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[00:00:00] Alright, if you would pull out your outlines.
You know the mini series; the bible 100 million people watched it. People created it, wanted
to create a conversation in our communities, in our nation, just about the bible. So that
people talk, just about the stories and what was amazing is that they found out, is that
a huge percentage of people that watched that mini series, weren't Christians. They weren't
even believing people. They just wanted to know what the bible said. Over the summer
we are going to look at the great themes of the bible. We are asking you to look at that
series to follow along, look at the grand sweep. Here's what the bible is. And we're
gonna give you the opportunity to learn. As you have questions you can go on our website
and post questions. If you get here 10 min early we have a seminary professor Jeff who
was here from Biola Talbet who can answer a lot of the questions from the Old Testament.
A number of the questions that were posed were "why did the people live longer in the
old testament? Where are the dinosaurs? Did Adam and eve have a belly button?" Very important
questions. "Why did the bible allow slavery? Who were the Angeles that came talk to Sarah
and Abraham? And who were the people to tell these stories? How did we get them?" These
are some of the questions, along with some others. So if you have questions while watching
the series, maybe reading the bible on your own, we are just gonna put them online and
you can get your questions answered. But as we look at this, as we go through the bible
for the summer. The first question is, what's the purpose of the bible? Why was the bible
written? Now most people to answer that question if you talked to people on the streets is,
"the bible is there to teach us how to live." And if that is true then the bible is primarily
about you. And that's not the primary purpose of the bible. The story of the bible is about
God, it isn't about you. And that's important if you believe the bible is about you, it's
just a moral book telling you how to live. Fundamentally what you believe is the bible
is telling you that you can make yourself better. And that will cause you to misread
the bible cause the bible fundamentally says this, you can't make yourself better. It isn't
about what you do its about what God's done. Because you can't fix yourself. The only opportunity
that you'll have to become the kind of person that you want to be, is by knowing God personally
through Jesus Christ. So to understand the bible we need to understand that.
So what we are gonna do this morning is look at that very beginning. So let's start at
the very beginning, because? It's a very good place to start exactly! So we are gonna look
at what was before the beginning, the bible talks about a beginning. What was before,
then the beginning, and then what happen after cause that helps us understand life. For instance
see if you can do before and after. Facebook, was it before or after 2003? It was after
it started 2004. All right Starbucks, before or after 1979? Before it started in 1971.
What did you do before Starbucks right? You're like I can't even remember. All right Rubrics
cube before or after 1976? Before 1974. IPhone before or after 2006? It started 2007. I know
what did you do before that? I can't even remember. Ok Nintendo Game boy before or after
1990? 1989 alright so each one of these things represents a significant thing in your life
right? So what was life before Starbucks? It was just Maxwell house and all coffee was
nasty. But now you have a choice, and like the iphone. So you have the before and then
you have this event and this life after. So that's what we are gonna look at in the bible.
What was it like before the beginning, then the beginning story, then what happens after
it? That's what we are gonna do.
So in Genesis 1:1 let's look at what was before. The answer's very easy. What was before the
beginning? In the beginning God! What was before the beginning? God. The bible doesn't
try to defend the idea of God, it doesn't try to tell you where he came from, it just
assumes God. Alright? Look at what it says in Hebrews 11. Look at what it says in Hebrews
11. By faith we understand that the universe was formed by God's command. So that what
is seen was not made out of what was visible. So it's a faith thing, if you believe, if
you don't believe that God created everything that's still faith. You think that time plus
chance plus energy created everything that is today. You do that today. We weren't there.
The opposite of faith is site. We didn't see it. Now the other thing that existed, that's
important to realize, before the beginning is love and relationship. How do we know this?
Look at what it says in Genesis. In the beginning God, so you have God. Then it talks about
the spirit of God was hovering over the darkness. And then it says God says let there be light
and you have creation story. And what we know from John chapter 1. It says in the beginning
was the word, speaking of Jesus, and Jesus was with God. And Jesus was God. And John
tells us that everything that was created was actually created by Jesus who was God.
