WEBVTT - Life Between Two Gardens (Lysa TerKeurst) 0:00:02.040 --> 0:00:04.600 Hey, this is Stephen Ferdick. I'm the pastor of Elevation 0:00:04.880 --> 0:00:07.040 Church and this is our podcast. I wanted to thank 0:00:07.120 --> 0:00:10.440 you for joining us today. Hope this inspires you. Hope 0:00:10.440 --> 0:00:12.479 it builds your faith. Hope it gives your perspective to 0:00:12.520 --> 0:00:16.880 see God is moving in your life. Enjoy the message. 0:00:17.079 --> 0:00:20.000 It's been a great morning already, and we are so 0:00:20.040 --> 0:00:25.840 excited about what we have in store. I was talking 0:00:25.840 --> 0:00:28.760 to Pastor Stephen yesterday on the phone and he was 0:00:28.760 --> 0:00:31.360 telling me he's really excited about about two things right now. 0:00:31.440 --> 0:00:34.360 Number one is he can't wait to be on this 0:00:34.479 --> 0:00:38.519 stage preaching next weekend at his favorite place in the planet. 0:00:38.920 --> 0:00:42.640 So when he's excited, spoilert you should be excited because 0:00:42.640 --> 0:00:45.120 next weekend is going to be incredible. Are you excited 0:00:45.120 --> 0:00:49.360 to have our pastor with us next weekend? And then 0:00:49.400 --> 0:00:51.879 he was also telling me he was very excited that 0:00:51.960 --> 0:00:54.360 we have Lisa Turkhurst in the house this weekend to 0:00:54.480 --> 0:01:01.280 preach to us. Lisa and Art have been Elevators part 0:01:01.280 --> 0:01:03.640 of our church for close to a decade now, very 0:01:03.680 --> 0:01:07.880 faithful and committed participants in our church. We love them, 0:01:07.880 --> 0:01:11.600 their family, their dear friends of Pastor Stephen and Holly, 0:01:11.760 --> 0:01:14.640 And if you didn't know this, Lisa is a New 0:01:14.720 --> 0:01:18.760 York Times bestselling author many many many times over. In fact, 0:01:18.840 --> 0:01:20.880 her new book is It's Not Supposed to Be This Way, 0:01:21.160 --> 0:01:24.280 It's out now. She's the president, she's the founder of 0:01:24.360 --> 0:01:28.240 Proverbs thirty one Ministry. She preaches and teaches all over 0:01:28.280 --> 0:01:33.040 the world, inspiring the church globally. And we are very 0:01:33.120 --> 0:01:35.760 very blessed and honored that she is preaching at her 0:01:35.840 --> 0:01:38.800 church home this weekend. So at every location, can you 0:01:38.840 --> 0:01:41.800 please put your hands together and celebrate as we welcome 0:01:41.920 --> 0:01:54.160 Lisa Turkhurst to the stage. Thank you so much. What 0:01:54.280 --> 0:01:57.280 a joy and honor it is to be able to 0:01:57.320 --> 0:02:00.640 be in my home church, and this is very exciting. 0:02:00.680 --> 0:02:05.160 There's two things about elevation that I have seen across 0:02:05.200 --> 0:02:08.880 the world as I'm out preaching and teaching in different 0:02:09.200 --> 0:02:14.519 environments and different facilities, and it's this Number one, elevation 0:02:14.720 --> 0:02:18.359 worship is in every church conference I go to. And 0:02:18.400 --> 0:02:21.280 what a gift it is that we get to hear 0:02:21.320 --> 0:02:23.240 it in our home church. Can we thank God for 0:02:23.360 --> 0:02:31.919 elevation worship? And the second thing is when people find 0:02:31.960 --> 0:02:34.640 out that I get to sit under the teaching of 0:02:34.720 --> 0:02:38.520 Pastor Stephen Ferdick every single week. They kind of wish 0:02:38.520 --> 0:02:40.639 they could move to Charlotte and do the very same thing. 0:02:40.680 --> 0:02:50.400 Can we thank God for our pastor? Amazing Pastor. Stephen 0:02:50.520 --> 0:02:53.280 and Holly are good friends, and so that gives me 0:02:53.320 --> 0:02:57.000 a unique opportunity to be able to see something that 0:02:57.880 --> 0:03:03.720 I'm so blessed by is that you guys are incredible people. 