The Genesis Of All Blessings

I want you to turn with me in your Bible to Genesis chapter 1. We're going right back to the beginning of our Bibles. And as we do, we're going to finish up this series on the blessings of the Bible. And we've emphasized already for 11 messages, the great blessings of the Bible.

Those who read the Bible, those who meditate on the Bible, those who believe the Bible, those who have the Bible, those who keep the Bible, there are multiplied numbers of scriptures that emphasize the blessing that's upon your life through your relationship with the Word of God. Because you have it, because you know it, because you believe it and do it, there are multiplied blessings. Here tonight, I want to finish in Genesis chapter 1 in our series and hopefully just embody everything that we've said by going back to the very first chapter of the Bible.

Because as we go back to Genesis and the first chapter, we see everything that we've already preached contained here and already stated very clearly. So let's read from Genesis 1. And my message tonight, the Genesis of all blessing. Reading from Genesis chapter 1, I'm going to read verse 1 first and then jump down to verse 20.

In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. And then jumping down to verse 20 through to the end of the chapter. And we're dealing with the sixth day of creation here.

And God said, let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that has life, unfiled that may fly above the earth and the open firmament of heaven. And God created whales and every living creature that moveth, which the waters brought forth abundantly after their kind and every winged fowl after his kind. And God saw that it was good.

And God, notice this, God blessed them saying, be fruitful and multiply and fill the waters in the sea and let fowl multiply in the earth. And the evening and the morning were the fifth day. And God said, let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind, cattle and creeping thing and beast of the earth after his kind.

And it was so, and God made the beast of the earth after his kind and cattle after their kind and everything that creepeth on the earth after his kind. And God saw that it was good. And God said, let us make man in our image after our likeness and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the fall of the air and over the cattle and over the earth and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.

So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him, male and female created he them. And God blessed them. And God said unto them, be fruitful and multiply and replenish the earth and subdue it and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the fall of the air and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.

And God said, behold, I've given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth and every tree in which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed to you it shall be for meat and to every beast of the earth and every fall of the air and to everything that creepeth on the earth, wherein there is life. I have given every green herb for meat and it was so. And God saw everything that he had made and behold, it was very good.

And the evening and the morning were the sixth day. Let's pray together. Father, we pray right now as we finish this series.

So God, that this will be a revelation to us of your mind, of your character, of your will, of the truth of your word concerning your desire to bless us. So God, your plan, your purpose, your heart, your thoughts, your intentions. No God, all the instruction of your word father guides us to what a blessed life looks like, to how to be blessed, how to enjoy the blessing of God, how to be a vessel that can be blessed of God and carry the blessing of God and to bless everyone else around us.

And father, we're asking of you tonight, no God seal these messages in our heart as we finish this series, nor God show us your ultimate and great plan to bless us. So God, you don't desire to curse us. So God, but father, you desire to pour out bountiful, multiplied blessings.

And father, we want to agree with you and say, tonight in Jesus mighty name. Amen. My message, the Genesis of all blessing.

And before I embark into this message with Genesis chapter one and verse one, let me say something about the Bible, because our series has been the blessings of the Bible. No book holds forth the blessed life like this book, no other book on the face of the planet. And the Bible is a book of blessing.

It reveals to you what blessing looks like, what blessing is defined as how you become blessed, how you can walk in such a way that God is able to bless you. And he actually holds out the rewards of blessings straight into eternity. He shows you how wonderful it is to walk in the blessings of the word of God.

But you know what? It is very hard to be blessed without a Bible. If you don't believe it, if you don't understand that, if you don't hear it, if you don't read it, if you don't meditate on it, you are going to be greatly hindered in being blessed of God, because this Bible is intricate to every blessing that God has planned for your life. You'll be ignorant of the blessings.

You won't even believe the blessings unless you read it and realize this is the intention of God. But let me just back for a second before we embark on the Genesis of the beginning of all the blessings of God. The Bible of the early church was the Old Testament.

And as we go to Genesis and Genesis chapter one, the first chapter of the Bible and the first book of the Bible, let me just say this. The Bible or the Old Testament was the Bible of the early church. The Old Testament, including Genesis, beginning with Genesis chapter one, verse one was the Bible or the scriptures of the early church.

Their entire doctrine was based upon it, came from it and was taught from it. The apostles never taught apart from the written scriptures. Their preaching was drawn from the chapters, the teachings and the stories of the Old Testament.

The Old Testament is quoted over 300 times precisely in the New Testament. More than 4% of all the writings in the New Testament are direct quotes from the Old Testament. I'm just showing you something before we begin to deal with Genesis one, because you need to realize how authoritative Genesis one was to the apostles and to Jesus Christ and to the early church.

They believe Genesis one. They believed it was inspired of the Holy Ghost. They believed it was a key to their blessing and their walk with God.

And so you see the Old Testament scriptures, teachings, names, stories, saturate the New Testament text. Paul the apostle quotes from the five books of the Old Testament, the first five, the five books of Moses, some 100 times. And then apart from that, the other apostles and writers in the New Testament, they draw allusions.

In other words, not direct quotes, but they allude to the Old Testament. They draw illustrations from the Old Testament or they infer the Old Testament by their writings. In other words, when you go to the last book of the Bible, Revelation, you can't even understand it unless you open up the book of Daniel.

If you read Revelation without Daniel, you will never understand it. You cannot interpret it. Daniel is essential.

The same figures, the same symbols, the same statements are used that are used in Revelation. And so you can't separate them. One builds on the other.

Revelation builds on Daniel, but Daniel is essential to Revelation. They are intricately connected. And that's what you find about the whole New Testament.

27 books are literally joined together with 39 books of the Old Testament. There's at least a thousand references to the Old Testament in the New Testament. And I don't mean just direct quotes, but I mean references to some part of the Old Testament.

The New Testament was the Old Testament continued. You cannot understand the new without the old, and you cannot interpret the old correctly without the new. We also read 56 times in the New Testament where these Old Testament portions of the Old Testament were referred to as having been spoken by the Lord or by the Holy Spirit.

They'll say the Holy Spirit said or the Lord said. Actually, we know it was physical men that wrote those statements. And yet in the New Testament, the apostle said, the Holy Spirit said, yes, they knew these men were real, physical men, real men, but they knew their men inspired of the Holy Ghost.

This is how the New Testament writers and early members of the church thought. See, they believed the Old Testament scriptures were given by God for our blessing. The New Testament puts a divine seal upon the Old Testament, but the Old Testament also puts a divine seal on the New Testament.