So in the beginning you have the father the son and Holy Spirit. And what this does is
it talks about the primacy of relationship. That relationships are primary. Most religions
believe there is one God and the reason God creates is cause he is lonely. And so love
comes after creation. And if that's true, then our culture has it right cause what it
says is power is primary and relationship and love is secondary. And if you believe
that then relationships are nice, but power is the most important things. So achievement,
and accomplishment, money, your reputation, what you can accomplish, that's the most important
thing. So it is right for the strong to use the weak. Natural selection is part of life,
there is sorta a violence that goes with power, and you know our culture is fine. But because
of what it says in the creation story. What it says is before creation is that love and
relationship is primary, that God who is in loving relationship, Father, Son and Holy
Spirit create in relationship, and part of that is they created us to be in relationship
with them. And so relationship is primary and our culture is wrong. And the implication
of it is this for your life. You can not continue in your life to make your career the most
important thing, your accomplishment your power, your wealth, your selfish desires,
can not be first. But what is most important in your life is relationship. Your family,
your marriage, the people that you love, you're designed to put relationship first in your
life and when you don't do that it just disintegrates your own soul. So before creation there is
God and there is relationship.
[00:07:27]
Then the creative story. Genesis 1 is kinda this awesome thing and we are gonna read it
over you. The first part of this. You are gonna hear the crew from Apollo 8. This was
in 1968. This was on the eve of Christmas and they are gonna read the Genesis story
to you and then a woman's voice is going to come in. Listen as Genesis 1 is read over
you.
Now approaching lunar sunrise and for all of the people back on earth the crew of Apollo
8 has a message we would like to send to you. In the beginning God created the heaven and
the earth and the earth was without form and void and darkness was upon the face of the
deep. And the spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. God said let there be
light and there was light. And God saw the light and it was good. And God divided the
light from the darkness and then God said let there be a space between the waters and
it was so. Then God called the space Sky. Then God said let the waters below the sky
flow together so dry ground may appear. And it was so. And it was good. Then God said
let the land produce vegetation and it was so and it was good. Marking the third day.
Then God said let lights appear in the sky separate the day and the night. Let them be
signs to maker the seasons, days, and years. God made two large lights. The larger one
to govern the day and the smaller one to govern the night. He also made the stars. And God
saw that it was good marking the fourth day. Then God said let the waters swarm with fish
and let the skies be filed with birds of every kind. And I was good. And God blessed them
marking the 5th day. Then God said let us make human beings in our image to be like
us. So God created human beings in his own image male and female. Then God said be fruitful,
multiply in number, fill the earth, govern in, rule over it. Then God looked over all
that he had made and saw that it was very good. It was the 6th day. By the 7th day God
had finished his work so he rested. God blessed the 7th day and declared it Holy because it
was the day he rested from all of his work of creation. This is the story of how it all
started of Heaven and Earth when they were created.
[00:10:21]
So in Genesis 1 we see the beginning. So what we have is before God in relationship. And
now we are looking at the beginning the creative story. So what is it that we learn? We don't
have a long time for this but if you look on your outline just some quick observations.
First of all God is the creator. He doesn't tell us how he did it or how long it took,
or anything just that God is the one that is creating it. And what's fascinating to
note and you see this as we go through the bible. Is that God starts off in the world
and all of creation is dark and its void and it's formless and there's chaos. And what
we see God doing is bringing about beauty and order and excellence and all of these
wonderful things. And all of the beauty of what we experience of mountains and streams
God creates this out of what is chaos and confusion and darkness. First thing that we
learn about is this. And this is important cause in our own lives when we face these
dark moments whether its pain or sadness and there seems to be confusion and there seems
to be across the landscape of our life absolute chaos God is the one working to bring about
beauty and love and kindness and joy and gentleness into our life. So maybe today you're facing
some difficulty and your going even before you showed up in the creative story God is
working on your behalf to bring about good. It doesn't mean everything that is good, but
good is working to bring about beauty, love, kindness, and gentleness, all of the good
things in your life. That God is the one who creates.
