WEBVTT 00:00:01.760 --> 00:00:04.240 Thanks for listening to the His Hands Church podcast. 00:00:04.400 --> 00:00:12.880 If you're using the His Hands Church mobile app, please turn off the auto lock on your phone's general settings so that you can listen to the message uninterrupted. 00:00:12.960 --> 00:00:16.320 And thank you for being part of what God is doing at His Hands. 00:00:17.280 --> 00:00:18.480 Good morning. 00:00:19.359 --> 00:00:20.480 That was awesome. 00:00:20.800 --> 00:00:23.120 Had kind of a Holy Spirit moment during that last song. 00:00:24.480 --> 00:00:25.199 That was good. 00:00:25.600 --> 00:00:27.039 I'll have to talk about that in a second. 00:00:27.440 --> 00:00:29.679 If it's your first time here, welcome to His Hands. 00:00:29.839 --> 00:00:31.440 We are really excited that you're here. 00:00:32.000 --> 00:00:33.679 If it is your first time here, just know a couple things. 00:00:34.000 --> 00:00:37.119 We're just a bunch of normal people that really love Jesus and love each other. 00:00:37.200 --> 00:00:38.079 We're a big family. 00:00:38.399 --> 00:00:41.280 You can be yourself, you can be who you are, and just know that you're loved. 00:00:41.359 --> 00:00:44.159 We've got a couple quick announcements for you guys this morning. 00:00:44.560 --> 00:00:48.560 We've got a big, a big thing coming up in the next couple weeks. 00:00:48.640 --> 00:00:52.399 It's one of our biggest Sundays of the year, and it's Baptism Sunday. 00:00:52.640 --> 00:00:53.439 It's so exciting. 00:00:53.520 --> 00:00:54.719 It's Baptism Sunday. 00:00:54.880 --> 00:00:58.399 It's Sunday, November 10th, and there should be something on the screen. 00:00:58.479 --> 00:00:59.359 It's coming up here in just a second. 00:00:59.439 --> 00:01:01.439 It's kind of a cool picture of what Baptism Sunday is all about. 00:01:01.520 --> 00:01:02.640 But it's Sunday, November 10th. 00:01:02.719 --> 00:01:05.280 We have a sign-up table outside in the lobby. 00:01:05.439 --> 00:01:12.239 And you can sign up this morning to get baptized, or if you have children that are getting baptized, you don't have to sign up, but it helps us kind of know what to expect. 00:01:12.480 --> 00:01:17.760 This is a picture of a bunch of different walls that we have here in our baptism area. 00:01:17.840 --> 00:01:22.400 And we have this sort of tradition where when people get baptized, they sign their name on the wall. 00:01:22.560 --> 00:01:24.239 And so it's kind of hard to make out all of them. 00:01:24.319 --> 00:01:31.760 You know, we'd have to zoom in really closely to do it, but it's it's upwards of 800 something signatures, which is really exciting. 00:01:33.680 --> 00:01:36.719 And that's that's just that's just people going all in with Jesus. 00:01:36.799 --> 00:01:47.200 And so every time I walk back there, it is it is like a Holy Spirit time because it just shows you that God is working and He's moving and He is He's prompting us and leading us to go all in with Jesus. 00:01:47.280 --> 00:01:48.719 And so it's gonna be an incredible morning. 00:01:48.879 --> 00:01:49.840 Sunday, November 10th. 00:01:49.920 --> 00:01:50.719 You can sign up this morning. 00:01:50.799 --> 00:01:56.159 All you really need to know is to bring yourself a change of clothes, a couple towels, and even if you forget that stuff, we'll have extra. 00:01:56.239 --> 00:01:57.280 Uh, but it's gonna be amazing. 00:01:57.359 --> 00:02:08.240 And if you want to stay, this is something I encourage everyone to do if you never have, or even if you just have every time, because when you see 50-something, 60-something people go all in with Jesus, it is it is exciting. 00:02:08.319 --> 00:02:09.759 And the Holy Spirit is present. 00:02:09.840 --> 00:02:16.960 And so if you even if you just want to stay for an extra 30, 40 minutes and cheer on the people that are taking that next step, um, it's it's gonna be a great day. 00:02:17.199 --> 00:02:19.919 The next Sunday after that is gonna be Tailgate Sunday. 00:02:20.080 --> 00:02:24.879 It was on November 3rd, but we're moving it to November 17th, and that day is gonna be a blast as well. 00:02:25.120 --> 00:02:28.960 A little less spiritually significant, slightly, but uh, but still a lot of fun. 00:02:29.039 --> 00:02:32.000 We're gonna have we're gonna have a chili cook-off, we'll have sign-ups for that really soon. 00:02:32.080 --> 00:02:37.120 We're gonna have big inflatables for the kids and uh me and some other people. 00:02:37.360 --> 00:02:39.919 Um it's gonna be it's gonna be a lot of fun. 00:02:40.000 --> 00:02:46.560 We show the game up here on the big screen, uh, you know, 40 feet by 11 feet of HD awesomeness for for all of us that love football. 00:02:46.639 --> 00:02:51.039 And even if you don't love football, the Salisbury's are cooking food, so that's a reason to stay in and of itself. 00:02:51.199 --> 00:02:53.360 It's just gonna be a good day, a good day with our family. 00:02:53.520 --> 00:02:56.400 So that's uh the 17th, right after Baptism Sunday. 00:02:56.560 --> 00:02:59.759 It's gonna be awesome, and something that'll really help you keep track of all the things going on here. 00:03:00.000 --> 00:03:01.439 We have a mobile app that you can download. 