Sunday Morning Worship Service | Pastor Whitley

you can make your way back to your seat but just remain standing going to the word of God we're going to go to Genesis chapter number three and as you are turning there swiping there I want you to turn with me to Genesis chapter number three we are so glad to have so many guests with us today we're so glad to have the Beau desot family here with us today could we welcome them today we are so glad to have you here with us we are so glad I know Pastor said it earlier we are so glad to have the Davis family with us all the way from west Tennessee could we welcome them today thank you for being here with us we we love your son your daughter-in-law we are so that they are here part of First Apostolic church and it is someone's birthday this week and we usually do this at the beginning of service but I want to take a moment and say happy birthday to one of the greatest uh servants you'll ever find Justin Massengill can we give her the Justin massigil a great big hand we love him he is a uh he is a great servant servant of others and he has just been a great great addition he and his family and we hope he had a great birthday and we love and appreciate him so very much we're so glad to see Hannah is Hannah here today who's here is Hannah I'm also ought to have Hannah back in town she's been helping out in stello all the way over in uh Chapel Hill and we are so glad to see you again back home Genesis chapter number three this is familiar familiar text one of my favorite text and all the scripture and I I just believe that this is the fulcrum for the rest of scripture that if we understand this narrative we can understand the rest of scripture because it's very important because that's the stage for everything else we're going to read in the Bible and maybe you've read it already this year in your Bible reading plan let's go to Genesis chapter number three beginning at verse number one now the serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made and he said unto the woman yea hath God said ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden the woman said to the serpent we may eat of the fruit of the trees the garden where the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden God hath said ye shall not eat of it neither shall you touch it lest you die and the serpent said to the woman you shall not surely die for God doesn't know that in the day you eat thereof then your eyes shall be opened and ye shall be as Gods knowing Good and Evil look at verse six and when the woman saw the tree was good for food and that it was pleasant to the eyes and a tree to be desired to make one wise she took of the fruit thereof and did eat and gave also unto her husband with her and he did eat and the eyes of them were both opened and they knew that they were naked and they sowed fig leaves together and made themselves aprons and they heard the voice of the Lord God Walking In The Garden in the cool of the day and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord amongst the trees and the Lord God called unto Adam and said Where Art Thou I want you to jump down to verse number 15. the Lord gives his condemnation to the to Adam and Eve and to the serpent he says this in verse 15 and I will put in the tea between thee and the woman between thy seed and her seed it shall bruise thy head and thou shalt bruise his heel this morning I'd like to preach to you just for a few moments on this thought the garden of redemption The Garden of redemption won't you lift up your hands all over the sanctuary and I want you to say Lord speak to me through your word today speak to me through your word father we thank you for your spirit that is here the great worship that has taken place but Lord here we are it's your word we're standing before your word a light a lamp illuminate us so God in the darkness of our hearts but I pray that you let us see something from your word that we might have hope and that we might have encouragement today that you're looking for us wherever we are that you are looking for us in Jesus name we pray and everyone said amen now would you clap your hands again unto Jesus this morning I wish somebody give him a praise you've yet to give him come on one you haven't given him yet maybe you gave it to him last week he's waiting on it again hit him up just a little bit higher we love you Jesus we love you Lord hallelujah hallelujah you can be seated in the name of the Lord The Garden of redemption what do you think what do you think of when you think of a sinner what do you think of when you think of a sinner you probably think of people who are addicted to chemicals drug addicts murderers thieves what if I told you the world's first sinner was none of those things the world's first sinner lived in paradise and not a penitentiary you have the best job ever with the greatest boss he was overseer of the entire world with everything at his fingertips he had the most beautiful garden and yard he had the perfect wife with the perfect marriage he even had a zoo for his personal pets think about that got everything what do you think of when you think of a sinner you don't think of Adam you think of skid row or something like that but when we look at the story of the fall in chapter number three of Genesis we see that life can be very complicated and that sin can distort a lot of things the Garden of Eden was the paradise that reflected God's glory and Adam