It leaves its mark on the New Testament. It breathes the air of authority, inspiration, and scripture. That's why Peter, the apostle, he actually said the writings of Paul are on the same level as the Old Testament scripture.

Don't tell me Nicaea or the Catholic church gave us the Bible. They didn't. Peter and Paul knew that the letters Paul was writing, they're inspired scripture.

That didn't just progress in later centuries. In the first century, they knew they're writing the Bible. They knew they're sending the Bible.

They knew that they're bringing forth books of the Bible. And so one apostle recognized that in the ministry of the other apostle. In the New Testament, there are about 200 direct quotes from our references to the book of Genesis.

Half of these are references from the first 11 chapters of Genesis. And Jesus quotes or refers to at least the first seven chapters of Genesis throughout his teaching. In fact, let me go further here because we're talking about the blessings of the Bible.

This is a book of blessings, multiplied, overflowing blessings, but you've got to know it's authoritative. It's reliable. You have to think about the Bible like Jesus did and Paul did and Peter did and the early church did.

And if you do, this book will become the means of great blessing in your life because it won't be a man speaking to you and it won't be just a man preaching here tonight. You're going to hear, thus saith the Lord. You're going to know that the Holy Spirit is here tonight bearing witness to the water of the word that he is saying, amen, amen, amen.

Saints, we're not playing church. We're not playing religion. And one of the great things that amazes me that amidst our imperfection, the imperfection of this church, the imperfection of me as a preacher, the imperfection of you as a Christian, yet God works out a perfect plan.

I mean a perfect plan. When we get to heaven, when we see Jesus, we're going to see for those that walked in the light of his word, he was working out a perfect plan. You see this in the life of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, imperfect vessels, and yet God worked out an eternal plan that meant the bringing forth of the Messiah, the savior of all men.

Saints, if you only begin to realize, if you walk in the light of scripture and the blessings of it, you may be imperfect. You may know the weakness of the vessel, but God's perfect plan can come forth. Jesus Christ gave 78 direct quotes from the Old Testament.

26 of these are directly from the Pentateuch or the first five books of the Old Testament, including Genesis. 10% of his recorded ministry were just direct quotes from the Old Testament. Let me say that again.

Think about this. 10% of what he said in his recorded ministry were just direct quotes from the Old Testament. He quotes from 24 different books in the Old Testament.

He refers to 20 Old Testament characters. He quotes from Genesis, from Exodus, from Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, Psalms, from Proverbs, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, Hosea, Amos, Micah, are you convinced yet? Zechariah and Malachi. He quotes from them as authoritative, as true history, as voracious.

In other words, they cannot lie. He had no doubt about the authenticity of these books, of their authors, their writers, and of God's inspiring of these books. He didn't change his view over time.

And I'm telling you, listen to me, how Christ considered the Old Testament scripture. He was fully sure that in a period of 1500 years that there was no change in the text. He wasn't there scrutinizing it saying, isn't it terrible that in the first century, these manuscripts that have been handed down to us, we don't have the original Hebrew text.

We've had it copied and we're not sure if they're accurate or things have been missed out or whether they've made some mistake in detail. I'm not sure about that. You don't see Jesus doing that.

Saints, you ought to study how Christ looked at scripture because you get ideas coming up in our generation. They are utterly, utterly foolish. And so in all of his teaching about the Old Testament, we see there was no change in the text.

There's nothing missing of the Old Testament scriptures. There's no mistake. There's no myth.

He accepted its prophecies as being predictive hundreds or thousands of years ahead. He believed its history, the names, the titles, the events were accurate. He believed in the miracles.

Yes, he did believe that Jonah was swallowed by a whale or a big fish. He believed in all the miracles. He believed in the teaching of the Old Testament and the time scale of the Old Testament.

There was no trying to explain away Genesis chapter one or Genesis chapter three. He actually believed it literally. He confirmed its authority.

Thousands of years after the event, there was no doubt in it. Why would I doubt after 2,000 years when not only the Old Testament is given but the New Testament verifying and saying everything in the old is true. Be very careful who you listen to in this hour.

Jesus Christ accepts and preaches. Listen concerning what he taught. He accepts and he preached that the creation of all things had a beginning.

Mark 13 and Mark chapter 10. He was absolutely sure everything had a beginning. There was a point in time and that Adam and Eve were made at this beginning point and that they were the first man, first woman.

That's Matthew 19 and Mark chapter 10. He speaks of the murder of righteous Abel in Matthew 23 and then Matthew 24 speaks about the days of Noah. In Luke 17, Matthew 10, and Matthew 11, he speaks about the destruction of real cities called Sodom and Gomorrah.

He speaks about Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in Matthew 8, Matthew 22, and in John chapter 8 as real, real people. Saints of God, I'm telling you what Jesus Christ believed in a very simple, basic way. He even teaches that the people, that Abraham was alive and in paradise at that time, that he was conscious, that he spoke in that realm, that he interacted with other persons.

That's Luke chapter 16 and that David did reign and prophesy. You may not know it but you know for many years, scholars, archaeologists, they start to deny that King David was real. Great scholars across the world who were skeptics of the Bible, they said, we don't even know if there was a David.

Every time they do that, they're in for trouble. You know why? They dig up entire empires out of the dust of the sand. I can't wait to find out what else they're going to find.

As soon as they start denying that David was there, they just start digging up all the archaeology. I tell you, Jesus Christ believed that David did reign and that he did prophesy and that he was a prophet in Matthew 12 and Matthew 22 and that the kingdom of Solomon was more glorious than any other kingdom, Matthew chapter 6 and Matthew chapter 12. He also spoke about the Queen of Sheba being a real, literal person.

If you're wise and you want the blessing of God on you, you'll think of the Old Testament like Christ did. You'll speak about it like he did. You'll quote it like him, not doubting its history or its authority or its facts or its prophecies or its miracles.

I'm just preparing you to see the blessing that God has provided for you within the Bible. Jesus said in Mark 10 and 6, but from the beginning, notice that word beginning, of the creation of God made them male and female. Do you see that? He is saying there was a beginning of creation, no evolution, no other mythology.

God created all things. Jesus interpreted the Old Testament, Genesis and Genesis chapter 1 literally, not figuratively. He didn't try to expand it into something or explain it away.

Jesus never belittled the scripture, as some modern critics do. Neither did he set it aside, as the Jewish leaders of his own day did, in order to accept oral traditions which contradicted the scripture. Neither did he criticize the text, as many do today.

Neither did he contradict it. Neither did he oppose it, as so many do today. And I could go on and on and on.

