David Hughes - What is Blocking Your Blessing?

Oh, what is up? What is up? What is up, CBG? So good to see you today. If you're new, my name is David. I'm one of the pastors. But today, today I want to begin the talk. Find your Bibles, find your Bibles. Why don't you find Genesis chapter three, Genesis chapter three. And I, I like animals. Where are my animal people in the house? Make some noise. I know Misty, you're an animal person. You're passionate. You love animals. I love animals too. Animals are so fascinating. I think the way, the creative ways that people, uh, categorize groups of animals is so interesting. So interesting. Uh, think about it. If you see a group of lions, if you see a group of lions, you don't say there's a bunch of lions, or even there's a family of lions. You say what? There is a pride of lions, a giraffe, giraffe, not a herd. A group of giraffe is a tower. Uh, gorillas are a band. Monkeys would be a troop. Uh, tigers, a group of tigers, an ambush, uh, antelopes of course are a herd of birds. We find in flocks, fish in schools, uh, wolves run in packs, uh, elephants. You might know elephants, a parade of elephants, bees swarm penguins. We find in rookeries crows. What's a group of crows called anyone know? A murder. That's kind of ominous. A murder of crows, uh, buzzards, a committee. I love that one. Otters, a romp hippos, a thunder rhinos, a crash sloths, a snuggle. Isn't that fun? Animals are so fast. In fact, Lisa and I almost never take a Sunday off these days. Why? Because we love and lead two churches church by the glades and first Baptist church. So my weekends are rather busy as I bounce back and forth. But some friends of ours wanted to go and see firsthand the Amazon. So we did an Amazon jungle cruise, uh, last week. And of course the animal Amazon has great biodiversity, all kinds of animals and species. And so here are some photos of the animals we didn't see. We, we, we really did. And that is Lisa and I in the Amazon by that tree, but we didn't animals in the Amazon hide evidently really well. It was hard to see the animals deep in the Amazon. I recommend busy animals more than the Amazon jungle cruise at Disney jungle cruise. I know they're fake, but that's okay. Sometimes Disney does nature better than nature does nature. I just, there was one animal we did see. In fact, I posted on Instagram, this animal. Yeah. A tarantula as big as your face. And again, Lisa was not a fan. And right away as I see that, I read your face. Some of you guys are uncomfortable. Why? Because spiders, you don't like spiders. That's not the animal that truly evokes a visceral response with people. The animal that people find many people very off-putting, very concerning is a snake, a snake. Where are my people in the room who do not do snakes? That's a lot of people.

Don't do snakes. Listen, I get it. I get it. By the way, I will not put up a video or picture of a snake. Cause some of y'all would not come back to church for a month. All right. So I won't do that to you. But yeah, why is it, why is it people have, I would argue a disproportional angst when it comes to a snake? Cause it's something primal almost. Now a snake may be venomous. There are six different species of venomous snakes in Florida. So you might come across a snake that is poisonous. So yes, give it a wide berth. It warrants some caution, but the amount of a fear or angst that we have relative to a snake is often disproportional. Where does that come from? Why does snakes freak a lot of people out? By the way, I know too, in our church, our church is highly diverse. We have some snake people to run with my people who are snake people. You love snakes. Anybody, anybody? Okay. All right. So people love snakes. That's fine. We don't judge shut our church. You love snakes. That's great. I'm going to show you tonight where that, uh, that response of fear comes from in the Bible, in the Bible. So where should you turn? Go to, go to Genesis chapter three, Genesis chapter three. In fact, say that text with me loudly. Genesis chapter five, Genesis chapter three. We're gonna do a deep dive. You want extra credit bonus also will be in James chapter one. I love the book of James. The book of James is powerful and practical. The book of James is amazing. I want to show you a promise in the book of James. So Genesis three, James chapter one, but to show you the ancient mindset, when it came to animals, the Hebrews had a more streamlined approach to animals. We have all these different species and groupings. They had just three. You find one mentioned in a passage like Mark chapter one, Mark chapter one, Jesus is facing the temptation experience. It took 40 days, but Mark gives us a detail. It says in chapter one, verse 13, you read the highlighted portion and he, Jesus was in the desert 40 days being tempted by being tempted by Satan. He was with the wild animals and angels attended him. So we get a detail in James account of the temptation of Christ at the initiation of his ministry, that in the wilderness, there were animals. Wild animals see they had three categories and only three categories in the Hebrew mind of animals the lowest category The least esteemed would have been creeping and crawling things This would be insects and arachnids and reptiles and amphibians and then another category a higher category livestock They weren't agrarian people. They were herdsman So it'd be their herds it'd be their their ox and their cows their sheep their goats

