1
00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:07,520
I'm glad you can all be here. It is so good to see so many folks sitting in our pews

2
00:00:07,520 --> 00:00:12,500
coming together to worship our Lord and our Creator. And if you didn't know it

3
00:00:12,500 --> 00:00:17,680
was happening, then you got surprised with also getting to join us in welcoming

4
00:00:17,680 --> 00:00:24,580
a new family member. Love birthdays! I love birthdays, whether it's an actual

5
00:00:24,580 --> 00:00:28,960
human that's actually joining us that day or remembering the anniversary of

6
00:00:28,960 --> 00:00:34,840
that each year or a new Christian, a new believer in Christ, one who's come up out

7
00:00:34,840 --> 00:00:39,040
of the water as that new creature. Love birthdays, love celebrating life because

8
00:00:39,040 --> 00:00:43,560
we worship the God of life. And so each time we come around to these various

9
00:00:43,560 --> 00:00:51,000
birthdays it reminds me of how good He is. So I love it. We're going to look at

10
00:00:51,000 --> 00:00:56,880
it's it works out that it happens to be part two of this weekend's seminar on

11
00:00:56,880 --> 00:01:03,520
social strife, how to live for today without fear of tomorrow, and my sermon

12
00:01:03,520 --> 00:01:07,800
series from the beginning to the end. It fits perfect right where we happen to be.

13
00:01:07,800 --> 00:01:11,640
I consider that the Holy Spirit's working. That was a divine movement that

14
00:01:11,640 --> 00:01:20,120
lined it all up. A quick catch-up, very brief, very brief. We've been looking at

15
00:01:20,120 --> 00:01:23,840
the book of Genesis beginning with Genesis 1.1. We went through all of

16
00:01:23,840 --> 00:01:30,200
chapter 1 and the various things that we learn about God and what He created and

17
00:01:30,200 --> 00:01:34,560
the order that He created it and what it says about the fact that God was just

18
00:01:34,560 --> 00:01:41,880
simply there in the beginning. Then we went on to the creation of mankind. We

19
00:01:41,880 --> 00:01:48,880
talked about how once man was created we saw two things. One, that it was very good

20
00:01:48,880 --> 00:01:56,200
because up until man's creation God's earth was only declared good. Then humans

21
00:01:56,200 --> 00:01:59,560
come along, those that were created in the image of God, and all of a sudden He

22
00:01:59,560 --> 00:02:05,840
could add very good. But we also saw the opposite of that because first man was

23
00:02:05,840 --> 00:02:12,040
created and only man was created and God said that it is not good that man

24
00:02:12,040 --> 00:02:16,960
should be alone. So only the very good for humanity can happen when we have a

25
00:02:16,960 --> 00:02:22,560
man and woman as God designed, as God purposed, as God intended, and that the

26
00:02:22,560 --> 00:02:29,320
two of them would unite and that would be the core basic structure for human

27
00:02:29,320 --> 00:02:35,320
society. Man, woman, marriage, family. It's the basic structure. We looked at the

28
00:02:35,320 --> 00:02:42,960
anthropology arithmetic. We saw that in order to make humans God took inanimate

29
00:02:42,960 --> 00:02:49,400
stuff and He shaped it and that was fine and well. I'm sure it was very detailed

30
00:02:49,400 --> 00:02:53,480
but it wasn't until He breathed the breath of life. The one plus the one

31
00:02:53,480 --> 00:02:59,320
could then we have a living being. And then we also saw that if man was alone

32
00:02:59,320 --> 00:03:03,960
then it wasn't good. So in other words we are not intended to be hyper

33
00:03:03,960 --> 00:03:11,000
individualistic creatures. Complete isolation is not for us. We are social by

34
00:03:11,000 --> 00:03:17,200
design and so it shouldn't surprise us when we have severe negative

35
00:03:17,200 --> 00:03:22,280
consequences when we radically interrupt that. And we shouldn't be surprised by

36
00:03:22,280 --> 00:03:26,480
that and and even for the introverted ones of us, I'm gonna raise my hand, even

37
00:03:26,480 --> 00:03:30,560
for those of us that are a little more introverted, it's still good for us to

38
00:03:30,560 --> 00:03:35,800
interact with others and have even a small social circle or come to church or

39
00:03:35,800 --> 00:03:40,440
whatever the case may be. Do something outside of yourself. Think outside of

40
00:03:40,440 --> 00:03:47,880
yourself and interact with others. That's a good thing. And then we also saw that

41
00:03:47,880 --> 00:03:53,760
it was God's intention that the man and the woman would be united and that

42
00:03:53,760 --> 00:03:59,120
through that union you would have the promulgation of humanity. That the one

43
00:03:59,120 --> 00:04:05,960
plus one can equal one but it can also equal three and four and five and ten and

44
00:04:05,960 --> 00:04:09,400
fifteen and now we're down to however many millions and billions. I think we're

45
00:04:09,400 --> 00:04:13,600
at eight billion currently on the planet, something like that. So in other words

46
00:04:13,600 --> 00:04:17,840
that's that's a really good math problem. I'm a big supporter of families. I think

47
00:04:17,840 --> 00:04:23,480
it's good to have kids. I love my three boys. I think that was built into it. God

48
00:04:23,480 --> 00:04:29,360
wanted that. So we looked at all of that. The last time I was here we we went on

49
00:04:29,360 --> 00:04:33,600
into where the chapter and the story turns though. We've had good, we've had

