House of God
Today’s Topic: The Consequence of the Wrong Choice
Scripture: Genesis 3:17-19; Luke 15:11-24
Greetings Kingdom Citizens:
Genesis 3:17-19:”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 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.”
When Adam made the wrong choice the above scripture was the result. He would work by the sweat of his own brow and death was eminent for mankind. For handing down this punishment, God reminded Adam that He told him not to eat of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. Now when Adam sinned, God did not just throw Adam out on his own and cut him completely off. Now what God is talking about when He told Adam he would work by the sweat of his own brow is that the natural extension of your choice to separate yourself from God is to limit your abilities to supply for yourself by your own abilities and your own resources. Now look, God knows we have to work but when you see your work as THE MEANS by which your provisions are met then when that job or career is in jeopardy you worry and fret because in your mind you must DO THIS to get food, water, clothing, shelter and protection. For example, I work but I do not see my job as THE MEANS by which my needs are met. I use my talents on the job and allow the Kingdom influence to come into that place so that the gift God has given me can be utilized in that arena of life. When you try to meet your provisions by yourself then you limit yourself to your own strength and abilities and when we do that, we tend to become sick due to stress and worry. This is the hard way to live and it is a direct result of a loss of identity.
Adam before the fall NEVER had to worry about that or his daily bread because He trusted God for His survival and Adam understood that He represented God and His rulership in the Earth. This is why Matthew 6:31-33 speaks of not worrying about these things because the King and the Kingdom supplies the needs of the citizens. The culture of the Kingdom was clearly evident in the Earth before the fall, but after the fall man’s knowledge of who he is and what he was designed for became suppressed by His constant thought of self for provision and protection. Hence we have the parable of the prodigal son in Luke 15. I do not want to go through the entire parable but I want to show you Luke 15:13. In this story a son of a father requested his portion of the inheritance. Now what is unique is he is the younger of the two and typically the older is the first inheritor of the father of that family but we will discuss this later. Now in Luke 15:13 it speaks of this younger son wasting the substance on riotous living. Now a famine hits the land and this young man began to have needs and he joins himself to a citizen of that far away country. Now this citizenship and far away country is representation of the Kingdom of Darkness or the Kingdom of Satan. Now this citizen sent the young man to feed the swine and even more sadly he began to eat the food of the swine with the swine. Jews did not deal with swine and this is symbolic of a poor lifestyle based upon the wrong choices the young man made with the things his Father gave him. The young man will come to himself (Luke 15:17) and realize he had it better in his Father’s house. This change of mind is repentance.
When mankind was in the House of God before the fall, he had no need or want to worry about because that was provided by the Father to His sons. All mankind had to do was be obedient and follow the directions of his Father and everything would be ok. But when He received the things of His Father and wasted it and became a citizen of the Kingdom of Satan, mankind found himself in a situation where he was so desperate for food, water and clothing, he would do the very things his Father would never require him to do just to get those needs met. However God made provisions to welcome His children back into the House of God, not as servants (slaves) but as sons. We need, even as sons of God, make a choice to follow our Father and live as sons in bringing His rulership to the Earth. In turn we also have a choice to do what we want to and if we choose that route then we will be like that young man eating with the swine and living less than what we are entitled to.
At the Father’s Service,
Elder Calvin Calhoun Jr.
