How Adam and Eve jacked up everything. (Genesis 1-3)

[Music] [Applause] [Music] how you doing it feels weird to have people behind me I don't I don't know how to feel about that let me back up a little bit I I saw this stage on Instagram and I put extra Vaseline on my feet just for that reason because people are judgmental okay people will question your salvation if you ask okay I already knew I was prepared my name is Jackie I'm from st. Louis live in Atlanta I'm so sorry for all y'all that live in the land of that single I'm so sorry the pickings are slim I know it I'm praying I'm praying there's nothing the Lord I really am I don't have that problem with blessed God I've been married to five years married for five years to a man named Preston he is ax thug who is now a Christian because I needed a man that can pray and fight if need be you know just saying I'm just thinking you need to have them hands just in case we have I'm against spiritual in a minute I promise we have two children my oldest is Eden she is for my youngest is autumn she is 1 and we just have a life where we just trying to love God and pay our rent on time you know stuff like that but I might cut you today ok I'm not cut you literally but what I have to say today will be sharp it might be a little hard but that's not always a bad thing sometimes we need to hear a little bit of bad news so that we don't neglect the good news and so let me pray for us first God thank you for your kindness for giving us Jesus he was a gift and I'm thankful I'm thankful that you have given us the privilege to be a to be in a church with other Christians and not fear anything I'm thankful God that we have access to your entire word there are some people that only have pages I pray God that you would be with us as we study pray that you would open up our minds to understand the scriptures I pray that you would open up our minds to see you clearly I pray that you would reveal sin that needs to be repented of I pray God that you would encourage where there needs to be encouragement I pray God that there would be repentance in this room not everyone knows you and I pray that you would make it clear who doesn't I pray those that are your child I pray God that they would remain faithful we are in a time where faithfulness is hard it is difficult but to him who is able to keep us from stumbling I think you God for all that you've done keep me from error help me be wise help me be winsome in Jesus name Amen the theme of this conference is found right to find something means that something has been lost that the thing that you found wasn't in it with its rightful owner or in its designated place that's been the case for all of humanity since Genesis 3 we are born lost and desperately needing to be found that's why I figure that it would be beneficial for us to start from the beginning because it's when we reckon with the fact that you yourself at one time we're lost that being found becomes even more beautiful the world that we live in is full of lost people lost folk and for that reason we are in a dark place and of course even now the Sun is still out people are outside living without a care families are at the park or they were this morning laughing with their children playing with reckless abandon couples are probably eating dinner together commenting or love and politics and impeachment or whatever just sayin and at the same time that there is all this beauty happening at the same time where there's all this joy happening there is a girl somewhere in the world being recruited for sex trafficking there are someone in the world who is being killed over drugs or jealousy or money or melanin we live in this place there are so much beauty and yet so much darkness unless we think that the darkness is outside of us one survey of our own hearts will show us that the darkness isn't us - how did this happen surely when God made the world he made it good so how is it then that the world can seem so bad all the time if this world and many is of the people in it are lost how in the world can we have the hope that people will be found let's turn to Genesis 3 to find out the answer I'll start reading verse 1 now the serpent was more crafty than in any of the beasts of the field that the Lord God had made he said to the woman did God actually say you shall not eat of any tree in the garden and the woman said to the serpent we may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden but God said you shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden neither shall you touch it lest you die but the serpent said to the woman you will not surely die for God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened and you will be like God knowing good and evil so when the woman saw that the tree was good for food and that it was a delight to the eyes and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise she took of its fruit and ate and she also gave some to her husband who was with her and he ate then the eyes of both were opened and they knew they were naked and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loin cloths I love this passage before the surface showed up God had done some big things like makes the world for one and not only that he made humans first he made Adam he made Adam the dust and breathed into his nostrils giving him the breath of life and the way he made Adam was spectacular but I think the way he made the woman was even more spectacular he made Adam go night-night bye-bye took one of his ribs out and made a woman didn't put no hot sauce and no barbecue sauce or nothing on it it was just a