My church part 1

MY CHURCH

“I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will  not overcome it.” Matthew 16:18

     Living in the Tree of Life 

What is going to be

Now the LORD God had planted a garden in the east,  in Eden; and there he put the man he had formed. And the LORD God  made all kinds of trees grow out of the ground—trees that were pleasing to  the eye and good for food. In the middle of the garden were the tree of life  and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

 Genesis 2:8-9 

And the LORD God commanded the man, “You are  free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree  of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die.”

 Genesis 2:16-17 

  The Two Choices 

The Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil — Do more to get to God. 

The Tree of Life — Receive what Jesus already did. 

“You diligently study the Scriptures because you  think that by them you possess eternal life. These are the Scriptures  that testify about me, yet you refuse to come to me to have life.” John 5:39-40 

The Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil — Try  to get God’s approval. 

The Tree of Life — Receive God’s love for me. 

But God demonstrates his own love for us in this:    While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Romans 5:8 

The Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil — Focuses  on the external. 

The Tree of Life — Focuses on the internal. 

The LORD does not look at the things man looks at.  Man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart. 

1 Samuel 16:7

The Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil -Obey  out of duty. 

The Tree of Life – Obey out of delight. 

This is love for God: to obey his commands. And His  commands are not burdensome.  1 John 5:3 

Three Responses 

1. Fall in love with Jesus. 

(John 14:15) If you love me, you will obey what I command. (2 Corinthians 5:14) For Christ’s love compels us… 

I can fulfill the commands of the Bible better by

with God rather than trying to

2. Respond to sin with life. 

God didn’t go to all the trouble of sending his Son  merely to point an accusing finger, telling the world how bad it was. He  came to help, to put the world right again.  (John 3:17 MSG)

 Jesus came to set me free, not make me sorry. 

3. Guard my heart from going back. 

“Human history is the long terrible story of man  trying to find something other than God which will  make him happy.”- C.S. Lewis 

 He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the  Son of God does not have life.  1 John 5:12 

All scripture verses in New International unless otherwise noted