WEBVTT - Hope Is In Our DNA (Lisa Harper) 0:00:01.960 --> 0:00:04.519 Hey, this is Stephen Ferdick. I'm the pastor of Elevation 0:00:04.760 --> 0:00:06.760 Church and this is our podcast and I wanted to 0:00:06.800 --> 0:00:09.680 thank you for joining us today. Hope this inspires you. 0:00:10.119 --> 0:00:12.320 Hope it builds your faith. Hope it gives your perspective 0:00:12.320 --> 0:00:18.480 to see God has moving in your life. Enjoy the message. Amen, Well, 0:00:18.520 --> 0:00:22.759 welcome to Elevation Church. On behalf of Pastor Stephen and 0:00:22.840 --> 0:00:26.680 our family. I'm so happy that you're joining us. Type 0:00:26.720 --> 0:00:29.040 it in the chat. Let me know where you're joining 0:00:29.160 --> 0:00:33.160 us from. We have people joining us from all over 0:00:33.200 --> 0:00:37.280 the world all weekend long. Let's see, We've got Melissa 0:00:37.680 --> 0:00:43.840 from Michigan. We've got Eric from Kenya, Joel is joining 0:00:43.880 --> 0:00:48.880 us from Mississippi, Hazel from India, literally all over the world. 0:00:49.840 --> 0:00:54.560 I just love it. I love worshiping with Elevation Church. 0:00:55.480 --> 0:00:57.880 It's an amazing part of what I get to do 0:00:57.960 --> 0:01:00.840 with my life. And I know you're grateful that too. Hey, 0:01:01.320 --> 0:01:06.440 shout out to Faith Verdick. If you don't know her, 0:01:06.680 --> 0:01:10.240 she is the woman who gave our pastor life and 0:01:10.319 --> 0:01:14.440 today is her birthday. So Faith, if you're watching, speak 0:01:14.480 --> 0:01:16.640 for all of us when I say thank you. You 0:01:16.720 --> 0:01:21.600 are one special woman. You deserve an extra crown for 0:01:22.520 --> 0:01:26.600 raising Stephen Ferdick and not killing him, because I now 0:01:26.680 --> 0:01:29.920 know what it's like to raise teenagers. And so thank you. 0:01:30.120 --> 0:01:33.440 We all thank you. Are your kids all set E 0:01:33.560 --> 0:01:36.160 kids online? How many of you are grateful for E 0:01:36.360 --> 0:01:39.080 kids Online? I know it's not the same thing as 0:01:39.160 --> 0:01:43.360 dropping your kids off, but at least they're watching something 0:01:43.800 --> 0:01:48.360 that's wonderful, and that's teaching them about God and giving 0:01:48.400 --> 0:01:51.360 you just a minute to be able to worship together. 0:01:51.440 --> 0:01:53.320 How many of you are grateful for our worship team? 0:01:53.640 --> 0:01:56.960 I just love our church. I love how they lead 0:01:57.080 --> 0:02:00.600 us every weekend. But if you're like me, elevation worship 0:02:00.680 --> 0:02:03.760 is not just something that you watch on the weekends, 0:02:03.760 --> 0:02:06.360 but it's a sound that's coming out of your home. 0:02:06.920 --> 0:02:10.440 The songs and the sermons and the stories of this 0:02:10.680 --> 0:02:14.400 church are getting me through this season, and I know 0:02:14.440 --> 0:02:15.840 they are too. How many of you were with us 0:02:15.919 --> 0:02:18.840 last week when my husband preached about the plot twist? 0:02:22.680 --> 0:02:25.920 I gotta tell you, my husband is not preached on 0:02:26.040 --> 0:02:29.360 Father's Day in like a decade, and I was just 0:02:29.400 --> 0:02:31.960 thinking last night that apparently, in addition to all of 0:02:32.000 --> 0:02:34.920 the special anointings that are on pastor Stephen's life. He 0:02:34.960 --> 0:02:37.640 also has a special Father's Day anointing. Am I wrong? 0:02:38.960 --> 0:02:42.079 If you saw that message, you know how incredible it was. 0:02:42.120 --> 0:02:43.600 And if you missed it, you need to go back 0:02:43.880 --> 0:02:46.120 and watch it. It It was called plot Twist. I think 0:02:46.160 --> 0:02:48.200 it's in my top ten. I have a lot in 0:02:48.280 --> 0:02:49.800 my top ten, but I think that was in my 0:02:49.840 --> 0:02:52.320 top ten. I just love how God speaks to me 0:02:52.919 --> 0:02:55.760 every single time the Word is preached on this stage, 0:02:55.800 --> 0:03:00.360 and today is going to be no exception. My dear 0:03:00.400 --> 0:03:03.760 friend Lisa Harper will be bringing the Word and this woman, 0:03:05.240 --> 0:03:08.400 this woman can preach, and I'm not gonna lie. I 0:03:08.480 --> 0:03:12.440 love a good girl preacher, and Lisa is one of 0:03:12.480 --> 0:03:16.040 my favorites. Lisa and her daughter, Missy, live in Nashville, Tennessee. 