Adam, Where You At? | Sermon by Tony Evans

I'm gonna ask you to turn your Bibles to Genesis chapter 3 verses 8 to 12 and I want the men to stand as I read these verses Genesis chapter 3 verses 8 to 12 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 God among the trees of the garden then the Lord God called to the man and said to him where are you he said I heard the sound of you in the garden and I was afraid because I was naked so I hid myself and he said who told you that you were naked have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you not to eat the man said the woman who you gave to be with me the man said the woman who you gave to be with me she gave me from the tree and I ate and now father as we bring men and women before your word with an emphasis on men we ask you to help me help us to hear from you in Jesus name Amen one of the dominant questions of today can be recited simply by asking Adam Way add the missing man has become the crisis of the day not the missing male the missing man it is the question of the single woman who can't find a worthwhile man to marry she want to know Adam where yeah it's the question of the single parent who's been abandoned by the father of her children she wants to know Adam where yeah it's that child who has to grow up with a physically or emotionally absent father and he's asking the question however he phrases it Adam where yet it's the question of churches and pastors who have to keep calling on ladies to do jajew jobs that men ought to do because the men are missing in action and the question is Adam where you had as I stood in a prison a couple of months ago speaking to a group of prisoners in the male jail and I asked them all of you who grew up without a father in your life raised your hand and 90% of the hands went up so as I looked at them I wondered Adam where you had I was talking to this week a teacher in one of our public schools and he told me I'm resigning this year I'm residing this year I can't take it anymore he was talking about the rebellion the end of subordination the lack of respect coming from the students in his classroom and the question is Adam way--at because they didn't father it's the question of a girl who decides to become a lesbian because of the abuse of a male somewhere in her developmental years so the question on the floor is Adam where we're living in a day of terrorism where violence due to the absence of the conscience and the dumbing down of decency has raised again the question Adam where you add but worst of all worse than all of that is that God is asking the question Adam where are you now if God can't find out then you shouldn't be shocked we can't find him either Adam where are you now God is omniscient he knows all God is omnipresent he exists everywhere simultaneously so God's question about where Adam was was not 5 fundamentally a question of location he knows where Adam is located he's the one in the garden with him so the question that I am raising that God raises with the first Adam and the Hebrew word for Adam means earth for he was created from the earth the woman was not created from the earth she was created from Adam now that's a deeper point that we'll get to later but Adam is earth and God says where are you now let me tell you what was at the heart of the question at the heart of the question where are you was not fundamentally a question of location it was a question of position see Adam had abandoned his role he had abandoned his calling he had abandoned his position so the question of where are you is the question of positioning Ezekiel chapter 22 verse 30 God says I was looking for a man to stand in the gap so I would not have to curse the land but I could find none there were plenty of males but he said I can't find a man so apparently you can be a male and not be a man and he says because I couldn't find a man I had to curse the land so a land becomes cursed when men cannot be located even when males are everywhere and I'm had abandon his position and so the desperate need of today is to call males back to being men as God defines a man not as the culture defines and so I want to speak with you about answering the question about the position of a man Adam where are you now ladies they're going to be two reactions to what I say today and what I say on going Lee as long as this one part series keeps going some of you will be frustrated because you won't be thinking oh here we go with this man thing others of you will be a static because the man in your life or the one you hope comes along will man up to God's definition here is the first thing that you need to understand about a man in and his position not his location alone but his position and that is that it is a position of priority I know some won't like that but it's not a popularity meeting it is the position of priority because God says in first Timothy chapter 2 verse 12 God created Adam first and then he created Eve Word first first has to do with order first has to do with progress in time Adam and Eve were not created at the same time Adam first then Eve God spends a whole chapter Genesis 2 discussing Adam before Eve is ever created for Adam why because it would be the man who would be responsible the man was created first because God would hold him responsible even though it was Adam and Eve in the garden hiding from God God didn't say Adam and Eve where are y'all he said Adam where are you because you are responsible if you're going to be God's man then you're going to have to accept responsibility for everything he brings behind you second third fourth fifth and six because you first you know how we tell our oldest child particularly if it's a boy you're the oldest you're first holding you responsible when God looks in a man he says I