WEBVTT 00:00:00.160 --> 00:00:01.679 Thank you, Sam, for reading that. 00:00:01.760 --> 00:00:02.959 That was a bit of a read, right? 00:00:03.040 --> 00:00:03.839 Y'all hung in there. 00:00:03.919 --> 00:00:04.480 Good job. 00:00:04.879 --> 00:00:10.240 So we're entering a new series, and what we're going to be doing is uh we're going to be jumping through Genesis. 00:00:10.320 --> 00:00:21.039 And so what that means is it means we're not going to hit every story, but we're going to hit some of the really big stories as we just go through the book of Genesis for the next uh few months, next couple months. 00:00:21.120 --> 00:00:24.960 And so we'll be hitting some stories, probably that you're very familiar with. 00:00:25.039 --> 00:00:28.480 So even this story, uh, you've been around church, you're like, I know this one. 00:00:28.640 --> 00:00:30.320 All right, here we go, here we go. 00:00:30.399 --> 00:00:34.159 You know, and so I'm saying please don't tune me out too quickly here. 00:00:34.320 --> 00:00:35.759 Hang, hang in there. 00:00:36.000 --> 00:00:44.880 Because even this week is, I mean, who knows how many times I have read this story, I've heard this story, I have preached this story, I've heard other people preach this story. 00:00:44.960 --> 00:00:57.520 Um, but even this week, it was as I was reading it and studying it and spending time thinking about it, it's like layer after layer after layer of truth and goodness um in this story that seems uh quite disastrous, really. 00:00:57.679 --> 00:01:00.079 Um and so maybe maybe the story's new for you. 00:01:00.399 --> 00:01:01.439 You know, that's possible. 00:01:01.600 --> 00:01:15.599 Um maybe you've been around church, um, but for whatever reason, just the story never came up, or maybe you haven't been around church at all, and you're going, oh, I've heard of the Adam and Eve thing, you know, kind of sort of those characters, um, but I haven't quite heard the story. 00:01:15.840 --> 00:01:22.640 So I'm gonna tell the story and make a few points, um, and then we'll close with with hopefully something that's that's good for you. 00:01:22.799 --> 00:01:34.560 So the Bible says God created a man, and this was Adam, and then out of Adam, uh, the Bible says that God created the woman, which we know as Eve, and they lived happily, not just happily, they lived perfectly. 00:01:34.799 --> 00:01:36.959 I mean, harmony with each other. 00:01:37.120 --> 00:01:37.519 Amen. 00:01:37.680 --> 00:01:38.239 Imagine that. 00:01:38.400 --> 00:01:38.799 Anybody? 00:01:38.959 --> 00:01:47.040 Can you possibly imagine perfect harmony with another person, much less the other gender and perfect harmony. 00:01:47.200 --> 00:01:52.959 Perfect harmony with God, perfect harmony, joy and peace, fulfillment. 00:01:53.120 --> 00:01:56.560 There's no despair, there's no fear, there's no shame, there's no inadequacy. 00:01:56.719 --> 00:01:57.680 There was nothing. 00:01:57.840 --> 00:01:59.599 And in fact, they were naked. 00:01:59.920 --> 00:02:02.079 That's how comfortable they were. 00:02:02.319 --> 00:02:06.799 They were naked, and there was no fear of anything. 00:02:07.519 --> 00:02:08.879 There's only one rule, right? 00:02:08.960 --> 00:02:11.439 We heard the rule: don't eat of the tree in the middle of the garden. 00:02:12.240 --> 00:02:17.120 All the other trees are yours, just don't eat of the tree in the middle of the garden. 00:02:17.280 --> 00:02:21.599 And then the source of lies, Satan, the liar. 00:02:22.159 --> 00:02:30.319 He comes up because, see, years sometime ago, sometime before this, he decided he was going to try to make himself happy outside of God. 00:02:30.479 --> 00:02:33.039 And so out of that, he becomes the liar. 00:02:33.199 --> 00:02:45.919 He is miserable, and he's going, I'm gonna drag more and more people, as much as I can come against God, I'm gonna drag his creation out of his realm and bring it into my misery that I am in. 00:02:46.080 --> 00:02:54.000 And so he sneaks up as a serpent on Eve and he says, Did God really say you must not eat of any tree in the garden? 