0:03:16.320 --> 0:03:19.160 They drove down here to be with us this weekend. 0:03:19.240 --> 0:03:24.239 So get ready because this woman knows the Word of God, 0:03:24.880 --> 0:03:27.519 and every time I'm around her, I want to read 0:03:27.560 --> 0:03:29.800 my Bible more and i want to be a better Christian. 0:03:29.880 --> 0:03:32.480 So I'm gonna stop talking. I hope you're having a 0:03:32.520 --> 0:03:35.280 great weekend. It's a great weekend here in Charlotte. Would 0:03:35.280 --> 0:03:45.280 you help me welcome Lisa Harper to the stage. Yeah, 0:03:45.960 --> 0:03:50.880 we're trying so hard to hug responsibly. I was thinking 0:03:51.000 --> 0:03:54.720 driving here. We drove here yesterday from Nashville, Tennessee, and 0:03:54.800 --> 0:03:58.320 I was just thinking about the breath. Y'all can sit down. 0:03:58.480 --> 0:04:01.320 You're so darling at home. I know you're already sitting 0:04:01.320 --> 0:04:04.480 down half the hollar, like vegged out and stretching pants 0:04:04.520 --> 0:04:07.760 on the couch. But I was thinking about the breadth 0:04:08.000 --> 0:04:11.440 of elevation, what God has done in a really short 0:04:11.480 --> 0:04:15.640 season to take the gospel all around the world, and 0:04:15.720 --> 0:04:20.440 I thought, that kind of trajectory, I think it's almost unprecedented. 0:04:20.520 --> 0:04:24.800 It's obviously miraculous God has authored the favor that he's 0:04:24.800 --> 0:04:27.560 given elevation. But I thought, you don't get that broad 0:04:28.400 --> 0:04:32.719 without having really really deep roots. And I love that 0:04:32.839 --> 0:04:37.159 woman right there because she's got really really deep roots. 0:04:37.720 --> 0:04:41.800 And you may only see her in a stream. You 0:04:41.839 --> 0:04:44.120 may only see Holly on a screen. But I've been 0:04:44.200 --> 0:04:47.360 through a couple of valleys in the last ten years, 0:04:47.839 --> 0:04:49.960 and Holly Ferdick was one of the first person to 0:04:50.040 --> 0:04:54.520 text prayers to speak life to me. So I am 0:04:54.560 --> 0:04:58.000 delighted to be back in this house. I always come 0:04:58.040 --> 0:05:00.640 here with just a little bit of trepidation is I 0:05:00.680 --> 0:05:03.960 too watch Stephen Ferdick every weekend, and so some of 0:05:03.960 --> 0:05:07.039 you are like, oh, you've got to be kidding me. 0:05:07.600 --> 0:05:09.680 I mean, Holly made me sound good, but I am 0:05:09.680 --> 0:05:12.240 no Stephen Ferdick. This is going to be like a 0:05:12.360 --> 0:05:15.279 mule at the Kentucky Derby. But hang with me, because 0:05:15.320 --> 0:05:18.200 I think God has something for us, if nothing else, 0:05:18.240 --> 0:05:20.560 he has something for me. Because Chris, I have been 0:05:20.600 --> 0:05:22.679 waiting with baited breath. I don't even know what that means, 0:05:22.720 --> 0:05:27.280 but I've been so excited about being led in worship 0:05:27.400 --> 0:05:31.440 live by y'all. I know what Pastor Stephen said last 0:05:31.440 --> 0:05:34.680 week is true that as Christ followers, we carry the 0:05:34.800 --> 0:05:37.840 church in our hearts and minds, and so the church 0:05:37.960 --> 0:05:40.240 is open as long as you and I are open 0:05:40.279 --> 0:05:43.360 to the working person in the Holy Spirit. But I've 0:05:43.360 --> 0:05:45.080 just got to be honest with y'all and tell you 0:05:45.120 --> 0:05:48.320 that my heart has been in a really stinker prodigal 0:05:48.360 --> 0:05:52.120 season lately, and every time it sees the Zoom logo, 0:05:52.279 --> 0:05:55.560 it just kind of crosses its arms and refuses to listen. 