And then finally a category the third one wild animals. That was a plethora of species In fact, there are more animals in the Middle East back in the days of Jesus In fact, it apex predators in Israel back then they had a species of brown bear They were King David killed a bear when he was a shepherd. There was a lion Samson took out a lion heads of Asiatic lions I had those predators. They were hunted to extinction in the 1920s, but had all these animals three categories But why are people so creeped up by snakes? Guess what? That's interesting. That's not worth our time. Here's the question. Here's the big question. Here's the big question Why is it? Some Christian people Some sincere say people do not walk in power and peace Though the Bible promises as a child of God you should have peace. I Mean not just a bit of peace a big hunk of peace You should have a peace that makes no sense You should have a peace that passes understanding as a Christian say person You should have a peace when your life is falling apart and a logical peace and these should also have power Every day you should walk in the power of Almighty God as his child his power should infuse your Monday morning life His power should touch your relationships your finances your careers your habits your disciplines kids your academics So here is the deal. Why are so many Christians frustrated because you read in the Bible about God's promise of peace and power But you don't have it So here's the question Who or what is blocking your blessing? That's worth our time We're gonna do a diagnostic on that who or what is blocking my blessing because I want every blessing that heaven has Genesis chapter 3 you're there Genesis chapter 3. I love verse-by-verse study We're into a deep dive on Genesis chapter 3 a fascinating story will begin Of course Genesis 3 verse 1 verse 1 it says now now the serpent was more Crafty than any of the wild animals one of those categories the Lord God had made and by the way I haven't made it out of verse 1 and I've lost some of you. I Lost some people in the house. Maybe maybe you're newer. You're not yet a Christian person

I call you a pre-christian person and you're here and you're kicking tires and you just threw on the brakes like wait Wait time timeout We just talked about Satan in Mark chapter 1 and now on this one We got a serpent is this Adam and Eve in the big snake story? Here's what you're thinking Y'all really believe that You believe that that really happened that there's a devil and he shows up like a snake and there's like an apple you Here's what you're thinking you people really believe in the devil See just talk about for a minute see survey showed that over 90% of Americans believe in God The vast majority of Americans are theistic 70% of Americans believe in the existence of Satan That's the majority But it also means three out of ten people do not maybe you're part of the three and a lot of smart people Don't believe the existence of death the devil and you think who would What intelligent educated person will believe in the David? Do you believe in the devil? I do I Believe in the devil. I think he's called Satan. I think he is the accuser of the brother I think he fights against the purposes and people of God. I I believe in a place called hell I think hell yeah, I believe in hell all the way and you're like really I mean I hear you have a couple degrees You're not unintelligent. You believe in the devil You believe in the devil with the red pajamas and the pitchfork and the horns on his head and warts on his tongue And I would say no, I don't believe in that that example that description of the devil shows up nowhere in your Bible That imagery of the devil comes from the Middle Ages from fables and stories and paintings That's not what the devil looks like in the Bible But yes, I believe in the devil if you don't believe the devil can we do something remarkable? Can we have a conversation and would you bring this conversation something? Oh beautiful and amazing and sadly rare an open mind These days no one has open mind. Amen. No one and we're so locked down No one changes their mind about Jack anymore. But will you do me the favor? Respectfully have an open mind and allow me to show you intellectually That a smart person can believe in the existence or at least the likelihood of Satan

