfulness to God was followed by
the murder of Abel, and things went from bad to worse.
(4. 23)
Eve may have hoped their son Seth would be
the promised One, but the promise of a Saviour
would not be fulfilled for many years.
We see this in 5.24 when God took Enoch directly to heaven
because Enoch has great faith in God.
While some people lived for themselves as they do still
today in 2009, Enoch lived for God.
Enoch's example shows us that whenever we
draw close to God, He draws neat to us.
And a close friendship with God is the next best
thing to heaven.

May all I am, or do, or say.
Give glory to my Lord today!

The woman looked at the fruit. It looked beautiful and really tasty.
She wanted the wisdom that it would give her and she ate some of the fruit.
her husband was there with her, so she gave some to him, and he ate it too.
Right away they realised they were naked.
Then they sewed fig leaves together to make something to cover themselves with.
Late in the afternoon a breeze began to blow, and the man and woman heard The Lord God walking in the garden.
They were frightened and hid behind some trees.
The Lord called out to the man and asked "where are you?"
The man answered, "I was naked, and when I heard you walking through the garden, I was frightened and hid!"
"How did you know you were naked?" God asked "did you eat any fruit from that tree in the middle of the garden?"
"It was the woman you put here with me," the man said "she gave me some of the fruit and I ate it."
The Lord God then asked the woman,"what have you done?"
"The snake tricked me," she answered " and I ate some of the fruit."
So The Lord God said to the snake.
"Because of what you have done,
you will be the only animal to suffer this curse~
for as long as you live,
you will crawl on your stomach and eat dirt.
"You and this woman will hate each other,
your descendants and hers will always be enemies.
One of hers will strike you on the head,
and you will strike him on the heel."

Genesis 3. 6~15.

The first promise of a saviour.
God had told Adam and Evethat they would die if they ate the forbidden fruit.
Their sin separated them from God the source of all life.
Without God, a person is "dead" in a spiritual way.
Although Adam and Eve disobeyed God, He still cared for them.
He promised that a Saviour would come and destroy satans power over them(a head wound)
The Saviour Himself would also be wounded("on the heel").
God kept His promise (John 3.16 ) By dying for our sins Jesus destroyed satan's power over over us.

God said, "I command the earth to give life to all kinds of tame animals, wild animals, and reptiles" and that is what happened.
God made everyone of them.
The He looked at what He had done, and it was good.
God said,"now we will make humans, and they will be like us.
We will let them rule the fish, the birds and all other living creatures".
So God created humans to be like Himself;
He made men and women.
God gave them His blessing and said:"Have a lot of children!
fill the earth with people and bring it under your control.
Rule over the fish in the ocean, the birds in the sky
and every living animal on the earth.
I have provided all kinds of grain and fruit for you to eat.
I have given Green plants for everything else that breathes.
These will be food for animals, both wild and tame, and for birds.
God looked at what He hads done.
All of it was very good! evening came and then morning~
and that was The Sixth day.

Genesis 1. 24~31

One of the most important themes of Genesis is God's love
for humans and His involvement in our lives.
God created the universe and all life;
and He was pleased with His work.
He gave the people the responsability to take care of
His creation.
God did'nt just randomly create us~
He made us in His image.
That means He gave us the ability to love, think, feel,
and choose.
We are valuable to God, and He
wants us to experience the joy and peace of knowing and doing His will.
We may wonder why humans are capable of hatred, violence,
selfishness, and deceit since we were created to be good.
This happened because of sin.
We are not perfect, but God has also given us the ability
to be healed and to overcome sin.

In the begining God created the heavens and the earth.
The earth was barren, with no form of life,
it was under a roaring ocean covered with darkness.
But God was moving over the water.

God said," I command the light to shine!"
and light started shining.
God looked at the light and saw that it was good.
He separated light from darkness and named the light "day"
and the darkness"night"
Evening came and then morning~That was the first day.

Genesis reveals God as a person who is lovingly,
intimately, and totally involved in our universe
and the unfolding of history.
God created the world and He saw that His work was good.
Our universe is personal and purposeful because
it was created by this loving God.
God invites all of us to come to Him as the
originator of all things.




Genesis 1.1

Winter is passed, the rain has stopped;
flowers cover the earth, it's time to sing.
The cooing of Doves is heard in our land.

Song of Songs 2. 11~12.

Each season has its benefits.
We might not immediately recognise the
advantages of winter because it seems
so dreary.
But underneath winter's White blanket
seeds are being incubated, desease is
being frozen out, and weeds are being
destroyed.
In one sense, winter wipes the slate clean
so that spring may regenerate the land.
In the same way the desolate times of suffering
cleanse us from our reliance on ourselves
instead of God.
It causes us to turn to Him for our sustenance.
We are turned back to God so we can enjoy the
fruit of His Love and experience the ecstacy
of knowing His Glory.

There are many who don't respect authority, and they fool others by talking nonsense.
This is especially true of some jewish followers.
But you must make them be quiet. They are after money, and they upset whole families by teaching what they should not.
It is like one of their own prophets once said.
The people of Crete always tell lies.
They are greedy and lazy, like the wild animals.
That surely is a true saying. And you should be hard on such people, so you can help them grow stronger in their faith.
Don't pay attention to any of those senseless Jewish stories and human commands.
These are made up by people who won't obey the truth.
Titus 1. 10~14.

For our life.

When we look through a dirty window, everything appears to be dirty.
A heart that is not pure sees evil in things that are not evil.
Some people in Paul's day, and in later times, believed that evil comes from having anything to do with the material world.
But it isn't the material world that is evil.
It is people's sins that make this world evil.
Our hearts become pure when we focus on the things that please God.
It is easier for us to see good in people and situations.
Where do you see God's work today?