00:03:01.520 --> 00:03:02.240 It's a free mobile app. 00:03:02.319 --> 00:03:07.039 Just search on your app store, uh, look for his hands and download that app, and all of our events are in there. 00:03:07.120 --> 00:03:13.919 So if you're ever curious about, man, what day was that or what's coming up, you can just go to the events page and it's all there, all the details that you would need to know. 00:03:14.080 --> 00:03:16.080 So, yeah, yay for technology. 00:03:16.319 --> 00:03:20.879 Um, only other thing I just want to mention is a big thank you to everyone who's who's helping us with giving. 00:03:20.960 --> 00:03:23.360 Uh, God is using it, he's doing some really cool things through it. 00:03:23.439 --> 00:03:33.120 One of the things that we've been doing this year, and we mention it a lot because it's it's it's exciting, it's exciting for me, is that we're giving 15% of everything that we're given back to the community through three local charities. 00:03:33.199 --> 00:03:36.719 There's the Hope Center, Papa's Pantry, and the Cherokee Family Violence Center. 00:03:36.800 --> 00:03:43.599 And so every time you give, know that it's not just going to what God's doing here, which is a worthy cause in and of itself, but it is going to support this community. 00:03:43.680 --> 00:03:44.879 And we need it to appreciate it. 00:03:44.960 --> 00:03:47.919 There's four columns on the back that you can uh you can use for giving. 00:03:48.000 --> 00:03:52.240 There's electronic giving, uh, paper, tangible, I don't know what to call it, old school giving. 00:03:52.319 --> 00:03:52.800 It's all good. 00:03:52.879 --> 00:03:53.280 It's all good. 00:03:53.360 --> 00:03:55.599 And God blesses all of it, and He promises to bless all of it. 00:03:55.680 --> 00:03:59.199 So uh let's pray and jump into what we're gonna talk about this morning. 00:04:00.080 --> 00:04:02.719 Jesus, thank you so much for uh for being with us this morning. 00:04:02.800 --> 00:04:04.319 Thank you for blessing us like you have. 00:04:04.400 --> 00:04:05.120 Uh, we love you. 00:04:05.199 --> 00:04:06.080 You're amazing. 00:04:06.319 --> 00:04:08.240 We just pray that you would speak to us through your word. 00:04:08.560 --> 00:04:11.439 You would teach us about who you are and about the life that you have for us. 00:04:11.520 --> 00:04:12.639 And we ask all this in your name. 00:04:12.800 --> 00:04:13.439 Amen. 00:04:13.759 --> 00:04:15.680 I forgot to unlock my computer screen. 00:04:15.759 --> 00:04:21.839 Uh the good news is I have my password hidden, so you guys should not be able to use this against me. 00:04:22.079 --> 00:04:23.279 Things that you forget. 00:04:23.519 --> 00:04:24.560 And boom, there we go. 00:04:24.720 --> 00:04:25.040 All right. 00:04:25.120 --> 00:04:29.519 Well, um, if you were here last Sunday, Ben Sykes started an exciting new series. 00:04:29.600 --> 00:04:30.560 It's a really exciting series. 00:04:30.639 --> 00:04:33.920 It's gonna take us all the way into the Christmas season. 00:04:34.079 --> 00:04:38.560 And and man, it was one of those things when Ben first showed me what he shared last week, it was about a year ago. 00:04:38.639 --> 00:04:42.399 I'll tell that story here in a little bit, but it affected me in an incredible way. 00:04:42.720 --> 00:04:50.560 God gave Ben this really, really creative and unique visual perspective on the entire story of the Bible. 00:04:50.800 --> 00:04:54.959 The Old Testament, the New Testament, stuff that hasn't even even happened yet. 00:04:55.120 --> 00:05:08.240 And so last week, Ben was on stage and we had a camera that he was he was drawing on a piece of paper, and that was up on the side screens, and he drew the entire history of the Bible, including Revelation and all of it, on a single piece of paper. 00:05:08.319 --> 00:05:11.839 But it wasn't just a line with some events written on it, it was it was a picture. 00:05:12.079 --> 00:05:14.240 It was really, really cool. 00:05:14.560 --> 00:05:15.199 We were just cool. 00:05:15.279 --> 00:05:18.319 There's some things in life that you can just look at, and it's okay to just be like, that is cool. 00:05:18.480 --> 00:05:19.360 And it was one of those things. 00:05:19.439 --> 00:05:20.160 It was just really cool. 00:05:20.240 --> 00:05:24.480 So if you weren't here last week, we have a video of that online on our YouTube channel that you can check out. 00:05:24.560 --> 00:05:28.959 There's a link on the bottom right corner of our website's homepage, and there's also a link on Facebook. 00:05:29.120 --> 00:05:30.879 Really want to encourage you to watch it. 00:05:31.040 --> 00:05:35.040 Because if you do, you're gonna see what God showed Ben, and it's really exciting. 00:05:35.120 --> 00:05:40.879 We're gonna spend the next eight weeks going through kind of each chapter of what Ben shared with us last week. 00:05:40.959 --> 00:05:45.360 So definitely check out that video, but we'll give you a little recap this morning in case you weren't here. 00:05:46.879 --> 00:05:49.839 In the drawing, Ben used trees as landmarks. 