Session #2-Something Went Wrong

Hey everyone. Before we jump in tonight, I want to hear from you for a second.

And so for starters, What was the best part of your day today? Or what were some activities you got to do today?

(Let a few kids respond. Keep it quick.)

That’s awesome.

I want you guys to again know i have appreciated get to know some of you, and if you guys ever want to talk or hang, just pull me aside and i would love to ddo that.

And so before i get into todays topic…Does anyone know what we talked about last session?

Last time we talked, we said that God created everything. We said that God created people in His image. And we said that God created us on purpose and for a purpose- What was the purpose God made us?

God made us To know Him.

He created us to be in a relationship with him…

And just thinking about that, that is an amazing concept that the living God wants a real relationship with us as human beings…

But you see that’s how things were meant to be. But tonight, we’re going to talk about something different.

You see the main point for today is.

Something went wrong in our relationship with God.

Before we get into that , I want to ask you a couple questions.

You don’t have to put up your hands if you don’t want to — but I want you to think about this.

Have you ever done something that you knew probably wasn’t the best idea… but you did it anyway?

(Pause.)

Maybe it was something small or minescule…..or….Maybe it was something bigger and catastrophic.

You don’t have to tell anyone. you dont need to put up your hand, but i want you to remember that feeling — that moment when you realize, “I probably shouldn’t have done that” —

You see… I think that helps us understand what the Bible is going to introduce us to tonight.

The Bible isn’t talking about just “bad people.” I want you guys to know that it is talking about all of us.

We have all done wrong..

And so before we get into that… I just want to pray..

If you guys brought your bible, we will be in Genesis 3 however before we talk about the story, I want to read one verse from the Bible that helps explain this in a really simple way.

In Isaiah it says

Isaiah 53:6 NLT

All of us, like sheep, have strayed away. We have left God’s paths to follow our own. Yet the Lord laid on him the sins of us all.

The first point i want you guys to know today is that..

We Wander… But not always on Purpose?

The Bible compares people to sheep.

Some of you are probably like what? What does a sheep have to do about us?

Here is the thing about sheep…Sheep don’t usually mean to get lost. They don’t wake up and say, “I’m going to cause problems today.”

They just slowly wander.

And that is the same with us.. And thats what this verse is saying here… We don’t always mean to turn away from God.

We don’t always mean to ignore Him. But we choose our own way instead of God’s way. And when that happened, something broke.

The relationship God created us for was damaged.

Let me explain this another way.

Have you ever noticed how someone doesn’t usually mess up their whole life in one big moment?

It usually happens slowly.

One choice. Then another choice. Then another.

Same analogy as the sheep…

You don’t wake up one day and say, “You know what today is a perfect day to ruin my life.”

or

“ you know what i really want to go to jail today”

thats not what we are like.

It’s more like, “I’ll do this just this just once.” “I’ll deal with it later.” “It’s not that big of a deal if i do this.”

And so thats why the Bible compares us to sheep.

Sheep don’t sprint away from the shepherd. They wander.

One step. Then another. Then another.

And before they know it, they’re far away.

Sin

And that is what the bible calls sin. Can you all say sin?

The literal word or meaning for sin is to “miss the mark” or to fail the goal”

I think a better definftion for what sin is disobedience against God’s commands…

So when we deliberatly disobey God’s commands we become like the sheep that has wandered away from the shepherd… our relationship with God is broken.

Sin is choosing our own way instead of trusting God and his right way.

whether it is what we think is a big act of discobdiece towards God, or a weee small act that we may think is not sin

When we sin agaisnt God..distance grows. and our relatiinship with him is broken…

Tonight, we’re going to see how that first happened, what it caused, and why we can’t fix it on our own.

Adam And Eve (Genesis 3)

To understand what went wrong, we need to go back to the beginning of the Bible. You guys opened up to Genesis 3, and so that is where we will be for the majority of tonight.

But just a reminder….

God created the world good. God created people to know Him. And the Bible tells us the names of the first two people.

Their names were Adam and Eve.

God placed Adam and Eve in a beautiful place called the garden of Eden. They had everything they needed. They were safe. They were cared for. And they were close to God.

God gave them free choices to make, but He also gave them one command.

In Genesis chapter two, verses sixteen and seventeen, God says: Gen 2:16-17

Genesis 2:16–17 NLT

But the Lord God warned him, “You may freely eat the fruit of every tree in the garden— except the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. If you eat its fruit, you are sure to die.”

God wasn’t trying to be rude. God wasn’t even trying to necessarily to control them. But I want you guys to know that God was asking them to trust Him.

But then something happened.

In Genesis three, verse one, the Bible says,

Genesis 3:1 NLT

The serpent was the shrewdest of all the wild animals the Lord God had made. One day he asked the woman, “Did God really say you must not eat the fruit from any of the trees in the garden?”

I want to slow this part down for a second, because it’s really important.