00:02:54.240 --> 00:02:58.879 You're like, well, actually, that's not what God said, so it's sort of like the question itself is leading. 00:02:58.960 --> 00:03:01.439 Um, because God just said, Don't eat of one tree. 00:03:01.520 --> 00:03:04.639 But then in the question, he says, Did God say, Don't eat of any tree? 00:03:04.800 --> 00:03:05.039 Right? 00:03:05.199 --> 00:03:10.719 I mean, you know this moment when the twisted truth, like the twisted question. 00:03:11.120 --> 00:03:13.759 Did he really say not to live that way? 00:03:14.000 --> 00:03:18.080 Did he really say, did he really say that he loves you no matter what? 00:03:18.319 --> 00:03:20.639 I mean, did he really say that? 00:03:21.520 --> 00:03:22.639 Does he really love you? 00:03:22.800 --> 00:03:24.879 Does he really see you or care for you? 00:03:25.039 --> 00:03:27.599 Is he really with you in all things? 00:03:27.759 --> 00:03:32.719 Because perhaps you're going through something and you're going, I'm finding that a little hard to believe right now. 00:03:33.840 --> 00:03:38.000 We know these questions that come against us that are formed in lies. 00:03:38.080 --> 00:03:48.879 And Eve replies back and says, Well, we may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, but God did say, You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die. 00:03:49.039 --> 00:03:51.680 And then the serpent says, Oh, you you won't die. 00:03:52.479 --> 00:03:53.599 You won't die? 00:03:53.919 --> 00:03:56.960 For God knows that when you eat it, your eyes will be open. 00:03:57.199 --> 00:03:59.680 You will be like God, you will live. 00:04:01.120 --> 00:04:06.560 Make yourself happy outside of God, is what the serpent is saying. 00:04:07.840 --> 00:04:10.960 And it's a pe it's it's an appeal to our pride. 00:04:12.080 --> 00:04:13.199 That's what it is. 00:04:14.639 --> 00:04:16.720 Does he really care for me? 00:04:17.279 --> 00:04:20.560 Or am I better off on my own? 00:04:21.360 --> 00:04:24.480 This question, this isn't just a question for people who live secular lives. 00:04:24.560 --> 00:04:27.120 This is a question for people who live Christian lives. 00:04:27.279 --> 00:04:30.560 We can be on our own in the Christian world. 00:04:31.040 --> 00:04:40.160 And we're just gonna prove it and we're gonna do it by our own strength rather than continuing to rest and place faith and trust in what Jesus has done for us. 00:04:43.120 --> 00:04:46.480 This is quite this question is the question that haunts us over and over again. 00:04:46.639 --> 00:04:50.240 Does he really care for me or am I really best on my own? 00:04:50.399 --> 00:04:51.120 But she was in. 00:04:51.199 --> 00:04:51.839 She bought in. 00:04:51.920 --> 00:04:58.160 Eve bought in, and her heart fractured from her creator, and so she ate. 00:04:58.399 --> 00:04:58.720 Right? 00:04:58.800 --> 00:04:59.600 She ate the fruit. 00:04:59.680 --> 00:05:00.959 We always get the picture of an apple. 00:05:01.040 --> 00:05:06.240 She ate the fruit, and then she gave some to her husband, and everything broke. 00:05:06.480 --> 00:05:07.519 Everything broke. 00:05:07.680 --> 00:05:10.639 I know most days we don't come in touch with a lot of this. 00:05:10.800 --> 00:05:32.000 Like inside, our inner beings aren't in touch with the amount of brokenness, but then we get it because our wife gets cancer, or there's that disaster in our family, or something with our child happens, or you find out about that abuse, or you do that thing that you never thought you would do. 00:05:32.879 --> 00:05:45.680 Or maybe it's when the news quits being the like rambling entertainment, and you go, 21 people were beheaded this week for believing something that another group of people don't believe? 