0:03:03.880 --> 0:03:07.079 Whether you're on the stage or behind the scenes, you're 0:03:07.160 --> 0:03:10.000 good people. And I thank God for that. Can we 0:03:10.080 --> 0:03:12.360 thank God for the gifts that we have in Castor 0:03:12.440 --> 0:03:20.960 and Holly? Well, stay standing for the reading of God's Word. 0:03:21.120 --> 0:03:24.800 We're gonna read first off from Revelation. In case you 0:03:24.800 --> 0:03:28.160 haven't been to the Revelation in a while, I'm gonna 0:03:28.320 --> 0:03:31.639 unpack a little bit for you. But let's read God's 0:03:31.680 --> 0:03:35.080 word and be encouraged by it this morning. Revelation chapter 0:03:35.120 --> 0:03:38.120 twenty one, starting in verse three, and I heard a 0:03:38.200 --> 0:03:42.520 loud voice from the throne saying, Look, God's dwelling place 0:03:42.640 --> 0:03:45.680 is now among the people, and He will dwell with them, 0:03:45.760 --> 0:03:48.600 and they will be his people, and God himself will 0:03:48.640 --> 0:03:51.920 be with them and be their God. He will wipe 0:03:52.160 --> 0:03:55.839 every tear from their eyes. There will be no more 0:03:56.000 --> 0:04:00.320 death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old 0:04:00.400 --> 0:04:03.960 order of things has passed away. Come on, somebody, we 0:04:04.040 --> 0:04:09.480 have a lot to look forward to. You right you 0:04:09.560 --> 0:04:11.720 can be seated. And for those of you who are 0:04:11.800 --> 0:04:14.920 note takers, and I hope that means most of you, 0:04:14.920 --> 0:04:18.080 you'll want the title of the sermon right away, and 0:04:18.160 --> 0:04:21.440 that is Life between Two Gardens. And that may sound 0:04:21.480 --> 0:04:23.520 like a strange title, but by the end of my message, 0:04:23.560 --> 0:04:27.919 I promise you will understand life between two gardens. You know, 0:04:27.960 --> 0:04:31.440 as I read these verses in Revelation that gives me 0:04:31.560 --> 0:04:35.080 great hope for one day. But I want to make 0:04:35.120 --> 0:04:37.760 sure that I have great hope and great fate to 0:04:37.920 --> 0:04:41.400 live out what I need to live out today, because 0:04:41.440 --> 0:04:46.160 sometimes life can be hard. A couple weeks ago, Pastor 0:04:46.279 --> 0:04:51.599 Preach an incredible message from a message entitled Invisible Prisons, 0:04:51.960 --> 0:04:55.520 and he said something that really grabbed my heart. He said, 0:04:55.560 --> 0:05:01.039 what God uses to develop your fate is disappointment, and 0:05:01.080 --> 0:05:05.240 what the devil uses to destroy your faith is disappointment. 0:05:06.279 --> 0:05:09.960 I want to dive into disappointment today because I think 0:05:10.000 --> 0:05:12.320 it's something that we can all relate to. I want 0:05:12.320 --> 0:05:15.960 to identify where does disappointment come from and what do 0:05:16.040 --> 0:05:18.840 we do about it? And I'm also going to share 0:05:18.920 --> 0:05:26.000 from my heart some very personal, deep devastating disappointments that 0:05:26.080 --> 0:05:29.599 my family and I have walked through the past three years. 0:05:30.600 --> 0:05:33.400 And I think and I pray you'll be able to 0:05:33.440 --> 0:05:37.919 relate to today's message. Here's the deal. We've all either 0:05:38.279 --> 0:05:41.640 just been through some stuff, or we're in the middle 0:05:41.640 --> 0:05:45.479 of some stuff, or we're headed toward being in some stuff. 0:05:45.720 --> 0:05:47.960 And you may say, well, Lisa, that's not very positive. No, 0:05:48.040 --> 0:05:50.600 I'm positive we either been through some stuff, we in 0:05:50.720 --> 0:05:52.960 some stuff, or we about to go through some stuff. Right, 0:05:53.880 --> 0:05:56.120 And so I like to open up God's word and 0:05:56.200 --> 0:06:00.320 discover what do we do about the disappointments that we 0:06:00.400 --> 0:06:05.040 all face every single day. But first let's discover where 0:06:05.080 --> 0:06:07.120 disappointment comes from. And to do that, we're going to 0:06:07.160 --> 0:06:10.039 turn over to Genesis, the very first book of the Bible, 0:06:10.360 --> 0:06:14.680 starting in chapter two, verse five. Now, no shrub had 0:06:14.720 --> 0:06:17.920 yet appeared on the earth, and no plant had yet 0:06:18.040 --> 0:06:21.080 sprung up, for the Lord God had not sent the 0:06:21.160 --> 0:06:23.359 rain on the earth, and there was no one to 0:06:23.440 --> 0:06:26.440 work the ground. But streams came up from the earth 0:06:26.480 --> 0:06:28.560 and watered the whole surface of the ground. Then the 0:06:28.600 --> 0:06:31.640 Lord God formed a man from the dust of the 0:06:31.680 --> 0:06:36.000 ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, 0:06:36.480 --> 0:06:39.839 and the man became a living being. Now, the Lord 0:06:39.880 --> 0:06:43.320 God verse eight planted a garden in the east in Eden, 0:06:43.520 --> 0:06:46.000 and there he put the man he had formed. The 0:06:46.040 --> 0:06:48.599 Lord God made all kinds of trees to grow out 0:06:48.600 --> 0:06:52.400 of the ground, trees that were pleasing to the eye 0:06:53.279 --> 0:06:56.880 and good for food. In the middle of the garden, 0:06:56.960 --> 0:07:00.359 where the tree of Life and the tree of the 0:07:00.400 --> 0:07:02.920 Knowledge of good and evil. Skip down to verse fifteen, 0:07:03.920 --> 0:07:05.599 the Lord God took the man and put him in 0:07:05.600 --> 0:07:07.599 the garden of Eden to work it and take care 0:07:07.640 --> 0:07:10.960 of it. And the Lord God commanded the man, you 0:07:11.920 --> 0:07:16.320 are free to eat from any tree in the garden, 0:07:17.040 --> 0:07:20.040 but you must not eat from the tree of Knowledge 0:07:20.040 --> 0:07:22.800 of good and evil, for when you eat from it, 0:07:23.320 --> 0:07:27.000 you will certainly die. And I'm convinced at this point 0:07:27.040 --> 0:07:30.119 that the man did not write the one rule down, 0:07:30.480 --> 0:07:32.920 because the very next verse, the Lord says, Ah, it 0:07:32.960 --> 0:07:35.120 is not good for the man to be alone. I 0:07:35.200 --> 0:07:38.920 will make a helper suitable for him. And women have 0:07:39.000 --> 0:07:41.720 been making lists for their men ever since. Come on, 0:07:41.760 --> 0:07:46.080 somebody say, amen, nahha, you know it's true. You have 0:07:46.120 --> 0:07:48.720 a woman in the house today, So you know, just 0:07:48.760 --> 0:07:54.760 a special gift for you there. And after that, a 0:07:55.720 --> 0:07:58.720 helper suitable for Adam has looked for. So Adam names 0:07:58.760 --> 0:08:02.520 all the animals, but no helper was found amongst the animals. 0:08:02.560 --> 0:08:05.360 And so then God causes a man to fall into 0:08:05.400 --> 0:08:08.040 a deep sleep and he takes part of a rib, 0:08:08.120 --> 0:08:12.800 and from that he fashions a woman. And then God 0:08:12.920 --> 0:08:16.679 brings the woman to Adam. And listen to what he says. 0:08:16.720 --> 0:08:20.800 It's so poetic. It's almost like rivaling any rap song 0:08:20.880 --> 0:08:23.520 that you could hear today. This is now bone of 0:08:23.600 --> 0:08:27.320 my bones and flesh of my flesh. She shall be 0:08:27.400 --> 0:08:32.560 called whoa man, for she was taken out of a man. 0:08:32.800 --> 0:08:35.760 My friend Levi LESCo says that the original meeting of 0:08:35.840 --> 0:08:39.559 that part of scripture right there is she had apple 0:08:39.559 --> 0:08:44.839 bottom jeans and boots with the fur. I can't find 0:08:44.880 --> 0:08:47.200 that in all my research, but that's what Levi says, 0:08:47.720 --> 0:08:50.080 verse twenty four. This is why man leaves his father 0:08:50.120 --> 0:08:52.640 and his mother and is united to his wife, and 0:08:52.679 --> 0:08:55.520 they become one flesh. And then one of my favorite 0:08:55.600 --> 0:08:58.960 verses in all of the Bible, Genesis two twenty five, 0:08:59.000 --> 0:09:01.920 Adam and his wife were both naked, and they felt 0:09:02.440 --> 0:09:06.640 no shame. They felt no shame though they were standing 0:09:06.679 --> 0:09:11.559 there completely vulnerable before one another and before God himself. 