Navigate - A Tower Life Center Podcast
Navigate is a discussion-based podcast designed to help us live our lives as followers of Jesus in a fallen and ever-changing world. In this discussion based format, we are diving into topics that will help to shape and form the framework of how we live our lives. Our goal is to help all of us navigate our lives by becoming more like Jesus.
Navigate - A Tower Life Center Podcast
Origins - Week 1 Discussion - Design and Distortion
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This week's discussion is centered around what God's perfect design looked like and how Satan looked to distort that design from the beginning of time. We dove into how humanity caved to the deception of the enemy and how sin entered the world.
Welcome to Navigate, a podcast discussion from Tower Life Center, where we talk about how to navigate life, living as a follower of Jesus in a fallen and ever-changing world. Let's join the discussion.
SPEAKER_04What up, what up?
SPEAKER_00Hey guys.
SPEAKER_04This is like a family reunion today. Woo!
SPEAKER_00We're back.
SPEAKER_03Everybody's back. Everybody's in the house. Praise the Lord. Let's join the house of the Lord. That's right. That's right. We got Brad here this week. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Come on. I love it.
SPEAKER_03Where the presence of the Lord is, and He is with us as we tune in to a new series. Yeah. Origins.
SPEAKER_04Yeah. This has been a fun series to prepare and to plan for. And uh we'll see, we'll see kind of how these three weeks all play out. Um, but yeah, man, it's been fun. It's it's the concept of the distortion and the redemption of God's original design. Uh and so going back, looking at, man, how did God design um the world? Really, these three weeks are kind of this foundational idea that God designed the world to be perfect. It's been distorted by Satan and then he sought to redeem it. And so um we're kind of looking at his his approach to the world and to humanity in these three weeks, and then uh we were just kind of talking before Aaron has been something we've talked about uh previously of and what would this look like if we were to roll this concept out into more individualized and specific topics. Uh what would God's design be for marriage or for communication or for sex or sexuality or money or whatever, right? You could apply the same idea that God had a design for all of it. It's been distorted by the world, and now He has to redeem it.
SPEAKER_07Yeah.
SPEAKER_04Right. And so uh w that's kind of what this is all about. And so yeah, yesterday kicked off this uh general idea, and and I think it was a it was a fun discussion, at least for me it was, after not preaching for two weeks. It was it was fun to be back and and do it. So I'm excited to see what people uh if they find it impactful or not. Yeah, for sure.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, and I think like the scripture too, like instantly that comes to my mind when I think of like how God designed and then how sin distorted and how we continue to you know distort it because of the sinfulness that uh is in the world, but yet we aren't by nature sinful people. Yeah, yeah. Um but just this idea of Isaiah 55, 8 through 9, that for my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways. As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are his ways higher than than yours, and his thoughts are you know just so much higher. And we think about like, man, couldn't God just like get rid of all the evil? And it's just like a reminder like there will be a day where he does. Yeah, and until then, it's like he's working in the midst of these trials, troubles, yeah, gross situations that seem like from our perspective, like, what in the world? What are you doing? Once again, his ways are higher. Yes, we were kind of yeah, just yeah um chewing on that a little bit this morning. Yeah, like there's this scene even from like the chosen, yeah, where obviously some creative liberties, but like there's all this healing that's taking place. I think it might be like little John or something. I think it was like a little John.
SPEAKER_04It was little James, that's little James, that's it's never been a little John.
SPEAKER_03But Jesus is doing like this healing around, and then um his disciple will say little James just because it sounds better. No, it is little James. Yeah, you just say little Jones, little Jones and Robin Hood.
unknownYeah.
SPEAKER_03But he comes up to Jesus and is like, hey, you know, you've been doing these things, and yeah, you know, and he's walking around with a cade and a limp. He's like, I was wondering, like, before he sends him out two by two, like, could you uh maybe heal me? Yeah, and he kind of reminds him, like, hey, you're gonna do more incredible things and your testimony's gonna be even more powerful because of your impairment. But he's so he's just like, trust me.
SPEAKER_00Because of your faithfulness through the impairment.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, there's redemption that comes through the distortion. Which I love that. Like there's a lot of times we're like, man, why am I not seeing this healing? Why am I not you know, seeing God's prayer being answered? Y'all, it might not just be the way that you think is the best way. His ways are higher.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, and it's such a good concept of like learning how to suffer well, right? Like the concept of suffering well and the concept of yearning for heaven constantly.
SPEAKER_03And that is like we talked about in a series, like of the fruits of the spirit. That's the definition of patience.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_03Uh is suffering well and knowing that there will be a day where it is restored to how God designed it to be.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_03Without the disorder.
SPEAKER_00And that's in us. We're wired to desire that, right? We just have to remember that that's the perspective and the lens that we're looking through that we're yearning for heaven.
SPEAKER_07Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. So good.
SPEAKER_04Yeah. Um, I think that's a that's a good perspective. I can't get past Lo John on the lens. I stopped listening.
SPEAKER_03I stopped listening. If you're listening, we never want to give out your best little system now. Sometimes, yeah.
SPEAKER_04I'm sure everything you guys said was great. I was trying to think of what is the thing Lo John says. The BC days.
SPEAKER_00All right, realist back in, Kyle.
SPEAKER_04Alright. So this is gonna be a challenge to realist back in. No, week one yesterday, what we talked about was the concept of how did God design everything perfectly, right? Like we have to we have to kind of come to this conclusion that God does design perfectly, yet then we have the reality that man, Satan distorts strategically. Right? Kind of the first thing we said was that God designed everything before Satan distorted anything, but then Satan sought to distort everything that God designed. Right. We have to understand that God designed everything perfectly. Like if we have to have that kind of a thesis and a framework for what we're for what we're thinking about for the day. And the the framework is God designed everything perfectly. He didn't make mistakes, he didn't look back after six days and think, man, I did I did okay. I did pretty good for six days. Like if I would had more time to create the world, it would have been better. No, he said it was all very good.
SPEAKER_06Right.
SPEAKER_04But yet Satan then once God created everything, Satan uh sought to begin to distort things uh one at a time. Right? He's one person, he's not omnipresent, he's not everywhere at all time, he can't do uh he has demons for sure, but like he he can't be uh every we all want to blame Satan. Uh right and be holding uh he tricked me, he tempted me, I I cave to that temptation. He no, like he didn't probably you're really special if he's with you as much as you think he is, because he can only be one place at one time. But he began the distortion process right with Adam and Eve in the garden. But it's important to understand that before anything was distorted, everything was perfect. We have to have that as our framework that God created everything. Yeah, he says very good. The Hebrew of that is exceedingly excellent or having an abundance of value. So when God looked over, I think it was Genesis, um, let me make sure I have it right, chapter one, verse 31. He looked over all that he had made and he said it was very good. Think about it in this way. Like very good is just like we had a very good meal. We were just talking about meals before this. Yeah, that place is very good. But what if you were to say, man, that place was exceedingly excellent and has an abundance of value?