00:05:47.040 --> 00:05:49.279 You go, God, this is broken. 00:05:49.759 --> 00:05:52.639 I mean, this is just incredibly broken. 00:05:53.040 --> 00:05:58.560 Or maybe you just know the brokenness on the personal level, that lie that I can't really trust them. 00:06:00.160 --> 00:06:03.199 There's still so much wrong with me. 00:06:03.519 --> 00:06:05.519 So we get verse 7. 00:06:06.319 --> 00:06:14.959 Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked, or naked, if you're from where I'm around where I'm from. 00:06:15.360 --> 00:06:20.639 So they sewed fig leaves together and they made coverings for themselves. 00:06:20.879 --> 00:06:25.759 They were never ashamed before this moment, but now everything is different, and they cover. 00:06:25.839 --> 00:06:26.959 We've been covering ever since. 00:06:27.040 --> 00:06:29.040 We've talked about this over and over and over again in our church. 00:06:29.120 --> 00:06:30.319 We'll continue to talk about it. 00:06:30.480 --> 00:06:35.279 They make these little temporary little jungle book clothes and they cover themselves. 00:06:35.439 --> 00:06:48.160 And we do it now, and we do it with work, and we do it with achievement, we do it with approval, we do it with power, we do it with control, and we just keep covering our shame. 00:06:49.360 --> 00:06:57.040 And if you aren't aware of the fact that you are doing it even now, then you are being controlled by it. 00:06:58.399 --> 00:07:07.600 And then all of a sudden they hear the Lord God walking in the garden, and you have to you have to know that before, they would have never reacted the way they did. 00:07:08.160 --> 00:07:09.759 They would have never ran. 00:07:12.240 --> 00:07:13.199 And they run. 00:07:15.920 --> 00:07:17.040 Because they're ashamed. 00:07:18.079 --> 00:07:20.000 And out of their shame, they're afraid. 00:07:20.720 --> 00:07:23.519 And out of their fear, they behave. 00:07:24.480 --> 00:07:28.319 And so they run and they hide behind some bushes. 00:07:30.800 --> 00:07:33.920 And the Lord doesn't turn around and walk out of the garden. 00:07:34.879 --> 00:07:36.639 He comes toward them. 00:07:37.920 --> 00:07:38.800 Where are you? 00:07:39.040 --> 00:07:39.600 Right? 00:07:39.839 --> 00:07:40.879 It's always the question. 00:07:41.040 --> 00:07:42.480 He's still what he asks us. 00:07:42.879 --> 00:07:43.439 Where are you at? 00:07:43.519 --> 00:07:44.000 What are you doing? 00:07:44.319 --> 00:07:44.959 Why are you doing that? 00:07:45.279 --> 00:07:45.920 Where are you? 00:07:46.160 --> 00:07:48.000 See, he's pursuing them. 00:07:48.319 --> 00:07:49.279 He's after them. 00:07:49.439 --> 00:07:55.279 We've been hiding and covering, and he's been pursuing us ever since this fracture. 00:07:57.680 --> 00:08:03.199 So they heard him, and you gotta wonder how long was that moment behind the bushes and what was that moment like? 00:08:05.360 --> 00:08:07.680 You know, Eve, prodden them. 00:08:08.480 --> 00:08:10.480 Adam, you better get out there. 00:08:10.720 --> 00:08:12.240 You are going out first. 00:08:12.399 --> 00:08:13.600 I'm not going out first. 00:08:13.680 --> 00:08:15.439 You are you you fed me the apple. 00:08:15.519 --> 00:08:25.839 I mean, you gotta wonder how long that moment was, and finally, Adam mans up and he steps out, he speaks up, and he's got to be terrified for what possibly could go down in this moment. 00:08:26.000 --> 00:08:33.200 He says, I heard you in the garden and I was afraid because I was naked, so I hid. 00:08:33.360 --> 00:08:35.360 Who told you you were naked is what the Lord says. 00:08:35.519 --> 00:08:36.480 Who told you you were naked? 