0:09:12.280 --> 0:09:15.199 But they could stand there feeling no shame and being 0:09:15.280 --> 0:09:18.840 that vulnerable because they had no other opinion to contend 0:09:18.880 --> 0:09:24.040 with but the absolute love of God himself. Can you imagine? 0:09:24.760 --> 0:09:29.319 Perfection was everywhere? There was perfection in their relationship. There 0:09:29.320 --> 0:09:32.920 was perfect communion with God. The atmosphere, the environment, all 0:09:32.960 --> 0:09:38.960 of their surroundings were perfect. Everything was amazing. But then 0:09:39.440 --> 0:09:44.880 we find Genesis three, verse one. Now the serpent was 0:09:44.960 --> 0:09:47.400 more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord 0:09:47.440 --> 0:09:50.360 God had made. He said to the woman, did God 0:09:50.480 --> 0:09:52.840 really say? And don't you kind of wish that the 0:09:52.880 --> 0:09:54.640 woman at this point would have said, if you're so 0:09:54.760 --> 0:09:57.720 interested in what God had to say, go ask him yourself. Right, 0:09:58.240 --> 0:10:00.400 God has saved all of us a whole lot of trouble, 0:10:00.440 --> 0:10:04.400 wouldn't it, But that's not what happens. Did God really say? 0:10:05.080 --> 0:10:08.640 And it Isn't it also interesting that the devil always 0:10:08.679 --> 0:10:12.000 wants to make us question God's word. I mean, God 0:10:12.080 --> 0:10:15.080 is the creator, but the enemy is the perverter. Not 0:10:15.120 --> 0:10:17.440 only does he want to make us doubt God's word, 0:10:17.480 --> 0:10:19.360 he wants to make us believe that God's word is 0:10:19.400 --> 0:10:21.880 too difficult to understand and too hard to live out. 0:10:22.360 --> 0:10:24.079 The Thing about it, though, is that the God of 0:10:24.120 --> 0:10:28.679 the universe hand fashioned our brain. I'm convinced with his 0:10:28.800 --> 0:10:31.720 word and mind, we were made to be able to 0:10:31.760 --> 0:10:33.840 not only get into God's word, but for God's word 0:10:33.880 --> 0:10:36.440 to get into us. Come on, somebody, that's amazing, right. 0:10:37.520 --> 0:10:41.679 But the enemy wants to pervert that. And then look 0:10:41.720 --> 0:10:44.480 at what he does when he quotes back what God 0:10:44.559 --> 0:10:47.560 said his first three words, the enemy's first three words 0:10:48.679 --> 0:10:52.839 that he said God said was you must not now 0:10:52.840 --> 0:10:56.920 what were God's actual first three words? God's actual first 0:10:57.000 --> 0:11:01.240 three words? Or you are free? We serve a God 0:11:01.320 --> 0:11:04.640 of freedom. But the enemy wants us to believe that 0:11:04.679 --> 0:11:08.040 we serve a God of restriction. The enemy wants us 0:11:08.040 --> 0:11:10.600 to believe that we serve it. You must not God, 0:11:10.640 --> 0:11:14.320 but that's not true. We serve a God of freedom. 0:11:14.559 --> 0:11:17.240 He has woven the theme of freedom. He wants his 0:11:17.360 --> 0:11:20.760 people free all the way through the Bible. Now he 0:11:20.840 --> 0:11:25.599 does give us some restriction, but it's for our protection. 0:11:26.320 --> 0:11:29.200 We serve a God of freedom. But look how the 0:11:29.280 --> 0:11:32.040 enemy twists that. When he quotes God. He says, God 0:11:32.080 --> 0:11:35.760 said you must not eat from any tree in the garden. 0:11:36.160 --> 0:11:38.120 The woman said to the serpent, we may eat from 0:11:38.120 --> 0:11:41.480 the fruit from the trees in the garden. But God 0:11:41.520 --> 0:11:43.920 did say you must not eat from the fruit of 0:11:43.960 --> 0:11:45.880 the tree that is in the middle of the garden. 