hold you responsible they don't fire teams they fire coaches the coach doesn't drop the ball fumble the ball missed the block the coach doesn't do any of that but he's the one that gets fired because he is responsible for having the team ready to play so if you are remain if you are a male oh God says I'm holding you responsible even if it's not your fault see it may not even be your fault but I'm holding you responsible for fixing it the heart of being God's man means adopting responsibility why because everything that comes after that is banking on you God says in Malachi chapter 4 verses 4 through 6 he says there will be a messenger who will come who restore the father's to the children and the children to the father's so that I will not have to curse the land so if our culture is declining while we can discuss all the peripheral political sociological racial we can discuss all of those reasons while the culture is declining but what God says is first on the front end where's the man as you've heard me say if you're a messed up man and you have a family you're going to help make a mess of family if you're messed up man contributing to a messed up family and your messed up family goes to church then your messed up family is gonna make its contribution to a master church if you're messed up man contributing to a messed-up family resulting in a messed up church and your church is supposed to be the light to the neighborhood then your messed up church is gonna make its contribution to a messed up neighborhood if you're messed up man contributing to a messed-up family resulting in a messed up Church causing a messed up neighborhood and your neighborhoods part of a city well then you're messed up neighbours gonna make its contribution to your messed up City if you're messed up man contributing to a messed-up family resulting in a messed up Church causing a messed up neighborhood that resides in the messed up City and your cities part of the county where your messed-up City is gonna make its contribution to your messed up County if you mess up man contributing to a messed-up family resulting in a mess of Church causing a messed up neighborhood that resides in a messed-up City as part of a messed up County and York counties part of the state where your messed up counties don't make its contribution to a messed up stake if you're messed up man contributing to a messed-up family resulting in a messed up church causing a messed up neighborhood that resides in a messed up City as part of a messed up County contributing to a messed up state and your state's part of the country where your messed up state's gonna make its contribution to a messed up nation if your messed up man contributing to a messed-up family resulting in a messed up Church causing a messed up neighborhood that resides in a messed up City it's part of a mess of County it's contributing to a messed up state that contributes to a messed up country and your country is part of the world well now your messed up country is gonna make its contribution to a messed up world so if you want a better world compose the better countries inhabited by better States cuz they're better made of a better counties composed the better cities inhabited by better neighborhoods illuminated by better churches that are made of a better families we got to start our becoming better then cuz it all rests on the position of the man [Applause] because the man was first he is to function as the foundation when you are building a house the first thing you do is pour a foundation because anything else you bring into that house is banking on it holding if the foundation collapses everything on it collapses with it if the foundation is shaky then the things that are banking on it to keep the windows and the doors and the roof in place get out of whack because the foundation foundations aren't fancy foundations aren't pretty but they better be solid when he says I created Adam first he's saying you are the foundation and this whole ball of wax is banking on you so in this day of male abandonment male abuse male disregard male irresponsibility we have cultural chaos he says that man has a priority responsibility now the foundation isn't the whole thing that's where the woman comes in are we going to get to that but the foundation is always the first thing if you're building a building and so God says that the man is not to be a weak part of the the society the house the church needs to be the foundation of it and while I know we live in a day when for many women this is not a popular thought the goal is not to be popular it's to be biblical the goal is not to say well what are they saying in the culture the goal is saying what is God saying in his word and as you will see when we unfold this word the man is the foundation but the wife or the woman is critical she's not an extra thrown in she's not a just a diaper changer and a bottle washer so y'all come back now you hear but neither do we want to disregard the point that men have left this priority it says in that verse verse 8 he was hiding from the presence of God watch this in the garden he was hiding from God in his house don't miss that not only was he hiding from God in his house because the garden was Adams house its place he lived and went to the house to get the leaves to hide from God so he used what God gave him to hide from God he literally used God's blessing to run from God today we have men who want all the blessings of God and they used the blessings to hide from God he says he was hiding from the presence of God in the garden so you can hide from God in church so if you're going to be God's man well I call God's kingdom man then you and I we are going to have to accept the role we're gonna have to accept the role see all you need to be as