dry rub just her so you have God the world he made and the people he made to live in it now their specific home was not just earth it was eating a beautiful garden which to me probably looked a lot like Wakanda but that's just me reading into the text a slice of Jesus I knew when they got into the garden God told Adam in Genesis 2 verse 16 that he can eat has the freedom to eat from any tree in the garden but there is one tree that he cannot eat from and that's the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and God says for the day that you eat of it you shall surely die that's significant because even in the state of perfection God still had boundaries for his creation in any attempt to cross those boundaries by way of disobeying disobeying God's command would guarantee a consequence some time after God commanded Adam not to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil the serpent shows up the snake is a created thing the snake itself is not the devil but the devil is embodied in the snake the devil was created or created being just like Adam he was an angel who was created to serve God but because of pride he rebelled and became a being endlessly obsessed with doing everything that God hates so when Satan embodied the snake his motivations were never holy if Eve would have known who she was talking to she would know that everything that he has to say is not for her good or God's glory that if she were to believe him it would be to her demise but she didn't know that yet he comes to her and he says did God really say you cannot eat from any tree in the garden first of all Satan is rude because he doesn't even say hi that's how she should have known something he ain't holy cuz he's rude he goes straight into questioning Eve about God's command for him even to know the commandment that he was present when God told Adam the command or he was present when Adam told Eve the command either way he's nosy he is very aware of God's Word and it is the exact thing that he wants to challenge but why would he go that route why would he question Eve about what God said because if he can get Eve to doubt the Word of God then he inevitably gets e to doubt the person of God the root of all sin is unbelief if you dig deep enough until the particular sins that you struggle with now or struggle with before you will discover that the core of these sins is unbelief in the word and person of God some of us are in illicit and immoral relationships not primarily because we're lonely that surface-level thus the root is that we don't believe that God really is the source of all comfort some of us don't turn the other cheek because we don't believe that vengeance really is the Lord some of us deal with legalism believing that our works make us right with God because we don't believe that Jesus's work was actually that sufficient sin doesn't just happen it happens because somewhere in our minds we have concluded that God cannot be trusted most if not all of your temptations start with did God really say and Satan knows this and this is why he phrased the question the way he did it wasn't necessarily his question that was the main problem it was what the question implied it implied that there was a possibility that got what God was saying wasn't a true thing and what does he say back she clearly doesn't rebuke him let's read verse 2 it says and the woman said to the serpent we may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden but God said you shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden neither shall you touch it lest you die don't have a conversation with the devil that's just one plain application but anyway do you know what's interesting about EES response what's interesting is that she says something that God never said he said you cannot eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil but he never told her that she couldn't touch it so as Satan is questioning her and accusing God she in turn is actually very unclear on the Word of God herself that's the word we assist the devil in his desire to deceive us when we're not clear what God has said in his word Satan Satan didn't even have to convince her that God was more strict than he actually was cuz she already started to think that herself this that's one difference between eve Eve's exchange with the devil in the garden and Jesus is exchanged with the devil in the wilderness Eve is confused about what God says and Jesus wasn't Jesus didn't add on to God's Word when he quoted it to the devil because he didn't need to he knew exactly what God's Word said unlike even either way what she doesn't realize is that the serpent did not ask the question because he cared about her response this conversation was really a manipulative manipulative means for him to turn her heart away from God Satan begins this whole situation being very subtle but when we get to verse 4 he gets straight to the point he says but the serpent said to the woman you will not surely die for God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened and you will be like God knowing good and evil Satan is a liar Saints always clap on that yes he is he is alive we can so excited about his Alya Satan lied to Eve and he actually told more than one lie the first lie was that she'd be able to escape the judgment of God that when she sinned and of course he doesn't want her to think that her disobedience is actually sin but a logical conclusion of what she should do with her body but even then he wants her to believe that she will be able to eat the fruit and get away with it this is a lie that clearly resonates to this day