00:05:50.079 --> 00:05:51.040 And that works really well. 00:05:51.120 --> 00:05:59.199 If you have a significant tree in your yard, if you have a big willow tree, for example, and you're giving someone directions to your house, you might tell them when you see the big willow tree, you've arrived. 00:05:59.839 --> 00:06:07.759 And it's interesting because Ben sort of noticed that every time God shows up and gives his people this incredible new promise, there's a tree. 00:06:07.920 --> 00:06:10.879 And it could be that God just kind of has a thing for trees. 00:06:11.120 --> 00:06:16.720 The Bible sort of begins with a tree and ends with a tree, or it could just be, as Ben pointed out last week, that there are a lot of trees. 00:06:16.959 --> 00:06:20.720 So when God shows up, the likelihood of a tree being nearby is high. 00:06:20.959 --> 00:06:22.160 It's high. 00:06:22.800 --> 00:06:31.839 But every single time he shows up and gives this promise to his people, a new promise, there's either a literal tree or a figurative one that's there. 00:06:32.079 --> 00:06:35.120 There's a really cool thing that he noticed, and so he drew out six trees. 00:06:35.199 --> 00:06:36.079 We're gonna talk about seven. 00:06:36.240 --> 00:06:49.839 He drew out six trees, and they were they were represented by these little dots, and then he kind of talked about the history of what God has done and connected all those dots together in this really interesting way where it kind of swirled and didn't look like it was gonna line up, but it all came together, and then that seventh tree came at the very end. 00:06:50.000 --> 00:06:53.279 The entire drawing becomes a tree. 00:06:53.600 --> 00:06:59.759 And it's very fitting for us because as a church, trees have kind of become like our unofficial logo. 00:07:00.160 --> 00:07:02.240 Specifically one tree, and that's the tree of life. 00:07:02.319 --> 00:07:05.199 If you ever walk down the hallways here, if you're new, you're like, what are all these trees? 00:07:05.279 --> 00:07:06.879 Well, those are the tree of life. 00:07:07.519 --> 00:07:10.079 Marlon Yoder has gotten inspired to paint those. 00:07:10.160 --> 00:07:11.120 He's a decent painter. 00:07:11.279 --> 00:07:17.920 And so there's all these different trees that represent what we're really about as a church, and that's the tree of life. 00:07:18.000 --> 00:07:20.240 We're gonna talk about that this morning. 00:07:20.720 --> 00:07:25.279 But it's very fitting that the vision God gave Ben for this was a tree. 00:07:25.680 --> 00:07:37.680 And it was cool because as he was as he was talking last week at the very end, and after he drew the tree that his drawing becomes, he was telling the story that he was walking through our hallways a few months ago, and he noticed this one specific tree that Marlon had drawn. 00:07:37.759 --> 00:07:38.560 It was a new tree. 00:07:38.720 --> 00:07:41.279 And he got to looking at it, and it it really captivated him. 00:07:41.360 --> 00:07:46.240 And as he looked at it, he realized that it was the same tree that God had prompted him to draw. 00:07:46.480 --> 00:07:49.120 Same proportions, same dimensions. 00:07:49.519 --> 00:07:50.399 It was the same tree. 00:07:50.480 --> 00:07:54.720 And it's just a cool example of how the Holy Spirit works, where the right hand doesn't know what the left hand is doing. 00:07:54.800 --> 00:07:57.920 Sometimes he's prompting us to do different things, but he brings it all together. 00:07:58.079 --> 00:08:00.560 And so last week we started with a single piece of paper. 00:08:00.639 --> 00:08:02.639 That's what, that's where it all began. 00:08:03.040 --> 00:08:13.519 And after a series of dots and lines and erasing and all that kind of stuff that went into telling the story, we ended up with this, which is this kind of abstract tree that that Ben drew. 00:08:13.920 --> 00:08:17.519 And then this is the tree that it kind of all connected to in the end. 00:08:18.480 --> 00:08:21.600 And it really doesn't do it justice just to look at it in the stages that it's in. 00:08:21.680 --> 00:08:23.839 So we have a really short, a really short video. 00:08:23.920 --> 00:08:26.240 And if we could actually bring the lights down, even that would probably help it be seen. 00:08:26.319 --> 00:08:30.399 We have a really short video that kind of shows you in and fast forward the process of how this was drawn. 00:08:30.480 --> 00:08:32.720 Then we'll we'll focus on the first part of it this morning. 00:08:32.799 --> 00:08:35.440 So this is sort of the story of the tree. 00:09:25.679 --> 00:09:28.480 So I have to tell you this story before we jump on the first tree. 00:09:28.559 --> 00:09:31.120 The very first time I saw this was uh about a year ago. 00:09:31.279 --> 00:09:36.320 And I had asked Ben to do something pretty intense, and that was to lead our Wednesday night junior high small group. 00:09:36.480 --> 00:09:38.000 Uh and junior high students are funny. 00:09:38.080 --> 00:09:41.200 We have a big group of junior high students that meets while we're in here every Sunday. 00:09:41.360 --> 00:09:44.240 And in the in the morning time on a Sunday, junior high students are kind of like zombies. 00:09:44.320 --> 00:09:46.480 They just sort of stumble in, they're lifeless. 