A Look at the Life of Peter

We kicked off our first official Community Bible Study session this morning and we couldn't be more excited about it! God has brought together a fantastic group of ladies who are anxious to study His Word together. This next series of blog posts will be all about 1 and 2 Peter. If you're planning on following along in your book, which can be picked up at First Baptist Church or ordered from this link on Amazon, fantastic! If you just want to follow along with the blog and your Bible, that's great too! This study is meant for everyone, so join right in!

We'll start by taking a look at our author, Simon Peter. Jesus always seems to take the least likely characters and do great, life-changing things with them. Peter was a lowly fisherman when Jesus found him. In Matthew 4:18-22 we find  Peter and his brother Andrew fishing on the Sea of Galilee. Jesus walks up to them and commands them to follow Him. I always thought it was a little odd that two fishermen would immediately leave their careers, homes and families to follow a man they'd never met and knew nothing about. It just never quite made sense to me. So as I studied this story, I was amazed to find out that there is MORE to the story than meets the eye! 

It's easy to assume that this encounter was Peter's first encounter with Jesus when in fact, their first meeting is recorded in John 1:35-42. Peter's brother Andrew had been a disciple of John the Baptist. (Remember him? He was preparing the way for Jesus to come.) One day Andrew met Jesus and immediately went and got Peter to introduce the two of them. From that point on, Peter and Andrew began to believe in what Jesus was doing. They watched him do ministry, work miracles, teach the truth. And then one day, Matthew 4:18-22 happened. After they had lived a little bit of life as believers in what He was doing, Jesus called them to leave everything they knew and follow Him. It wasn't a spur-of-the-moment decision after all. It was a calculated choice. They knew what they were doing and they deliberately chose to leave everything to follow Him.

Later we see Peter walking on the water (Matthew 14:28-29), confessing Jesus as Christ and becoming the rock on which Jesus would build The Church (Matthew 16:15). Things seem to be rocking right along for old Peter when Jesus breaks some troubling news to him. Matthew 26 documents when Jesus tells Peter that soon Peter will deny even knowing Christ, not just once or twice, but three times. Peter can't believe that would ever be possible. He's a sold-out Christ-follower! But sure enough, Peter denies Jesus three times. Just when we're tempted to think that Peter has committed the unthinkable, unforgivable sin, in swoops Jesus, ready to restore their relationship. 

John 21:15-19 shows an intimate conversation between Peter and Jesus after the Resurrection. Jesus asks Peter if he loves Him. Peter responds with the equivalent of "Yes, Lord, you know that I like you." This continues two more times. It's an intimate exchange where Jesus shows Peter how deep His love is for him and how he wants Peter to love Him in return. Jesus wants to really drive home to Peter that they have a love-relationship and that he is fully redeemed, despite his previous denial of Christ.

Peter's call to discipleship came in three different ways. The first call Peter received was a general call to follow Jesus as a believer (John 1:35-42). Peter became acquainted with Jesus, saw him performing miracles and heard him teaching. He came to believe that Jesus really was the long awaited Messiah. The second call Peter received was a specific call to follow Jesus as a disciple (Matthew 4:18-22, Luke 5:4). Jesus called Peter to follow Him. Peter dropped his nets and left his business and his family to follow Jesus. This call required real sacrifice for Peter. He was willing to count everything as loss for the sake of knowing Christ. The final call Peter received was a personal call to follow Jesus as an apostle (Matthew 10:1-4, 16:15). Jesus named Peter as one of the Twelve Apostles. (Apostle means "one who is sent" in reference to the spread of the Gospel.) Peter was "sent out" to spread the Gospel first to the Jews, then to the Gentiles.

In the same way, God calls each one of us to discipleship. The first call we receive is similar to Peter's - a general call to follow Jesus as a believer. Romans 10:9-10 says that if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. Maybe you've already answered that call. You believe in Jesus, confess your sins, proclaim Jesus as your Savior. But the next step is still looming before you.

