SERIES OVERVIEW…

Beyond the Beginning: God’s Ongoing Love Story

- Where we are going? We are going to look at the tapestry of God’s pursuit of us, his love for us and how the Bible tells that love story…it is called the Meta Narrative, looking at the whole bible with this thread of his love as our primary guide

- Why we are going here? There are a few reasons
1) an effort to help connect the whole bible to this story
2) biblical literacy
3) christians young in their faith needing to be discipled and people who don’t know Jesus and need to see how the Bible talks about his love for us

- What will it look like? 13 weeks culminating around Easter || There are additional Resources for personal and group study found in the Creekside App on the sermon page for each week

BIG PICTURE FOR TODAY…

- The big ideas I want you to understand more deeply today as I share God’s ongoing love story…

1. God is holy and He is Creator
2. God created Humans in His image—Imago Dei
3. God created Humans to live forever
4. God gave Humans the choice to trust God or to trust themself
5. Humans rebelled against God and his holiness and were cast out of the Garden and God’s PRESENCE
6. Humans were never created to determine good and evil for themselves….This is God’s sole authority.
7. BUT GOD…in his mercy and love, pursues rebellious humans even when they sin against him making a way to have a renewed relationship with Him

INTRODUCTION…

- If you could imagine the world the way it should be, what would it be like? - Why are things not working perfectly in the world today?
- It seems that things should be different?
- Have you ever wondered why?
- What is wrong with the world?
- What if we could live in a world where there was no sickness or pain or death? No pollution, poverty, war, or hatred?
- Is it possible that the world we all want, what we all dream of, is exactly the world God originally created and intended for us?!
- And what if God actually has a plan and a way to set everything right again?

--- As we begin to look deeper into the Story of God and humans and this world, we will see that everything did not start out bad. In fact things were amazing and beautiful!
--- There was a day when the world was very much like what you might have thought it should be like . . . and there is coming a day when it will all be right again. The Bible shows us there is such a way.

[Ecclesiastes 3:11]
“He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the hearts of men; yet they cannot fathom what God has done from beginning to end.”

—— So…Let’s try to ‘fathom’ what God has done…we need to start at the beginning of the Story…

…BEGINNINGS…

—> God Exists Eternally in perfect, loving unity (Triunity) as Father, Son and Holy Spirit...He isnot bound by time or space
-- The word Trinity is not in the Bible, but it is clearly shown: [GN 1:26] “man in OUR Image”
-- Jesus’ Baptism [MT 3:13-17] || Jesus present, voice from heaven “my son”, and Spirit descending like a dove
-- Jesus obeyed his “Father” and sent the “Holy Spirit, Counselor, Comforter”
[JN 15:26-27][JN 16:7-8][JN 16:13-15]
-- God alone always does what is good and right and perfect—the Bible calls Him holy.

—> God Created Everything...He is All Powerful (Omnipotent)
a) Angels were the first beings created
-- Before universe but not exactly clear on timing because they were created outside of time
-- While God was creating the foundations of the earth, angels watched with amazement, singing together and shouting for joy! God created these beautiful angels to worship Him. || They were present at creation
[Job 38:4-7] [Psalm19:1]
-- They were given a will, some obeyed, and some rebelled against God and His ways… [ISA 14:12-17] [JUDE 1:5-6] [2 PET 2:4,9]
-- Any rebellion against God is called sin. God will not allow sin to remain in His presence, so He sent the rebellious angels into darkness on the earth, to face final punishment later. some rebelled/sinned against God…were punished
-- Interesting fact: God did not give them the opportunity to be forgiven of their rebellion

b) The Universe was next
[GN 1:1-25] || God created everything for his glory and for his own pleasure…it was good

…FIRST HUMANS…

—> God's Creation Was Good…
-- After creating Angels and the Universe…God decided He would create another being, one that was lower than the angels, called a human. So God took the earth and prepared it as a place for humans to live. His Spirit moved over the surface of the earth as:

-- He made light, separating it from the darkness. He divided the oceans and the sky.
-- He gathered the waters so dry land would appear.
-- He grew plants, flowers, and trees with seeds to reproduce themselves.
-- He created the sun, the moon, and the stars—setting the days and seasons in to motion.
-- He filled the seas with fish, the sky with birds, and the earth with all kinds of wild animals!
-- God put great care and creativity into all of His creation. Then He looked at everything and said, “This is good!”
-- This amazing place with all of its beauty was to be inhabited and taken care of by humans, made in God’s own image!

—> God Makes Humans…(imago dei)
-- [GN 1:26] So God formed man from the dust of the ground and breathed His own breath into him, giving him life. This man would be called Adam.

