Paradise Lost || Kyle Idleman

What's up Pando family? My name is Matt Robinson. I'm a Grateful Recovering Alcoholic and Drug Addict and I'm also a pastor here at Southeast Christian Church. We're so glad you chose to worship with us today and so grateful for the opportunity that you're showing our church of what it's like to be pursued and loved by God. I don't know if you got to join us in our service last week but if you did I encourage you to log on and watch that because of what you guys have done and sharing of what God is doing in your life and the letters that you write in. It was such a blessing for us and I got reminders all week from even our church receptionist this week saying I have got calls all week long talking about how much of a blessing it was to hear about how God is moving in your life. So please continue to send those letters in, connect with us. You are such a part of what God is doing in Southeast Christian Church, one church in many locations, so please continue to write in and let us know about that. Also if you haven't subscribed to our channel we would love for you to do that too. It takes the guesswork out of remembering what services launch or what a podcast or a Bible study is there. So if you subscribe you'll be one of the 31,000 people that have done that so far and you'll be connected to Southeast Christian Church as a part of a place that continues to see what God is doing in so many different places. I'm pumped about this sermon setup that's coming. I'm pumped about this series. The series today is called In the Beginning and it's walking through Genesis. Our church is committed to walking through Genesis for the next several weeks and the sermon today is entitled Paradise Lost. Kyle unpacks Genesis 3 and there's so much good stuff in there for folks like me that struggle with addiction and folks like me that are on this long-term healing journey trying to find a healthy new way to do this life and so I'm really excited for you to be with us today. So let's get together today no matter where you're at, no matter where you're sitting, no matter what you're where you're where you're located. Lock up right now. Let's worship together. Rejoice and be glad. Rejoice and be glad in it.

This is where I believe That you are more than enough. More than enough for me. Sing faithful. You are faithful to your promise. You are strong when I am weak. When I'm standing in your presence, I have everything I need. The joy of the Lord, the joy of the Lord is my strength. The joy of the Lord, the joy of the Lord is my strength. Sing oh my soul, oh my soul, bless his name. All that is within me say, the joy of the Lord, the joy of the Lord is my strength. Oh Jesus, come one day. You are worthy of all, worthy of all my praise. You are faithful to your promise. You are strong when I am weak. When I'm standing in your presence, I have everything I need. The joy of the Lord, the joy of the Lord is my strength. The joy of the Lord, the joy of the Lord is my strength. Sing oh my soul, oh my soul, bless his name. All that is within me say, the joy of the Lord, the joy of the Lord is my strength. I've got the joy. Oh Now pour into the spirit. Sing let it rise up like a river. Overflowing Holy Spirit. Oh let it pour out with no limit. ♪ And overflowing Holy Spirit ♪ ♪ Sing let it rise, let it rise up like a river ♪ ♪ Overflowing Holy Spirit ♪ ♪ Oh let it pour out with no limits ♪ ♪ Overflowing Holy Spirit ♪

Come on, put your hands together. No matter your circumstances, warning, if you need the joy of the Lord, it's right here in His presence. Come on, hey! ♪ Oh the joy of the Lord, the joy of the Lord ♪ ♪ The joy of the Lord, the joy of the Lord ♪ ♪ Sing oh my soul, oh my soul, bless His Name, oh that is ♪ ♪ Sing oh my soul, oh my soul, bless His Name, oh that is ♪ ♪ Sing oh my soul, oh my soul, bless His Name, oh that is ♪ ♪ And the joy of the Lord, the joy of the Lord is my strength ♪ ♪ I've got the joy, I've got the joy, pour it out, pour it out ♪ ♪ Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah ♪ ♪ Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah ♪ ♪ And have you heard of the cross of Jesus ♪ ♪ Son of man was lifted high ♪ ♪ Full atoned there for my transgression ♪ ♪ Where my debt was satisfied ♪ ♪ What a Savior, what for His hallelujah ♪ ♪ And His finished power, and His finished power ♪ ♪ Power, my living hope from death to life ♪ ♪ There is wonder, working power ♪ ♪ In the precious blood of Christ, yes there is ♪ ♪ And I was broken and heavy laden ♪ ♪ And now that old me's in the grave ♪ ♪ No more darkness, oh I've been pardoned ♪ ♪ Yes I am free in Jesus' name, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah ♪ ♪ You say power, power, my living hope from death to life ♪ ♪ There is wonder, working power ♪ ♪ In the precious blood of Christ, oh come on you sing ♪

♪ The same Spirit that raised Him up now lives in me ♪ ♪ Now lives in me, baptized in the crimson blood ♪ ♪ Hallelujah, hallelujah, the same Spirit that raised Him up ♪ ♪ Now lives in me, now lives in me, baptized in the crimson blood ♪ ♪ Hallelujah, hallelujah, power, power, my living hope from death to life ♪ ♪ There is wonder, working power in the blood of Christ, power, power, my living hope from death to life ♪ ♪ There's a wonder, working power ♪ ♪ In the blessings of our God ♪ ♪ The same spirit that raised him up now lives in me ♪ ♪ Now lives in me ♪ ♪ I'm baptized in the crimson floor, hallelujah, hallelujah ♪ ♪ Set the same spirit that raised him up now lives in me ♪ ♪ Now lives in me ♪ ♪ I'm baptized in the crimson floor, hallelujah, hallelujah ♪ Amen, church. Aren't you so grateful for the name of Jesus today? Amen! Amen! So last Thursday night, we got to hear an amazing story about a family who attends our church. And after hearing that, I was just reminded of just honestly the ways that we might try to make church this mundane thing every week that we just check off our list, you know, went to church, brought the family, check it off. And the Lord is moving right now in this room. He is moving in our hearts and we glorify his name. And think of everything that the Lord did, all that he orchestrated just to bring all of us here in this room together right now, this morning.

