Order, Words, & Voices
09.08.24, ‘Present’, Genesis 2:4 – 3:8
Order
Pre Worship Music – Spotify – Open and Close
Lighting of Christ Candle/Prayer Rick
Songs 10,000 Reasons (Bless The Lord) Lynn/Linda/Pato
Graves Into Gardens
Passage/Prayer Genesis 3:1-8 Renee
Song In Christ Alone Lynn/Linda/Pato
Message Present Rick
Music The Heart Of Worship Billy/Linda/{Pato)
Community Rick
Closing Peace Rick
Closing Music Cornerstone Billy/Linda/Pato
Post Worship Music – Spotify – Open and Close
- Please record message on camera memory card.
- On the message Video Leave Room above Speaker’s head for the instagram post.
- Screen Share for entire message
Lighting of Christ Candle (Slides) Rick (Lynn softly playing)
[Slide] Prayer: May the the light of this Candle remind us of our calling to bring light into a world of darkness and hope into a world of despair. This morning and all days to come, may the light be our reminder of true hope.
We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen.
Music (Slides) Lynn/Linda/Pato
10,000 Reasons CCLI Song # 6016351
Chorus
Bless the Lord O my soul O my soul
Worship His holy name
Sing like never before O my soul
I’ll worship Your holy name
Verse 1
The sun comes up it’s a new day dawning
It’s time to sing Your song again
Whatever may pass and whatever lies before me
Let me be singing when the evening comes
Verse 2
You’re rich in love and You’re slow to anger
Your name is great and Your heart is kind
For all Your goodness I will keep on singing
Ten thousand reasons for my heart to find
Verse 3
And on that day when my strength is failing
The end draws near and my time has come
Still my soul will sing Your praise unending
Ten thousand years and then forevermore
Tag
Worship Your holy name
Lord I’ll worship Your holy name
Ending
Sing like never before O my soul
I’ll worship Your holy name
Worship Your holy name
Worship Your holy name
Graves Into Gardens CCLI Song # 7138219
Verse 1
I searched the world but it couldn’t fill me
Man’s empty praise and treasures that fade
Are never enough
Then You came along and put me back together
And every desire is now satisfied here in Your love
Chorus
Oh there’s nothing better than You
There’s nothing better than You
Lord there’s nothing
Nothing is better than You
Verse 2
I’m not afraid to show You my weakness
My failures and flaws
Lord You’ve seen them all
And You still call me friend
‘Cause the God of the mountain
Is the God of the valley
There’s not a place
Your mercy and grace won’t find me again
Bridge
You turn mourning to dancing
You give beauty for ashes
You turn shame into glory
You’re the only one who can
Bridge
You turn graves into gardens
You turn bones into armies
You turn seas into highways
You’re the only one who can
Passage (Slides) Genesis 3:1-8 Renee
Now the serpent was more cunning than any animal of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, “Has God really said, ‘You shall not eat from any tree of the garden’?”
The woman said to the serpent, “From the fruit of the trees of the garden we may eat; but from the fruit of the tree which is in the middle of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat from it or touch it, or you will die.’”
The serpent said to the woman, “You certainly will not die! For God knows that on the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will become like God, knowing good and evil.”
When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was desirable to make one wise, she took some of its fruit and ate; and she also gave some to her husband with her, and he ate.
Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves waist coverings.
Now they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden.
Join me in the prayer of Jesus,
Our Father who art in Heaven hallowed be your name.
Thy Kingdom come, thy will be done, on Earth as it is in Heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
Forgive us our trespasses, while we forgive those who trespass against us.
And, lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil.
For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory forever. Amen
Music (Slides) Lynn /Linda/Pato
In Christ Alone CCLI Song # 3350395
Verse 1
In Christ alone my hope is found
He is my light my strength my song
This Cornerstone this solid Ground
Firm through the fiercest drought and storm
What heights of love what depths of peace
When fears are stilled when strivings cease
My Comforter my All in All
Here in the love of Christ I stand
Verse 2
In Christ alone who took on flesh
Fullness of God in helpless babe
This gift of love and righteousness
Scorned by the ones He came to save
Till on that cross as Jesus died
The wrath of God was satisfied
For every sin on Him was laid
Here in the death of Christ I live
Verse 3
There in the ground His body lay
Light of the world by darkness slain
Then bursting forth in glorious Day
Up from the grave He rose again
And as He stands in victory
Sin’s curse has lost its grip on me
For I am His and He is mine
Bought with the precious blood of Christ
Verse 4
No guilt in life no fear in death
This is the power of Christ in me
From life’s first cry to final breath
Jesus commands my destiny
No power of hell no scheme of man
Can ever pluck me from His hand
Till He returns or calls me home
Here in the power of Christ I’ll stand
Impact Celebration/Prayer Rick (Slides)
[Slide] Fellowship Southwest, our impact partner on the Mexico border, has received a 1.25 Million to expand its existing immigration ministries across the next five years. Each year for the next five years, Fellowship Southwest (FSW) will be recruiting churches along the U.S.-Mexico border to develop a well-connected network of migrant ministries from the west coast to the Gulf of Mexico. Additionally, each year ,FSW will onboard a new group of churches not located along the U.S.-Mexico border who commit to compassion and justice ministries around immigration. The churches will receive guidance from a program director as they design their projects as well as seed grants to support implementation. Leaders from each church will participate in learning cohorts to strengthen
their programs, share resources, and develop worship liturgies based on learnings from their experiences. By establishing relationships, learning the stories of migrants, and becoming more alert and aware to the crisis of human migration they will embody the value of Christian hospitality and solidarity.”