Christ accepted the scripture authoritatively. And you know what? He held forth the scriptures, the teaching of the Bible, as the way, the light, the truth, the means to walk in, where he was revealed. He said, I preach myself to you from every book of the Bible.

He starts in Genesis, goes through to Malachi, and he goes, I was the ladder. I want to tell you, I was the lamb. I was the sacrifice.

I am everything in the Old Testament. The tabernacle, you're looking at him. Christ is in every chapter of the Old Testament.

He is the great theme, if you want to understand the Old Testament. Want to understand Leviticus? Look for Christ. Want to understand Malachi? Look for the person of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Now, with having said that, showing you what Christ thought about the scripture, Genesis and Genesis chapter 1. Let's go to Genesis chapter 1 right now. And I've got three points for you. I'm still just preparing the stage here.

I've got three points I want to give you to summarize, finalize, and to finish this series on Genesis or the Genesis of all blessing. We've gone right back to chapter 1. Look at Genesis chapter 1 verse 1. In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. The word used there, beginning, means foundation.

It's where we get our word Genesis from. The word beginning is the word Genesis. It means the origin of all things.

When you go back to Genesis, you see the creation of all things. It is the book of beginnings. There's nothing that is taught throughout the Bible that you don't find the beginning of it in Genesis.

So, any teaching you want to learn about, any doctrine, any character of God, go to scripture and find the origin or the beginning. And so, you find when you go back to Genesis, you have the origin of creation, the origin of the devil, the origin of sin, the fall of man, of sin, of sickness, of disease, of anger, of bitterness, of jealousy. When you begin to study the Bible, you begin to understand all things.

We need to teach our children the Bible again, not mythology, not science so-called, not the great teachings of this world. You can give them the best history here. You can give them the best archeology here.

You can give them the best biology here. It is filled with truth, saints of God. And when you go back to Genesis, you see the flood.

You see why the very structure of our mountains are as they are. You see where the nations came out of. You see why we have different languages and why people were dispersed.

But listen to me, you're going to see the source of all blessing. If you go back to Genesis, Genesis chapter one, the book of beginnings, the place of beginnings, you're going to see the beginning of blessings. In fact, this word blessing crops up in Genesis one for the first time in the entire Bible.

So, we need to go back to Genesis one for you to truly understand God's teaching on blessing. We know that all things were created at the beginning. School biology and science textbooks say the earth is billions of years old.

And that life on earth is millions of years. And that the universe out there is some 13 to 14 billion years old. Or well, let me just be more accurate, 13.72 billion years old.

And they know this. Here, listen to me. They know this.

Saints of God, they know nothing. This entire realm of the big bang evolution and the theories of where everything comes out of, it is guesses at the very best. They are a mixture of liars, haters of God, and unbelievers.

Don't let them teach your kids. Don't let anyone talk about millions or billion years. Educate our children.

Educate everyone in this church. One of the greatest myths, lies, and fallacies in our world is that of evolution. But if you go back to scripture, you get a written history.

We're not relying on hearsay or mythology or teachings. We have recorded genealogies, history, and events from Genesis 1 all the way through. We have it in writing and it's never changed in 6,000 years.

We have accurate genealogies from Adam and it's been handed down accurately. Why would I trust any other book? And let me say while I'm at it, I believe in six literal 24 hours of creation. I don't believe in all the things that men in the church try to explain.

Like the gap theory. They say, oh, really the world is old. And there's a gap between verse one and verse two in the lines, between the lines, and so they try to create millions of years and billions of years to satisfy a unbelieving, rebellious, sinful world and to drop in the line with dinosaurs and everything else by trying to say there's a gap between verse one and verse two.

So they say verse one is very old. That isn't in a six day creation. But from verse two, then you have creation.

That's a lie. Listen, I'll prove it. Exodus chapter 20 verse 11.

For in six days, the Lord made heaven and earth. That's verse one. Do you hear me? Verse one is the creation.

God created the heaven and the earth. So Moses is saying the creation of heaven and earth in Genesis chapter one, verse one is part of the six day creation. It fits into the six day creation.

Not millions of years, not billions of years. It is very accurate. God first created the earth without form, shrouded in darkness and water.

But then guess what he done? He placed shape within it. He brought forth order. He created geometry within it and he molded its design perfectly.

It was a creation without sin, sickness, decay. Saints of God, this was the creation of God. The trees, the animals, the fruit, all that you had, everything in its right order, nothing disorderly, no darkness whatsoever.

I want to tell you God's creation was beautiful and God created it mature. He didn't create a baby Adam running about in nappies. No need for nappies then, thank God.

He didn't create a baby Adam or even someone 10 years old. I believe he created on that first day an Adam with a beard. He didn't have to grow his beard.

He had a beard. I believe he had muscles. He never worked a day in his life until God commissioned him there.

He also had a fully fledged speech and language articulate in such a way that he could actually name all the animals. He had a mind to think, needed no college or university or education. Here is a man mature, fully grown with full knowledge, the ability to create names, to study, to look, to think, to comprehend, and that beard kept on growing from day one.

He was born with it. No wonder then all the trees were created. Our entire world was a fully created, mature world when God created it.

It didn't have the marks of youthfulness, but it had the marks of full maturity. You didn't end up with an egg there, an Adam saying, I wonder what's going to come out of the egg. You had a chicken that was going to bring forth an egg.

That's the old saying, what comes first, the chicken or the egg? If you're a theologian, you've got no problem with that question. You're not going to say the egg. Well, what gave birth to the egg? If there was no chicken, how did an egg get there? God put a chicken in the garden of Eden for the blessing.

I think they had a fried breakfast early in the morning. They must have. I'm sure of it.

I'm just saying all that as a background. Now, let me give you my three points here. I'm talking about the Genesis of all blessing.

Look with me at Genesis chapter 1 verse 28, and this is my first point. The Bible reveals God's original, ultimate plan to bless man. Genesis chapter 1, you need to realize this is God's ultimate, original plan for man.

Not to curse him, not to reject him, not to cast him into hell. Do you remember who hell's created for? Not for a man. Jesus said this.

He said that hell was created for Satan and his fallen angels. God had no desire. Don't tell me God preordained man to hell.

He didn't. He reluctantly had to punish sin. But believe me, this is the heart of God.

I want to bless you in blessing. I will bless you. This is God's ultimate plan.

This was his original plan for a man. Verse 28, and God blessed them, Adam and Eve. He blessed them.

The word used there, blessed. God blessed them. First time blessed is in the Bible.