0:11:46.360 --> 0:11:48.240 You must not even touch it, or you will die. 0:11:48.360 --> 0:11:50.720 Now that is not at all what God said. She 0:11:50.840 --> 0:11:53.360 added that last little part. I think it's very dangerous 0:11:53.360 --> 0:11:55.720 when we add our opinion on top of God's word. 0:11:56.080 --> 0:11:59.320 I really, really do you know. So many times it's 0:11:59.360 --> 0:12:01.800 like people will Lisa, what is your opinion about this 0:12:01.880 --> 0:12:03.640 issue and that issue? And I said, why does my 0:12:03.679 --> 0:12:06.560 opinion matter? When God's word is so very clear. We 0:12:06.640 --> 0:12:08.840 got to get into God's word and let God's word 0:12:08.880 --> 0:12:11.000 get into us. God will give us the answers that 0:12:11.040 --> 0:12:13.240 we need. We don't need to be adding our opinion 0:12:13.280 --> 0:12:16.120 to God's word. Verse four, you will certainly not die, 0:12:16.160 --> 0:12:19.480 the serpent said to the woman, for God knows when 0:12:19.480 --> 0:12:21.640 you eat from it, your eyes will be opened, and 0:12:21.679 --> 0:12:24.480 you will be like God, knowing good and evil. And 0:12:24.520 --> 0:12:27.240 when the woman saw that the fruit of the tree 0:12:27.320 --> 0:12:31.040 was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and 0:12:31.280 --> 0:12:38.600 also desirable for gaining wisdom. Wait just one minute, So 0:12:38.800 --> 0:12:41.480 I used to think as I was reading the story, 0:12:42.600 --> 0:12:47.480 that's kind of challenging that God would put this tree 0:12:47.960 --> 0:12:49.440 in the middle of the garden. The tree is the 0:12:49.480 --> 0:12:52.600 knowledge of good and evil and hang on it fruit 0:12:52.960 --> 0:12:56.920 that was so pleasing to the eye and good for food. 0:12:56.960 --> 0:12:59.120 I mean, was this kind of like a super fruit 0:12:59.160 --> 0:13:02.680 like brownie a mode fruit? How could she resist, right 0:13:03.520 --> 0:13:06.800 and like to put that there with that amazing fruit 0:13:06.840 --> 0:13:09.920 and then say don't eat from it. That just seemed 0:13:10.000 --> 0:13:14.160 kind of complicated to me until I kept it in 0:13:14.200 --> 0:13:18.760 the context that it's really in. And if you remember 0:13:18.800 --> 0:13:22.640 when I read Genesis too, there's a detail about all 0:13:22.720 --> 0:13:26.040 the trees in the garden. All the trees in the 0:13:26.040 --> 0:13:30.520 garden had fruit that was good for food and pleasing 0:13:30.640 --> 0:13:33.480 to the eye. They all had the Brownie ala mode 0:13:33.480 --> 0:13:38.280 fruit hanging on it. Right, she was surrounded by God's provision, 0:13:38.400 --> 0:13:41.520 but she stared at the one thing God said not 0:13:41.640 --> 0:13:45.120 to have. And we will steer where we stare right, 0:13:45.920 --> 0:13:48.440 same thing we want what we want, And when we 0:13:48.520 --> 0:13:54.000 get fixated on something, even if God says no. We 0:13:54.160 --> 0:13:59.440 try to say yes, because here's the thing. I think 0:13:59.480 --> 0:14:03.720 sometimes we do think God's withholding something from us. God's 0:14:03.760 --> 0:14:07.120 not withholding something from us. God is protecting us from 0:14:07.160 --> 0:14:10.320 all that's contained in that fruit that we have no 0:14:10.920 --> 0:14:15.680 idea that fruit was the knowledge of good and evil. 0:14:16.559 --> 0:14:19.960 The human heart was never supposed to know the knowledge 0:14:19.960 --> 0:14:23.800 of evil. It is too heavy of awake. God wasn't 0:14:23.840 --> 0:14:26.480 withholding from us. He was protecting us. You know what 0:14:26.520 --> 0:14:28.840 the knowledge of evil is. It's all those things we 0:14:28.920 --> 0:14:31.360 experience and we say, it's not supposed to be this way. 0:14:32.400 --> 0:14:41.280 A cancer diagnosis, infertility, struggle, betrayal, heartbreak, devastations that we 0:14:41.680 --> 0:14:45.120 see on the nightly news. You're right, it's not supposed 0:14:45.160 --> 0:14:48.560 to be this way. God never intended for us to 0:14:48.680 --> 0:14:52.000 note the knowledge of evil. But Eve looked at the 0:14:52.040 --> 0:14:55.280 one thing she wasn't supposed to take, and she took 0:14:55.360 --> 0:14:59.360 some and she ate it, and she gave some to 0:14:59.480 --> 0:15:02.760 her husband and who was with her, and he ate it. 0:15:03.280 --> 0:15:06.280 Then suddenly the eyes of both of them were opened 0:15:06.400 --> 0:15:09.600 and they realized that they were naked. I wonder what 0:15:09.680 --> 0:15:11.960 that moment was like. Did they look down and go 0:15:12.120 --> 0:15:14.840 all or did they look across and go, oh, no, bra, 0:15:15.040 --> 0:15:16.880 you got to cover that up, like here you a 0:15:16.920 --> 0:15:18.760 fig and a leaf. We got to do something about 0:15:18.800 --> 0:15:23.440 all that. Right. I don't know. I wasn't there, but 0:15:23.520 --> 0:15:26.240 here's what I do know. They weren't just physically naked. 