Immigration is a factor that shapes all of our communities for the better, not just those along the border, but it does ask more of our border churches. Currently, FSW works alongside churches and ministries along the border as they feed, shelter and support migrants who seek asylum.
[Slide] We have a coffee & learn event here tomorrow, September 9th from 9:30am to 11:00am featuring CBF field personnel Elket Rodríguez, Global Migration Advocate. This will be a great opportunity to learn about border ministry happening through Elket Rodriguez. Let Rick know this morning if you will be in attendance tomorrow.
[Slide] Prayer For FSW
Message Rick (Slides)
“For truly I say to you that many prophets and righteous people longed to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it.” (Matthew 13:17)
New Series, My eyes have seen. Jesus said these words to his disciples seeking understanding but, like other seekers, finding it difficult and exhausting – especially if it is taking too long – confused by some of Jesus parables. And, on top of their confusion was the confusion of those who chose to not try to understand. History had, and has, and does, show that when we humans, when faced with living hopefully yet in the unknown, we often flock to those who claim to have all te answers to our confusion. We allow those claiming a false calling to influence and guide us.
30-40 years after Jesus crucifixion, the Apostle Paul spoke to the Jewish leaders in Rome (he was under house arrest) telling them, with his passion for his own Jewish brothers and sisters, about Jesus/Messiah. This was near the end of Paul’s ministry and life and he was beyond passionate that his fellow Jews would understand and at least consider. Some heard and accepted truth, others refused.
To those who turned away, Paul echoed the words of the prophet Isaiah who was also speaking to a people who gave credence to false prophets in stead of searching for truth,
“For your hearts have grown dull, and your ears are hard of hearing, and you have shut your eyes; otherwise you might actually see with your eyes and might just hear with your ears, and, you might truly understand with you all heart and turn—and then”, God says, “I would heal you.’
Acts 27:28
The danger in refusing to listen and hear, to look and see, is that we then fall back to/on false prophets, accepting untrue truth. However, for the disciples who had Jesus in the flesh explaining the meaning, and for us with the guidance of the Holy Spirit we have the opportunity to understand and find truth as long as we choose to look and to listen.
Illustration of Hearing Aid. Sometimes we don’t want to see or hear because of whatever burden accompanies seeing and hearing.
So, we start at the beginning with a yearning to see and hear Truth and in doing so, better know and understand God…
In the beginning…God. God predates all, God creates all, God is pleased with all, God is present for all, God is present through all, God is all that is needed, and God is present for all who have need.
God places Adam in the garden with the warning to not eat of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. When the serpent tempts Eve to go ahead and eat of the tree, her response is not only that they are not to eat of the tree, as God has told Adam, but she voices the added warning to not even touch the tree. The question that follows is why is there this added prohibition of touching the tree? We assume that it was Adam that told Eve of this restriction, which leaves us with a bucket of possibilities.
- Adam, and/or Even, had already come to an understanding of what it is, and what it feels like to be human – the propensity, when you have free will, to push the limits, to put yourself into a condition of vulnerability, the probability to do exactly what you know you should not do. Our human propensity in the face of this concern is to take away choice, to make the restriction not just a removal of the option. So, now the command becomes, ‘don’t get anywhere near the tree.’ Some Jewish tradition has Adam and Eve, or just one of them, actually building a fence around the are of the tree. This is what humans will do later when God gives them the Law that is to serve as their guide to proper relations with creation, other humans as well as self, and with God – they added to the law, giving limits of what was rest and what was not ‘rest’ on the Sabbath…etc.
- It is also possible that Adam added this because he assumed superiority over the woman and felt that she was unable to obey God’s command and would surely grab and eat a fruit from the tree.
- Or, another possibility is that Eve felt superior over the serpent and assumed was too weak to understand God’s set boundaries.
- Or, it is in this one simple addition to God’s instruction, we see the state of Adam and Eve. A state of immaturity, a state of imagination, exaggeration, a state of childhood innocence, a state of dependence as is the state of any child.
What if Adam and Eve’s choice was not really about disobedience or obedience? A choice to follow and trust God’s wisdom as to what we do and what we do not do? What if the actual choice is, and was between remaining in fully trusting fully following God, a state of allowing God to tell us what to do and not do? A state of learning that takes advantage of the different education moments to learn and understand the why – the reason why we should say ‘no’ of the choices as they come along. What if that is what the Garden was meant to be, a safe place where we are kept safe in making those choices, all the while God grows us as fully faithful followers, let.
What if learning to differentiate the difference between good and evil, was about understanding the reason things were evil and therefore we should stay away from those things.
