MAINTAIN THE RIGHT ENVIRONMENT

Genesis chapter 1







Today we are walking in: Maintain The Right Environment










Job 21:14




Therefore they say unto God, Depart from us; for we desire not the knowledge H1847 of thy ways.






KNOWLEDGE





Today we look to the word-KNOWLEDGE- H847 da'ath--knowledge, perception, skill, discernment







The Torah testifies.....................




Genesis 2:9




And out of the ground made the LORD God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil.




Exodus 31:3




And I have filled him with the spirit of God, in wisdom,and in understanding, and in knowledge, H1847 andin all manner of workmanship,




Leviticus 4:8




Or if his sin, which he hath sinned, come to his knowledge: then he shall bring his offering, a kid of the goats, a female without blemish, for his sin which he hath sinned.






The prophets proclaim..................




Nehemiah 10:28

And the rest of the people, the priests, the Levites, the porters, the singers, the Nethinims, and all they that had separated themselves from the people of the lands unto the law of God, their wives, their sons, and their daughters, every one having knowledge, and having understanding;







Isaiah 33:6




And wisdom and knowledge H1847 shall be the stability of thy times, and strength of salvation: the fear of the LORD is his treasure.







Jeremiah 3:15




And I will give you pastors according to mine heart, which shall feed you with knowledge and understanding.








The writings bear witness.............



Job 34:2




Hear my words, O ye wise men; and give ear unto me, ye that have knowledge.





Psalm 119:66




Teach me good judgment and knowledge: H1847 for I have believed thy commandments.




Proverbs 1:7




The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction.











Maintain the Right Environment

You are what you eat, and what’s eating you.




The story is told of a small boy who wanted to play with his pet fish. So he reached into the fish tank, caught the squirming fish and placed it on the floor beside him. Then he returned to playing with the cars and trucks that were scattered on the floor around him. As he played, he talked to the fish about everything he was doing until he became so engrossed in his toys that he forgot about the fish. Many minutes later, he remembered the fish and turned toward his pet. The fish no longer moved when he touched it. Frightened, the boy ran to his mother with the fish in his hand.




When his mother saw the fish, she quickly took it and put it in the fish tank. The boy watched tearfully as his pet floated on the top of the water. It was dead. When the mother asked her son what had happened to the fish, the boy innocently replied, “Why, we were playing together on the floor when I noticed that he wasn’t moving.”

Compassionately, the mother replied, “Honey, didn’t you know that the fish can’t live on the floor? Yah made fish to live in water.”




This story illustrates how much Yah’s creatures depend on the correct environment to live and grow. Even as fish need water to live, so we need the particular environment that Yah designed for men and women. Too often, however, we are unaware of the impact our environment has on our lives. We flop about like fish on the floor and wonder what’s wrong.




Yah’S CARE IN SETTING IDEAL ENVIRONMENTS




When Yah created the heavens and the earth, He was very careful to give all that He made an ideal environment. This care is evident, for example, in the earth’s placement three planets away from the sun.

The earth’s relationship to the sun allows the sun to draw water from the surface of the earth, which then freezes and becomes clouds. When the clouds become heavy, they release the water, which returns to earth as rain. Thus, Yah’s precise positioning of the earth and the sun both affords the earth protection from the sun’s radiation and provides the moisture earth’s plants and animals need to continue living.




BEWARE OF A WRONG ENVIRONMENT




Violation of environment always produces death. Vegetation that is planted in parched ground will eventually whither and decay. Wildlife that lives in drought areas will die from dehydration and starvation. Fish that live in polluted waters will become sickly and die. The Bible tells a story that illustrates this principle.




Violation of environment always produces death.




Yahusha was called to the home of a ruler whose daughter had died. When He entered the house, Yahusha found that the professional mourners had arrived and the funeral, with its cacophony of sounds, was in progress. After He had put the noisy crowd outside, Yahusha entered the room where the girl lay. In the quietness, He took her by the hand and she got up. The unbelief and mockery of the crowd produced the wrong environment for a resurrection, so Yahusha changed the environment.




The Gospel of Mark tells of another occasion when Yahusha encountered an environment that obstructed the manifestation of His power:




When the Sabbath came, [Yahusha] began to teach in the synagogue, and many who heard Him were amazed. “Where did this man get these things?” they asked. “What’s this wisdom that has been given Him, that He even does miracles...” And they took offense at Him... [Unbelief and skepticism so filled the minds ofYahusha’ friends and neighbors that] He could not do any miracles there, except lay His hands on a few sick people and heal them (Mark 6:2-3,5).




The Gospel of John tells the story of a blind man who was healed by Yahusha. When the Pharisees tried to discount the miracle of his restored sight by questioning the integrity and power of the One who had healed him, the blind man refused to be sucked into their attitudes of unbelief.




Whether He is a sinner or not, I don’t know. One thing I do know. I was blind but now I see... Nobody has ever heard of opening the eyes of a man born blind. If this man were not from Yah, He could do nothing (John 9:25,32-33).