Then creation is an expression of God's love. Like a parent when you do something for your
child so they will love you or say thank you, you know. You basically do that because you
love them. And in the same way creation is an expression of God's love. Anytime you walk
in creation it speaks to you. And even if you don't believe in God you experience love
and joy and this sense of protection. And vision that is part of the creative story.
Then the second thing is that we are created in God's image. Which we don't have to remember.
You know a lot of people as they go through life; you know say I don't have any value
or am worthwhile. Because the world measures value and worth by what you have accomplished.
What you've been able to do, how high you go. Or how low you go is your worth. But that's
not true when it comes to the bible you care created in God's image. You are God's child
you are an image bearer of God. And then the third thing you see in the creative story
is that you are created to live in loving community. God creates the first family and
in that he looks at the idea he's alone and says this isn't good. And so he needs to create
this idea of community and family is the building block of all society.
And in it you really have this idea of marriage and so I want to read this to you. Jesus believes
this and actually quotes it and so we know Jesus believes in the story of Genesis. Look
at what he says in Mathew chapter 19. "Haven't you read" this is Jesus speaking, "In the
beginning God created them male and female, and said for this reason a man will leave
his father and mother, will be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh. So
they are no longer 2 but 1 flesh. So what God has joined together let no one separate."
Here there are three great affirmations to build a marriage on. First of all God says
he created them male and female. Marriage is the celebration of diversity; it's the
celebration of maleness and femaleness. And so initially everybody's attracted to the
person you're attracted to because they are different. And then what happens over time
their difference becomes slightly annoying to you and your like "I don't like this."
But what is marriage fundamentally? It is the celebration of differences. You know you
read books men are from mars woman are from Venus. Exactly God created differnetness.
And marriage is the celebration of diversity. For this reason a mal will leave his father
and mother, cleave to his wife and the two will become one flesh. What's the purpose
of marriage? That two hearts will be blended as one. It doesn't mean that you look alike.
It means there is a celebration of diversity. You are one. Intimately one, in purpose, in
love and in direction. And then third thing is, is it is a commitment to fidelity and
purity. It says what God has brought together let no one separate. There is a story in every
marriage and that story is of God leading and bringing you to that person in your life.
God was a part of bringing you to your married partner. These days people start to get confused
and they go, "I have married the wrong person. And God's saying, "I don't let that happen
in your life. I'm the one creating the story. And I brought the two of you together. And
it's the story of God's grace in your life." And so what God has brought together. You
thought it was all you. God was working in your life to bring you to that person you
married. What God has brought together let no one separate. The biblical view of marriage.
[00:15:34]
And the men were to care for creation and in the story God says "I want you to rule
over it, I want you to manage it, I want you to work it." And so we know that all work
is a gift from God. And when you work, work is not part of the curse; you've joined God
in the management of creation. Creation belongs to him and you are called to work. Now then
before creation you have God and relationship. And in creation you have this incredible story
of God loving you. And this story, and the beauty of living in relationship with God
and others. And then what happens in Genesis chapter 3 is called the fall. And without
understanding Genesis 3 you can't understand the bible. I mean even what starts to happen
in Genesis chapter 4. People start killing each other. And then in Genesis chapter 6
God wipes out the whole world with the flood. And then in Genesis 12 you start to see God's
rescue plan for people and then you go, "Why did this happen?" and you see in creation
God creates the beauty of creation. All of this is beautiful and perfect in everyway.
And then what you see breaking into the world is all sorts of hatred and jealousy and injustice,
and racism, and sexism. And evil in the world and the question is how do you explain that.
And who is responsible for the evil and the brokenness in the world? And if you believe
that people are basically good then you're gonna think that education is the answer or
government and laws is the answer. Or maybe technology or therapy or whatever it is. But
ultimately when you look at history you realize these are huge problems. And while education
is great and government is great, and history is wonderful they don't solve the problem
of people. So Genesis 3 explains for us sin.