50
00:04:33,600 --> 00:04:38,360
very good, we've had here's your instructions, here's your my design and

51
00:04:38,360 --> 00:04:46,100
my will for you. But then, but then a crafty serpent asked a question that had

52
00:04:46,100 --> 00:04:53,360
far-reaching implications. Did God actually say those four words are so

53
00:04:53,360 --> 00:04:58,600
heavy and so important because if you start with doubt and questioning the

54
00:04:58,600 --> 00:05:05,120
Word of God what are the results? And we looked at some of those results. We're

55
00:05:05,120 --> 00:05:13,080
going to pick up after this now because where it fits into our weekend seminar

56
00:05:13,080 --> 00:05:22,360
is something like this. Last night we looked at three primary categories of

57
00:05:22,360 --> 00:05:28,240
social strife that at least I have observed and and researched and put

58
00:05:28,240 --> 00:05:33,740
together for our presentation. Those were the categories of, if we remember, racism

59
00:05:33,740 --> 00:05:39,600
and racial tensions, gender and sexual identity tensions right now, and then we

60
00:05:39,600 --> 00:05:44,480
also talked about political strife. We tried to keep a balanced approach to

61
00:05:44,480 --> 00:05:48,740
most of them, especially the third one, but we at least recognized that those

62
00:05:48,740 --> 00:05:56,880
three categories have manifested in real strife in our culture. We agreed that in

63
00:05:56,880 --> 00:06:01,560
years past or generations past, kind of like it was discussed in Sabbath school

64
00:06:01,560 --> 00:06:07,480
this morning, yeah it was kind of there. People haven't always gotten perfectly

65
00:06:07,480 --> 00:06:12,720
along with each other, but it seems like the temperature has been turned up. It

66
00:06:12,720 --> 00:06:17,760
seems like the violence has been excused a little bit more. The rhetoric has gotten

67
00:06:17,760 --> 00:06:26,040
quite a bit more harsh and hateful that the, if not the practice, the the interest

68
00:06:26,040 --> 00:06:30,920
or the expression of tolerating each other. Across the country people are

69
00:06:30,920 --> 00:06:35,840
saying, well it's not as important as it used to be to tolerate one another. We've

70
00:06:35,840 --> 00:06:40,240
recognized that families have been split because of these tensions. That fear can

71
00:06:40,240 --> 00:06:45,500
be a result of a lot of the strife that we've witnessed. Fear for the future, fear

72
00:06:45,500 --> 00:06:50,200
for the younger generations, fear for eternity or your finances or whatever

73
00:06:50,200 --> 00:06:59,920
the case may happen to be. In the United States of America, we are really

74
00:06:59,920 --> 00:07:08,080
individualistic. We are as a people. It's kind of known. We bear it out. In fact, we

75
00:07:08,080 --> 00:07:17,360
are so individualistic that in a Western American church, kind of like ours, the

76
00:07:17,360 --> 00:07:24,200
the data points out that once you hit 80% capacity, the church needs to start

77
00:07:24,200 --> 00:07:29,120
either doing another service or a plant or a bigger building because Americans

78
00:07:29,120 --> 00:07:36,240
like their personal space. That's not true in traditionally Hispanic or Asian

79
00:07:36,240 --> 00:07:41,500
or black churches. They are much more comfortable kind of sitting closer to

80
00:07:41,500 --> 00:07:45,720
each other and sharing that personal space than the traditional American

81
00:07:45,720 --> 00:07:52,120
culture. And I saw that in a previous church of my own. We got to 85% capacity

82
00:07:52,120 --> 00:07:56,120
and next thing we know, week in and week out, we'd see people come in, glance

83
00:07:56,120 --> 00:07:59,560
around, see that they actually had to sit next to someone and they would leave.

84
00:07:59,560 --> 00:08:05,400
We're really individualistic. We are. We are also becoming more and more

85
00:08:05,400 --> 00:08:13,600
narcissistic. We are so consumed with thinking about me and I and not even us,

86
00:08:13,600 --> 00:08:21,240
not even we, not even any real kind of collective because if you disagree with

87
00:08:21,240 --> 00:08:27,000
the me or the I, then well, we can forget the collective and I'll go over here and

88
00:08:27,000 --> 00:08:31,280
find someone else who supports me. We've started to compartmentalize ourselves

89
00:08:31,280 --> 00:08:36,320
into many, many, many different categories. The term for it is identity

90
00:08:36,320 --> 00:08:42,960
politics. The list grows. If you are of European descent and you are male and

91
00:08:42,960 --> 00:08:46,880
you are Christian and you are able-bodied, you can walk and use all of

92
00:08:46,880 --> 00:08:51,400
your limbs, you drive a Honda and you live in Georgia, you're one type of person.

93
00:08:51,400 --> 00:08:54,840
If you're all of that but you don't live in Georgia, you live in Tennessee, you're

94
00:08:54,840 --> 00:08:58,600
a different, you have different, you can't, you're supposed to not be able to relate

95
00:08:58,600 --> 00:09:04,600
to one another where they diverge, the different identities diverge. And so

96
00:09:04,600 --> 00:09:10,880
what we have seen in our culture is that many of these identities have been pit

97
00:09:10,880 --> 00:09:16,080
against each other. We suggested that some of the strife is fabricated or

98
00:09:16,080 --> 00:09:24,320
encouraged or egged on. I happen to agree with that idea. We see this idea of if

99
00:09:24,320 --> 00:09:28,680
all of what's on your list doesn't stack up with all of what's on somebody else's

100
00:09:28,680 --> 00:09:34,800
list, then we need to decide who's the better person. If you are this or that,

101
00:09:34,800 --> 00:09:40,400
you can either be the victim, the oppressor, the better off, the less than.