EVERYTHING HAS AN IDEAL ENVIRONMENT




Everything was designed to function within a specific environment. The conditions of that environment are the specifications that affect the creature’s ability to fulfill its purpose. Thus, your potential is directly related to your environment. If your environment is deficient, you will fail to achieve all you were created to do. If your environment is ideal, the possibilities for fulfilling your potential are limitless.




Because an environment consists of the conditions, circumstances, and influences that surround and affect the development of an organism, everything that surrounds you or affects your development must be evaluated to see if it is helping or hindering your ability to fulfill your purpose. What happens in your life is determined by who you live with, who you keep company with, where you spend your time, and what you feed your mind. The atmosphere on the inside is influenced by the conditions on the outside.




What happens in your life is determined by who you live with, who you keep company with, where you spend your time and what you feed your mind.




This is particularly true of the environment in the home. If you want to function at the maximum of your potential, be careful to establish right relationships with your spouse and your children, and to maintain strong fellowship. The atmosphere of your home must be consistent with the conditions that Yah originally established for your ideal environment or your potential will be wasted. You can’t fix the rest of your life and ignore the conditions in your home.




Study Yah’s Word until you understand the environment He created you to enjoy. Then begin with your home to establish an atmosphere throughout your life in which you can be happy and fruitful. Be especially careful what you feed your mind.




MAN’S IDEAL ENVIRONMENT




Yah planted a treasure in you. That treasure will never be released unless you learn the conditions of your ideal environment and make the effort to keep your environment in line with those conditions. Yah set your ideal environment when He created a garden in Eden and put Adam in the garden.




Now the Most High Yah had planted a garden in the east, in Eden; and there He put the man He had formed. And the Most High Yah made all kinds of trees grow out of the ground—trees that were pleasing to the eye and good for food. In the middle of the garden were the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. A river watering the garden flowed from Eden (Genesis 2:8-10a).




An examination of the garden’s description reveals that:




1. Yah created the garden;




2. Yah planted the garden;




3. Yah organized the garden;




4. Yah’s presence was in the garden; and




5. Yah provided everything man needed to live in the garden, including faith.




Yah is at the center of man’s ideal environment. That’s why life without Yah is unproductive and unfulfilling. You cannot live outside the environment Yah designed for you, because you need Yah’s presence. You need a relationship with Him that encourages fellowship and obedience. You need the assurance that He will provide for you and direct your steps. You need the guidance and challenge His laws and commandments provide. Anything less will retard and cancel your ability to develop according to Yah’s plans and purposes.




Life outside the garden does not include these ingredients. Since Adam and Eve’s disobedience, we cannot benefit from Yah’s presence and fellowship. Nor can we draw from His creative ability. Our lives are planted in foreign soil that was not planted and organized according to Yah’s intricately designed plans. Chaos and disorganization result when we disobey the laws and commandments




He set for our good. Man is a wreck outside of Yah’s environment.




Man is a wreck outside of Yah’s environment.




THE DISRUPTION OF THE GARDEN ENVIRONMENT




Our present world is designed to destroy your potential. The minute you leave your house you enter a world that has no interest in your potential. People don’t like you and they make you feel like you aren’t important. They talk about things that discourage you and attack your values and priorities. This attack on your environment has been around since Adam and Eve experienced similar pressures in the garden.




Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Most High Yah had made. He said to the woman, “Did Yah really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?” (Genesis 3:1)




HaSatan’s attack came as mental pollution: “Did Yah really say...?” When the woman repeated what Yah had said, the serpent went one step further to devastate the woman’s faith in Yah and His words:




“You will not surely die,” the serpent said to the woman. “For Yah knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like Yah, knowing good and evil” (Genesis 3:4-5).




Thus, the serpent completely undermined the woman’s faith in Yah. The progression of the corruption that controlled Eve also seeks to ensnare you.




Pollution starts with the eyes. Seeing isn’t sinning, and looking won’t kill you. But if you see, you’ll want; if you want, you’ll take; and if you take, you’ll eat. Thus, seeing is the opening through which sinful thoughts and actions begin to take hold. If you don’t want to eat, don’t look.

When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was. pleasing to the eye. (Genesis 3:6).




The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are good, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eyes are bad, your whole body will be full of darkness (Matthew 6:22-23a).




Your trouble deepens when you move from considering the right or wrong of your action to an analysis of the relative merit of what you want. This is particularly true if your good doesn’t equal Yah’s good...the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food... (Genesis 3:6).




Desire pollutes the environment because it makes you want something at any expense. Your eyes get cloudy and your vision becomes blurred until everything looks right, even though it may be wrong. When desire makes you crave what you want no matter what the consequences, sit tight. You may grab something that will burn you!




When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was.also desirable for gaining wisdom... (Genesis 3:6).




Sin enters your life when your environment becomes so corrupt that you disobey Yah’s commands and experience the brokenness that follows your disobedience. Suddenly you’re in a mess and you’re on your own. You no longer have a relationship with Yah that allows you to rely on His power and wisdom to deal with your problems. That’s when your sanity starts to go. That’s when pain and heartache fill your days. Yah doesn’t have to convict you of sin because the polluted atmosphere of guilt and excuses will.




When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it (Genesis 3:6).

Yah doesn’t have to convict you of sin because the polluted atmosphere of guilt and excuses will.