It's the word barrack. It means your ultimate good, prosperity, fulfillment, satisfaction, and it means to be blessed. We said before there's another word blessed in the Old Testament.

It's a different Hebrew word. It was in Psalm 1. It is the Hebrew word makarios. It means a kind of unique person, supremely blessed, fortunate, well-off, happy.

It means a profound lasting happiness, independent of any circumstance in life. And I want to tell you that at the very heart of that word blessed, makarios is the word esher. It means a person's state.

It literally means to be straight, go straight, or to go forward. It's talking about the blessed person walking in the light of God's word, walking according to the word of God. So you're blessed by your relationship or obedience to the word of God.

It's talking about present blessings, plural blessings, many blessings, a bundle of blessings, poured out blessings upon your life. But don't let me diminish feelings and emotions. Saints, you shouldn't seek for feelings and emotions.

Seek to be holy and you will be happy. The key to happiness is holiness, obedience, walking in the light of God's word. If you want to be blessed, really blessed, really happy.

If you want to experience joy, unspeakable and full of glory, and the Bible talks about it, joy, unspeakable. In other words, you are so filled with joy. And joy isn't happiness.

Happiness depends on circumstance most often. The joy of the Lord is beyond anything. It is something of the spirit.

It is a fruit of the spirit. Saints of God, joy, unspeakable. See, God believes in feelings.

God created emotions in Adam. He created the ability to smile and to laugh. We are not a, we are not a murky people or ought not to be.

We ought to make ourselves glad in the blessings of God. Do you want to be happy tonight? Soak yourself in the word of God. Jump into the promises of scripture.

Enrich your soul. Saints, there is a way back. Who hasn't lost their joy at times? Who hasn't lost happiness at times? Our walk with God can ebb and flow.

Our feelings, our emotions. I tell you, even the past year, I've thought that my feelings and emotions were so shut that I could not never feel normal again in all my life. And that's still true tonight.

But I tell you, I've got joy tonight. I've got joy in my soul. Jesus forgave me.

I love him. I desire him. I believe the word of God.

I'm going to keep walking when it's night and dark and I can't see where I'm going. I'm going to walk by the light of God's word. Saints, this book will keep you in the darkest hour.

When your mind is confused, when your heart is heavy, walk by the word of God. Real blessing. Thank God you do have emotions.

But don't judge God's blessings by that. Whether I'm happy or sad, I'm going to walk in the blessings of God. I'm going to endeavor to seek after him.

So, look at verse twenty-eight. It simply says here, God bless them. This is God's plan for Adam and Eve.

This is his will for their life. But do you know what happens? This is day six when man is created. The day before is day five.

When God creates all the sea life and all the flying creatures and after and after having created all of them, he says this. Chapter one twenty-two and he's talking about all the sea life including the whales. All the flying creatures and he said and God blessed them.

That is the first word blessed in all the scripture and it's just before he blesses Adam and Eve. Do you see that the God is blessed in the scripture? All the flying creatures. All the creatures in the sea.

God blessed them. That's a remarkable thing that God even blesses the animals. I believe this is here to prepare you to make you think in a certain way.

To make you ready to see the blessing of God upon Adam and Eve. What was the blessing on these animals? Look what it says. God blessed them saying be fruitful and multiply.

He made beautiful creatures. He made you know just a bit earlier I was telling Anna I love this time of year. Winter is behind.

Springtime is upon us and we're at that in-between period where everything's still dead but the signs of daffodils and life are coming forth and they're just earlier. What was it I heard? A pheasant. I heard that classic sound of a pheasant.

I can identify a thousand feet away easy and then it shakes itself. It didn't shake itself today but one of these days I'm going to hear it. As soon as I hear that pheasant, that beautiful sound of a pheasant is like nothing else.

I had to get up. I looked out the window. I'm looking for a tram not to scare the pheasant away.

I love to watch the birds. We have a little bird feeder in the garden. I chase away the crews.

I open the window and bang it every time the crews come because they're trying to eat all the food of the little birds but I look at their colors and their songs and the little robin and I'm watching the all these birds come and go. I can hardly identify them all and yet since that is nothing when you think of all of God's creation. You know what he done? He filled the sea and the air with multitudes of animals and he blessed them.

Seeing this, remember what I said about blessing? Blessing is a spoken proclamation over your life. When God blesses you, he proclaims something. It's not something mystical, intangible, something out there.

God's blessing is clearly written. If he blesses you, he tells you what the blessing is. He proclaims it over your life.

He commands it. He prophesies it and so with the animals, he does the same and God blessed them saying, be fruitful and multiply. Do you know what that means? Having created all the animals in the air and in the sea, he says, I want to multiply them.

I don't want just two red robins. I want every garden to have a red robin. I want red robins to come and go.

I just don't want one pheasant. I want to fill the earth and you can go animal by animal. All the beautiful animals.

I admire eagles. I love the golden eagle and the bald eagle especially. I've studied it all my life, never preached on it because I feel I dare not.

It's almost holy ground I'm on when I consider an eagle but I look at an eagle, it represents the character of God and the character of a victorious Christian. God blessed the eagle to represent himself. It has certain characteristics.

It's been designed. Its eyesight has a whole message. Its wings have a whole message.

Its entire body was carefully designed to be a message to you and I and so God blessed them. What did he do? Be fruitful saying this. How did he bless the animals? Be fruitful and multiply and fill the waters and the seas and let the fowl multiply in the earth and the evening and the morning were the fifth day.

That was the fifth day. He's blessing the animals. He's saying what you are, your beauty, your color, your sounds, your characteristics, your nature.

I want you to be multiplied right across the face of the earth. I want every time a person in the years ahead gets up out of the bed, they're going to hear those birds singing. They're going to hear the morning chorus.

Who designed that? Thanks to God. It's a fallen world. It's an imperfect world.

There's animals, at least a third of them went badly wrong. They sting you. They bite you.

They hate you but there's always a Shiloh. I want to tell you. I don't know where the first dog, where it arose.

Maybe there's a hidden scripture somewhere but I want to tell you the beauty of God's creation. He blessed them and he said those colors, those songs, those natures. I want them to be everywhere for the enjoyment of mankind.

That's the first thing. The Bible reveals God's original ultimate plan to bless man and so we see there in verse 22 he blesses the animals but in verse 28 he blesses the first marriage, the first man, the first woman and you know what he says? You go multiply and God blessed them verse 28 and said unto him be fruitful. What's the blessing? God said unto him, he's proclaiming the blessing.