The second call to discipleship is a specific call to follow Jesus as a disciple (Matthew 16:24-25). Peter left everything for the sake of Christ. Most of the time God is not going to require us to leave our homes, our families, our jobs in order to follow him. But when you look into your heart, are those things off limits to God or does he have unlimited authority over all parts of your life? Is there anything in your life that is off-limits to Him? As you grow in your relationship with Christ, the Holy Spirit convicts you of sin and challenges you to let go of the things of this world, making you more and more like Jesus Christ. A disciple is one who continues to follow, even when sacrifice is required. Have you taken that next step to give Jesus a "yes" answer, even before he asks the question?

The final call to discipleship to believers today is a personal call to follow Jesus as a member of the body of Christ (1 Corinthians 12:27-31). God's plan for The Church is that we would function as ONE body with many members. Each of us plays an important role in The Church. Be sure to find a Bible-teaching, Christ-worshiping group of believers to join to continue to make disciples.

Decide where you fall in answering the call of Jesus in your life. Have you answered the general call to follow Jesus as a believer? Have you taken the next step to deny yourself of world pleasure and success to follow Him? Are you certain of your specific place in The Church? Ask God to show you - He will do it! Strive to reach the next phase in your walk with Him. And through studying the life of an old fisherman, we will be encouraged to see that God is in the business of redeeming even the most unredeemable of us. He promises to remove our sins as far as the east is from the west and make us new creations in Him. What precious promises!

This week we'll be thinking about the way God changed Peter from the "Old Peter" to the "New Peter". We'll answer these questions:

1. Why do you think God chose Peter as a leader for His church?

2. Can you cite an example of trials developing faith and maturity in your life or the life of a friend or relative?

3. What connections might there be between Peter's emphasis on growing through trials in his first letter and being wary of false teachers in his second letter?

Check back next week for more on 1 Peter!

This Man

This man. This God. This seamless thread that runs throughout the entirety of Scripture...it is Jesus Christ, our Savior.

In our study of the four gospels this week, we got to witness all the pieces come together. Every Old Testament story, every character, every prophecy, every detail, all of it points toward the coming of Jesus Christ, the Messiah.

Matthew's book starts off with a bang - a long list of "was the son of" names. It's tempting to skim over those names, but if you read them carefully, you'll find yourself surrounded by a beautiful cloud of witnesses. Luke records a similar genealogy in his gospel. Look at Luke 3:23-38. Recognize anyone?

Joseph, the stepfather of Jesus
Boaz, Ruth's kinsman redeemer
Jacob, who stole Esau's birthright, wrestled with God and was renamed Israel
Isaac, the promised son who went up the mountain with his father as a sacrifice
Abraham, the father of nations
Noah, who was the only one found faithful and built the ark
Enoch, the man who walked with God
Adam, the first of all humankind, the first sinner

We also find Ruth and Rahab and Mary in the lineage of Jesus. I'm so thankful God included these women of the faith in his story. All these stories we've been reading over the past six weeks have led us to this climax. It all points to this! Jesus, the Son of God. (Luke 3:38)

So much Old Testament prophecy pointed people toward the coming Messiah. Prophets such as Isaiah and Hosea foretold the coming of Jesus as Messiah hundreds of years before he came (Isaiah 7:14, 9:2-7 and Hosea 11:1). Without their prophetic words, we might be tempted to think that Jesus was just a good man, and wonder if his claims to be the Son of God were actually true. But when Old Testament prophecy brings up details that are perfectly fulfilled centuries later, we can see that it's no coincidence. Jesus really is the Son of God!