and Eve were created as God's image bearers to be his Representatives and yet the story is gets very complicated and they create some knots God untangles the knots and we see the perfect picture of the Gospel we have to go back a little bit to understand this whole sequence of events that we read about in chapter number three genesis chapter number one and chapter number two are pretty controversial uh they're pretty controversial chapters uh people you know debate and argue about is there seven days or is there seven eras is uh what comes first what comes second what's all these things taking place here where are all these things taking place in in history in this creation did we come from a big bang did we come from some kind of cosmic accident and so chapters number one and two are kind of complicated people debate about it and then we get the chapter number three and we see that God really isn't worried about telling you how he created everything he's really not trying to tell you about all the days he created everything and the hours it took or the eras it took he did he doesn't answer any of those questions instead he brings the microscope the magnifying glass right down on Humanity because that is what he is concerned with God is concerned with you he's not concerned about the Stars he's not concerned about the moon or the sun he's not concerned about all the other planets he is got his attention on Humanity that's it the rest of the Bible is not about how he created everything the rest of the Bible is about how God wants to save man think about that God the rest of the Bible is about how God wants to save you that God wants to know you that God wants to draw close to you that's the gospel that in spite of our mess God can take the mess and make a message and save us I'm preaching already I get excited when I talk about Genesis because it is everything the rest of the Bible Finds Its Genesis or its seed in the Book of Genesis which the word Genesis means Beginnings everything is beginning here and God created two trees in the garden now there were other trees beautiful trees beautiful forests beautiful leaves and fruit but God created two trees the tree of the life the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of Good and Evil the entire Garden was centered around these two trees Adam was invited to eat from the Tree of Life and the Tree of Life Would sustain Adam and Eve forever just as God breathed into the nostrils of Adam and gave him life so too with the Tree of Life to say sustain him the breath of life was renewed daily through the tree of life not only did Adam and Eve enjoy life giving sustenance from the Tree of Life they had daily fellowship with their Creator God as long as they ate from the Tree of Life and allow it to be the center of their being they would be kept from sin and death as long as they stayed near the Tree of Life they were sustained and renewed and yet the same holds true for us today for us New Testament Believers Jesus Christ is the tree of life that Revelation tells us about we enjoy the fruit of his Spirit every day as we are renewed through the Holy Ghost and we are nourished through the word of God Jesus is the tree of life that must be the center of our families and our homes and as long as we abide at the tree of life we are going to be sustained but as soon as we start to drift from The Sinner we'll find ourselves eating from the wrong trees and living at The Frayed parts of the world and our lives will be barely hanging on keep him at the center of your life that's a simple message but we we can take for granted the Simplicity of the Gospel that Jesus needs to be the center of your life everything you do every choice you make every way that you live every day he should be the center of your life because when you move and you drift from him at the center you're going to eat from trees he told you not to eat of the Bible says in Genesis 2 15-17 the Lord took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it so there's his responsibility you are to work and to keep it you are to guard it you are to be the one who protects it you are the one who makes sure that it continues to grow you have a job if you think let me tell you this work was not a curse from sin there was work and jobs in Paradise before sin and some of you are like I don't know brother Nate you haven't been to my job now hard work and stress comes with work after sin because we distorted it because he abdicated what he was supposed to do and so he told him to keep and guard it then he says of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat but of the tree of the knowledge of Good and Evil thou shall not eat of it for in the day that thou eatst thereof Thou shalt surely die notice what he says there we're going to come back to this in a moment you will surely die if you eat from the Tree of the knowledge of Good and Evil you will I mean that sounds pretty sure do you think we're gonna die if we eat this well he said surely die I mean I mean that's you might you might die no you are going to be dead that's what he said and so he gave him a job and he gave him commands but this is what takes place in the very next verse in chapter 2 and verse 18 and the Lord God has said it is not good that man should be alone I will make him a help meet for him and so God gives him responsibilities and he gives him commands and God steps back and says it's not good it's not good he didn't say