0:05:55.880 --> 0:06:01.040 I miss corporate worship. As soon as y'all started, I 0:06:01.120 --> 0:06:03.640 just thought, I just I just feel like I want 0:06:03.640 --> 0:06:06.640 to sink into this one to marinate in this It's 0:06:06.760 --> 0:06:09.920 it's been incredible to be here with y'all. This has 0:06:10.080 --> 0:06:13.960 been a less than lovely season. I don't have to 0:06:14.000 --> 0:06:19.400 remind y'all of the reasons why, but I'll start with homeschool. 0:06:21.880 --> 0:06:25.040 I love my kid. For those of you who don't 0:06:25.080 --> 0:06:28.600 know my story, I became a mom the same year 0:06:28.640 --> 0:06:32.200 I went through menopause at fifty through the miracle of adoption. 0:06:32.440 --> 0:06:35.800 And my kid is the most amazing child in the 0:06:35.839 --> 0:06:40.360 world except for years, of course, that's a tie. But 0:06:40.360 --> 0:06:45.039 but homeschooling full time once COVID caused schools in Tennessee 0:06:45.120 --> 0:06:50.320 to close, that was that was that was a faith opportunity, 0:06:50.880 --> 0:06:55.039 And I do have to confess that once I watched 0:06:55.120 --> 0:06:59.920 Tiger King and countadate as biology for her. But I 0:07:00.040 --> 0:07:02.840 I brought a two minute video that I want to 0:07:02.880 --> 0:07:05.479 show y'all just this proof in case there's any truancy 0:07:05.560 --> 0:07:09.679 officers in Epham all over the world. I bought proof 0:07:09.720 --> 0:07:12.680 that we actually did have classes. This was an al 0:07:13.360 --> 0:07:16.520 fresco class we had on etiquette. Just a little short, 0:07:16.520 --> 0:07:18.760 two minute video. They'll show you what went on during 0:07:18.800 --> 0:07:24.520 school at our house during COVID nineteen am, I, how 0:07:24.520 --> 0:07:29.760 did you make that trashy noise again? Oh? The that noise? Yes, ma'am. 0:07:30.560 --> 0:07:36.080 You put your you put your teeth, your top teeth 0:07:36.520 --> 0:07:40.080 over your bottom lip, and then you like force air 0:07:40.320 --> 0:07:48.240 out of one side, like blow a little more air 0:07:48.280 --> 0:07:57.080 and just out of the side, like honey. I think 0:07:57.120 --> 0:08:00.920 you're too sweet to make trashy noises. Maybe we should 0:08:00.960 --> 0:08:07.880 sing a song, I willship song. Maybe we should sing 0:08:07.920 --> 0:08:10.240 a worship show. Which one do you want to sing? 0:08:10.800 --> 0:08:15.760 Probably Jesus with dension, good grace. Oh I love that one. 0:08:15.840 --> 0:08:30.840 Okay you started peace? Oh dan Ah savags in his blood. 0:08:31.760 --> 0:08:34.360 That's a good one. It is a good one. I 0:08:34.400 --> 0:08:36.240 love it. How does the chorus go of that one? 0:08:37.200 --> 0:08:41.400 I actually think that is the chorus and Jesus our salvation, 0:08:43.200 --> 0:08:52.920 our reathomtion. What comes after is in his blood jeezesus 0:08:55.040 --> 0:09:04.319 blood of it? Right? Friend forfu ish keen do come? 0:09:05.000 --> 0:09:07.840 That's what comes to us to that. I love that, tutor, 0:09:08.240 --> 0:09:11.439 I do too. That's better than making those bad, trashy noises, 0:09:11.480 --> 0:09:14.280 isn't it it is? Do you think you're sweeter than me? 0:09:14.800 --> 0:09:22.400 I think so. Of YouTube, most of y'all are probably 0:09:22.440 --> 0:09:25.360 sweeter than me. And have not been tutoring your children 0:09:25.480 --> 0:09:30.920 and breaking when noises. It's been a long three months, 0:09:31.200 --> 0:09:36.040 and I just my hats are is off to you 0:09:36.200 --> 0:09:38.839 if you have been singing worship tunes like my kid 0:09:38.960 --> 0:09:42.600 instead of making trashy noises like me. But to be 0:09:42.679 --> 0:09:44.640 really honest, I'd like to kick you in the shins 0:09:45.000 --> 0:09:47.360 if you haven't suffered at all over the last three months, 0:09:47.400 --> 0:09:50.000 because it has just been a rough go of it. 0:09:50.800 --> 0:09:54.320 And again, I don't have to remind you of why 0:09:54.480 --> 0:09:56.680 it's been rough. I know we've all been dealing with 0:09:56.720 --> 0:09:59.280 our own kind of rough in our little corner of 0:09:59.280 --> 0:10:05.760 the world. We had an especially intimate difficult thing happened recently. 