Following Jesus Son of God …

“God, who do you think you are?”

I am El Shaddai …

“I am God Almighty; walk before me, and be blameless.”
(Genesis 17:1 ESV)

And God said to him, “I am God Almighty: be fruitful and multiply.
(Genesis 35:11 ESV)

I am El and Elohim …

Then he said, “I am God, the God of your father. Do not be afraid …”
(Genesis 46:3 ESV)

Be still, and know that I am God.
I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!
(Psalm 46:10 ESV)

Hear, O my people, and I will speak; O Israel,
I will testify against you.
I am God, your God.
(Psalm 50:7 ESV)

Turn to me and be saved, all the ends of the earth!
For I am God, and there is no other.
(Isaiah 45:22 ESV)

I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me,
declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things not yet done, saying, “My counsel shall stand, and I will accomplish all my purpose.”
(Isaiah 46:9b–10)

For I am God and not a man, the Holy One in your midst.
(Hosea 11:9 ESV)

Message: “Post-Eden World: Acceptance!”

Message Text: Genesis 4:1-5:5, 1 John 3:12, Jude 11

• PDF GENESIS MESSAGE 13 – Our Post-Eden World-ACCEPTANCE : Genesis 4 : ffc : dave scott : 071016 AM : STUDY SHEET ONE
• PDF GENESIS MESSAGE 13 – Our Post-Eden World-ACCEPTANCE : Genesis 4 : ffc : dave scott : 071016 AM : STUDY SHEET TWO
• PDF GENESIS MESSAGE 13 – Our Post-Eden World-ACCEPTANCE : Genesis 4 : ffc : dave scott : 071016 AM : STUDY SHEET THREE
• PDF GENESIS MESSAGE 13 – Our Post-Eden World-ACCEPTANCE : Genesis 4 : ffc : dave scott : 071016 AM : STUDY SHEET FOUR

Message Title: Our Post-Eden World: The Image of God, Version 2.0

Message Text: 1 Peter 2:9, Genesis 1:26-27, 5:1 & Selected

• (Isaiah 9:2 ESV) The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness, on them has light shone.

• (1 Peter 2:9 ESV) But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.

The biblical doctrine of the depravity of humankind teaches us that we begin in the darkness. It is only against this backdrop of the blackness of sin that we understand the marvelous light of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Only in understanding fully where we were—in the darkness, do we understand where we are, and understand our call to the marvelous light, the glory of God.

No one gets called into the marvelous light from any other starting point than the darkness.

Message Title: Our Post-Eden World–The Image of God, Version 2.0

Message Text: 1 Peter 2:9 & Selected

• PDF GENESIS MESSAGE 12 – Our Post-Eden World-DEPRAVITY-PART 2 : Genesis 3 – Selected : ffc : dave scott : 070316 AM : STUDY SHEET ONE
• PDF GENESIS MESSAGE 12 – Our Post-Eden World-DEPRAVITY-PART 2 : Genesis 3 – Selected : ffc : dave scott : 070316 AM : STUDY SHEET TWO

The Depravity of Man: Will the real you please stand up?

In the beginning we were created in God’s image. This did not disappear when we rebelled but it was tarnished and corrupted. Our physical beauty, our intelligence and our expressiveness are all reflections of God in his creation. Physical beauty doesn’t usually enter this discussion, but I mention this here because our physical appearance, beauty, design, athleticism, etc., do reflect God. The creation reflects the Creator in all these aspects. The artist is always seen in his handiwork.

Our ability to love, seek meaning and significance, be creative, invent, build, show mercy and kindness all flow from God. Our personalities are reflections of his image. A biblical understanding of depravity teaches that this is now all tarnished, as it no longer fits God’s ideal, but it is not absent. The “image of God” has lingered in all the generations of humankind, but we lost our intimate connection in the rebellion, when we deviated from God and his goodness. Our relationship with God was damaged beyond human repair.

So now we see why we still can find exceptionally good people in our lives who do not know Christ. They were created in the image of God. Depravity doesn’t mean that goodness was obliterated which I think is a point of dissonance with many people. Within limitations people can still love, be merciful and practice grace and goodness, even good works. People still perform acts of heroism and sacrifice even to the point of death.

But none of this can make us right with God. Depravity means that religion can never save us. With the rebellion came death, a severed connection with God, no efficacious remedies on our part to bridge the gap between God and us. This is why a religion of good works, stated or practiced, cannot bring you to God, but can bring you great confusion as you may see extraordinary examples of his image within that religion. Depravity means total vertical disconnect. However, even though we could do nothing to fix our problem, God could and did through Jesus Christ.

