1 00:00:00,120 --> 00:00:03,880 Welcome to the River City Church podcast and a message by our 2 00:00:03,880 --> 00:00:07,960 lead pastor, Jason Powers. Our prayer is that this message 3 00:00:07,960 --> 00:00:12,240 would inspire and encourage you, build your faith and point you 4 00:00:12,280 --> 00:00:14,840 to the life changing love of Jesus. 5 00:00:15,400 --> 00:00:18,600 May you enjoy the goodness of God as you follow Him today. 6 00:00:18,640 --> 00:00:24,360 We begin with our confession. We just sang the words. 7 00:00:25,080 --> 00:00:29,800 You're worthy of it all. And then we sang I surrender 8 00:00:29,800 --> 00:00:32,240 all. It's weighty. 9 00:00:32,600 --> 00:00:35,520 It's a meaty confession. And it leads us to this truth 10 00:00:35,520 --> 00:00:39,080 that we declare our confession is that we are badly broken. 11 00:00:40,840 --> 00:00:43,200 Yes, you are. Grace and peace to you. 12 00:00:43,520 --> 00:00:48,280 Surrender is a big thing. It doesn't come easily or 13 00:00:48,280 --> 00:00:54,640 lightly to surrender to someone or to something implies if it's 14 00:00:54,640 --> 00:00:57,360 not forced. If it's not demanded or coerced, 15 00:00:57,360 --> 00:01:02,240 it implies a measure of trust. It implies a measure of. 16 00:01:02,320 --> 00:01:05,960 Confidence in the. One to whom we are surrendering. 17 00:01:05,960 --> 00:01:09,960 And again, that's not easy. Especially when we talk. 18 00:01:09,960 --> 00:01:13,560 About surrendering to God. To surrender to. 19 00:01:13,560 --> 00:01:16,040 God that we can't. See in the same way that we can 20 00:01:16,040 --> 00:01:18,280 see each other. In a way that we can. 21 00:01:18,440 --> 00:01:21,800 Understand certain things. In our world, we can surrender 22 00:01:21,800 --> 00:01:23,440 to gravity. We have no choice. 23 00:01:23,440 --> 00:01:26,160 We can surrender to some things, but to surrender to God? 24 00:01:26,160 --> 00:01:29,840 Why is that so? Difficult Well we read in 25 00:01:29,840 --> 00:01:33,280 Genesis chapter 3 verse one. Now the serpent was the most 26 00:01:33,680 --> 00:01:37,280 cunning of all the wild animals that the Lord God had made. 27 00:01:37,920 --> 00:01:43,480 And he said to the woman, did God really say you can't eat 28 00:01:43,960 --> 00:01:51,320 from any tree in the garden? Genesis. 3 is the account of the 29 00:01:51,320 --> 00:01:54,960 fall from. Eden from the pinnacle of God's 30 00:01:54,960 --> 00:01:59,920 creation to exile. And what's interesting to notice 31 00:01:59,920 --> 00:02:03,880 about the account of the fall? Is it didn't begin with the 32 00:02:03,880 --> 00:02:08,880 serpent offering the fruit? The first thing that the serpent 33 00:02:08,880 --> 00:02:13,040 says is not you should eat that. The. 34 00:02:13,040 --> 00:02:20,960 First thing that the serpent. Did was reframe who God was the. 35 00:02:20,960 --> 00:02:25,240 Serpent calls into question. The command. 36 00:02:26,160 --> 00:02:30,880 Did God really say because if we can question the command. 37 00:02:30,880 --> 00:02:33,400 If we can wonder. Well, why would God say that? 38 00:02:33,480 --> 00:02:35,840 Then we can question. What that calls into question is 39 00:02:36,000 --> 00:02:39,160 his character. If if God said that and we don't 40 00:02:39,160 --> 00:02:41,760 understand it, maybe there's something wrong with God. 41 00:02:41,760 --> 00:02:45,880 Maybe God is not trustworthy. Maybe this God who calls for my 42 00:02:45,880 --> 00:02:48,760 surrender and my obedience, maybe he's not actually that 43 00:02:48,760 --> 00:02:51,040 good. Maybe he's not actually for me. 44 00:02:51,040 --> 00:02:54,280 Maybe I stand to lose more than I stand. 45 00:02:54,440 --> 00:02:58,000 To gain and. Once that distrust enters in, 46 00:02:58,120 --> 00:03:00,320 then we. Have fracture. 47 00:03:01,720 --> 00:03:04,800 The relationship begins to break down. 48 00:03:06,560 --> 00:03:08,320 So by the time that we. Get in Genesis. 49 00:03:08,320 --> 00:03:12,120 Chapter 3 Towards the end, by the time we get to Eve reaching 50 00:03:12,120 --> 00:03:15,880 for the fruit, her hand was reaching for something that her 51 00:03:15,880 --> 00:03:20,600 heart had already taken hold of. Her heart had already grasped 52 00:03:20,600 --> 00:03:22,760 that. Thing that had been offered to 53 00:03:22,760 --> 00:03:26,120 her. And so the last. 54 00:03:26,120 --> 00:03:29,680 Image that we see. In the Garden of Eden, isn't a 55 00:03:29,680 --> 00:03:34,240 tree the first, the last thing that we see? 56 00:03:34,320 --> 00:03:35,840 In the garden of. Eden, it's not. 57 00:03:35,840 --> 00:03:38,640 A river. It's not a plant, it's not 58 00:03:38,720 --> 00:03:41,280 fruitfulness, the last thing that we see. 59 00:03:41,800 --> 00:03:47,440 In the garden is a gate. Verse 22 The Lord God said since 60 00:03:47,440 --> 00:03:50,880 the man has become like one of us, knowing good and evil, he 61 00:03:50,880 --> 00:03:56,120 must not reach out and take from the tree of life, eat and live 62 00:03:56,120 --> 00:03:59,320 forever. So the Lord God sent him away 63 00:03:59,320 --> 00:04:02,960 from the Garden of Eden to work the ground from which he had 64 00:04:02,960 --> 00:04:07,080 been taken. He drove the man out and 65 00:04:07,080 --> 00:04:11,640 stationed the cherubim and the flaming whirling sword east of 66 00:04:11,640 --> 00:04:16,880 the Garden of Eden to guard the way to the Tree of Life. 67 00:04:22,140 --> 00:04:27,900 God fashions humanity. He places him in a garden 68 00:04:28,340 --> 00:04:32,200 already in bloom. He wakes up to the. 69 00:04:32,200 --> 00:04:37,440 Scent of orange blossoms and cherry blossoms in bloom you can 70 00:04:37,440 --> 00:04:43,120 feel the cool of the breeze very breath, the spirit of God 71 00:04:43,320 --> 00:04:48,480 filling his lungs and the. Original creation was. 72 00:04:48,480 --> 00:04:56,520 Mankind, male and female, His image walking and working freely 73 00:04:57,240 --> 00:05:01,320 with God. His presence among them, known 74 00:05:01,480 --> 00:05:06,560 to them by immediate experience, able to see and know and 75 00:05:06,560 --> 00:05:10,640 experience God and his goodness and His freedom and His love. 76 00:05:12,360 --> 00:05:21,080 And then by the end, driven out, sent away into the world and the 77 00:05:21,080 --> 00:05:28,400 way back to the garden, blocked, guarded by an Angel and a sword 78 00:05:28,400 --> 00:05:31,560 swinging every way. The imagery is inside and 79 00:05:31,560 --> 00:05:35,440 outside and up and down every path, blocked. 