The Chaos Of Sin

-Food Pantry & Mudd ES collection bins

-Wednesday Night Bible Study (at the building and on zoom @7pm)-We will be diving into Genesis 4 & 5

-2 year celebration! 1/21. We will also be doing Baptisms this Sunday if anyone is interested(sign up sheet).

-Word of the Year: Transformation!

In the Bible transformation means “change or renewal from a life that no longer conforms to the ways of the world to one that pleases God” (Romans 12:2). This is accomplished by the renewing of our minds, an inward spiritual transformation that will manifest itself in outward actions.

In order for us to experience transformation personally and corporately we have to be in close proximity to Jesus. We want too see this take place in everyones life, in this church and in this community.

Its going to require us to realign our priorities and making our relationship with Him top priority. By engaging in His word (which we will be continuing to do on Sunday mornings as well as Wednesday nights) but we must make time for this everyday in our lives..As we humbly seek after Him trhough His word and prayer we will truly begin to see transformation.

Im Excited for this new series!

-In a world that often seems chaotic, where uncertainty and confusion abound, it becomes imperative for us to seek a source of clarity and purpose. The book of Genesis serves as an unparalleled foundation for understanding not only the origins of our existence but also as a timeless guide for finding meaning and order amidst life's tumultuous circumstances.

-Genesis unfolds the narrative of creation, revealing a God who, in the midst of formless darkness, speaks order and beauty into existence. As we read, we discover profound insights into the nature of God, our identity as His creation, and our responsibility to bring order to the world around us.

-As we delve into the richness of Genesis, may we discover the profound clarity that God's narrative imparts, enabling us to navigate the chaos of the world with faith, resilience, and a renewed sense of purpose.

All Was “Good” Than We Wanted More Section:

-In Genesis 1 and 2, before sin entered the world in Genesis 3, the description of Eden and the initial creation is one of perfection, harmony, and divine order. Here is a little glimpse of what it looked like:

Perfect Unity with God: Adam and Eve enjoyed an intimate and unbroken relationship with God. They walked and talked with Him in the cool of the day, experiencing a closeness that reflected perfect communion.

Harmonious Creation: All of creation existed in perfect harmony. There was no conflict or discord between humans, animals, or nature. The created order reflected the goodness and wisdom of God.

Abundance and Provision:Eden was a place of abundance, providing everything Adam and Eve needed. The garden was lush and fruitful, offering a variety of plants and trees for sustenance.

Work without Toil:Adam was given the responsibility to tend the garden, but this work was a joyful and fulfilling task. There was no toil, sweat, or hardship associated with labor. Work was part of the joyous expression of stewardship over God's creation.

Nakedness without Shame:Adam and Eve were naked, but there was no shame. Their innocence and purity were evident, and they lived in perfect acceptance and vulnerability with one another.

Tree of Life:In the midst of the garden stood the Tree of Life, symbolizing eternal fellowship with God. Its fruit granted the gift of continued life, and there was no barrier between humanity and this source of everlasting vitality.

Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil:Alongside the Tree of Life was the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. God instructed Adam and Eve not to eat from this tree, setting a clear boundary for their obedience.

Absence of Sin and Death:Sin, death, and corruption were entirely absent from this pristine creation. The perfect state of Eden meant that there was no suffering, pain, or separation from God.

Perfect Communion between Man and Woman:The relationship between Adam and Eve was characterized by mutual companionship and complementarity. There was no strife or conflict between the first man and woman.

God's Blessing and Pronouncement of Goodness:God looked at all He had made, including Adam and Eve, and pronounced it "very good." His blessing rested upon creation, affirming its perfection and completeness.

-Eden before the fall was a place of unblemished beauty, where humanity lived in perfect communion with God, each other, and the created world. The absence of sin and the presence of God's goodness defined this idyllic state. But that all changes…Because we wanted more….…

Read Genesis 3:1-5

-The first verse of Genesis 3 states that the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals (3:1). Crafty suggests being “clever” and “mischievous.” The word has its good side, however. It is translated “prudent” in Proverbs 12:23; 14:18. But that same valuable prudence when issued from an evil heart becomes a shrewd and subtle weapon of cunning.

