AUDIO VERSION
Hello Group Community Leaders!
Thanks for joining me as we begin at the beginning…. in
Genesis!
You might be asking….How can reading in Genesis bring growth
in our relationship with Christ? How can OT truths and gospel fore-shadowing help
me walk more passionately with Jesus in 2018?
Here is part of the answer: we share a SIN bond with our
first human parents, Adam and Eve, that taints us with rebellious tendencies,
inbred moral heart failure, and the propensity to listen to a scheming, hateful
liar… We need to learn from the failures of our first parents as they listened
to the lies and twisted half-truths of Satan rather than trusting and obeying God, so that WE better recognize
our own leanings toward self-reliance, rebellion and believing Satan- our soul’s enemy. God himself calls us to know his truth SO
THAT we are not “outwitted” by Satan and his schemes:
“…that we would not
be outwitted by Satan; for we are not ignorant of his designs.”
2Cor. 2:11:
And knowing how Satan works we then:
“Put on the whole
armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil.”
Ephesians 6:11
And, as important as it is to defensively stand against
Satan’s lies and our own sin tendencies, we need, even more, to be captivated
by this God that loves us with an unrelenting, fierce passion, tender merciful
grace and Holiness beyond our human comprehension… There is NO GOD that can
compare to OUR “Yahweh Elohim”!
We start in Genesis to understand the ”players” in our
ancestral drama… God, ourselves and Satan.
We start in Genesis to see God’s grand, gracious plan to
rescue man from himself and the immense weight of sin, rebellion and
alienation.
We start in Genesis because the seeds of the Gospel of
Grace- our future salvation are sown in the Garden of Eden. In Genesis 3:15 we encounter
“Protoevangelium”- the first messianic prophecy in the Old Testament. Call it
the gracious, merciful seed of the Gospel planted in anticipation of GLORY and
Salvation!
It is this Gospel of grace seed that bears much fruit in
human history. Starting in Genesis and flowing continuously throughout man’s
journey, this Gospel seed “works” to
save and to sanctify us by its continual outpouring of grace on man’s life and
relationship with God.
We could approach “discipleship” with a list of spiritual
disciplines to put diligently into practice: bible-study, prayer, meditation,
fasting, stewardship, fellowship (all good things!) or an extensive list of
sins to be avoided- (again, not a bad thing!) But, if we are honest, sometimes
just adding “good” disciplines or avoiding “bad” sin is not ALL the help our
hearts need. We need to see ourselves in the EYES of the ONE who created us and
was willing to die to bring us back to a restored relationship with Himself. We
desperately need to SEE HOW BIG THIS GOD IS and how VAST and HOLY HIS LOVE
burns for his beloved- Us. WE need to be captivated by someone much bigger and
holier than ourselves.
So, I ask you, How BIG is your GOD? I’m guessing, not big
enough.
We need to see that God is far more loving, holy, relentless
and fiercely, personally interested in knowing and redeeming his “beloved” ones
than we understand.
As we study the intensely personal creation account in
Genesis 3- let’s be willing to get “unsettled” a bit from how we’ve maybe too
easily and too glibly viewed how we “know” GOD… Too careless, too thoughtless
or too indifferent in how we worship Him and pray to him.
I pray that we have our minds and hearts stretched beyond
where we stand now-
I pray that we are willing to allow God to “take us apart”
in order to put us together again with fervent devotion born of a heart captivated
by the ONE who loves us best and most.
I pray this for us as we go-
Ephesians 3:16-19
“that He would grant you, according to the riches of His
glory, to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner man, so
that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; AND that you, being rooted
and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the
breadth and length and height and depth and to know the love of Christ which
surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled up to all the fullness of God.’
Psalm 34:8
“Taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the one who
takes refuge in HIM.”
Read Genesis 1-3?- read several times if you can- especially
chapter 3-
We start in chapter 3 this time next week!
Be ready to begin to “savor” the Lord and His Great love and
mercy!
Your sister in Jesus,
Mary Kaye
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