You see if you don't believe in the existence of saving Satan here is Saban. He's a coach for Alabama back today He's not the same person Satan Here's your issue There's so much evil in the world and the causality you would have is not sufficient. I Mean as human beings we've done such horrible things to people over the years each other. We just despicable heinous, murderous things. We live in a world recently, we've seen examples of assassinations, and mass shootings, and young girls dying on buses. We've seen all these terrible things, but if we expand the conversation and make it global and go back, say, 100 years, how do you explain the horrible, heinous, terrible mass murder? As a young man, I spent a summer in the 90s on the border of Rwanda helping refugees, helping to feed refugees. They were spilling across the border in the wake of the Civil War. 800,000 Rwandans died, not murdered by the militia or rebels, but neighbor killing neighbor. One tribe trying to exterminate the other tribe. In the early 2000s, same region, the Congo, 5.5 million died in a similar struggle. Cambodia in the 70s, 2 million are executed by their own government. 2 million have a population of 7 million in that country. Of course, 6 million Jews died in the Holocaust, 21 million died in World War I. 40 million Russians are murdered by Stalin in the purge. In World War II, 70. 70 million people die in World War II. 50 million are non-combatants. I mean, they're not soldiers. They're innocent people without guns or protection trying to stay away from the carnage. You got Hitler. You got Stalin. You got Mussolini. You got bin Laden. You got Hussein. And your causality is what? Bad politics? Flawed ideology? What made these evil megalomaniacs, these mass murderers? Psychology, really? Really? Hitler's just the result that his daddy didn't hug him, and mama didn't affirm him, and his diapers were wrapped too tight? That's all you got? For all the evil we see in the world, generation after generation, if your only causality is political or sociological or psychological, can you not allow room for the spiritual to be at the root of the whole thing? And intellectually acknowledge it makes perfect sense that behind the scenes, there could be an evil and powerful personality who is crafty

and cunning and cruel, who manipulates, who is maniacal. You have to allow for the possibility that the devil is real. And by the way, if you're like me and you're a Christian person, you got to. Why? Jesus followed because our king, he thought the devil was real. Jesus talks about the devil a lot. He talks to the devil in Mark chapter 1, Matthew chapter 4, right? For him, the devil is not a fable or a myth or a personification of evil. He's a spirit being. So I believe anything that Jesus believed. But just be open. Just be open. If you're open and look for God, look for his truth, look for Jesus, even look for Satan, you'll find that he's true. In fact, having a conversation with some smart person always appeals to someone smarter than both of you. Do you recognize the name C.S. Lewis? C.S. Lewis, one of the greatest minds of the last century, Oxford professor, tremendous scholar, prolific author, wrote the Chronicles of Narnia. His best friend was Tolkien, who wrote The Hobbit. He was a man, he grew up as an agnostic, did not believe in Christ, but he did his homework. He explored the claims of Christ with an open mind. He became a committed Christ follower. By the time he was done, he wrote incredible works about the reality of Christ, how to live the Christian life, and even the devil. And he said this about the devil. I find this so fascinating. He wrote one of his books. He said, there are two and equal opposite errors that people fall into concerning the devil. One is to disbelieve in his existence. You don't believe in the devil? The devil loves that. He's crafty, he's subtle, he hides. For someone else in the room going, it is about time. It is a preacher, it is about time that you preach on the devil. David, we should do a whole Satan series. Seven weeks on Satan. Pump your brakes, pump your brakes, pump your brakes. C.S. Lewis also says this, the other mistake is to believe and to feel an excessive and unhealthy interest in him. So I'm not going to bother with him too much, but I think he's real. I think it's logical. And I think an intelligent, educated person can acknowledge, yes, the devil probably is a reality. Again, the Bible presents him as one. So back to Genesis chapter 3. So it says, now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made. He, God said to the woman, we'll