He's saying be fruitful and multiply and replenish the earth. Now this is going to make sense in my second point but I want you to hear this for a moment. God's blessing on Adam and Eve.

He created them perfect. He created them in the image of God. He created them with intelligence and a voice, the ability to worship God and to talk with God.

Think until this point you had Father, Son and Holy Ghost communed together and talked together and dwelled together but you know what God is doing? God's creating mankind. I don't want only a man and a woman to walk with. I want the world to be filled with the people and people who can intelligently talk with me and worship and pray and commune with me and walk with me and desire me and love me.

You see this is why God wanted to fill the earth. That's why he blessed mankind. He said I made you perfect.

I made you to worship. I made you to walk with me. I made you to receive my teachings, my instructions, my promises and my blessings.

Multiply. I want you literally to multiply what I've made you, what I've put in you and you know what God wanted to raise up in people all across the world? That he would bless. He would pour his blessings out on.

He would bless them and multiply them, bless them and multiply them and so there's the will of God, the plan of God, the desire of God. Go have dominion. Have dominion.

What does it say there in verse 20? Over be fruitful, replenish, subdue the earth. Have dominion over the fish of the sea and the fowl of the air. Also said the herbs, the herbs of the field, you have authority over them.

If you're addicted to some herb, it's got authority over you. That's not God's will. Man was called to have dominion.

If you have a glass of wine, one glass of wine, you lose 25 percent of your reaction time, of your response time. That's a scientific medical fact. One glass.

I can have one glass. You're allowed to socially drink. It won't affect you.

The scientist says you're wrong. The doctors say you're wrong. Common sense says you're wrong.

The law of this land says you're wrong, but you get Christians in. I can handle it. It doesn't affect me.

The fact that you don't think it affects you doesn't mean it doesn't affect you. You're meant to have power. You're meant to have dominion.

This is the blessing of God. See, show me a man, a woman who has dominion over the affairs of life, the circumstance of life. They're not controlling you.

You're controlling them. The things that you have, those things don't have you. Money doesn't have you.

Work doesn't have you. Marriage doesn't have you. You have dominion.

This marriage is going to be the way I make it. This workplace is going to be what I make it. Money is the thing to be used, not a thing to captivate my heart.

And so that is a blessed man. He has dominion. He has authority.

He has power over all the things God has given. Number two, the Bible reveals God's plan to bless man through likeness to God. How do I know? The Bible.

Saints, I wouldn't know any of this if I didn't have a Bible. You wouldn't know anything. You wouldn't be sure of anything.

We'd all be saying, I think, I feel. In fact, most Christians do. Do you know how many times I have conversations with a Christian or someone in church and they say, I think, I think, I think.

Well, I feel, I feel. That's not a biblical Christian. A biblical Christian says the Bible says, the Bible says, that's our authority.

That's our assurance. If you're confident of things and they don't have their source in the Bible, you're a, you're a very, very weak person. But notice this, secondly, the Bible reveals God's plan to bless man through likeness to God.

Before God blesses Adam and Eve, they had to be something. They had to be created. Genesis 1 26.

And God said, let us make man in our image. Do you see that statement? Let us. It's the same statement as at the Tower of Babel.

God said, let us go down and look to see what man's doing. Who's he speaking to? The angels, the cherubim. God is speaking to himself.

And look at this. Genesis chapter 1 26. And God said, let us plural.

God is speaking to someone and he's saying, let's make man who created all things. Did the angels? No, not one angel is involved in creation and don't believe this new teaching and it's saturating. And I'm very worried about it.

Nobody ever speaks about it, but it's seeping through academia and through videos on YouTube. And they say the council of God involved the angels and God's there asking angels, what do you think? That's heresy. Listen to me.

That is heresy. And some of the most popular preachers and teachers, some of who have just died and others who are still alive. They're spreading this.

They're spreading this everywhere. That is absolute lies. You know what it says here? God said, let us make man in our image.

God was speaking himself. God didn't make man in the image of angels or cherubim. Sorry to disappoint you.

I've got new wings under this shirt. Anna has taken a good look. She assures me I don't, but she sees the remnants of them.

So don't worry. Let us make man in our image. God said, do you know the name God there? And all through the Bible, there's different names for God in the Hebrew.

It's the name Elohim. It's the first name of God, Elohim. Elohim said, let us make man in our image.

Elohim is the first name of God ever revealed in the Bible. A name reveals character, nature, who you are. That's what name does.

So God is revealing himself. It's the beginning. It's not the end.

He's got more to reveal. Al-Shaddai, Jehovah, Yahweh. He's got different names.

It's all of the one same God, but he begins to reveal his character by his name. What's the first name of Genesis 1 and Genesis 2? Elohim. The first name revealed in Genesis is Elohim.

And listen, if you study the name Elohim, the name is in the plural form. Elohim, one God, but it's in a plural form. Yet it's used in the singular.

It is a plural name with a singular meaning. And so one is defined. God is defined here as a God who is speaking to himself, planning, beginning to embark on the creation of man.

And you know where it's revealed? It's revealed in the Bible. God's plan for man is clearly spoken, clearly defined. It began with God.

God said, let us make man in our image. He was a plural God. God is both one and yet he is more than one.

We know according to Scripture, he is three, three and one, one and three, Holy Trinity. Some people say Trinity is in the Bible. Actually, it is time and time and time again, Jesus standing in the Jordan and the Holy Spirit came down in the form as it were, as of a dove.

Didn't come down as a dove. It was in the form. That was the best likeness, like tongues of fire.

It wasn't tongues of fire. It was like tongues of fire. And so you've got this, the whole, he, Jesus is in the Jordan and the Holy Spirit comes down on him in a manifest way and is anointing him.

And then God the Father speaks from heaven, says, this is my beloved son. Hear ye him. You have father, son, Holy Ghost, even communing and working in the Jordan River or in 1 John 5, you have one and three.

These three, there's three in heaven. Who are they? Who are the three in heaven? And you have them agreeing. Yet there's only one.

They are one. No, there are three. They're both.

There's three and they're one. Since you have this in Genesis chapter one, you have Elohim. And this name is given to God 2,601 times in the Old Testament.

God is Elohim. He is a thrice holy God. Holy, holy, holy.

And you know what from Genesis 1, he's saying, let us make man in our image. So listen, before he blesses man, before he commissions him, before he commands him, he creates him after the image of God. What is it that God wanted to fill the earth with? What was he going to bless? Why was he going to bless Adam and Eve? So that they could multiply and be fruitful.

You know what God said? I want you to fill the whole earth with my character and my nature. I'm going to make you in my image. I want you to think like me.