we by we I mean humanity in general we like to believe the lie that we can lie and steal and be racist and unloving and unkind and envious and greedy and sexually immoral and lives lives eating from the tree God told us not to and that God won't do nothing about it it is the lie that says yes you can break God's law freely and he will never do anything about it he won't judge you this lies also morphed into something else that isn't as obvious sometimes it sounds like you know God is love and because God is love surely he won't do something as terrible as send people to hell or if God's character is not twisted into something that is unbiblical than that the other alternative is to take the commands of God and say that they are not commands at all but they are just words that are open to our own subjective interpretations of what they mean where we choose what is sin and what isn't while living under the deception that disobedience is not disobedience if I have defined the terms of what I'm told a we live in a society that wants God to be loved and not judged but it don't work that way and the irony the irony is in a day and age where we are committed to dealing with in justices dealing with the unjust treatment of people you think that we would delight in a God who does not overlook wrongdoing you think that our commitment to justice on earth would result in praise for the justice that happens in heaven but the truth is we are more likely to want God's justice on other people than God's justice on our own why because lost people are inconsistent the second lie is that God himself was a liar God said the day you eat of the tree you shall surely die he didn't say you might die he didn't say you could die he didn't say if you eat more than two bites you'll die he said the day you eat of the tree you'll die this death would not be eventual it would be immediate but Satan tells Eve that's not the case at all and if that's not the case then what God said to Adam must not be the truth the temptation is to believe that God is not a God of his word that he is a God that does not tell the truth that he is not a God that can back up his threats in clearly in Satan's opinion everything that God says it's not worth believing because it won't happen anyway and of course if Eve is to believe that God is the liar who will she believe is the honest one in the conversation the devil question dude do you remember the last time you thought God was lying to you if nothing specific comes to mind I'll help you it happened the last time then you opened up your Bible read it and walked away concluding that everything that you read wasn't true many of us would never say that we think God is a liar but we live as if he is the area where you are disobedient is a manifestation of what you don't believe about God all of the promises of God are yes in Jesus Christ so when he tells you that whoever believes in his name will not perish but have eternal life how should that change how you live and light of eternity when he tells you that he is able to do exceedingly and abundantly above all you could ever access how should that change how you pray when he commands you to cast her cares on him because he cares for you does that have any impact on how you handle your burdens the way the way you live bears the fruit of what you actually believe the Word of God the Word of God is to be believed because God is not a man that he should lie think about that for a second we serve a holy God because God is holy it means he cannot sin and if God cannot sin that means he cannot sin against you and if God cannot sin against you that means he can never lie to you think about that if God can't lie to you that means that everything has ever said there's always absolutely true how different would your life be if you chose to believe that God can never lie I think you'd have more joy amen [Applause] you look like you got some mints in your purse she got a couple peppermints I know it away at the bottom just collecting dust waiting on the five-year-old tax for it anyway I'm on a roll the last lie the last lie that uh I got so many more jokes in the back of my mind I just gotta have self-control I really do the last lie that Satan told Eve is that her sin would defy her let me read it in verse 4 and 5 it says for God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened and you will be like God knowing good and evil what an intoxicating thought that by just eating fruit from a tree that she could become like the creator of the tree that she would be like the one who made her from rib that she could become like the one who made her husband from the ground who wouldn't want that kind of intelligence and wisdom and authority and power I tell you who would want it those who are unwilling to disobey God to get it but you got to know that when sin is involved the human will is not content with submission to God neither does it find joy and God being Lord the human will does not delight in serving God naturally because it wants to be him I remember when Kanye before he start having church services I promise I'm going as soon as he come I'm going I promise Jesus walks I remember when Calle came out with a song some years ago years ago call I am God and everybody felt some type of way about everybody was offended as I should have been here's a human being making the claim that he is more than what he is that somehow in all of his humanity he can be God and I found myself wondering how many of us are actually as easily offended in our own silent attempts to be God we may not say it out loud and make songs about it but we