Now who's responsible for sin? Come on say it. Who's responsible? Ok I'll help you understand
who's responsible for sin and creation. Cause the right answer is? You are. You're the responsible
one. Now lots of you are saying Satan or him or I think it's my wife or my husband but
we'll se it. So in Genesis chapter 3 you start to read the story. You know God makes everything
perfect and then Adam and Eve are in the garden. And the serpent comes. And you know the serpent
comes to Adam and Eve and any reader reading the story of Genesis ask the question, "Who's
Satan? And were did he come from?" Its not til later in the bible in Ezekiel and Isaiah
that it explains who Satan is. Satan was an Angel. For him it wasn't enough to be with
God he wanted to be equal to God. And so he declared war on God. And so the story is told
in those books 1/3 of the Angels join Satan and they go to war with God. They are thrown
out of Heaven and as a result what you need to understand from that everything that is
spiritual is not good. And the story in genesis 3 is this conflict between Good and evil,
between God and Satan breaks out onto human history. And so this is what happens. So here's
the story of temptation and then the fall. Genesis 3 verse 1 it says, now the serpent
who's more crafty. And then it goes on and talks about how he's smarter then us more
experienced then us. And he comes to eve and he said to the woman, "Did God really say."
There's sorta this cenacle mocking part of his voice. "Did God really say you can't eat
of the trees in the garden?" and then Eve responds, "No No God said we can eat of every
tree. There's only one tree we can't eat of. That's the tree right in the center of the
Garden. The tree of the knowledge of good and evil. And he says if we eat of that tree
we will die." And then Satan lies to her and says, "You will not certainly die."
[00:19:33]
Now what's important about this story, is what's at the very center of the garden. A
Tree. And this tree, this one tree is the tree Adam and Eve are not suppose to eat out
of. Which is a powerful statement because it's telling us what is at the center of every
person's life. A choice. This decision of will I trust God that he is telling me the
truth that he is good, and that he's loving, and that he will take care of me. Or am I
gonna trust in myself and say no I know what's better I know what's right. I know the way
I should go. And so in the middle of every one of our lives is this decision. Now did
God put at the very center of the garden this tree just to tempt us? We need to decided
here. We need to learn together. Alright. Is the purpose to tempt us so we do something
wrong? God does not tempt anyone. So what's the purpose of the tree? To provide us with
the opportunity of trusting. If there is no choice. There is no freedom. So God has to
give us freedom so "here's your opportunity to trust in me. Believe in me." And God says,
"You don't want to eat out of that tree because you will die. But Satan says, "No you won't
die." I mean God says you shouldn't hold grudges. But you know what if you don't hold a grudge
people will get away with it. You need to hold that grudge. And get some energy because
you can't just let that go unforgiven. You're letting them off the hook. You need to decide.
God says you know you shouldn't spend all your money on yourself. I gave you that money
so that you can bless others. Satan's going no no you don't have enough money you need
to take care of yourself. Spend it on yourself. God says you're not suppose to sleep with
anybody outside of marriage. Just with your marriage partner in the context of marriage.
Satan's going are you sure? Cause that doesn't sound very fun. So God's trying to keep something
fun away from you. And so its ok listen to what God says but if you don't agree with
it, that's ok you decide. You decide what's most important. That's the first part of temptation.
Where Satan's coming and saying you need to decide. You can't just trust God and what
he says. So he denies the truthfulness or makes us doubt God's truthfulness. Second
thing is he wants us to doubt God's goodness. He says, "If you eat from the church for God
knows when you eat from it your eyes will be open." God is withholding something good
from you. You need to eat of this. You know what is Satan's strategy? He never points
out the things that you already have he points out what you don't have. You don't have the
house your neighbor has. You need that. God isn't providing for you. You need to go get
that. You need that, you need that. God is, I mean Satan is always pointing out what you
don't have to bread discontent and to make you distrust God's goodness. That's not good.
He's not providing everything that you need. Deny God's goodness, Deny God's truthfulness,
and then Deny your need for God.