SPEAKER_07Right?
SPEAKER_04What if we were to read Genesis 131 in that way? Right. God looked over everything he made. He said, It is exceedingly excellent. Well, I'm going back there. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Right?
SPEAKER_04Like exactly exceedingly excellent, beyond excellent, and has an abundance of value, right? Five stars. Can't give it more stars.
SPEAKER_00Michelin Rush. Michelin star rush.
SPEAKER_04Yes, it's the most stars one could have.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_04That's what he said when he created the earth. Before it was ever distorted, that was God's perspective on what he created. The Bible's clear, God doesn't make mistakes. Brad read it earlier, Isaiah 55, 8 and 9. His ways are higher, his thoughts are higher. Like we may not understand all of it, but the way God designed it was how he wanted it, perfect.
SPEAKER_00And I think it's neat that he set that standard. He set the standard and definition of good.
SPEAKER_04Right.
SPEAKER_00We don't get to choose that.
SPEAKER_04Right. For sure. Yeah, we don't get to choose it. And what happens is when we begin to want to choose things, as we'll talk about here in a little bit, we make a mess of that.
SPEAKER_00That's what distorts it.
SPEAKER_04Right. Well, and our and our choosing comes in it from a distorted mindset. Yeah. A distorted view. Right. Right. And then we further distort it by our own sinful thought patterns and views. And so we we took this.
SPEAKER_06We took this. What's going on over there?
SPEAKER_04Amanda. Let's see. She literally just kicked me and then she said sorry as if she's not on mic.
SPEAKER_00And then I realized I said sorry. It like came some comments.
SPEAKER_04I could feel her be like. You guys are just flirting with each other over there. I could feel her be like, dude, I said that on mic.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. Hopefully that was a long enough pause that we can edit that out. Sorry, guys.
SPEAKER_04Well, that maybe. Yeah. Maybe we'll leave it. We may leave this.
SPEAKER_00Okay. Go on.
SPEAKER_04So we said we're going to look at four different markers of how did God design the world? Like if God's design was perfect, what are the four markers that that and these aren't the only markers, they're just four things that that most of our life could fit into. We could pull most things in our life, put them in these buckets, and then we'll see how Satan went and strategically distorted those four markers. Okay. The first one is that we are designed for life and relationship with God. Okay. God designed humanity, including all of us, to have life and relationship with him. Right? To be in relationship with him, to do things with him. And we looked at Genesis chapter 2. So all of our scripture from yesterday was Genesis chapter 1 through chapter 3. Okay. This part right now, we're talking Genesis chapter 2. If you have your Bible, you can go ahead and get it out. Verses 15 through 17. It says the Lord God placed the man in the garden to tend and watch over it. But the Lord God warned him, You may freely eat from 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. True. True. Yes, yesterday I said the truth of the tree. Now that that's out, because there's a lot of fruits of trees we have to read about.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. Get all the tongue twisters out of here.
SPEAKER_04Okay. But I but when we look at this, we can see there's a couple things that like I would want us to open our eyes to. Uh number one would be that the Lord God placed the man in the garden to tend and watch over it. Like we can look at that and say, Well, man, that that's about a job he gave. I say, that's not a job, that's partnership.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_04He said, I created it, now you tend it.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, that's good.
SPEAKER_04It's mine, you steward it. Yeah. Right? He's inviting man into partnership. That's a relationship thing.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. They're not separate from each other.
SPEAKER_04Correct.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_04Correct. He didn't say, hey, you're created now, deuces, see you later.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_04Yep. No, he's like, hey, I want to partner with you.
SPEAKER_00Like come alongside me.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, exactly. And then we see him start a conversation with him. Now that we're partners, let me tell you some things. You can freely eat from this tree. Don't eat from that one. Right? You can have any of them but that one tree. And if you do, you're sure to die. Okay. And so we see that God's design was for man to be in relationship with him. Right? As we'll find out, that begins to be distorted, but we have to understand that in the perfect design that God had was for all of us to have relationship with him. Okay, then we find out the second marker would be that we are designed with identity. Right? We aren't to cultivate our own identity, we aren't to discover our own identity. We are given an identity, right? He wasn't like, hey, do this life. And along the way, see what identity you come up with. Right?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, good luck.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, he yeah, right. He gave us an identity.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_03When we real quick too, I want to kind of add into that first part of like we were meant to like have life and relationship with God. Yeah. I think that's so important just to highlight some more on like the fact of like other relationships are good, but they should not be um replaced with your relationship with God. You know what I'm saying? Like they shouldn't replace your relationship with God. Like in the sense of like so many times we put all of our um equity and like a friendship, even a marriage.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, basically.
SPEAKER_03It reminds me of what Jesus says when um in Luke 14, the kind of headliner here is the cost of being a disciple. And it goes on and says, if you or a large crowd was following Jesus here, he turned around them and said, If you want to be my disciple, you must by comparison, and I think this is we've talked about this in youth before because it sounds harsh, but it's by comparison, hate everyone else, your father, your mother, your wife, your children, your brothers, your sisters. And comparison means like because you're so like in awe of the God that you get to have a relationship with, yeah, it's like all else just kind of seems like there.
SPEAKER_04Not yeah, just you love God so much that when someone looks at you, the love you have for God, it's like, well, man, you don't love me. It's like, well, no, you can't compare the love I have to God exactly.
SPEAKER_03And I think the problem we can get in is whether it's like you're dating someone, it's a friendship, maybe even a marriage, like that person disappoints you. Now all of a sudden it's like, whoa, like everything, like you break up with your boyfriend or girlfriend, and now everything is just like ripped inside of you, end of the world scenario. But like that's you weren't meant for that and that alone. You were meant for this relationship with God. Yeah, and if that cup is full, man, a relationship that you get to have with a a best friend or a spouse is like man, just icing on the tape. The cake. Talking tongue, yeah. But is it fruit cake? Is it fruit cake? But I promise we'll be better next week.
SPEAKER_04We'll be better next.
SPEAKER_03Yeah. But icing on the cake, or just like cup runneth over.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_03Let me slow down a little bit.
SPEAKER_00There you go.