00:08:36.559 --> 00:08:40.960 How do you have knowledge about the existence of shame and fear? 00:08:41.120 --> 00:08:43.440 How do you have knowledge about this stuff? 00:08:44.799 --> 00:08:47.039 And then Adam starts the blame game, right? 00:08:47.279 --> 00:08:54.159 Well, the woman made me eat it, and then, you know, I guess Eve's kind of wandered out at this point. 00:08:54.320 --> 00:08:57.679 Um, well, the serpent, you know, made me eat it. 00:08:57.919 --> 00:09:02.639 Um, and neither of them, neither of them just say, you know what? 00:09:03.279 --> 00:09:04.240 It's me. 00:09:05.679 --> 00:09:06.879 I'm the problem. 00:09:08.399 --> 00:09:10.320 I am the sinner. 00:09:10.960 --> 00:09:23.200 It's not that other group, it's not that other church, it's not that other co-worker, it's not that other person, it's not that it's not her, it's not him, it's me. 00:09:24.559 --> 00:09:25.679 I'm the sinner. 00:09:26.399 --> 00:09:34.240 Maybe you even hear that word sin and you think, man, how how negative, like how traditional, how, how 1950s of a word, this word sin. 00:09:34.399 --> 00:09:39.759 Well, it's not really negative, it's just realistic, because it's true. 00:09:40.559 --> 00:09:45.039 Because only the reality of sin opens us up to intervention. 00:09:45.360 --> 00:09:51.840 See, if you just call it relativism, if it's all just relative choices, you have no ability to speak against it. 00:09:53.759 --> 00:10:03.600 If it's just relative choices, you have no ability to for justice or redemption, because it's it's fine to them or to you or to him or to her. 00:10:03.840 --> 00:10:09.840 See, the the doctrine of sin is actually in this, it's the beginning of our hope because we are this. 00:10:10.080 --> 00:10:11.919 We are, we're sinners. 00:10:12.399 --> 00:10:14.080 It's the starting point. 00:10:14.399 --> 00:10:18.480 And there's sin in the world, and we all need rescuing. 00:10:18.639 --> 00:10:20.480 So there's the story. 00:10:21.039 --> 00:10:21.840 Four points. 00:10:21.919 --> 00:10:25.360 Uh there's four points here in the story that that jump out. 00:10:25.679 --> 00:10:30.480 Four forms of alienation that come out of the sin. 00:10:30.879 --> 00:10:41.679 And the first is, and this is in verse 14 and 15, sin creates, I don't know if this is a great sentence structure, sin creates creational alienation. 00:10:41.840 --> 00:10:42.799 What am I talking about? 00:10:42.960 --> 00:10:44.000 Romans 8. 00:10:44.320 --> 00:10:48.159 Romans 8, all creation is subjected to futility and pain. 00:10:48.320 --> 00:10:51.120 So creation itself was fractured. 00:10:51.279 --> 00:10:54.000 The world is not working like it should. 00:10:54.159 --> 00:11:04.000 Those earthquakes, those tornadoes, the violence where there is peace, there's now strife, where there is fullness and perfect orchestration, it's not that way. 00:11:04.639 --> 00:11:06.159 Creation is broken. 00:11:06.559 --> 00:11:08.159 We live in a broken world. 00:11:08.320 --> 00:11:12.240 The Bible even says that creation groans for redemption. 00:11:12.399 --> 00:11:15.200 So, number one, sin creates creational alienation. 00:11:15.360 --> 00:11:19.440 Number two, sin creates relational alienation. 00:11:20.399 --> 00:11:29.039 So we saw them hide, we saw them blaming each other, and then we get verse 16, and the Lord is speaking to Eve. 00:11:29.759 --> 00:11:32.799 I will make your pains and childbearing very severe. 00:11:33.120 --> 00:11:35.919 With painful labor, you will give birth to children. 00:11:36.159 --> 00:11:42.559 Your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you. 00:11:43.039 --> 00:11:43.919 Who loves that verse? 