So God knows, the next one, you will be like God knowing good and evil. See you should
not live in the humble position of being dependent upon God. You need to be not just with God,
you need to be like God. This is Satan's strategy. It was in the garden and it is today. Satan
comes to tempt you, to sin, to violate, it's always those three things. I don't think God's
really telling you the truth. You know you need to decide for yourself. You need to decide
what's right and wrong. And God's withholding some good thing from you. You need this to
be happy you should not live dependent upon God. So then Eve has to make a decision and
when she decides she eats of the fruit and she destroys everything and Adam does to.
And what's amazing is during this story Adam is standing right next to Eve. He never says
No Eve doesn't do that, or we should trust God he doesn't even step in; he just passively
watches this whole exchange. And then what happens is the consequences for sin is devastating.
They talk about it, the bible describes it, Genesis 3:6-18 it kinda summarizes what happens.
Ultimately we become mortal. We are created to live forever. Death is always foreign to
us and we know this. Every time we go to a funeral, death is frightening cause we were
not created to die. And God says when you eat of this fruit you will die. And as soon
as Adam and Eve eat of this fruit they begin to die. They become mortal at this point and
they die spiritually. They are separated from God and ultimately they have this sense of
shame. And in this shame they see things that they never saw before. They realize they were
naked. And the idea is because before they weren't selfish and self centered. But now
they are more selfish and self-centered and they begin to hide from each other. And this
idea they sew fig leaves together to hide their nakedness. Which is a great statement
of kind of the condition of people isn't it? I mean what do we do? We are constantly trying
to hide form each other. And what do we do? We sew fig leaves together. And what are modern
day fig leaves? We push forward and we look at our accomplishments. What are our accomplishments?
Look at what I've accomplished. Just fig leaves. Look at my job. Look at my income. Look at
how much money I have. Look at my car. It's huge! You know I'm very successful I'm very
important. Just put together all of these things and they are just modern day fig leaves.
The sad part is we actually believe people look at those things and we think they cover
us. That people don't see our brokenness or our pain or our sadness. So we hide from the
shame that comes. We hide from it and then we are kinda overwhelmed by this whole sense
that we are destroyed in it. And then what's amazing is God comes in the garden when Adam
and Eve are hiding in it and God says where are you. And it isn't because God doesn't
know where they are. God knows where they are. He says, "Where are you?" and they are
going, "well we are naked." And he says, "How do you know you're naked. Who told you?" and
they're like "Well its kinda obvious." And he says, "Did you eat of the tree I told you
not to eat of?" and Adam steps forward and says, "Yes I did. I am responsible for it.
Don't believe Eve she's innocent. I did it myself." Is that what he says? No, he says,
"She ate and she gave me the fruit." And that's when I ask who's responsible for sin in the
world? You said, Satan is, or my wife is, or anything. Which is exactly what we all
do. We blame someone else. And Adam essentially says, "You know God there I was just all by
myself. All of the sudden you put me to sleep took a rib out of my side. You created woman.
I didn't ask for her. And then she gave me this fruit. So whose fault was it? According
to Adam. It was Eve's and it was God's.
[00:26:29]
You gave me this woman it's your fault. Which it explains the whole problem in marriage
today doesn't it? You know we are just blamers and we blame each other. And we are willing
to throw anybody under the bus. It is still true today. It's comical to me. People come
in for counseling. Especially marriage counseling which is always a joy. And people come in
and for the first 15 minutes is he does this and she does that. And they're going on and
on and they can't blame each other and not. So what I have them do is I have them draw
a circle. And I say draw a circle and now this represents all of the problems in your
marriage, ok. And then I have them say of the problems in your marriage which part is
yours. It's just comical because in a big circle each of them will take a little slice
and say that's my part, I'm responsible for that. And it doesn't matter how big it is
because this is the point. And this is what I love to do. Now what we'll do is talk about
that part, your part, cause that's the only part you can change. And you know what I love.
They leave. Cause you know no one goes I want to take about my part I want to talk about
there part. Because this is so about them and this is what we do. Cause everything is
about somebody else. It's never about us. And ultimately the damage of sin is total.