have the song same song playing in our hearts there are many ways that this addiction to being God can play itself out but what it boils down to is that we all want to have the freedom to do what we want when we want and how we want like God does sin leads us to believe that to be like God is to have absolute freedom that being God is the way to true happiness and liberty but it is in the pursuit Oh usurping the throne of God that we will find ourselves under the judgment seat of God sin when the devil told Eve that she would be like God knowing good evil he was not offering her a pathway to righteousness he was offering her what he wanted when he was back in heaven knowing when he told her she could know good and evil what he said was it had a hint of truth to what he said because but he wasn't telling the whole truth God being God does know good and evil because God knows everything all Eve knew up into that point was goodness so for her to eat from the tree would give her access to a knowledge that she did not have but what the devil did not tell her is that she would not know good and evil in the same way that God does God is holy remember he has never known evil experientially he only knows goodness not that way he knows evil like a doctor knows cancer something that he understands fully but something that he has not dealt with himself but when Eve disobeyed the commandment of God she did not get to know evil like a doctor knows cancer she became the patient that knows cancer she would become the one who was sick in her deception she didn't realize that by sinning against God she would become inherently like God because it's evil we're not being outside of her but it would be inside of her outside of her but it would be inside her you get it the devil the devil didn't say all that a part of being born lost is that we are like even that we are dissatisfied with being who we were made to be we were made by God Colossians 1:16 for God we are a created thing but sin wants us to get beyond what we were made to be but we can't and it frustrates us that we can't be more than human I think that's actually the appeal of being busy and you know it's cute for people to say I'm busy and I'm booked whatever I think that's part of the appeal of being busy because we want to be able to do a million things at the same time and preserve our peace but only God can do that you have people looking into horoscopes and going to psychics because they want to know the future while living in the present but only God can do that even social media makes us feel like we have access into the lives of thousands of people without having to ask for their permission like God but even then we still can't see everything and with everything that we do see we're not able to discern what's really real social media has given us a way to mimic omniscience but even then look at what all this information is actually doing to us it's creating this contentment jealousy envy God don't deal with that we want so desperately to be like God but we can't be and that's okay because once we begin to reckon and be content with our position as a creative thing we will actually free ourselves from the anxiety of having to be something that we were never meant to be and after hearing all of this what does Eve do it's reversed six it says so when the woman saw that the tree was good for food that it was a delight to the eyes and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise she took of its fruit and ate and she also gave some to her husband who was with her doing what we don't know and he ate was he cutting the grass side I don't know was he talking to the monkeys hey monkey I named you what's up the knives are both were opened and they knew that they were naked and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loin cloths Eve was deceived and because of her deception she chose to believe a lie the ultimate lie being that a created thing had more to offer than God himself and when her husband who was with her ate from the tree it was set in motion that everybody that would be born after them would believe the same lie but did you pay attention to what it says Eve saw in the tree says that she saw that the tree was delightful to the eye that it was desired to make one wise and that it was good for food notice she saw nothing but good qualities and the thing that God said would kill her hmm there is something there is something that happens to our mind when we stop seeing God as better because the problem isn't even in her assessment of the tree because in Genesis 2 it says that God created the tree that to be good for food and delightful to the eyes the problem is that her focus was more on what God said she could not have then the god she already had everything that she thought the tree could provide was everything that God already was he is delightful to the eye he is satisfying to the body the fear of him is the beginning of wisdom but when you're lost it's not just that your sinful is that you're blind we come into this world really believing that the stuff that God has made is better than the God that made it it's crazy it's natural that's what idolatry is expecting a created thing to be what God already is that's why Romans 1 when it talks about foolish people it says that foolish people think they're wise and what do foolish people do they exchange the creator for a lie and they worship what God has made with his hands and act like it's sufficient it's natural to think that what we see and feel and can taste and smell is better than the invisible God but it's by faith that we believe that