God intervened with his plan. We were helpless and hopeless, sinful, perverted, rebellious creatures. And at just the right time God demonstrated his love for us.

Message Title: Our Post-Eden World: Depravity!

Message Text: Genesis 3:22-24

Why are bad people so good and good people so bad?

Bad people are good and good people are bad because we all are both bad and good. We are depraved, born bad to the bone and in the image of God, the complex mixture of the human race since the great rebellion in the Garden. We deviated from the course of God, veered from the path that God directed us to for life as he offered it.

And now we have this enigma to deal with as we look at each other. People who are supposed to be so bad are so wonderful. And people who are supposed to be so wonderful are … errr … well, you know … not so much.

How is it that your tattooed, beer drinking biker guy neighbor is such a good person? And that young lady who obviously didn’t sign the abstinence from sex before marriage covenant, how is she such a caring, understanding person? And while we are on the subject, why is my neighbor who makes no claim to religion seem to be a better person than many of the church folk I’ve known over the years?

Message Title: Our Post-Eden World: Depraved!

Message Text: Genesis 3:13, 3:22-24

• PDF GENESIS MESSAGE 11 – Our Post-Eden World-DEPRAVITY : Genesis 3-22-24 : ffc : dave scott : 062616 AM : STUDY SHEET ONE
• PDF GENESIS MESSAGE 11 – Our Post-Eden World-DEPRAVITY : Genesis 3-22-24 : ffc : dave scott : 062616 AM : STUDY SHEET TWO
• PDF GENESIS MESSAGE 11 – Our Post-Eden World-DEPRAVITY : Genesis 3-22-24 : ffc : dave scott : 062616 AM : STUDY SHEET THREE
• PDF GENESIS MESSAGE 11 – Our Post-Eden World-DEPRAVITY : Genesis 3-22-24 : ffc : dave scott : 062616 AM : STUDY SHEET FOUR

Many pretend and live in worlds fashioned from their own perceived reality of right and wrong, good and evil, life and death. Create our own story so to speak. This approach has its roots in the original disobedience and rebellion of Adam and Eve as they ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

From then on humans have decided that they are well capable of defining life and pursuing wisdom apart from God.

And God gives us this choice.

In this pretend world, a person can believe that he is master of his fate, or she can profess to be captain of her soul, but there is a day of reckoning to come.

The account of this day of reckoning comes from the writing of holy prophets that God set aside to communicate to his human creation. The Bible.

And people can and do deny that the Bible is God’s word, or deny its authority or validity. God allows this also.

But none of the protests, none of the pretense, none of the defiance will matter when the Lord Jesus comes in judgment fury.

• (John 3:16 ESV) For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

This verse gives the reality of life. The only reality that will stand the test of time and eternity. Believe in the Son of God and receive eternal life. Do nothing, don’t believe and perish.

Since Adam and Eve our world has been under the judgment, the condemnation of God. God has given us a solution, a resolution, to our problem. Jesus, the Son of God, had to come to this earth to die as our substitute.

So, again, choose God’s version of reality and trust in the Son of God, or live with the consequences of remaining the enemy of God living under his wrath.

Message Title: Discovering Our Post-Eden World: Condemned!

Message Text: Genesis 3:9, John 3:16-21

This is the divine verdict: Light came into the world and people loved the darkness rather than the light.

A battle began about 6,000 years ago in the Garden of Eden. Humans decided that they didn’t need to listen only to God for wisdom and knowledge.

We thought we would be wise, but instead became fools. Now many are “playing chicken” with God when it comes to their eternal destiny. Spoiler Alert–God won’t blink! God says the way is narrow, in fact only one way to be saved from his coming day of judgment. And that is believing in the Son of God who he gave to be the sacrifice for our sin.

But the pretending continues … and the defiance … and the contention. Humans love darkness rather than light because their deeds are evil. And most, it seems, even church folk, don’t want a holy God telling them any different.

The battle rages …

Here is a quote from Richard Dawkins:

• The God of the Old Testament is arguably the most unpleasant character in all fiction: jealous and proud of it; a petty, unjust, unforgiving control-freak; a vindictive, bloodthirsty ethnic cleanser; a misogynistic, homophobic, racist, infanticidal, genocidal, filicidal, pestilential, megalomaniacal, sadomasochistic, capriciously malevolent bully. [1] Richard Dawkins, The God Delusion, 1st Mariner Books ed. (New York: Houghton Mifflin, 2008).