SPEAKER_03But no, I mean, and that's what our relationship, I feel like, is was designed to be from the beginning.
SPEAKER_04And I think my intention yesterday, and I probably didn't do a good job communicating it, um, was that it we're not only designed for relationship with him, which we are, we're designed for life and relationship with him. Right? Like he created us for partnership, not just relationship.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, right.
SPEAKER_04It's not just like, hey, come talk to me every now and then. Even talk to me a lot today. Yeah. Like do things with me, do things for me, do things alongside me. Hey, I created it, you tend it. It's mine, you steward it. Right? It's a partnership. We're doing this thing together for forever, constantly. Some of which involves talking.
SPEAKER_03Yeah. And I think when you do that well, it naturally plays into the second piece of that identity. Yeah. And just like, hey, this is who I am. Yeah. I'm a I'm a child of God that is um, or a son of God that just gets the steward my father's gift. Yeah. And I want to um do that well and not take it for granted. Yeah. And it's like now, no matter what I'm doing, when I'm doing it with him, like, man, life's good. Yeah. Because I'm with my father.
SPEAKER_04For sure. And to that point, then, if we're created with identity, so the second marker is we're designed with identity, right? Then we can see when when God created humankind, right? He said, Let us make human beings in our image to be like us, they'll reign over the fish in the sea, the birds in the sky, the livestock, all the wild animals on the earth. Then he said, God created human beings in his own image. In the image of God, he created them, male and female, he created them. And I just challenged us yesterday as we looked at that. I left it on the screen. I said, now let's look at that with eyes to see uh creation in identity language, right? So we were made by him. So he said, Let us make human beings. So he made us. He made us in his image. Then we see that we were made to be like him, right? Then we see once again that we were created in his image. In the image of God, he created us. He male, male and female, he created us. Right? So we see he's our creator, we see that he created us in his image, and we see that he would created us to be like him. All of which is identity language. If we want to figure out how do we identify, well, we're gonna go identify in the way that we were created to be. So we should identify to your point, Brad, as a child of God. Why? Because we are. The Bible says we are co-heirs with Christ. Because we are. Right? We're male or female because that's how he created us. We are made in the image of God because he created us that way. We are to be like him because he created us that way. Those are identity statements. He didn't say, Well, I guess they'll be created randomly, and then along the way they'll find out what image that they might have been made in.
SPEAKER_00Oh, and God's just intentional. He has plans. I mean, he has a an ultimate plan and purpose for every single person's life.
SPEAKER_06Right.
SPEAKER_00And that was made while you were being made in your mother's womb. Like he knows the plan and purpose for your life. There's Bible verse, Brad. You know it off the top of your head. What is it? Jeremiah. Oh, Jeremiah. 2911.
SPEAKER_042911, yeah.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. Like he he already knew that there is a plan and a purpose for you. And that just goes to show more about God's character, his intent behind everything that he does.
SPEAKER_04Right. Yeah. So when we look at identity, to your point, like it's been given to us, we're made in his image. We all of that, right? His characters to be intentional with us, then we have to understand that our identity was originally received by God, not constructed by culture. We live in a culture today that is very focused on develop your own identity. You be you. Yeah. It's it's hyper-individualized.
SPEAKER_00Which is not how we were designed or created.
SPEAKER_04Now, listen, he he knit us together in our mother's womb, and he is very individualized in the gifts and talents he gave us, the passions, the likes, the your hair's curly, your hair's straight, you have hair, you don't have hair.
SPEAKER_00But not to be individualized apart from him.
SPEAKER_04Correct. Yeah. Exactly. That's that's the thing is like what we want to do is we want to construct to be individualized apart from God. Right? Which is which is why when we look at it, like we have to understand that we were given identity, we don't create identity.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_04The world we live in challenges us to create identity. But that's not the path that we should go. And said we actually said if we're we're trying to figure out this identity piece, the first question we should seek to answer is not who do I want to be, but who did God create me to be.
SPEAKER_00When you look at that, that's heart language, right? Like when you ask the question, who do I want to be? You're relying on your heart, and your heart is deceitful above all things. But then when you ask who did God create me to be, you're going to the one truth. You're going to the source to figure out who you are designed to be.
SPEAKER_04Right. Yeah, that's so good. It's it's who do I want to be is very much a self-focused, self-centered, and selfish question to ask. And now I said it yesterday, I'm as selfish as anybody. Right, right.
SPEAKER_00That's not meant to shame, but that is just observation, a reality, a truth.
SPEAKER_04Yeah. Things can be fact and truth and observation and reality and still not be meant to shame. And so it's yeah, I'm selfish. All four of us in this room are selfish. So are you listening? And so we instantly want to go to this thought of who do I want to be? If I'm talking identity, who do I want to be?
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_04Well, unfortunately.
SPEAKER_00That's the wrong question.
SPEAKER_04Well, and it doesn't matter who you want to be. Hold on.
SPEAKER_02If you don't have a relationship with God, you're gonna fill that hole with crap. Yeah. Yeah, for sure. You're gonna fill it with what who do I want to be?
SPEAKER_06Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Who does the world say I am? You're gonna fill it with stuff that is not truth.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, for sure.
SPEAKER_02You'll you'll fill it, the world will fill it.
SPEAKER_00It's like that concept of grasping for straws. You're just constantly grasping for something that's going to fulfill a hole that only God can fulfill.
SPEAKER_04Yeah. Which is why if when we have a disconnected identity When not connected to God, it leads to a distorted life.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_04Right? Like if my identity is disconnected from God, then my life is going to be distorted because I'm not connected to the one who made me, the one whose image I was made in. The one who said, Hey, be like me.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Right.
SPEAKER_04The one who created me male or female. Right? The one who knit me together in my mother's womb. If I'm not willing to be connected to that identity, then all of a sudden my life's going to be distorted. Yep. Right. And so we were we were designed to have relationship in life with him. We were designed for identity and with identity. And then we were designed with purpose. And it's important we understand that purpose is different than identity. Identity is about who and whose you are. Purpose is about what you were created for. Right? And I said yesterday, and I think Amanda, maybe you can speak into this for the for the ladies' side, but for men it's really easy to make our purpose our identity. Right? Well, it for me specifically, I can go stand on a stage and say, Hey, my purpose is to preach, but no, my identity is I'm a preacher. This is my identity. I did you think I did good? Did did did you like it?