Like a parent teaching a child touch a hot iron when they are first faced with the temptation instead of when they have never encountered a hot iron?
What if the choice, that was so blatantly given was not so much about disobedience, but, instead a choice to depend on God as a child? What if the choice was to stay in the garden as innocents or to live outside of the garden under a pile of ‘do not touch the iron’?
What if, instead of the dialogue with the serpent, Eve had instead asked the question of God, ‘Will I surely die?’ What if she had told God of her dilemma she found herself in with the serpent in order to seek God’s guidance, to gain God’s wisdom, instead of accepting and acting on the words of this false prophet, this serpent? What if this had been permitted to be a learning moment where God was could allow her to progressively understand what is evil one evil at a time.
OT Scholar Hermann Gunkel describes our natural progressive human growth as being “from a childlikeness toward maturity in which we see as the human eyes are gradually opened. Instead, in verse 3:7, we see these formerly unknowing children instantaneously become adult and, by choice, are accountable to that knowledge.”
Hermann Gunkel, Genesis, trans. Mark E. Biddle (Macon, GA: Mercer University Press, 1997), 17.
Now they knew good from bad, now they were responsible for those choices.
Coloin Cornell says, ‘Genesis 2 and 3 provide the tragic narrative catalyst for all the events that follow: The calling of Abraham to an unidentified land, the faithful then unfaithful character of the Israelites, the necessity of the arrival and sacrifice of God’s Son – all these roll out the dire effects of the first humans’ choice. Interpreting chapters 2-3 as Creation and Fall means explaining default human experiences: mutual fear between humans and animals, difficulty in childbearing, alienation between sexes, and demanding agricultural labor.
(Collin Cornell, Fuller Theological Seminary)
This is the curse that God spoke of, this was the unneeded and unintended impact of the choice. As children in the garden there was not the intimacy of procreation, there was not birth. Now, that they are very unprepared humans, not ready for adulthood, they were not ready for the experience of childbirth, the coming pain of their own abuse of creation, the inability to live with others, and to cooperatively provide for each other. They had chosen emancipation from God yet they were not ready to be on their own.
In the garden there was only blessing, outside of the garden, as we make ourself our own God, in the state of the natural consequences of our choice, there we fail to see blessing, we assume that blessing is not a constant. In this state, it is the of recognition of blessing that is not a constant.
Genesis ends with the ‘Joseph Story’, a description of how our growth to adulthood was meant to take place. “The Joseph story concludes the book of Genesis, with the narration of Joseph’s maturation from a tactless 17-year-old boy to a powerful and self-disciplined man. He refuses a sexual liaison and, when he could have retaliated against his brothers, he acts to save their lives and the lives of all in Egypt. To his brothers he says, “Do not be distressed because you sold me here, for God sent me before you to preserve life”. Joseph’s example instructs us to choose life. He also shows a discerning trust in God’s purpose, even in and through hardship, which stands in counterpoint to the suspicion of the snake in Genesis 3.
(Collin Cornell, Fuller Theological Seminary)
Closing Point – God was present, in garden, in exit from garden (skin protection), God was present in the death of Able, God was present in the birth of Seth. God is present.
Even though the choice belonged to humans, God did not abandon humans when we chose to walk away from God.
Music (Slides) Lynn /Linda/Pato
The Heart Of Worship CCLI Song # 2296522
Verse 1
When the music fades all is stripped away
And I simply come
Longing just to bring something that’s of worth
That will bless Your heart
Pre-Chorus
I’ll bring You more than a song
For a song in itself is not what You have required
You search much deeper within
Through the way things appear
You’re looking into my heart
Chorus
I’m coming back to the heart of worship
And it’s all about You all about You Jesus
I’m sorry Lord for the thing I’ve made it
When it’s all about You all about You Jesus
Verse 2
King of endless worth no one could express
How much You deserve
Though I’m weak and poor all I have is Yours
Ev’ry single breath
Community (Slides) Rick
- Fall-Advent Sermon Series, ‘My Eyes Have Seen”, – Next Sunday- Impossible X2, 09.15.24 Genesis 15:1-6; Abraham,
- CC Crop Walk, Sunday, October 20, 2:00pm, Ruby Grant Park (register for team Grace Fellowship on Web page)
- Instagram, GF link on website (follow @gracefellowshipnorman)
Closing Peace (Slides) Rick
Leader: May the peace of the Lord go with you.
Response: And also with you.
Closing Music Lynn/Linda/Pato
Cornerstone CCLI Song # 6158927
Verse 1
My hope is built on nothing less
Than Jesus’ blood and righteousness
I dare not trust the sweetest frame
But wholly trust in Jesus’ Name
Chorus
Christ alone cornerstone
Weak made strong in the Saviour’s love
Through the storm He is Lord
Lord of all
Verse 2
When darkness seems to hide His face
I rest on His unchanging grace
In every high and stormy gale
My anchor holds within the veil
My anchor holds within the veil
Chorus
Christ alone cornerstone
Weak made strong in the Saviour’s love
Through the storm He is Lord
Lord of all
Order, Words, & Voices 