0:10:05.880 --> 0:10:10.920 Someone in my immediate family committed suicide nine weeks ago, 0:10:11.640 --> 0:10:16.559 and his death just ripped the fabric of our lives. 0:10:17.280 --> 0:10:19.320 And over the last two months, I just feel like 0:10:19.360 --> 0:10:23.680 some of my hope has been leaking out of those holes. 0:10:23.800 --> 0:10:26.200 I just have had a harder time than normal hanging 0:10:26.720 --> 0:10:29.000 on to hope. It's been almost like wet soap. I'm 0:10:29.040 --> 0:10:33.000 just having a hard time hanging on to it. And 0:10:33.040 --> 0:10:35.960 my hope, my prayer is that none of you are 0:10:35.960 --> 0:10:37.800 having to gree the loss of a loved one on 0:10:37.880 --> 0:10:41.680 top of everything else that we're slogging through. For those 0:10:41.720 --> 0:10:46.400 of you who have, I'm so sorry if you're dealing 0:10:46.440 --> 0:10:48.280 with the loss of a loved one. Please please please 0:10:48.960 --> 0:10:51.000 put some of those details in the chat, because we 0:10:51.000 --> 0:10:54.120 would love to pray with you and for you. But 0:10:54.240 --> 0:10:58.400 regardless of what's been shoplifting your hope lately, I think 0:10:58.440 --> 0:11:01.959 all of us can agree that that at least some 0:11:02.120 --> 0:11:05.400 measure of our hope has been threatened in the last 0:11:05.480 --> 0:11:07.959 couple of months. And so I thought it would be 0:11:08.000 --> 0:11:11.360 so appropriate, so prudent, prudent, maybe not for you, but 0:11:11.400 --> 0:11:14.559 certainly for me to do a deep dive in scripture 0:11:14.600 --> 0:11:16.959 and try to recover some of the hope that these 0:11:17.000 --> 0:11:22.080 circumstances have shoplifted. And so I want to talk before 0:11:22.080 --> 0:11:24.400 we dive into scripture. If you're on the couch and 0:11:24.440 --> 0:11:27.560 you've got a Bible at your house, get up off 0:11:27.600 --> 0:11:29.600 the counts and grab that pumpy and come back, because 0:11:29.600 --> 0:11:31.040 we're going to be in the Bible. If you have 0:11:31.200 --> 0:11:34.360 kids in the room, I want to reiterate what Chad 0:11:34.480 --> 0:11:36.960 said about sending them over to kids YouTube, because it's 0:11:37.000 --> 0:11:38.960 going to get a little hot in here pretty soon. 0:11:39.000 --> 0:11:40.920 So I want you to be careful to not have 0:11:41.000 --> 0:11:44.080 anybody under thirteen in your living room. Just send them 0:11:44.120 --> 0:11:47.240 off for YouTube. Don't let them watch Tiger King like 0:11:47.280 --> 0:11:48.800 I did with my child, because now I'm going to 0:11:48.800 --> 0:11:52.320 be paying for therapy later. But anyway, before we dive 0:11:52.360 --> 0:11:54.079 into the text, our first text is going to be 0:11:54.120 --> 0:11:55.800 at the very big beginning of the book, I want 0:11:55.800 --> 0:11:59.640 to remind us all that we get our New Testament 0:12:00.360 --> 0:12:04.520 from Greek and the Greek concept of hope. The Greeks 0:12:04.520 --> 0:12:10.760 pronounced hope. It's transliterated elpis, but it's pronounced l piece, 0:12:11.040 --> 0:12:12.960 which I think that's cool. That peace is kind of 0:12:12.960 --> 0:12:15.760 in the Greek idea of hope. But the Greek concept 0:12:15.840 --> 0:12:23.680 of hope was not an objective assessment. They didn't look 0:12:23.720 --> 0:12:27.479 around at their circumstances and go, oh, here's what justifies 0:12:27.600 --> 0:12:33.239 my hope this season. It was actually a subjective experience. 0:12:33.800 --> 0:12:36.760 They looked back over their lives and if there was 0:12:36.920 --> 0:12:40.280 proof of hope in their backstory, then they said, I 0:12:40.320 --> 0:12:44.640 will be expectant about future hope. If they could look 0:12:44.720 --> 0:12:47.880 back to tangible hope, they said, then I know there 0:12:47.920 --> 0:12:52.000 will be proof of hope. There will definitely hope in 0:12:52.000 --> 0:12:55.840 the future. Let me explain it like this, COVID nineteen 0:12:55.960 --> 0:12:59.760 has effectively swaggered into my house like Dennis the Rock Johnson. 