80 00:05:35,640 --> 00:05:39,400 And since then, from that moment. 81 00:05:39,600 --> 00:05:46,320 We as a species, as a race. As creation have existed outside 82 00:05:46,320 --> 00:05:51,440 the gate, separated from the world and the life and the 83 00:05:51,440 --> 00:05:56,840 fellowship that we were created to know the very fiber and 84 00:05:56,840 --> 00:05:58,560 fabric. And design of our. 85 00:05:58,560 --> 00:06:03,200 Being now separated from the place where we were placed and 86 00:06:03,200 --> 00:06:07,400 we feel it. When we wrestle. 87 00:06:07,400 --> 00:06:15,040 With anxiety and fear and anger and control and depression, we 88 00:06:15,040 --> 00:06:19,760 feel the separation, we feel the distance from Eden. 89 00:06:21,080 --> 00:06:25,040 But that's Genesis 3. That's not where the story 90 00:06:25,040 --> 00:06:27,640 begins. Before. 91 00:06:27,640 --> 00:06:32,480 The gate, when God created mankind, where he called it was 92 00:06:32,480 --> 00:06:35,720 home. He says it this way. 93 00:06:36,600 --> 00:06:41,240 In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. 94 00:06:41,760 --> 00:06:46,000 There's an intention, there's an expression of intent, of design 95 00:06:46,160 --> 00:06:49,640 in the creation. God was there and he decided to 96 00:06:49,640 --> 00:06:53,320 create. Now the earth was formless. 97 00:06:53,960 --> 00:06:55,680 It doesn't say it was. Nothing, it said. 98 00:06:55,680 --> 00:07:01,920 It had no shape, it had no purpose, and it was empty. 99 00:07:04,120 --> 00:07:07,480 Darkness covered the surface of the watery depths. 100 00:07:08,040 --> 00:07:11,640 In ancient creation narratives, the waters are the. 101 00:07:11,640 --> 00:07:13,640 Source of. Chaos, they are a source of. 102 00:07:13,880 --> 00:07:15,240 Fear. They are source of. 103 00:07:15,240 --> 00:07:19,880 Trouble they are. The great unknown and God says 104 00:07:19,880 --> 00:07:25,200 the Spirit of God was hovering over those waters and then God 105 00:07:25,200 --> 00:07:33,760 said let there be light. When God began to create, it was 106 00:07:34,480 --> 00:07:41,120 unformed, it was empty. The picture is it was 107 00:07:41,240 --> 00:07:45,960 uninhabitable, it was unfit for humankind or. 108 00:07:46,120 --> 00:07:48,480 Beast or anything like? That and So what? 109 00:07:48,760 --> 00:07:51,440 God begins to do is. He begins to speak. 110 00:07:51,680 --> 00:07:55,600 He begins to speak into the chaos, He begins to speak into 111 00:07:55,600 --> 00:07:57,880 the formlessness. And what his words do is 112 00:07:57,880 --> 00:08:00,560 separate. It says let there be day and 113 00:08:00,560 --> 00:08:02,800 night. He separated the dark from the 114 00:08:02,800 --> 00:08:05,560 light, and he said let it be called day. 115 00:08:06,440 --> 00:08:09,720 He separates in day two. He says he separates the waters 116 00:08:09,720 --> 00:08:13,120 above from the waters below, and he creates the sky. 117 00:08:13,120 --> 00:08:15,240 He. Creates atmosphere he creates. 118 00:08:15,440 --> 00:08:19,280 Breath day three he separates the. 119 00:08:19,280 --> 00:08:23,120 Water from dry land and he creates world and now what was 120 00:08:23,120 --> 00:08:26,120 formless and. Chaotic has shaped. 121 00:08:27,120 --> 00:08:28,480 But it's still. Empty. 122 00:08:29,200 --> 00:08:32,039 And so God's not done speaking yet on day. 123 00:08:32,039 --> 00:08:36,360 Four we've already had day and night and day and night and day 124 00:08:36,360 --> 00:08:40,080 and night and on day four he speaks to what was empty, and he 125 00:08:40,080 --> 00:08:43,840 fills it with. Sun and moon and stars. 126 00:08:43,840 --> 00:08:46,360 So now we have. Seasons. 127 00:08:46,880 --> 00:08:50,960 We know when to plant. We know when to harvest. 128 00:08:52,560 --> 00:08:57,080 On day five He speaks to the waters above, to the sky, and he 129 00:08:57,080 --> 00:09:00,640 creates the birds and he speaks to the waters below, and he 130 00:09:00,640 --> 00:09:04,320 creates all the sea creatures and they're full. 131 00:09:05,080 --> 00:09:10,920 And then on day six he speaks and he creates land animals and 132 00:09:11,880 --> 00:09:20,000 pinnacle mankind. He creates humanity in the 133 00:09:20,000 --> 00:09:22,800 garden. Speaking to. 134 00:09:22,800 --> 00:09:26,600 Chaos and bringing shape to formlessness. 135 00:09:26,760 --> 00:09:29,840 Speaking. To emptiness and filling it. 136 00:09:29,840 --> 00:09:36,480 The world wants formless and void now teeming with life. 137 00:09:36,680 --> 00:09:39,080 And at every step of the creation narrative we have this 138 00:09:39,080 --> 00:09:41,160 refrain. And it was good, and it was 139 00:09:41,160 --> 00:09:44,040 good, and it was good when it was just day and night. 140 00:09:44,040 --> 00:09:45,920 It was good. That separation was good. 141 00:09:46,080 --> 00:09:48,960 It was important and the sky above, and it was good, and it 142 00:09:48,960 --> 00:09:52,280 was good and it was good. And all of God's goodness had 143 00:09:52,280 --> 00:09:55,000 filled mankind and filled the world. 144 00:09:55,160 --> 00:09:57,200 And so we come to the beginning of chapter 2. 145 00:09:57,200 --> 00:10:00,440 And it says so the heavens and the earth and everything in them 146 00:10:00,440 --> 00:10:03,000 were completed. They were finished. 147 00:10:03,080 --> 00:10:05,200 They weren't just formed and filled. 148 00:10:05,360 --> 00:10:09,360 They were good and on the 7th. Day God had completed his work 149 00:10:09,360 --> 00:10:13,360 that he had done, and he. Rested on the 7th day from all 150 00:10:13,360 --> 00:10:16,800 his work that he had done. And he blessed the 7th day, and 151 00:10:16,800 --> 00:10:21,360 listen, he called it holy. Holy is. 152 00:10:21,800 --> 00:10:27,400 Separated it is set apart, it is called out. 153 00:10:28,440 --> 00:10:33,280 He set the 7th day aside and He blessed it on it. 154 00:10:33,280 --> 00:10:37,040 He rested from all his work of creation. 