All the different testimonies, all the different stories, all the different battles faced, so many different backgrounds, and we are united under one name, and that name is Jesus. So maybe you're here today and you are needing a revival in your heart. Maybe you're needing to hear a new song from the Lord you felt lost for so long. Or maybe you're here today and you need an awakening in your life because you've never known the love of Christ and you've never known the goodness of God. And Lord, today, we proclaim that there is no one like you. There is no name that is higher or greater. Jesus, we lay everything at your feet today, God. We lay our pride down, we lay our envy down. Any addictions, Lord, anything that we have that is getting in the way of our relationship with you, we lay it at the cross. We want more of you today, God. Let us leave here forever changed. Let us leave here with our hearts transformed and renewed by you. Church is continuing worship today, amen. Amen. Amen. Won't you lift your voices today? We praise your name, Lord. Jesus, you are great. Sing it.

♪ There is no other name, Jesus you're worthy ♪ ♪ There's just something about your name ♪ ♪ There's just something about your name ♪ ♪ There's just something about your name ♪ ♪ That makes me cry holy ♪ ♪ There is no other name but yours Lord ♪ ♪ There is no other name, there is no other name ♪ ♪ Jesus you're worthy, you are, you are Lord ♪ ♪ Just have your way in my life ♪ ♪ Have your way in this place today ♪ ♪ Oh Lord yes, there's no one like the Lord ♪ ♪ No one higher, no one greater God ♪ ♪ And Jesus your name is like the morning light ♪ ♪ The one the darkness can't deny ♪ ♪ The resurrection and the life, Jesus, Jesus ♪ ♪ Your name can save, your name can heal ♪ ♪ Your name can make the storm subside ♪ ♪ You never will, Jesus, Jesus, no, no, no, no, no, no, no ♪ ♪ The rain of life broke in for us ♪ ♪ The wounded and the worthy one ♪ ♪ The first and last and soon to come, Jesus, Jesus ♪ ♪ The King who overwhelmed the grave ♪ ♪ The Lord who will forgive the name above all other names ♪ ♪ Jesus, oh Jesus be the name, Jesus be the name ♪ ♪ Jesus be the name, oh Jesus be the name ♪ ♪ That gets all the glory ♪ ♪ And Jesus be the name, and Jesus be the name above it all ♪ ♪ Oh Jesus be the name that gets all the glory ♪ ♪ And Jesus be the name, and Jesus be the name above it all ♪ ♪ Oh Jesus be the name that gets all the glory, Lord ♪

♪ And Jesus be the name, and Jesus be the name above it all, Lord ♪ ♪ And Jesus be the name above it all, Lord ♪ ♪ And Jesus be the name that gets all the glory, Lord ♪ ♪ Oh, you can have your way in my life, God ♪ ♪ You can have every part of me, God ♪ ♪ Oh, you can have it all, Lord ♪ ♪ Oh, we magnify the name, the only name, the only one ♪ ♪ Oh, Lord Jesus, oh, you can have your way in my life, God ♪ ♪ You can have your way in my life, God ♪ Jesus, we come together and we declare with the authority of your name that your name is above every other name. Your name is greater than the names we could give our fears. Your name is greater than what our failures might call us. It's greater than that. God, your name is greater than any other name in this world, so we speak your name over what has broken out in the Middle East, and we pray for peace under your name. We pray for breakthrough under your name, that people would turn to you and in your name find hope and salvation and light, that what is so broken and dark would be a place that light can shine through, that hope can be born in you, Jesus. And, Jesus, we just recognize that all of history is leading up to kneeling before your name, that everything that we see happening around the world right now is leading up to this moment where every knee will bow and every tongue will confess Jesus, that Jesus, you are Lord. It's in your name we pray. Amen. You can be seated. So last week, I became a grandfather for the fourth time. And thank you, I don't know that could have happened without me, I don't want to take

all the credit for it, but my daughter, oldest daughter and her husband welcomed Elsie Marie into this world. Here's a picture of Elsie. And seriously though, I would like to talk about the grandfather's role in this whole process because I feel like we don't get quite enough recognition. I'm not saying our job is the hardest, I'm not saying that, but I sat in that delivery waiting room area for 12 hours and did absolutely nothing. I didn't, I did nothing and I felt like maybe that should be acknowledged, like maybe that's important to sitting out there and waiting because like dads have a role. Dads these days, they're right in the middle of everything, they're in the room, they're cutting cords, they're monitoring contractions, they're holding hands, apparently they're catching the baby these days, and catching's not my word, like that's the word that gets used in the hospital, and dads are trying to figure out like what to say and also importantly what not to say. Like one nurse told me about a dad who said to the mother in labor, you can do this, it's all mental. No, no, it's not, it's not all mental, like sometimes that's the role dad, just figuring out what you don't say, but at least you got a role, grandmothers have a role, like my wife is in and out of the room there, talking to the nurses, speaking the same type of language, she's translating for all the different people involved and she understands the significance of centimeters, like there's, she gets a role. But for me, I'm just a guy sitting in the waiting room, spending hours contemplating if I'm gonna get the cake out of the vending machine, like that was my big thing for the day, and I'm not complaining, I don't want you to feel sorry for me, I mean maybe somebody should write a psalm about it at some point, but I just sat out there and I prayed for my granddaughter before she even took her first breath, and I was thinking as I sat in that waiting room about the world that she would be brought into, and I was feeling a little bit discouraged about that, feeling a bit anxious, so I decided to distract myself by checking the news, it's not a great strategy, and so I get on my phone and I start thinking about this world through this lens of a grandfather welcoming a grandchild, and there's so much