--[GN 2:15-17] God had created a beautiful garden and placed Adam in it. In the center of the garden God placed two special trees. One was the Tree of Life, and the other was the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. God said Adam could eat from any tree in the garden, except for one: the tree that would give them knowledge of good and evil. He warned him not to eat from this tree or he would surely die.

-- [GN 2:18-24, GN 1:27-31] Later, God created the first woman, Eve, to be a companion and helper for Adam. So God created both the man and the woman in His own image. God blessed the man and the woman with the ability to continue creating through having children. He told them, “Be fruitful and multiply.” He placed the humans in a beautiful garden, a place where they had everything they needed to live life to the fullest.
Daily God would come and spend time with the Adam and Eve, walking with them in the cool of the day. He showed them how to live in the best possible way—a life lived close to God and under His protection—a life that is full and complete. Adam and Eve loved being with God.
[GN 2:25]…naked and not ashamed…it was really good…it was how it was supposed to be…everything was shalom/peace…echad/one

…SEPARATION…(sin and consequences)

-- The serpent (satan) set out to discredit God, wanting himself to be worshiped as God…

—> Adam and Eve rebelled (sinned) against God and experienced SEPARATION from him…[GN 3:1-23]

(vs 1-7)
THEY WERE DECEIVED || serpent caused Eve to doubt what God said was true, questioned God’s motives, that God was holding out on them, that the serpent knew more than God did…and Eve believed him and ate of the fruit that was forbidden…so did Adam

(vs 8)
THEIR EYES WERE OPENED || in that moment, they died spiritually and would die physically as a result of their disobedience || they were immediately aware of their nakedness (contrast to GN 2:25 when they had no shame) || they immediately tried to cover themselves (shame) || sin had immediate consequences

(vs 9-13)
GOD PURSUED THEM “where are you?” || This was not a GPS question…this was a HEART/EMOTION question || God is Omniscient, he knows everything || he was pursuing them and exposing their sin and shame to bring healing along with discipline

(14-15)
THE SERPENT WAS PUNISHED…God dealt with him first…he will be destroyed in the future
-- A solution was presented for the healing of mankind’s separation due to sin and rebellion (Eve’s offspring/seed) || NOTE: women don’t have seed…reference to virgin birth
-- “HE” (Jesus) “Strike your head” (Jesus would crush the serpent’s head and destroy him and repair the damage he caused…Jesus was the solution to pay the consequences of sin forever)
-- Serpent will “Strike his heel” (Satan would strike Jesus but it would not destroy Jesus) || Sin would eventually be atoned for by Jesus

(16-19)
ADAM AND EVE WERE PUNISHED || God’s heart was broken because of their disobedience, but he could not ignore what they had done. God always does what is good, right, and perfect—His perfect justice required that there be consequences for rebellion.

(23)
ADAM AND EVE WERE SENT OUT OF THE GARDEN || So God punished Adam and Eve by throwing them out of the Garden outside of His care and protection. No longer following God’s way, they were now subject to sickness, pain, and death…but something really amazing and beautiful happened in vs 21…

(21)
A BEAUTIFUL THING HAPPENED…GOD CLOTHED ADAM AND EVE AND COVERED THEIR NAKEDNESS || God continued to love Adam and Eve—He even created clothing for them out of animal skins so they would not be ashamed outside of the Garden || this is a picture of what is to come for all of us…our sin and shame being covered by Jesus…

...WALK IT OUT…

This is the beginning of God’s ongoing love story to us.

Q: What has God revealed in his Word today about who he is?
-- God is eternal existing in three persons (Father Son Holy Spirit)
-- God is holy and in his justice cannot allow sin to go unpunished

Q: What has God revealed in his Word today about what he has done or is doing?
-- God is the creator of all things
-- God created mankind in His image (imago dei)
-- God wants a relationship with us

Q: What has God revealed in his Word today about who we are?
-- We are made in the image of God
-- We have been given the ability to choose to follow, obey and trust God or trust in our own way

Q: What has God revealed in his Word today about what we have done or are doing or should be doing?
-- Mankind has sinned against God and by nature are under his just judgment
-- Mankind is easily deceived by our enemy
-- We need someone outside of ourselves to be saved from ourselves and our enemy and the consequences of our sin
-- That GOD…in his mercy and love, still pursues rebellious, sinful humans even when we sin against him
-- That God…continues to make a way for us to have a renewed relationship with Him

RESPOND, REFLECT & COMMUNION

I would like to give you a chance to respond to God…

—> LETS TAKE A MINUTE TO THANK HIM, RESPOND TO HIM, CONFESS OUR SIN TO HIM, EXAMINE OUR HEARTS BEFORE COMMUNION…

—> WHAT IS JESUS SAYING TO YOU TODAY?

—> WHAT IS JESUS ASKING YOU TO DO?