0:13:00.320 --> 0:13:04.319 And evidently the Keto boy in my mind was a 0:13:04.440 --> 0:13:08.960 much weinier crop pants wearing Wayfish guy because the rock 0:13:09.360 --> 0:13:13.080 just killed Keto up in our house. And as a result, 0:13:13.320 --> 0:13:18.439 I have had an extreme uptick in carb consumption. And 0:13:19.000 --> 0:13:22.880 as a result of that, I definitely am am up 0:13:23.040 --> 0:13:27.440 about nineteen due to COVID, And so there is a 0:13:27.720 --> 0:13:30.440 very real probability that I'm going to faint up in 0:13:30.480 --> 0:13:33.920 this elevation house this morning because these banks are cutting 0:13:33.960 --> 0:13:36.560 off my circulation. I shouldn't have done that, because if 0:13:36.559 --> 0:13:40.000 I did that harder, you could lose an eye. But 0:13:40.160 --> 0:13:43.760 here's the deal. Here is the positive thing about my 0:13:43.920 --> 0:13:48.720 expansive tragedy. I saved pictures from last fall and last 0:13:48.760 --> 0:13:51.200 fall I was really doing good on a low carb 0:13:51.280 --> 0:13:55.520 life plan, and so I saved pictures of when I 0:13:55.640 --> 0:14:01.200 was actually wearing pants with zippers. So I have a witness. 0:14:01.480 --> 0:14:05.560 I have a tangible testimony that it is possible for 0:14:05.679 --> 0:14:08.400 me to wear pants that do not have an elastic 0:14:08.400 --> 0:14:10.800 waistban Can I get a witness? Are you with me? 0:14:11.360 --> 0:14:14.880 There is tangible proof in my past that I could 0:14:14.920 --> 0:14:18.240 go there again. Hope is not based on now, not 0:14:18.360 --> 0:14:22.840 for christ followers. I love pastor seement Stephen sermon last 0:14:22.880 --> 0:14:25.880 week on plot Twist. I loved that one. It's probably 0:14:25.880 --> 0:14:29.000 in my top ten two Holly, I will never again 0:14:29.080 --> 0:14:33.120 look at the geographical phrase Samaria and the New Testament 0:14:33.160 --> 0:14:37.480 without thinking of his wordplay, his application some area, there 0:14:37.520 --> 0:14:39.960 will be some areas will be reluctant to go through. 0:14:40.000 --> 0:14:42.800 I love that. But the thing that I resonated with 0:14:42.840 --> 0:14:46.200 most of all was when he talked about generational wells. 0:14:47.240 --> 0:14:51.040 When he talked about generational wells, because what was implied 0:14:52.080 --> 0:14:54.520 was that we will not have to worry about dying 0:14:54.520 --> 0:14:58.080 of thirst in the now because there was ample provision 0:14:58.520 --> 0:15:01.240 in our history. And that's where we're going to go 0:15:01.400 --> 0:15:02.720 this morning. We're going to start at the beginning of 0:15:02.760 --> 0:15:04.520 the book. So if you brought the book, turn to 0:15:04.640 --> 0:15:08.720 Genesis chapter three. Now before we get there, John Michael, 0:15:08.720 --> 0:15:10.720 will you throw me my glasses out of my purse, 0:15:10.760 --> 0:15:14.360 they're in a blue case. Before we go there, we'll 0:15:14.400 --> 0:15:17.600 be in Genesis chapter three beginning when verse twenty one. 0:15:17.640 --> 0:15:19.320 I want to give you just a quick review you 0:15:19.400 --> 0:15:22.960 probably know this, But at this point, at the very 0:15:22.960 --> 0:15:27.040 beginning of redemptive history, the Creator, Redeemer, Father God has 0:15:27.080 --> 0:15:32.680 already breathed the universe into existence out of nothing. And 0:15:32.800 --> 0:15:35.400 after he looked at the sea and the sky and 0:15:35.440 --> 0:15:38.760 the stars, all the creepy crawleys and eaters and elephants, 0:15:38.760 --> 0:15:43.120 he said, something's missing, And so they got together. And 0:15:43.120 --> 0:15:45.720 that's not a misspeak. Genesis one twenty six and twenty 0:15:45.760 --> 0:15:48.640 seven explains to us that our God is in us. 0:15:48.680 --> 0:15:51.040 He's a trinitarian god, God the Father, God the Sign, 0:15:51.040 --> 0:15:56.240 and God the Holy Spirit. It says, God has an us, Augustine, 0:15:56.320 --> 0:15:59.640 Saint Augustine, I'll have huge crushes and all the dead guys, 0:16:00.000 --> 0:16:01.960 I have to be platonic about them because they're dead 0:16:01.960 --> 0:16:05.119 and gone. I only have platonic crushes about living theologians. 