division and anger and confusion, and there's like all kinds of epidemics, the loneliness epidemic and the anxiety epidemic and the depression epidemic, and I just sat there thinking what kind of world will she grow up in, and what I felt in that moment was afraid, like not panic, but just this quiet, low-grade fear that settles in when you start to recognize that you love someone very much, but you can't protect them from everything, the kind of fear that settles in when you start to recognize that the world you're gonna hand them is more broken than the world that was handed to you, and I think many of you know that feeling, like you want so much for your kids, you want so much for your grandkids, and you think to yourself, I'd do anything for them, I want so much for them, but you're just not sure that this world is going to cooperate. And so I was just sitting there thinking about what she might face in her life and what lies that she would be told and what struggles she'd have to navigate, what challenges she'd have to overcome, and again, just feeling a little discouraged by that, a little bit anxious, but then I thought of something else while I sat in that waiting room. I thought about you, and I thought about what this church has already decided about Elsie and her generation. While I sat in that hospital waiting room for 12 hours, five families came in and out. Four of them were connected to our church. Four of them were church families welcoming babies, and I was overwhelmed with gratitude to be a part of a church that's looking at that generation and saying, we're going to be there for them. That's significantly what our move journey has been about. We've said two years of radical generosity to reach the next two generations, that what we were working towards is not a building campaign or a building program, instead, it's a church looking at these next generations and saying, we're going to be there for them, and we want to invest in something that outlasts us. I just want to celebrate that together at this midpoint in our move journey, to celebrate a few numbers with you. I'm excited to share with you that we had 1,410 households, representing 3,433 people, make a first-time generosity commitment with MOVE.

Almost 3,500 people said, hey, I want to be a part of that. I love that, because as a church ... We looked around this past year and we started to see like there are people who want to be a part of it, like they're excited to say I'm in and they joined the church or they're new to the church in this last year and so almost 3,500 people joined the 20,000 plus other people who've committed and said we're gonna finish strong and we're excited to be a part of what God is doing at this church. More than 1,000 households representing almost 3,000 people increased their giving commitment from last year. They made a commitment at the beginning of last year and they said you know what, we're excited for an opportunity to do more. And so we had almost 3,000 people who said yeah, we want that to be true for us. And I'm really excited just to celebrate with you the overall number. So last year at the beginning of this journey we said okay, we're prayerfully going to set a goal of $240 million and here's all the things we believe God would give us an opportunity to say yes to based on that generosity. And last year we set a goal for $240 million and then your commitments and expected gifts came in at $266 million. And this year at this midway point I am thrilled to tell you that we stand at $284,838,732.

And each one of those commitments represent our devotion as a church to love people, to care for people one at a time. I can't wait to see how God's gonna move in this church but also in this church through the next generation. As I was sitting in that waiting room I didn't yet know that Elsie would have dark hair. I didn't know what her cry would sound like. I didn't know whose nose she would have. But I knew this, that this church had already made a decision about her. And we don't know what will be happening in our world 20 years from now. But should Jesus tarry we will be a church that shines the light and preaches the word and cares for the hurting and welcomes the broken and celebrates the redeemed and declares truth and lifts up Jesus as we love people one at a time. As I just wanna say, I just wanna say thank you. Like genuinely thank you. And I don't just say that as a pastor standing on a stage in a sanctuary. I say that as a grandfather sitting in a waiting room eating a piece of vending machine cake. Thank you. Thank you for your generosity. Cannot wait to see what God's gonna do. I sat in that waiting room and I was thinking about the world that she would grow up in and again I just couldn't help but be struck

by how broken things can be. Which brings up this question that we're gonna answer today as we study the book of Genesis. Why is the world the way it is? Why do things often start off beautiful but then end up broken? And why is there so much pain and suffering and shame and death? Like why is there this disease and heartache? Like how did all of that happen? And what we're gonna study today in Genesis 3 explains more to us about why the world is the way the world is than any, I don't know, article or social media post or podcast or psychology textbook ever could. Genesis 3 is the chapter where paradise gets lost. So we've been studying Genesis and in Genesis 1 God creates everything in what you say. He says it is good, it's good. In Genesis 2 God plants a garden and he calls it Eden and it's perfect, it's this place of paradise and he puts Adam in the garden and in Genesis 2 verse 15 he says, Adam, here's your job, you are to be the keeper of the garden. And so Adam is given this purpose and this meaning in his life, he has perfect connection with God, he lives in this place of perfect beauty and peace. God gives him one command, just one command. He tells Adam there's a tree that's off limits,

chapter two verse 16 and 17. God says to Adam, you're free. Notice how this starts. Starts with three words, you are free. Now we're gonna do what Adam does and we're gonna focus on the one thing we can't do. But God's heart here is freedom. God says, you're free to eat from any tree in the garden but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil for when you eat from it, you'll certainly die. So God understands that there is this category of knowledge that's too heavy for us, it's too heavy for Adam and so he says, look, there's this one tree that's off limits. It would be like as a parent of a five year old, you recognizing there's some things that that five year old doesn't need to know. There's a category of knowledge you don't need to put on that five year old because they don't have the emotional framework to stand up under it. If you just start giving them access to all the knowledge, they won't be able to carry the weight of it. So God says, don't eat of this tree of the knowledge of good and evil. And then this tree represents the choice to put trust in him. For Adam to say, I choose to trust God, I recognize, I don't have to, I'm not being forced to, here's this option for me