I want you to be conscious of me. And so we have this, the beginning. God created all things.

Saints, what we're dealing with is a very powerful and very dynamic thing. It says again in Genesis chapter five and verse one, this is the book of the generation of Adam. Do you see a book was kept a written record? Oh, I think language started in Samar.

I think writing appeared in Samar in South Iraq. That's what the historic experts say. Now they're a kind of correct because modern civilization began in ancient Samar in the south of Iraq.

And my Bible says that the first city states after the flood began in Samar or Shinar as the Bible says. But listen to what God says in Genesis five one. This is the book of the generations of Adam.

In other words, there's always been a written record of history, names, and persons handed down. And it's in your Bible. You don't need the myth of evolution.

You don't need the lies of all these myths and links that they try to find desperately. And finally, disappointedly, they've had a myth as of 2000 since it's only been since 2000 that all the experts worldwide have said, actually, all of us in the world go back to the same man, one man, and the same woman, one woman. Isn't that amazing? Since 2000 with DNA and technology and a bit of common sense to say, guess what? All the world's population, the Chinese, the South American, the, even the Irish, we all come from two common parents, but don't get excited and think the Bible was true.

We don't want you to do that. We actually believe they lived in two different generations and two different continents. Well, I'm sorry.

I don't know much, but you won't get a world population of 8 billion people if these two people don't have some sort of common connection. But anyway, I'll leave that for you to work out yourself. Saints of God, there's the second great point before God blesses.

He says, let us make man in our image. The word image means resemblance or to represent us. So God says, we are going to make man the thrice holy God.

Elohim says is talking, saying, let us make him. Let us create who created father. Yes.

Son. Yes. Holy spirit.

Yes. Christ said he created all things. All three created everything.

Do you know what they've done? They made man in their image as a representative. That's what the word image means. We're making him to represent us or to reveal us, to be a representation of us, to show forth who we are, our love, our grace, our fellowship, our kindness, and the truth of God's word.

So God made Adam and he made Eve and you, you know how that happened. After our likeness, a different word. Likeness means in our shape, we're going to mold them.

It means the fashion in a shape way and in a certain way to carve, carve into the shape of God. Not man's outward appearance though. It is true.

Man's makeup threefold, isn't it? Body, soul, spirit, and soul is different than body. When God began to form man, he formed them of the dust. Your body was formed out of dust.

That was the first part of you. The body first, the outward first. God began to create a shell and he created it by his own power with his own hand.

Second of all, he breathed into the nostrils of Adam, the breath of life. That means the spirit, the Ruach. God breathed spirit into him.

Now when the spirit met the body, something happened. Says the man became a living soul. Soul's different than spirit.

So a spirit was breathed into him. Soon as the spirit hit the He became a living soul, a personality, a entity, a actual living person. It took body, soul, and spirit together to raise up a man.

And you know what? He was to represent God's character. He was to be in the likeness of God. He was actually to have moral consciousness, self awareness, or consciousness.

He was to be aware of God. In other words, he had holiness. Have you ever seen a dog worship God? You ever seen a horse build an altar? I mean, we've been around 6,000 years.

Has anyone ever in 6,000 years actually found an animal building an altar onto God? I've seen my dog gaze at the heavens and I wondered sometimes. She's a rare dog. She's an unusual dog.

I took pictures of it because it just looked like she was worshiping. I think she was just selfish and look at the warmer face in the sun. She's never missed an opportunity, I want to tell you.

But God makes man conscious of himself. He gives them the ability of holiness, wisdom, creative abilities. I've seen an elephant paint a picture, but then they're taught, trained to do that.

But I can't imagine a dog sitting down and saying, I want to create something beautiful here. Unless God creates animals with innate ability, man worships God. He records history.

No animal in the face of the earth has recorded the history of their genealogy, only man. Man is utterly unique. You know why God put him here? To represent him, to show forth his image.

And you know why all the animals are placed there? For our enjoyment. I enjoy my dog. I revel in it because I go it's a blessing from God.

It's not the blessing. So you can have all the blessings of creation, sun, moon, stars, rain. Enjoy the sea.

That's before God blessed them. God's blessing is unique. Do you realize all the sinners in Limerick are blessed with many blessings? Remember the Bible says that God pours down rain upon the wicked and the righteous.

He pours out many blessings. Doesn't the Bible say the goodness of God leads to repentance. God always wants his goodness.

The sun shines when it does shine in Ireland. It shines on wicked people. God doesn't stop the sun shining because a man is wicked.

He lets them enjoy breath and food. He lets them enjoy the flowers, lets them enjoy the heat of the sun. God has all of it.

But that isn't the blessing of God. God's blessing only comes upon likeness to God. In other words, before God blessed Adam and Eve, he had to form them into the image of God.

He had to create the likeness. He carved out, he created them. He made them holy with the desire for God, with the desire for prayer and holiness and obedience and an understanding of right and wrong, a consciousness of God, a desire to walk with him.

God created man in his image. In the image of God created him, male and female. No third agenda.

Nothing else. Man, woman. What's happened to our world? Our world's gone crazy.

Our world has been destroyed. The education system has been destroyed. I once, when I was a kid at primary school, I had so-called friends that called me names.

Very hurtful. Called me lots of names. Kids can be terrible.

And they called me names. I never cried, but it did hurt. And I went, that's not nice.

They're not nice. And I went and told the teacher and said, sticks and stones may break my bones, but names will never hurt me. And I walked away.

I just took, I was very respectful, walked away and went, Lord, these teachers are very intelligent, but they don't know much. Because my teacher doesn't even know that names can hurt you. And I thought, how can that be? How can she be so educated? She knows how to write and read and do math.

And she doesn't know names hurt. It puzzled me as a kid. But saints of God, I want to tell you that God has created man and his likeness.

Then listen, have informed them with his nature, his character, desire for holiness, a desire to walk with him. Verse 28, and God blessed them. And God said unto him, he proclaimed his blessing.

What's my second point? The Bible reveals God's plan to bless man through the likeness of God. From Genesis chapter one, right to the end of Revelation. Do you know what you say? The blessing of God only comes where we are in the likeness of God.

We the Christian are being conformed, changed, molded, carved into the image of Jesus Christ. Saints, this is redemption. This is salvation.

For a man to say he's blessed and he doesn't look like God and doesn't speak like God and doesn't act like God and doesn't love like God and doesn't believe like God. It's a fallacy. It cannot happen.