0:16:05.160 --> 0:16:08.640 But anyway, Saint Augustine says that only the Christian God 0:16:08.720 --> 0:16:11.920 is a perfect community unto himself Genesis one, twenty six 0:16:11.960 --> 0:16:16.000 and twenty seven. Then let us make man in our image. 0:16:16.040 --> 0:16:20.520 We were hard wired for a relationship. That's why when 0:16:20.520 --> 0:16:23.280 some of y'all miss get together with your epham, you go. 0:16:23.360 --> 0:16:25.760 I just didn't have a great week we were hard 0:16:26.200 --> 0:16:29.160 wired for relationship. That's a whole nother story, but we'll 0:16:29.160 --> 0:16:32.640 go there soon. Sorry, I'm tinkling, and not just because 0:16:32.640 --> 0:16:38.080 this thinks. So God then breathes man into existence, and 0:16:38.120 --> 0:16:41.360 then God takes a nap. I think it is so 0:16:41.600 --> 0:16:47.480 stink and cool that our father God created Rest modeled 0:16:47.680 --> 0:16:50.920 Rest in Genesis chapter two, y'all, that's before the fall. 0:16:51.040 --> 0:16:54.320 The fall happens in Genesis chapter three. That means Rest 0:16:54.600 --> 0:16:58.400 was not some divine accommodation for human weakness. Rest was 0:16:58.480 --> 0:17:01.680 part of his perfect gift. Us. Isn't that good as 0:17:01.720 --> 0:17:05.159 a whole other sermon? So anyway, He's created the heavens 0:17:05.160 --> 0:17:07.320 and the earth. He's created man, he's taken a nap, 0:17:07.880 --> 0:17:10.520 wakes up really refreshed from his nap, looks around and goes, 0:17:10.680 --> 0:17:16.359 something is missing, something beautiful is missing, and he creates woman. 0:17:17.440 --> 0:17:20.760 And that's where the story starts getting sticky because a 0:17:20.800 --> 0:17:23.720 lot of people then put hierarchy in the story. Now, 0:17:23.760 --> 0:17:25.520 I'm not gonna lay it here too long because I 0:17:25.520 --> 0:17:27.080 don't want to take the heat. I want Stephen to 0:17:27.080 --> 0:17:30.680 take the heat. But the Hebrew word used for woman 0:17:30.800 --> 0:17:33.960 is easier. It's translated helper in our Bibles. You know 0:17:34.040 --> 0:17:37.480 who else describes himself as an easer fourteen times in 0:17:37.520 --> 0:17:43.160 Genesis God, Man and Woman. And that was never intended 0:17:43.200 --> 0:17:47.879 to be a hierarchical relationship with suppression and with oppression. 0:17:48.160 --> 0:17:51.600 I was always intended to be a mutual, helpful relationship. 0:17:52.040 --> 0:17:54.399 Not going to go there because Eve does drop the ball, 0:17:54.440 --> 0:17:57.240 because soon after she's created, she gets deceived by this 0:17:57.960 --> 0:18:02.240 really rotten, slithery fruits salesman named Satan, and she takes 0:18:02.240 --> 0:18:04.720 a bite out of some of his rotten fruit, and 0:18:04.800 --> 0:18:09.280 the trajectory of mankind has been downhill ever since. We're 0:18:09.359 --> 0:18:13.280 joining the story right after she has rebelled against God 0:18:13.400 --> 0:18:17.000 and hooked up with the fruit salesman Genesis three, chapter 0:18:17.040 --> 0:18:19.280 twenty one. And the Lord God made for Adam and 0:18:19.320 --> 0:18:21.960 for his wife garments of skin and clothe them. Then 0:18:22.040 --> 0:18:25.399 the Lord God said, behold, the man has become like 0:18:25.440 --> 0:18:27.320 one of us, and knowing good and evil. Now lest 0:18:27.320 --> 0:18:29.560 he reach out his hand and take also over the 0:18:29.560 --> 0:18:33.199 tree of life and eat and live forever. Therefore, the 0:18:33.240 --> 0:18:35.240 Lord God send him out from the garden of Eden 0:18:35.240 --> 0:18:37.040 to work the ground from which he was taken. He 0:18:37.160 --> 0:18:41.240 drove out the man, and at the east of the 0:18:41.240 --> 0:18:43.439 Garden of Eden. He placed the Cherubim in a flaming 0:18:43.440 --> 0:18:45.960 sword that turned every which way to guard the way 0:18:46.040 --> 0:18:48.480 to the Tree of life. Now, I don't know if 0:18:48.560 --> 0:18:52.360 y'all get mental pictures when you read the Bible. Mom 0:18:52.440 --> 0:18:55.520 was Baptist, Dad was Pentecostal. So I'm Babtcostal, which means 0:18:55.520 --> 0:18:57.399 I love to wiggle in worship, but I have no rhythm. 