finish the verse right here. The serpent says, ready? One, two, three. Did God really say? Devil rolls up on Eve, formed as a serpent. Did God really say? Did God really say? Did God really say you must not eat from any tree in there? Eve, did God tell you all these beautiful and amazing trees and God said you can't eat any of them? It's the first temptation. What is it? To distort and doubt what God has said. To question God's voice. To question God's word. Eve, did God, did God, look at all these beautiful trees. Oh, Eve, God's holding out on you. God's restricting pleasure and fulfillment and delicious things. He's keeping good things for you. God's, God's keeping good things. Did God really say, did God really say, did God really say? That's his first temptation. He says the same thing today. By the way, that is not what God really said. Bible scholars, you recognize right before Genesis chapter three, right before Genesis chapter three, we have Genesis chapter two. You guys went Genesis chapter two, right? Didn't confuse anybody there. Chapter two is before chapter three. And in verse 16, this is a great verse. This is actually what God really says to Adam and it's phenomenal. I love this amazing verse. It says, uh, it says, and the Lord God commanded the man, didn't say, Hey, here's an idea. Let me suggest something. He commands the man really loudly. You are free. Got to do better. One more time. You are free.

If you're not a Christian, this is the most important part of the talk. You probably have this image of God that God's uptight and God's holding good things back from you. And God's favorite, favorite word is no. If there's a God, God is so negative. He read all the rules in the Bible and the commandments. God's probably favorite, favorite phrase is thou shalt not. That is not the heart of God. The first recorded God word that God ever speaks to human being. You are free. First words he speaks are not thou shalt not not don't you dare not no, no, no. You are free. God's agenda is to emancipate you. He wants to set you free in every way you can be so free. So God says, Adam, you're free, free to free to do what free to, Oh, give me the verse back guys. Give me the verse back. I'm not doing the verse. Give me the verse back. Free to eat from any tree. Enjoy every tree in the garden. Look at this. Amazing trees out of me. Look at all. Any tree, any tree. I want you to eat. Enjoy any of these tree. Any tree. See the devil turned it. Turned it.

Turned it. Not free, free, free to eat any tree. Any tree. And somebody yelled a verse like later. God says there's a one tree that one. Don't eat that one tree. Bad, bad. Don't eat. See God's negative. Bad. Don't eat the one tree. You're out of balance. You're right. There's one tree in the garden that's out of balance, but any other trees. Okay. So begs the question. Everything about how many trees there were in the garden of Eden. How many trees were available to Adam and Eve to enjoy, to dine, to create and use as food. How many trees? Well, how many trees are there today? Right now, according to the United Nations Organization for Food and Agriculture, they say there are about 30,000 trees and plants that are edible. They provide nutrition to people. So their fruit, their berries, their nuts, 30,000. So the garden of Eden, probably at least 30,000, why there's been deforestation, the eradication of ecosystems. Probably more back then. We'll go 30,000. So Adam and Eve, 30,000 trees are good. Enjoy.

They're delicious. They're amazing. Okay. So Adam and Eve is one out of 30,000 and you think God's negative? Listen, how many trees are out of balance by percentage? 0.003% are out of balance. By contrast, 99.997% of the trees are on the yes list. My God is into freedom. My God says, look at all these trees. Almost every tree, 99.997% of the trees are available. So Adam and Eve, take and eat and dine and enjoy. They're delicious. Blend flavors together, invent cooking and someday cooking shows. Knock yourself out. I want your life to be powerful and fulfilled and satisfied. Enjoy. And somebody here, well, that one, that one. Why have God so into freedom? Why did God make one tree out of balance? Why would he do that? Great question. So why was one tree out of balance in Genesis chapter one, two, and three? Here's the reason why it's out of balance is I think is to facilitate free will. Are we truly autonomous if every choice is a God choice, there had to be at least one provided negative choice, anti-God choice to demonstrate we really had autonomy. I don't know if that's the case. The Bible doesn't say. That's my best guess. But I knew this, know this. The main reason God said that one tree is out of balance is that tree was dangerous

