May 8, 2022
Passage:  Genesis 1:28; Psalm 1 & 2
Speaker:  Josh Holland
Main Point:  Return to a life of blessing through a relationship with Jesus.

I. God blessed us.
            A. Genesis 1:28 is a blessing, not a burden.
            B. Adam and Eve had God, a land of blessing and all they needed.

II. We rejected God.
            A. Adam and Eve wanted benefits without a benefactor.  (James 1:17)
            B. We rejected the land of blessing so God gave the land of promise.
            C. God designed salvation based on relationship, not rule keeping.

III. God designed a way to enter into blessing once again.
            A. God wants to bless his people.
            B. God’s written Word teaches me how to return to Him.
            C. Rebellion will persist until Messiah comes again.
            D. God’s living Word, Messiah-Jesus, is the way into blessing.

Psalm 1
How blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked,
Nor stand in the path of sinners,
Nor sit in the seat of scoffers!
 ² But his delight is in the law of the LORD,
 And in His law he meditates day and night.
 ³ He will be like a tree firmly planted by streams of water,
Which yields its fruit in its season
And its leaf does not wither;
And in whatever he does, he prospers.
 ⁴ The wicked are not so,
But they are like chaff which the wind drives away.
 ⁵ Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment,
Nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous.
 ⁶ For the LORD knows the way of the righteous,
But the way of the wicked will perish.

Genesis 1:28
God blessed them; and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” (Gen 1:28 NAU)

Psalm 2
Why are the nations in an uproar
And the peoples devising a vain thing?
 ² The kings of the earth take their stand
And the rulers take counsel together
Against the LORD and against His Anointed, saying,
 ³ “Let us tear their fetters apart
And cast away their cords from us!”
 ⁴ He who sits in the heavens laughs,
The Lord scoffs at them.
 ⁵ Then He will speak to them in His anger
And terrify them in His fury, saying,
 ⁶ “But as for Me, I have installed My King Upon Zion, My holy mountain.”
 ⁷ “I will surely tell of the decree of the LORD:
He said to Me, ‘You are My Son,
Today I have begotten You.
 ⁸ ‘Ask of Me, and I will surely give the nations as Your inheritance,
And the very ends of the earth as Your possession.
 ⁹ ‘You shall break them with a rod of iron,
You shall shatter them like earthenware.'”
¹⁰ Now therefore, O kings, show discernment;
Take warning, O judges of the earth.
 ¹¹ Worship the LORD with reverence
And rejoice with trembling.
 ¹² Do homage to the Son, that He not become angry, and you perish in the way,
For His wrath may soon be kindled.
How blessed are all who take refuge in Him!

(Psalm 1:1-2:12 NAU)