155 00:10:38,320 --> 00:10:41,480 This account of God resting is important that we wrap our heads 156 00:10:41,480 --> 00:10:43,720 around it. God didn't rest for the same 157 00:10:43,720 --> 00:10:45,760 reason that I rest. I rest because my back's a 158 00:10:45,760 --> 00:10:48,720 little sore and my knees hurt and I've had a long day. 159 00:10:48,920 --> 00:10:51,920 God didn't rest. Because he was tired, God 160 00:10:51,920 --> 00:10:54,400 rested. Because he was finished. 161 00:10:55,800 --> 00:11:00,480 Because he had done what needed to be done in that moment. 162 00:11:02,240 --> 00:11:08,640 All of Eden fashion and beautiful and was beautiful to 163 00:11:08,640 --> 00:11:10,440 behold. There was color. 164 00:11:11,280 --> 00:11:16,960 Imagine color of trees without air pollution, without light 165 00:11:16,960 --> 00:11:20,200 pollution. Imagine the size of the fish in 166 00:11:20,200 --> 00:11:23,520 the waters without water pollution and food scarcity. 167 00:11:24,360 --> 00:11:29,880 Imagine the trees blossoming and blooming, fully nutritionalized. 168 00:11:29,880 --> 00:11:32,560 Soil everything. That they could possibly need. 169 00:11:34,760 --> 00:11:39,640 Senses must have just delighted. More smells than we can imagine, 170 00:11:39,640 --> 00:11:41,920 More colors, more light, and more brightness. 171 00:11:42,120 --> 00:11:45,120 But it wasn't just beautiful because it delighted the senses. 172 00:11:45,120 --> 00:11:47,720 It was beautiful because it worked. 173 00:11:49,440 --> 00:11:55,200 It was beautiful because it was generative, See. 174 00:11:55,200 --> 00:11:57,960 When we read the. Story when we read about Eden in 175 00:11:57,960 --> 00:11:59,920 chapter. Two, what we read is there were 176 00:11:59,920 --> 00:12:02,800 rivers that flowed out of the garden, but there were no 177 00:12:02,800 --> 00:12:06,080 boundaries. There were no borders that the 178 00:12:06,080 --> 00:12:09,320 garden contained. There was no end of the garden, 179 00:12:09,360 --> 00:12:12,800 but God didn't say that the garden filled the whole earth. 180 00:12:13,400 --> 00:12:19,120 Either, that's why he placed mankind there to work the 181 00:12:19,120 --> 00:12:21,960 garden. But to work without. 182 00:12:22,160 --> 00:12:25,000 Hurry. There wasn't a burden. 183 00:12:25,000 --> 00:12:28,440 There wasn't a rush. The work of mankind. 184 00:12:28,440 --> 00:12:31,280 Because the garden was already in bloom, There was no food 185 00:12:31,280 --> 00:12:33,280 scarcity. There was already enough to eat. 186 00:12:33,360 --> 00:12:34,800 There was already enough to drink. 187 00:12:34,880 --> 00:12:36,120 They were already there together. 188 00:12:36,120 --> 00:12:38,600 There was fellowship with each other and with God. 189 00:12:38,720 --> 00:12:40,960 And so they weren't without exhaustion. 190 00:12:40,960 --> 00:12:45,080 They worked without toil. They ate fruits. 191 00:12:46,000 --> 00:12:51,560 Without frustration, they didn't curse the lack of rain or kick 192 00:12:51,560 --> 00:12:54,280 the dirt for lack of crops. And what it says is as they 193 00:12:54,520 --> 00:12:59,720 walked in that space, the way it describes them is naked and 194 00:12:59,720 --> 00:13:04,000 unashamed. And it's not just about being 195 00:13:04,000 --> 00:13:08,080 physically without clothes. It's being perfectly laid open 196 00:13:08,080 --> 00:13:11,880 before all of creation. It is vulnerable without. 197 00:13:11,880 --> 00:13:19,200 The fear of being rejected is to be seen without concern or fear 198 00:13:19,200 --> 00:13:25,000 of being condemned. It is to be known and expected 199 00:13:25,000 --> 00:13:29,640 to be loved. No Fear in the creation, in the 200 00:13:29,640 --> 00:13:32,680 presence of Almighty God and all. 201 00:13:32,680 --> 00:13:37,040 His. Holiness, there was no lack and 202 00:13:37,040 --> 00:13:40,800 there was no limitation. Now we read the story in Genesis 203 00:13:40,800 --> 00:13:43,720 1 and 2, and we read about gardens, and maybe you think 204 00:13:43,720 --> 00:13:46,760 about Grandma's garden back home, or you imagine the thing. 205 00:13:46,880 --> 00:13:49,160 That you would have heard and we think about gardens. 206 00:13:49,160 --> 00:13:51,800 And that's a relatively limited experience, the 1st. 207 00:13:51,800 --> 00:13:53,960 Reason this story didn't come at the. 208 00:13:53,960 --> 00:13:57,400 Creation this didn't. This wasn't God's hand detailing 209 00:13:57,400 --> 00:13:59,280 the account, this was the account given to. 210 00:13:59,280 --> 00:14:02,400 Moses to tell the. People of Israel after they left 211 00:14:02,400 --> 00:14:06,440 the slavery in Egypt to say this is the God and this is what he's 212 00:14:06,440 --> 00:14:08,720 done for. And what they would have heard 213 00:14:08,720 --> 00:14:11,400 when they heard about this garden, they would have heard of 214 00:14:11,400 --> 00:14:13,280 a garden. But what they would have heard 215 00:14:13,280 --> 00:14:16,000 when they heard about God sitting, they would have 216 00:14:16,000 --> 00:14:19,120 thought. About a temple where? 217 00:14:19,120 --> 00:14:24,720 Deity resides where He sits over his creation with authority. 218 00:14:24,840 --> 00:14:27,960 And Dominion and. Power and rule. 219 00:14:28,080 --> 00:14:31,080 This isn't just a. Garden This is the place where. 220 00:14:31,080 --> 00:14:38,000 God lives, but this isn't like the gods of Egypt. 221 00:14:38,920 --> 00:14:44,000 This isn't like the gods of the United States that are separated 222 00:14:44,000 --> 00:14:50,080 and far away from their people. God shared his temple with 223 00:14:50,600 --> 00:14:54,480 humanity. God placed them in the garden 224 00:14:54,480 --> 00:14:59,240 and that is where he sat. God had the authority to speak 225 00:14:59,840 --> 00:15:05,000 creation form and filling into emptiness and void, and he 226 00:15:05,000 --> 00:15:11,640 shared that with us. God created a partnership. 