Notice what the serpent does. He doesn’t force Eve to eat the fruit. He doesn’t grab it and shove it in her hand.

He asks a question.

“Did God really say…?”

That’s how temptation usually begins. Not with a massive sign that says “Disobey God.”

It starts quietly—with a small question that plants doubt, softens your belief, and invites us to rethink what God has already made clear.

…Just a small question.

“Is God really telling the truth?” “Does God really want what’s best for me?” “Is it really that bad if I do that”

That’s what Adam and Eve were facing. And that’s something we still face today.

The serpent spoke to Eve and questioned what God had said. He made Eve doubt God. He made her wonder if God was really telling the truth. Instead of trusting God, Adam and Eve listened to a different voice.

Satan’s ultimate goal is rejection of God, but his strategy often begins with subtle questions about God being faithful to his word.

In Genesis chapter three, verse six, the Bible says,

Genesis 3:6 NLT

The woman was convinced. She saw that the tree was beautiful and its fruit looked delicious, and she wanted the wisdom it would give her. So she took some of the fruit and ate it. Then she gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it, too.

You see… Adam and Eve chose their own way instead of God’s way.

They didn’t trust what God had said. And in that moment, sin entered the world.

Right away, things changed.

Sin Breaks Relationship and Creates Distance

In Genesis three, verse seven, the Bible says,

Genesis 3:7 NLT

At that moment their eyes were opened, and they suddenly felt shame at their nakedness. So they sewed fig leaves together to cover themselves.

They felt shame. They felt exposed. Something that had never been there before suddenly existed.

Genesis 3:8 NLT

When the cool evening breezes were blowing, the man and his wife heard the Lord God walking about in the garden. So they hid from the Lord God among the trees.

I belive this is very important.

God came looking for Adam and Eve. God didn’t disappear. God didn’t stop caring.

But Adam and Eve hid. They were afraid. They felt guilty. The relationship they were created for was broken.

This is what sin does. Sin isn’t just breaking a rule. Sin breaks the perfeclty good relationship that God created us for…..

..Sin creates distance..

And the Bible shows us that this didn’t just affect Adam and Eve.

It affects all of us. You and me today..

You see friends in

Romans 3:23 NIV

for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,

That word “all” means everyone.

No one is left out. You, me, your cabin leaders…. you see No one is better than someone else. Every person has gone their own way.

Every person has wandered and listened to the tempting words of the serpent, who is satan.

That’s also why Isaiah chapter fifty-nine, verse two says,

Isaiah 59:2 NLT

It’s your sins that have cut you off from God. Because of your sins, he has turned away and will not listen anymore.

That doesn’t mean God stopped loving them and abandoned them … No not at all… But it means sin broke the relationship.

And again that is the same case for us..

Sin separates us from God. Not because God stops loving people. But because sin breaks the relationship we were made for.

God created us to know Him. But sin damaged that relationship.

And here’s the hard truth we need to understand tonight. We can’t fix this problem on our own.

Trying harder won’t fix it. Being good won’t fix it. Ignoring it won’t fix it. Doing good things wont fix it…

Something went wrong. And if we can’t fix it ourselves, then we need help. And that is what we are going to explore tomorrow.

The Broken Relationship

As we finish tonight, I want to show you one picture that sums up everything we talked about.

GOD - US

On one side, we have God. On the other side, we have us.

God created people to know Him. There was no distance at the beginning.

GOD - US

There was relationship.

But when Adam and Eve chose not to trust God, something happened.

This X in the middle represents sin.

GOD |———✖———| US

Sin came between God and people.

Not because God moved away. Not because God stopped loving people.

But because our sin broke the relationship between God and us.

And you see… that is why Adam and Eve hid. That is why we today feel bad or shameful when we sin…

That’s why the Bible says sin separates us from God.

But again friends this this didn’t just happen to them.

“All of us like sheep have gone astray.”…….“All have sinned.”

That means every one of us is on this side of the line.

Now here’s the hardest part to understand.

No matter how hard we try… we can’t remove the X on our own.

Being good doesn’t erase it. Trying harder doesn’t remove it. Doing religious things doesn’t fix it.

if I was to just add a bunch of check marks that doesn’t change the fact that there is an X and that there is still distance between God and Us.

Just like if im to start doing a bunch of good things it does not change the fact that sin has broken relationhsip.

GOD |———✅✅✅✖✅✅✅———| US

And again we are goign to talk about that tomorrow..

But Friends…. If there is one thing i want you to rember tonight…

I want you to know that the problem isn’t our behavior. The problem is a broken relationship.

And if the relationship is broken, then we need help.

We need someone to do what we can’t do ourselves.

Later, we’re going to talk about why we can’t fix this gap on our own… and why that matters so much.

But friends i want you to know.. God created us to know Him, but when we chose our own way, sin broke the relationship — and we can’t fix it ourselves.

So with that let’s pray