The four gospels give us different perspectives on the story of the life, death, burial and resurrection of Jesus. They're told by four completely different men with four varying messages. (If you're following along in your book, there's a chart on p 136 that helps us see how the gospels are aligned.) Matthew was a Jew (Remember the Jews? They wandered in the desert for 40 years! They are God's chosen people!). Scripture explains that the gospel message is first for the Jews. Matthew's main message was to convince these Jews that Jesus is truly the Messiah. Some of God's chosen people (the Jews) are still waiting today for the promised Messiah! Their eyes are closed to the idea that his name is Jesus and he has already come. Mark's gospel was written to the Romans. As a citizen of Rome himself, Mark wanted to tell his fellow Romans about the good news of Jesus. Dr. Luke was a Gentile (remember, a Gentile is anyone who is not a Jew) and his letter was written to show Jesus's connection to the Gentiles. Not only did he come to reign as King of the Jews, but he came to save Gentiles like me and you! Those three books are the synoptic gospels. The gospel of John is a bit different. John wrote his gospel for everyone to read! His main goal was to convince us all to BELIEVE that Jesus is who he says he is! The beauty of the Gospel is that it really is good news for us all.

One of the most amazing pictures along this thread of seamless beauty is the temple curtain, otherwise known as the veil. Picture the temple, a big building with separate courts for the women and men. There were walls around it with several different gates. There were places for different people to bring sacrifices and altars on which to sacrifice them. The Gospel Coalition has a great illustration for you visual learners. Picture the innermost room of the temple, almost like an inside closet. This was the Holy of Holies. The high priest entered the Holy of Holies once a year on the Day of Atonement. It's said that the priests would tie a rope to the High Priest's leg so that in case he died in there, they could pull him out! The Holy of Holies was separated from the rest of the temple by an enormous, thick curtain. Don't picture your living room curtains. This thing was a monstrosity. The curtain was the only thing that separated the place where God dwelt from the rest of the temple.
And when Jesus had taken his last breath, the earth shook, many bodies of the saints who had died were raised and the curtain TORE from top to bottom. Just check out Matthew 27:51-53.

This tearing of the temple veil is a perfect earthly illustration of what had just happened in the spiritual realm. When the curtain tore from top to bottom, it signified that this was an act of God. If it had torn from bottom to top, it might be said that a man had done it. The fact that it was torn from top to bottom shows that God himself destroyed the barrier between men and himself. There was no longer a need for a priest to intercede on behalf of the people. Jesus had just made the ultimate sacrifice for the sins of humanity. The tearing of the temple veil indicates that no more atoning sacrifices are needed! What a beautiful picture of God's chasing after his people. He didn't want a barrier between us and Him, so he sent Jesus to earth to erase that barrier. What beautiful love.

Jeremy Camp sings a song about the beauty of what Christ did for us on the cross, called This Man. I encourage you to watch it here to remind yourself of what Jesus has done for you. All of these stories, all of Scripture, tell the bigger story of Jesus's love for YOU. He wants you to admit that you're a sinner in need of the salvation he provided on the cross. He wants you to turn away from that sin and follow Him. He wants you to do all of that because he wants to bring you home to him in heaven when your life on earth is over. Without choosing Him, your eternal destiny will be separation from Him in hell. Please choose Jesus! If you have any questions about what it means to be saved, please ask me any time!

A Shift - Seamless Session Five

Remember when Hannah prayed for a baby and promised the Lord that she would give Him her son if only He would bless her with a child? Well that child was Samuel. And now Samuel has grown into an old man and is a leader of all of Israel (1 Samuel 8:4). The problem is his sons don't follow God. So the leaders of Israel come to Samuel and declare that they would like to have a king so that they can be like all the other nations.

Keep in mind these are the same people that have seen God at work in their lives and have been told of God's power as seen in the lives of their parents and grandparents. They know that they are God's chosen people. They've heard of the parting of the sea, the pillar of cloud and the pillar of fire, the manna and the quail. They have the Ark of the Covenant, with the stone tablets etched with the handwriting of God himself. They know that God has given them this Promised Land. You'd think that it would seem crazy not to trust God and follow him whole-heartedly! But they're looking for a different kind of king - one they can see and hear and one who can rule with civil authority. They want an earthly government to control them; after all, all the other nations have kings. The big problem here is that God wants Israel to be a nation set apart from the rest. HE wants to be their King!

Several weeks ago we studied the Exodus and the wandering in the desert. We saw God's chosen people enter the promised land and march around the walls of Jericho. We understand the twelve tribes and the united kingdom. The children of Israel were far from perfect. They messed up more times than I can count. But they were God's chosen people and he never gave up on them, even when they were unfaithful to Him. But now we witness a huge shift in history. The Israelites decide that God on the throne is not enough for them. They want a new king.