227 00:15:13,800 --> 00:15:22,720 Can you imagine such a thing? Explains it this way day 6 has 228 00:15:22,720 --> 00:15:26,560 come and now the earth is filled with life and we read in verse 229 00:15:26,800 --> 00:15:31,800 26 God said let us make man in our image now what do you think 230 00:15:31,800 --> 00:15:36,880 of when you hear image let us make mankind in our image 231 00:15:36,880 --> 00:15:40,440 according to our likeness they will rule the fish of the sea, 232 00:15:40,440 --> 00:15:44,040 the birds of the sky, the livestock, the whole earth and 233 00:15:44,040 --> 00:15:45,400 the. Creatures that crawl. 234 00:15:45,400 --> 00:15:49,440 On the Earth. So God created mankind. 235 00:15:49,440 --> 00:15:52,480 In his own image. He created him. 236 00:15:52,600 --> 00:15:56,600 In the image of God and. He created. 237 00:15:56,600 --> 00:16:02,040 Them male and female, that is the image, the completion, the 238 00:16:02,040 --> 00:16:05,720 fullness of God, and it says God bless them and he said to them 239 00:16:05,920 --> 00:16:10,320 be. Fruitful and multiply fill the 240 00:16:10,440 --> 00:16:12,280 earth. And subdue. 241 00:16:12,280 --> 00:16:15,800 It rule the fish of the sea and the birds of the. 242 00:16:15,800 --> 00:16:18,680 Sky and. Every creature that calls. 243 00:16:19,000 --> 00:16:25,120 On the Earth see when we read about image in the biblical. 244 00:16:25,120 --> 00:16:28,120 Literature what we are. Reading about isn't that. 245 00:16:28,120 --> 00:16:34,320 God had shoulders like we. Do a nose like we do a hairline 246 00:16:34,320 --> 00:16:37,280 like we do. We're grateful for that. 247 00:16:38,680 --> 00:16:41,600 When we read about an image in Scripture, when we read about 248 00:16:41,600 --> 00:16:46,360 the image of God, what we're talking about is representation. 249 00:16:48,040 --> 00:16:50,360 You would go into a Pagan temples and there would be an 250 00:16:50,400 --> 00:16:54,480 image of their God in that sanctuary to say this. 251 00:16:54,480 --> 00:16:58,400 Is what our God is like. This is what the bales look 252 00:16:58,400 --> 00:17:00,280 like. This is what the Astra look 253 00:17:00,280 --> 00:17:03,040 like. This is what our God is like. 254 00:17:03,200 --> 00:17:05,960 And instead of a pole or a statue. 255 00:17:05,960 --> 00:17:15,440 What God created was humanity, male and female, and he gave 256 00:17:15,440 --> 00:17:22,800 them authority in a holy place, which was the garden, and that 257 00:17:22,800 --> 00:17:25,560 partnership was. The shared. 258 00:17:25,560 --> 00:17:30,840 Responsibility and authority. In the command to fill and 259 00:17:30,840 --> 00:17:34,480 subdue, when he said fill the earth and multiply, he said go 260 00:17:34,480 --> 00:17:38,120 to the very edge of the orange garden, and with under the 261 00:17:38,120 --> 00:17:41,360 leadership and in the presence of God himself, multiply it. 262 00:17:41,480 --> 00:17:43,840 Make sure that there are oranges to fill the earth. 263 00:17:44,000 --> 00:17:47,280 Make sure that the plants and the animals dig irrigation, Dick 264 00:17:48,280 --> 00:17:52,440 practice, animal husbandry. Make sure that this space that 265 00:17:52,440 --> 00:17:57,440 God created to be good expands and goes till everything is 266 00:17:57,440 --> 00:17:59,960 full. Of God's goodness. 267 00:18:00,800 --> 00:18:04,680 God filled, performed, and filled the world. 268 00:18:05,440 --> 00:18:08,080 And he invited us to do the same. 269 00:18:10,320 --> 00:18:14,320 Man, that is a deep and a heady vocation for humanity. 270 00:18:15,320 --> 00:18:21,640 That is a beautiful thing to be given and it's important that we 271 00:18:21,640 --> 00:18:23,840 contend with this, that we. Wrestle with this. 272 00:18:23,960 --> 00:18:27,360 We had actual authority in the garden. 273 00:18:27,440 --> 00:18:30,760 This was no task list. This was no, hey, go check these 274 00:18:30,760 --> 00:18:33,840 boxes and come back for me for round two and I'll tell you what 275 00:18:33,840 --> 00:18:36,320 to do. This was no micromanaging God. 276 00:18:36,320 --> 00:18:38,800 Look what we read in chapter 2, verse 15. 277 00:18:38,880 --> 00:18:40,760 The Lord God. Took the man and placed him in 278 00:18:40,760 --> 00:18:42,000 the. Garden of Eden to. 279 00:18:42,000 --> 00:18:46,280 Work it and to watch over it. As God sat on his throne above, 280 00:18:46,400 --> 00:18:50,280 He's watching the man, man who then watches his creation to 281 00:18:50,280 --> 00:18:53,920 notice when this one lives and this one moves on and when the 282 00:18:53,920 --> 00:18:57,520 animals migrate and how the trees bloom and how the orchards 283 00:18:57,520 --> 00:18:58,880 go. When we go down to verse 19. 284 00:18:59,120 --> 00:19:02,840 And the Lord God formed out of the ground every wild animal and 285 00:19:02,840 --> 00:19:05,080 every bird of the sky, and he brought. 286 00:19:05,160 --> 00:19:07,280 Each to the man to see what he would. 287 00:19:07,280 --> 00:19:10,760 Call it and whatever the man called the living creature, 288 00:19:10,920 --> 00:19:14,600 that's what its name was. What's that, Adam? 289 00:19:14,680 --> 00:19:20,080 That's an aardvark God. You bet it is. 290 00:19:24,040 --> 00:19:27,480 There's no sense of manipulative divine oversight. 291 00:19:27,480 --> 00:19:30,000 No, no, Adam, that's an ostrich, buddy. 292 00:19:31,960 --> 00:19:35,920 And this power of naming the scripture is powerful. 293 00:19:35,920 --> 00:19:39,440 When you give your child a name, you set an identity on that 294 00:19:39,440 --> 00:19:43,920 child and up to this point in the scriptures. 295 00:19:44,600 --> 00:19:50,040 Only being that names is God, he says you. 296 00:19:50,520 --> 00:19:53,560 Are Adam and Eve and then? He sets them in. 297 00:19:53,560 --> 00:19:57,120 Creation and says go and do likewise. 298 00:19:57,920 --> 00:20:03,600 Fill the earth with goodness. You can just sense the joy of a 299 00:20:03,600 --> 00:20:06,320 proud father watching his boy grow up. 300 00:20:07,600 --> 00:20:10,440 Watching him walk in the goodness that he was created 301 00:20:10,440 --> 00:20:12,760 for. Seeing him exercise his 302 00:20:12,760 --> 00:20:16,880 authority and dominion. Now it's important to notice 303 00:20:16,880 --> 00:20:18,240 that. Adam and Eve didn't have 304 00:20:18,240 --> 00:20:20,800 ultimate authority. Ultimate. 