Good morning, good morning. Thank you.
Appreciate you, Andrew. We're going to give me some
encouragement there. What up everybody?
I'm up here again and it is, I want to also thank you all for
coming. I know whether it's supposed to
be getting crazy later in this afternoon, but we serve a good
God, Amen. We serve a God that's in
control, Amen. And we serve as sovereign God,
Amen. So because that I'm still going
to take my time. So with that being said, y'all I
am will again, I have the privilege of being part of the
preaching team up here from time to time.
And we're still continue to trudge through Genesis, but we
are in Genesis 2 now and we're almost done with Genesis 2.
We have like 2 more weeks after this one and then Easter.
Amen. Bro I don't think y'all heard
what I said. We just talked about the the
resurrection of of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
Amen. Cool cool cool.
But no I, I again I I do appreciate that we are taking
our time through Genesis. I do believe it is one of the
most well known books of the Bible, but also one of the most
underappreciated books in the Bible.
So I'm I'm truly pumped. We're taking our time.
So I want to share with you all. Yesterday was my mom's birthday.
She would have been 64 years old.
Still a tough day. She died October 12th, 2015 and
after taking her off life support by by her request, I
watched her breathed her last breath.
Fast forward 7-8 months later, one of my fraternity brothers
got married and it was actually one of the the first weddings me
and my my wife attended as a married couple.
And that was that was cool. And we were put at the table
with like all my like people who pledged, when I pledged and even
friends and people who played football with it was just a a
great table man. And it was beautiful time filled
with like laughter, telling those stories, jokes, you, you
name even jokes about people at the wedding.
It was it was a great time, honestly.
And then now if that's where we're at the we're at the
reception, right? It was a beautiful wedding.
We're at the reception and the bride just finished her dance
with her father and they had like a little cute little
handshake. It was, it was bro.
It was dope. No, no, no, lots out there.
And then it's time for the groom and his mother to dance.
And the song they're dancing to was Mama by Boys and Men, a song
from Mama with the wounds of my mom's death still very fresh.
I remember I just quietly got up to go outside while it was still
going on because I didn't want to.
I didn't want my grief and my sadness and to become a
distraction and take away from a beautiful moment of one of my my
brother's blessings of a day. And Alana, at first she, she was
going to get up with me and I told her I was like, no babe,
like chill like and enjoy the time.
Like I'll just, I'll just kick it.
And everyone saw me get up and I just, I might just go to the
bathroom real quick. Like, I kept it real chill and
then I walked outside so I can just kind of grieve by myself.
Stand, if you're able, for the reading of God's Word.
We're in Genesis 219 now, out of the ground.
The Lord God formed every beast of the field and every bird of
the heavens and brought them to the man to see what he would
call them. And whatever the man called
every living creature, that was its name.
The man gave names to all the livestock, the birds of the
heavens, every beast of the field.
But for Adam, there was no found.
There was not found a helper fit for him.
Dear Heavenly Father, as we read through this text, I ask that
you hold my hand through it all and hold me tight as that.
As we dive deeper into this, we're reminded of you being a
triune God. I ask that you give us wisdom.
Convict those who need to be convicted, encourage those who
need to be encouraged, and draw near to those who have drawn far
from you. Father, just give a hug and hold
tight. In Jesus name we pray.
Amen. You may be seated cool.
Before diving into this text, let's do a little review.
We're going to start actually in Genesis 1/2.
The earth was without form and void and darkness was over the
face of the deep in the Spirit of God, the Spirit of God, the
Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.
The Holy Spirit is present in hovering over the face of the
waters. Then the Almighty God created
light, separated it from the darkness, and God called God
named the light day and the darkness night, naming them,
thus showing His dominion and sovereignty.
He then separated the expands, called the expands heaven, again
showing His dominion and sovereignty.
Then He made the land and calling the land, naming the
land earth, and made the waters gather and calling them and
naming them. See again showing His dominion
and the sovereignty. Then He created vegetation
plants, He created the seasons, He filled the seas, the skies
and land with life. Then he says in Genesis 126, Let
us make man in our image after our likeness, and let them have
dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the
heavens, the livestock all over the earth and every creepeth
thing that creeps on the earth. Let us in our image, us our now.
I'm not a literary savant like coal.
I didn't. I didn't go to college to become
a language arts teacher in high school.
Not my thing. Thank God we have a leader that
is like that. And I'm definitely not a
wordsmith who can beautifully articulate all scripture and
give you words that literally hit your heart like Casey did
today. Reading liturgy.
Not not my gifting, but I know one thing.
I know that us in the word our are plural words.
I know that much. And this is showing a
trinitarian God. That's a big word case.
This God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit are
all present. John 11 confirms Jesus being
there because he says in the beginning was the Word and the
Word was with God and the Word was God the Word being Jesus.