102
00:09:40,400 --> 00:09:44,680
We don't need to even hear your voice in some conversations even though

103
00:09:44,680 --> 00:09:49,760
ostensibly we're a nation of free speech. Just be quiet. You can't relate to what

104
00:09:49,760 --> 00:09:55,840
we're going through because you're not exactly like me. We're very narcissistic.

105
00:09:55,840 --> 00:10:03,160
We think far too much of ourselves as if we were the only ones to consider. I

106
00:10:03,160 --> 00:10:09,560
would propose to you that not only does that miss the mark of our condition, it

107
00:10:09,560 --> 00:10:17,400
flips it on its head. It's a hundred and eighty degrees opposed to the actual

108
00:10:17,400 --> 00:10:22,120
human condition because the human condition, though we have our different

109
00:10:22,120 --> 00:10:26,520
experiences and it's wise to understand where the limits are in those

110
00:10:26,520 --> 00:10:33,600
experiences, we do have a very serious, severe, and common crisis that we all

111
00:10:33,600 --> 00:10:39,680
suffer through that's greater than any of those other differences. The common

112
00:10:39,680 --> 00:10:47,840
crisis is more important than the other differences. That common crisis we find

113
00:10:47,840 --> 00:10:52,880
in Genesis and chapter 3 as we've read a little bit of it, let's review if you

114
00:10:52,880 --> 00:10:58,640
have your Bibles already or not, open up if you like the pages. If not, swipe and

115
00:10:58,640 --> 00:11:05,440
thumb through until we're at Genesis chapter 3.

116
00:11:05,760 --> 00:11:15,240
The devil speaking through the serpent, being crafty and expressing doubt, came

117
00:11:15,240 --> 00:11:20,600
to the woman who had found herself by the tree that they weren't supposed to

118
00:11:20,600 --> 00:11:26,760
give a great deal of attention to. The servant asked that question in verse 1

119
00:11:26,760 --> 00:11:31,040
at the end, did God actually say you shall not eat of any tree in the garden?

120
00:11:31,040 --> 00:11:37,040
Rather than seeing this as a challenge to God's love and authority, she decided

121
00:11:37,040 --> 00:11:41,640
to debate the beast. We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden but God

122
00:11:41,640 --> 00:11:45,040
said don't eat of the fruit of the tree in the midst of the garden, don't touch

123
00:11:45,040 --> 00:11:52,600
it lest you die. But the serpent said to the woman, here we have our first lie, you

124
00:11:52,600 --> 00:12:00,160
shall not surely die. You're not gonna die. For God knows that when you eat of

125
00:12:00,160 --> 00:12:05,800
it your eyes will be opened and you will be like God and knowing good and evil.

126
00:12:05,800 --> 00:12:14,200
The insinuation is God is unfair, unjust, unloving, he's the narcissistic, selfish,

127
00:12:14,200 --> 00:12:18,480
hyper individualistic one, he's holding you back for something great or

128
00:12:18,480 --> 00:12:24,160
something better or something good. When God said it is very good at the end of day

129
00:12:24,160 --> 00:12:31,960
six he was lying to you is what the serpents suggested. Because even though

130
00:12:31,960 --> 00:12:36,000
you may have all of the plants and all the fruit and all of the animals and all

131
00:12:36,000 --> 00:12:44,160
of the beauty and all of those things, oh poor people, poor, poor people, that cruel

132
00:12:44,160 --> 00:12:53,000
God kept something from you. So what did she do? The woman saw that the tree was

133
00:12:53,000 --> 00:12:58,440
good for food, that it was a delight to the eyes and that the tree was to be

134
00:12:58,440 --> 00:13:05,080
desired to make one wise. She took of its fruit and ate, she also gave some to her

135
00:13:05,080 --> 00:13:09,280
husband who was with her and he ate, then the eyes of both were open they knew

136
00:13:09,280 --> 00:13:14,880
that they were naked and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves

137
00:13:14,880 --> 00:13:24,040
loincloths. We find our first indication of a common crisis. The common crisis

138
00:13:24,040 --> 00:13:29,840
that all humanity has is that through our greatest grandparents Adam and Eve,

139
00:13:29,840 --> 00:13:35,760
through their disobedience to the Word of God, their questioning of him and by

140
00:13:35,760 --> 00:13:44,560
doing that elevating themselves to above him, they are now naked. They are naked.

141
00:13:44,560 --> 00:13:50,720
They are exposed to the elements, they are exposed now more so to the

142
00:13:50,720 --> 00:13:55,640
temptations of the devil, they are exposed to one another in ways that they

143
00:13:55,640 --> 00:14:02,960
had never thought of before. My goodness, she has faults and he smells. They're

144
00:14:02,960 --> 00:14:11,640
naked to each other. They see perhaps a limp or a mar on the body or an attitude

145
00:14:11,640 --> 00:14:19,400
or what they thought would happen when the serpent lied to them and after they

146
00:14:19,400 --> 00:14:26,320
ate the fruit that veneer was pulled back. They were naked. My friends that

147
00:14:26,320 --> 00:14:34,800
hasn't changed since then. On our own we don't have anything that clothes us with

148
00:14:34,800 --> 00:14:41,120
what God gave our original parents. We're naked to one another. We see each other's

149
00:14:41,120 --> 00:14:48,960
faults. We know our own faults. We are deceiving ourselves to think otherwise.

