:-) Wow Greg! This is so amazing! Didn't know you'd post this for the whole world! [laughs] This is so cool because I have these awesome notes to share and was going to start a post today, not knowing until now that Greg started this topic. I will warn you, it's quite a bit! After all, they are thoughts that cover 10 chapters. But I hope you guys will be blessed. Maybe just print these notes out and read it later. This is so awesome that you guys are doing this. God will definitely bless us as we abide in Him, and He abides in us!Genesis 1-101/1/05Purpose: To show how the word and everything in it came about and to show God's desire to have a people set apart to worship Him.It's amazing to me how God can make something out of nothing. In verse two of chapter one it says, "The earth was empty, a formless mass cloaked in darkness..." From this nothingness and darkness God creates light. The same is true I believe of our lives. He takes a formless dark life and turns it into light. He is a God of order and of purpose.Light is always more powerful. It governs over the darkness; "For God made two great lights, the sun and the moon, to shine down upon the earth. The greater one, the sun, presides during the day; the lesser one, the moon, presides through the night. He also made the stars. God set these lights in the heavens to light the earth, to govern the day and the night, and to separate the light from the darkness. And God saw that it was good" (1:16-18). So our lives should shine as a light to the world. We have the power through the Holy Spirit to live as an example to others. We need to be signs in the sky, pointing the way to a close relationship with Jesus.I love verse twenty seven of chapter one because it simply and clearly states God's purpose for our lives - to reflect His image; to leave a pattern that portrays Him; "So God created people in His own image; God patterned them after Himself; male and female He created them."God created life and produced fruit on this earth. May we allow God to create life and produce fruit in and through us."And God blessed the seventh day and declared it holy, because it was the day when He rested from His work of creation" (2:3). When God rested from His work, it was holy. When we take a rest from our work, can we say we use our time for holy things? Are we like Jesus, helping those in need on the Sabbath? Are we like Mary, sitting at the feet of Jesus, enjoying His presence? Or when we rest, do we take a break from serving others and being in the presence of God to seek our own selfish indulgences? May our day of rest be holy."And the LORD God said, 'It is not good for man to be alone. I will make a companion who will help him'" (2:18). Though it is important to have a close walk with God, it doesn't mean that we leave others out of our lives. We need God and we need fellowship and encouragement from others. On the other hand, we shouldn't be so dependent on people that we start to forget our need for God. He always should be number one in our lives and people should only serve as a help towards becoming the person God wants us to be.We must be careful that we don't let the lust of the eyes convince us to partake in sin and disobeying the Lord; "The woman was convinced. The fruit looked so fresh and delicious, and it would make her so wise! So she ate some of the fruit. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her. Then he ate it, too" (3:6-7). We must also remember that when we choose to sin, we will bring others down with us. It's been said that compromise creates casualties. One of the consequences to willful sinning, willful disobedience, is the loss of innocence. Adam and Eve felt no shame in chapter two, verse twenty five, but they lost their innocence in chapter three, verse seven after sinning.God is an unconditional God. If we ever find that we are no longer in the presence of God, it's because we left Him; "Toward evening they heard the LORD God walking about in the garden, so they hid themselves among the trees" (3:8). It was not He who left us. It is us who put the conditions on our relationship with God. For example, if we fail the Lord in any way, it is us who feel we need to run and hide from Him, covering up our shame. We let things separate us from God, but He is always there.It is a very important thing to keep a watchful eye on the attitude of our hearts; "'Why are you so angry?' the LORD asked him. 'Why do you look so dejected? You will be accepted if you respond in the right way. But if you refuse to respond correctly, then watch out! Sin is waiting to attack and destroy you, and you must subdue it'" (4:6-7). God gave very good advice to Cain, that sin is sure to follow a heart and response that is not made right before the Lord.When we choose to live in consistent sin, day after day, it breaks the Lord's heart; "Now the LORD observed the extent of the people's wickedness, and He saw that all their thoughts were consistently and totally evil. So the LORD was sorry He had ever made them. It broke His heart" (6:5-6)."Unfailing love and faithfulness cover sin; evil is avoided by fear of the LORD" (Proverbs 16:6). Shem and Japheth covered their father's shame with love and avoided looking at his embarrasing state. Ham however gossiped about his father's drunkness and nakedness to his brothers (9:20-25). "A troublemaker plants seeds of strife; gossip separates the best of friends" (Proverbs 16:28).In closing, the whole point of our existence is to experience what the Word says Enoch in chapter five, verses twenty two through twenty four, and Noah in chapter six, verses eight through nine, did - they enjoyed a close relationship with God all the days of their life.