0:15:27.080 --> 0:15:29.640 They were also emotionally naked. They'd never felt the weight 0:15:29.680 --> 0:15:32.600 of guilt before, but they do now. And they were 0:15:32.600 --> 0:15:35.720 spiritually naked. They never felt the way of shame before, 0:15:36.200 --> 0:15:40.760 but they do now. And think of all the things 0:15:40.840 --> 0:15:44.080 now that God would have surely been justified in saying 0:15:44.120 --> 0:15:48.160 to Adam and Eve. They didn't just unleash sin that day. 0:15:48.920 --> 0:15:53.440 We're still living out that reality to day. Think of 0:15:53.480 --> 0:15:57.640 the weight of that. So well, Adam and Eve are hiding, 0:15:58.560 --> 0:16:01.280 here comes God walking in the cool of the day, 0:16:01.400 --> 0:16:04.160 and I just imagine all he would have been justified 0:16:04.200 --> 0:16:09.480 in saying. But he doesn't. He simply asked them two questions. 0:16:10.040 --> 0:16:13.440 I'm stunned by this, and I think that maybe God 0:16:13.440 --> 0:16:16.360 would like to ask us those same two questions today. 0:16:17.320 --> 0:16:22.080 The first question, he says, where are you now? Their 0:16:22.160 --> 0:16:25.800 physical location was not a mystery to God. He's God. 0:16:26.000 --> 0:16:28.880 He knew exactly where they were located. But Adam and 0:16:28.920 --> 0:16:32.960 Eve are hiding and they are afraid. The sound that 0:16:33.080 --> 0:16:35.680 used to be such a delight to them when everything 0:16:35.800 --> 0:16:38.480 was perfect, the sound of God walking in the garden. 0:16:38.760 --> 0:16:42.080 It used to be like Daddy's home. And I imagine 0:16:42.120 --> 0:16:45.800 them running through the garden and being so excited. But 0:16:45.880 --> 0:16:47.720 if you were a child and you ever had your 0:16:47.760 --> 0:16:49.880 mama say this to you, you just wait till your 0:16:50.000 --> 0:16:52.840 daddy gets home, right, you know, the sound of Daddy 0:16:52.880 --> 0:16:56.200 getting home on those days is not so nice, right. 0:16:57.280 --> 0:16:59.680 And I imagine now the very sound that used to 0:16:59.680 --> 0:17:04.159 bring them such joy as making them so afraid. And 0:17:04.200 --> 0:17:07.280 so I think God is saying where are you? Because 0:17:07.320 --> 0:17:11.000 they've lost their spiritual orientation. They've forgotten where to go 0:17:11.119 --> 0:17:15.399 to when they're afraid. I think God asked me that 0:17:15.520 --> 0:17:17.800 question some mornings when I wake up and I'm in 0:17:17.840 --> 0:17:20.159 a funk. Have you ever been in a funk? Like 0:17:20.200 --> 0:17:22.920 you just wake up and it's like no particular reason. 0:17:23.040 --> 0:17:24.840 You just feel like the weight of the world's on you, 0:17:24.960 --> 0:17:26.760 and you're just kind of grumpy, you know, And you 0:17:26.840 --> 0:17:28.399 know you should listen to a praise song, you know, 0:17:28.440 --> 0:17:31.320 should read the Bible, but instead you're like, no, let 0:17:31.320 --> 0:17:33.399 me just hop on Facebook for a minute. Let me 0:17:33.480 --> 0:17:36.720 just hop on Instagram, and I'll hop on Instagram and 0:17:36.760 --> 0:17:38.720 I'll start scrolling, and all of a sudden, it doesn't 0:17:38.720 --> 0:17:42.160 make my funk better. It multiplies my funk because suddenly 0:17:42.200 --> 0:17:45.440 everybody else's thighs look thinner than mine, their marriage looks 0:17:45.440 --> 0:17:48.560 more romantic than mine, their kids are getting more words 0:17:48.640 --> 0:17:50.919 than mine. Their