and God's a good parent. And good parents put boundaries around their kids, right? If you're not convinced, so this is happening in a garden in the wilderness area. You take your kids camping. You go to some beautiful national park, right? No good parent has small kids after you erect the tent and set up the campsite. You say to your kids, okay, Johnny, Susie, go run in the woods and eat everything you want. Anything you want to enjoy. I wouldn't want to hold back your freedom. You don't say that. They'd be what, munching on poison ivy and chewing on spiders and surely die. You know what you do as a good parent? You say, no, listen, kids, have a great time. This is beautiful. Look at this ecosystem, but don't touch that and don't eat that. And that's a snake. That's a snake we're going to pack up and go to a hotel right now. Because we don't do snakes right a you you give them boundaries because you love them So God being the perfect parent said this is one tree. Don't touch it. It's gonna hurt you and I love you He's into freedom It's in the freedom. Let's pick it back up. I think we're in verse 2 verse 2 y'all listening way too slowly Here we go verse 2 Verse 2 the woman said to the serpent we may eat fruit from the trees in the garden But God did say you must not eat very important right here verse 3 You must not eat the fruit that's at the middle of the garden and you must not touch it God didn't say that God did say don't eat. He did not say don't touch but he says God said don't eat and don't touch If you have a paper Bible like me get out your pen right there in the margin This is a sad moment in human history. This is the birth of man-made

Religious legalism right here. I Mean from the Pharisees to mean-spirited Fundamentalist today it all got started here in the third verse in chapter 3 when Eve adds to what God has said She took God's Word and added an additional layer of legalism to it. God did say don't eat. She adds don't eat don't touch Now why was he doing this? I don't think it was something wicked or evil. She was intended to do I think she was trying to give herself space a Think she wanted to give herself margin That's great. If you have a temptation, that's hard for you to beat and you struggle with it a weakness an addiction Give yourself space give yourself margin right create some extra boundaries for yourself It's foolish if you struggle to put ten toes on the edge and the ledge of disobedience and disaster Take a step back right take a step back That's called margin for you, and that's great. But when your margin becomes my mandate That's not God's word, that's your word That's your idea and you shoulder me in something that is not biblical and a lot of us have pushed back against church Because what you push back is was not what the Word of God said was a man said about the Word of God And where churches get weird about I don't know Haircuts and clothing and came to dance or not dance and music you listen to often That's someone's interpretation and a layer of legalism that is not truly biblical So we're gonna back up to the Bible But again, the devil goes after the Bible verse 4 verse 4 he says Oh Eve Eve Eve you will not Surely I gave you I read the wrong deal. Let's try it again. You won't that's your word. You will not surely die He says Oh God would never do that You will die. He would never die Every someone say Oh Mike my god My god would never do that My god would never judge someone my god would never let anyone go to hell my god I was gonna say well, you're right your god would never do that because your God's a figment of your imagination And he can't do anything So he challenges the Word of God

Then verse 5 verse 5 on the screen right now for God knows when you eat your eyes will be open You'll be like God knowing good from it now now he switches before it's like Oh Eve God's holding out on you now. It's Girl, God is holding you down He's oppressing you he's marginalizing you he's keeping you small he's a reductionary God he's a limiting kind of God So sadly, you know the story Eve listens to the voice of the enemy and not the voice in the Word of God See if you're new to our church. I need to say is up front your first-time guests. We are big on the Bible We're a big on that book In fact, we value many things who the best next step to walking through our values our mixology is we love creativity We love ministries of students and kids. We we love worshipping dynamic We reach beyond these walls and and help people who are oppressed and hurting and needy We we believe in all that stuff But the two main things that we esteem the most of the many things we value Jesus and his Word I said all the time what makes church by the glaze church by the glaze our passion for Jesus and his words a Jesus and his word push your hands gonna clap loudly the two main things There you go. Then say it we esteem above all things Jesus and his Take out your phones. Take out your phones. Take a picture this LED just so you get it Just you run to someone says your church doesn't spooktacular. What is that about? I'm I'm so you do crazy What is that about? By the way, put me in the picture because I want me to be small and that to be huge Because the preacher doesn't matter Charlie Nick didn't matter with any of the three of us or pastor Scott or anybody else is Jesus and his word that changed his lives So we're big on the book and again if you're new you're like, okay, no offense, but why why I know it's a good book But you don't realize how good that good book is See the secret to the peace and the power is release through the practice of the truth of the book. It'll release something called blessing into your life. Blessing into your life, blessing. Say the word blessing. Blessing, blessing. Finally, James chapter one, James chapter one.

