Two Trees

Gen 2:8-9, 8 The Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden, and
there He put the man whom He had formed. 9 And out of
the ground the Lord God made every tree grow that is
pleasant to the sight and good for food. The tree of life
was also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the
knowledge of good and evil. NKJV
Gen 2:15-17, 15 Then the Lord God took the man and put him in the
garden of Eden to tend and keep it. 16 And the Lord God
commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden
you may freely eat; 17 but of the tree of the knowledge of
good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat
of it you shall surely die. NKJV

In the scripture, we see some reoccurring
themes and we see some transitions in themes…one
continuous theme is these two trees…

The tree of Life and the Tree of Knowledge of Good and
Evil…they are as opposed to each other as
the Lamb and the Serpent are…as light is to darkness…

We see a shift in these two trees, and we
see these two trees have now produced…HOW MANY
KNOW A TREE PLANTED, WILL PRODUCE OR AT LEAST
SHOULD PRODUCE…so I see in the New Testament these
two trees have produced two kingdoms…

The Kingdom of Heaven and the Kingdom of Darkness…

I. These two trees speak to us of merely one
thing…CHOICES.
a. All through the Word of God we see men and
women having to make choices…I’ve been
speaking on the subject of Choices a lot

lately…the choices we make and the choices we
don’t which is still a choice we made.
b. Joshua stood up in Joshua 24 and said, “As far as
me and my house…we will serve the Lord.”
Choice Made
c. Deuteronomy says, “Choose life or death,
blessing and cursing.“
i. Now if this was a one-time choice…I’d
be set, but how does this happen, because
no one would knowingly choose death,
destruction, harm and cursing upon their
lives…so how does this work in everyday
life…

ii. These two trees are always in the
Gardens of our Lives…and we choose daily
which we take from…

Choices never begin with the act…it always
begins with the thought.

II. Strongholds
a. 2 Cor 10:4-6 4 For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal
but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, 5
casting down arguments and every high thing
that exalts itself against the knowledge of God,
bringing every thought into captivity to the
obedience of Christ, NKJV
b. When we think of Strongholds, all these images
come to mind…I want to paint a picture in your
mind that I want you to think about when it
comes to strongholds…it would be the picture the

Apostle Paul had in his intent of writing these
verses…a Roman Fortified Battle Point…
i. Lifted up on a hill so you can see the
terrain
ii. Made up of stones, connected together,
to build a fortified wall that would appear
impenetrable.

c. Strongholds in the text are thoughts and ideas
that the enemy inhabits and rests in…
i. From this staging point the enemy
launches attacks against the people of God
ii. Another translation uses the
word…reasoning…what appears to be logical
to us, in the natural

d. You and I cannot afford to entertain
thoughts about ourselves that God doesn’t
think about Us. The Moment we do, we are
warring against the thoughts God has toward Us!
i. Paul says, “Cast down all reasoning that
is contrary to the thoughts of God
concerning you…”

Can I Go Deeper
III. Leven
a. Matt 16:5-12, 5 Now when His disciples had come to the other
side, they had forgotten to take bread. 6 Then
Jesus said to them, "Take heed and beware of
the leaven of the Pharisees and the Sadducees."

7 And they reasoned among themselves, saying,
"It is because we have taken no bread."

8 But Jesus, being aware of it, said to them, "O
you of little faith, why do you reason
among yourselves because you have
brought no bread? 9 Do you not yet understand,
or remember the five loaves of the five thousand
and how many baskets you took up? 10 Nor the
seven loaves of the four thousand and how many
large baskets you took up? 11 How is it you do
not understand that I did not speak to you
concerning bread? — but to beware of the leaven
of the Pharisees and Sadducees. 12 Then they
understood that He did not tell them to beware
of the leaven of bread, but of the doctrine of the
Pharisees and Sadducees. NKJV
b. Leaven first of all is yeast…and it is a picture of
something that permeates through everything…
i. In the old testament leaven was used
as an analogy concerning sin

ii. Jesus however used leaven as a
metaphor to describe the Kingdom of God…
c. Leaven of Herod: Man orchestrated…where
man or human action is the center of
attention…reason without faith.
i. This is seen in most political systems,
popular will, and persuasion and usually
operates through manipulation…
ii. This is all about Politics and Political
maneuvering…posturing so to speak
politically

d. Leaven of the Pharisees:
i. This is about a religious system where it
embraces God in theory but not in practice
or experience

ii. This is also the Spirit of Religion at
work…the most demonic weapon in Hell’s
arsenal is the spirit of religion.
iii. In both systems…the spirit of Herod and
the spirit of Religion…rules are more valued
than people, than mercy, and even more
than Grace…the whole way Jesus was going
to do ministry was the antithesis of these
two countering spirits…

e. Here is the Point…Jesus is challenging their
THINKING…it has nothing to do with bread at
this point
i. It kind of goes without saying that God
is concerned with your individual
thoughts…Right?