Again, the Holy Spirit is already confirmed there in
Genesis 1-2 and then it says let us make men make man an hour
image. This is illustrating that the
Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit have been in perfect
relationship since before time was created.
The three in one God made an image bearer in the likeness of
God to have dominion over the fish of the sea, the birds of
the heavens, the livestocks that animals, every living thing that
creepeth on the earth. The Lord God also gave that
image bearer Job. He put the man, the image bearer
in the Garden of Eden to work it and keep it.
The Triune God again created a creature from the dirt in his
image in his image. The definition of the word image
is a representation of an external form of a person or a
thing. In art.
The general impression that a person, organization or product
presents to the public, that's an image.
God gave this image bearer dominion than a task and upon
doing that God immediately proclaimed and declares it is
not good for man to be alone. Why?
Because God knows we are relational beings made to be in
the likeness of a relational God who has been in perfect
relationship since before time was created.
This foundational truth is why prolonged isolation destroys us.
To further emphasize this and show that we are relational
beings. According to the US Center of
Disease Control and Prevention, AKA the CDC, social isolation
and loneliness can increase a person risk for depression,
anxiety, suicide tendencies, and self harm.
Some of you already guessed that much.
Probably some of you probably experienced that and seen that.
Some of you already think like, yeah, well, that yeah, that's
that's basic knowledge. That kind of makes sense.
But it also goes on to say that it also increases the chances of
heart disease, stroke and a heart attack due to the increase
of cortisol levels due to isolation.
Also increase your chances of dementia, type 2 diabetes and
additional chronic diseases. Prolonged isolation literally
mores and changes your brain and rewires it drastically.
So it's not just and it doesn't just affect you mentally, it
literally effects you physically being isolated.
Now to to recap the rewind. Godfather, Son, Holy Spirit
created the heavens the earth showed, emphasized dominion and
sovereignty through naming, and then created man in His image
again. Image is the defined as a
representation of an external form of a person or a thing, a
general impression that a person, organization, or a
product presents to the public. That's what the image is.
He created something in His image.
God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit then gave man dominion
over the animals and a task to work and keep the garden.
Then God the Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit then proclaimed
it is not good for man to be alone.
And we just dove into some of the ramifications of that, of
what isolation is. Now let's dive into the text.
Genesis 219 Now out of the ground, the Lord God formed
every beast of the field and every bird of the heavens, and
brought them to the man to see what he would call them.
And whatever the man called every living creature that was
his its name, God brought them to the man to see what he would
call them. This is God welcoming Adam to
the creative process, setting everything up for Adam to
execute it. Then God proceeds to watch and
affirm Adam, his image bearer, executing his dominion in
sovereignty over the animals and naming the new creations.
Scripture says this. God brought them to the man to
see what he would call them. God inviting Adam and giving him
dominion and whatever the man called every living creature,
that was his name. This is God affirming Adam.
You said this is the name. This is the name, One commentary
says by by giving names to the animals, Adam is doing two
things. He is first recognizing the
categories in in which things come, bringing them together,
what belongs together, discriminating between things
that differ. He is thus beginning to order
his world. He is also recognizing that the
animals environment has been given to him by God.
These two are God's creations and bring some order by
allocating names. Adam is reflecting something of
the image of God which was described in chapter 1.
The review we just had as having dominion over the rest of
creation. But second, in the ancient
world, name giving was an exercise in sovereignty.
Adam is taking authority over the rest of the created order.
The responsibility for stewardship in the natural order
now extends to the animal world, and the man takes it on again.
Adam is executing A sovereign act that God did before Adam was
made, calling and laming the light day, the darkest night,
the land, earth expands, heaven, the water, seas, and what God
also continues to do after Adam changing Abram to Abraham.
Genesis 17, four through 8. Behold, my covenant is with you,
and you shall be the father of a multitude of nations.
No longer shall your name be Abram, but your name shall be
Abraham, for I have made you a father of a multitude of
nations. I will make you exceedingly
fruitful. I will make you into a nation,
and kings shall come from you, and I will establish my covenant
between me and you and your offsprings, offsprings and after
you throughout their generations, for an everlasting
covenant to be God to you and to your offspring after you.
And I will give you into your offspring after you the land to
your sojournings for joining all the land of Canaan for
everlasting possession. And I will be there.
God. I struggled.
God in this act is claiming Adam's life and making him new,
but stowing him a new name. I need to start lock in with him
because we're going to go through this again because God
does this again with Jacob. Genesis 3227 through 29.
And he said to him, What is your name?
And he said Jacob. Then he said, your name shall no
longer be called Jacob, but Israel.
For you have striven with God and with men, and have
prevailed. Then Jacob asked him, Please
tell me your name. But he said, Why is that you ask
my name? And there he God blessed him
Israel. God changes his name.