00:09:46.639 --> 00:09:48.159 We have to kind of wake them up. 00:09:48.320 --> 00:09:51.519 On a Wednesday night at 7 p.m., it's like the polar opposite. 00:09:51.679 --> 00:09:57.519 I don't know if it's the number of monsters they've had throughout the day or if they've just been cooped up in school, but they are off the wall. 00:09:57.679 --> 00:10:03.120 And so asking someone, hey, how would you like to take on these 40 junior high kids that have all this crazy energy? 00:10:03.200 --> 00:10:03.919 It's a big thing to ask. 00:10:04.000 --> 00:10:06.080 And I'd already asked Ben to do it once, and he said yes. 00:10:06.159 --> 00:10:09.360 And sometimes I've learned that once is enough for some people and that kind of thing. 00:10:09.440 --> 00:10:10.879 So I was just asking him if he'd do it. 00:10:10.960 --> 00:10:11.679 And he says, Yes, I'll do it. 00:10:11.759 --> 00:10:13.120 And I was like, oh, thank you so much. 00:10:13.279 --> 00:10:13.840 Because it's good. 00:10:14.559 --> 00:10:14.960 They're worth it. 00:10:15.039 --> 00:10:17.679 And he says, I have this idea for what to share. 00:10:17.840 --> 00:10:20.720 And it's the story of the Bible, the entire story of the Bible in eight weeks. 00:10:20.799 --> 00:10:22.879 And I was kind of like, well, that's that's ambitious. 00:10:23.200 --> 00:10:26.000 That is more than I would try to take on with that group. 00:10:26.080 --> 00:10:26.639 But yeah. 00:10:26.799 --> 00:10:32.080 And he goes, actually, I have this drawing that I think God kind of showed me, and I want to draw it for you and show you what I would kind of do. 00:10:32.159 --> 00:10:34.480 And so he draws it for me, much like he did last week. 00:10:34.639 --> 00:10:36.720 I sat there and I watched him draw it as he explained it. 00:10:36.799 --> 00:10:39.519 And I'm kind of confused at first, but then it starts to kind of come together. 00:10:39.600 --> 00:10:40.799 I'm like, oh, this is really cool. 00:10:40.960 --> 00:10:44.559 And after a while, I'm just, you know, locked on, just mesmerized by it. 00:10:44.720 --> 00:10:47.600 And he finishes and he says, Do you think, do you think this would work? 00:10:47.759 --> 00:10:49.120 Do you think this is good enough to teach? 00:10:49.200 --> 00:10:50.559 And I was like, Well, you know, I think it's okay. 00:10:50.639 --> 00:10:52.559 With a few tweaks, we might be able to make. 00:10:53.039 --> 00:10:54.639 I was like, no, this is so cool. 00:10:54.799 --> 00:10:55.600 This is awesome. 00:10:55.759 --> 00:10:57.200 I mean, I was I was blown away by it. 00:10:57.360 --> 00:11:07.440 I had actually never seen, I've grown up in church my whole life, but I had never seen the story of the Bible laid out in a way that made me realize so many things that Jesus said were true. 00:11:07.519 --> 00:11:12.399 That he told the Pharisees, you search the scriptures to find God, but the scriptures point to me. 00:11:12.559 --> 00:11:16.559 And all the way through, as he draws it, you can see that it's about to lead to Jesus. 00:11:16.799 --> 00:11:17.840 It's about to lead to him. 00:11:18.000 --> 00:11:20.159 You see that God had this incredible plan. 00:11:20.320 --> 00:11:29.360 Ephesians 1, God says that from the beginning, before time even existed, he had this plan through Jesus to bring us into a relationship with him, into his family. 00:11:29.600 --> 00:11:33.200 And sometimes you can read the Old Testament, it just seems like things are failing. 00:11:33.519 --> 00:11:39.120 But the way that Ben drew it out, you can just see that it is coming together, that God does have control. 00:11:39.200 --> 00:11:40.879 It was just really, really cool. 00:11:40.960 --> 00:11:43.679 And so today we're going to start with the first tree. 00:11:43.919 --> 00:11:47.440 It's the tree of life, the very first dot on our piece of paper. 00:11:47.600 --> 00:11:50.879 And the tree of life, like I said, has become this sort of symbol of who we are as a church. 00:11:50.960 --> 00:11:52.639 And we're going to go into some details about that. 00:11:52.720 --> 00:12:03.360 So if you've been coming for a long time, you've probably heard Steve talk about the tree of life a lot, but it's important for us to focus on because it is so foundational to who we are, and it just so happens to be the first tree in our story. 00:12:03.600 --> 00:12:09.679 And we get to the tree of life in Genesis chapter 2, and it says the Lord God planted a garden in Eden in the east. 00:12:09.840 --> 00:12:12.080 And there he placed the man he had made. 00:12:12.240 --> 00:12:17.759 The Lord God made all sorts of trees grow up from the ground, trees that were beautiful and that produced delicious fruit. 00:12:17.919 --> 00:12:22.559 In the middle of the garden, he placed the tree of life and the tree of knowledge of good and evil. 00:12:22.879 --> 00:12:24.480 So we have two trees. 00:12:25.519 --> 00:12:28.879 And the tree of life is the one that God says, eat from it, eat freely. 00:12:29.519 --> 00:12:35.919 And it could not have been named something better, because life is the best word to describe what the world was like at that time. 00:12:36.000 --> 00:12:38.799 There was perfect harmony between all of creation. 