ii. But God is more concerned with the
Patterns and How we think…
f. Let me give you an example or two:
i. Financial Difficulty
1. Have you ever been in a financial jam
and God came through for you and
provided….
2. Now did it ever happen a second time?
Did you have the same angst and worry
as the first time?
3. Why? God revealed His nature through
the miracle the first time, not to simply
provide…that wasn’t His reason for
answering the prayer…the purpose was

for you and I to change our thought
patterns concerning God
ii. This is a perfect example of the two
trees…two choices.
1. What are you going to believe about the
character and nature of God…
IV. Moses and the Children of Israel
a. Another example in Scripture – Moses was
familiar with the ways of God; Israel was familiar
with the Miracles of God.
i. This created a constant
conflict…because the children of Israel
continually approached God with a Slave
Mindset…looking for the miracles and
handouts of God

ii. Moses was familiar with the nature and
character of God…
iii. See when we have explosive encounters
with God…when He does miracles and
comes through for us…it is to meet the
need, but it is also that we might change our
thoughts concerning the Lord and His
Character.

b. Consider this – have you ever noticed how God
seems to bless new believers…
i. Let’s use finances again for an
example…they give their last $100 in an
offering and before they get home they have
$1,000 given to them…

1. Question:  was God simply doing a
miracle or revealing His nature…that He
is a Provider and that He is Jehovah
Jireh?
2. I would contend both but His character
being revealed is the greater of the
two…
ii. Now same person…some time has
passed and they have been serving the Lord
for a little while…they give $100 but now it
seems some time passes…matter of fact,
things seemingly get worse and God is slow
to come through…
1. 2 Trees are Present now in this garden

2. Are you going to allow the delay to
Change who God is and His Nature
toward you?
3. Does the delay in your miracle or
breakthrough change your Revelation of
who God is and the very Nature of
God…

c. What Makes the Lies of the enemy so powerful is
our agreement with the Lie…
i. We don’t audibly say…I COME IN
AGREEMENT WITH THIS LIE AGAINST THE
NATURE AND CHARACTER OF GOD
ii. Instead we think and meditate from the
Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil

d. One more example – in Matthew 16 many are
familiar with Peter’s great confession
i. Who do men say that I am, you are the
Christ, the Son of the Living God.
ii. Jesus tells him…my Father in heaven
has revealed this to you…we celebrate this
verse and we preach on this great revelation
forgetting the rest of the story.
iii. Matt 16:21-23
21 From that time Jesus began to show his
disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and
suffer many things from the elders and chief
priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the
third day be raised. 22 And Peter took him
aside and began to rebuke him, saying, Far
be it from you, Lord! This shall never happen
to you. 23 But he turned and said to Peter,
Get behind me, Satan! You are a
hindrance to me. For you are not

setting your mind on the things of God,
but on the things of man.
ESV
iv. Peter was rebuked by the Son of God,
Jesus, because he had set his mind on the
things of men and not on the things of God…

V. Closing
a. Back in Genesis chapter 3 we see Eve and Adam
at the Tree and it appears to be good but it isn’t
God…
b. When it comes to our thought life being right
before God…it will appear good and it appear
logical to other people…but does it stand up to
God’s word?
c. I’ll give you a couple of examples:

i. Honor – do you Honor someone
because they deserve it…or do you honor
them because you are honorable as a
person? So, therefore, you honor others
regardless of them deserving it.
1. Works in every relationship
ii. Forgiveness – do we practice
forgiveness or for-saleness…if they’d do this,
I’d do that…people come around you and
say, “you are justified in harboring
Unforgiveness and offense…they did you
wrong? Jesus would say, “get thee behind
me Satan…or he might say, stop building a
tree house in the wrong tree”

iii. Love – 1 Cor.13 is all about Living
Toward Others…that is what Love Does…
iv. Etc…could do this all day.
v. I’m a good guy and I’m better than
some church people I know…so why do I
need to ask Jesus into my life…
1. Because the wages of sin is death…the
gift of God is eternal life…
2. If you eat of the tree of comparison
you’ll be comparing against the wrong
person and you’ll come up short…
3. Jesus is the standard, not church
people.

d. Today you must Choose Your Tree…tomorrow
you will have to choose your tree.

e. What Tree will you come into Faith Agreements
with…?