You know what God starts? He saves you and then he blesses you. He begins to bless you once you're created anew and regenerated and God births again a new spirit within you. This is salvation.

But listen to me, there's no blessing without the character of God. Third and finally, let me finish. The Bible reveals how Satan attacks God's blessing upon man.

The Bible, see how all of this, how are you going to know how to be blessed? The Bible. The Bible tells me so. Don't go by your feelings.

Don't go by your thoughts. Don't listen to voices rolling through your head. I've got so many voices rolling through my head.

I can't even begin to tell you. But thank God I know enough to say I'm going to walk in the light of scripture. Not going to believe every thought that comes to my mind, every feeling and emotion that comes to me.

I would not be the man I am if I didn't hold to scripture. I'm going to hold fast. This book is a light.

It'll keep you from error and confusion, from making wrong decisions. This book is authoritative. You can get confused in your mind.

You could be one of the most confused people in Limerick City, but you keep walking according to the word and none of us would know. You know the Bible says if a fool keeps his mouth shut, everyone will think he's wise. The Bible says that.

So if you're pretty foolish, just keep your mouth shut. And we'll all go, he's a wise man, isn't he? He doesn't say I'm foolish. Yeah, he knows enough to keep his mouth shut.

Do you know what he's doing? He's obeying scripture. Lastly, the Bible reveals how Satan attacks God's blessing upon man. God gave man only one command in the garden, Genesis 2, 17.

But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it. For in the day that thou eatest thereof, thou shalt surely die. Here's the command.

But notice he only gives one command, one do not. But do you know why? It was a guard, a protection. Never think God's word is there to keep us from blessing.

It is not. God blessed Adam and Eve with his nature and said, I want you to multiply the earth. I've given you the ability to spread my character.

Hear me. That's still for us the church. You know what God's blessing on this church is? We can spread his word, his character, the knowledge of who he is, of his provision.

I'm blessed. We're blessed as a church. God has blessed us to spread his truth everywhere.

But do you know what? He only gives one command, one single command. Do you know why? It'll damage you. It'll endanger the blessing of God.

You will lose so much naturally and spiritually. You'll actually cause problems in your family, your relationship. You'll begin to have anger arise in your own son instead of love, anger, and murder.

Saints, I'm telling you where the curse comes in. See, I've talked to you all about the blessing. The devil actually attacks God's word in order to destroy the character of God within men, in order that they'll lose the blessing of God.

If the devil wants to attack the blessing on this church, do you know where he starts attacking? The word of God. Because this Bible shows you what a blessed life is. It leads you into the blessing of God.

It guarantees blessing. If I'm the devil and I want to attack your character, your holiness, your walk with God, and ultimately destroy blessing on your life, do you know what I attack? The word of God. That's where my attack is.

God gave one command. It was a simple command. It was a warning.

It was a loving protection. Believe me, just obey the warnings of Scripture. They're not there to keep something from you.

They're not there to stop you enjoying life. They're there to stop you destroying your life. How many people in this city have been allured by drink and drugs and sexual immorality, or knowledge, and they have been destroyed by it? Their entire life's fallen apart.

It begins simply at first. Satan came to Eve, not Adam. It's very cunning, isn't it? Adam's not there.

He knows authority. He disrespects it. The Holy Spirit always respects authority.

But here's the devil. I'll wait till she's alone. I'll get her alone.

I'll speak to her, not Adam. Why did he not go to Adam? Do you ever think that? He didn't go to Adam. He went to Eve, and he spoke to her.

He spoke actual words by attacking the teaching of the Bible, what God said. Look with me as we close. Genesis chapter 3 and verse 1. Now, the serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field.

You be careful when the devil is speaking to you. You better recognize, just like you can recognize, God is speaking to me. God's dealing with me.

God's telling me something. The devil can speak. You better recognize his voice.

In Revelation, it says that second beast that comes up out of the water, it looks like a lamb. That false prophet looks like a lamb. But when he opens his mouth, he's got the voice of the dragon.

Do you hear me? Someone can look beautiful and kind and loving. Listen to their message. Listen to what they teach or what they deny of the Word of God.

They may look nice and kind and loving and caring. They could be out for your soul. They could destroy you.

Sing to God, the voice of the dragon is how you identify. Don't be deceived by looks. Don't be deceived by feelings.

Listen the message. Now, the serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field. This word subtle means cunning, crafty, shrewd, to be smooth.

You better be very careful. In Ezekiel, we are told that Lucifer was created full of wisdom. When wisdom goes wrong, it becomes conniving.

You could have someone wise in God. They ever leave God, they'll become crafty, deceptive, a liar. That's what happened to Lucifer.

He had wisdom like no other creature ever created, but it went bad because of sin. Sin turns wisdom into something very, very dangerous. He desired to be like God.

Listen, in Ezekiel, I shall ascend. I shall ascend. I shall sit in the seat of the most high God.

I shall be like the most high God. Lucifer wanted to be like God. He led a rebellion against God.

He wanted the position of God, but not the holiness of God, not the humility of God. Some people in the church say they want to be like God or have the blessing of God. Their motives are proud.

They're arrogant. They're callous. They're self-centered.

It's all them. They are at the center of it. But I want to tell you, the character of God, you don't prefer yourself.

You don't push yourself. You're not the center of your world. Show me someone where the Holy Spirit's working.

You will give someone else the opportunity. That's how this works. And he said unto the woman, what happened? See, Eve is blessed.

She's in the image of God, the character of God, and she has the Word of God. Yea, hath God said. If the devil's out to destroy the character of God, the image of God, or to stop you representing God on the earth and being blessed of God, do you know where it begins? This is where it begins.

This is why all the blessings of God hinge on the Scripture. Read it and be blessed. Read this book and be blessed.

Meditate on it and be blessed. Keep it and be blessed. But the reverse is true if you don't keep this book.

If you begin to doubt it, move away from it. Ignore it. Do you know where you're heading for? Curse.

Just like there's blessing, there's also cursing. The devil wants to move man into a cursed state, but man will do it to himself. He tempts him.

Yea, hath God said that you shall not eat of every tree. Notice what the tree was. It was the knowledge of good and evil.

Until now, Eve had a walk with God and Adam had a walk with God. But the devil comes and says, I'll give you knowledge. He starts by saying, God, yea, hath God said.

Just a question. I'm not sure about that. Is the Bible inspired? Are those stories true? Are the miracles real? See, if you don't believe that, you're in a dangerous ground.

Someone who has lost the assurance of the accuracy of the Bible, of the miracles of the Old Testament, you are on shaky ground. Someone who denies a literal six-day creation has already moved away from God. Hath God said? Is it true? Did he create things in six days? Saints, this is where the attack of the devil is.