house is better decorated than mine. And 0:17:50.960 --> 0:17:52.639 my two best friends got together and went out to 0:17:52.640 --> 0:17:56.639 dinner last night. What they didn't even invite me? Right, 0:17:57.359 --> 0:17:59.800 and my funk is multiplied. I think God would like 0:17:59.800 --> 0:18:03.240 to say, Lisa, where are you? Where are you? Girl? 0:18:04.000 --> 0:18:06.440 You need to get off of Facebook and get your 0:18:06.440 --> 0:18:09.920 face in my book because that is where hope can 0:18:10.000 --> 0:18:14.840 be found. I know what you need. Right the second 0:18:14.920 --> 0:18:20.040 question that God asked them, who told you you were naked? 0:18:21.200 --> 0:18:23.840 Remember that Adam and Eve and God are not the 0:18:23.880 --> 0:18:26.240 only ones in the garden at this point. The enemy 0:18:26.280 --> 0:18:30.240 is also there. And I know from reading Revelation chapter twelve, 0:18:30.320 --> 0:18:33.840 verses ten and eleven, the enemy is called the accuser 0:18:34.320 --> 0:18:38.679 of the Brethren. He accuses us day and night, and 0:18:38.760 --> 0:18:41.040 so I know the enemy is there, and I believe 0:18:41.080 --> 0:18:43.520 the enemy would love for Adam and eve to believe 0:18:43.560 --> 0:18:45.240 and for you and I to believe that we haven't 0:18:45.320 --> 0:18:49.520 just done something wrong, that we are something wrong and 0:18:49.560 --> 0:18:52.160 he accuses us so we can try to lock us 0:18:52.280 --> 0:18:56.080 in chains of shame. Right just like Pastor was saying, 0:18:57.119 --> 0:18:59.919 the enemy would love for us to be in prison. 0:19:00.640 --> 0:19:04.680 You know, just by all the stuff, I think God 0:19:04.880 --> 0:19:08.280 asking who told you you were naked is really saying 0:19:09.359 --> 0:19:12.720 who told you you were anything less than the amazing 0:19:12.840 --> 0:19:16.359 child of the almighty God who told you you were naked. 0:19:16.680 --> 0:19:19.199 You see, I think some of us have words that 0:19:19.240 --> 0:19:21.359 have been sitting on us for a long time, and 0:19:21.520 --> 0:19:24.720 pain that we carry around with us that was from 0:19:24.760 --> 0:19:26.960 a long time ago. At some point in your life, 0:19:27.000 --> 0:19:30.280 somebody spoke a line to you and it became a 0:19:30.359 --> 0:19:34.200 lie that you believed about yourself. And then that lie 0:19:34.720 --> 0:19:38.640 that you believed about yourself suddenly became a label that 0:19:38.680 --> 0:19:41.800 you put on yourself and your identity. And now that 0:19:41.960 --> 0:19:47.040 label has become a liability in all your relationships of today. 0:19:47.480 --> 0:19:50.760 And somebody will say something to you today and it'll 0:19:50.760 --> 0:19:54.640 offend you. But you have a way out of proportion 0:19:54.880 --> 0:19:58.200 reaction to the offense at hand. Why, because you are 0:19:58.240 --> 0:20:02.080 still carrying the pain of that line that became a lie, 0:20:02.160 --> 0:20:04.640 that became a label, and now is a liability. And 0:20:04.680 --> 0:20:07.840 you are holding this person accountable for things they hadn't 0:20:07.880 --> 0:20:11.960 even done. Who told you, who told you that you 0:20:12.000 --> 0:20:16.240 were naked? We cannot let their words become the words 0:20:16.280 --> 0:20:19.399 of our story. We got to let God's words become 0:20:19.520 --> 0:20:26.440 the words of the story of our lives. Amen. Amen. Well, 0:20:26.480 --> 0:20:32.000 after this, then God does have consequences for them, because 0:20:32.040 --> 0:20:36.600 sin always comes as a package deal with consequences. There's 0:20:36.680 --> 0:20:40.440 no sin that you commit where there's not a package 0:20:40.480 --> 0:20:43.800 deal of consequences that come with it. And there were consequences. 