to not trust him, so the tree is this opportunity to make a decision about whether I'm going to trust or not trust God, and so it's this place of beauty. But God looks at it, and he says something surprising. He says, well, there's one thing, it's not good. It's not good for man to be alone. And so he creates Eve, and Adam is introduced to Eve, and immediately breaks out into poetry. This is bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh. And then chapter two ends with this beautiful statement about what life was like for Adam and Eve. It says, Adam and his wife were both naked, and they felt no shame. And it's really impossible for us to fully understand the beauty of that. Like, they live in this reality where there's no shame. There's perfect connection. There's no performance and no pretense. There's no hiding. There's just complete intimacy. God created it that way. That's how he wanted it to be. And we have a hard time imagining that because since Genesis three, we just kind of live in the shadow of shame. It narrates, for many of us, it narrates our entire lives. Like, it was there in the room when you failed, and it was there when you were rejected, and it was there when you were abused, and it was there when you were abandoned,

and it was there when you made the choice that you couldn't take back. And shame never shuts up. It just keeps running its mouth. And because of shame, like, it just shapes how we've come to see ourselves. It shapes what kind of jobs we think we deserve. It shapes how we show up in relationships. It shapes whether we raise our hand or stay quiet. It shapes whether we believe that God would want to have anything to do with us or not. And so we live in the shadow of shame, and we have our ways of dealing with it. Like, we try to perform as a way to outrun it, but it's fast. And we try to achieve to drown it out. We try to numb it and medicate it, and we try to scroll through it while in sleep, just so shame doesn't get a word in, hoping the noise will drown it out, but it just seems like it's there in the morning. And Genesis two just says, look, that's not how it was supposed to be. It's not how God designed it. It's not how he wanted it. It's how it started. Then Genesis three, verse one. Now, the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman,

did God really say you must not eat from any tree in the garden? Sure you heard that right. Did he really say that? So here's what the serpent does. The serpent doesn't come on the scene and say, God's not real. The serpent doesn't come on and say, God is evil. He just, you know, asks the question. I'm just asking a question. Did God really say? It's almost innocent. I'm just curious, just kind of wondering if we could talk about this. And if you're in your notes, here's the serpent strategy is he questions the accuracy of God's word. Did God really say? And he takes, here's what he does. The serpent takes something that God had clearly stated, and he wants to move it subtly. Because if he doesn't do it subtly, he knows you won't pay attention to it. So he wants to take something that God has clearly stated, and then shift it over here to this category of open discussion. I'm not saying he didn't say it. I'm just saying, let's, you know, let's talk about it. And culturally, this has become a way of life. Like in Genesis three,

it's a bit of a theological question, but now it's like the operating assumption that our entire culture is built on. Like we've built institution, and institutions, and entertainment industries, and academic frameworks around this idea that nothing is really ever settled. And it has created so much loneliness, anxiety, stress. We just have this idea that, hey, it's not fully decided. Everything, every conviction you have, ah, you should probably question it. Nothing's really settled, but it all started with a serpent in a garden that said, did God really say? And so anytime that question starts to show up in your head, it should draw you back to Genesis three. Well, Eve corrects the serpent. She gets it right. She's like, no, no, here's what God commanded. But the serpent escalates his lie. Verse four, you will not certainly die, the serpent said to the woman. So he takes this question, and he moves it to open discussion, and now he's going from questioning to contradicting what God said. And second scheme of the enemy is he distorts the authority of God's word. He wants to take something that God has clearly said and then he wants to package it in a way

that you'll say yes to that lie. I mean, he knows if he comes on the scene and he just says, hey, you give into this and it's gonna wreak havoc in your relationships, it's gonna cause you to live with shame, it's gonna create this distance between you and God. He knows that we won't have anything to do with that so he wants to package it in something that we want to believe. When I was in middle school, I wanted more than anything else a pair of Jordan 4s. These were the sneakers when I was in middle school. Michael Jordan wore them in 1989. Spike Lee made them famous. And I wanted a pair of these, but they were 110 bucks at the time, which is like 300 bucks today and that was just not going to happen. So I never got the Jordan 4s, but a few years ago, I thought, you know what? For my birthday, I'm gonna treat myself to a pair of Jordan 4s. But I knew I needed to find a good deal on it because my wife was gonna ask and it was gonna matter. So I was looking for a Jordan 4, size 12, great deal. That's what I was searching for. I get online and I start looking and I find a pair of Jordan 4, size 12, great, incredible deal. And I order them.

I can't wait for them to show up. They come to the house. Jordan 4s, size 12. In children's. I read the reviews. The reviews were good. I'm convinced that it was packaged in a way that somebody like me would see it and be like, that's exactly what I've been wanting. Like it was packaged in a way where like, that looks good, that seems right. I'm gonna go for it. And so I got these Jordan 4s and technically they're Jordan 4s and technically they're size 12, but they're in a children. And here's what I would say. Sometimes, sometimes you want something to be true badly enough that your brain just cooperates, right? Sometimes you want something to be true, a lie to be true badly enough that your brain just cooperates. And here's what happens in Genesis 3. The enemy packages the lie in such a way that Eve wants it to be true. And it looks real and it looks like a good deal and it looks like she's always, what she's always wanted, but it's not true.