150
00:14:49,120 --> 00:14:54,120
We can't go through life keeping everything hidden. Many people try but

151
00:14:54,120 --> 00:15:03,560
it seems like it always finds you out. More than that, we are naked to God. He

152
00:15:03,560 --> 00:15:09,480
can't look at you and have anything hidden from his piercing gaze. You're

153
00:15:09,480 --> 00:15:16,000
naked before God. He sees you for who you are. He sees what goes on in your mind

154
00:15:16,000 --> 00:15:22,520
and in your heart. You can do the right things but he knows your intent. You're

155
00:15:22,520 --> 00:15:25,800
open to him.

156
00:15:26,800 --> 00:15:34,680
No matter what you do, you can't hide yourself from him. Many people have

157
00:15:34,680 --> 00:15:40,240
convinced themselves that they can through good works or through saying the

158
00:15:40,240 --> 00:15:44,800
right things or supporting what they believe to be the right causes. That that

159
00:15:44,800 --> 00:15:55,600
can. That maybe God will only see that. Maybe they will only see what

160
00:15:55,600 --> 00:16:01,160
I'm doing to serve his church and and how I've prophesied in his name or how

161
00:16:01,160 --> 00:16:05,520
I've shown up early for every work being in Sabbath school. That's what God will

162
00:16:05,520 --> 00:16:10,600
look at and consider. Maybe you've been used by the Holy Spirit to cast down

163
00:16:10,600 --> 00:16:16,040
demons or had some other miracle happen in your life. Maybe you can claim a

164
00:16:16,040 --> 00:16:21,200
credit to something that can't be explained by any other human means. And

165
00:16:21,200 --> 00:16:27,480
when you stand before the bar of God and you try to list out all of that, what

166
00:16:27,480 --> 00:16:36,600
does Jesus say is the response? I never knew you. In other words, what he's saying

167
00:16:36,600 --> 00:16:43,880
is I can see you for who you are. You can't cover it up.

168
00:16:43,880 --> 00:16:52,960
Don't raise your hand, but in your own thoughts, how many of us know who we are?

169
00:16:52,960 --> 00:16:59,200
Deep down, when no one's looking and the shades are drawn, when you think you've

170
00:16:59,200 --> 00:17:05,720
gone to the right city just far enough, when you've used, I don't know,

171
00:17:05,720 --> 00:17:10,360
burner phones, I don't know if any one of us do that,

172
00:17:11,560 --> 00:17:20,760
you know who you are. God does. And then what do you try to do about it? And that,

173
00:17:20,760 --> 00:17:27,880
my friends, is a common crisis for all humanity. As mankind's representatives,

174
00:17:27,880 --> 00:17:31,880
what happened to them got passed on through the generations and it's down to

175
00:17:31,880 --> 00:17:38,520
us. Let's continue. They heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in

176
00:17:38,520 --> 00:17:42,840
the cool of the day or in the evening and the man and his wife hid themselves

177
00:17:42,840 --> 00:17:47,480
from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. Now that their

178
00:17:47,480 --> 00:17:52,680
conscience, their guilt has gotten to them, they know they've done wrong.

179
00:17:52,680 --> 00:17:58,320
Remember, they're naked now. They know who they are. Maybe they deluded

180
00:17:58,320 --> 00:18:02,520
themselves in thinking God would overlook just this little bit of fruit.

181
00:18:02,520 --> 00:18:10,200
He'll just overlook this. But when God came, they knew who they were. And now in

182
00:18:10,200 --> 00:18:18,000
their states, no longer did they welcome their Creator. What did they do? They hid.

183
00:18:18,000 --> 00:18:24,960
The common crisis for mankind, it's shared, as our first instinct is to hide from a

184
00:18:24,960 --> 00:18:30,440
holy and perfect God. We don't want to be looked at. We don't want to be exposed.

185
00:18:30,440 --> 00:18:36,280
We don't want to be found out and we certainly don't want perfection peering

186
00:18:36,280 --> 00:18:48,680
into imperfection and dirty and awful. My dog, I love my dog. I love my dog

187
00:18:48,680 --> 00:18:57,600
especially after a bath. Because before the bath, as much as I love my dog, oh I

188
00:18:57,600 --> 00:19:04,360
really don't want to be around her. She smells and she sheds too much hair and

189
00:19:04,360 --> 00:19:08,120
it gets on my clothes and then I carry that with me everywhere I go. I have

190
00:19:08,120 --> 00:19:16,640
little reminders. She's dirty and that dirty, that smell, that hair, that that

191
00:19:16,640 --> 00:19:22,680
goes with her. I don't want any kind of contact with it.

192
00:19:22,680 --> 00:19:28,960
Sin has inversed that in that we don't want any contact with holiness and

193
00:19:28,960 --> 00:19:35,720
perfect perfectness, perfection. When sin stains you and sin makes you stink and

194
00:19:35,720 --> 00:19:42,520
and the violation of the Word of God corrupts you to the core, rather than my

195
00:19:42,520 --> 00:19:46,360
stinky smelly dog wanting to come to the human who's gonna clean her and love on

196
00:19:46,360 --> 00:19:52,280
her and hug on her. When we stink with sin, we run from the only one who can

197
00:19:52,280 --> 00:19:59,240
clean us. We hide from him. That's our natural instinct.

