Getting to know God: Up Close…

Book of Genesis (Celebrating Independence Day)

What makes a nation great? Her connection to the God that made her. Psalm 33:12 & Prov. 14:34

• Understanding the privileges & responsibilities of God SHARING His image with humanity

• Understanding the privileges & responsibilities of Adam SHARING his rib with Eve

• Understanding the privileges & responsibilities of all Christians being the Bride of Christ

• Bride of Christ - Jesus is the Groom!

• Body of Christ - Jesus is the Head!

• Psalm 11:3, 3 Foundations: A Faith in God; A Family of God; A Nation under God

I. The Trees -

1. Pleasing to the eyes

2. Good for food -

II. The Tree of Life -

1. Brings fulfillment - Solomon uses this parallel in the Book of Prov 3:18; 11:30; 13:12; 15:4

2. Maintains our status - 3:24

• State of innocence -

• State of fallenness -

• State of grace - In Adam or In Christ?

• Romans 5; I Corinthians 15

III. The Tree of the knowledge of

good & evil - “to know” =

experience. 4:1?

1. Mankind knew good - saw good, experienced nothing but that which is good.

2. Man didn’t know evil - never saw evil, never experienced anything evil. This was a test!

3. Knowledge - carnal knowledge

• Many today choosing Singleness over Marriage - fear of being hurt yet single people often experience fear of being alone. Both are hard. Both can hurt. One has the potential to share life. The other doesn’t. Ecclesiastes 4:11-12

• “When Sinners say “I do”

• “What did you expect?”

• Does the order of creation matter? Yes. Adam is held responsible for the fall! I Timothy 2:13

• What does leave and cleave mean? Parents are not absent. They are now secondary. I Timothy 5

• What does leave and cleave not mean?

“A daughter is a daughter for the rest of her life, but a son is only a son until he finds himself a wife”