It destroys us, it destroys our life. We physical die. We spiritually die. It destroys our relationship
with God and it destroys our relationship with each other. Now is this God's punishment?
When you read Genesis 3 it just starts listing this out. Is this god punishing us? Yes or
no? You're not so sure. Well let me describe it this way. You go to the doctor and the
doctor says to you , you have really high cholesterol. So you have to stop eating fatty
foods and what else can't you eat if you have high cholesterol? Well whatever. Stop doing
all the stuff that you like doing cause you have high cholesterol. If you don't you'll
have a heart attack. So you go out and you don't stop eating any of the fatty foods and
you have a heart attack. Is the heart attack the punishment from the doctor? Yes or no?
[No] What is the heart attack? It is a? A consequence, cause you're an idiot alright.
Now when you read what happens as a result of sin is it God's punishment? [No] It's just
a consequence of us rebelling. God says, "Trust me, it's the only way you can live. If you
don't live you're gonna die. " And then he just lists the consequences out. You die physically.
you die spiritually. Then he goes on and says to the woman. He says to the woman, "You have
a desire to love your husband but now what is going to happen is there is going to be
pain. You're going to desire to have children and when you have children you are going to
have infertility, there's going to be miscarriages, there's going to be pain in childbirth, and
when you have children its going to be painful to raise them because every child is going
to come as a little sinner just looking for the opportunity to sin." Alright and you know
this. Because when you have children, all of you that are raising children you don't
have to teach them how to sin. You don't have to teach them how to lie. Without any private
sinning lessons they are experts at that. Alright they just get it. And then he goes
and says, "and then you are going to struggle in your relationship with your husband." Woman
what does every man need? [Laughter] That's just funny. [Laughing] and while that's true
I was looking for help. Everybody, women just answer the question with help. What does every
man need? [Help] and God understands it. He looks at men and says, "That man needs help."
So he created woman who would be a helper. Exactly! That's why God gives us the Holy
Spirit. The primary ministry of the Holy Spirit is? Helper. And so now instead of a partnership
in marriage he says there's going to a battle for control. Because that's the consequence
for sin. And then he turns to the man and to the woman says these are the consequences.
[00:30:49]
And then to the man now there's going to be a struggle in marriage. You're going to fight
it out. This is gonna be a problem. And for every single why are you so afraid of marriage?
Because you look at them and you see these battles for control. And even though marriage
is a gift you see the pain that comes as a result of our sin you're responsible for.
And then at the very end of Genesis it gives all these consequences. And it says "And now
your gonna struggle to be with creation in your work. You're going to fight it out to
earn a living. And from dust you were created and to dust you will return. No no really
you're not going who with that because really you're going. That's it. It gives you all
the consequences of sin. Theologians call it the oracles of destiny. This is the way
it will be. So now at the end men are gonna fight with woman, woman are gonna fight. Its
gonna be a pain to raise children. You're dead physically. You're dead spiritually.
And life is going to grind you up into dust. The story of the bible. [Laughter]
And if you quit reading in Genesis 3 that'd be it. But here's the most amazing thing.
And if you miss everything, tune back in, here is the story of the bible. See it's not
about you and your failure. The story of the bible is about God. What does God do when
we turn our backs on him? We say, "I'm not gonna trust you. And I'm gonna go my own way."
God does not go, "well to hell with you." He doesn't. God pursues us. The first thing
he sees when he knows that we turn our backs when we are running a different direction.
The most amazing thing about God is he pursues us. He comes He comes into the garden. "What
have you done? What are you doing? Why are you doing this? And some of you, you come
to church and you're so frustrated with God cause he's always asking me, "What are you
doing? Why are you doing this? What are you thinking?" And you need to understand that
is one of God's greatest expressions of love. He doesn't leave you alone. Even the story
of the bible isn't people looking for God. It's the story of us running from God and
God pursuing us. God is a God of promise. Even when we run from God, God has this great
plan to rescue us. Genesis 3:13 he says to the serpent, "A Descendent of Eve. Someone
who is born a woman is gonna come and stomp on your head and destroy you. He's gonna crush
evil, but you're gonna bit him." Who's that promise about? Jesus. Jesus who's going to
be born of a woman. Who ultimately goes to the cross and in that he gets bit. Death does.