He will come looking like an angel of light. He comes to kill, steal, and destroy. He is a thief.

He is a murder from the beginning. He is a liar. He is a grand architect, deceiver.

His wisdom is used to destroy mankind. And it's an attack on the Bible because all the blessings of God come from this. But he doesn't attack the blessings.

He attacks the Bible. If he makes you doubt the Bible, the blessings of God will depart from you. And here he is.

Yea, hath God said. Don't enter into the questions of the devil. Go to the word of God.

Reckon yourself true. And so she begins to talk. Don't talk to the devil.

Don't explain yourself to the devil. Don't engage the devil. Don't dialogue with the devil.

Don't try to defend God or the Bible or yourself. You know what you do? Because he's a false accuser. He's the accuser of the brethren.

And he'll accuse accurately. I know what you've done. I know where you're wrong.

He will assail you with accusation. You know what? You've got an advocate with a father. Of course you've failed.

Of course you've sinned. But you know what? Don't let the devil educate you and moralize. And so you're not a very good Christian.

Run to Jesus Christ. Go to the blood of Jesus. Be cleansed of flesh.

But look at verse 4. He didn't just stop at questioning. The serpent said unto a woman, ye shall not surely die. You know what he's saying? You can disobey the Bible but you won't die.

You're going to be blessed but with a new kind of blessing. For God does know that in the day ye eat thereof, your eyes shall be opened and ye shall be as God's, knowing good and evil. You're going to be like God.

Now he doesn't just attack the word. He attacks the character of God. Does God love you? Is God true? Does he mean the best for you? Is this way really a blessed way for you? You're missing out on things.

You're missing out on all manners of things because you're a Christian. You need to be very careful who's speaking to you because the devil starts saying, when you taste of this fruit, you're going to know. It used to be Adam and Eve had to be dependent on God.

Now he's saying you're going to have knowledge. See this tree is a very dangerous tree where you get imparted to you all the things you need to know. You don't need to walk with God anymore.

It's not a walk of weakness and dependence anymore. You have it all in yourself. Your eyes will be open.

You will know. You will know all things just like God himself. And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food.

What a dangerous thing. Doesn't the Bible say second Corinthians chapter two, verse 11, less Satan should get an advantage of us for we are not ignorant of his devices. The word devices there.

And we've said this many times mean intellectually purpose plans. And our words, he has a mind. We are not ignorant or without knowledge.

His perception, his mind, his plans, his cunning crafty plans to undermine the word of God. Since I'm telling you what's dangerous to the blessing of God in your life, the devil attacks the word of God. He doesn't want you reading it.

Listen to me. The devil doesn't want you reading the Bible because you're blessed there. He doesn't want you meditating on a day and night, day and night.

He doesn't want you walking down the road or driving the car, thinking on what the Bible says. The devil will attack the Bible. The devil will undermine your confidence in the Bible.

You know why? Because as he undermines it, he's going to destroy the blessing of God in your life. But I tell you, there's a plan of God and a heart in God. And he says, I've come to bless you.

And I make the very image of me and you. You know why? I'm going to multiply it everywhere. Since as we finish this series and conclude, I want to tell you something that this book's a precious book.

We preach it. We believe it. We talk about it.

We pray it. We worship according to its words. We walk in its light.

It'll guard you. It'll keep you. It'll bring you into a blessed place.

It defines what blessing looks like. You're not able to work that out yourself. We would be all over the place trying to work out.

Well, it's to be prosperous. It's to have a job. It's to have money.

It's to have two holidays and a car. Saints, it is a walk with God. It is obedience unto God.

It is the character of God coming forth, the love of God and the faith of God and the hope of God and the patience of God and all the fruit of the spirit. This is the really blessed life. And I want to tell you, I believe God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Ghost are working to bring forth the people in this last hour and that people are going to be blessed.

They are going to be the distributors of the blessing of God. But that church, that preacher, that Christian has to be molded by God, made into a vessel, an instrument with the nature of God and the character of God, that God can bless them and through them bless the entire world. Go and multiply.

Saints, if we focus on the Word of God and stay close to the Word of God and become and be and maintain and fight for being a Bible church, God will use this church to bless people to the ends of the earth. But if we ever lose the Word of God and obedience to the Word of God and sanctification of the Word and the character of God here, if you don't love each other, if you don't have the patience of God, if you don't obey the wisdom of God against your own fallen nature, I tell you, I will not want to put that anywhere else in the world. But if we walk in the love of God and forgive one another and pray for one another, God's going to bless us and raise up other churches and encourage preachers elsewhere.

Will you stand with me? Let's just lift our hands. Let's pray as we just finish here. Let's ask for the blessing of God.

We need the grace of God. We're in the warfare. The devil himself will come.

The very powers of darkness will challenge the Word of God, will try to undermine. But saints, I'm telling you, this is an authoritative book that Christ preached from. He believed in Genesis 1, and there is the source of all blessing.

God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Ghost made man in his own image and blessed him and said, go forth and multiply. And Father, we pray for this church of ours. Bless us, O God.

Bring us into a place, Lord God, where you will pour out the blessing upon us. We want the character of God. We want to be molded and made in the image of Jesus Christ and that the blessing of God, we can be a vehicle, an instrument like Abraham, through whom the blessing of God can come.

In Jesus' mighty name, we love you. Oh, we bless you. Let's just love him.

Let's just thank him for his grace and his mercy. Saints of God, you don't want to kick against him tonight. You want to submit to him.

You want to run and flee. After this where we've just been reading, then comes the curse. God begins to curse the ground.

God begins to curse thing after thing. Thorns begin to grow up. The serpent was cursed, and that's where all cursings come from.

Saints, when we reject the Word of God, we're going to find that we're not blessed anymore, but we're cursed and weeds begin to grow up where blessed flowers once grew. I want to walk with God. I want to submit to him.

I want to stay close to him. I don't want to use my own intellect and my own thoughts. I want the Word of God to renew my mind, to guide my feet, to direct my footsteps, to lead me into all truth.

I don't want to deny the Word of God, but I want to be soaked in it even tonight. Father, we love you. We bless you.

Thank you for your goodness upon us. Hallelujah, hallelujah. Blessed be your name, O God.

Blessed be your name, O God. Blessed be your name. Help us, O God.

Help us in our families. Help us in our lives, O God. O God, speak to us from on high.

Let the Word of God be clear in our ears. In Jesus' name, hallelujah.