305 00:20:20,800 --> 00:20:23,760 Authority is the authority to take something that doesn't 306 00:20:23,760 --> 00:20:27,600 exist and create something that exists to call something from 307 00:20:27,600 --> 00:20:29,880 nothing. That authority resides in God 308 00:20:29,880 --> 00:20:31,680 alone. Ultimate authority is to take 309 00:20:31,680 --> 00:20:34,880 something that was created for one thing and to use it for 310 00:20:34,880 --> 00:20:36,880 another thing. That would be ultimate 311 00:20:36,880 --> 00:20:39,520 authority. Mankind doesn't have ultimate 312 00:20:39,520 --> 00:20:42,640 authority, but he does have real authority. 313 00:20:42,640 --> 00:20:45,640 He does have real agency in a good world. 314 00:20:45,760 --> 00:20:49,760 He does have real ability to take goodness and expand it and 315 00:20:49,760 --> 00:20:53,000 multiply it and spread it. God. 316 00:20:53,160 --> 00:20:55,400 Actually involved. US. 317 00:20:55,400 --> 00:20:57,680 In the. Actual work that he had been 318 00:20:57,680 --> 00:21:02,320 doing. We know this in our bones. 319 00:21:03,080 --> 00:21:07,000 We were created for meaningful responsibility. 320 00:21:07,520 --> 00:21:12,320 That's why purposeless, meaningless work grates on us so 321 00:21:12,320 --> 00:21:17,760 much. That's why in prisons, to demean 322 00:21:17,760 --> 00:21:20,800 the prisoners, they give them purple purposeless work. 323 00:21:21,440 --> 00:21:26,400 Dig a hole, fill it up. Dig a hole, fill it up. 324 00:21:26,880 --> 00:21:32,200 It is exertion without meaning. It is action without 325 00:21:32,200 --> 00:21:38,080 significant, and it goes against the fiber of what we were 326 00:21:38,080 --> 00:21:40,840 created to be. It is the diminishing of the 327 00:21:40,840 --> 00:21:48,400 very image of God within us. Man, that's wild. 328 00:21:49,760 --> 00:21:54,000 To be given authority, but limited authority. 329 00:21:54,080 --> 00:21:58,120 Authority with limits only works if we trust the one who sets the 330 00:21:58,120 --> 00:22:01,880 limits. If we begin to. 331 00:22:01,880 --> 00:22:05,560 Doubt that these limits are for our good and for our favor and 332 00:22:05,560 --> 00:22:08,160 for our blessing. We will inevitably begin to 333 00:22:08,160 --> 00:22:09,960 resist. We'll inevitably begin to 334 00:22:09,960 --> 00:22:13,560 wonder. As long as we experience. 335 00:22:13,560 --> 00:22:15,000 The limits as. Good we're. 336 00:22:15,000 --> 00:22:20,040 Fine, and we're good with it. But when that trust begins to 337 00:22:20,040 --> 00:22:24,720 fracture, when we begin to sense that maybe this isn't all for 338 00:22:24,720 --> 00:22:27,840 our good, there's one response, one reaction. 339 00:22:27,840 --> 00:22:30,160 It flows out of us naturally. We can't resist it. 340 00:22:30,280 --> 00:22:36,960 It is this tendency to control. See, God has created us with his 341 00:22:36,960 --> 00:22:41,120 image in us, with authority. And so we begin to use that, 342 00:22:41,360 --> 00:22:43,480 that authority to control others. 343 00:22:43,480 --> 00:22:46,960 And that's where we come to chapter 3. 344 00:22:49,280 --> 00:22:51,960 The serpent was the most cunning of all the wild animals that the 345 00:22:51,960 --> 00:22:54,400 Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, did 346 00:22:54,400 --> 00:22:58,120 God really say you can't eat from any tree in the garden? 347 00:23:00,480 --> 00:23:06,160 Now He's cunning and he's wise. He knows that Adam and Eve had 348 00:23:06,160 --> 00:23:08,680 been surrounded by goodness. They'd never known anything but 349 00:23:08,680 --> 00:23:11,280 the fullness of God's creation. They'd never known anything 350 00:23:11,440 --> 00:23:14,600 except it is good, it is good, it is good, and it is separated 351 00:23:14,600 --> 00:23:16,400 for goodness, and it is flourishing. 352 00:23:16,480 --> 00:23:19,080 Again, they walked. Into a garden that was in full 353 00:23:19,080 --> 00:23:20,480 bloom. They didn't have to make. 354 00:23:20,600 --> 00:23:22,800 They didn't have to wonder where their first meal was going to 355 00:23:22,800 --> 00:23:24,440 come from. They didn't have to wonder 356 00:23:24,480 --> 00:23:25,880 whether the rain was going to be good. 357 00:23:25,960 --> 00:23:29,760 They simply had to take up processes already in motion and 358 00:23:29,760 --> 00:23:33,720 continue to study them and see them and follow God and multiply 359 00:23:33,720 --> 00:23:35,880 them and spread them. They were surrounded, my 360 00:23:35,880 --> 00:23:37,720 goodness. And So what the serpent does 361 00:23:37,720 --> 00:23:41,280 first is not blame God. He doesn't condemn God. 362 00:23:41,280 --> 00:23:45,400 He doesn't say that God is bad. He just says, I wonder why not 363 00:23:45,400 --> 00:23:54,080 that tree with all this goodness around that God is eager for you 364 00:23:54,080 --> 00:23:56,400 to have. I wonder why he wouldn't want 365 00:23:56,400 --> 00:24:00,880 you to have. Wisdom and knowledge. 366 00:24:04,080 --> 00:24:09,960 So before he offers the fruit, he reframes the character of the 367 00:24:09,960 --> 00:24:12,680 relationship. Verse 5. 368 00:24:13,320 --> 00:24:18,480 The sermon speaks and says, in fact, God knows that when you 369 00:24:18,480 --> 00:24:24,360 eat it, your eyes will be opened and you will be like God, 370 00:24:24,880 --> 00:24:30,840 knowing good and evil. You see the reframe from God 371 00:24:30,840 --> 00:24:34,960 sharing all the goodness of creation with you to God holding 372 00:24:34,960 --> 00:24:40,160 back the best. And the woman saw that the tree 373 00:24:40,160 --> 00:24:45,520 was good for food. He saw that it alighted her 374 00:24:45,520 --> 00:24:47,320 senses. It was good for food, it was 375 00:24:47,320 --> 00:24:52,160 delightful to look at, and it was desirable for obtaining 376 00:24:52,160 --> 00:24:56,120 wisdom. So she ate some of its fruit, 377 00:24:57,200 --> 00:25:01,560 and she gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate it. 378 00:25:01,720 --> 00:25:07,200 To delegated authority wasn't enough. 379 00:25:08,520 --> 00:25:12,600 It wasn't enough to enjoy boundless goodness. 