This is so good. Look what it says, James chapter one. We'll start in verse 22. A common sense verse. It says, do not merely listen to the word. That's what you're doing right now. You're listening to the word of God being spoken over you right now, being taught. Do not merely listen to the word and so deceive yourself, meaning that. If you think that's all it is, it's not that. One more time. Do not merely listen to the word of God and so deceive yourself, ready? Do what it says. Louder. Do what it says. Do what it says. That's great. Amen. Amen. So good. I should send you home right now. Yeah. Just do that. Just do that. Verse 22, do what it says. Do what it says. And then verse 25, verse 25 is what you want. Whoever looks intently at the perfect law,

the law, you're looking at the commandments, the rules in the Bible, no. Law in Hebrew is Torah. Torah is what? Books of Moses. It is Hebrew for the law, but it's Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy. It's all the Bible they had back then. They didn't have the whole Bible. They just had the first part of the Bible. Now we have the whole revelation of God, the whole word of God. The perfect law that gives what? Bondage. That gives restriction. That gives limitation. It gives what? Freedom. God's into your freedom. God wants you to be so free. He gives freedom and continues in it, having not forgetting what they have heard, but doing it. They will be blessed. That's what you want. It's the power and the peace. Do what God says. Take it and plug it into your life. Quickly, I'm gonna wrap this up. So verse six, verse seven, the story continues.

When the woman saw that the fruit was good for food and pleasing the eye and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some of it, she ate it. She also gave some, guys, men look at it, married men especially. She also gave some to her husband who was with her. Catch that detail in the Bible? Lisa and I were talking about this after church today. Why? Because we both have the blessing that our parents raised us in the house of God. We both grew up in families. We were in church all the time. The doors were open when we were there. I mean, old school, Sunday morning, Sunday night, Wednesday night, Wednesday night supper, which sucked, by the way. We were there all the time. And my dad did other things. He coached my little league. We went to dolphin games and hurricane games, but church was a protected priority for my family. And I'm so grateful now. So I learned these stories as a kid. But Daniele, I probably imagined this story wrong because in my mind, I was very sympathetic for poor Adam. Like we always get so angry at Eve, right? And I saw this story going down, like Adam's being a good dude. He's far away in the garden, rolls up his sleeves,

and he's working. He's caring for the garden like God instructed him in chapter two. He has, I don't know, a rake or something. He's caring. And here's Eve, far, far away, having this dumb conversation with the snake. Right, and she gets fooled because she's kind of a bimbo, right? So she takes the apple. It's always an apple. It wasn't really an apple. But she takes the apple and she finds Adam. Like, Adam, Adam, right? Here's Adam. He's working. Oh, Adam, I have something for you. He's not paid. What do you have? Oh, something delicious. Oh, that's good. I can use a snack. What is that thing? Yeah, takes a bite. Oh, it's the fruit from the tree in the middle. Eve, what have you done? Poor Adam. Didn't go down that way, guys. He's right there the whole time. He's right there the whole time.

This serpent is slithering sinful lies, seducing his wife. He's there and he's silent. He's a muted man. He's a pathetic man. He's a weak man. He's a passive man. Nobody should have done, nobody should have done, nobody should have done, nobody should have done. Not pray, not pray, not pray. Nobody should have done. We're mistaken people who love snakes, who like snakes, who, yeah. Okay, don't listen to this part. Don't listen to this part. Ignore this part. Nobody should have done. He should go into the garage, found a shovel, going back to the serpent and send him to meet Jesus, amen. Send the serpent to meet Jesus right then, to heaven. Coming after the person I love the most in the world. See, guys, our leadership in our home is not announcing you're the leader and you're the man. It's protecting the people we love. It's standing in the gap for people we love. It's serving the people we love. He's right there, he's right there. In the next verse, we won't read it,

but the moment they take a bite, their eyes are opened and yeah, they have insight, but they have shame for the first time and it's debilitating and terrible because God did not build us to shoulder shame. Shame doesn't come from God. Now conviction does, but here's the difference. Conviction is always specific. It's about a behavior or an action or an attitude. Shame is about who you are. Right. Wow, that's great. I'm broken. I'm evil, I'm trash. How could God ever love me? That's shame. Doesn't come from heaven. Comes from the enemy. Well, we're out of time, so really quickly. So, you know, God comes walking through the garden, their eyes are open. They get busted, right? You know the story, they get busted. They're all kind of lined up. I can see in my mind, like, here's Adam, here's Eve, here's the serpent, you know, in a line. And the serpent first, verse 14, this is a rich, rich verse. Preston, verse 14, when God addresses the serpent, he says, the Lord God said to the serpent,