-Some struggle with this image… satan as a serpent? Could not Satan have come in the appearance of an angel to Eve? Indeed he is an “angel of the Abyss” (Revelation 9:11; 12:9). What was his purpose for embodying a snake? Perhaps Satan wanted to appear to Eve as a subordinate, in a way similar to his attack on Jesus through Peter (see Matthew 16:22–23). In such a manner, the Devil could strengthen his appeal to pride without compulsion. He did not want her to feel under duress lest she become more defensive.

-The passage emphasizes the words Satan spoke, the topic of the conversation. Satan said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?” (3:1).

-Note two things about this initial remark.

-First, it flattered Eve. It left the impression that what God said was subject to her judgment. Satan’s endless attempt in every temptation is to get his target to declare independence from God. Satan would have every person direct attention to self with the idea that God does not have a person’s best interests at heart.

-According to the Deceiver, if a person wants to get ahead in this world, he or she will have to exalt self rather than be humble. It is worthy of note that, throughout the temptation, the pronoun you is always plural. Both Adam and Eve are being addressed. They were tempted together. “To read the text as the seduction of the man by the woman is to read what is not in the text.”

-The first conversation between the devil and a human was also about God. Not only that, but it was also about God's word. Satan asked Eve, "Did God really say...?" (Gen 3:1). And Satan did this because he knew that in order to get rid of God's rule, he had to get rid of the authority of his word.

-A very important part of Satan's strategy is that he did not seek to get rid of religion. The whole conversation was about God. In fact, he even went so far as to tell Eve that she could "be like God" (3:5). Satan doesn't mind religion. You can go to church all day long if you want. What he does mind, though, is when you acknowledge God as ruler over your life. This is evidenced through a clever maneuver Satan pulled on Eve.

-Prior to the conversation between the woman and the snake, the Creator is referenced in Scripture as "LORD God." This means "ruler, absolute authority." Yet when Satan talked with Eve, he removed the name "LORD." He purposefully left out the fundamental principle that God is the rightful King over his kingdom. The issue in the garden was really about whose word would be final.

-This leads us to question, Will God be "Lord God" to you? Or will you just say that he is "God" while making your own decisions? Whenever you allow the evil one to cause you to question the ultimate authority of God in your life, you jeopardize your influence in God's kingdom. That is why so many Christians never fully live out their destinies.

-In the garden, Satan also challenged God's authority by trying to persuade Eve to think that God was being jealous about the matter of deity. But Satan knew no one could be like God. How did he know? Because he had tried it already himself and gotten thrown out of heaven for his efforts. Nevertheless, Satan attempted to sell Eve the same exact lie he had once sold himself.

-God created you for his glory. So whenever you try to take glory for yourself and live independently of him, you are living outside of your intended purpose.

-Second, Satan used one of his favorite devices to get Eve to respond with more than a simple “yes” or “no.” He intentionally, and with malicious purpose, overstated God’s defined limits with the phrase any tree (3:1). Satan sought to engage Eve in debate. He worked on Eve’s implicit trust. From his viewpoint, he had to have a reply.

-Satan couched a carefully planned suggestion within his words. According to plan, Eve should have a suspicion that God had denied her some deserved pleasure of eating of all the fruit in the garden. Satan’s end desire, of course, was that Eve would come to doubt the precise purpose of God’s command. Satan wanted Eve to ask herself, “Is God withholding something vital from me? Is He really being fair in His command?”

-The Tempter immediately followed her answer with a flat-out denial: You will not surely die (3:4).

-Before Eve could fully catch the significance of that blatant contradiction, the Tempter attacked God’s truthfulness. Satan wanted Eve to think God was hiding the real reason for His prohibition—His own self-interest. God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil (3:5).

-You will become like God! What a temptation! Not only does Satan make us want to be our own boss, he wants us to try to take God’s place. Their temptation was Satan’s telling them, “Set your own measure of good and evil. Be autonomous, and live your life without reference to God. He purposely made you weak and limited. You can exert yourself, reach out and beyond, and burst through His restrictions. Show Him you have become like [Him], knowing good and evil” (3:5).