0:18:58.000 --> 0:19:01.000 And so I've heard all these stories since I was 0:19:01.240 --> 0:19:04.040 teeny You've seen most of them flannel graft. And when 0:19:04.080 --> 0:19:06.680 I used to hear that story as a kid, I 0:19:06.680 --> 0:19:10.639 immediately got a mental picture of Adam and Eve. I 0:19:10.720 --> 0:19:14.000 pictured Adam as being very lean, and this is way 0:19:14.000 --> 0:19:16.040 before Peyloa, when it was cool for guys to be lean. 0:19:16.480 --> 0:19:21.760 He was just kind of a lean, weak looking man, 0:19:22.800 --> 0:19:27.240 stringy hair extensions, and kind of threw his own wife 0:19:27.280 --> 0:19:30.080 under the bus. You know, I didn't need the fruit 0:19:30.160 --> 0:19:32.639 she did. And oh, cover my junk. I mean, he 0:19:32.760 --> 0:19:35.760 just he just he. Adam does nothing for me. He 0:19:35.760 --> 0:19:38.880 doesn't blow my skirt up. And then Eve, I think 0:19:38.920 --> 0:19:42.240 of her as the woman I don't want to be 0:19:42.240 --> 0:19:45.240 because she's I mean, let's just face it, she's trashy, 0:19:46.200 --> 0:19:50.199 you know, she does exactly what God tells her not 0:19:50.320 --> 0:19:53.159 to do, and that's after she's paraded around nude. I 0:19:53.160 --> 0:19:57.399 mean she is trashy. So I picture her like the 0:19:57.480 --> 0:19:59.879 trashy girls that hung out of the skating rink and 0:20:00.080 --> 0:20:02.720 town I grew up in in central Florida. So I 0:20:02.760 --> 0:20:05.240 picture her with kind of an ac DC tube top 0:20:05.760 --> 0:20:09.800 and Daisy Dukes and like, you know, really bad hair, 0:20:10.160 --> 0:20:13.120 and she's got tat since she's only, oh, I don't know, fifteen, 0:20:13.160 --> 0:20:16.080 I mean, she's just you know, this girl is rough, 0:20:16.240 --> 0:20:20.200 bad news. So when it says God drove them out 0:20:20.359 --> 0:20:23.159 of the garden of Eden, my first response used to 0:20:23.160 --> 0:20:26.840 be good riddance. You know, he's a sissy and she's trashy. 0:20:26.960 --> 0:20:31.000 Good riddance, And I kind of pictured him just booting 0:20:31.040 --> 0:20:33.760 them out of glory. Y'all. That's not at all the 0:20:33.800 --> 0:20:38.600 contexts of Genesis three. That word drove out comes from 0:20:38.600 --> 0:20:42.280 the Hebrew word garosh. I can't pronounce it well because 0:20:42.320 --> 0:20:45.000 I don't get enough gutturle in my throat, but it's garash, 0:20:45.680 --> 0:20:51.840 and it's used redemptively in Exodus twice. For the moment 0:20:51.960 --> 0:20:55.760 this season when God drove his people the theocracy of 0:20:55.840 --> 0:21:01.240 Israel out of captivity toward the promise. Like us, they 0:21:01.280 --> 0:21:04.160 were about as smart as sheep, so they had gotten 0:21:04.200 --> 0:21:09.480 really comfortable in captivity. God had to rock them out 0:21:09.680 --> 0:21:15.040 of a rut to get them from captivity to the promise. 0:21:15.119 --> 0:21:18.760 The word is he's in nexus twice, totally redemptive context. 0:21:19.520 --> 0:21:22.280 They're not being hurt, they're not being ushered toward their 0:21:22.320 --> 0:21:25.360 own death. They're actually being ushered toward their own freedom 0:21:25.480 --> 0:21:29.800 and life. But it says they were driven out toward 0:21:30.040 --> 0:21:34.720 freedom away from Egypt, redemptive context. And then in First 0:21:34.760 --> 0:21:40.000 Samuel chapter twenty one, that's after David he's running away 0:21:40.000 --> 0:21:42.240 from Saul. Remember Saul was the first king of Israel. 