that man was not good he said it wasn't good that he's alone because it's not good to have commands without help you didn't hear me that was that was my Sunday punch right there you didn't hear me I said it's not good to try to keep commands by yourself you need command certainly he gave him a command and Paradise yes and Perfection there are commands there are laws but God said it's not good that he's alone trying to keep these commands and do this work that's why you need others that's why you need the church that's why you need your spouse that's why you need your family that's why you need the family of God because it is not good for you to try to serve God by yourself and it's not good trying to keep the laws of God by yourself so you need to link up with somebody and link up with some others that can help you and assist you why because when Temptation comes you need somebody to say don't do that and don't do that stay away from that that's not good but stay away from it oh yeah you need the church you need support there is no such thing as a church of one Paul said we are many members of one body meaning that even though you may not be like me you may not have the same personality as me you may not look like me you may not have the same background as me but when we are baptized into one body by one spirit I need you and you need me and when there are two and three together oh I wish somebody was hearing me right now I'm thankful that I've got a church full of people who will bring support when Temptation comes I'm thankful for a church who will bring support when I fail and I fall and I make mistakes you need the church for when one Falls another will pick him I wish somebody would clap their hands if you're thankful for the church today can't work alone can't serve him alone can't keep his commands alone so God does this let's see what happens here and so he begins to bring every Beast before him every animal before him now some of y'all would try to keep them wouldn't you we walked into we went we were at a mall somewhere recently a couple days ago old school mall and they had a pet store in there maybe I'll never pet stores in the mall we went to one of those that's pretty weird and uh they had bunnies and they had hamsters and they had uh hairless rats what in the world is wrong with somebody that they would want to buy a hairless rat first of all why would you buy a hair full of rats and and you want a hairless wrap do you want to die is this what you want to do with your life you want to die they got snakes and birds and they've got all kinds of all kinds of creeping things and something and there's people going oh [Music] and I got a little girl she sees the bird says get me out of here get me out of here but she sees the bunnies oh he brings all the beasts before Adam he doesn't dote over them he names them this is not some arbitrary information that the holy spirit gives us in verse 19. he wants to see something in Adam he wants to see if he can find companionship and even find fulfillment in his job and his responsibility and When God says he can't do it by himself he needs someone to help him he can't fight alone he can't serve alone he can't do all of this or he can't have all this responsibility by himself and yet Adam doesn't even articulate it he doesn't say God I need help God says I can see it within you came and articulate it but I can see you need someone else to help you and so he puts him to sleep and from his side from his rib he creates woman he creates the thing that he needs because responsibility and work will never complete you you didn't hear me jobs careers striving after success will never complete you what you need is companionship now I'm going somewhere it's on you have to understand this that God didn't give him more jobs when he was lonely God didn't give him more he didn't increase the garden he didn't increase the fruit he didn't increase the all the animals he said this is not what he needs he needs something else to give him fulfillment yes I've given him purpose yes I've given him responsibilities yes I've given him commands and what he needs is someone else so he puts him to sleep and he wakes up can you imagine have you ever woken up from a nap and you go where am I probably gonna do that today after you eat after you eat a long lunch and a big lunch you're gonna go home take a nap on the couch you're gonna wake up and go what day is it can you imagine waking up if you're Adam from a nap and there is a woman you don't even know what it is and she's just there and then you look down you're like I've got stitches I've got stitches and I've got this other creature here and yet he looks at her and goes hi Adam nice to meet you looks like we're the only two here you got plans for dinner you know it's the two of us you know maybe he starts to serenade her gets the monkeys to come down and play something on the Bongo I have no idea what's going on here right now but you know what happens to man when he runs into his soul mates he turns into a blubbering piece of creation he falls in love with her and he realizes this is what I need he Cleaves to her and she Cleaves to him and he says this is bone of my bone Flesh of My Flesh he said you don't even have a mom and dad but you're going to leave him that's what he says he says you don't know what Mom and Dad is but if you had him we were we are going to leave them I'm not dealing with in-laws right now ever again in