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Speaker 1: Life Audio. Thank you for listening to your daily prayer,

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Speaker 1: where we help you find the words you need to

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Speaker 1: connect to your Father in Heaven. No matter what's happening

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Speaker 1: in your life today, you can trust that God wants

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Speaker 1: to hear from you. Right after this short word from

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Speaker 1: our sponsors, we'll pray to today's prayer to recognize deception

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Speaker 1: before it leads to destruction. A Prayer to recognize deception

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Speaker 1: before it leads to destruction, written by Laura Bailey, read

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Speaker 1: by Leah Gerard. Now the serpent was more crafty than

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Speaker 1: any of the wild animals the Lord God had made.

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Speaker 1: He said to the woman, Did God really say you

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Speaker 1: must not eat from any tree in the garden? Genesis

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Speaker 1: three to one. Our Sunday school is going through the

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Speaker 1: Book of Genesis, verse by verse. While the majority of

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Speaker 1: the class grew up in church and have a solid

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Speaker 1: understanding of scripture, the slow pace of the study has

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Speaker 1: revealed new truths that we'd not ever noticed in the text.

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Speaker 1: For the last month, we've lingered on Genesis chapter three,

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Speaker 1: discussing questions that arise in unpacking the text. Where was

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Speaker 1: Adam when the serpent was talking to Eve? Was the

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Speaker 1: serpent an actual snake or something like a snake. How

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Speaker 1: long was the conversation before Eve ate the apple. Yes,

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Speaker 1: our small group has been a buzz with questions and

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Speaker 1: ponderings as we study the first few chapters of God's Word.

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Speaker 1: And while there's been an onslaught of proposed theories to

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Speaker 1: answer questions, we don't have the answers to. One thing

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Speaker 1: has been abundantly clear how easy it is to slip

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Speaker 1: into sin. When examining the interaction between the serpent and

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Speaker 1: Eve in Genesis three one through six, here's what we

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Speaker 1: do know. The serpent we know is Satan, whose Scripture

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Speaker 1: describes as crafty. This means he was more intelligent, more cunning,

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Speaker 1: and trickier than any of the creatures God made. If

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Speaker 1: you're like me, when you read text like this, the

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Speaker 1: questions start coming at you rapidly. Instead of making a statement,

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Speaker 1: he tactfully posed a question and then added for effect

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Speaker 1: an additional layer of uncertainty did God really say? And

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Speaker 1: with that, for the first time in scripture, we see

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Speaker 1: doubting God's words and ultimately God's authority introduced to Eve.

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Speaker 1: The interaction between the serpent and Eve continues. The woman

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Speaker 1: said to the serpent, we may eat fruit from the

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Speaker 1: trees in the garden. But God did say you must

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Speaker 1: not eat fruit from the tree that is in the

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Speaker 1: middle of the garden, and you must not touch it,

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Speaker 1: or you will die. You will certainly not die, the

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Speaker 1: serpent said to the woman, And in Genesis three point

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Speaker 1: five he says, for God knows that when you eat

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Speaker 1: from it, your eyes will be open, and you will

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Speaker 1: be like God, knowing good and evil. Why does Eve

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Speaker 1: respond to a snake in the garden and question God

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Speaker 1: instead of running away. I don't know, but it's the

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Speaker 1: reason why, centuries later, our natural response to temptation is

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Speaker 1: not to flee, but to lean in. Another thing we

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Speaker 1: see through Eve's interaction with the serpent is his ability,

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Speaker 1: through the power of suggestion, to alter what God really said.

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Speaker 1: This affects Eve's remembrance of what God actually said. Looking

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Speaker 1: back in scripture, God did not say that they couldn't

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Speaker 1: touch the tree. He just said they couldn't eat from it.

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Speaker 1: With Eve's inaccurate account of God's command, the serpent exploits

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Speaker 1: God's tree by offering a half truth. Eve is deceived

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Speaker 1: by the Father of lies, as he's called in John

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Speaker 1: eight forty four, and it leads to her destruction as

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Speaker 1: well as destruction for the rest of humanity. Lest we

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Speaker 1: think we would have been able to resist the devil's seduction,

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Speaker 1: we are just as prone to deception. We too convince

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Speaker 1: ourselves that it's okay to look, and then go one

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Speaker 1: step further with it won't hurt to touch, and before

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Speaker 1: we know it, we've eaten the forbidden fruit, leaving us

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Speaker 1: to experience the consequences of sin. But in Genesis three sixteen,

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Speaker 1: God gives the promise of a savior. He makes a

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Speaker 1: way for his children to escape eternal damnation for their sin.

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Speaker 1: Let's not be deceived. Our enemy wants nothing more than

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Speaker 1: to kill, steal, and destroy, and lead God's children into destruction.

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Speaker 1: But we can resist the temptation of the evil One

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Speaker 1: and cling to the one who promises in John ten

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Speaker 1: ten to give us life and life to the fullest.

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Speaker 1: Let's pray, Heavenly Father, I come before you and ask

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Speaker 1: that you give me the ability to recognize when I'm

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Speaker 1: being deceived. Help me to be soaked in your word,

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Speaker 1: to recall your truth so that I can quickly spot

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Speaker 1: the lie of the evil One and shut it down

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Speaker 1: with the truth of your word. Lord. When I fall

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Speaker 1: into temptation, I ask for forgiveness. I readily confess that

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Speaker 1: I am weak and need your strength to fight though

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Speaker 1: I'm undeserving. Thank you for providing a way for me

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Speaker 1: to escape the eternal consequences of my rebellion against you.

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Speaker 1: I am beyond grateful for the gift of salvation through

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Speaker 1: grace and faith alone. I love you Lord in Jesus' name. Amen.

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Speaker 1: and your nightly prayer, you can be sure that your

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Speaker 1: day begins and ends centered on the Word of God

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