0:21:42.320 --> 0:21:45.000 He was a narcissistic nut job, was really jealous of 0:21:45.080 --> 0:21:47.960 David because David had more followers than him, and so 0:21:48.119 --> 0:21:51.159 he's trying to kill him, and so David flees for 0:21:51.280 --> 0:21:54.080 his life and he ends up fleeing into enemy territory. 0:21:54.080 --> 0:21:57.880 Remember who their arch enemy was. Gonna talk back, you're 0:21:57.880 --> 0:22:02.119 still social distance and spit. Let's go Philistines. So he 0:22:02.359 --> 0:22:05.879 finds himself in Philistine territory, finds himself standing before the 0:22:06.000 --> 0:22:08.840 King of the Philistines, the King of goth this first 0:22:08.880 --> 0:22:11.240 Samuel nineteen, if you want to check me. And when 0:22:11.240 --> 0:22:15.680 he stands before the King of goth he realizes, oh goodness, 0:22:15.720 --> 0:22:20.840 it's gracious, I'm wearing Goliath's sword. Do you remember who 0:22:20.880 --> 0:22:24.400 Goliath was. I mean, he was like the big dog 0:22:24.640 --> 0:22:28.720 daddy of the Philistines. You remember, He's this probably eight 0:22:28.800 --> 0:22:32.720 foot man. When David before he'd even started using you know, 0:22:32.960 --> 0:22:35.960 claton or anything for his skin. Is that for girls? 0:22:36.040 --> 0:22:39.920 Or is that for acne? Is it for acney? Oh? Allergies? 0:22:40.520 --> 0:22:43.200 That's right. I was trying to do an acne medication. 0:22:43.359 --> 0:22:46.600 I couldn't pull one fast enough. So anyway, before David's 0:22:46.640 --> 0:22:49.760 even gone through puberty, he ends up killing Goliath, you 0:22:49.800 --> 0:22:53.439 remember the story, with a slingstone and slingshot stone, whatever, 0:22:53.680 --> 0:22:57.200 and so he kills the giant. Well, from that day forward, 0:22:57.920 --> 0:23:01.400 David is enemy number one to the Philistines. He utterly 0:23:01.560 --> 0:23:05.800 humiliated them. Now Here it is years later, and he's 0:23:06.000 --> 0:23:09.520 up in the middle of Philistine standing in front of 0:23:09.560 --> 0:23:14.400 the King of the Philistines, wearing Goliath's sword. I mean, 0:23:14.440 --> 0:23:16.960 you talk about waving a red flag in front of 0:23:17.000 --> 0:23:20.000 a bull. I mean, surely he is about to get 0:23:20.040 --> 0:23:23.840 his own head cut off. And that's why David starts 0:23:23.920 --> 0:23:29.000 to feign madness. And he did what no other Israelite 0:23:29.200 --> 0:23:32.840 man would do. He drooled in his beard. And by 0:23:32.880 --> 0:23:36.240 feigning madness and dribbling in his beard, which was a 0:23:36.359 --> 0:23:39.120 huge no no for Orthodox Jewish Men in that era 0:23:39.160 --> 0:23:43.240 of history. Gath, the men of Gath, the soldiers of 0:23:43.280 --> 0:23:46.520 the king of Goths, say we need to let this 0:23:46.600 --> 0:23:49.960 guy go. Otherwise, an innocent, crazy man's blood is going 0:23:50.040 --> 0:23:52.320 to be on your hands, and it says, and thus 0:23:52.440 --> 0:23:57.560 David was drove out. You see God's merciful sovereignty there. 0:23:57.640 --> 0:24:01.880 He's about to get killed and God drives him out 0:24:02.440 --> 0:24:06.840 for his own good for survival. It's immediately after God 0:24:06.960 --> 0:24:09.840 rescues him from the King of Gath the David writes 0:24:09.880 --> 0:24:13.320 Psalm thirty four, one of my favorite psalms, where he says, 0:24:13.320 --> 0:24:15.919 those who look to the Lord, their faces are radiance. 0:24:16.440 --> 0:24:21.439 They'll never be covered with shame. He's just totally shamed 0:24:21.480 --> 0:24:24.520 himself by drilling in his beard, pretending to be a madman. 0:24:24.960 --> 0:24:29.199 God uses that drives him out from certain death, and 0:24:29.280 --> 0:24:31.919 immediately after that he says, my face will never be 0:24:31.960 --> 0:24:34.280 covered with shame. Because of how you drove me out 0:24:34.280 --> 0:24:37.720 to victory God. It's in that same psalm that we 0:24:37.840 --> 0:24:41.040 get God is close to the broken arty. He's near 0:24:41.080 --> 0:24:43.280 to us when our lives feel crushed, which is just 0:24:43.359 --> 0:24:47.240