00:11:44.000 --> 00:11:45.919 You know, there's there's the one to memorize this week. 00:11:46.080 --> 00:11:48.240 I mean, we're not sure about that, are we? 00:11:48.399 --> 00:11:50.000 We're just not sure about that verse. 00:11:50.080 --> 00:11:53.039 Uh, your desire will be for your husband, he's gonna rule over you. 00:11:53.279 --> 00:11:54.480 I don't know, but I don't like that one. 00:11:54.559 --> 00:11:56.720 That's not one I'm gonna memorize, I'm gonna forget that one. 00:11:56.960 --> 00:12:05.840 Um what this is saying is it's saying a woman's desire from now on will be for her husband's approval. 00:12:07.519 --> 00:12:11.120 That's not a real popular statement, 2015. 00:12:12.639 --> 00:12:16.720 But underneath kind of the suppression of the reality of that, right? 00:12:16.799 --> 00:12:22.879 And that's what it is, is that's just suppressed the reality that that's inside of women. 00:12:23.600 --> 00:12:33.200 Um women have the ability to make an idol out of the relationship, to look to their husband for that need of now, I'm a person. 00:12:34.080 --> 00:12:36.320 Oh, he sees me, now I'm seen. 00:12:36.480 --> 00:12:39.200 Oh, he has spoken approval, now I'm approved. 00:12:39.440 --> 00:12:44.879 And if he withholds, if he withholds something, now it's all broken, it's all horrible. 00:12:45.039 --> 00:12:47.120 This is what this verse is talking about. 00:12:47.279 --> 00:12:52.879 And when you create an idol out of the relationship, it doesn't mean, oh, well, we're just she's just focused on the relationship. 00:12:52.960 --> 00:12:54.000 It's healthy for it. 00:12:54.159 --> 00:12:55.360 No, this is different. 00:12:55.679 --> 00:13:02.000 An idol out of it creates too much pressure and it leads to alienation rather than intimacy. 00:13:02.639 --> 00:13:05.200 So that's number two, sin creates relational alienation. 00:13:05.360 --> 00:13:08.799 Number three, sin creates vocational alienation. 00:13:08.960 --> 00:13:12.879 And so verses 17 through 19, and the Lord is speaking to Adam. 00:13:13.039 --> 00:13:22.720 Isn't it interesting that we see sin create relational alienation to women, and then we we see sin create vocational alienation with men? 00:13:22.799 --> 00:13:28.000 And maybe you're going, man, that is traditional as traditional can get, but there's some truth in this. 00:13:28.399 --> 00:13:29.039 Listen to this. 00:13:29.440 --> 00:13:30.240 Verse 17. 00:13:30.480 --> 00:13:32.879 Cursed is the ground because of you. 00:13:33.120 --> 00:13:37.679 Through painful toil, you will eat food from it all the days of your life. 00:13:37.759 --> 00:13:42.240 It will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat the plants of the field. 00:13:42.399 --> 00:13:52.080 By the sweat of your brow, you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it you are taken, for dust you are, and to dust you will return. 00:13:53.679 --> 00:14:01.840 Now, we're going to see in a little bit in Romans 5 that all of humanity we can pull some truths out of Adam. 00:14:02.000 --> 00:14:03.919 That we all come from Adam. 00:14:04.159 --> 00:14:07.759 Men, women, me, you, all of us in this room. 00:14:07.919 --> 00:14:14.320 So there's some truth to both of these: the relational alienation, the vocational alienation for all of us. 00:14:14.720 --> 00:14:18.320 But I think a lot of men can read this and we really associate. 00:14:18.480 --> 00:14:19.519 We associate with this. 00:14:19.679 --> 00:14:22.159 We know what we want to do, but we can't. 00:14:22.480 --> 00:14:26.000 We know what we want to create, and we don't get the opportunity. 00:14:26.720 --> 00:14:30.799 We have the dream and it just doesn't happen. 00:14:32.240 --> 00:14:38.320 And then when you get there, it is so absolutely difficult, or it's not what you thought it would be. 00:14:38.639 --> 00:14:43.679 There's just so many thorns on the plant, and you just didn't think they were going to be there. 