Verse five, for God knows that when you eat from it, your eyes will be opened and you will be like God, knowing good and evil. And so next thing the enemy does is he denies the consequences of God's word, you'll be like God. So he starts off by questioning, then he goes to contradicting, but now he's saying the opposite. Where God has said there's gonna be a punishment, the serpent says, actually there's gonna be a promotion. And now it's not just, can you do this? It's if you don't do this, you're missing out. If you don't do this, you're letting God rob you of what's best for your life. And so we start with a serpent strategy and then we see Adam and Eve's choices. Look at verse six, it says, when the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. And she also gave some to her husband who was with her and he ate it. Good for food, pleasing to the eye, desirable for wisdom. Here's how we might say that. It looked good, felt right, seemed like it would make her life better.

This is the anatomy of a lie. It looks good, feels right. I think it's gonna make my life better. And so Eve chooses to believe the lie. I wanna tell you about a conversation I had with a young man that grew up in our church. I knew him a little bit. He goes off to college, sends me an email and tells me that he has been studying the scriptures and reading some books and he's come to the conclusion that we've got it all wrong when it comes to God's plan for sexuality, that sex is not something that's just reserved for marriage and he wants to meet with me and have a little theological discussion about it. And I agree to this and so we sit down at a table and he's got a notebook and he starts opening this notebook and he's got notes and he's making his different points, doing some mental gymnastics to try to make it say what he really wanted it to say and he gets through and he thinks, I'm just gonna go point by point and refute it. Like, hey, let's stop here, let me push back and I don't do that, I just let him run through it. He gets done and he waits for me to respond and I say, I've got one question. I just have one question. Did you go to college and get a girl? get a girlfriend?

That's my only question. And he said, well, yeah, but that doesn't have anything to do with this. Now, okay. Okay. Maybe not. But maybe. Because I know me. And I know you. And I know when we want something, we start to find ways for God to agree with us. And I would say for that young man, it wasn't a professor or a podcaster, progressive theology book. It was his desire. And he just wanted God to agree with him. Now, you should have a big red flag go up if it turns out God agrees with you on everything. And when you change your mind, you won't believe it. He changed his mind too. And when you decide you want something but before didn't feel right about it, but now you do, and God's okay with it suddenly now, like that should be a red flag. He just lines up with everything you think, like politically, completely. You wouldn't believe it. He's completely in your corner. What are the odds of that? And this is what the enemy does.

He sells you a lie based upon a desire because we want God to agree with us. We want him to be on our side. Eve believes the lie. Then here's what Adam does. Adam stood in silence. If you look at this story, Bible says she gave some to her husband. What did we read about him? Who was with her. So he's standing right there. If you're playing this scene out in your mind, chances are at this point, you've had two characters. You've had Eve talking to a serpent. No. Adam's there. He's in frame. He's just chilling, y'all. He's chilling while his wife chops it up with an evil talking serpent. And he's not saying anything. And what I would tell you is this is where paradise gets lost. At the center of a paradise lost story is a man who was there, but not really. He was there, but not really there. It's a man who stayed quiet when he should have spoken up and a man who followed along when he should have taken the lead. A man who needed to be present in the moment,

but was either, I don't know, distracted because he had a lot to do in the garden or maybe he was apathetic or maybe he was just being passive. But I would just say to us men, the sin of Adam is real. Where we're standing there, we're in the scene, but we're not fully there. And I would commend some of you who've worked hard to be around. Like you've rearranged your schedule and you've made sacrifices so you could be in the house or you could be at the dinner table or you could sit next to your wife on the couch. You're there, but my question is are you really there? Are you really there? Because it seems likely to me that the most consequential sin in this passage is not Eve eating the fruit. It's a man who watched it happen and said nothing. Romans five, I think, reflects the same reality. Now look, we can blame a lot of things. I would tell you our phones haven't helped. Just transparently, as I worked on this message, I thought I'd been doing a little bit better with this being fully present thing. And so I grabbed my phone, I thought I'm gonna check my current screen time and I'm gonna use this as an illustration. I'm gonna show you my current screen time compared to a year ago.

Put that up on the screen. I'm gonna get some light applause and we'll move on to the next point. I pulled up my screen time here. No, it's not there. I'm not showing you. Like I was, I'm not gonna show you. I was convicted, but even more so, I was embarrassed. But I did show a friend of mine. And I'll show you what I sent him. All right, apparently I've gotten into some bad screen time habits and scrolling rhythms. Struggling to break out of that pattern. It feels like I should have outgrown this, but apparently I still need some accountability. He texts back, love that bro. I've been there praying for strength and resolve and we'll check in. I decided to go no scroll, no exceptions this year because there's just no goodness in it. Respect you for reaching out. Love you, man. Texts back, I feel like it's just become an escape. It's crazy because I have no time and I'm slammed, but it seems like the more I'm needed elsewhere, the more tempting this is for me. I really wanna be more present with my wife. I really wanna be more connected to what God is doing in the moment. I am a 50-year-old grandfather,

senior pastor of a church. I write books and preach sermons. about this stuff, and I still need somebody to check on me. Otherwise, I have that spirit that Adam had, and even though it's not what I want, I'll let distractions quietly steal away minutes that God has called me to be present, to be intentional, where he's called me to show up. What's challenging for me about this as a man is it possible you don't really know what you're missing because you're not fully there to see it. Like, is it possible that you read about this with Adam, and you're like, oh, yeah, I can see how that's true, but you don't make the connection in your life, not because it's not happening, but because you're not present to see it. You don't know what you're missing because you're not there. And in Genesis 3 is a man who was there, but not really there, and that's where paradise gets lost. Genesis 3 shows us some of sin's fallout. Like, Genesis 2, everything's beautiful, it's great. Genesis 3, everything's unraveling. Here's what we see. Shame replaces innocence, verse 7. Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked, so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves. So then suddenly there's this shame,