So God gave them what they wanted.

At our discussion table today we answered the question, "What or whom have you elevated to the position of King in your life?" We can all think of different things that we idolize. But that's not what this question was asking. We aren't talking about idols we worship, we are talking about the KING position. This isn't some silly statue like in days of old and it's not a modern day idol like money or prosperity or fame or family or careers or possessions. This question is asking, "Who is your King?" One of our ladies said that she was tempted to answer that her king is her husband - she felt like she puts him on the throne of her heart quite often. But God quickly showed her that the one she puts on the throne more often than anyone else is herself. I completely get it. I push God off the throne of my heart all the time because I want to be King. I want to make the rules. I want to look like everyone else. I want to make sure my plans are fulfilled. I want to be in charge. I'd fit right in with those Israelites who so badly wanted a king.

Back to the Israelites...

In a nutshell, it wasn't good. Saul was their new king. While he was tall and ruggedly handsome, his heart was not faithful to God. And so the Israelites paid the price for placing someone else on the throne that was rightfully God's. David would enter the picture after Saul. David was a different story - he had a heart for God. He wasn't perfect at all. In fact, some of the things he did were downright dirty (Bathsheba and Uriah come to mind!). But God doesn't look at all of our outward appearances; he looks at our hearts! After David comes Solomon, David's son. Solomon is known for his wisdom. God told him to ask for anything he wanted and he chose to ask God for an understanding mind. God was impressed with that request! He built a beautiful temple for the Lord during his reign. Unfortunately, Solomon really loved the ladies and that became his undoing.

It wasn't long before outside nations began to come in and defeat the Israelites, dividing the kingdom and eventually sending them into exile for 70 years. They were a complete mess. They had put someone else on the throne and it didn't work for them at all (just like God had said!). God sent prophets to His children to warn them and to speak prophecies to them. The end of the Old Testament is filled with prophets who wrote long books (the major prophets) and some who wrote shorter books (the minor prophets). They all gave words from the Lord that went unheeded. The Israelites refused to follow God. Even though their earthly government had fallen apart, they refused to acknowledge God on the throne of their hearts. They continued to demand earthly kings, even though there was no fulfillment in that plan of action. It was a dark, dark time for God's chosen people.

And then for 400 years, it is SILENT. There is a gap between the Old Testament and the New Testament and it seems that God may've given up. But we know better! I can't wait for next week. The Messiah is coming!

The Blessing in the Wrestling

My heart hurts. My mind is tired. My spirit is crushed. My soul longs for relief. I have been wrestling with God.

This week our nation was rocked when the Supreme Court of the United States of America handed down a hugely controversial decision in support of gay marriage. I'm embarrassed at the way many Christians have handled themselves. Christians on both sides of the debate have said and done things that dishonor the name of Christ, fueling the fire of hatred and giving unbelievers even more reason to suspect that we are indeed hypocrites. And we are. I've come to the conclusion that it's not that we don't want to love our neighbors; it's that we genuinely don't know how. Practically speaking, we don't know what that kind of love looks like. It's time we find out before more damage is done.

The only way to find out how to truly love God with all of our hearts and to truly love our neighbors - yes, all of our sinful, homosexual, heterosexual, adulterous, lying, cheating, stealing, envious, slanderous, gossiping neighbors- is to wrestle with God. I've been studying Genesis 32:22-32, the story of Jacob wrestling with God through the night. Jacob had stolen Esau's birthright. Remember that story? When his mom, Rebekah, attached animal skins to Jacob's arms and Jacob posed as Esau and stole the blessing from his father, Isaac? Jacob was one messed up dude. He ran away, fearing for his life and along the way picked up not one, but two wives for himself. He worked seven years to marry his beloved Rachel, but then Laban gave him his daughter Leah instead. So he worked seven more years for Laban so that he could marry Rachel too. Jacob had a big fight with Laban and took off with all his wives and servants and children and animals. Then he heard Esau was around looking for him. Jacob had royally messed up, burned bridges and made a general mess of his life. And then one night out in the wilderness, in the middle of his mess, Jacob went off to be alone. And then Genesis 32:24 comes out of nowhere and says, "...and a man wrestled with him until the breaking of the day." This man was God himself.