198
00:20:00,360 --> 00:20:08,240
You will find though in the next verse one of the most powerful three words

199
00:20:08,240 --> 00:20:13,200
that you'll read repeatedly in the Bible. In our Bible it's

200
00:20:13,200 --> 00:20:20,760
translated as four, it's three in the Hebrew. But the Lord God. You come across

201
00:20:20,760 --> 00:20:27,280
so many but God statements. It's awesome. What does God do here? But the Lord God

202
00:20:27,280 --> 00:20:33,000
called the man and said to him, where are you? God knew where they were. God knew

203
00:20:33,000 --> 00:20:39,080
their condition. But God sought them out.

204
00:20:39,080 --> 00:20:44,120
God sought them out and what was the response? Adam said, I heard the sound of

205
00:20:44,120 --> 00:20:51,200
you in the garden. I was afraid because I was naked and I hid myself. God said, who

206
00:20:51,200 --> 00:20:56,560
told you that you were naked? You shouldn't have known this about yourself.

207
00:20:56,560 --> 00:21:03,760
A change has occurred. And then he gets right to it. Have you eaten of that tree

208
00:21:03,760 --> 00:21:10,760
which I commanded you not to eat? The man said, the woman who you gave to be with

209
00:21:10,760 --> 00:21:15,320
me, she gave me fruit of the tree and I ate. The Lord God said to the woman, what

210
00:21:15,320 --> 00:21:21,960
is this that you have done? The woman said, the serpent deceived me and I ate.

211
00:21:21,960 --> 00:21:29,280
Our next common crisis that we find is under the control of sin. The spirit of

212
00:21:29,280 --> 00:21:37,360
self-justification rules. All humans are guilty of this. A fine quote from one of

213
00:21:37,360 --> 00:21:41,960
my favorite books, quote, the spirit of self-justification originated in the

214
00:21:41,960 --> 00:21:46,960
father of lies. It was indulged by our first parents as soon as they yielded to

215
00:21:46,960 --> 00:21:50,960
the influence of Satan and has been exhibited by all the sons and daughters

216
00:21:50,960 --> 00:21:56,360
of Adam. Instead of humbly confessing their sins, they try to shield

217
00:21:56,360 --> 00:22:03,120
themselves by casting the blame upon others, upon circumstances or God forbid

218
00:22:03,120 --> 00:22:09,280
upon God himself, making even his blessings an occasion for murmuring

219
00:22:09,280 --> 00:22:16,880
against him. Tell me that's not true today. When we do something wrong, when

220
00:22:16,880 --> 00:22:20,840
we know we're guilty of something, when we find ourselves in tough

221
00:22:20,840 --> 00:22:30,920
straits, do we more or less find a way out rather than assume the

222
00:22:30,920 --> 00:22:38,720
responsibility and humbly confess? How many of us on our first, first impulse

223
00:22:38,720 --> 00:22:48,520
would much rather blame circumstance, upbringing, genetics, emotions, someone

224
00:22:48,520 --> 00:22:54,320
wronged me? We start to point fingers. My wife took the blankets all last night. I

225
00:22:54,320 --> 00:23:03,640
woke up cold. I've got a cramp in my neck. I'm tired. I'm hangry. And we think all

226
00:23:03,640 --> 00:23:14,400
of this list of things allows us to be mean and obstinate and rude and

227
00:23:14,400 --> 00:23:25,360
dismissive and the list goes on. In sin, self-justification reigns because it's

228
00:23:25,360 --> 00:23:31,280
the opposite of what God would have us do. And that's a common crisis in

229
00:23:31,280 --> 00:23:36,240
humanity. Much of what has led to the strife that we talked about last night

230
00:23:36,240 --> 00:23:41,360
and we're referring to this morning, much of what has led to the strife is exactly

231
00:23:41,360 --> 00:23:49,080
this. I didn't get it my way. They're the enemy. They're the ones that have messed

232
00:23:49,080 --> 00:23:53,520
up. They've kept me down for so long. Sometimes it's a mysterious they. We

233
00:23:53,520 --> 00:23:59,040
don't really know who. Just they. Sometimes there's names attached to it.

234
00:23:59,040 --> 00:24:04,520
But it seems that the minority are willing to stand up and go, you know what?

235
00:24:04,520 --> 00:24:12,560
Life is rough for all and much of my circumstances are a result of my choices,

236
00:24:12,560 --> 00:24:21,560
my decisions, my follow-through. Not many folk are willing to do that. Certainly

237
00:24:21,560 --> 00:24:28,560
not in the first impulse. Usually has to come a little bit and there's often pain

238
00:24:28,560 --> 00:24:34,160
associated with that. You got to swallow self-justification and pride in one

239
00:24:34,160 --> 00:24:41,840
one giant pill that chokes you. You got to swallow it hard at times to get over

240
00:24:41,840 --> 00:24:49,440
that common crisis. The results of all of this, we're going to move on. The results

241
00:24:49,440 --> 00:24:54,200
of all of this, two more common crises. This one specifically to the man and

242
00:24:54,200 --> 00:24:58,560
then to the woman. First to the woman. We're jumping down to verse 16. To the

243
00:24:58,560 --> 00:25:02,480
woman he said, I will surely multiply your pain and childbearing and pain you