00:12:39.279 --> 00:12:42.559 There was a completely perfect, intimate relationship with God. 00:12:42.639 --> 00:12:44.320 You know, God walked with us. 00:12:44.639 --> 00:12:49.200 There was no propriety, there was no formality in our relationship with Him. 00:12:49.279 --> 00:12:50.720 It was just life. 00:12:50.879 --> 00:12:56.159 And as long as Adam and Eve lived at the tree of life, they had life and they had it in abundance. 00:12:56.879 --> 00:12:58.080 There's another tree. 00:12:58.480 --> 00:13:02.559 And that tree, the tree of knowledge of good and evil, gave us a choice. 00:13:03.679 --> 00:13:06.159 Sometimes we hear the phrase forbidden fruit. 00:13:06.480 --> 00:13:08.879 And this literally is the original forbidden fruit. 00:13:08.960 --> 00:13:09.919 That's where that phrase comes from. 00:13:10.000 --> 00:13:13.120 And we hear that phrase, we think of the normal things, okay? 00:13:13.440 --> 00:13:17.440 Lust, power, temptation, greed, you know, all those kind of things. 00:13:17.519 --> 00:13:20.480 That's what we think of when we think of forbidden fruit. 00:13:20.559 --> 00:13:26.720 But it's interesting because the original forbidden fruit was the knowledge of good and evil. 00:13:27.440 --> 00:13:29.440 Knowing right from wrong. 00:13:29.600 --> 00:13:30.879 That was the forbidden fruit. 00:13:30.960 --> 00:13:33.679 That is what God did not want us to experience, knowing right from wrong. 00:13:33.759 --> 00:13:41.039 And that's kind of curious, especially in a church setting, because religion is obsessed with what is right and what is wrong. 00:13:41.840 --> 00:13:45.919 Religion is obsessed with doing what is right and avoiding what is wrong. 00:13:46.000 --> 00:13:50.879 It's obsessed with advocating what is right and boycotting what is wrong. 00:13:51.200 --> 00:13:55.039 Whether that be a style of dress, a movie, a political party, you name it. 00:13:55.360 --> 00:14:00.639 That's what religion is in a nutshell, obsessive about what is right and what is wrong. 00:14:01.519 --> 00:14:06.639 And that is the tree that God said, do not eat from. 00:14:06.720 --> 00:14:08.639 He actually said, Do not eat from this tree. 00:14:08.960 --> 00:14:09.840 If you do, you'll die. 00:14:09.919 --> 00:14:11.360 And he wasn't threatening people when he said that. 00:14:11.440 --> 00:14:14.720 He wasn't saying, if you do this, I'm going to kill you because he doesn't do it. 00:14:15.279 --> 00:14:16.240 He's just stating a fact. 00:14:16.320 --> 00:14:18.240 He's saying, hey, look, you have life. 00:14:18.480 --> 00:14:20.480 And you can eat freely from life. 00:14:20.559 --> 00:14:24.320 But if you choose something other than life, the result is death. 00:14:25.120 --> 00:14:26.240 So don't choose that. 00:14:26.399 --> 00:14:27.039 Choose life. 00:14:27.200 --> 00:14:31.360 But that forbidden fruit, it was the knowledge of good and evil. 00:14:31.440 --> 00:14:34.639 We call ourselves a non-religious church, and sometimes that can cause confusion. 00:14:34.960 --> 00:14:37.440 But I think it's a really important phrase for us. 00:14:38.639 --> 00:14:43.679 Because what we see in this story is that religion, knowing right from wrong, is not life. 00:14:44.240 --> 00:14:47.360 It is not what God ultimately desires for us. 00:14:47.519 --> 00:14:50.639 In his original design, he didn't want us to have it at all. 00:14:50.799 --> 00:14:55.919 You could actually call the tree of knowledge of good and evil the tree of religion, and it wouldn't be a huge misnomer. 00:14:57.519 --> 00:14:59.519 He wants us to have life. 00:15:00.320 --> 00:15:02.480 And so what that means for us is really simple. 00:15:02.639 --> 00:15:04.559 We want to live at the tree of life. 00:15:05.519 --> 00:15:15.120 We want to live in this relationship with God, this freedom and joy and love with God, not living obsessed with the proper dress code for Sundays or how loud or quiet worship music should be. 00:15:15.279 --> 00:15:16.480 We don't want to be focused on those things. 00:15:16.559 --> 00:15:18.240 We want to be focused on relationship and life. 00:15:18.320 --> 00:15:23.200 And that's not to say that we have an anything goes mentality towards sin because we don't. 00:15:23.440 --> 00:15:32.159 But it's a recognition that knowing right from wrong and trying your hardest to do what is right and not do what is wrong is not the solution for sin. 00:15:33.200 --> 00:15:35.120 In fact, it was the cause of sin. 00:15:36.320 --> 00:15:38.240 Religion is at odds with Jesus. 00:15:38.559 --> 00:15:44.159 Jesus fought harder against religion than he fought against any of the obvious moral sins you could think of. 00:15:44.480 --> 00:15:50.240 And it was religion and those that were devoted to it that fought the hardest against Jesus. 00:15:50.399 --> 00:15:54.080 So Jesus stands in opposition of religion. 00:15:54.799 --> 00:15:57.360 And it's kind of a curious thing to sort out. 00:15:57.919 --> 00:16:03.840 When I think about this, when I think about this tree of life versus tree of knowledge of good and evil, uh the first thing that I think of is my relationship with my son. 00:16:03.919 --> 00:16:05.840 And I talk about him a lot because I love him. 00:16:06.639 --> 00:16:08.720 You know, my son's three years old now. 00:16:08.960 --> 00:16:12.879 And in the last couple of years, he has started to learn what is right and what is wrong. 