SPEAKER_00Well, and I think anybody can do that in any role that they play in life. Whether it be husband, wife, mom, dad, brother, sister, family, friend, um, CEO, CFO, lineman, like whatever it is that you're doing, you can truly find so much identity in in what consumes the majority of your day.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, for sure.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_04For sure. And in purpose is important, right? It was verse uh 26 and 27 of chapter one where God said, Let us create mankind in our image, right? All of what we just read. Then in verse 28, the next verse, it says, God blessed them, and he said, Be fruitful and multiply, fill the earth, govern it, reign over the fish and the sea, the birds in the sky, and all the animals that scurry along the ground. The very next verse.
SPEAKER_00Even the rodents.
SPEAKER_04Even the rodents, the nastiest animals. Right? Like the very next verse was here's here's your identity. Now here's your purpose.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. Fill the earth and govern it.
SPEAKER_04Listen, your desire for purpose is normal.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_04It's placed inside you. It's our job now to find out what purpose did God give us, not what purpose do we want to fulfill. Right? Like, it doesn't matter if I want to be. I've all people always like, well, what would you be if you weren't a pastor? Like, well, what do I want to be? Like, if I could change, if I could change that, I would change a lot of things and I'd be an NFL quarterback. But like, that's not real. Doesn't matter if I fulfill that purpose.
SPEAKER_02You gotta be taller than five'eight with shoes.
SPEAKER_00Come on, Matt. There you go.
SPEAKER_04Drew Brees was about my size. There you go. No, but like, it's it's in you to want to have this purpose. It's normal. Yeah. The problem we have is we go to the wrong place sometimes, but it's important to understand purpose is part of God's design, not something we invent to feel important. Now, to Zach's point a little earlier, if we don't have it in the right place with identity, the same is true for purpose. If we don't have it from the right place, then we're going to invent it. Yeah. Right.
SPEAKER_03Because you could be that NFL quarterback and still not be fulfilled. Fulfilled. A hundred percent. Yeah. And and and any.
SPEAKER_02You're always going to be chasing the feel-good. Yeah.
SPEAKER_07Yeah.
SPEAKER_06For sure.
SPEAKER_04It's it's it truly is um purpose is hard because in purpose we find value. In purpose we we find worth. Right? The reality is those are identity things, but we've become really good as a culture at making our purpose our identity. Right? Because in our identity we should find value and worth. And our identity as a son or daughter of God, right? And a co-heir with Christ. If that's our identity, then we should find our value and worth in the fact that Jesus came to earth to die on a cross for our sins, not in what have we achieved or what position do we have or what status or what or what or what? It's like, no, no, no. My value and worth is already secure in what he's done for me. Not what I'm doing for him. But what I do for him is purpose, what he's done for me is identity.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. Well, and I think just even that piece, what I do for him is not what I do for self.
SPEAKER_07Right.
SPEAKER_00Like we just have to look through that lens constantly when we're looking at purpose. It's not how do I fulfill self and how am I using what he's placed on the inside of me for sure if I have brothers in that guy's group we're reading experiencing God.
SPEAKER_02And so he talks a lot about what are what are you doing for God and are you asking him to bless what you're doing, or are you doing what he's called you to do?
SPEAKER_00So good.
SPEAKER_02Like your purpose is not necessarily what you like be careful what you're doing, that you're doing it for your own good, or are you doing it for what God's calling you to do? Right. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Self-glorification or Christ glorification. Right. I think constantly evaluating that and like reflecting on that, asking ourselves that question is always incredibly important.
SPEAKER_04Right. A hundred percent. And and I think Amanda, you just mentioned it, Zach, you mentioned it, this concept of glorifying God in what we do, right? And something we said yesterday is um you were not merely uh created to consume life, but you were created to cultivate something for the glory of God. Right now, from a purpose standpoint, many of us would agree.
SPEAKER_00That could be its own sermon message.
SPEAKER_04Right.
SPEAKER_00Where culture is at today, right? Totally. Yes.
SPEAKER_04Totally, right? Because to that point, many of us would agree with well, of course I wasn't created to just consume. Who's gonna argue with that? Not many people. Now, well, you were created to cultivate something. Most people aren't gonna disagree with that either. The the point of contention comes for the glory of God because many of us want to do it for the glory of ourselves, the glory of our bank account, the glory of our family, the glory of our marriage, the glory of whatever, right? And so it's it's all of these things that we have to understand what's the right perspective, the right place, the right way to view things. What was God's original design? So we were designed for relationship. Nope. We were designed with identity, we were designed with purpose. And then the last thing is we were created for healthy relationships with others. It's important to understand that relationships with others is probably the highest point of contention that any of us would have. It just is. Whether it's your boss, your spouse, your kids, the teacher at school, the coach on your kids' team who you think is crazy, the person on social media, whatever it is, so much of our attention comes in relational form. And then you might call it work, but you're really you're frustrated about somebody at work. Right? Like and so it's just understanding that we that wasn't God's design. God's design was not for there to be chaos and and him have to write later in the New Testament. Man, do the best that you can to live at peace among all people.
SPEAKER_07Right?
SPEAKER_04Like that wasn't God wasn't hoping he'd have to say that.
unknownYeah.
SPEAKER_04Right? Like, that wasn't his design. His design was there to be harmony, right? Like he actually said the first time we see him saying it's something wasn't good was when he looked at all that he created, everything was very good. Then he said, But it is not good that man is alone. So I'm gonna make a helper for him, who's just right, right? And so the man wasn't bad, the helper wasn't bad. The only thing that wasn't good was just the fact that man was alone. And so we were designed for healthy relationships. In fact, we were designed to be helpers who are just right for one another.
SPEAKER_00You know, I've never noticed this before, but just the order in which God did that, like he created us to be in relationship with him first.
SPEAKER_07Yeah.
SPEAKER_00And then he was like, Okay, this is all good, but it's not good that you're alone. Like you and I have to commune and we need to be in relationship first, but then I'm also gonna create a helper for you. Um, just the order of priority is neat to to watch how God designed that too.
SPEAKER_04A hundred percent. A hundred percent. And so we can see in all of that, I mean, God's design, his intentional design, his perfect design. Now the reality is that perfect intentional design has now been distorted. It's been distorted through the work of Satan. And so kind of the the hinge point here from what we talked about in the beginning of service till the end yesterday, was this concept that Satan cannot create anything new or anything better than God's design. So it's important to know that he's not creating anything new or anything better. So from the beginning of time, then his strategy has always been distortion.
SPEAKER_07Yeah.
SPEAKER_04Let me twist it, let me create a counterfeit, let me make let me put some doubt in your mind. Right? Let me distort it all.