00:14:45.919 --> 00:14:47.039 And so work is good. 00:14:47.200 --> 00:14:50.879 Work was created before the fall, but now it is hard. 00:14:52.399 --> 00:14:53.919 And it is difficult. 00:14:54.320 --> 00:14:56.240 And this is because of sin. 00:14:57.360 --> 00:15:04.720 Number four, last point, and it feeds all the other points, and this is this sin creates spiritual alienation. 00:15:04.879 --> 00:15:10.480 So we see in Romans 5, sin entered through one man, and in this way to all of us. 00:15:10.639 --> 00:15:13.200 So we're all self-bent, we've been away from God. 00:15:13.440 --> 00:15:16.480 And this alienation, this is a separation, this is a chasm. 00:15:16.559 --> 00:15:20.720 This isn't um, this isn't the creek in your backyard you can jump over when you get a lot of energy up. 00:15:20.879 --> 00:15:22.720 This is Grand Canyon stuff. 00:15:22.879 --> 00:15:23.120 Okay? 00:15:23.279 --> 00:15:24.559 There's no jumping. 00:15:24.799 --> 00:15:29.759 Um, you and your greatness and your power bar, you're not getting over the canyon. 00:15:29.840 --> 00:15:31.120 It's not happening. 00:15:31.279 --> 00:15:34.320 You're not getting over that fear and that shame. 00:15:34.960 --> 00:15:40.720 But, but, Romans 5, 15, but the gift is not like the trespass. 00:15:40.960 --> 00:15:54.080 For if the many died by the trespass of the one man, meaning Adam, how much more did God's grace and the gift that came by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, overflow to the many? 00:15:54.240 --> 00:15:57.919 So there's the Grand Canyon separation, the impossibility. 00:15:59.200 --> 00:16:01.600 And then when that cross came down, yeah. 00:16:01.679 --> 00:16:16.879 I mean, if you've been around church a long time, maybe Baptist church, we we always had the diagrams like on the felt board or whatever, you know, the teacher would draw it, and you would have like the Grand Canyon, and then the cross would come down in between the canyon, and the cross was the bridge, right? 00:16:17.039 --> 00:16:17.919 Anyone with me? 00:16:18.159 --> 00:16:18.879 You remember it? 00:16:18.960 --> 00:16:19.840 Some of you? 00:16:20.080 --> 00:16:21.279 It's true. 00:16:21.519 --> 00:16:25.919 All right, like, all right, we we can make fun of it, it can be cheesy or whatever, but it's good. 00:16:26.000 --> 00:16:28.639 That's a good picture for us to grab a hold of. 00:16:28.799 --> 00:16:32.799 Now, here's the even greater good of it. 00:16:32.879 --> 00:16:38.960 Is it's not us walking across the cross over to God because we are so we're dead. 00:16:39.120 --> 00:16:40.240 We're not moving. 00:16:40.559 --> 00:16:48.320 We are ashamed, we are afraid, we are hiding behind the bushes, and He is coming toward us. 00:16:50.960 --> 00:16:53.679 That's a really good picture for us to grab hold of. 00:16:54.960 --> 00:16:57.759 Friday night, I was watching Care Bears. 00:16:58.000 --> 00:17:01.039 Uh, that's right, I'm secure enough to admit this. 00:17:01.200 --> 00:17:03.600 I wasn't by myself, that would just be weird. 00:17:03.840 --> 00:17:12.720 I was with uh my three little girls and we're watching the Care Bears, and Wonderheart's belly badge powers had not come in yet. 00:17:13.119 --> 00:17:17.039 Which is apparently a big deal in Care Bear Land. 00:17:17.119 --> 00:17:18.559 Does Care Bear Land have a name? 00:17:18.799 --> 00:17:19.759 Anybody? 00:17:29.359 --> 00:17:31.200 And she's destroyed, nobody will accept her. 00:17:31.279 --> 00:17:36.079 Um she's going around like group to group trying to get acceptance in these different groups, and she can't get acceptance. 