THE EFFECTS OF A WRONG ENVIRONMENT




After their banishment from the garden, Adam and Eve entered a world gone awry. The first evidence of this confusion emerges when Cain murders his brother, Abel. Both sons had brought offerings to the Most High, but the Most High looked on Abel and his offering with favor, and on Cain and his offering with disfavor. Cain’s anger and jealousy led to disaster as murder entered the world.




Several generations later, we again see the dysfunction that arises from a polluted environment. Lamech, one of Cain’s descendants, marries two women (see Genesis 4:19) and unfaithfulness enters the world. In the garden Yah had placed one man with one woman. Outside of the garden, marriage lost its sanctity and men began marrying two wives.




By the time of Noah, the world was so out of control that “the Most High saw how great man’s wickedness on the earth had become, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time” (Genesis 6:5). Man’s thoughts were so controlled by evil that everything he said and did was wrong. One wrong led to another, which led to another to cover the first, until life became one long string of sinful thoughts and actions. So grieved was Yah by this situation that He destroyed the earth and all people.




Some time later, men decided to make a name for themselves by building a tower to the heavens (see Genesis 11:3-4). Their selfishness further reveals the consequences of a wrong environment. You want everything for yourself with no thought for Yah or your neighbor.




The evil that characterized the world described in the book of Genesis also plagues our world. A man shoots his wife and children. A woman aborts her child. A teenager jealously stabs another girl to death because of the lost affections of her boyfriend. These horrors and many others reveal our corrupt value system that places little or no worth on human life. They expose the disastrous results of sin and the consequences of our banishment from the garden. Adrift in a world that is riddled with abnormal behavior, we witness and experience a multitude of tragedies.




So overwhelmed is our world by the forces of evil that the love and peace Yah intended mankind to know have been replaced by hatred, jealousy, immorality, and anger. The pain of broken marriages and families has touched us all. The fear and anxiety that make us see even our own flesh and blood as enemies shadows our lives. The consequences of sexual promiscuity stare us in the face. Our environment is out of control and we are powerless to restrain it.




HELP IN THE MIDST OF HELPLESSNESS




Yahusha told a story that points to the solution of our messed up environment: A father had two sons. One day not long after he had asked his father for his share of the inheritance, the younger son left home and went to a distant country where he wasted his wealth in wild living. After he had spent everything, he became so hungry that he longed to eat the pigs’ food.




When he came to his senses, he said, “How many of my father’s hired men have food to spare, and here I am starving to death! I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired men.” So he got up and went to his father (Luke 15:17-20a).




What a telling phrase: “When he came to his senses...” It reveals both the son’s awareness of his poverty and his belief that his need could be met. He trusted his father’s goodness enough to return and ask for forgiveness.




Yah is well acquainted with the insanity of your world. He offers Himself as the solution to your problems. Through Yahusha, He has taken the initiative to restore the garden atmosphere with its gift of His presence, His fellowship, and the freedom to obey Him. But He will not force you to accept the new environment that He offers. Like the father of the wayward son, He waits for you to come to your senses and admit your sin and your need of His forgiveness. Only then can He make sense of your world.

Yah is well acquainted with the insanity of your world.




Yah dealt with the problem of a polluted environment in Abram’s life by asking him to leave everything (see Genesis 12:1-4a). Why? Because Yah knew that Abram’s relationship with Him would be compromised by the negative influence of his family and friends.




WHAT’S THE STATE OF YOUR ENVIRONMENT?




Take a few moments now to examine your environment. Is it uplifting or degrading? Does it enrich your spiritual life or detract from the work of Yah’s Spirit in your heart? Is obedience to Yah the norm for those with whom you spend your days or do rebellion and disobedience characterize the lifestyles of your closest friends?

Moses instructed the Israelites to immerse themselves in Yah’s commandments:




These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates (Deuteronomy 6:6-9).




I recommend the same practice to you. For out of a heart centered on Yah flow His gifts of faith, forgiveness, and obedience. These essential ingredients of your Yah-designed environment testify to a relationship with the Risen Christ that clings to the promise of His presence and delights in the joy of His fellowship. They are the heritage of those who maintain a positive environment so their potential can be released, because a relationship with Yah always provides the right environment.




A Checklist for Your Environmental Conditions




1. Who are your friends?




2. What books do you read?




3. What movies do you watch?




4. What magazines fill your shelves?




5. What are your hobbies?




6. What are your recreational activities?




7. Who feeds your musical appetites?




8. Who are your heroes?




9. Who feeds you spiritually?




10. Are the conditions of your home, school, work, or play conducive to your goals in life?




All the above should be carefully screened, analyzed, and adjusted to feed, activate, enhance, and foster the release of your potential.




PRINCIPLES




1. Yah designed everything to function in a specific environment.




2. The conditions under which you function properly include: the presence of Yah, a relationship with Yah, fellowship with Yah, and the freedom to obey Yah.




3. Trust, faith, forgiveness, and obedience are necessary ingredients of your ideal environment.




4. Keep Yah’s word on your lips to create a positive atmosphere.




5. A wrong environment destroys potential.




6. Leave a wrong environment or change it.