SPEAKER_00Which I think is such a good perspective for us to listen and look through because it helps us realize one, we we don't need to be afraid of Satan. We don't need to be afraid of the enemy. Like the Lord has already conquered death, hell, and the grave. Like we have nothing to be afraid of when it comes to Satan. Um, but also to know his play and to uncover his playbook so that we can continue to overcome him is important.
SPEAKER_05For sure.
SPEAKER_00Like his play is distortion, his play is deception, his play is lies, deceit, all the things that you're talking about.
SPEAKER_04For sure. To your point, we don't have to be afraid, but we should be aware.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_04Right? Like, we shouldn't be afraid.
SPEAKER_07Yeah.
SPEAKER_04But it's wise to be aware of his tactics and strategies. Right. And so what we're gonna do is we're gonna look at how did Satan take those four things we just talked about, right? Relationship with God, identity, purpose, relationship with others. How did he take those four things and distort them? And what does that distortion now look like? So the first thing we saw was being designed for relationship with God is distorted into hiding from God. Right? He he took God's good intention and he flipped it upside down. Right? We we said we're gonna look at two different points of scripture. One is Genesis chapter 2, before uh Eve was tempted to eat the fruit, and she ate it and then gave some to Adam, and some is after. Okay, and it says in Genesis chapter 2, verse 25, now the man and his wife were both naked, but they felt no shame. Okay. The things we need to see here are the last like six words naked, but felt no shame.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_04Okay, that's important because they they knew they were naked, but they didn't feel shame about it.
SPEAKER_01Right.
SPEAKER_04Okay. Then after sin entered the world, so after Satan distorted God's original design, then we see in Genesis chapter 3, verse 7 and 8, at that moment it says their eyes were open, and suddenly they felt shame at their nakedness. Like the very first thing that happened after they ate was was all of a sudden their eyes were opened and they felt shame at nakedness. This verse in chapter 2 that felt so obscure, and like, why in the world did he add that?
SPEAKER_07Yeah.
SPEAKER_04That they were both naked and they felt no shame.
SPEAKER_07Yeah.
SPEAKER_04Now the first thing undone by sin is that their eyes were open and they felt shame at their nakedness. So what did they do with that? They go and they hide from God. It says they in verse 8, they the cool evening breezes were blowing and they heard God walking in the garden, so they hid from God among the trees. In their shame, they hid. Something that they weren't shamed about before, they become shamed now, and now they're hiding from God.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, as you were um speaking this yesterday during the message, um, I was sitting there and I had never really realized the first reaction to sin was shame. I've never noticed that. And when you said that, I'm like, whoa, that makes so much sense because that's the enemy's plan of distortion to which we're gonna get there next, but to break us and break our intimacy with God. Yeah. Because the second we feel shame is the second we disconnect from him.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, for sure.
SPEAKER_00He's not disconnecting from us.
SPEAKER_02No, no.
SPEAKER_00We hit that shame cycle.
SPEAKER_02The condemnation and shame.
SPEAKER_00Yes. We hit that shame cycle and it just pulls us right away from him. God's not moving, we are, you know, and it was just like, whoa, I've never noticed that before. That was the first reaction to sin.
SPEAKER_04Well, you know what's interesting is Brad says that a lot, right? If you feel far from God, who moved? Yeah, not God, it's you, right?
SPEAKER_00Right now, I felt like I was I need to name drop there. No, no, and then you just said it there.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, and I think the beautiful thing about it is like God is moving, He's moving towards them.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, right.
SPEAKER_04He's in pursuit of them. I've got to be.
SPEAKER_00I guess he didn't move away from us. Right.
SPEAKER_04I just have never thought about that that way before until you were just talking about it. I'm reading it. No, God is actually in pursuit of them.
SPEAKER_00He's in the garden looking for them, yeah, and they keep moving away from him.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, they had to go hide behind trees, right? It's like the boat this weekend. Yeah. Yeah. That's a story for a different time. I'm not healed from it yet. Yes.
SPEAKER_01There you go.
SPEAKER_04And so, yeah, it's it's this concept of like they they were hiding from a God who pursued them.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, yeah. And we do that so much in our own lives, you know. Like, what does that look like in each of our lives today?
SPEAKER_03And like you said, with the enemy's tactic on that, is like because naturally we feel shame vertically with God, and then that shame just ripples effect into like our relationships with others, and then we isolate, and as we know when we isolate, that's where it's like not good for me to be alone. Oh man, here we go.
SPEAKER_00We start listening to the line you type thing.
SPEAKER_02And then we just screwed up again.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Not good enough. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Yep. Not good enough. I'm not worthy to be in relationship with you. I'm the worst. I'm the you know, that subconscious thought process that can be.
SPEAKER_03And like the shame game, yeah, then too, of like us just like why can't I ever get it right?
SPEAKER_00Why did I miss it again?
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Why don't I have enough self-control?
SPEAKER_03And then it just could go into any whatever that coping mechanism is for you, or that um like or me card. Yeah. I don't know. It's just all this.
SPEAKER_04But before any of that, it's broken intimacy. To your point from earlier, Manda, right? The first effect of sin was not more bad behavior.
SPEAKER_07Right.
SPEAKER_04The first effect of sin was not coping.
SPEAKER_07Yeah.
SPEAKER_04That was hiding. It was hiding, it was broken intimacy.
SPEAKER_07Uh-huh.
SPEAKER_04Right. That's why when God told them not to eat from it in Genesis 2, 15 through 17, he ends it with, if you eat its fruit, you're sure to die. Now, as we know, that does include physical death. Right? Even in fact, like from Adam and Eve until Noah, people lived a whole lot longer, but they still physically died. And then once Noah hit, God's like, listen, these people ain't living any longer than 140 years. Like, so the physical death is for sure included, but the spiritual death is where we see that broken intimacy. That broken intimacy is where we experience physical death. And so although we were designed for a relationship with God, what happens is Satan distorts that. And not only does he break that intimacy with God, but then he he f he distorts it into hiding from God. That's where that shame piece comes in.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_04Then he said then we saw designed with identity, right? Well, designed with identity is distorted into confusion and self-identity. Right? Like we all know what this looks like in our world today. Yeah. The confusion, the self-identity, all of that. Like, Brad, you probably know that just as good or better than any of us because of the world you live in with students, right? Now, students are making a lot um bigger claims about their identity uh than adults are, but adults are just gonna identify as well I identify as a workaholic. Workaholic. I would never say that.
SPEAKER_00Right.
SPEAKER_04I'm just a provider.
SPEAKER_00Right.
SPEAKER_04I work really hard.
SPEAKER_00Yes, the justification.
SPEAKER_04Right.
SPEAKER_00Right.