a male is the right plumbing that's that's merely a plumbing situation but to be a man you got to own the responsibility you got to own that now I realize that many men today do not have the privilege of having somebody in their life who've helped them to do that you weren't raised with a father you weren't given guidance by some other responsible male and that wasn't your fault but it is your responsibility not to repeat it yourself or else the cycle goes unbroken they were hiding from the presence of the Lord and Adam was responsible the heart of God's men is that he is operating underneath the authority and in the presence of God not running from it so then how does this man operate Adam where are you how does this this kind of man role in chapter 2 verse 15 and says then the Lord God took the man because there's no woman yet the Lord God took the man and put him in the garden that's his house the Garden of Eden to cultivate it and to keep it he gives the man a job he gives the man a house places in the garden that's his house and he gives him a job single women make it known early if there is no finance there won't be no romance he gave him a place to live he gave him a job to work before he gave him a woman to lead an irresponsible man is not worthy to be a husband because if he ain't even taking care of him why are you thinking gonna take care of you I [Applause] want you to notice something men he gave him a house he gave him a place to live he gave him a job but but notice he told him to cultivate it Oh a different word cultivated see he didn't just give him a job he told him to be productive see to cultivate something is to produce something more than what you start with so if you're in farming you take seed you find the seeds because you not want growth and plants and in other words you want to be productive in other words you want more than what you start with in other words if a real man is gonna have some vision he doesn't just won't stay where he is he wants to produce more than what he starts with so the question is not are you going to work the question is are you productive in the work you do do you have a productive mindset he says I want you to cultivate it I want you know there is no woman I want you to I want you to produce more than you start with i'ma get you started I'm gonna get you this whole I'm gonna get you this garden I'm gonna get you eating but now you're supposed to turn this place into something spectacular do you not you know you're not trying to just not be nothing not go anywhere you trying to become all that you were created to be in other words you got a purpose your purpose isn't just to be here your purpose is to cultivate to embellish to enhance to to expand to dream far too many men have lost their ability to dream have lost their ability to see what is not yet to look further than they can see now that's not the same for every man because every man doesn't do the same thing but every man should be dissatisfied with things staying where they are because we're calling on a man underneath God is to expand whatever God has placed in his hand and to multiply it to expand it in fact one of the reasons that we don't see more of God as God don't see more of our dream then that dream has to be with our gift and for his glory but he says I want you to cultivate it I want you to you know you have appliances I have appliances those appliances aren't just sitting there looking pretty those appliances are for functional purposes the refrigerator keeps it cold the stove makes it hot the toaster pops it up but can opener opens it up in other words they are producing they are productive they're not just sitting there they're functional God expects a man to maximize his potential underneath God in whatever sphere of opportunity God gives him and whatever gifting he's placed on all of this by the way was happening in the garden the garden was the place where God was hanging out in Adams house as a single man if he got married yet he's a single man hanging out with God in the garden in other words even as a single man he was living in the presence of God he was living under the covering of God something we'll get into more detail at another time but that's where he was rolling that's where he was operating he says not only do I want you to do that but I want you to keep the garden cultivated and keep it the Hebrew word for keep means to God or protect I want you to protect your house I want you to protect your garden what is he protecting Mouse from I mean this is a perfect world he's living in no it's not slick is in the garden Satan is in the garden chapter three the serpent comes up to Eve so they're gonna be problems in the garden because the snake is there and the snake is gonna cause stuff the snake is gonna try to stir stuff up the snake is gonna try to get you away from God there is a serpent in the garden and your job is to keep him out the opening line of the book kingdom man says it all when a kingdom man gets up the devil oughta say oh crap he's up I got a deal with him again today because you are responsible for the garden to keep the devil out because he trying to get in and he may be trying to get in through your wife no man better say Amen right now so provision and protection that is the environment that Adam was responsible for and then he gives them another instruction verse 16 Genesis 3 Genesis 2 the Lord God commanded the man saying from any tree of the garden you may eat freely but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat for in the day that you eat from it you will sho'nuff die he gives him his word his commandment not his request his commandment why because a male who plans to be a man must position himself under divine authority which means God's Word has the