and here's what shame will do. Shame will tell you to hide. Shame connects something you've done to your identity, and shame makes you think you're all alone in it, and the only way to really respond to that shame is to go dark, to keep it a secret, to hide. And as long as you're hiding, you can't be healed. This week, I had a door dash driver drop off some food to the house, and she got out of the car with some Mexican food that I had ordered. And almost immediately when she saw me, she teared up. And I kind of know in that moment, you know. And I went over to her, and she told me about something difficult that she was going through. It was pretty heavy, and I said, hey, what you just shared with me is a lot. Have you shared this with anybody else? Because it's too heavy for you to carry alone. And she said, no. I am too embarrassed. What will people think, right? And now I had some tears in my eyes, too. I'm holding my fajitas and queso. And I look her in the eye, and I said, can I tell you something? We're all broken. And she said, is that really true? I said, that's really, that's really true.

And I prayed for her in the driveway that God would free her from shame. She would come out from hiding. And I won't tell you her name, but you can call her Eve. Shame says there is something fundamentally broken about who you are, and the only way to deal with it is to sow some fig leaves. And so we get to work, and we sow some fig leaves, so trying to cover ourselves with achievement. Like, if I just accomplished enough, maybe it'll cover it up. And we try to cover it with humor. If I can keep everyone laughing, nobody will see what's underneath. We cover it with performance and image and social media persona with busyness. We try to even cover it with religion. If I can just look good enough on the outside, then, and that fig leaf doesn't, it doesn't work. Secondly, sin comes on the scene, and hiding replaces intimacy, verse eight. Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the Lord God among the trees of the garden. Something beautiful about this, right? Like, you have this image of God walking with Adam and Eve in the cool of the day, in the garden. It's like this beautiful, like, was that a thing? Was that just something they did?

But about the same time you figure out that that was something they did, you find out that's something they're not doing. Now they're hiding from God. And this is the thing about sin. It doesn't just break rules. It breaks relationship. As much as you don't want it to, as much as you convince yourself you can have both, it just doesn't work. And so they hid from God. Third thing about sin is sin blamed, with sin, blame replaces honesty, in verses 12 and 13. So God asks a simple question, what happened? What happened? And here's what Adam says, well, the woman that you put with me, she gave me some fruit of the tree and I ate it. And in one sentence, he totally lets himself off the hook. It's like, well, I mean, this wasn't my idea, God. I mean, just as a reminder. You're the one who came up with this. That woman that you gave to me, she... And then Eve takes a similar approach. Eve says, well, that serpent deceived me and I ate it. And this is what happens. Blame comes on the scene and it replaces honesty. And until you can stop being a victim, until you can own some things, you won't have healing, you won't have freedom.

But what we misunderstand about blame is that we think of blame as accusation when often it's a defense. Like if someone is pointing the finger and blaming you pretty hard about something, it's not to say you don't have something to own, but oftentimes their blame is revealing this defense. It's less of an accusation, it's more of a defense because if they have to carry it on their own, it's too heavy. Like they can't deal with what they've done or who they've become or what they said or the choice they made, they can't deal with it. It's just too much for them. And so the way they deal with that burden and that weight is to say, you carry it. It's not me, it's them. And it's not to say that them didn't have some part in it, but until you can own it, until you can be honest, it's hard to have healing. Lastly, in Genesis three, we see God's response. He sought them out in verse nine. It says, the Lord called to the man, where are you? And to be clear, this is not a search. God knows where they're at. This is an invitation. Where are you? This is an opportunity for you to just identify yourself. Secondly, he communicates consequences

in verses 14 through 19, and the serpent is cursed and the woman receives pain in childbirth and tension in her relationships and the man receives ground that will now resist him, thorns and thistles and sweat and toil and stress and then at death, for to dust you are and to dust you will return. And then verse 15, he promises a rescuer. Right in the middle of all this judgment enters Jesus. God says to the serpent, and I will put enmity between you and the woman and between your offspring and hers, and he will crush your head. He will crush your head and you will strike his heel. You'll get a bite, but he will stomp on your head. And God is pointing here to Jesus. The seed of the woman is Jesus, that Jesus shows up here before Moses, before David, before the prophets, before the manger in a garden with two people who just broke everything. God leans in and he whispers, I'm sending someone. A rescuer is coming and I want you to feel the weight of it. Because the ground here is cursed and relationships are fractured and the shame is fresh and hiding has already started and everything that was so beautiful is now broken and it's in that moment, it's not after they made things better, it's not after they got cleaned up, it's not after they proved they deserved it.

Like in that moment, God says, I'm sending someone. In the middle of the wreckage, in the middle of the shame, when things were the darkest, I'm sending someone. And he's not sending a motivational speaker to tell you how to do it better. He's not sending a life coach to help you find your best self and get you on the path to self-actualization. He's not sending a religious system with a bunch of rules where he says, hey, good luck, maybe try harder this time. Like he's sending a rescuer. And here's what I'm undone by. Before Adam and Eve said, I'm sorry, God said, I've got a plan. And so we've met Adam and Eve and their story and how God came after them. I want you to meet another man named Jake. Jake's story starts in a familiar place. He's from our Shelby County campus. The life sounded good to him. He was a good guy. He was a good guy. He was a good guy. He was a good guy. He was a good guy on campus. The life sounded good to him. Choices were made, hiding felt necessary, the shame was loud. But in Genesis three, we read, or we read of this rescuer that will come and Jake was rescued.