00:16:13.120 --> 00:16:15.840 And that has changed the dynamic I have with him. 00:16:16.159 --> 00:16:18.639 We have a great relationship, we laugh a lot, we have a lot of fun. 00:16:18.720 --> 00:16:24.559 But the more he knows what is right and what is wrong, the more I am obligated to discipline him. 00:16:25.440 --> 00:16:31.039 Not because he's doing something that's wrong, because he did plenty of that before he knew right from wrong. 00:16:31.919 --> 00:16:37.120 But I'm obligated to discipline him because he's doing what is wrong, knowing that it's wrong. 00:16:37.600 --> 00:16:40.480 And as a good father, I have to do something about that. 00:16:41.440 --> 00:16:43.279 And he gets very creative, he gets very clever. 00:16:43.440 --> 00:16:46.080 In fact, I have kind of my own tree as an example. 00:16:46.159 --> 00:16:48.399 Uh, it's just very fitting for this morning. 00:16:48.799 --> 00:16:51.519 I had a 15-hour drive with my son a couple months ago. 00:16:51.679 --> 00:16:55.600 It was from Missouri, all the way here, uh, one drive, just me and him. 00:16:55.759 --> 00:17:00.080 So it should really take 12 hours, but we stopped a bunch of times, give him, you know, a break, let him play. 00:17:00.159 --> 00:17:04.480 And we were at this one park uh in the middle of nowhere at the very tip of Missouri and Kentucky. 00:17:04.559 --> 00:17:07.119 And we're in this park, we'd had lunch, and I wanted to let him play. 00:17:07.200 --> 00:17:10.079 So he's playing, and he gets to the point where he has to use the restroom. 00:17:10.319 --> 00:17:12.720 And I'm looking around, there's there's no place to go. 00:17:12.880 --> 00:17:16.160 And I know that you know, time is of the essence, and it's just us in the park, there's no one else. 00:17:16.240 --> 00:17:18.559 I mean, there's a road that's close by, so I'm like, okay, Liam, come over here. 00:17:18.640 --> 00:17:23.200 So I bring him over to this big tree and I bring him around it so it blocks his view, you know, to the road. 00:17:23.279 --> 00:17:26.880 And I said, son, you can you know you can you can pee on this tree. 00:17:27.200 --> 00:17:30.400 And he looked, he looked at me very confused, very confused. 00:17:30.480 --> 00:17:34.640 And I was kind of in a hurry because I know that I mean I don't want to have to have change him, I don't want to know all that stuff. 00:17:34.720 --> 00:17:35.759 So I'm like, come on, come on, hurry. 00:17:35.839 --> 00:17:38.559 And he's like, Dad, mom won't let me pee outside. 00:17:38.799 --> 00:17:45.519 Okay, and so what I told him was, and this is a terrible choice of words, but I wasn't thinking, I was just trying to hurry. 00:17:45.759 --> 00:17:48.079 I'm like, well, sometimes daddy lets you do things mom won't let you do. 00:17:48.240 --> 00:17:48.559 Okay? 00:17:49.839 --> 00:17:51.519 Terrible choice of words. 00:17:52.240 --> 00:17:59.359 So fast forward to about two, three weeks ago, uh, he asked Megan, I'm at home with Megan, and he asked her if he could do something. 00:17:59.519 --> 00:18:00.799 And she said no. 00:18:00.960 --> 00:18:03.680 And he threw an I mean an amazing fit. 00:18:03.839 --> 00:18:08.160 I mean, he's throwing toys, he's running around the house, he's stomping, he's doing what three-year-olds do. 00:18:08.319 --> 00:18:15.519 He's throwing this huge fit, and then he stops and he looks at me and he goes, Dad, can I do whatever he just asked Megan to do? 00:18:15.599 --> 00:18:16.079 And I said no. 00:18:16.240 --> 00:18:16.880 Mom said no. 00:18:17.039 --> 00:18:26.240 And with this look of intense anger, he stomps his feet on the ground and just screams at me, you let me do things mom won't let me do, and runs off. 00:18:28.319 --> 00:18:36.640 And it was amazing because it was two months after that, and I realize that at three years old, he's figured it out. 00:18:37.519 --> 00:18:39.279 You know, he's manipulating me. 00:18:39.440 --> 00:18:46.319 He's he's conscious, like he had a moment where he said, I know I'm doing what's wrong, I'm doing what I'm not supposed to do. 00:18:47.039 --> 00:18:48.079 But what can I do? 00:18:48.240 --> 00:18:51.759 How can I figure out a way to get what I want despite what I've been told? 00:18:51.839 --> 00:18:54.480 I mean, it wasn't a reaction, that was a conscious choice. 00:18:54.559 --> 00:19:00.559 And so as he's gotten older and he started to do things like that, I have to be different with him than I was when he was a baby. 00:19:00.640 --> 00:19:05.359 When he was a baby, he would lose his temper all the time, he would throw stuff, and and what do you do in those situations? 00:19:05.440 --> 00:19:06.319 You laugh. 00:19:07.359 --> 00:19:13.200 You don't discipline a six-month-old child for losing their temper, but when they know it's wrong, it changes the relationship. 00:19:13.279 --> 00:19:29.759 And I say all that because when I think about the tree of life, it just it just makes me wonder if when God created us, if he wanted our relationship to be like a father with a newborn, more than the relationship of a father with a child that needs correcting and taught. 