244
00:25:02,480 --> 00:25:07,200
shall bring forth children. Your desire shall be contrary to your husband but he

245
00:25:07,200 --> 00:25:12,800
shall rule over you. We can have a side discussion about that but this is an

246
00:25:12,800 --> 00:25:16,640
indication that men and women weren't going to be in the same harmony as

247
00:25:16,640 --> 00:25:22,400
first intended. As first designed by God. There was going to be tension between

248
00:25:22,400 --> 00:25:30,160
the sexes as a result of this sin. For all generations moving forward. There

249
00:25:30,160 --> 00:25:36,560
would also be for all women moving forward pain in childbearing. Ladies who

250
00:25:36,560 --> 00:25:45,040
have had kids, is there some discomfort and pain? That hasn't stopped, has it? It

251
00:25:45,040 --> 00:25:49,520
hasn't. For the men it's only when they like really grip our hands and yell at

252
00:25:49,520 --> 00:25:54,320
us how much our fault it is. But the ladies go through that.

253
00:25:54,320 --> 00:26:00,080
That's for them and here God is saying this is a direct result of.

254
00:26:00,080 --> 00:26:04,880
But the man wasn't going to be left out of it. In verse 17 to Adam he said,

255
00:26:04,880 --> 00:26:08,800
because you listen to the voice of your wife, which means you didn't listen to my

256
00:26:08,800 --> 00:26:15,040
voice, and you ate of the tree of which I commanded you don't eat, cursed is the

257
00:26:15,040 --> 00:26:20,480
ground because of you. In pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life.

258
00:26:20,480 --> 00:26:24,920
Thorn and thistles it shall bring forth for you and you shall eat the plants of

259
00:26:24,920 --> 00:26:28,960
the field. By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread till you return to the

260
00:26:28,960 --> 00:26:32,640
ground. For out of it you were taken for you are dust and to dust you shall

261
00:26:32,640 --> 00:26:40,640
return. Three main things. One, success in life or simply living life was no

262
00:26:40,640 --> 00:26:45,680
longer going to be comfortable and come easy. You had to work hard. You had to

263
00:26:45,680 --> 00:26:51,680
sweat. You had to get blisters and calluses and blood and all of that is

264
00:26:51,680 --> 00:26:57,440
how you're going to get through life now because life is going to be hard. We do

265
00:26:57,440 --> 00:27:05,320
not have a right or a claim to an easy life. We don't. The people who desire it

266
00:27:05,320 --> 00:27:12,240
and think that they are owed it are wrong and that's a common crisis for all

267
00:27:12,240 --> 00:27:21,360
humanity. We should all expect difficulty and praise God if there's a glimpse of

268
00:27:21,360 --> 00:27:27,240
something that's not difficult because the hard life is the expectation. That's

269
00:27:27,240 --> 00:27:36,840
a common crisis. Also because of man the ground was cursed because of him. The

270
00:27:36,840 --> 00:27:44,840
rest of God's creation was going to be cursed by sin because of what the man

271
00:27:44,840 --> 00:27:51,360
and the woman did. The common crisis is that it's not only inside of humanity

272
00:27:51,360 --> 00:27:56,520
but we easily and obviously see it in nature. Plants die, things get diseased,

273
00:27:56,520 --> 00:28:02,240
animals kill each other. There are other atrocities that happen in the

274
00:28:02,240 --> 00:28:08,400
weather and in nature. That's a result of us my friends. And then finally that

275
00:28:08,400 --> 00:28:13,800
other common crisis is you'll return to the ground for out of it you were taken.

276
00:28:13,800 --> 00:28:17,640
You are dust and to dust you shall return.

277
00:28:17,640 --> 00:28:27,160
With very few exceptions every human that has ever lived has died. It's a

278
00:28:27,160 --> 00:28:33,960
reality. We don't have to be reminded of it. We all know. We've had loved ones.

279
00:28:33,960 --> 00:28:40,320
Perhaps we faced it ourselves. Friends. We read the news headlines of plane

280
00:28:40,320 --> 00:28:45,480
crashes and earthquakes and sometimes it's one or two sometimes it's dozens

281
00:28:45,480 --> 00:28:51,960
sometimes it's thousands. We all know that's a reality. That's a common crisis.

282
00:28:51,960 --> 00:28:58,520
No matter what advances we make in the medical field or in I guess as they're

283
00:28:58,520 --> 00:29:05,560
trying in the AI technology field we are not immortal. We won't stay around

284
00:29:05,560 --> 00:29:13,720
forever. We have but these years that we walk this mortal plane. That's our window

285
00:29:13,720 --> 00:29:20,960
and we all share that same window. But what's the common cure because remember

286
00:29:20,960 --> 00:29:29,080
we have a common crisis that's sin and its results. Let me just ask one more

287
00:29:29,080 --> 00:29:41,600
question. What does the Bible say for how many have sinned? All. What does all mean?

288
00:29:41,600 --> 00:29:49,720
Everybody. It means all. It's the most inclusive condition we can find. You want

289
00:29:49,720 --> 00:29:55,800
to talk about inclusivity? All have sinned. That's inclusivity. All have sinned

290
00:29:55,800 --> 00:30:01,560
and fallen short of the glory of God. Can't get away from it. It's you. It's me.