But ultimately he defeats death and comes back to life. And so you have this promise
of a savior to come to our rescue. And the third thing God does is he covers us. He covers
our shame, our nakedness, our brokenness. He covers our sin. Adam and Eve in the garden
see the first death. The see an innocent animal die so that God can make clothes for Adam
and Eve. This becomes a major theme in the bible. Its called atonement. A covering.
In fact next week we are gonna see the most profound story about atonement, of covering.
This definitive story about how God covers. God says, "I will cover your brokenness. Your
sin, and your shame." Look at Romans 5:5. For the gift is not like the trespass. The
garden. For it's the many Trespass. This is a commentary on Adam. For the one man, Adam,
how much more did God's grace, and the gift that came by the grace of the one man Jesus
Christ, overflowing to the many. You see the whole story is Jesus comes to our rescue.
And first he forgives us. But it's way more then forgiveness, he comes to restore and
to rebuild. Even though there is brokenness, and pain, and sadness. There is chaos and
darkness and there is a voice in your life. But Jesus comes in to replace, but also to
restore all that has stolen from sin. He rebuilds your life. And he builds in love and beauty
and kindness and gentleness to give you the very life that you were created to live. To
give you the very power to become the very person that you want to be. The story of the
bible is the story of your own resurrection. The story of the brokenness and the pain God
uses to build you. It's not wasted and it isn't good. But it isn't wasted because your
story is a story of how God works in the darkness and the chaos and he brings beauty and love
and honor. He restores you. That's what he does when you come to Jesus. And he gives
back everything that was lost in the garden. He begins that process in this life and it
says one day he will return and finish that process. That's the good news of the bible.
The bible is the greatest story that's every been written. And it's a story of God's love
for you. In the beginning there is love. And as he creates he creates you to be in a loving
relationship. And even when we don't want it and run. God works to restore and rebuild.
So three things I just want you to think about. For some of you the application is this. You
have to give up power, and achievement, and that's the number 1 thing in your life. And
some of you have to understand the story in the beginning says you were created for relationship.
You've got to stop living for achievement, power, and accomplishment. The second thing
is some of you, you need to understand the whole story of temptation and take responsibility
for your sin. You're whole life you're living and pointing at people saying, "Its so there
fault, and their fault. They did this, did that." Look at the story of Genesis its your
responsibility. Your sin, your brokenness. Your responsibility. There's only one thing
you can do, is turn to Jesus and say, " I can't do it. I can't make myself better. I
can't renegotiate it. I can't change it. God the only thing I can do is bring it to you.
Will you forgive it? can you rescue me? Will you make it right? And that starts when we
turn our life over to Jesus but it continues everyday of our life. Some of us get so bitter
and angry. And we say it's that person and they did that. And we are in hiding. But the
whole story of the bible is we get to come out of hiding. We get to see Satan, and we
start to believe that God's not telling us the truth or that he's not good and that we
shouldn't live dependent on him. But every time we confess we get right with God. Cause
the truth is, he did die so that we can be forgiven and made right. And then the good
ness, the best news tat you need to celebrate for all of us that are in Jesus. He is taking
the dark places of our life. The places that there is chaos and confusion even places that
there is a void and he is working to bring beauty. He is working to restore goodness
and gentleness. He is giving you the life that you always wanted through the power of
the Holy Spirit. That's the story at the very beginning.
Will you bow your heads and close your eyes.
[00:38:35]
We just take a moment to reflect on these truths. Because here's the biggest truth God
is making something beautiful in your life. Even in the dark, the confusing places. Even
where you've made a mess of your life where you're totally responsible for it. God knows
you can't fix it and so he did through the person of Jesus, and the great truth of the
bible is that God is making beautiful the things in your life.
[00:39:16 End audio]