00:19:30.160 --> 00:19:33.839 I can't speak for God, but that's just what it, that's just what it reminds me of. 00:19:34.160 --> 00:19:39.200 So Adam and Eve have these two trees, regardless of what God originally intended, they have a choice. 00:19:39.839 --> 00:19:42.720 Are they gonna choose the tree of life or the tree of knowledge of good and evil? 00:19:42.799 --> 00:19:48.000 Sometimes choices are hard, and Satan shows up in Genesis chapter 3 to make this choice a little bit tougher. 00:19:48.240 --> 00:19:53.680 So in Genesis 3 1, it says the serpent was the shrewdest of all the wild animals the Lord God had made. 00:19:53.839 --> 00:19:59.839 One day he asked the woman, Did God really say you must not eat the fruit from any of the trees in the garden? 00:20:00.079 --> 00:20:02.880 This is interesting because Satan's already twisting God's words. 00:20:03.039 --> 00:20:04.240 God didn't say that. 00:20:04.640 --> 00:20:07.039 But he asked the question, and this is what Eve says. 00:20:07.200 --> 00:20:11.039 Of course we may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, the woman replied. 00:20:19.279 --> 00:20:20.880 Again, God never said exactly this. 00:20:21.039 --> 00:20:22.480 She's kind of putting her own spin on it. 00:20:22.640 --> 00:20:26.000 Satan's kind of doing his thing, he's twisting words, getting her confused. 00:20:26.079 --> 00:20:28.559 And then, here comes the big lie. 00:20:28.960 --> 00:20:31.759 You won't die, the serpent replied to the woman. 00:20:31.920 --> 00:20:38.480 God knows that your eyes will be opened as soon as you eat it, and you will be like God, knowing both good and evil. 00:20:39.279 --> 00:20:41.759 And this is a really tragic deception. 00:20:42.319 --> 00:20:44.880 And it's so indicative of what Satan does in us all the time. 00:20:45.039 --> 00:20:48.559 Because the temptation is to be like God. 00:20:49.279 --> 00:20:55.440 And we might use the word godly, and oftentimes that's the aim of religion: to be godly. 00:20:56.160 --> 00:21:02.799 Not to necessarily let God live through us, but to just be like him, to look like him as much as we can by doing this and not doing that. 00:21:02.960 --> 00:21:12.319 And here's what's tragic about this is that in Genesis 1.26, when God first created us, it said, Let us make human beings in our image to be like us. 00:21:14.000 --> 00:21:18.400 So Eve is being tempted to be something that she already is. 00:21:19.359 --> 00:21:25.759 But Satan begins by getting her to forget who she already is in God's eyes. 00:21:26.559 --> 00:21:28.079 And that's oftentimes what he does with us. 00:21:28.160 --> 00:21:34.160 He tempts us, he gets us to lose sight of who we are, that we are God's children, that we were created in his image. 00:21:35.279 --> 00:21:38.720 And if we lose sight of that, things get confusing. 00:21:39.359 --> 00:21:42.480 So Adam and Eve take the bait, and there are consequences. 00:21:42.720 --> 00:21:51.039 They eat from the tree, and Genesis 3 tells us that at that moment, the moment that they ate from the tree of knowledge of good and evil, their eyes were opened and they suddenly felt shame at their nakedness. 00:21:51.119 --> 00:21:53.200 So they sewed fig leaves together to cover themselves. 00:21:53.279 --> 00:21:54.079 They feel shame. 00:21:54.160 --> 00:21:56.240 It's the first time that shame has ever existed. 00:21:56.400 --> 00:21:59.759 It's the first time people have ever looked at themselves and not liked what they saw. 00:22:00.319 --> 00:22:01.759 Not been okay with who they were. 00:22:01.920 --> 00:22:04.720 That didn't exist before the knowledge of good and evil. 00:22:04.799 --> 00:22:06.319 So they feel shame. 00:22:07.039 --> 00:22:08.960 Our whole relationship with God changes. 00:22:09.039 --> 00:22:16.799 In Genesis 4, we get a really weird, like small verse that comes right after a description of a man named Enosh, who is the son of Seth. 00:22:16.960 --> 00:22:19.119 Seth is one of the sons of Adam and Eve. 00:22:19.200 --> 00:22:24.880 And it says that it was during the time of Enosh that people first began to worship the Lord by name. 00:22:25.599 --> 00:22:27.519 We might read that and think, oh, that's a good thing. 00:22:27.680 --> 00:22:35.759 But what we're seeing here is a shift from this informal relationship to this very formal worship. 00:22:36.480 --> 00:22:37.279 That changes. 00:22:37.359 --> 00:22:38.160 There's a curse. 00:22:38.400 --> 00:22:41.680 There's a curse that applies to both men and to women. 00:22:41.920 --> 00:22:49.279 To Eve, God says this I will sharpen the pain of your pregnancy, and in pain you will give birth, and you'll desire to control your husband, he will rule over you. 00:22:49.359 --> 00:22:53.200 So giving birth is going to become painful, and you and your husband are gonna be at odds. 00:22:53.519 --> 00:22:55.759 And we've created epidurals to help with the first part. 00:22:55.839 --> 00:22:57.920 We're still waiting for a solution for the second one. 00:22:59.519 --> 00:23:02.000 Marriage counseling is the best we've come up with so far. 00:23:02.240 --> 00:23:03.680 And it's not bad. 00:23:04.079 --> 00:23:10.640 To men he said this: 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. 