291
00:30:01,560 --> 00:30:06,440
It's our loved ones. It's everyone. All have sinned. But that also means that God

292
00:30:06,440 --> 00:30:14,560
is going to have a plan that's just as inclusive. Because what does he say even

293
00:30:14,560 --> 00:30:20,400
before he talks to the man and the woman? He talks to the serpent. And in that

294
00:30:20,400 --> 00:30:25,280
serpent we find our common cure. The Lord God said to the serpent and we know

295
00:30:25,280 --> 00:30:31,840
that that that includes the devil. Because you have done this, this is verse

296
00:30:31,840 --> 00:30:36,760
14 of Genesis 3. Cursed are you above all livestock and above all beasts of

297
00:30:36,760 --> 00:30:40,800
the field. On your belly you shall go and dust you shall eat all the days of your

298
00:30:40,800 --> 00:30:48,080
life. So the animal itself as an agent of Satan was cursed. But then more

299
00:30:48,080 --> 00:30:55,000
pointedly to the enemy of souls. Verse 15. I will put enmity between you and the

300
00:30:55,000 --> 00:31:02,600
woman and between your offspring and her offspring. He shall bruise your head and

301
00:31:02,600 --> 00:31:12,520
you shall bruise his heel. So one, the common cure is that from the beginning

302
00:31:12,520 --> 00:31:19,440
God said I will put a limit on what you can do controlling mankind. There's going

303
00:31:19,440 --> 00:31:25,080
to be a measure of grace that enmity given to all of mankind so they can

304
00:31:25,080 --> 00:31:33,160
still respond to me. Everybody gets it. He is already granted you what you need to

305
00:31:33,160 --> 00:31:41,000
get started on your Christian journey. The faith of Jesus leads to a faith in

306
00:31:41,000 --> 00:31:49,320
Jesus. That's a common cure my friends. Without that we would be so depraved by

307
00:31:49,320 --> 00:31:56,280
sin, so run-down, so distorted and perverted we couldn't respond to a holy

308
00:31:56,280 --> 00:32:02,120
God. Ever. None of us would be sitting here. We would not have had a baptism.

309
00:32:02,120 --> 00:32:06,840
None of our children have any chance of learning of a Jesus who loves them. And

310
00:32:06,840 --> 00:32:13,000
that would have been true out the gate if not for the common cure of enmity

311
00:32:13,000 --> 00:32:19,240
between us and the devil. God said I'm gonna put a limit to you. We need that.

312
00:32:19,240 --> 00:32:31,200
The other common cure is where he changes from mankind writ large to a

313
00:32:31,200 --> 00:32:34,440
singular he.

314
00:32:37,520 --> 00:32:45,000
He's going to bruise your head and you're going to bruise his heel. Which is

315
00:32:45,000 --> 00:32:51,920
the more minor injury? The heel. You can have a twisted ankle, you can have a bug

316
00:32:51,920 --> 00:32:56,160
bite, you can poison ivy, you can stub your toe, you can do whatever to your foot

317
00:32:56,160 --> 00:33:01,400
to your heel. It might not feel good, it might hurt, but it's minor. Most people

318
00:33:01,400 --> 00:33:10,240
recover from that. So devil you're going to cause some pain to the important he

319
00:33:10,240 --> 00:33:17,400
that is coming. But what is he going to do to the serpent? He'll crush the head.

320
00:33:17,400 --> 00:33:29,200
If a head is crushed is that a minor or a mortal injury? That's a fatal wound. That

321
00:33:29,200 --> 00:33:37,480
is a common cure because just like sin is all-inclusive, so is the fix. Just like

322
00:33:37,480 --> 00:33:42,520
the devil tempted our parents and got all of humanity into it, one man led to

323
00:33:42,520 --> 00:33:50,600
all of this sin. So one man, our second Adam, came, lived the life we should have,

324
00:33:50,600 --> 00:33:58,080
said the words we should have, lifted up our his heavenly father like we should

325
00:33:58,080 --> 00:34:07,040
have, died though that death not just physical but understand on the cross

326
00:34:07,040 --> 00:34:11,960
Christ went through the eternal separation from the Father. He could not

327
00:34:11,960 --> 00:34:18,120
see past the grave. He experienced the death that a lost person would

328
00:34:18,120 --> 00:34:30,680
experience. So he died the death that you and all, you and I should have, so that

329
00:34:30,680 --> 00:34:39,920
in placement of us, we get to live the life that only he deserves. It's a common

330
00:34:39,920 --> 00:34:49,120
cure. Do not think for a moment that what Jesus did that this first prophecy of a

331
00:34:49,120 --> 00:34:56,560
Messiah was only for some elect or for some special class or for those who

332
00:34:56,560 --> 00:35:01,960
rejected him. It doesn't make sense but maybe if you tithe 15 percent, tithe as a

333
00:35:01,960 --> 00:35:07,200
tenth you can't, but if you tithe 15 percent, that doesn't mean that you get a

334
00:35:07,200 --> 00:35:14,800
greater claim to what Jesus did. Jesus died wholly and completely, sufficiently

335
00:35:14,800 --> 00:35:21,480
for all, including those who will reject him, either knowingly or passively. Those

336
00:35:21,480 --> 00:35:27,240
who will reject him, he died for them as well. It's a common cure, a completely

337
00:35:27,240 --> 00:35:36,200
inclusive solution to the sin problem. And we saw some fruits of that played

338
00:35:36,200 --> 00:35:42,120
out right here today. We saw the demonstration of that, if you will, played

339
00:35:42,120 --> 00:35:47,280
out today because the New Testament tells us that it is in baptism that we

340
00:35:47,280 --> 00:35:51,200
enter into the death of Christ and when we come up out of the water we are

341
00:35:51,200 --> 00:35:56,480
in the creation of Christ and the new creature, the new creation, the new life

342
00:35:56,480 --> 00:36:01,760
in him. That played out right here. We got to see the profession of our common

343
00:36:01,760 --> 00:36:10,080
crisis and the solution, our common cure, today. If there's anything that we take

344
00:36:10,080 --> 00:36:13,080
away from this weekend,

345
00:36:13,080 --> 00:36:20,080
it's that God loved the world so much

346
00:36:27,800 --> 00:36:31,800
that he gave his only begotten son from me.