380 00:25:13,160 --> 00:25:16,640 They wanted to choose what was best. 381 00:25:17,880 --> 00:25:24,200 They wanted to decide what the best use of creation was. 382 00:25:25,440 --> 00:25:29,160 In other words, they weren't content to be with God. 383 00:25:29,160 --> 00:25:37,360 They wanted to be God. And so they exchanged A 384 00:25:37,360 --> 00:25:40,760 submitted partnership with a full experience of God's 385 00:25:40,760 --> 00:25:44,080 goodness and fullness. They exchanged that or 386 00:25:44,080 --> 00:25:49,400 subjective experience of reality for a little bite, a little 387 00:25:49,400 --> 00:25:53,280 juice on the tongue, for a little whiff. 388 00:25:53,320 --> 00:25:56,240 They change. They exchange their partnership. 389 00:25:58,960 --> 00:26:04,280 See, that's the human condition. We still do this today. 390 00:26:04,960 --> 00:26:09,600 We repurpose the good gifts that God has given for us in the 391 00:26:09,600 --> 00:26:15,960 exercise of our own wisdom. God created sex as the means for 392 00:26:15,960 --> 00:26:20,080 procreation. Procreation, creating life, is 393 00:26:20,080 --> 00:26:23,960 how we experience as close in this life as we can experience 394 00:26:23,960 --> 00:26:28,240 to partnering, of experiencing God, creating life, bringing 395 00:26:28,240 --> 00:26:31,200 life out of nothingness. That's what sex was created to, 396 00:26:31,240 --> 00:26:33,080 and He made it good. He could have made it purely 397 00:26:33,080 --> 00:26:36,960 utilitarian and functional, but along the way we saw that it 398 00:26:36,960 --> 00:26:40,800 felt good, and so we began to use it as an expression of our 399 00:26:40,800 --> 00:26:47,760 desires to feel. Something to have dominion over 400 00:26:47,840 --> 00:26:55,360 something and what we harvest and loneliness and pain, 401 00:26:56,480 --> 00:27:03,240 separation. It undermines the very identity 402 00:27:03,240 --> 00:27:08,680 that God placed in US. Work was not a result of the 403 00:27:08,680 --> 00:27:13,200 fall. Work was not a result of the 404 00:27:13,200 --> 00:27:16,120 curse. Before there was a fall, before 405 00:27:16,120 --> 00:27:18,640 there was a curse. While the beautiful new sun 406 00:27:18,640 --> 00:27:22,720 still hung fresh over the dew of Eden, God placed man in the 407 00:27:22,720 --> 00:27:25,520 garden to work it fruit fruitfully. 408 00:27:25,600 --> 00:27:28,360 But we have taken work, this thing that was supposed to be a 409 00:27:28,360 --> 00:27:31,640 partnership, where we discover and experience God in the very 410 00:27:31,840 --> 00:27:35,640 act of creating and and exercising wise stewardship over 411 00:27:35,640 --> 00:27:38,440 what God has created. And we use it to build a world 412 00:27:38,440 --> 00:27:42,040 for ourselves. My house, my car, my identity, 413 00:27:42,200 --> 00:27:44,840 my place, my. Stuff. 414 00:27:46,560 --> 00:27:52,320 And we suffer burnout and all kinds of addictions and fears 415 00:27:52,320 --> 00:27:56,480 and anxieties over provision and will we have enough and will we 416 00:27:56,480 --> 00:27:58,320 have more? And when things begin to break 417 00:27:58,320 --> 00:28:05,320 down, we struggle and we fear even our very families, our 418 00:28:05,320 --> 00:28:08,560 children. God gave us children so that we 419 00:28:08,560 --> 00:28:11,320 could experience that thing that God felt in the garden. 420 00:28:11,320 --> 00:28:17,280 To watch them, clumsily at first but ever increasingly skillful, 421 00:28:17,280 --> 00:28:20,880 learn how to be wise stewards of the creation. 422 00:28:20,880 --> 00:28:26,400 And instead we hover over them in fear, not sure that the God 423 00:28:26,400 --> 00:28:29,760 who created them is able to keep them in the same manner that we 424 00:28:29,760 --> 00:28:33,440 would. I remember when my son Jackson 425 00:28:33,440 --> 00:28:36,120 was playing Little League baseball and after the games 426 00:28:36,120 --> 00:28:38,120 were over and we would get in the car and come home. 427 00:28:38,120 --> 00:28:41,080 And I remember how many times I talked to him about how to 428 00:28:41,080 --> 00:28:44,920 properly catch a ground ball or a family ball or run the bases. 429 00:28:44,920 --> 00:28:48,280 And I look back now and I think, what a stupid waste of time. 430 00:28:51,080 --> 00:28:55,360 I should have just said, Jackson, how I love to watch you 431 00:28:55,360 --> 00:28:59,840 run. How I love to see. 432 00:29:00,040 --> 00:29:02,600 Your body. Do what it was created to do. 433 00:29:04,360 --> 00:29:12,600 I love watching you think I love watching you play, but instead 434 00:29:12,600 --> 00:29:14,920 I'm a ball player. I want to teach you. 435 00:29:14,960 --> 00:29:16,400 I want to make you better. I want to. 436 00:29:16,400 --> 00:29:20,080 Fashion you and my own image. And So what happens is instead 437 00:29:20,080 --> 00:29:23,560 of lovingly letting go and shepherding and guiding through 438 00:29:23,560 --> 00:29:27,080 the pain and the sorrow and the suffering, we clamp down and we 439 00:29:27,080 --> 00:29:32,800 control because we're afraid we're outside the gate. 440 00:29:35,680 --> 00:29:41,720 And my desire to control my world cannot possibly exist in 441 00:29:41,720 --> 00:29:44,800 the same sphere as the one who actually does control 442 00:29:44,800 --> 00:29:47,600 everything. It's like the Highlander, right? 443 00:29:47,600 --> 00:29:58,200 Like there can be only one, but outside the gate, we struggle to 444 00:29:58,200 --> 00:30:01,440 set up petty Thrones and petty temples where we are worshipped. 445 00:30:01,440 --> 00:30:04,480 And we spend the whole of our lives trying to get others to 446 00:30:04,480 --> 00:30:11,920 recognize our sovereignty. In verse 22 and 24 through 24 447 00:30:11,920 --> 00:30:16,520 now in this condition with Adam and Eve knowing that they had 448 00:30:16,520 --> 00:30:18,960 tasted and seen, knowing that that pursuit. 449 00:30:18,960 --> 00:30:21,320 For more, more, always once more. 450 00:30:21,360 --> 00:30:24,560 Once you've tasted it, you always want more, More control, 451 00:30:24,680 --> 00:30:28,440 more flavor, more, more, more. Having seen this, the Lord God, 452 00:30:28,520 --> 00:30:31,400 since he's become like one of us, knowing good and evil, he 453 00:30:31,400 --> 00:30:35,120 must not reach out, take from the tree of life and eat 454 00:30:35,120 --> 00:30:37,560 forever. God tells us why there was an 455 00:30:37,560 --> 00:30:40,800 explosive. He tells us why exile exists. 