Read Genesis 3:6-7

The Human Condition….Sin Section…

-Eve’s downfall did not come at the moment she took the bite from the fruit. It came when she allowed her trust in God’s clear words to erode. Sin crouched at her door (see 4:7). Though at that point she could have chosen to obey, it would have been as difficult as it would be to stop a sled going down an icy hill and make it return to the starting point.

-She took … and ate! (3:6). So simple a sentence; so monumental an act. So quick a choice; so devastating the effect. So easily done; so difficult to be undone. So pure before; so debased after. Thousands of years would pass before “take and eat” (Matthew 26:26) became words of a cure—a cure that required a life’s spilled blood to effect.

-One might wonder why Satan did not tempt Adam instead of Eve, or both together. One likely reason suggested by Old Testament scholar Victor Hamilton is that Adam had received God’s command directly; Eve received it secondhand. Hamilton cites as an example Aaron, who yielded to idolatry in the golden calf incident. Moses got orders directly from God, while Aaron received instructions through Moses.

-Could Eve have had the keener intuition and therefore have been more prone to speculation, more observant, more rational? If so, the Tempter saw her as a better prey.

-She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it (3:6). (we aregonna coma back to this in a little bit) How revealing!

- In her moment of temptation Adam said nothing. He did nothing to stop his wife. He was a party to what was going on. We might say he abetted the crime. He was just as guilty. When Eve offered the fruit to him, he ate it without resistance. Romans 5:12 tells us “sin entered the world through one man.…” It was not Paul’s intent in this passage to declare Adam any more responsible than Eve.

-Adam’s responsibility was to help Eve in her moment of weakness. Had he been strong, she might well not have yielded. His silence gave consent. They both felt shame immediately, as is expressed in Genesis 3:7.

Read Genesis 3:8-24

-Their spiritual death was revealed instantly in two ways: Their clean, clear consciences were tainted with shame—they had to cover parts of their bodies (see 3:7); and their trust was forfeited—they tried to hide from God (see 3:8)Which this verse alone is reminder of how good they had it that the Lord God himself was walking in the garden with His creation.

-They had been clothed in God’s glory; it was stripped from them. Their minds had been pure; afterward they were sullied by Satan. They had a moral likeness to God; they gained an immoral likeness of the Devil. God became a stranger and close fellowship was severed.

-God asked Adam directly, Where are you? (3:9). Did He not know? Yes, He knew, but He wanted Adam to see himself as God saw him. And God’s words were bathed in grace. God asked the question to draw Adam from his hiding, rather than drive him out of it. From the moment of the sin, God wanted to heal the rupture. Adam did not seek God. God sought him.

-How much like God! The Bible as a whole tells not of humans pursuing God but rather of God pursing them. “God created man for the two purposes of fellowship and obedience to him. By disobedience the fellowship was broken, and it is significant that Adam hid himself from God before he was expelled from the garden. Here … is found a deep understanding of the character of sin and a clear recognition that man’s truest well-being is to be found in doing the will of God.” This is all insane when we actully truly grasp what sin is and how chaotic it is and the damgae it causes.

So What is Sin?

Transgression of God's Law: Sin involves violating God's moral and ethical commandments as revealed in the Bible. It is a departure from God's perfect and holy standards.

Straying from God's Will: Sin is a departure from God's intended purpose for humanity. It occurs when individuals choose their own way over God's plan for their lives.

Consequences of Sin:

Separation from God: Sin creates a separation between humanity and God. It disrupts the intimate relationship that God desires to have with His creation.

Spiritual Death: The Bible teaches that the consequence of sin is spiritual death, which is separation from God. This death is a consequence of sin's corrupting influence.

Broken Relationships:Sin not only affects our relationship with God but also damages relationships with others. It can lead to conflict, division, and brokenness in human connections.