Go ahead, Richard, live in your world. Pretend there is not a God, or fashion him to your liking or dislike as the case may be. But an hour is coming when your knee will bow along with everyone else and declare that Jesus Christ is Lord.

That is reality. Jesus Christ is Lord. Jesus Christ is coming again. Let’s live in God’s reality so we are ready.

Message Title: Discovering Our Post-Eden World: CONDEMNATION!

Message Text: John 3:16-21 & Selected

• PDF GENESIS MESSAGE 10 – Discovering Our Post-Eden World-CONDEMNED : Genesis 3 – Selected : ffc : dave scott : 061916 AM : STUDY SHEET ONE
• PDF GENESIS MESSAGE 10 – Discovering Our Post-Eden World-CONDEMNED : Genesis 3 – Selected : ffc : dave scott : 061916 AM : STUDY SHEET TWO

We are lost.

• To be lost means to be unable to find one’s way; not knowing one’s whereabouts; having gone astray or having missed the way; bewildered as to place or direction—[a little bit like coming out of Walmart and not being able to find your car]; ruined or destroyed physically or morally; not knowing where you are or how to get to where you want to go.
• We, as in the human race, apart from salvation in Jesus Christ, are lost.
• In Luke’s gospel we read: “For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost” (Luke 19:10 ESV).
• And you might say, “Wait a minute, Dave, isn’t this a Genesis study?”
• Yes it is. The “lostness” that Luke writes about is a result of the spread of sin and death from the fall of humanity that we have been studying in Genesis three.
• Let’s review a little bit to set the stage. We know that on the day of the disobedience of Adam and Eve that God came to the garden of Eden in the cool of the day looking for Adam and Eve. We know that Adam and Eve are now dead, as God had told them that in the day that they eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil that they would surely die. And we know that not only have Adam and Eve died because of their sin but that through Adam’s sin, death and sin have spread to all people.
• So let’s go back to the scene as God comes walking in the garden. “Where are you?” he calls out. Adam and Eve are hiding. God has asked, “Where are you?” but beyond the basic facts that they are hiding among the trees, they just don’t know. The trees they are hiding among are part of the garden that God set them over to work and to keep. Everything is the same, but everything is different. They have lost their way. The effects of this catastrophe have left them in darkness. They were the first sheep off the path.
• (Isaiah 53:6 ESV) All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way.
• We must understand that we live in a post-Eden world which means that we must understand the continuing effects of the fall. To help us do this we keep asking ourselves the question that God asked Adam and Eve: Where are you?
• Part of the answer to that question is that we are lost. But there is good news. Fast-forward about 4,000 years and we find that the Son of Man has come to this earth to seek and to save the lost.

Message Title: Discovering Our Post-Eden World: LOST!

Message Text: Genesis 3, Luke 19:1-10

Message Title: Discovering Our Post-Eden World–Lost!

Message Text: Luke 19:1-10

• PDF GENESIS MESSAGE 9 – Discovering Our Post-Eden World : Genesis 3 : ffc : dave scott : 061216 AM : STUDY SHEET ONE
• PDF GENESIS MESSAGE 9 – Discovering Our Post-Eden World : Genesis 3 : ffc : dave scott : 061216 AM : STUDY SHEET TWO

SUNDAY AM

• As we enter the discussion this morning, we are going to direct our attention to the last question that God asks in Genesis three: “What is this that you have done?”

Because of what they had done …

1) They died and brought death to the entire planet on that day, Genesis 3:1-7, 2:15-17, Romans 5:12.

• (Genesis 2:17 ESV) ¹⁷ but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”

2) They brought down God’s curse and judgement upon the Earth on that day, Genesis 3:8-19.

3) They were driven from Paradise on that day, Genesis 3:20-24.

• Let’s ask ourselves: Do we live in the world of Genesis three? Do we understand the world we live in from a biblical perspective, most specifically, do we live our lives in view of the cataclysm of the fall of humankind?
• Genesis tells us of a great upheaval. From God’s unbounded blessing to a world of pain, death and hostility. Do we see that? Do we live in view of a world in great turmoil that will one day be brought completely under the judgment of God?

Message Title: What Is This That You Have Done?

Message Text: Genesis 3

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SUNDAY PM

Message Title: This Is Your God!

Message Text: 2 Samuel 22