Making a Differencewith Pastor Phil Erickson

Mar 12th, 2013 Just for Women – by Camille Stahl

Today’s Passage – Joshua 1 – 4 (Click on the references to listen to the audio – Click here to view the passage from Blue Letter Bible)

(Second Milers also read – 1 Thessalonians 1 – 5; Proverbs 12; Psalms 56 – 60

Scripture Memorization for March – 1 Corinthians 6:9 – 20

Listen to this morning’s Scripture song – James 4:10

Read a great article by Dr. Steve Elwart – “The War on Guns“

Read the “0312 Evening and Morning” devotion for today, by the late Charles Haddon Spurgeon.

The Study of Women in the Bible

Revisiting Eve – Back To The Beginning

Back in 2008, I started on a new path of eating habits.  I’ve been attending weekly meetings to help achieve my health and weight goals.  My health coach started me off on a program to follow.  I started to lose weight and as a result, I also felt better.  When I followed the program, I did well, and when I fell off the wagon,  well…  With doing so well, I thought I could do it on my own, ‘Do what I wanted to do’.   As a result of doing it ‘my way’,  I found myself really off track.  I was eating everything in sight, I put on a few pounds and I feel terrible.  I thought, what am I going to do?  I can’t keep going on like this.  How can I get back on track?  And then the Holy Spirit said,  “Start at the beginning.  Go back to the things you did when you first started”.  I needed to get back into the right frame of mind.  For that reason I wanted to revisit Eve.  Go back to the beginning, with the simple message.

As we walk our Christians lives, we sometimes think ‘I can do it on my own’.  We put God aside, for whatever reason, and wonder how we got into the mess and how are we going to get out of it.  We need to go back to the beginning, the Foot of the Cross.

“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 fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.” – (Genesis 1:27-28)

“Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden? And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden: But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die. And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil. And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat. And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons. And they heard the voice of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God amongst the trees of the garden. And the LORD God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art thou? And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself. And he said, Who told thee that thou wast naked? Hast thou eaten of the tree, whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldest not eat? And the man said, The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat. And the LORD God said unto the woman, What is this that thou hast done? And the woman said, The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat. And the LORD God said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life: And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel. Unto the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children; and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee. And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life; Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field; In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return. And Adam called his wife’s name Eve; because she was the mother of all living.” – (Genesis 3:1-20)

Eve. Her name is only mentioned four times in the Bible, but so many lessons can be learned by her life. She drank pure water and breathed the cleanest air. She had a perfect relationship with her husband. She lived in a beautiful garden and ate the best food. Every animal lived in harmony. No death, sickness or any other problems. God walked with them everyday, and there was nothing to distract her from learning God’s word. God supplied for ALL their needs. Both Adam and Eve knew how much God loved and took care of them. But did Eve really learn God’s word? Did she really understand what God had provided for her and her husband?

I think Eve was crushed when Cain killed Abel. She realized that she had brought a sinful man into the world. Her terrible deed in the garden became even more clear to her. Each person born would sin, not only by choice, but also because of an inner urging. Everyone would face an unending battle between good and evil, all because she couldn’t resist the devil’s woo.

As I stated at the first, we are starting at the beginning and we can learn many different lessons from Eve, so let me leave you with these basic thoughts:

1. Read your Bible everyday. We need to know what God says. It’s us walking with God as Adam and Eve did. We need to stay close to God. Just like the sheep who stray away from the shepherd are easy targets, so are we when we stray to far from God.

2. Memorize God’s word. The devil is always tempting us with his crafty ways. He twisted scripture not only with Eve, but also with Jesus when he was tempted in the wilderness (Matthew 4:6). If he did with them, he will with us.

3. When tempted by Satan, go to God immediately. I believe if Eve would have called on God when Satan came by, God would have fought the battle for her.

4. Pray everyday. Besides our spouses, our children are the most important people in our lives. We should lay them on the altar before the Lord each day and try to be the best example we can be. Remember Cain, Eve’s first born. He had a rebellious spirit like mom and dad.

5. Attend all church services. Adam and Eve were with God everyday.

We say that God is not there like he was with them, but the Bible says in Matthew 18:20: For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.

In closing, I want to encourage you to strengthen your relationship with the Lord with these basic steps. Encourage others to do the same. There is no better blessing then to live for the Lord.

Thank You

I John 5:13