my life he's just like let's just go and they become one but notice she is Created from his side Adam I'm sorry Matthew Henry said this the woman was made out of a rib out of the side of Adam Adam not made out of his head to rule over him nor out of his feet to be trampled upon by him but out of his side to be equal with him under his arm to be protected and near his heart and to be his beloved man and woman are equally image bearers of God different personalities different needs all the things but I'm going to tell you something they are all made in the image of God differences doesn't necessarily equate with inferiority well they don't look like us they don't smell like us they don't come in the same place as us it doesn't matter they are image bearers of God and they are to be loved and treated as image bearers of God there is nobody inferior to you there is nobody inferior to me we are all precious in His sight created equal different responsibilities but we have the image of God in us when you see your wife you are looking at an image Bearer when you see your husband and he's got morning breath he is an image bearer of God remember that remember that when you want to get rid of her and you want to get rid of him that these are image bearers of God when you want to say an ill word towards them remember you are talking about God's creation when you see oh I'm going to get a little bit closer to you now when you're out in the world and you see somebody acting a fool don't forget that that's an image bearer of God and they are in need of his love and compassion and grace and mercy [Music] oh my someone say Amen different responsibilities but they're both image bearers of God Adam is to be protector worker teacher teacher the the responsibility that they have as being God's Representatives he is a teacher about the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of Good and Evil they are in Covenant they are one flesh bound together he gave him a command though go back into chapter two he says to Adam you are not to eat of the tree of the knowledge of Good and Evil and when we get to chapter number three where in the world is Eve at the tree at the tree because it doesn't matter if you're living in Paradise or you're not you will always tempt yourself now if if God said don't eat from the Tree of the knowledge of Good and Evil I would have had my house on the other side of town but where is Eve at just hanging around just hanging around a tree not just any random Dee tree the one tree can't eat that's where she's at and what else shows up the Bible says that the serpent was more subtle than any Beast notice this no don't overlook things in the Bible any beast of the field meaning he was not from the garden Adam was to protect and guard the garden and here in the garden is a serpent that he let in from the field he's not from the garden he's from the field and what has happened Adam didn't take responsibility he didn't do his job he is to protect her he is to protect the garden and now even Paradise isn't without its pests you are never going to rid yourself of pests Satan will always try to find a way into your Paradise if he can't get in the church he'll get in the family and if he can't get you in the church or the family he'll try to get you on the job come on now somebody serpents will always try to distract you from your responsibility now where does this come from where does this serpent come from Isaiah gives us some insight and Ezekiel gives us some insight Isaiah says in chapter 14 that he was fallen from heaven cut down to the ground he tried to lift himself up and say I am like the most high Ezekiel says this prophetically and he says that he was filled with violence and profane things and pride and yet God cast him out now where does this take place in the history of creation some believe that this is what happens when it talks about the void and the Darkness that this is where this took place I can't be certain of that but what I can be certain of is that Satan will always try to Slither his way into your Paradise where he was to have dominion as the husband as the man he was to have dominion and authority and responsibility to guard the garden he let a serpent in Satan's always looking for some way to gain entrance into our marriages our families and our homes he may enter subtly through the doorway of entertainment television social media books or the constant pursuit of busy he may quietly introduce us to persons who don't share the same values or convictions as we do and any one of those types of ways or methods could invite a serpent into the garden of Our Lives and where is he at where is the serpent at at the tree of the knowledge of Good and Evil and where is Eve Within voice hearing reach of Temptation I don't think that serpent shouted hey over there I think she was so close that he could slither right to her ear and asked history's first question did God say the first question all of history is questioning God's word he's not questioning her responsibility he's not questioning her role he's not questioning Adam's role he's questioning God's word in their life do you know it did God say you shall not eat of any tree in the garden notice that he does not ask the question with the Right facts he didn't ask did God say you can't eat from this tree of the knowledge of Good and Evil he asked the question can you not eat from any of these trees get your eyes off this tree can you