final say-so in his life not his Posse not his friends not his homeboys nobody overruled God not even his wife because God is gonna say in chapter 3 because you listen to your wife all hell has broken loose in your life because as much as you love her she's not supposed to overrule me that his job is to oversee the communication and the operation of God's Word in his sphere of influence starting with his family or as Joshua said as for me and my Joshua 24:15 this is how we roll this is how we roll as for me and my house this is how we there's no vote here God commanded me I'm under commandment but notice the command the command was a happy command see we we look at the negative part don't eat from that tree no that's not the first part of the command the first part of the command was live it up first kind of man command was from every tree of the garden you may freely eat the first part of the command he's a single man he tells him the first part of the command is maximized all that I have given you maximize my creation maximize all you can do just don't mess with that tree you remember Don Cornelius and the Soul Train you remember them the Scramble boy there were letters on the scramble board and in those letters refer to a particular singer or particular musical group or a particular song but the letters were all over the place and so they get a couple of the dances and they'd have to unscramble the scramble board and so they would get 60 seconds to get the letters in order so that they can identify the group or the singer or the song and so they had to work out the scramble boy you see one of the reasons we're in trouble as men is God's Word it's gotten all scrambled up and our job is to get the letters in place he says the day you eat a bit you're going to break relationship with me that's death it's like unplugging something in your house it's alive when you plug it in because the electricity flows once you unplug it the instrument dies it can't function anymore and what we have today are males who don't function anymore because they're unplugged because death has entered into him or the relationship or the scenario or the parenting or whatever the case may be he says that you are to carry my what was the difference between what was the problem with this tree in the middle called the tree it was a Google tree because it calls it a tree of knowledge it was Google it was the internet tree this tree was full of data all kind of data good data bad data tree of the knowledge of good and evil so the tree wasn't all bad it had evil but it also had good but he said on what you eat it even though it's got good stuff on it why because atom if you're going to be the man that I want you to be created you to be and you're gonna be operating like you're supposed to be then I want you to live by revelation not reason I do not want your human reason to determine your actions I want divine revelation what I say and when I'm ready for you to know it imma tell it to you don't go out there apart from me and learn it on your own one of the problems today with so many men is that they've gone so secular or they've been to some college or they've gotten stuck in some career or they've been hanging out with the wrong folk and they've gotten all in this definition of manhood messing them up so that they're not able to function in the way God wants them to function and we wind up as men being dead men walking they got the title and and you know we like we we want people to recognize the title I'm the boss I'm the man we we won't the title without the responsibility he says no he's talking to Adam guess what Adams job was to be he wants to make sure this information got transferred to Eve he got he want to make sure this information got transferred to eat and he transferred it to Eve in fact he transferred it with a vengeance what do I mean he transferred with a vengeance because when the devil asked Eve can you eat from the tree she said not only can I not eat from it I can't touch it so what Adam told her was girlfriend the baby girl sweetheart honey sugar dumpling don't eat from that tree and in case you didn't get it don't even go near where you can brush up against it he was to transfer so if the wife has got to ask you are you going to church today if the wife has got to ask you are you gonna pray with the family if the wife has got to ask you are you gonna have devotions that means you're not fulfilling the spiritual responsibility of spiritually leading your home you say but I don't know what to do yeah you do cuz all you got to do is steal from me I had already done the work so all you got to do is take what I did and say family let's discuss the sermon that we had on Sunday so I did the work you become the feast you family gets the information [Applause] you are this weird reg you say but my wife knows more than me that got nothing to do with it there's absolutely nothing to do with it it's not who knows the Moses who's responsible that's what it is and this places things in order it gets things in the proper place God says not your reason but my word must define you before I give you a woman because when I give you a woman and then when I give you a family and then when I give you a culture then when I give you a career then I give you all this stuff it will be managed by me through you it will not be managed by you apart from me a man is to be the vehicle the flow-through from God to those entities family church society that he flows through as the first point of contact yes women you have your own personal responsibility and relationship with the Lord that is to be primary the Bible says even a husband can't overrule God in the life of his wife but at the same time God has a process that he prefers to flow through I know in this day of