347
00:36:31,800 --> 00:36:44,520
And whosoever, common cure, who so ever believes in him can have eternal life.

348
00:36:44,520 --> 00:36:51,280
I'm going to invite David to come back up. We're going to finish this off

349
00:36:51,280 --> 00:36:59,800
because we have one more thing to do and then we will have our closing prayer. I

350
00:36:59,800 --> 00:37:02,800
want to have the prayer with him while he's up here.

351
00:37:10,360 --> 00:37:15,920
Hope you don't mind, you were a perfect illustration for today. I used you a lot,

352
00:37:15,920 --> 00:37:20,560
did you hear? Although I am going to say you called me a liar basically right out

353
00:37:20,560 --> 00:37:24,440
the gate, but I still forgive you, I love you. Because I said the water was perfect,

354
00:37:24,440 --> 00:37:33,400
he said it was cold. It is a joy to have gone through what we went through today.

355
00:37:33,400 --> 00:37:40,800
I'm glad I could do it with you. We have one more item of business. He has

356
00:37:40,800 --> 00:37:46,640
expressed to me a desire and you heard him say it into the microphone, to not

357
00:37:46,640 --> 00:37:54,040
just say he's a part of the church, but to actually be a part of the church. Here

358
00:37:54,040 --> 00:38:00,040
in this church, anyone I baptize knows up front that baptism includes joining the

359
00:38:00,040 --> 00:38:06,160
body of believers, represented by the institution of the church. That's here

360
00:38:06,160 --> 00:38:10,640
at the Ringgold Seventh-day Adventist Church for David. He has repeatedly shared

361
00:38:10,640 --> 00:38:15,960
that desire with me. He wants to be a member here. Being baptized here, you heard

362
00:38:15,960 --> 00:38:22,520
him. That hasn't changed. Okay, I was about to ask you, has that changed now

363
00:38:22,520 --> 00:38:27,320
from there to here? Okay, so here's what we're going to do. We're going to

364
00:38:27,320 --> 00:38:34,360
all look this way. I want to entertain a motion to accept David Colwick into the

365
00:38:34,360 --> 00:38:38,520
membership of the Ringgold Seventh-day Adventist Church. We have it. Several. How

366
00:38:38,520 --> 00:38:44,920
about seconds? All right, all in favor? Now, for my non-members, do we welcome

367
00:38:44,920 --> 00:38:51,680
David into the family of Jesus Christ? Anybody and everybody. Amen. I actually

368
00:38:51,680 --> 00:38:55,000
have something for you real quick.

369
00:38:57,960 --> 00:39:04,000
Inside the envelope is your baptism certificate, and then I like to give a

370
00:39:04,000 --> 00:39:08,920
personalized Bible just as a gift. I hope I got your name right. It's on

371
00:39:08,920 --> 00:39:14,240
there. All right, so now you can use that Bible if you want, or you can

372
00:39:14,240 --> 00:39:22,040
keep the one that you've been marking up and using extensively. But if you don't

373
00:39:22,040 --> 00:39:26,240
mind, can you stand up here with me while we have our closing

374
00:39:26,240 --> 00:39:31,840
prayer? All right, all right, let's bow our heads. Heavenly Father, we want to

375
00:39:31,840 --> 00:39:36,200
thank you for your love and your grace. We want to thank you for your mercy

376
00:39:36,200 --> 00:39:41,040
shown towards us, and we want to thank you for all of the people here that have

377
00:39:41,040 --> 00:39:45,480
professed a faith in you. And in a special way, we want to lift up David as

378
00:39:45,480 --> 00:39:51,920
he has joined now through baptism into your people, into your church,

379
00:39:51,920 --> 00:39:57,440
into your family. Lord, we pray that you would continue to

380
00:39:57,440 --> 00:40:02,960
guide and direct him the remaining years of his life as he looks

381
00:40:02,960 --> 00:40:08,480
forward to your soon return. We know that this isn't the end for him. He's

382
00:40:08,480 --> 00:40:12,480
acknowledged that it's a part of his discipling journey, and we pray that he

383
00:40:12,480 --> 00:40:19,080
would be found a faithful disciple. Lord, we also would ask that you help us as we

384
00:40:19,080 --> 00:40:22,720
have studied and looked at your Word. May we always remember that we are not

385
00:40:22,720 --> 00:40:29,520
islands, that we're in a sinful mess together, but we also have a Savior that

386
00:40:29,520 --> 00:40:35,000
will save all of us, whomever may turn to him. Lord, I pray that your Holy Spirit

387
00:40:35,000 --> 00:40:39,400
would bless each one of us, direct our minds heavenward, we pray in Christ's name.

388
00:40:39,400 --> 00:41:06,000
Amen.