456 00:30:41,080 --> 00:30:43,200 So the Lord sent him away from the. 457 00:30:43,280 --> 00:30:46,120 The Garden. To work the ground from which? 458 00:30:46,120 --> 00:30:47,320 He was taken. He. 459 00:30:47,320 --> 00:30:50,920 Drove the man out. Does it sound cruel? 460 00:30:51,600 --> 00:30:55,840 It's mercy. We find mercy in exile. 461 00:30:55,920 --> 00:30:59,400 Because if we were to take that fruit and live forever, there's 462 00:30:59,400 --> 00:31:03,280 no coming back. There's no coming back from the 463 00:31:03,320 --> 00:31:07,240 endless unfulfilled. Search for more. 464 00:31:09,600 --> 00:31:11,760 He drove the man out, and he stationed the cherubim and the 465 00:31:11,760 --> 00:31:15,600 flaming whirling sword east of the Garden of Eden to guard the 466 00:31:15,600 --> 00:31:20,200 way to the Tree of Life. Distrust was sown, and when it 467 00:31:20,200 --> 00:31:23,240 was sown it bore. Fruit of fracture, there was 468 00:31:23,240 --> 00:31:26,040 distrust. God did say, why would God say 469 00:31:26,040 --> 00:31:28,440 that? Why would God hold back on me 470 00:31:28,560 --> 00:31:31,360 and from that fracture? Exile. 471 00:31:35,240 --> 00:31:41,600 But you heard God's own words. He must not reach out, and he 472 00:31:41,600 --> 00:31:49,680 must not live like that forever. And so the last image of the 473 00:31:49,680 --> 00:31:56,040 Garden of Eden is a gate, the sword, and an Angel. 474 00:31:57,000 --> 00:32:01,360 The way black, the way back home blocked. 475 00:32:01,360 --> 00:32:10,600 And that's the ache that we all feel when we drink deeply of 476 00:32:10,720 --> 00:32:16,880 everything this world has to offer us, and we're still 477 00:32:16,880 --> 00:32:21,520 hungry. There's never enough power. 478 00:32:23,600 --> 00:32:29,600 There's never enough money. There's never enough pleasure. 479 00:32:30,040 --> 00:32:33,320 There's. Never enough vacation there's. 480 00:32:33,320 --> 00:32:37,880 Never enough comfort. We drink, we get all that we 481 00:32:37,880 --> 00:32:47,960 can, and we're dissatisfied. That is why for the last 1700 482 00:32:47,960 --> 00:32:53,160 years, the church, the capital Church, has practiced Lent. 483 00:32:54,640 --> 00:32:58,080 Lent is not an exclusively Catholic practice. 484 00:32:58,280 --> 00:33:00,960 It just came about at a time where the Catholic Church was 485 00:33:00,960 --> 00:33:04,840 the only church that existed. They don't get the rights to it. 486 00:33:04,840 --> 00:33:07,760 They don't have a copy mark or a trademark on it. 487 00:33:08,480 --> 00:33:11,920 The season of Lent is the 40 day experience where we 488 00:33:11,920 --> 00:33:16,640 intentionally and deliberately with conviction, resist 489 00:33:16,840 --> 00:33:22,040 distractions, where we intentionally put up barriers 490 00:33:22,040 --> 00:33:25,560 around things that God created to be good so that we could 491 00:33:25,560 --> 00:33:28,200 experience what was ultimately good. 492 00:33:30,640 --> 00:33:36,880 For 40 days during Lent we face the fracture, we live into it 493 00:33:36,880 --> 00:33:43,720 deeply, and the hope is that we are practicing, waiting for our 494 00:33:43,720 --> 00:33:51,480 return. Lent ends with Easter, with 495 00:33:51,480 --> 00:33:58,000 resurrection, with a new world in Jesus's image. 496 00:33:59,440 --> 00:34:04,720 But between now and then, we spend time fasting. 497 00:34:06,680 --> 00:34:09,560 I am on the staff. We are intentionally giving up 498 00:34:09,639 --> 00:34:12,960 food one day a week or two days a week until sundown. 499 00:34:12,960 --> 00:34:16,320 You wake up in the morning and we miss breakfast and we skip 500 00:34:16,320 --> 00:34:19,800 lunch and we eat dinner at night with our family whenever we can 501 00:34:20,040 --> 00:34:25,000 so that we can feel the hunger, so that we can understand. 502 00:34:25,000 --> 00:34:35,040 Lord, I am not good when I'm empty and we pray and when we 503 00:34:35,040 --> 00:34:37,800 are hungry and when we have headaches and when I am cranky 504 00:34:37,800 --> 00:34:44,560 at my kids and I remember all the ways that I numb and dull 505 00:34:44,800 --> 00:34:48,280 those things that keep me from practicing the image of God in 506 00:34:48,280 --> 00:34:53,960 my world. Lent is about sitting honestly 507 00:34:53,960 --> 00:34:59,680 outside the gate and remembering that we're not home yet. 508 00:35:02,240 --> 00:35:06,040 But like I said, this story of creation, of the garden and of 509 00:35:06,040 --> 00:35:09,160 the fall and of the exile, it didn't come to Eden. 510 00:35:09,160 --> 00:35:11,600 Adam and Eve never read the words Moses. 511 00:35:11,720 --> 00:35:13,240 These. Words were given to Moses and 512 00:35:13,240 --> 00:35:15,440 Moses. Shared these with the company of 513 00:35:15,440 --> 00:35:19,200 Israel as they walked out of slavery in Egypt and think about 514 00:35:19,200 --> 00:35:22,640 that slavery in Egypt. It was a ruler who looked over 515 00:35:22,640 --> 00:35:26,120 them and said you will create for my benefit, for my good. 516 00:35:26,120 --> 00:35:30,440 Where we see the goodness of God in creation sitting over his his 517 00:35:30,640 --> 00:35:33,840 people and sharing authority with them in Egypt we find 518 00:35:33,840 --> 00:35:39,320 Pharaoh A taskmaster, cruel and brutal, demanding ever more and 519 00:35:39,320 --> 00:35:42,720 ever more from his people and relinquishing ever less and ever 520 00:35:42,720 --> 00:35:46,920 less and Moses tells the story of a God who is not like that. 521 00:35:47,040 --> 00:35:49,160 But now they're outside of Egypt. 522 00:35:49,280 --> 00:35:52,760 They're across the Red Sea once again in a borderless. 523 00:35:52,800 --> 00:35:57,400 Wilderness with the promise of milk and honey on the horizon. 524 00:35:57,400 --> 00:36:02,880 And they're confronted with the story of a garden that they 525 00:36:02,880 --> 00:36:11,200 could never return to. But in Exodus 25, eight in that 526 00:36:11,200 --> 00:36:15,960 wilderness, in that wild space, God says they are to make a 527 00:36:15,960 --> 00:36:22,440 sanctuary for me so that I may dwell among them. 528 00:36:26,520 --> 00:36:31,880 God's heart had never turned away from being his people. 