Element Christian Church of Santa Maria

God went looking for Adam in the garden and now, today, God comes looking for us. God took on flesh to bring us home. 2 Corinthians 2:17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.

In the temptation account, the serpent promised that the man and the woman would know “good and evil,” just as God knew “good and evil.” The man and the woman had believed that when they obtained the knowledge of “good and evil,” they would, on their own, enjoy the “good.” The possibility that they would know only the “evil” and not the “good” is not raised in the narrative prior to their eating the fruit. However, as soon as they ate the fruit, their eyes were opened, and it was not the “good” that they saw and enjoyed.

Man is put in the garden to worship God and to obey Him. Man’s life in the garden was to be characterized by worship and obedience; he was a priest, not merely a worker and keeper of the garden.

GOD DOES HIS WORK TILL IT IS DONE. Phil 1:6 And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ. Ultimately God’s actions and work in history reached their climax in the person and the finished work of Jesus Christ.

The word human comes from the Latin root for humility. To be the people God intends, in the midst of all the glory that He placed us, is to be a humble human.

God made man, in part, to steward His creation. We are not to worship creation (the planet), we are to worship Jesus. Many well meaning people have confused love for creation with love for God. Many other people have confused love for God with a disregard for the things God has created. We must be a people who love and worship God and steward correctly the things that He has created.

This is blessing and gift. God allows us to do SOMETHING with His creation...as we are PART of that creation. What God makes, He made for His glory and our joy. It is meant to be a benefit to you and I and today God has blessed us and we in turn respond by blessing Him back.

Genesis is not exhaustive; it doesn’t tell you all there is know, but simply what you NEED to know…especially when it comes to the creation account. It is not a book about dinosaurs and monkeys, it is a book about God…and man.

Working with God (stewarding, participating in, and guiding creation) this is what God intended from the beginning. The story starts in Genesis and returns to it in Revelation. Hebrew story telling doesn’t go beginning, middle, end...it and goes Beginning, middle BEGINNING.

"Church is not an event. It’s a Community.

Mission is not an event. It’s a lifestyle.

We are called to live ordinary life with Gospel Intentionality."

-Tim Chester