eat from all those trees and what does she say what does she say what did she say we may eat of the fruit of the Trees of the garden but God said You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden neither shall you touch it lest ye die remember what I said earlier when we read this it says that you will surely die just two things wrong she says well we can eat from all the trees that's right he also said we can't eat from this tree of the knowledge of Good and Evil that's right and here's her two wrong answers we can't touch it either and we might die and Satan knew immediately you don't know what God's word says where's your husband at he didn't teach you oh he's over there drooling over himself uh hive and she's over here talking to a serpent he doesn't get a stick or some kind of tool and cast that serpent out instead he allows his wife to be entertained by a serpent and she is wrong twice now perhaps Adam told her now listen to me I'm going to go slow for a second we'll end fast perhaps Adam told her you can't eat it and uh just to kind of keep yourself safe don't touch it maybe maybe said that or perhaps Eve may have simply assumed that touching the tree was the same as eating from the tree scripture doesn't elaborate how she came up with this answer all we can deduce is it's wrong that's not what God Said God said don't eat from the Tree of the knowledge of Good and Evil and the day that you do you will surely die there's a difference between you will surely die when you eat it and a difference from oh we might not shouldn't be able to eat it and we shouldn't even touch it and we might die I have seen this time and time again in Christianity that somebody thinks they're doing good by adding to God's word the command from God is don't eat it I'm going to tell you don't touch it sounds good sounds right it's wrong he didn't say that he didn't say he can't touch it because what if she accidentally ran into it oh brother knight uh you don't understand I'm trying to protect know what you're trying to do is add to God's word because you don't think God's word is sufficient so you will add to God's word and think you're doing you're being Noble and moral but what you're really doing is creating a question in their mind thinking well maybe God's word isn't sufficient for me and so now we've got an underlying a problem with with Eve and that she doesn't think what God Said is enough and I'm worried that we've got Christians we've got Believers we've got Apostolic Pentecostals who will do this thinking they're being morally right and they add to God's word thinking we're doing God a favor and so when someone touches it and they don't die then I might as well eat it and then they disobey what God Said so we I never forget I was with somebody one time between here and there and Yonder and he was he's just you know devil was everywhere and under I mean it was in the kitchen floor it was in the speakers it was everything the devil was everywhere I mean everywhere in the car in the I mean we went to the mall he's like oh my God that lady is God devil over there I'm like oh really oh my Lord Jesus she's selling shoes can you believe that devil and he got in the car and he's like he's every everything's got a devil and he's like you know people listen to rock and roll music listen to all this and you know what what do you think about MP3 players I'm like oh God don't ask me about the one in my pocket right now you mean this one with Anita Baker on it uh I don't know uh I mean this one with Michael Jackson on uh ah what do you what do you think about him bro he's like we don't have him around here oh yeah so brave and so conservative and so legalistic oh okay so we're to be separate from the world so I'm going to add things that aren't in the word of God because it's not sufficient for you to do right so I'm going to add to it and so when someone touches it and they don't die they think okay well then everything else is wrong so I'll cross the line into disobeying God and eating the fruit and then death comes but the issue is Adam didn't correct her what did God say he should have stepped up and said I'll tell you what God said not to eat of it and he also told me to guard the garden and to get you out of here but instead he sat there silent and she held it in her hand well I guess you're right and here's what happens she lost Focus of God's promises she focused on what she couldn't do he said oh you got that kind of wrong but um he's keeping something from you God knows that the day that you eat of it you're not gonna die you're going to become wise and smart and and and popular and all the things that you desire and so her one her vision now is on the one thing she can't have she doesn't see all the things that she does have I'm going to come for the other side of you now on this okay is that there are people who want to live without law and want to live without rules because all that they can do is see the one thing that they can't have and say they don't see all the things that they do have the rest of the world and they see the one thing that they can't have well why can't we do this and why can't we go there and why can't we do this maybe we're trying to keep you from eating the tree that could kill you there are so many people who would love to do some things around here but you won't do it you know why because there's one little thing you don't want to line up with and so you miss out on all the