Take a look at this. Life before while growing up, chaos and turmoil in my childhood. Rebellion and lawlessness in the teenage years and in the adult life, just provider. And my thoughts on God were non-existent. Fallacy, a fairy tale, a bibliography. Riffey, written by others, and JP, a gentleman that I work with, he gave me the little postcard that said, you know, services are at this time, and he invited me, and I was extremely up in the air about it. The Christmas Eve sermon was the outcast. Jesus welcomes everybody. I've always been the outcast, outcast at school, outcast at home. I'm even the outcast at work, so, you know, outcast hit. I was supposed to be here. I got to talk to Jason, a Shelby County pastor, and it started as a simple question, what Bible do you use? Because I wanted to use the same one, and it actually blew up into a two-hour conversation. Meeting Jake, when he came in that day on Christmas Eve, is such an encouragement to me because I saw somebody that was really seeking, seeking to understand, and he had a real thirst for trying to wrestle with and unwrap the darkness and the chaos in his life and understand about Jesus and what it meant to follow Him and to be known by Him. I made a commitment to attend five times. I was here every Sunday with family, JP and his family. It was February 8th, Campus Pastor Weekend. Jason was preaching. The message really hit different, and at the end of the sermon or towards the end of the sermon, the salvation prayer. I was sitting there in the chair, and I was repeating the words, and I meant them, and I felt something changed, and then service was over.

Family and I got up, and we stood in the corner like we always do, kind of waiting on the sanctuary to clear out, and JP and I were talking, and I looked at him, and I told him, I have to get baptized, and he's like, okay, we'll work it out, you know, we'll—no, now. It has to be now. So he was like, okay, let's do this. So changed, shorts and the shirt, and then we went down into the baptismal pool. I honestly thought it was just going to be, you know, Jason, you know, family. There were a lot more people there. It made me extremely uncomfortable, but JP made a statement, this is all family, and I have to agree that every single person down there was family, even people I didn't know. And then there was some prayer, and I was immersed, and there was a calmness. The immersion washed away anxiety, guilt, anger, lots of anger, but now I know I'm loved. I'm accepted, and I'm wanted. If you're hiding, I want that to be your story, where you know you are loved, you're accepted, you're wanted. God's calling. out to you, it's an invitation. So I listen to Jake's story, there are just so many different parts of that to challenge me. I know maybe for some of you, you have somebody like Jake in your life, and like JP, you could invite them. Invite them to Easter, invite them to come on a weekend, invite them to come for five weeks in a row. But for some of you, like you're here because somebody invited you, and you're carrying a lot of shame, you've tried to figure some things out on your own. We just want you to know that we love you, that we want you here. We'd love to have the privilege of just talking to you a little bit about a decision to accept rescue from Jesus. We could visit with you after service in our first step room right over here on the first floor. The rest of us, we're gonna take just a few minutes here and take communion. As we take communion, we take the bread and the juice, but what we're remembering is that there's a plan. The bread and the juice are the plan. That's God's Genesis 3 plan, where Jesus came and he gave his life for us. He sacrificed himself for us so that we

could be forgiven, so we could be washed clean, so that we didn't have to live with guilt and shame anymore. So let's take a few moments and celebrate that together. God, thank you for your grace towards us. Thank you that even when we are hiding in shame, that you call us because of Jesus, that we can step out into the light and we can receive forgiveness. I pray that this would be a church where people constantly are stepping out into the light. Lord, in these next few minutes, we just want to say thank you for your love, that you so love the world, that you gave your only Son, that all the way back in Genesis 3, that you came up with the plan, and we just want to express our gratitude as we remember. It's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Let's take communion together. This is my confession Of sinners I'm the worst I know my need For saving grace A life not built on words This is my repentance From all that I've done wrong I walk away From whom I was And daily lift my cross I believe Jesus is the Christ I believe that He's the Son of God He's my Lord, my Savior, my confidence Hallelujah, I'm born again This is my salvation Made right to sin inside And only through the death of Christ Oh, I embrace you like you said I believe Jesus is the Christ I believe that He's the Son of God

He's my Lord, my Savior, my confidence Hallelujah, I'm born again Oh, I'm born again Oh, I'm born again ♪ I'm born again, yes I'm born again ♪ Come on, declare it. ♪ In the name of the Father, the Son and the Spirit, I'm alive ♪ ♪ Been given new life, been given new life ♪ ♪ And death doesn't own me, I'm chosen, I am a child of God ♪ ♪ I'm a child of God, been given new life, been given new life ♪ You sing. ♪ In the name of the Father, the Son and the Spirit, I'm alive ♪ ♪ Been given new life, been given new life ♪ ♪ And death doesn't own me, I'm chosen, I am a child of God ♪ ♪ I'm a child of God, been given new life, been given new life ♪ ♪ I've been given new life, I've been given new life ♪ You sing, I believe. ♪ I believe that Jesus is the Christ, oh I believe that He's the Son of God ♪ ♪ Oh I believe that Jesus is the Christ, oh I believe that He's the Son of God ♪ ♪ He's my Lord, my Savior, my God, glory, oh hallelujah, I'm born again ♪ ♪ I believe that Jesus is the Christ, oh I believe that He's the Son of God ♪ ♪ He's my Lord, my Savior, my God, glory, oh hallelujah, I'm born again ♪ ♪ I'm born again, I'm born again, I'm born again, I'm born again, I'm born again, I'm born again, I'm born again ♪ ♪ I'm born again, I'm born again, I'm born again, I'm born again, I'm born again, I'm born again, I'm born again, I'm born again, I'm born again, I'm born again, I'm born again, I'm born again, I'm born again, I'm born again, I'm born again, I'm born again, I'm born again, I'm born again, I'm born again, I'm born again, I'm born again, I'm born again, I'm born again I'm born again, I'm born again, I'm born again, I'm born again, I'm born again, I'm born again ♪ I'm born again, I'm born again Imma, whoa, I OMG ♪ Now join the great procession of Saints from long ago And my years of faith will turn to site, and last forever more