SPEAKER_04Like I identify as somebody who really loves my kids and I really care about them and I really prioritize them and and and idolize them, but I prioritize them.
SPEAKER_00Well, it could be I identify as a a coach, even, which is a noble act to get out there and coach teams and be a part of it. But then when that that becomes the idol, that becomes the um consuming part of your life and your identity, that's when it gets slippery.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, but we never jump from from my identity is in Christ to my identity is all the things we just mentioned. Yeah. What happens is what happened in Genesis chapter 3, verse 1 through 5. Right? The serpent, Satan, was the shrewdest of all the animals 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? Did God really say that?
SPEAKER_00Mm-hmm. The doubt that he uses.
SPEAKER_04Correct. Well, of course we can eat the fruit from the trees in the garden, she replied. It's only the fruit from the tree in the middle of the garden that we're not allowed to eat. God said you must not eat it or even touch it. And if you do, you will die. You won't die, the serpent replied. God knows that your eyes will be open as soon as you eat it, and you'll be like God, knowing both good and evil.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. Like, well, mommy and daddy said we shouldn't do this. Well, my mommy said this. Well, my mommy said this, my daddy said this. And it's just like, um, yeah, it it just starts so young. Like that that thin nature.
SPEAKER_02Or mom didn't give me the answer I want. I'm gonna go ask dad.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. Yeah.
SPEAKER_04The distortion brings confusion, and so then you go begin to self-identify because some of this isn't even true. Because God didn't say that if like there's so much here. Okay. There's so much here. Because what happens is Satan distorts both the commands. That's verse one. Yeah. Right. Did God really say? So he's bringing confusion in the picture.
SPEAKER_00Right.
SPEAKER_04Then he distorts the consequences. Well, you won't die. But you know what happens is in the middle of this is Eve and I didn't even talk about this yesterday. But Eve, she says, Well, he said that we can't eat it or even touch it. You just made something up. He didn't say don't touch it.
SPEAKER_01Right.
SPEAKER_04We don't have anywhere recorded that he says don't touch it.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_04He said don't eat it.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_04But what happens is then we begin to get confused. You can see right there, Eve is like, she's probably a little flustered. She's probably a little like panicked.
SPEAKER_00It's like the telephone game.
SPEAKER_04Yep.
SPEAKER_00Like God said one thing, and then Eve portrays it as something, and then the enemy is like, oh no, no, no, but maybe he really meant this.
SPEAKER_04Yeah. And what happened, and we'll talk about this more next week, but it's worth noting to that point. The reason that it's like the telephone game is because God never told Eve that you shouldn't eat from the tree. God told Adam, don't eat from the tree. And it was Adam's job to communicate that to Eve.
SPEAKER_03So then on the top of it too, if they're what just this like what if game.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_03Like and what we can learn, once again, power in the testimony. Yeah. This is Eve's testimony. Yeah. You know, share your testimony with others to help others. I'm not going to share that. Someone else would share the form of you. And that's the beauty of this, is what I'm getting at. Is like, what if Eve would have prayed first?
SPEAKER_07Yeah.
SPEAKER_03Like, what if she would have gone to the father and been like, you know, I'm being tempted by this snake, whatever. And like, here, like, let me go and talk to my like this. There's temptation. Yeah. I'm going to go and bring this to my father. Let me go get cleared. Yeah. Yeah. And so, like, man, we can learn so much in Eve's testimony of like when temptation comes, don't just be like, well, you're right. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Am I supposed to give in to it right now? Am I supposed to do that?
SPEAKER_03Like, I mean, see what the world says.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_03Yeah. No, go pray first. Like, go to the father.
SPEAKER_00Pray first, Ian. Take it to your husband, Eve. Because what if hey, I think I'm being confused. Have the conversation there. And then Adam could have prayed over her or with her in that moment and said, like, no, actually, God told me that.
SPEAKER_04Yeah. Right before he took my rib out, he said, make sure to create you, by the way. He said, make sure you don't eat from the tree or you'll surely die.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_04You can touch it, but like, I wouldn't. Why would you?
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Yeah.
unknownRight.
SPEAKER_03Yeah. Yeah. That's something that's a boom. Get behind me, Satan. Like, you don't belong here. No. I do trust God because it goes back to our message on you're not the boss of me. Like standing firm in the truth that we have.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_03In what God's word says, especially now in our own lives, we have access to scripture. Yeah. We have access to God's word, right? What it says.
SPEAKER_04You just said something there. You said trust God.
unknownRight.
SPEAKER_04And what happened in that moment is humanity stopped trusting God. Right? Humanity stopped trusting God to define truth.
SPEAKER_00Because the enemy caused doubt. Right.
SPEAKER_04Doubt and confusion. Yeah. And so then what happens is because I stopped trusting, because of doubt and confusion, right?
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_04Humanity stopped trusting God to define truth. And then we start to try to define truth ourselves.
SPEAKER_00We play the telephone game. We play right into it.
SPEAKER_04Well, the the real truth is he said don't touch it or don't eat it or even touch it. Well, that's not even true.
SPEAKER_02That's not what I heard. Yeah. Yeah. My truth is. Yeah. You said it yesterday. Exactly. Your truth is not my truth. None of it is the truth. We were talking about news before that we went on here, and it's like the news is not this station has their truth. This station has their truth. This I mean everything is skewed.
SPEAKER_00This station has this fear tactic, and this one has this beer tactic. And yeah.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_04And so what happened in that moment is that we started humanity is we humanity started trying to define truth ourselves.
SPEAKER_03Because the only difference between like I think of like when Jesus is, you know, being tempted, he goes right back to the truth, like, man, you don't live on bread alone.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, he gives us the example.
SPEAKER_03He gives us the example where you know you've tried that. Yeah. You just didn't have the truth for sure.
SPEAKER_00Which is why it's important to memorize scripture and to know the truth. Like, how did Jesus overcome in that moment?
SPEAKER_07He recited scripture back to the enemy and said no.
SPEAKER_00And then he said, Get behind me, Satan. Because he's like, I'm standing firm on scripture and what I know is true.
SPEAKER_04And here's why you need other people around you. Yeah. Because Satan tempted Jesus with scripture.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, right.
SPEAKER_04And Satan there in verse 5. He said, God knows that your eyes will be opened as soon as you eat it. What happened in verse 7? Their eyes were opened as soon as they eat it. Yeah. He didn't make up something that's like he's gonna tempt us with things that sound right and real.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_04He's just deceiving.
SPEAKER_00Right.