0:20:44.480 --> 0:20:48.240 But sin also demands a sacrifice. Let's look at Genesis III, 0:20:48.520 --> 0:20:52.040 starting in verse twenty one. Then the Lord God made 0:20:52.040 --> 0:20:54.399 garments of skin for Adam and his wife, and he 0:20:54.520 --> 0:20:58.240 clothed them. And with apologies to the animal activists, blood 0:20:58.760 --> 0:21:02.040 of an animal was shed here. The animals were harmed 0:21:02.040 --> 0:21:06.199 in the making of this story. But this is appointing 0:21:06.359 --> 0:21:09.919 really to Jesus because this day was the blood of 0:21:09.920 --> 0:21:12.640 the animal that would be the sacrifice to cover their sin. 0:21:12.720 --> 0:21:15.560 And one day it would be the blood of God's 0:21:15.560 --> 0:21:18.760 own son, Jesus Christ that would be shed, that would 0:21:18.800 --> 0:21:21.639 drip from a cross to be the ultimate covering for 0:21:21.720 --> 0:21:24.639 the sin of the world. And the Lord God said 0:21:24.760 --> 0:21:27.080 verse twenty two, the man has now become like one 0:21:27.119 --> 0:21:30.560 of us, knowing good and evil. He must not be 0:21:30.600 --> 0:21:32.720 allowed to reach out his hand and take also from 0:21:32.760 --> 0:21:37.040 the tree of life and eat and live forever. So 0:21:37.119 --> 0:21:41.040 the Lord God banished him from the garden of Eden 0:21:41.080 --> 0:21:43.879 to work the ground from which he had been taken. 0:21:44.800 --> 0:21:46.600 And I'll be honest, if we were sitting at my 0:21:46.680 --> 0:21:52.639 kitchen table right now, I would admit to you that 0:21:52.640 --> 0:21:55.680 that's hard for me to hear that God banished them 0:21:55.720 --> 0:21:57.400 from the garden. If you ever read that, and kind 0:21:57.400 --> 0:22:01.600 of thought, oh, that sits heavy on you, right. And 0:22:01.640 --> 0:22:04.280 so I decided to do a little study, taking the 0:22:04.280 --> 0:22:07.120 word banished and going back to the Hebrew to see 0:22:07.160 --> 0:22:10.040 what was the original intention of that word. And I 0:22:10.080 --> 0:22:14.160 found something so surprising. The root of that word actually 0:22:14.240 --> 0:22:20.000 means sent out, not banished. In other words, God sent 0:22:20.119 --> 0:22:22.520 them out, which tells me he was doing it for 0:22:22.800 --> 0:22:27.560 a purpose a reason. Interestingly enough, the Hebrew derivative of 0:22:27.640 --> 0:22:31.200 scent out is closely related to the New Testament Greek 0:22:31.240 --> 0:22:34.480 derivative from John three point sixteen, when God so loved 0:22:34.520 --> 0:22:37.679 the world that he gave or he sends in his 0:22:37.880 --> 0:22:41.239 son Jesus. Again, it's appointing to what Jesus will one 0:22:41.320 --> 0:22:43.280 day be able to do for us that we cannot 0:22:43.280 --> 0:22:46.440 do for ourselves. But why did God send them out 0:22:46.480 --> 0:22:49.400 of the garden? Why did they have to leave? Look 0:22:49.400 --> 0:22:53.080 at the text, it's very clear. Remember there's another tree 0:22:53.160 --> 0:22:55.800 in the garden, the Tree of life. They were allowed 0:22:55.800 --> 0:22:58.720 to eat from that when they were in perfection. To 0:22:58.800 --> 0:23:00.920 eat from the Tree of life meant that their lives 0:23:00.920 --> 0:23:03.840 would be perpetuated for eternity, and that was good when 0:23:03.880 --> 0:23:06.879 they were perfect. But now that sin has entered in 0:23:06.960 --> 0:23:09.040 their body is in a state of decay and they 0:23:09.080 --> 0:23:12.440 are separated from God. If God would have left them 0:23:12.440 --> 0:23:14.879 and they would have eaten from the Tree of Life, 0:23:15.320 --> 0:23:17.760 then they would have been stuck in that state forever. 0:23:17.840 --> 0:23:20.639 And God loved them too much to do that. So 0:23:20.800 --> 0:23:23.479 he sends them out and gives them a gift that 0:23:23.520 --> 0:23:27.080 will feel nothing like a gift at all. He will 0:23:27.119 --> 0:23:29.800 allow their physical bodies to die so that they could 0:23:29.800 --> 0:23:32.879 trade that then for a spiritual body that, through the 0:23:33.280 --> 0:23:36.879 forgiveness of Jesus Christ, that could enter back into that 0:23:37.040 --> 0:23:41.639