being politically correct that's not a popular position but let's get this straight I ain't trying to be popular I'm trying to be biblical human reason was never to govern the man divine revelation was when I when my son Anthony was small and we bought him a bicycle back then they didn't put it together for you you had to put it together yourself it came it came with all these nuts and bolts screws and and washers and all this stuff came with all this stuff and a thick book of instructions big book of instructions so I looked at all these pieces in this thick book and I rationalized I said no wait a minute I have a college degree I'm working on my masters and I'm gonna go for my doctorate so I can figure this out I can do this eight hours later we're just the handlebars on but just the handlebar about that fiddling and just a hammer bars on since Evans comes to the garage door and gives me a piece of interesting advice that I didn't want to hear basically she said could it be just could it be that the bicycle maker knows more about bicycle assembly then the degreed one knows [Applause] so I asked you could it be that the man maker knows more about manhood then the man does and I was able to complete in 45 minutes what my own understanding had not been able to fix in eight hours many men say my wife won't change whose book will you use it my kids won't change which man you are you using because if you use it from the wrong tree there's no power there's no God that's just the best you can come up with wife after wife family after family so God is calling on men and he's asking the question Adam where are you and not just a location question but a position question now I don't I don't have I don't have time to to go into this so I'm I'm when I'm getting ready telling them I'm awake because but I'm just going to introduce it right now that's great reduce as you all have heard me say at least a minute for me say I love being a man okay when I get up in the morning and I look in the mirror yeah you a man I mean that's hot that's how I feel I feel that thing is on me I got that thing that thing is on me I love being a man and let me tell you one reason why verse 19 of chapter 2 out of the ground the Lord God formed every beast of the field and every bird of the sky and brought them to the man to see what he would call them and whatever the man called a living creature that was its name you know why I love being a man I get the name stuff I get the name stuff you know what the name stuff means in the Bible when you got the name stuff you got to own it when you got the name stuff you can exercise authority over it now you can't just go name anything you got the name what God brings you but once God brings it to you you get to own that thing so I be naming everything I can get my hands on and giving it back to God God gives you the ability and the authority that's why when a woman comes on the scene she changes her name cuz you lay hold of that sin you you grab that sin you you you you say no no no you mind because I named you [Applause] you get the name that's exercising spiritual authority you get to do that if your underneath is confident and is covering so the question on the floor is Adam where are you now I know that many men as I said earlier have grown up without a biblical worldview and I know that we as men even if you had it stray from it and God is asking us today where are you where are you as I define you but that's where the good news comes in because in the Bible there are two men named Adam not one you got the first Adam in Genesis two and three and the Bible says in Romans five he blew it for the whole race in chapter 18 and following of Romans 5 the first Adam blew it for the whole race but in 1st Corinthians chapter 15 verses 20 to 45 and 47 it says there's another Adam Adam number two he's called the last Adam well Adam number one got us booted out of the garden the Bible says the last Adam is a life-giving spirit and he can escort you back into the garden the first Adam may have messed you up but the last Adam can pick you up and you don't have to be like your daddy you don't have to be like your granddaddy you don't have to be like the people who influenced your life who were wrong the last Adam can rename you there were there were there were two mountains there were two two guys in a mountain climbing incident and there was a man in the front and a man in the back and there were two men in the middle who were climbing but in order to get him up there safely that was a guide at the front name Adam and a guide at the back named Adam say they are climbing up this mountain but the problem is as the first atom the atom up front he slipped and all the all the folks were tied together by a rope the first Adam slip and when the first Adam slipped he pulled the two men with him and they were going to fall off or the precipice but the last Adam took his axe and plowed it into the mountain so that all the men that were behind him could climb back up the first Adam slipped and he's dragging all the men down but the last Adam on the cross has nailed that thing and he says if you climb up on me I will take you back to what you think you lost so the question is Adam where are you men is time to come home

Channel: Tony Evans

Views: 383,408

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Keywords: Tony Evans sermon, Tony Evans sermons 2018, Tony Evans, Kingdom Man, Kingdom Men, Adam, Adam in the Bible, Adam where are you, sermon videos, Christian sermons, sermons for men, Christian sermons for men, Christian, Christian faith, Kingdom Man sermon, motivational, motivational video, tony evans, tony evans radio, dr tony evans, tony evans sermons

Id: G1PuiSndcHE

Length: 48min 0sec (2880 seconds)

Published: Wed Jun 27 2018