Jacob. That meant deceiver to Israel.
That means 1 struggled with God. This change in this blessing
gave Jacob the courage to be obedient to God and return to
his homeland, even facing persecution from his brother.
The power of God changing the name and identity of something.
The act of naming is Adam executing his dominion over the
animals and still being an image bearer of God.
Let's continue in verse 20, Genesis 220.
The man gave name, saw the livestock to the birds of the
heavens, to every beast of the field, but for Adam there was
not a found. There was not found a helper fit
for him. As Adam is naming these animals,
he he realizes something. He realized that P is different.
One commentary says that Adam gives these names.
But Adam didn't name any other animal after himself.
He didn't call any other animal man or or human or of my
likeness. By this we understand that he
understood that he was essentially different from the
animals. They were not images or image
bearers of God, but he was. He knew again that he's not like
them. He understood that he can even
see that they don't have the same task as he has.
They don't have the same relationship with God that he
has. They don't have the same
dominion. They don't have the same
calling. They don't have the same task.
By God bringing the atom, the animals to Adam, showing Adam
the the animals in pairs. Adam is tirelessly naming all of
them. But because God is bringing them
to him in pairs and showing them, Adam now realizes what God
had already proclaimed, that it is not good for man to be alone.
He sees that unlike the animals, there is no equal or fit for
him. No one with similar standing
meaning beneath God but above the animals.
No one that shares his image, no partner, no helper, no one fit
for him but God. Everyone say but God, no, we're
going to say this one more time, but God.
But God is using this realization to to prepare him to
receive a beautiful gift that I believe Cole is going to talk
way more about next week. So don't get excited excited.
That's all you're going to get for me about that today.
So what does this mean for Frontier Church?
Because you know, it's like, because we're like you, you
didn't really tee it up for marriage.
I didn't. You didn't emphasize or anything
like, hey, what husband's supposed to do here?
I didn't nor like last week talk about wives or womanhood.
What's that's going to look like?
Show didn't do that either and you didn't even talk about like
life as a single person. Like we've been going through
these past couple of weeks like this is the middle between
marriage. Like you didn't do that.
You're right. I sure didn't do that either.
So what the heck does Adam being an image bearer, Adam having a
task and Adam knowing it is not good for man to be alone, that
he needed a helper. What does that have to do with
us right now if we're not talking about any of that?
Besides, it's just being a biblical history lesson.
I'm happy you asked Will. Well church.
Jesus came to earth and lived a perfect life, fully man, fully
God. He was tortured, he was
humiliated and was forsaken by the Father, who he has been in
perfect community and perfect relationship with since before
time was created. He died, was sent to hell after
taking on all of our sins, our transgressions, knowing the
absolute worst thing we will ever do, seeing us at our
lowest, and still said you are worth it my child, and rose from
the dead so that we can be made anew.
Second Corinthians 517 tells us. Therefore, if anyone is in
Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away.
Behold the newest come. My uncle used to say that every
Sunday growing up Jesus sacrifice made us new creations
on the inside. A new internal image bearer.
How you you could even say Jesus then gave us his new internal
image bearers a task. Matthew 2818 through 20.
All authority in heaven and on the earth has been given to me.
Go therefore make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in
the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching
them to observe all that I have commanded you, and behold, I am
with you always to the end of age.
He also tells us the 2 great commandments to to live by, so
our internal change is seen on the outside so we can be
holistically image bearers of God.
In Matthew 2237 through 39. You shall love the Lord God with
all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.
And the second one is like it. You shall love your neighbor as
you love yourself. So Jesus being God, made us new,
made us closer internal image bearers.
Jesus also being God, knew that we could not do this alone, so
he sent us the Helper, the Holy Spirit, to guide us, to convict
us, to encourage us, to write scripture on our hearts, to
speak through us, to give us wisdom, to give us
understanding, to teach us Lovejoy, peace, patience,
kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and how
to be self controlled. Let me make this correlation
even even clearer and make this correlation of the passage of of
Adam to us today and the Holy Spirit and our Helper even
clearer. Just like when God presented the
animals to Adam, and God had already knew that it was not
good for man to be alone, and he was already planning to give
Adam a helper, God brought the animals to Adam to show him them
in pairs so he can realize or be enlightened that it was not good
for him to be alone. Unlike Adam, God doesn't walk
clearly as clearly. We don't see his footsteps as
clearly as Adam did because he walked next to Adam and he
engaged with Adam. But also, unlike Adam, we have
the Holy Spirit, we have God dwelling within us.
And because the Holy Spirit is God and was there in the
beginning, just like in the Garden, the Holy Spirit reveals
things to us, help us discern, but rather giving the glory to
God or giving the glory and thanking the Holy Spirit.