Guilt and Shame:The awareness of sin brings guilt and shame. Adam and Eve, after disobeying God in the Garden of Eden, felt shame and tried to hide from God (Genesis 3:8-10).

Physical Consequences: While not every physical ailment is a direct result of personal sin, the Bible does link certain consequences, such as sickness or death, to sin in some instances.

Temporal and Eternal Consequences:Sin has both temporal consequences in our present life and eternal consequences in the afterlife. The Bible speaks of judgment for those who persist in sin apart from God's forgiveness.

-Genesis 3:12 Note:

- In this verse in particular we see Adam deflect and place blame elsewhere on why he sinned. We have a tendency to do this still to this day! When our sins get found out we will try to place the blame on someone else or on something else.

-We will blame our upbringing and how we exposed to so much and hurt in so many ways that we turned to alcohol, porn, sex, drugs or something else to try and help us cope with all our pain.Or we will say its all i saw growing up. Or if its not hurting anyone whats the big deal? It is hurting someone…YOU!…We cant blame our past, we cant blame someone else. YOU CHOOSE TO Sin.

-We don’t need to deflect or try to hide from God…He knows, not only that He will forgive you when you humbly admit your sins and lay them before Him.

Genesis 3:16-17 Notes

-The version we read states “Your desire will be for your husband, yet he will rule over you” (CSB). Another versions says “you will desire to control your husband, but he will rule over you.” (NLT). Reading multiple translation can sometimes help you see a fuller picture, CSB is more of a word for word translation while NLT is more of a thought for thought translation.

Eve’s punishment was increased pains in childbearing and her husband’s rule over her (3:16). Rule here suggests men’s frequent harsh exploitation of women because of sin. “To love and to cherish” is all too often “to rule and to dominate.” When God is honored, women are given a higher status. When sin is permitted, a woman’s value as a person is demeaned; she becomes more a sex object to be used.

-Women if we are being honest you want to rule over min because we haven’t historically been very good at leading our families the way God intended us to.We to often get so caught up in just working and surviving we don’t actually care for our families the way we are supposed to. I provide a roof is that not enough?

-We are called to be the spiritual leaders of our house.… Its time for men to step up and be the Godly men we are supposed to be, not continuing to fall in our broken sinful ways we have been in for years but be free and lead and love.Men have gotten to comfortable with the status quo.We should be on the frontlines leading the way on what it looks like to follow Christ.

-The admonition of Paul for “wives [to] submit to [their] husbands” (Ephesians 5:22) was not in God’s original plan; it was part of the Fall. And to insure that a husband keeps a proper relationship between him and his mate, Paul added, “Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her” (Eph. 5:25).

Pastor Tony Evans points out:

- “An unfortunate, yet common, belief in Christian circles is that since God made Eve as a "helper" for Adam, women are somehow less valuable than men. People frequently compare women to the Holy Spirit in his role of "helper" because he's the member of the Trinity who does a substantial amount of work but gets very little recognition.

-Yet a deeper examination of the word used for "helper" in the original language is eye-opening. The Hebrew words translated "helper... corresponding to him" (Gen 2:20) in the creation story are important to examine because they are uniquely powerful. The words are ezer and kenegdo. The word ezer occurs twenty-one times in the Old Testament, with only two of those occurrences relating to a woman. In all the other instances, the word is used to refer directly to God the Father.

-The term kenegdo was added to ezer in order to distinguish it from every other time in the Old Testament that it was used to refer to a strong help from God. The addition of kenegdo draws from its literal definition which is, "before your face, within your view or purpose." It can also be translated as a "counterpart to."

-Through a careful look at the original language, it is easy to determine that Eve's role was not one of subservience, maid service, or even that of simply playing a support role. In the original language of Scripture, hers is a strong, visible help comparable to that provided by God The Father”

-Finally, God addressed Adam. God reminded Adam that he had listened to [his] wife (Gen. 3:17). He could have closed his ear to her, but he did not, and he ate from the tree (3:17). Adam’s punishment was directly related to his act of listening to Eve rather than to God. Five times in 3:17–19, Adam is reminded of his act of eating.