529 00:36:34,960 --> 00:36:42,640 He has waited for us. He has made space in our world 530 00:36:42,920 --> 00:36:45,360 for us. The. 531 00:36:45,360 --> 00:36:50,360 Gate that keeps us. From Eden cannot keep God from 532 00:36:50,360 --> 00:36:54,840 you. And so for the next six weeks, 533 00:36:54,840 --> 00:37:01,480 we're going to trace this way that God made away, even in 534 00:37:01,480 --> 00:37:06,560 exile. Lent is a season of waiting. 535 00:37:07,120 --> 00:37:12,360 It is a season of letting our hunger remind us that we were 536 00:37:12,360 --> 00:37:17,880 made for home and we're not there yet. 537 00:37:19,080 --> 00:37:21,720 It is a way. Of stripping away all of those 538 00:37:21,720 --> 00:37:24,840 things that we go. To fill that gap. 539 00:37:25,080 --> 00:37:28,120 Ever so in completely. And it exposes us. 540 00:37:28,280 --> 00:37:31,280 It leaves us afraid. It makes us want to control 541 00:37:31,280 --> 00:37:33,280 things. It makes us want to resort to 542 00:37:33,280 --> 00:37:36,200 things that caused us, that drove us from the fall anyway. 543 00:37:36,360 --> 00:37:38,640 We want to feel more, we want to control more. 544 00:37:38,640 --> 00:37:40,200 We want to see more. We want to have more. 545 00:37:40,200 --> 00:37:42,880 We want to. Do more and instead we're called 546 00:37:42,880 --> 00:37:46,000 to simply wait and. See what it's? 547 00:37:46,000 --> 00:37:49,120 Like to live for the hand of God. 548 00:37:52,320 --> 00:37:55,880 And so for just a few minutes left, I want to see if we can 549 00:37:55,880 --> 00:37:59,920 just create some space. Will you close your eyes? 550 00:38:02,360 --> 00:38:05,800 And what closing your eyes does is it just removes the awareness 551 00:38:05,800 --> 00:38:09,280 of all the things that are going on around you as a way of having 552 00:38:09,280 --> 00:38:11,720 a private place. And what I'm going to do is I'm 553 00:38:11,720 --> 00:38:13,160 just going to guide us in prayer. 554 00:38:13,240 --> 00:38:15,240 But a lot of this is going to be your response. 555 00:38:15,240 --> 00:38:19,560 And let me say this, a significant part of walking by 556 00:38:19,560 --> 00:38:24,760 faith is the belief that when we ask God to speak, He will do it 557 00:38:24,760 --> 00:38:28,280 into our hearts and into our minds and into our souls. 558 00:38:28,400 --> 00:38:32,280 And so as we pray, I invite you. You're not going to shock God. 559 00:38:32,440 --> 00:38:36,240 He was there at the beginning. He saw the original fall. 560 00:38:36,240 --> 00:38:40,600 He saw glory dissipated. He saw exile. 561 00:38:45,320 --> 00:38:48,120 Father God, we thank You that you gave us this story of a good 562 00:38:48,120 --> 00:38:54,880 creation. We have doubted Father, your 563 00:38:54,880 --> 00:38:59,960 goodness. We have doubted that your love 564 00:38:59,960 --> 00:39:05,120 and kindness was for us, and we have instead reached for 565 00:39:05,120 --> 00:39:09,440 control. And now I want you and your own 566 00:39:09,440 --> 00:39:14,320 space to begin processing. What does that look like in your 567 00:39:14,320 --> 00:39:18,400 life? What do? 568 00:39:18,400 --> 00:39:22,040 You trust yourself to. Do or others to do. 569 00:39:23,480 --> 00:39:30,040 Rather than trusting the Father, confess to God. 570 00:39:30,040 --> 00:39:34,800 God, I have put my trust in what? 571 00:39:48,160 --> 00:39:52,840 Father, we feel the distance and we ache. 572 00:39:53,520 --> 00:39:57,920 Or home, and you identify that ache. 573 00:39:59,320 --> 00:40:04,200 Maybe it's a physical pain or a chronic illness and you know you 574 00:40:04,200 --> 00:40:09,680 were created for wholeness. Maybe it's the addiction that 575 00:40:10,360 --> 00:40:15,840 won't let go, depression that makes you dark and numb. 576 00:40:17,120 --> 00:40:26,240 Or the anxiety of loss, or maybe it's greed or lust. 577 00:40:29,600 --> 00:40:33,720 We feel the distance, we ache for home. 578 00:40:43,690 --> 00:40:49,050 And we thank you that the gate does not keep you from us. 579 00:40:51,840 --> 00:40:54,840 So the question for you is, where have you sensed his 580 00:40:54,840 --> 00:41:01,040 movement today? Where have you felt him speaking 581 00:41:01,040 --> 00:41:10,640 into your wilderness? And that same temptation will 582 00:41:10,840 --> 00:41:13,560 echo in your ears. He can't be trusted. 583 00:41:23,680 --> 00:41:28,440 Father. Teach us to trust you as we wait 584 00:41:28,440 --> 00:41:34,240 for your return. In the name of your son Jesus, 585 00:41:34,240 --> 00:41:38,040 we ask all of these things. Amen. 586 00:41:38,320 --> 00:41:41,360 Thank you for joining us today. River City Church is all about 587 00:41:41,360 --> 00:41:44,080 experiencing and expressing God's love in our lives and 588 00:41:44,080 --> 00:41:46,760 community, and we hope that you've been able to experience 589 00:41:46,760 --> 00:41:49,400 that today. As grateful as I am that you've 590 00:41:49,400 --> 00:41:52,720 spent this time listening in this morning, this podcast is no 591 00:41:52,720 --> 00:41:55,720 substitute for full participation in a local church. 592 00:41:56,320 --> 00:41:58,800 I love it when River City people listen to other pastors. 593 00:41:59,080 --> 00:42:01,240 But it is those who. Show up week after week 594 00:42:01,520 --> 00:42:04,240 faithfully giving their support and time and resources that make 595 00:42:04,240 --> 00:42:07,280 all of this possible. If we can help you get connected 596 00:42:07,280 --> 00:42:11,280 to a local church, pray for you, or support you in any way, click 597 00:42:11,280 --> 00:42:12,920 the link in the description and let us know. 598 00:42:13,360 --> 00:42:15,600 If you'd like to financially support the ministry of River 599 00:42:15,600 --> 00:42:18,480 City, click the give link on our website in the description. 600 00:42:19,160 --> 00:42:21,680 Don't forget to subscribe and don't forget to share this with 601 00:42:21,680 --> 00:42:23,640 your friends. Thanks so much for listening. 602 00:42:23,920 --> 00:42:26,880 May the Lord bless and keep you in all grace and peace.