Genesis 3–11: Love, Choice, Sin, and Rescue

And the first story of humanity after the creation narrative is God showing up at a memorial service with his arm around mom and dad because they have to bury their boy because their other son murdered him. And God's whispering, this has never been my plan. He doesn't drop an I told you so on a day like today. He just puts his arms around them and says, you're gonna wanna blame me. My plan was page two. This is the broken world. [01:06:51] (39 seconds)  #GodComfortsTheBroken

Oh, people, this is a break from the book of Genesis. It's a time out. I just wanna say a good news. If you're in a marriage right now that you don't feel the emotions of love, if you are in this one flesh happily ever after right now and you go, man, we share nothing but a roof and a bank account. If you're in a place right now where the emotions, the feelings of love are long gone, good news, you're biblical. Greater news, love is a choice. It's not an emotion. And when you start making the choices to love, the heart will follow. The heart will follow. [00:53:56] (29 seconds)  #LoveIsAChoice

First John four ten says this, this is love, not that you love God, but that you come to an understanding that he first loved you and he gave his son as an atoning sacrifice for you. God is still on a rescue mission for you, for you. This is love. Not that you try to love an invisible God, but that you come to understand how much value and worth and love is put on you. And I promise, you are made to reciprocate that. You are made to feel that, to walk in that until it oozes out of you, until it's demonstrated to the world around you. That's called worship, giving God his worth because of what he's already done for you. [00:51:08] (38 seconds)  #WorshipFromLove

Were these writers of the ancient text taken over robotically and just scribbled? No. So much of all their personalities are into the word, and yet it is the living word of God, the infallible word of God because creator has always been trying to reach his creation. He doesn't wanna be unknown. He doesn't wanna be behind a cloud somewhere. He doesn't wanna be distant. He wants to reveal himself to you. And so somewhere in their own humanity, somewhere with the spirit of God, hands go pen to paper, ink to parchment. [00:39:23] (34 seconds)  #HumanAuthorsDivineWord

But the God of creation is speaking a language into his creation. For an agrarian culture, this is your language. Milk, whatever herds you tend to raise, whatever livestock you want to, man, they are gonna produce and reproduce and reproduce, and mother's milk is gonna be flowing throughout the land. You'll be successful. Oh, and honey. Honey, whatever you decide to grow, whatever agriculture you wanna get into, oh, the way it's gonna blossom, the way it's gonna bud, the fertilization of it, oh, for every farmer, for every rancher. When you hear you are gonna have property that flows with milk and honey, everything inside of you comes alive. [00:37:45] (45 seconds)  #PromisedLandMilkAndHoney

I I think sometimes we confuse God knowing what would happen or could happen with causing it to happen. God did not cause it. Today, God gives you a choice still. You can walk in love with him and others, or you can walk in on love and have consequences of it. The hurt, the pain, and suffering, the choice is still there today, and he doesn't take the choice away. And some of you are dealing with consequences of your own unloved. Some of you are dealing today with the consequences of people that have been unloving, and some of you are just caught up into the backdraft of some of the most heinous unlove that you've ever experienced. [00:57:53] (34 seconds)  #GodLetsYouChoose

And Satan deceives us, and we blame God. Satan causes sin and suffering, and we turn around and blame God. And God goes, wait wait, kid. Kid, listen to me. My desire was page one and two. That was my desire. And for my desire for you to have the greatest desires in life, I have to allow choice. Otherwise, you would be robotic. Otherwise, you would have an experience with no love in life. And if you have an experience of no love in life, what is the use of giving and creating life? [00:58:30] (35 seconds)  #ChoiceNotBlameGod

And Moe's trying to tell them, these people need to know who they are. No. These people need to know whose they are. For four hundred years, they've been separated from their homeland. These Israelites have grown up for centuries in a pagan culture. They're still attributing plagues to the work of gods and goddesses. In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. And chapters one and two start to flow. There are no gods and goddesses. There are no mythical creatures. There is one. He's yours, and he's done everything to bring you back home. [00:39:56] (62 seconds)  #KnowWhoseYouAre