because you've done this, curse are you above all livestock and all the wild animals. He's gonna get a demotion, right? There's three categories. The lowest is a creeping thing. He's now gonna be a creeping thing. And here's the rest of the penalty. You will crawl on your belly and you will eat dust. And my snake people go, well, time out. Snakes don't eat dust. And you are technically correct. And the Bible is not a scientific text, but the Bible is not wrong here. In my research, I found that snakes don't smell like other animals smell. They have little nostrils, little snake noses. They don't smell with their nose. They smell with their tongue. That's why they flick their tongue. They're tasting their environment. And there's an organ that God placed in the roof of their mouth, and that's where they process smell. They smell, so they're literally tasting the dirt to smell. And no offense to my snake people, they're weird. They say, not the people, the snakes, the snakes, maybe both, I don't know, snakes. See, snakes, snakes are what? They have fangs and some have poison and they smell through their tongues and they have no legs.

God said, you're gonna crawl on your belly. Yet they still make progress. So get ready to preach this and research, so how, what fascinates me, how they make progress. Some snakes are fast. Black mambas are fast. King cobras are actually fast. So how come some snakes can make progress and they have no legs? That fascinates me. And of course, that's the way they wiggle. They undulate. It's a serpentine movement and they're very flexible, their spines. But I found out this, for them to make progress and not just movement, they must have traction. Or to make movement and progress, they must have friction. When I say three, shout the word friction. One, two, three. Friction. Let me land this thing. When there's a gap between what God says and what I do, it brings friction to my life and creates space for the enemy to make progress. When you do not practice what you preach, when there's a disassociation between the two, it brings friction and the enemy has room to move in your life. When I say one thing on Sunday, but go home to my wife and family and do something else,

what, that is friction in my family and friction in my marriage. And it brings brokenness, not blessing. You see, the thing or the person who's blocking your blessing, it's not the serpent. It's you and me. When God speaks and we do not do what God says. Is that the wrong idea about the story? You think, my gosh, God gets so worked up about apples. Why would he cast them out of the garden over simple carbohydrates? Why? It's not about the fruit. It's when it's Adam's turn. Verse 17, put on the screen right now. Adam, he said, I want all the ladies to read this, whether he's ready. Adam, because you listen to your. Wife. Now guys, typically listening to your wife is a great idea. I highly recommend listening to your wife. Listen to your wife. My wife gives great advice. I must always, like Lisa, I want to listen to Lisa, right? And the only time I would not want to listen to Lisa is if Lisa says something contrary to the word of God. In fact, let me just remove the word wife. You can put anything in that space. Because you listen to your culture and not the word of God.

Because you listen to that celebrity and not the word of God. Because you listen to your companions or your colleagues or your coworkers or your clients and not the word of God. It brings brokenness. Because high schoolers, you listen to your idiot friends and not the word of God. It brings, you get the enemy movement in your life and that happens and you jack yourself from your own blessing. But if we align with the word of God, don't listen to that famous person, that celebrity, that influencer, but you go with God's word, it brings power in your life. So you think it's about the apple? It's not about the apple. It's all in this verse, when God comes to Adam and says, Adam, you know how much I love you? I made you, I made you so unique. You're above all the animals. You're made of my image. I adore you. And I spoke. I gave you revelation. But you listened to a different voice. We can't end there. I'm out of time. Don't look at my clock. That's my clock. Don't look at my clock.