even if we can't see him he's better than that thing I know his beard is long since I know it I know it's shiny I know I know the light-skinned Saint y'all like man buns I know the BAM bun is sitting up top I know that I know I know I know that job gonna pay more money if you just lie a little bit I know that but you don't have to disobey God to get those things God is good literally there is none the scripture says there is none like the Lord but there is none besides him there is no Rock like our God David said whom have I in heaven but you and there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you my flesh and my heart may fail but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever you have to believe that God is the only god to live that way you can trust that no matter how good something might be here it is never good enough to be God I have to Adam ate the fruit something interesting happened between him and Eve there was an immediate impact on Adam and Eve's relationship with each other let's reverse ate it says and they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord this is my favorite part among the trees of the garden but the Lord God called to the man and said to him where are you I love when God asks questions cuz he plan with us it's like I you know I don't even know are you doing it your mommy used to do that to you so so while you weren't at school I mean the teacher called you and told you why are you asking me you already know you just want me to tell you true anyway so imagine is imagine you're Adam and Eve your eyes have just been open because of sin you are aware of your body in such a way that causes shame and a whole bunch of other stuff that you didn't have to deal with with all you knew was goodness and so you cover yourself with loin cloths to cover your shame but not only are you trying to cover your shame from yourself but you're covering your shame from the partner that God created you to be totally free with that act is a glimpse of what sin immediately did to relationships it made it a place where people are afraid to be free so what do people do if they aren't free they hide this is why we have difficulty in community this is why we don't trust each other at church this is why we don't trust people in our homes this is why we hide from each other in small group we hide from each other by resisting accountability we hide from each other by running from discipleship or leadership we are so afraid for people to see what we look like with our lauren claws off the death God said would happen that day they ate the fruit this is a part of it the sin broke our fellowship with God and thus our fellowship with each other personal sin will always have communal effects where you are with God affects how you are with each other that's why when you didn't in your word and you're seeking God and you're praying and you're fasting you are nice all of a sudden you're doing your kids homework and you not getting mad because they can't spell they last name you over here having sex with your husband three days in a row you're just doing things that you ain't never did that's what intimacy what God does but lets you start drifting from God you get all mean you start cursing people out at the highway you go to upbeat and you mad because they didn't put the right chickpeas on your salad you just become a hot baths that's just me I asked for the spicy chickpeas not the regular thank you have you ever thought about how the two greatest Commandments how they are categorized vertically and horizontally what's the first one love the Lord your God with all your heart mind and soul vertical what's the second one love your neighbor as yourself horizontal when the order is switched you get what I call dysfunctional neighbor love loving your neighbor is biblical but loving your neighbor more than God is not and I think personally that that's a part of what we're seeing in the church now is that people are committed and way overly committed to loving people more than they love God and then return to actually not loving people at all but that's another story but when love for God when love for God is our priority we are empowered to love our neighbor well and that's why some Saints I'd be trying to tell the girls you don't want a man that loves you more than he loves God I'm trying to tell you you don't want a man to make you his idol because if he does he won't love you well at all let me get off that topic how we are with God will govern how we are with each other and we see that with Adam and Eve while Adam and Eve were feeling all shameful around each other something happens and it happens as if this was a common occurrence in the guard and the text says that they heard a sound and it was the sound of God walking in the cool of the day and it doesn't say that God was running through the garden as if he was in a rush the text doesn't say that God was stumping through the garden as if he was coming to scare them it says that he was walking the people God created from his glory have just fell from it and he is still approaching them calmly as if to remind them that his presence isn't to be resisted but welcome but as sin always does is distorts our view of God so we end up hiding the text says that when they heard God coming they hid behind some trees now my initial thought is if I just sinned against God and I hear he on the way I'm a high two because I'm scared all right but even though it makes sense it's still foolish why because it doesn't matter where you go you can't hide from God but because of sin we have deceived ourselves into believing