We don't get to know many more details. What we do know is that "the man", who was not just any old man, but God, saw that Jacob was not to be defeated in this ultimate wrestling match. He touched his hip socket and from that point on, Jacob walked with a limp. Because when you wrestle with God, you don't walk away unscathed. God asked Jacob to stop wrestling with him and let him go, but Jacob said, "Not until you bless me" and in that moment, God changed Jacob's name to Israel because he said "you have striven with God and prevailed".

I don't know about you, but I've never physically wrestled with God. But boy, I sure can relate on a spiritual level. This week, I have been wrestling with God and I am begging him for his blessing. I have so many questions-

     How can some people interpret the Bible to say that homosexuality is not a sin?
     Can you really be a Christ-follower if sin doesn't grieve you? 
     Is homosexuality a worse sin than other sins?
     What does it look like to stand firm in the truth of God's Word while loving my neighbor?
     How can some Christians spew such hateful venom about this topic?
     What does it look like to love my homosexual friends like Jesus does?

   
These are just a few of the questions I have wrestled with God over this week. Sometimes we begin to wrestle with God, but in exhaustion or frustration, we give up. We don't prevail. We are defeated. But sometimes, when we stick with it, when we beg for his blessing, when we allow him to wreck who we used to be and create a new person in us, then he blesses us just like he did Jacob.

I still have lots of questions. I think that pleases Him. He could've spelled everything out for us in black and white. He could've told us all exactly what to do in this specific situation. Instead, he gave us some general guidelines in His Word and then He told us to Seek HIM. Not to seek answers to all of our questions or solutions to all of our problems. He told us in Matthew 6:33 to seek first His kingdom and then all of these things will be added to you.

He wrestles with us because He wants to give us His blessing in the wrestling.

Keep wrestling, my friend.

Five Important Things About Bible Reading

1. Just do it.
We want to make this more complicated than it is. Every day you wake up and you have a choice. Read the Bible. Don't read the Bible. There will always be a reason not to do it. ALWAYS. If you want God's Word to nourish your soul, make the choice to read the Bible. Remember in Matthew 4:4, Jesus quotes Deuteronomy when he says, "For it is written, man shall not live by bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God." God's Word is where the Christ-follower finds daily nourishment. It is not enough to read the Bible in church on Sunday and expect it to sustain you until the next week. God's word is meant to be consumed daily! So just do it!

2. Don't approach it the wrong way.
Far too often we approach God's Word with a "what's in it for me?" mentality. We approach Scripture with our burdens and our baggage and hope to find answers to the big questions in our minds. We ask ourselves, "What does this passage say to me?" because we don't remember that the Bible is God's Word to all mankind for all of eternity. We are only interested in ourselves. While it is important to apply God's Word to our own lives, we should first approach it with a lens that is focused on Him and not ourselves because when we grow to know him more, everything else becomes clearer.

3. Approach it the right way.
When we take the focus off of ourselves, we begin to see that God's Word is about so much more than ourselves. I can take a passage like John 3:16 and instead of thinking about how much God loves ME, I can focus on the attributes of HIM that are found in this verse. HE is full of love. HE gave his Son. HIS only son! Whoever believs in HIM will have eternal life. Do you see that it's absolutely, positively not about me? One of the reasons He gave us His Word is because He wants us to know Him more!

4. Use the power of the Holy Spirit.
The Bible is unlike any other book ever written because as a believer, when you open the Bible, you are aided by the Holy Spirit. No other book has that kind of power source. If there is a passage you don't understand, just ask Him to give you wisdom to understand it and He will do it! The Holy Spirit enlightens us to the truth of God's Word. The Word of God is living and active! Read it!