SPEAKER_04He's just like that's all he's doing. He's distorting. He's not trying to like he's putting a Snapchat filter over something, right? Like it's the same thing, but it looks weird.
SPEAKER_00Your sister said it best on Mother's Day. If the enemy's mouth is open and he's flapping, it's all lies and deception.
SPEAKER_04Yeah. The Bible says that that his language is lying.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, he's the father of lies.
SPEAKER_04Yep. And so we have to understand that. And when we start to define truth ourselves, right? Humanity did that thousands and thousands and thousands of years ago. It still plays out true today because modern modern culture today still asks us to create ourselves apart from God. But what happens is a disconnected identity always brings instability.
SPEAKER_00Right.
SPEAKER_04Think about any time you've had disconnected identity or anybody you know whose identity is disconnected from God. You always feel unstable. Because your identity is in things and it can be good things. Right. It can be a spouse, it can be kids, it can be providing, it can be I could put my identity in being a pastor. Sounds great, sounds noble, but not what God has called any of us to.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, not how it's designed.
SPEAKER_04So we have to understand that when we have disconnected identity, when we try to create ourselves apart from God, we will experience instability. Okay, so then that was designed with identity, here's design with purpose. When we are the way he distorted designed with purpose was it was distorted into striving and toil. Right? Like once, you know, once God sorted through all the stuff where they were hiding and he got them out, and he's like, hey, how did we end up this way? Right? What happened is God comes back and he says, Hey, listen, because of that, and he gives the woman her consequences.
SPEAKER_00It says and I think just pause before we go into this. It's important to understand, like, this was the original example of when you sin, there is consequence. Correct. And so now he's gonna walk us through what consequence looks like.
SPEAKER_04Yep. The consequence wasn't I don't love you. The consequence wasn't you don't get to spend eternity with me. The consequence was that you will have so for the woman it says, I will sharpen the pain of your pregnancy, and in pain you will give birth. You will desire to control your husband, and he will rule over you.
SPEAKER_00Oh, not and, but he will rule over you.
SPEAKER_04Oh, but he will rule over you.
SPEAKER_00Mm-hmm.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, you will desire to control your husband, but he will rule over you. Then verse 17, and he said to the man, Since you listened to your wife and ate from the tree whose fruit I commanded you not to eat, the ground is cursed because of you. All your life you will struggle to scratch a living from it. It will grow thorns and thistles for you. You will eat, though you will eat its uh of its grains. By the sweat of your brow you will have food to eat until you return to the ground from which you were made. For you were made from dust, and to dust you will return. Okay, so consequences, a couple things. Number one, we see death, right? From you came from dust, back to death you dust you go. Okay? That's number one. There's a consequence. The other thing is when we talk about designed with purpose, he didn't take your purpose away. In fact, the purpose he gave was be fruitful and multiply. So still be fruitful and multiply, it's just gonna hurt.
SPEAKER_07Yeah. Yeah.
SPEAKER_04It's still not good for you to be alone, so be together, be helpers, but it's gonna be really hard because you're gonna want to control him and he's gonna want to rule you. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. That's tough. Rule over the beasts of the field, except now it's just gonna be a lot harder.
SPEAKER_04Yeah. Still work the ground, control the all that, but it's gonna be hard. You're gonna have to really struggle to scratch a living.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_04Yeah.
SPEAKER_00There will be drought. There will be dryness. Yeah.
SPEAKER_04There will be so purpose didn't go away. What happened was purpose began to carry pressure once humanity disconnected from God. Right? Like now all of a sudden, you still have purpose, but it's gonna carry pressure because Satan distorted it.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. Yes. And I think that to help people get out of the victim mindset of like, why is this happening to me? Why is life so hard? Why does this keep happening over and over and over again? We have to understand that like that is the consequence of living in a broken world. And until we get to heaven, that is the Satan's circum circumstance circumstance that we are living in. Right. Um, until we get to heaven, where it's perfected, and it is back to God's original design. And while we're in it, we we just have to learn how to suffer well and how to pull closer to God through the pain and the suffering.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, for sure. For sure. And what we see through all of that is that man, when we have this distorted purpose, what happens is is we have we begin to be people who are exhausted trying to prove our worth, our value, and our place. We can't see the difference between identity and purpose. We chase identity, we chase purpose, and we end up exhausted trying to prove value, worth, and place. And I said it yesterday, and I'll I think it's true still today. That might be the sentence that rings the most true to many, many of us listening. When it's distorted, we become exhausted because we're trying to prove value, worth, and place that we can't prove that's only been given to us by the shed blood of Christ on the cross. And so we have to understand that as we look at that, that having purpose and identity in the right place is so crucial because of the relationship he wants for us and with us. Right? But then designed for a healthy relationship. That is distorted into blame and division among humanity. Right? Like we were designed to have healthy relationships. The reality is there's blame and division all around us. Look at literally look at every conversation. There's a there's potential for peace and unity or division and blame. Look at the news. Look at social media.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_04Listen to the conversation beside you at the coffee shop.
SPEAKER_00Look at your marriage.
SPEAKER_04Look at your marriage, look at your kids, right? Like, look at it's all around you. You have They started it.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. It wasn't me.
SPEAKER_02Wasn't me.
SPEAKER_00It's never me.
unknownYeah.
SPEAKER_04We had Oakland's birthday party on Saturday. 20 kids, whatever it was, of her little friend. And you're like, nobody ever took blame for anything. You have kids crying, it was always someone else's fault.
SPEAKER_00He shot me in the eye with the skirt gun.
SPEAKER_04Yeah. There was a couple times it wasn't adults' fault.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. That's true.
SPEAKER_04Yeah. But it's nobody's fault ever. And the thing is, is it's true in your marriage. Yeah. It's true in at work. It's true in this frustration you have with a friend. It's true in this thing over here. It's true with that person you're annoyed at on social media. It's true. It's true everywhere.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_04It is always someone else's fault.
SPEAKER_03It's funny because you you mentioned this yesterday, but even when there was, say, three, well, two people, but three relationships happening between God, Adam, and Eve. Adam's response is it was the woman that you gave me. So you're blaming both of them.
SPEAKER_04He's blaming the woman and God. Yeah, that's what I said. How much guts do you have to have to be like, listen?
SPEAKER_00You want to blame you both in the same thing?
SPEAKER_04It's right here. It's Genesis 3, 11 through 12.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_04Who told you that you were naked? The Lord God asked. Have you eaten from the tree whose fruit I commanded you not to eat? Rhetorical question. And the man replied, It was the woman you gave me. Yeah. And I ate it. Like, yes. Yes, fine. I hate it. I hate it.