that we can the pride in us wants us to believe that God isn't as all-knowing or as all-present as he says he is we might be able to hide for my pastors our friends our Instagram followers our families but there is no sin that God could not see no matter how skilled you've gotten at concealing it and also hiding from God behind the tree was foolish because the tree can't protect you from God I know that sounds obvious but think about it Adam and Eve most likely remembered that God said the day they either the tree they'll die right judgment so they're probably expecting judgment to come so they figure if I just get behind this tree maybe that would keep me from the judgment of God as if the tree was a cleft as if the tree was a mediator between them and God some of you called it they treated the tree like it was blood on the doorpost like death would pass over them they might have said to themselves of God can't see me they maybe God won't judge me and we do it too we think that if we're just a good person to make God okay with me maybe if I just fix myself up when God approaches he'll be happy maybe I just busy myself with ministry and God might not be able to see what I'm trying to hide but there is nothing they or we could do as human beings to fix what has been broken between man and God this is the beginning of legalism this is where a human being started thinking that they are what they can do with their hands and their bodies could save them but the tree was not a sufficient savior a created thing could not be your Messiah the question should be then what is your tree what created thing have you been hiding behind what thing have you been expecting to save you from God all that tree did was keep them from God even more if they would have understood God rightly once they heard him walking in the cool of the day they would have ran to him pleading for his forgiveness knowing that it is only God that can make us right with God but they didn't they decided to trust a tree instead then in verse nine God asked Adam a question he says where are you love it do you think that God asks the question because he didn't know the answer he's God course he knew where either was God asks the question because he was giving Adam an opportunity to confess the question was to pull out of Adam the reason he was hiding from the God that he never hid from before even before the beginning God was making room for the confession of sinners he knew what Adam did and he knew what Adam would do before he did it but he still just wanted Adam to be honest I think one reason perhaps it's difficult for us to confess is that we forget who God is remember when I said that some people want God to be loved and not judge I think some of us have difficulty with confession because we remember that God is judged but we forget that he's loved the thing is God is not surprised by your sinfulness God is not called up by your fault he's not little his phone saying dang it those sinners sinned again he's not doing that think about this if God wanted to judge you don't you think he would have done it already you've been sinning since you were born and guess what you're still alive why because God is incredibly patient Romans 2 says don't you see how wonderfully kind and tolerant and patient God is you can't you see that his kindness is intended to turn you from saying God's patience with you is the evidence that he is waiting for you to tell him where you are God doesn't tell us to confess because he doesn't know the truth we're trying to keep to ourselves we confess so that we can be forgiven the Bible says if we confess our sins he is faithful and just to forgive us of our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness and remember God is not a man that he should lie so when I read that text and you said to yourself I know God can't forgive me that was the serpent and not the Spirit he comes quick he is quick to counteract God's Word but he will speak to you in your own voice you got to discern it Ephesians 6 says that we can exchange or extinguish put out the flaming darts of the evil one with the shield of faith it is when you trust that God is telling the truth that you actually destroy all of the warfare that the devil has against your mind before the fall there was no need for confession but after the fall confession must feel our days because sin does as the story continues God in His justice curses all that were involved in this rebellion against him he curses the serpent he curses Eve and he curses Adam but I want us to pay close attention to how or what God says when he curses the serpent because surprisingly in the midst of the curse is a promise to the cursed 14 verse 14 that says the Lord God said to the serpent because you have said this cursed are you above all livestock and above all the beasts of the field on your belly you shall go and dust you shall eat all the days of your life I will put enmity between you and the woman and between your offspring and her offspring watch this he everybody say he he shall bruise your head and you shall bruise his heel God tells the devil that there will be some hostility between his offspring and her offspring but then he mentions this ran them mail that will be the offspring of this woman he says that he shall bruise your head and you shall bruise his heel who is this man that would eventually be born after Adam and Eve that would have the power and the ability to be do something as incredible as defeating the serpent and I used the word defeat on purpose because you can hear the word bruise and think that you know the serpent is gonna