5. Don't build a relationship by proxy. I didn't fall in love with Chris through someone else. I fell in love with him when he pursued me and I responded. We spent time together, talked, prayed, laughed, cried, shared, and waited together. Our relationship would not be strong today if one of us had been mostly absent from our marriage. Unfortunately, many "Christians" seem to think that going to church is good enough. Listening to podcasts, completing Bible study books, attending church, listening to sermons, reading Christian books- all of these are good things, but none will develop a relationship with God the Father and Jesus Christ. When you read God's Word, do it with every intention of growing to know Him more.  He wants to be known by you!

Faith as our Foundation - Seamless Session Three

We've just spent two weeks (of a seven week study) studying Genesis. I figure old Angie Smith is gonna have to pick up the pace a wee bit if we're going to make it to Revelation in the next five weeks! I confess that I peeked ahead to this week's homework to see where we'd end up. I've had several people mention that they'd like to read the entire portion of Scripture that we're studying along with the book. So if you're one of those people who wants to read ALL of the Scripture, get ready, because this next week we're going to be studying Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, Joshua, Judges, Ruth and part of 1 Samuel. I hope you read fast, friend! Here's the great news about that: This study really whets your appetite for MORE of Scripture. You may not be able to keep up with the pace we're about to set with the book, but the fact that this overview study of God's Word is leaving you hungry for more is a very good thing. You don't have to read any certain amount of Scripture as we study, but I do challenge you to read the Scripture! If you're able to do this study without cracking open your Bible, you're missing the point! The point is this: We grow to love God more when we grow in our knowledge of Him through His Word. We're using Seamless as a guide through the Bible because it grows our knowledge of His Word and in turn, it grows our knowledge of and love for Him.

Since we're all fired up to read more of His Word, crack open your Bible to Hebrews 11. If you studied with us in class this week, you heard me read this aloud. Whether or not you heard it this week, I want you to take a few minutes and read it yourself. Yes, the whole thing. And if you have a copy of the Message Bible, I'd love for you to read it from there. It's really neat.

Here's Hebrews 11:1 from the Message. "The fundamental fact of existence is that this trust in God, this faith, is the firm foundation under everything that makes life worth living."

Over the past two weeks in Genesis, Angie has guided us through this firm foundation of faith. As we studied Adam and Eve and Noah and Abraham and Sarah and Isaac and Rebekah and Jacob and Rachel and Leah and Joseph and all the others in between, we've seen this amazing heritage of faith that we have as believers. Hebrews 11 gives us a great summary of what we've just covered and why it's so important.

Hebrews 11:13-16 says, "Each one of these people of faith died not yet having in hand what was promised, but still believing. How did they do it? They saw it way off in the distance, waved their greeting, and accepted the fact that they were transients in this world. People who live this way make it plain that they are looking for their true home. If they were homesick for the old country, they could have gone back any time they wanted. But they were after a far better country than that - heaven country. You can see why God is so proud of them, and has a City waiting for them."

When God told Abraham to go, Moses could've said no. When God told Noah to build, Noah could've said no. When God told Sarah to wait and trust, Sarah could've taken matters into her own hands and used her maidservant to have a baby for her. And actually, that's exactly what she did! Can you imagine how the story would've read if she had said "yes, Lord!" and then sat back and trusted and waited? Each of these people had a choice - follow or don't follow, obey or disobey. Some of them chose wisely and some didn't. Some reaped the benefits of obedience and others reaped the consequences of disobedience.

We're in the same boat with them. You're allowed to turn back to your old self. God will never make you come to Him. He will never force you into a relationship with him or demand that you obey. He always gives you a choice. You can look down that long hall at your old self, fearing the future, dwelling in the past. Or you can fix your eyes on Him, the one who is faithful and true, and your faith will open up a beautiful life of walking with the Lord.