00:23:10.720 --> 00:23:13.279 All your life you will struggle to scratch a living from it. 00:23:13.440 --> 00:23:16.960 It'll grow thorns and thistles for you, though you will eat of its grains. 00:23:17.119 --> 00:23:21.839 By the sweat of your brow you will have food to eat until you return to the ground from which you were made. 00:23:22.000 --> 00:23:24.640 For you were made from dust, and to dust you will return. 00:23:24.720 --> 00:23:31.200 So, in other words, he's saying that you're it's gonna feel like everything in the world is fighting against you to succeed in this world. 00:23:31.440 --> 00:23:33.599 I don't know if any other men can relate to that. 00:23:33.839 --> 00:23:42.319 Or at times it feels like no matter how hard you're working, no matter how hard you're trying, everything in this world is fighting against you just to provide for your family and to do what you want to do. 00:23:42.640 --> 00:23:44.079 That was part of that. 00:23:44.640 --> 00:23:51.599 But the big, the big consequence came right at the end of that statement, and it goes a little bit further and explains what happens after this. 00:23:51.759 --> 00:23:54.960 It says, The Lord God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them. 00:23:55.039 --> 00:23:58.640 And the Lord God said, The man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil. 00:23:58.720 --> 00:24:03.759 He must not be allowed to reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat and live forever. 00:24:04.000 --> 00:24:08.000 So the Lord God banished him from the Garden of Eden to work the ground from which he had been taken. 00:24:08.160 --> 00:24:15.839 After he drove the man out, he placed on the east side of the Garden of Eden cherubim and a flaming sword flashing back and forth to guard the way to the tree of life. 00:24:16.000 --> 00:24:20.559 So, in other words, we chose something other than life. 00:24:21.759 --> 00:24:25.279 So life was kind of taken from us. 00:24:25.759 --> 00:24:28.559 Death came into death came into this world. 00:24:29.039 --> 00:24:33.599 And death didn't just come into this world, it it reigns in this world. 00:24:34.880 --> 00:24:36.480 Death is is everywhere. 00:24:36.720 --> 00:24:38.079 It's unavoidable. 00:24:38.319 --> 00:24:41.599 You can't shield people from it, you can't shield your children from it. 00:24:41.680 --> 00:24:47.839 We try really hard to shield our children from having to come to terms and even understand the concept of death when they're really small. 00:24:47.920 --> 00:24:50.400 But no matter how hard we try, we can't do that. 00:24:50.880 --> 00:24:53.039 Not to use another story of my son, but it just fits. 00:24:53.359 --> 00:25:00.400 When my son was two, my wife and his parents took him to the beach for the first time, and they're walking along the beach and they come across a crab that had died. 00:25:00.720 --> 00:25:05.920 And Megan, you know, thinking, okay, well, he's two years old, he doesn't need to be introduced to the concept of death. 00:25:06.160 --> 00:25:10.000 He's gonna worry about his grandparents dying, you know, Justin and I dying. 00:25:10.079 --> 00:25:13.200 So she just said, hey, come on, Liam, let's go, that crab's sleeping. 00:25:13.440 --> 00:25:18.079 And Liam looked at Megan and said, Mom, it's dead. 00:25:20.319 --> 00:25:22.880 And we're really careful with what he watches on TV. 00:25:23.039 --> 00:25:25.599 I don't know if there was a Sesame Street episode that talked about that. 00:25:25.680 --> 00:25:26.799 I have no idea. 00:25:27.119 --> 00:25:31.920 But as far as I know, I have no clue how he heard about that or understood that, but he did. 00:25:32.000 --> 00:25:37.599 Even at the age of two, death is something that we start to understand, start to think about. 00:25:38.160 --> 00:25:39.920 And death reigns. 00:25:40.480 --> 00:25:54.240 You would think that understanding death at a young age, and also the fact that in human history we've been dealing with death since like forever, thousands and thousands and thousands of years of people living and dying, you'd think by now we would have come to grips with death. 00:25:54.880 --> 00:25:59.599 That we'd be okay with death, that we would have this attitude, like, yeah, it's death, everyone dies, not a big deal. 00:26:00.000 --> 00:26:06.480 Even as believers who know what's waiting for us at the end, you would think we would have that perspective. 00:26:07.680 --> 00:26:09.119 But it's hard. 00:26:09.519 --> 00:26:10.319 Death is hard. 00:26:10.400 --> 00:26:17.519 It doesn't matter how inevitable we know that it is, it doesn't matter how many people we've seen die, it doesn't matter how much history we read and how much we realize that death is everywhere. 00:26:17.680 --> 00:26:19.759 When we encounter death, it is hard. 00:26:19.839 --> 00:26:24.880 Even if someone dies in an old age and they've lived a good life, there's still a part of us that goes, that's not right. 00:26:25.119 --> 00:26:26.240 It wasn't their time. 00:26:26.319 --> 00:26:30.799