promises and all the blessings and you say well why can't we watch this and why can't we go there and why can't we do that and you're missing out on all of God's promises oh why can't we do this so I'm just gonna sit here because I can't do this and I would rather just do this than go surf somewhere I'd rather have this one thing dress this one way look this certain way why because I can't have it so you give up everything else for the one thing God says you don't need why didn't God just move it out of there why did God put it there he wants to see how dedicated you are to him and not how dedicated you are to living by rules come on somebody hear me I know it's quiet right now but listen we have too many Christians who are dedicated to rule keeping and not dedicated to fellowship with their creator and so you live by rules and when you break the rules you feel condemned right God have mercy help me right now Lord Jesus come on we don't live by this is not a church that lives by rules we live by the Revelation that Jesus Christ came to die for us to live in fellowship with us and he lives in our heart by his spirits and the grace of God that brings salvation teaches us to deny ungodliness it teaches us to stay away from the tree that could tempt you that's why I believe that God didn't put what kind of tree it was that's why I believe God didn't put what kind of fruit it was you know what we would do if we if it was really an apple we are the Church of no apples and we'd make some Idol out of the thing that we don't do I'm not going to have no Apple iPhone or no Apple iPad We're not gonna have no apple juice around here we're not gonna have no apple pie around here apple cider oh no and so we would find the thing and make an idol out of it and God said that's not the problem the issue's not the fruit the issue is your heart and I want your heart I want your dedication I want your commitment not to the rule but to me I want somebody to understand something when you fall in love with him you'll keep the rules but he's not going to love you anymore by keeping the rules and he's not going to love you any less if you don't keep the rules the issue is not the rules it's your commitment to him [Applause] the rules too many get people get tripped up by the rules I'm not going to go to that church because there's too many rules and you've got one tree in your eye and you're missing the blessings it's not about what we don't do it's about what we get hey guys not doing drugs guess what I'm healthy hey guys not drinking myself into a drunken stupor guess what I've got my mind right I've got my I got control of my body I've got uh come on somebody hear me it's not about the one thing we can't do but it's about what you get if you can't go there thank God that you got some safety thank God that you got some protection thank God that she got some bless there's other trees around here I want to eat from there's other promises here I'm going to take off somebody say Amen oh I got 10 minutes 10 minutes with 20 pages to go on I better somebody better speed this up so they eat of it she eats hands it to Adam they eat their eyes are open and they realize they're naked so they go get leaves fig leaves and begin to cover themselves cover themselves and hide from each other I'm gonna tell you something sin will not draw you closer to each other when you let go of some things in your marriage and you let some things in it's not going to make you better oh it got quiet watching some things together inviting people in your home that you know is not going to be a great influence it's not going to make you better it's going you're going to realize I'm naked and ashamed and they're going to cover themselves with fig leaves has anybody ever taken a leaf off a tree what happens to it it Withers and dies so what they cover themselves with is insufficient and they're going to have to go back to the tree and pull another leaf that will wither and die and they'll go back to the tree this is what's happening into our world today they're going to all the wrong things trying to cover themselves that cover themselves with drugs they cover themselves with drinking they cover themselves with sex they cover themselves with money they're trying to cover themselves with things that will never cover them and guess what happens it when it doesn't cover them it Withers and dies so they find the next thing to try to cover them the next drug the next drink the next relationship the next job the next thing and it's insufficient and so now they're hiding themselves away from God and here comes the gospel oh my Lord Jesus here comes the gospel God knows where they are and God knows what they've done and here's God coming in the cool of the day saying Adam where are you Eve where are you I want you to know that you didn't find God but God came looking to you and you were ashamed God came looking for you when you were covering yourself up with insufficient things and he says I still want to have relationship with you I want to give you Grace I want to give you compassion yeah God came looking for me when I was hiding when I was covering up he came looking for you and I want to tell somebody he's looking for you today he's looking for somebody in this room today you might be trying to cover yourself up with rules and laws and trying to keep up with rule keeping I'm going to tell you he's looking for you he might be trying to cover yourself up with addictions