Let me encourage you with this - If you haven't been able to come to Bible study on Wednesday mornings at 9 am, do your best to get there next week. We've had such precious times of worship, fellowship and Bible study together (not to mention Melissa's chocolate chip banana muffins!). I want you to put your excuses away. We've all got them. It doesn't matter if you've never been before. It doesn't matter if you came once and then haven't come back. It doesn't matter if you don't know anyone or you're in your grungy clothes or you haven't done your homework. We need you to come and walk this road through Scripture with us. Please come. And if you truly can't come because you're too far away or stuck at home, please feel free to comment here or send me an email with comments and questions. My email address is amberirving00@gmail.com. I'd love to hear from you.

This week we're studying Week Three. It starts on page 60. If you'd like to download Angie's video from today's session (Session Three), you can do that here for $2.99. Thanks for coming, studying and reading with us.

A Passionate Pursuit - Seamless Session Two

I have so enjoyed studying Genesis along with you over the past few weeks. I'll admit I'm wondering how Angie is going to take us all the way through Scripture when so far we're only about 11 chapters into Genesis (Plus a bit of Job too!). I love digging deep into Scripture like we did with 1 & 2 Timothy, Titus and Philemon in the spring. But catching an overview of the whole Bible is a pretty neat thing too! I love how I'm already seeing how there's a beautiful thread woven through God's Word!

Last week I told you about The Jesus Storybook Bible. This week in class, I read the chapter called "The Terrible Lie" aloud. It's the story of Adam and Eve and the trouble they got into. We studied it this week in our homework and it's probably a story you've heard a million times. But take seven minutes and watch this: The Terrible Lie. 

Don't you just love how even in the very beginning, it all points to JESUS?

In Genesis 3:9, after Adam and Eve had tasted the forbidden fruit, God asks his children, “Where are you?” Angie Smith points us to the idea that God wasn’t asking them to identify their physical location, but to identify the condition of their hearts. I want to propose another theory.

God’s first question, “Where are you?” is so much more than three little words. The entirety of  Scripture rests on God’s passionate pursuit of his children, even when they are entrenched in sin. He pursued Adam and Eve after that first bite of forbidden fruit and He pursues us in the middle of our mess. Before they had even heard of the concept of repentance, God pursued them. Before they knew their need for a Savior, God pursued them. Centuries before God would offer Jesus as the propitiation for the sins of mankind, God would pursue Adam and Eve in their sin. They didn’t have to be perfect. They didn’t have to clean up first. They were naked and afraid and God wanted to know, “Where are you?” It wasn’t that He didn’t know where they were. He wanted to show us that he wanted them back.

Another important point to note is the importance of confession in our relationship with God. God, being all-knowing, knew exactly where Adam and Eve had been and exactly what they had done. He wasn't asking them because he needed them to tell him. He asked them because they needed to confess their sin. In the same way that a mother asks her child, "What have you done?" when she sees chocolate cake all over his face, God asked his children, "What have you done?" when their sin was all over their faces. 1 John 1:9 says "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." God doesn't need us to tell him anything he doesn't know - He knows it all! Confession of sin is necessary to restore our relationship with him. Sin gets in the way. Confession clears it up. We confess our sins to Him so that we can walk in right relationship with Him. You see? God really wanted them back!

God’s passionate pursuit of his children is a beautiful theme that we will see run throughout Scripture. He chases us even when we have no intention of being caught. He chases us when we are enjoying our sin. He chases us when we don’t even know of our need for a Savior. He chases us when we have turned our hearts toward idols. He passionately pursues us, even to the point of coming to earth as a man, as God in the flesh, to live and die as a ransom for us all. Oh, how he loves us. How he pursues us! How he longs for us to turn to him!

Adam and Eve didn’t have that chance because God had not yet put into place a system of sacrifice as payment for sin. But soon we will see that everything is being set into motion to pave the way for Jesus to offer himself as the ultimate sacrifice. It all points to HIM.

This week we'll continue our study through the Patriarchs, Abraham's clan, Joseph and more! It's gonna be great! Thanks so much for studying with us!

If you'd like to purchase the video we watched over session 2 by Angie Smith, you can do that here. Or you can just continue to read the blog and do the homework in the book. If you don't have a book, we have plenty available for pick-up in the church office. Books are a suggested donation of $15.