That'd be a depressing place to end the sermon, so let me run to something else, let me run to something else. Let's run to someone that handled temptation way better. In fact, the temptation is not dissimilar, it's almost the same. It's a double coming on strong. Let's go to, he's called the second Adam in the New Testament. Let's go to King Jesus. That wilderness temptation we talked about is also kind of a garden. I like Matthew chapter four. Matthew chapter four, I'm just gonna show you two verses of Matthew chapter four, and there's a Matthew chapter four, say it with me, Matthew chapter? Four. Matthew chapter what? Four. Matthew chapter four. And the devil tempts him three times. It's fascinating, the three temptations, Jesus responds the same way every time. Fascinating to me that Jesus responds to the temptations not by saying something new. And it's not that Jesus lacked for original thought. He quotes the Old Testament. Fascinating, why? If he had said something new, it would have become scripture. Whatever he would have said, something new and original,

and he's called by John, he is the word of God. If he speaks the word of God, generates the word of God. And Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John would have written down whatever Jesus said that was new, but Jesus says nothing new. He goes back to the Torah, and he quotes what God has said. No doubt as an example for us, a model for us, that if we stand on the word of God, we will not fall. Right. That's right. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. If you stand on the highest point of the temple, if, loud, if you are the son of God, throw yourself, if you are the, here's the temptation, you know, devil come on, full force, no persona, no disguise, if you're the son of God.

Now this is found, this account of the temptation in Matthew chapter. That was like two minutes ago. Chapter four. Bible scholars, what chapter in your Bible precedes Matthew chapter four? Matthew chapter three, right? What just happened in Matthew chapter three? The last few verses, this, Jesus is baptized. He's water baptized. Why? As an example for us, we should be baptized just like Jesus was baptized. But after he's baptized, a voice, a voice from heaven, the father booms out saying, this is my beloved son. This is my son. This is my son with whom I'm well pleased. But here the devil says, if you're the son, oh, if you, are you really the son of God? Man, I don't know, are you the son of God? Jesus doesn't fall for it. He's like, hey devil, were you not paying attention like six and a half verses before? When my father spoke, my father's voice is sounded from heaven and says, this is my son. If I'm the, no, I am the son. I know who I am. I'm standing on what my father has said. So the secret's this. You stand and live and make decisions

based on the word of God. You'll know God's best, his blessing, his progress. You separate, you give the enemy traction in your life to work and move. You're the one blocking your blessing. Align with the word when it's easy and when it's not. And because you're the late crowd, I'm gonna give you a little bonus thought here that I think's really helpful. Did you notice in this temptation where the devil took Jesus to tempt him, took him to the temple? The devil took Jesus to church. I don't think the devil's too concerned. You're at church tonight. I think it's great you're here, but I don't think the devil, I don't think hell is all freaked out. Oh my gosh, she's in church. She's in church. The demons, the demons assigned to you, if that's the way it works, I have no idea how that works, but the demons assigned to you, you're like, oh my gosh, she's in church? No, they don't care. They don't care. They don't care. They're like, oh, she's in church, big deal. Oh, she has her Bible open.

It's a paper Bible. She's taking some notes on her Bible. In her journal, she'll never check them out later on. Oh, I'm not afraid the devil says that she has a Bible verse in her bio. Doesn't care you're in church. What shakes up hell is on Monday when you start doing the stuff you heard in church. You start to practice what you read in the Word. Oh my gosh, that freaks out the demons. They watch and go, oh my gosh, she's doing, she's doing the stuff. She's doing the stuff. She's flawed. She's not perfect, but she's sincere. She's trying to apply the Word of God. That's what the blessings found. Oh my God, what do we do? The gates of hell tremble when we dare to practice and stand upon the Word of God. So it's a simple sermon. Whatever God's called you to do, do it. Stop rationalizing your own fear, your inadequacy. If you give yourself by faith to Christ, the prayer partners will be here. And you've walked out. You've heard that weeks and weeks before. This is your time to make a move. Faith is not how you feel. Faith is movement.

Is it baptism? That is your move. Is it come back to God after being a prodigal? Rededicate your life. That's your move. Is it a life group? Is it tithing? Is it best next steps? Is it whatever it is, do it. The blessings found in the doing and I want to be blessed. The person plucking the blessing is probably me But I'm gonna align with the Word of God and walk in God's freedom. That's his agenda for you Lord Jesus We thank you. We are your called your chosen and your emancipated people. We'll walk in that freedom. Why? We'll walk in obedience. That's our prayer in Jesus name as the church says together loudly Amen