come out alive but this Hebrew literally means break he is going to break your hell head even though the text says that the serpent will bruise his heel we all know there's somebody attack show healed it ain't gonna kill you like when you're in target and people can't keep that card off your foot rushing down the little fixer-upper I'll doing the most like gone that was funny um with somebody attacks your heel it might injure you but it won't kill you but if somebody gets ahead I'll hold in your head and they break it you're done for this man that would eventually come from the offspring of this woman is Jesus the Son of God and though he would be born inside of a world full of sin because of Adam and Eve he would be different he would be born in a body and experience the temptations that humans experienced because of Adam and Eve but he would not do what they did he will be tempted in all respects yet without sin even when the serpent meets him in the wilderness and tempts him to exchange or to sin in exchange for food to get some loaves of bread timpz him to sin against God to satisfy the body this Jesus will trust that God is not a man that he should lie so he will believe that man does not live by bread alone but by every word that comes out of the mouth of the Living God even when this son finds himself in another garden desiring to take another route to let this cup pass he trusts in the complete wisdom of his God because he fears him he knows that God's way is always the best way so he will gladly submit to the will of his father he is all together give different than the first Adam even when this son ends up on a cross bloody and bruised dying for the sins of all who would believe he does not focus on losing his life but instead he focuses his attention on the joy that is set before him he looks forward to the glory of his God this Adam is altogether different than the first one Jesus has done what Adam and Eve didn't do which is please God perfectly and he has done but Adam thought a tree could do which is to fix the brokenness between man and God Jesus by becoming a curse on a tree is the mediator between man and God he is the cleft that we hide behind he is the he is the blood on the doorpost that causes death to pass over us and eternal life to abide he is the one that stands between the creature and the Creator absorbing the judgment of God and revealing the love of God so even though we have all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God we are now able through repentance and faith to stop hiding from the truth of who we are as sinners and instead run to his throne of grace for mercy it doesn't matter what you've done doesn't matter what you're doing it doesn't matter what you will do God's grace is sufficient if you have been trying to find your way through the dark that's groping for anything that will satisfy you because you're lost know that God found you first and he is ready and willing to clean you so that you shine bright and don't think that I'm just talking to non-christians because there are plenty of us in here that know God and have some repenting to do there are plenty of us in here where God has told you to let something go - dot stop doing something that you continue to do and you're taking advantage of grace you tell yourself I know he loves me so I'm good repent God wants to restore you to and clean you - there are some of us in here who have been saved a long time it might be assuming that you've made it you have not made it until you reach glory there's some things God wants you to let go of - namely self sufficiency God is truly able to do exceedingly and abundantly above all we can ever acts or think according to the power that worketh in US and I'd like to look at that verse and say that if God is able to do exceedingly and abundantly above that means that he can make me new that's something I'll never be able to do on my own and that's the point that's the whole reason we are still alive so that we can know God and love him forever he is not in heaven waiting on you to fail he is seated on his throne with the Train of his roll filling the temple with the Seraphim singing one to another holy holy holy the whole earth is full of his glory God is waiting to hear from you where are you the world is a dark place and apart from Jesus we have so much darkness in us but what God said what happened happened Eve's offspring crushed the Serpent's head and now if you believe in the Lord Jesus you can - let's pray [Applause] god I pray that your Holy Spirit would do what he does that he would convict us of sin and that he would show us Jesus I pray against shame those who are so aware of their sins that they are forgetting that you are Savior I pray God that they would remember that you have said all who are weary and heavy-laden they can come to you to find rest god I pray that they would trust that you are who you said that you are that you will do what you said you would do I pray that you would empower your church empower your Saints to walk in holiness to walk in truth to walk in love God one of the things that the enemy would like us to do is to stop pursuing you to be just okay with last week's word and last week's devotion and last week's sermon but I pray God that we would seek you daily like the bread that you are I pray God that you would help us to love you more than anything in Jesus name Amen [Applause]

Channel: Jackie Hill Perry Channel

Views: 204,276

Rating: 4.9318843 out of 5

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Id: QWqAdElTf9k

Length: 46min 18sec (2778 seconds)

Published: Thu Dec 26 2019