-From that point on, he would experience painful toil, … thorns and thistles, … sweat, … and dust. Before his fall, the ground involved labor, but following the fall it would be distressingly more difficult. God told Adam the land would fight back with troublesome growth that would add to the pain, and sweat would characterize his work for food until he became again what he once was—dust

God Is Merciful Section:

But there is good news!! We serve a merciful God!!!

- Genesis 3:21 “The Lord God made clothing from skins for the man and his wife, and he clothed them.” This shows us his mercy!!HE could have chose to start over or abandon them, instead our God is loving and merciful! To often we can try to divide God in to that of the OT and the NT, but He has always been the same! Desiring for His creation to follow Him and His ways. Always pouring out mercy, grace, forgiveness, love. Jesus show us how far God was willing to go to show this.

Read Hebrews 10:1-18

The Need for Atonement (Hebrews 10:1-4):

God put a plan in place from the very beginning helping establish the sacrificial system we see moving forward in the OT. They were limited though and had to be done often. the Old Testament sacrifices were never going to be able to fully atone for sin.

God's Plan Unfolds (Hebrews 10:5-10):

This highlight God's plan to send Jesus as the ultimate sacrifice.Jesus willingly came into the world to fulfill God's redemptive plan, offering Himself as the perfect and final sacrifice.

The Mercy Seat (Hebrews 10:11-14):

Jesus, as the High Priest, entered the heavenly sanctuary to present His own blood.

The writer to the Hebrews talks about the arrangement of the tabernacle of the Old Testament. The tabernacle was the portable sanctuary used by the Israelites from the time of their wandering in the wilderness after the Exodus from Egypt to the building of the temple in Jerusalem (see Exodus 25–27). Within the tabernacle was the ark of the covenant which included the mercy seat (Hebrews 9:3-5 NKJV). The ark of the covenant, the chest containing the two stone tablets inscribed with the Ten Commandments, was the most sacred object of the tabernacle and later in the temple in Jerusalem, where it was placed in an inner area called the Holy of Holies. Also within the ark were the golden pot of manna, such as was provided by God in the wilderness wanderings (Exodus 16:4) and Aaron’s almond rod (Numbers 17:1-13). On top of the ark was a lid called the mercy seat on which rested the cloud or visible symbol of the divine presence. Here God was supposed to be seated, and from this place He was supposed to dispense mercy to man when the blood of the atonement was sprinkled there. In a manner of speaking, the mercy seat concealed the people of God from the ever-condemning judgment of the Law. Each year on the Day of Atonement, the high priest entered the Holy of Holies and sprinkled the blood of animals sacrificed for the atonement of the sins of God's people. This blood was sprinkled on the mercy seat. The point conveyed by this imagery is that it is only through the offering of blood that the condemnation of the Law could be taken away and violations of God’s laws covered.

What Paul is teaching here is that Jesus is the covering for sin, as shown by these Old Testament prophetic images. By means of His death, and our response to Christ through our faith in Him, all our sins are covered. Also, whenever believers sin, we may turn to Christ who continues to be the propitiation or covering for our sins (1 John 2:1, 4:10). This ties together the Old and New Testament concepts regarding the covering of sin as exemplified by the mercy-seat of God.God's Love Poured Out (Hebrews 10:15-18):

Embraced by God's Mercy (Romans 5:8):

-God's love as the driving force behind the redemptive work of Christ.reflect on the profound reality that God's mercy and love extend even to the unworthy.

-We are sinners..all of us..Sometimes we hold onto our sin to long, sometimes we think we can control it by ourselves……But at the end of the day sin only creates more chaos in our lives. The Lord is merciful and gracious to us..He is willing to give you the freedom you so desperately seek, If you want clarity in yout life, you must repent of your sin and prifess Jesus as your Lord and savior..This doesn't meant it makes fighting sin easy.

Proverbs 28:13 “The one who conceals his sins will not prosper, but whoever confesses and renounces them will find mercy.” Lets no longer hide.But lets take a step to fight and call out sin for what it is in our own lives.

HOLY SPIRIT LEAD ME HERE