00:17:36.240 --> 00:17:52.880 And so she goes over to Uncle Tenderheart, and apparently Tinderheart, he's the man in Care Bear Land, and he has some Wish Heart bracelets, eight of them, and these wish heart bracelets, when you have them, it's you can you can manipulate and you can pretend like you have powers. 00:17:53.039 --> 00:17:56.160 So what she does is she steals them. 00:17:56.640 --> 00:18:06.240 And so she has eight wish bracelet powers now that she can go back to all her friends and she can pretend and she can perform. 00:18:07.759 --> 00:18:08.799 Are you liking the story? 00:18:09.839 --> 00:18:19.039 I'm watching this and I'm going, this is humanity, this is me, this is you, this is life, this is what we do, and it's in Care Bear's. 00:18:20.000 --> 00:18:22.960 So you know the story, and it's a gripping plot. 00:18:23.039 --> 00:18:24.480 I don't want to tell too much, right? 00:18:24.559 --> 00:18:27.039 Like in case you watch it, because it's nail biting. 00:18:27.200 --> 00:18:32.000 But basically, out of her shame and out of her fear, she creates a mess. 00:18:32.160 --> 00:18:34.240 She creates a huge mess. 00:18:34.400 --> 00:18:35.440 And I'm just watching it. 00:18:35.519 --> 00:18:41.359 I'm going, man, I I know, I know what little Wonder Heart's feeling. 00:18:41.519 --> 00:18:45.119 I know that anxiety, I know that pressure, I know that fear. 00:18:45.279 --> 00:18:48.960 Like I'm her, I'm a care bearer, is what I'm saying. 00:18:49.039 --> 00:18:52.559 Um, and I would love, I would love to be beyond it. 00:18:52.640 --> 00:18:54.160 I would love to say I'm beyond it. 00:18:54.240 --> 00:19:03.039 I would love to say I'm so mature, I'm so rooted that there's, you know, there's never any shame or fear that drives some behavior. 00:19:05.440 --> 00:19:05.839 Right? 00:19:06.000 --> 00:19:25.920 But I would say probably once a week there's like this mini crisis inside of me that's like what she was going through of shame and fear and inadequacy, and like, does he really care for me or am I best on my own? 00:19:26.079 --> 00:19:31.200 And and there's this fight to remember everything that's true. 00:19:32.480 --> 00:19:36.799 So I I have uh a friend of mine, we'll call him Andy, so I don't use his real name. 00:19:36.880 --> 00:19:40.160 And Andy, uh Andy was always a Boy Scout. 00:19:40.319 --> 00:19:45.200 Uh and when I say that I mean uh the metaphor, he was the good kid. 00:19:45.440 --> 00:20:00.000 He saw some things when he was younger in his family, and when he saw them, he said, Well, I'm not going that way, I'm going this way, because in this way is the way that I am going, I'm gonna be good, I'm gonna be the better, I'm gonna be the best, and this is the way I'm headed. 00:20:00.079 --> 00:20:02.880 And from a very, very early age, that was it. 00:20:02.960 --> 00:20:09.119 That was his path to approval and to acceptance was out-achieve everybody else. 00:20:09.359 --> 00:20:12.720 But behind this was this haunting question. 00:20:13.039 --> 00:20:16.160 This haunting question, do I belong? 00:20:18.000 --> 00:20:22.000 It's kind of what Wonderheart was asking yourself. 00:20:22.400 --> 00:20:26.720 And so he eventually became the CFO of a very large, successful company. 00:20:26.880 --> 00:20:30.799 Um he was on the senior leadership team, he helped build the company. 00:20:30.960 --> 00:20:35.680 I mean, he would, he was, he was, it was, he was the boys at the top, like that make the decisions, right? 00:20:35.839 --> 00:20:36.880 I mean, he belonged. 