and all kinds of bad relationships he's looking for you who he finds him hiding they come out with these leaves on he's like what did you do here's the blame game we're all pretty good at this right that woman that you gave me yeah but she didn't she made me eat that fruit I mean she held me down God she took that fruit and she opened my mouth and she shoved it into my mouth can you believe that woman that you made out of me and I goes okay great answer all right Eve tell me the story she goes oh yeah well that serpent that you made slit it on in here next to that tree that you shouldn't have put here God and he made it look so nice and clean and then tell me about this guy he should have told me to stop it you are putting it in my mouth I couldn't talk he's like okay great isn't that Humanity you go from disobeying to lying to blaming when you don't take responsibility it's not going to get any better you know you don't have to teach a child how to lie you don't have to send your daughter or your son to the University of Tennessee and give them lying 101 class you don't need a certificate for that I mean they could be two years old and you say don't eat the cookie and you walk out of the room you walk back in and there's chocolate chips in their mouth and in their in their teeth and on their ears and in their eyes and you say did you eat the cookie nope you don't have to teach your little Johnny how to disobey rules clean your room and five hours later it's the same Legos and the same Barbies on the floor did you clean yeah what they didn't need was condemnation God didn't come with a hammer going all right where are you where you at okay there you are okay I told you I'm taking that tree you buncher the world doesn't need more condemnation they need compassion and when people come in here they say well don't look like us let me tell you something that's fine I don't want everybody I'm not trying to win people so they can look like me I want them to win people so they can look like Christ and they might be on the first lap and you might be on your 100th lap but I'm gonna tell somebody we don't need condemnation around here we need compassion there is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus we need conviction we need love in this place that when someone comes say this is the place where you can be covered this is the place where you can find Redemption [Applause] oh he came looking for them he says okay here's what we're going to do I'm almost done Ashley and the team want to come on here's what we're going to do serpent you're doomed I'll deal with you you're doomed Adam you're gonna work you're going to work and it's going to be hard and you're not going to like it you're going to work Eve you are going to give birth and it's going to hurt and it's going to be painful and you're going to serve your husband but you have a promise that the seed of the woman that's right brothers and sisters women don't have seed God says I'm going to put the seed of redemption in your womb and when that's when that seed comes to fruition he's going to crush the head of this serpent and so there were condemnation and guilt and shame should have been instead we have a picture of the Gospel of Jesus Christ that he comes looking for us when we don't deserve us he gives us Grace when we don't deserve it he said that she would die you would die the day that you eat of it but now he's telling me I'm going to give life to the thing that's killing me stand to your feet right now he said I want to give you the thing the remedy and from the seed he will crush the head of the serpent and he will bruise his heel they deserve death you deserve death I deserve death our sin the wages of sin is death but the grace of God brings life it brings Second Chances did they deserve it some of us if we were there they'd say kill them kill them that's right get them kill them where's the lightning where's the Thunder where's the great kill them some of us need to remember where God brought us from that he didn't kill you when you committed adultery and he didn't kill you when you cheated that person out of business and he didn't [Applause] he didn't kill you when you were an addict he didn't kill you he but he said come on where you at where you at where are you at where are you okay he said um took care of that I'm going to have to cover you now [Music] and God looked around and found an animal I know you didn't do anything I know you didn't eat from that tree I know you didn't Rebel and I know you didn't but you're gonna have to die so they can be covered and so God took an animal that didn't commit the sin and God killed it blood is shed rips the hide off of that carcass and he comes over to Eve and he covers her with a blood-soaked covering it's the rest of the Hide [Music] puts it around Adam standing there in a pool of blood is redemption and God says I got to cast you out of the garden now Adam you're forgiven but you're cast out you're covered but I got to remove you [Music] and so they leave the garden God puts an angel at the gate to Garden the tree of life is gone Paradise is gone but when we get to the New Testament [Music] the seed of the woman the Bible calls him the second Adam he is driven the Bible says Mark uses the word and the Greek it's called driven cast out into the Wilderness to face Temptation my God have mercy eat turn this Stone into bread and eat it that's what I got Adam with will I get you it what