And last forever more ♪ ♪ We want to see a move of God in our homes and in our families Spirit come move in us We want to see your kingdom come in our church and in our city Spirit come move through us Holy Spirit have your way Holy Spirit have your way We bring in our faith You bring the flame Holy Spirit have your way Come have your way ♪ Give us the eyes to see the lost And the hands to reach the heard Spirit come move in us Oh, till we see the gospel taken To the corners of creation Spirit come move through us Holy Spirit have your way Holy Spirit have your way We ♪ We bring it all, You bring the flame ♪ ♪ Holy Spirit, have Your way ♪ ♪ Oh, Holy Spirit, have Your way ♪ ♪ Holy Spirit, have Your way ♪ ♪ We bring it all, You bring the flame ♪ ♪ Holy Spirit, have Your way ♪ Come on, let's sing.

♪ Let faith arise, let darkness fall ♪ ♪ Let darkness flee, a move of God like we've never seen ♪ ♪ Consumed by a rushing wind, a move of God pouring out again ♪ ♪ Let faith arise, let darkness flee, a move of God like we've never seen ♪ ♪ Consumed by a rushing wind, a move of God pouring out again ♪ ♪ Let faith arise, let darkness flee, a move of God like we've never seen ♪ ♪ Consumed by a rushing wind, a move of God pouring out again ♪ ♪ Pouring out again, pouring out again, pouring out again ♪ ♪ Pouring out again, and again, and again ♪ ♪ Holy Spirit, have Your way ♪ ♪ Holy Spirit, have Your way ♪ ♪ We bring it on, You bring the flame ♪ ♪ Holy Spirit, have Your way ♪ ♪ We bring it on, You bring the flame ♪ ♪ Holy Spirit, have Your way ♪ Well, man, I hope that sermon landed with you like it did me. It was such a good reminder, such a good introduction, maybe, for some of us that are just beginning this. If you're brand new to trying to walk with God or opening the Bible up for the first time, can I say, please, just forgive us when we say, you know the story, because it doesn't matter where you're starting at. We're so grateful that you're on this journey with God, and we're so grateful we get to be a part of it. And there was so much about that message that was so good for me as a person in long-term recovery to hear. One of the things that popped for me was when Kyle differentiated between shame and guilt, because there was for a long time in my life, specifically when I was struggling with my addiction really heavy, I figured out it got really hard for me to separate the voice of God from the voice of the wounds in my life.

And it was like I had these messages that I'd picked up from different situations or different relationships and different people, and what they thought of me, and I just automatically assumed or something in my brain decided that that was the voice of God and what God thought of me. And it was like such a great thing to be reminded that shame says I am something bad. Guilt says I did something bad. And to be able to lock in on that, because guilt, honestly, for me as a person in long-term recovery, is not a bad thing. Guilt shows me that my behaviors are not matching the person that I want to be, and that motivates change. Like Kyle said in the sermon, the shame motivates us to hide, and what we hide cannot heal. And so, man, I beg you, as a person who's on this journey of healing, it's hard, and there's a lot of ups and downs, but, gosh, on this side of things, The way God walks with us, understanding Jesus like now, is the reason I will say I'm so grateful that I'm a person, I'm an addict, that I'm an alcoholic, and I'm a person in long-term recovery, because I would not understand God and know God like I do now if it wasn't for that. I would not have the genuine relationships of people that I have now if it was not for that. So I hope that sermon landed for you. If it was great, man, grab somebody that you see this week and share it. Tell them to log on and watch it, because pulling ourselves away from the shame, being able to separate the voice of God from the voice of those wounds in our minds, man, is such a foundation for us if we want to stay sober and we want to live free and we want to continue to heal. If you enjoyed that, I want to pump something to you. We have a Bible study that comes this Wednesday, Toward Strength, a study from Axe. So maybe you've been watching that already, and maybe this is a great opportunity to invite

somebody you're friends with, for them to log on and watch it. But it's an awesome way to unpack the book of Acts with our online team as they're walking through that. Also, every single Thursday, there's a Pando-exclusive podcast where we get on there. So log on on Thursday mornings. If you haven't subscribed, do that. Log on Thursdays when that comes. I've got a chance to be on that podcast. I was on not too long ago with my friend Bree, and it's just a great time to connect and be reminded that we're a part of the family of God every Thursday. So we'll close out our service today like we normally do, and it's my favorite part of the service. We're going to do a prayer together. And I love this because it doesn't matter where you're sitting or what your location is. I'm in an atrium at a church with all this stuff moving around. Maybe you're in a location where it feels like you can't really commit or connect to a time of standing up and singing and worshiping. But we're going to do this, our Pando prayer. We're going to pray together today. So if you would, let's take a second. Let's exhale. Let's get centered where we are. And let's don't just say the prayer. Let's pray the prayer from Philippians 1. We pray that our love abound more and more with knowledge and all discernment, so that we may approve what is excellent, and so be pure and blameless for the day of Christ. Filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God, amen. We love you.

Thank you for being with us today. Can't wait to see you again soon.