00:20:37.039 --> 00:20:39.200 If anybody belonged, it was him. 00:20:40.000 --> 00:20:48.000 He's like number two in charge, and they're making decisions, they're running things, they're taking ground, they're, you know, I mean, so he is, he's it. 00:20:48.079 --> 00:20:48.960 He's done it. 00:20:49.119 --> 00:20:50.000 He's done it. 00:20:50.160 --> 00:21:17.680 And so 2007, 2008 hit, and uh the bottom drops off uh economically, and so they have to make cuts in his company, and so the senior leadership team, they gather together on a Friday and they plow through and they decide who's getting cut, and he goes home for that weekend, and he comes back Monday and he walks into his friend's office, the CEO, his buddy, the one that he belongs with, and he's been cut. 00:21:19.680 --> 00:21:34.480 And he was devastated because not only did he get fired, it cut to the core of a question of some shame that he had been fighting to cover his entire life. 00:21:35.119 --> 00:21:37.599 Do I belong? 00:21:42.160 --> 00:21:44.799 He had worked his way into acceptance. 00:21:44.960 --> 00:21:45.920 We do this. 00:21:46.640 --> 00:21:47.839 It's not the way to go. 00:21:48.079 --> 00:21:50.559 Working your way into acceptance is not the way to go. 00:21:50.880 --> 00:21:55.039 He had insulated himself with success and still he didn't belong. 00:21:55.200 --> 00:21:56.880 Uh, my friend, he was crushed. 00:21:57.039 --> 00:21:57.759 He was crushed. 00:21:57.839 --> 00:22:00.319 He had to disc he had to discover the gospel. 00:22:01.759 --> 00:22:09.119 Because that makeshift fig leaf that he had sewn together, it was ripped away from him. 00:22:10.559 --> 00:22:14.559 But the good news is he received something much better. 00:22:14.640 --> 00:22:16.000 And we see it in the story. 00:22:16.160 --> 00:22:23.839 We see it in Genesis 3, because once Adam and Eve they come out of the bushes, they come out of the hiding, they're so scared, they're so ashamed. 00:22:24.000 --> 00:22:28.240 And the most lopsided trade in history occurs. 00:22:28.960 --> 00:22:31.279 And it has been going on ever since. 00:22:32.000 --> 00:22:36.079 Because what God does is God He makes clothes for them. 00:22:38.079 --> 00:22:40.720 The skin of an animal, leather clothes. 00:22:40.880 --> 00:22:47.119 It's a beautiful picture for us to grab onto this morning and for our lives that He provides for them. 00:22:47.440 --> 00:22:51.519 He gives to them, He covers them, He does it with the skin of an animal. 00:22:51.680 --> 00:23:04.880 Thousands of years later, He does it with His own skin, his own self, His own body dying on the cross to cover us so we don't have to keep covering our own shame and our own fear. 00:23:05.039 --> 00:23:11.519 But we can know in our shame and in our fear, the incarnate love of God is true for us. 00:23:12.960 --> 00:23:14.559 And He loves us. 00:23:15.279 --> 00:23:38.079 And the blood of Jesus is enough for us, that we are covered, that He knows us and He sees us, and He chose to die for us so that we can be redeemed and we can begin to trust in Him and begin to know healing us pray together. 00:23:51.279 --> 00:23:57.599 God, we confess that we cover our shame and fear rather than facing it. 00:24:00.319 --> 00:24:02.319 Rather than letting you into it. 00:24:04.880 --> 00:24:20.480 And we do it with religion, and we do it with work, and we do it with relationships, and we do it with achievement, and we we do it with debauchery, we do we do it with we'll do it with anything, and God we confess that we do this. 00:24:22.240 --> 00:24:23.599 Would you help us? 00:24:24.160 --> 00:24:33.759 Would you help us to receive from you your covering for us rather than us going to manufacture our own covering? 00:24:34.880 --> 00:24:35.839 We need you. 00:24:37.440 --> 00:24:43.200 Would you help us open our hearts in greater ways to you? 00:24:43.599 --> 00:24:53.119 And for many of us that have never placed faith in you, entrusted you as Savior, as our own covering over our sin and shame. 00:24:54.240 --> 00:24:56.559 Would this morning be the time we do so? 00:24:56.799 --> 00:24:57.599 In Jesus' name. 00:24:58.079 --> 00:24:58.640 Amen.