what did he say I don't know what the word of God says Jesus said it is written [Music] it is written it is written what Adam failed when Temptation came and he failed Jesus Christ the second Adam came and took the Temptation for us and he he came through the Temptation that we might receive his righteousness oh and where do we find him praying just days before he is crucified praying let this cup pass for me but if not let your will be done [Music] and they bring him out of the garden and they bring him to a [Music] and they put the second atom on a tree it was a tree that caused all of this sin and it's going to be a second atom on a tree that's going to undo all of that sin blood dripping down him like that carcass in the garden I'm doing this for you Adam and I'm doing this for you even I'm doing this for you Nathan I'm doing this for you Ashley and I'm doing this for you Easton I'm doing this for you and he gives up the ghost and for three days where do they bury him in a tomb in a oh and when he comes out of the Tomb Redemption is complete what was undone in the garden is renewed in the garden what Adam caused Jesus is going to reverse that's the gospel that's the gospel is that you don't deserve it you don't deserve his grace and his love and his Mercy you don't deserve his love and his compassion I deserve death I deserve condemnation and you don't get what you deserve I think there's somebody in this room today who needs some covering and I want you to know won't you lift up your hands right now there is a redeemer in the house [Music] that the garden that you might be in right now might be a mess it might be ravaged but with terrible decisions I want you to know that he's looking for you he's looking for you when you don't deserve it and he's saying come on come on come on our our New Year I'll cover you I wonder if somebody would leave their seat today somebody who is so bold to step out from behind the tree they're hiding behind and say that's what I need man that's what I need maybe it's some some husband who says you know what I've got to do I got to get back to being a protector of my home and I got to get back to being a keeper in my home I I take some responsibility maybe it's a maybe it's somebody who just I'm that's all I want to do is keep rules and keep rules and keep rules and I keep failing I keep failing I keep failing I want you to know that it's not about rule keeping it's about a relationship with him and he wants to draw you closer unto him and when you draw closer unto him the further you're going to be from the Tree of the knowledge of Good and Evil the further you're going to be from the Temptation that constantly puts you down somebody lift up your hands right now there is healing there is Mercy there is Grace here today come on there is healing come on there is forgiveness here today what I want you to do is to say father forgive me that's you forgive me of my sins and he is faithful and just to forgive us if you need to repent that's where it's going to begin it's going to begin at repentance when you die out to sin when you die out to the old way of life that's when newness come in life comes maybe you've never been baptized before I want you to know that we will be baptized we are buried with Christ and baptism just as he was buried in a tomb we are buried with him in baptism that's where the gardener that's where the Redeemer does his work and cleanses you and you are brought back up into New Life come on somebody lift up your hands and pray come on lift up your hands and pray there as I'm moving of the spirit here come on there is healing here come on there is forgiveness here come on there's newness here old things can be passed away come on all things can be passed away he can make everything new there's Redemption here in this Garden Jesus come on he can do it whatever it is you might seem dirty you might feel like you're unworthy he will cleanse you he will cleanse you [Music] see beautiful [Music] nothing tonight [Music] [Applause] [Music] if I see I am [Music] here [Music] is [Music] [Applause] your heart foreign [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] washed in the blood of your sacrifice [Music] [Applause] I am free [Music] the saints of God look around you just a moment prayer warriors join together in prayer right now don't leave anyone alone let's lift everyone up in the name of Jesus would you reach out to someone right now Hallelujah the Holy Ghost is going to work in this house the Holy Ghost is ministering to someone right now [Music] go on let the Holy Ghost choose you let the Holy Ghost minister to you right now somebody's being cleansed somebody's being made new right now [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Applause] my dirty rice [Music] [Applause] foreign [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] endless season [Music] would you lift your hands and love Jesus would you love him just a moment Hallelujah hear me there's no person that's in this house by accident today the Holy Ghost has ordained it to be so and his word is for every one of us today I would ask every individual to take heart and take heed to what the word has said to us today go from this place encouraged knowing that the sacrifice has been paid for your sins know that Grace is for us all know that you can take his name on and water baptism know that you can be filled with the spirit know that you can walk in newness of life with him