We call these bouts of revelation, wisdom and
understanding, epiphanies, inspiration, or even self
revelation as if we connected the dots by our own power as a
new internal image bearer. We are also now part of a family
of brothers and sisters in Christ who have the same
admission or tasks, that have similar attributes, the similar
positional standing, who are also image bearers, who also
have the Holy Spirit. This family is to encourage us,
Proverbs 27, to let another praise you and not your own
mouth, a stranger, even not your own lips.
This family is to help hold us accountable.
Proverbs 27. Five through 6.
Better is an open rebuke than hidden love.
Faithful are the words of a friend over profuse are the
kisses of an enemy. This family said, so we can bear
each other's burdens. Galatians 62 this family so they
can weep with us, rejoice with us, pray with us, worship with
us, challenge US. Proverbs continue.
Iron sharpens iron, and one man sharpens another.
This family to help give us wisdom, and we are called to
participate in this family, serve this family and help this
family grow. First Corinthians 12/12 tells us
for just as the body is 1 it has many members, all the members of
the body of though many are one body, so is it with Christ.
For in one spirit we were all baptized into one body, Jews or
Greek or slave or free, and all were made to drink of the one
spirit. It goes on to 26 to say if one
member suffers, all suffer together.
If one member is honored, all rejoice together.
I walked out that wedding again to to grieve in isolation,
believing my pain was too much of A burden for anyone else but
God. I was only outside for a couple
seconds before my wife and the entire table of friends and
fraternity brothers came running out to me.
We all just hugged and cried together and at that moment it
grew. The that moment my grief didn't
feel as heavy. The day wasn't ruined and I felt
so loved and cared for. It was later my wife told me
that after I got up it was like they all came to the same
realization as to why I random got up and left and they came
running. I now know that I wasn't just an
epiphany or a man made realization, but the Holy Spirit
bringing bringing them to me so God could bring me comfort and
love to His Son who desperately needed it.
It is not good for man to be alone.
We cannot help this family grow nor contribute to this family in
isolation, be it communal. Communal work with me Isolation
meaning no Christ centered community involvement or
relationships or even spiritual. Isolation, meaning leaning on
your own strength and your own understanding, rather than the
Holy Spirit, our Helper. We as image bearers like Adam,
have a task. We are called to go and make
disciples. We are called to go and grow his
Kingdom like Adam, and it's not good for us to be alone.
Like Adam, we were given a helper, the Holy Spirit.
Thanks to the new Adam, Jesus. We were given a family in Christ
to also walk alongside us. Are we trying to do it by
ourselves or are we utilizing the family that God has given
us? And as a family, are we leaning
on the Holy Spirit, our helper, or are we trusting in our own
strength? If we are utilizing our family,
then when we have a sense struggle, when we feel tempted,
when we're facing the hardship, when we're facing tough
situations, when we have a massive decision that has to be
made or your faith is being challenged, we would reach out
to a brother. We would reach out to a sister
and we would pray, we would fast, and we would guide each
other back to the scriptures. We would have our own rhythms of
prayer. We would have our own fasting
rhythms. We would study the scripture and
have our own rhythms to discern the Holy Spirit in our lives so
we can continue to sanctify us so we can be closer and better
image bearers of God. Matthew 1819 and 20 says again,
I say to you, if 2 of you agree on earth about anything they
ask, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven.
For where two or three are gathered in my name, there I am
among them. Community.
It's not good for man to be alone.
So with that in mind I'm give you all some applications for
the week and I'm gonna get out your here.
We got 4 today. I know I usually do 3 but we got
4. Some of y'all probably even know
what some of them are. Oh yeah I'm consistent.
But first number one get connected.
Join ACG, join a fighter group or get with one of the leaders
at our church to help you and to help you get connected.
You need to get connected. Get connected this week to read
your Bible with someone this week, be intentional about it.
Pray with someone this week again, be intentional about it.
And lastly, fast with someone this week.
Be intentional about it. I want to leave you all with one
last thing. The the big idea or however you
want to put it. If you don't get anything from
this message today, If if because I was up here whining a
little bit, you didn't understand me.
Or maybe you didn't laugh at my jokes because you're bored.
I don't care. I think I'm funny.
But I need y'all to remember one thing.
Please remember this. Remember that God made us in his
image. He gave us a task and He sent us
a helper, the Holy Spirit and a family.
Let's utilize him. It is not good.
That man should be alone. Let's pray the Heavenly Father
thank you. Thank you for giving us help
when we didn't even know we needed it.
Thank you for being sovereign. Thank you for being good.
Thank you for holding us. Thank you for loving us.
Thank you for giving us comfort. Thank you for being you.
In Jesus name we pray, Amen.