SPEAKER_02But it wasn't my fault.
SPEAKER_04Correct. And here's why.
SPEAKER_02It wasn't my idea.
SPEAKER_04And here's why. She gave it to me and you gave her to me.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_04This is really, I mean, I've got two excuses here.
SPEAKER_02Her and you. And the only reason you didn't blame anybody else because nobody else was there yet.
SPEAKER_04Right. Right. He couldn't blame the tiger. Yeah. Think about it though. Like, think about the guts you have to have.
SPEAKER_07Mm-hmm.
SPEAKER_04Yeah. Think about the audacity. Think about how prideful you have to be. How arrogant, how self-centered. Like, let's take it away from guts and let's make it a really personal thing. How prideful, arrogant, and self-centered you have to be to be like, you know what? God, it's not only her fault, but it's your fault. It's not only his fault, but it's your fault.
SPEAKER_02First things that come, like Amanda said, shame and blame.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Shame and blame.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. And there's never accountability. Like we as a human race don't love accountability. Like, we're never going to be the first to be like, I own it. Yep. I screwed up there. I really messed that one up. That was all me. We never like Okay, I'm not gonna overgeneralize and say we never do it.
SPEAKER_04It's really hard.
SPEAKER_00But it's really hard to just have that be our natural inclination.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, for sure.
SPEAKER_00To take ownership.
SPEAKER_04Yeah. But what happened was because of that distortion, then sin it doesn't just separate us from God. It does. But not only that, it begins to separate us from each other.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_04Right? That's what happened there in that moment. Is first he asked uh Eve, and she's like, Well, it's the serpent, and he tempted me. Like, why did you put him here in the first place? That kind of idea. And then he's like, Well, Adam, what about you? And he's like, Well, funny you ask. You should know it's your fault. Right? Like, nobody wants to take blame. And we begin to be separated.
SPEAKER_00Like Adam wasn't like, hey, I'm sorry for my miscommunication there. Clearly, I wasn't clear enough with you. I'm gonna own that. Like, I'm gonna take that. Oh, and I'm sorry. I should when you offered me the fruit, I probably should have said, No, Eve, that's a really bad idea. We shouldn't do that.
SPEAKER_04Yeah. You know, you know what's yeah, that's such an interesting point of like that should have like when she grabbed the fruit and was getting ready to hand it to him, that should have even proved, oh, we can touch it and not die.
unknownYeah.
SPEAKER_04You know what I mean? But when they ate it, their eyes were opened. Yeah. Yeah. And he should have been like, Whoa, whoa, we're playing a fire. You're touching the fruit that we shouldn't eat.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_04But he's like, no, let's eat the fruit we shouldn't eat.
SPEAKER_01It's just 100%.
SPEAKER_04Instead of owning it, we're gonna just blame and shame and divide.
SPEAKER_03And that could have been an opportunity for the like the first game of baseball to be played or something. Take the fruit, toss it in a little bit. Like the fruit.
SPEAKER_00Typical Brad of seven, turning everything optimistic. Look at that.
SPEAKER_04Played some tennis. Pickleball. Yeah, could have not wasted those complex carbs that had. It would have been called Apple Ball instead of pickleball. That's really funny. I like that. So what how we ended the sermon yesterday was what God designed, Satan distorted, right? Like the the most basic coming back to our thesis. God designed it, Satan distorted, right? So God designed intimacy, distorted into hiding, designed identity into confusion, purpose into striving, relationships into division.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_04Right? Now, I said this is a thing, and Amanda, you kind of even hit on this a little bit earlier. But the the this was kind of like we need to understand Satan does not have creative authority. He only has deceptive influence.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_04Now, we don't need to be scared. We don't need to wonder, man, what does his authority look like? What is his creative authority?
SPEAKER_01Like, yeah.
SPEAKER_04Don't be scared about it. Just be aware that he has deceptive influence and his goal is to deceive each and every one of us.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. And I think we give Satan far too much credit. Like, oftentimes in a lot of these conversations, we give him so much credit. And it's like, oh, spiritual warfare again, the enemy's at me. And it's like, well, yeah, you're probably right. But it's also what decisions are you making? What decisions are you not making? What choices are being made or haven't been made over a ti a period of time? Like quit giving the enemy so much credit. Like to like trample him with like Yeah. Yeah.
SPEAKER_04It's like, oh, I've got heartburn. He must be at me again. No, I bet it was the fourth pizza pizza you had. Right? Like it's not that not everything is some of it worker. Yeah. Some of it's just like, nope, God designed your body to not go through that every meal.
SPEAKER_00But in that, like, it's taking the ownership of it. It's like, oh man, yeah, that was my lack of self-control when I was eating it. So now I have a consequence of pain and heartburn and things like that. You know.
SPEAKER_04Yes. Yes. And so when we look at his deceptive influence, what that means is he twists, he counterfeits, he perverts, and like we've said all day, he distorts. When he does that, his deceptive influence is going to play out in a bunch of areas, but these are the ones we looked at yesterday as we close. Sexuality, identity, purpose, marriage, power, success, worship, and truth. And when we look at it that way, we see how much is at stake.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_04God designed it all perfectly. It's been distorted strategically by Satan. And now over the next couple weeks, we'll talk about that distortion. We'll talk about redemption and how God has put together a plan to begin to redeem it while we're here on earth before we are redeemed fully in heaven.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_04Good is there anything else you guys want to add before we deuce out of here?
SPEAKER_00No, I don't think so.
SPEAKER_04Okay. All right. Uh, Amanda, you want to pray for us? Sure. And then we will get out of here.
SPEAKER_00Dear Lord, thank you so much for this beautiful day that you've given to us and thank you for your truth. Thank you for your guidance and your wisdom that you continue to pour out. I just pray for the listener and for all of our hearts that we would be willing to receive your truth, that we would be willing to take ownership for uh the areas that we fall short in and for the decisions that we may or may not be making. Um and I pray just for our intimacy with you, Lord, that um we would seek to restore and uh desire your redemption um in the intimacy piece with our relationship with you, Lord, and uh just help keep us close. Help us to stay close to you, help us to stay connected to you, um, and help us to just crave more of your word, more of um communion with you in prayer, and just continue to strengthen us so that we can stand firm in what it is that you say is true. We thank you. We love you so much. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.
SPEAKER_04Amen. Amen. Amen. Hey, we love you all. We can't wait to continue the conversation next week. And I promise you, we will be back and we'll be better than we were today. Today there was a lot of rush. We'll be better. Have a great week.
SPEAKER_02See ya.
SPEAKER_00Over the high.