Flourish

In The Beginning (Not You)
January 15, 2023
Chris Seidman, Lead Minister, The Branch

Isaiah 45:8 (NIV)
“You heavens above, rain down my righteousness; let the clouds shower it down. Let the earth open wide, let salvation spring up, let righteousness flourish with it. I, the Lord, have created it.”

What Do We Mean By Righteousness That Flourishes?

Righteousness as in Jesus Himself.

Righteousness as in “life on earth as God intended.”

Genesis 1:1 -2 (NIV)
In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.

Takeaways …

The path to flourishing runs through God.

Colossians 1:16 (MSG)
For everything, absolutely everything, above and below, visible and invisible … everything got started in him and finds its purpose in him.

Genesis 1:1 (NIV)
In the beginning God created … .

It’s God’s desire for us to flourish.

Genesis 1:11-12 (NIV)
Then God said, “Let the land produce vegetation: seed-bearing plants and trees on the land that** bear fruit with seed in it**, according to their kinds.” And it was so.

(vs.12) And God saw that it was good.

Genesis 1:22 (NIV)
God blessed them and said, “Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the water in the seas, and let the birds increase on the earth.”

Genesis 1:28 (NIV)
God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth … .”

Luke 2:52 (NIV)
Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man.

Genesis 3:15 (NIV)
“And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring {seed} and hers; he will crush your head and you will strike his heel.”

John 12:23-24 (NIV)
“The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. Very truly I tell you, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds. “