MONDAY, August 18th, 2008

Fay is on the Way!

I know that our town has not had a good history with Hurricanes, but is anybody excited about this storm? I mean if it were a catagory 2 or more, there is definitely reason to be concerned, but I must say: It is so exciting to have such a change in routine, and it is so nice to see the world stop for a few days while everyone comes together to help each other through the storm. And for those of you going back to school today or tomorrow... there is a great chance that you will already get a day out of school!!!

Have a great first day of School!!

One Important Note:
Don't forget, yesterday in Sunday School, I announced that if a devotion is done late (as in a day or more) then you will only get half the credit for it in regards to the reward trip. So a late day will count as .5; it will take to late days to equal 1 regular day. The reason for this is simply that it does not seem completely fair to reward someone who makes up all of the devotions a week late, or every three or four days. Thanks! Stay faithful!

A Few Thoughts From Yesterday:
Rachel: I loved the way that you applied yesterdays Sunday School lesson to the devotion!!
Michael: I think they knew they were naked, there was just nothing wierd or wrong about it. That is what sin does, it takes something that is innocent and makes in shameful!
Gaby: That was funny "Platypus" Ha!
Amy and Tricia: We missed you both yesterday!
Kacey: I think it is funny that you said "God knocked Adam out"
Marvin: Wow! So are you calling women animals?
Kervin: I like your: "Tree of Stupidity"
Mallory: I LOVE your enthusiasm!!!!! I am so glad you are on here faithfully!!!
Josh L: I love your idea about visiting the Garden of Eden... we should go on a trip there next year! :)

Genesis 3

1 Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, "Did God actually say, 'You shall not eat of any tree in the garden'?"
2 And the woman said to the serpent, "We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden,
3 but God said, 'You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.'"
4 But the serpent said to the woman, "You will not surely die.
5 For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil."
6 So 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 to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate.
7 Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths.
8 And 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.
9 But the LORD God called to the man and said to him, "Where are you?"
10 And he said, "I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked, and I hid myself."
11 He said, "Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten of the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?"
12 The man said, "The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit of the tree, and I ate."
13 Then the LORD God said to the woman, "What is this that you have done?" The woman said, "The serpent deceived me, and I ate."
14 The LORD God said to the serpent, "Because you have done this, cursed are you above all livestock and above all beasts of the field; on your belly you shall go, and dust you shall eat all the days of your life.
15 I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel."
16 To the woman he said, "I will surely multiply your pain in childbearing; in pain you shall bring forth children. Your desire shall be for your husband, and he shall rule over you."
17 And to Adam he said, "Because you have listened to the voice of your wife and have eaten of the tree of which I commanded you, 'You shall not eat of it,' cursed is the ground because of you; in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life;
18 thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you; and you shall eat the plants of the field.
19 By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread,till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return."
20 The man called his wife’s name Eve, because she was the mother of all living.
21 And the LORD God made for Adam and for his wife garments of skins and clothed them.

22 Then the LORD God said, "Behold, the man has become like one of us in knowing good and evil. Now, lest he reach out his hand and take also of the tree of life and eat, and live forever—"
23 therefore the LORD God sent him out from the garden of Eden to work the ground from which he was taken.
24 He drove out the man, and at the east of the garden of Eden he placed the cherubim and a flaming sword that turned every way to guard the way to the tree of life.


Wow! There is so much information in this passage! I cannot believe that we are going to cover the entire chapter in one day!!! Bear with me! This is good, take a few minutes and absorb it!

Verses 1-6 explain how the Serpent (Satan), tempted and deceived Eve and Adam. First Satan Questioned what God said. That is the same way the satan works today... Satan knows that if He can get us to question God and His word, then we have lost the sight of the truth.

How do we question God? We question God whenever we think that something happens in our life that is "Horrible". The truth is: God's word tells us that "all things work together for Good to them that love God"... so the question is... will believe God? or will we believe the lies of the devil?

Every sin that we commit is because we fail to believe the truth of Gods word... for example: If we listen to Sinful music, it is because we do not believe in God's Holiness... (seperation from sin) if we are involves in immoral physical contact, it is because we don't believe what God says about purity! Satan wants to deceive us about the truth of Gods word... that is why it is SO IMPORTANT TO READ GOD'S WORD DAILY!!

Next we see the consequences of their sin! What do they do? They run from the presence of God... Like I have never seen that before!! It is unbelieveable how teenagers (and everyone for that matter) run from the truth whenever they are straying from God. I know whenever I was rebelling from God, I could not stand my youth pastor... Now I, the youth pastor, have teenagers that cannot stand me sometimes, because they know that I want them to live Godly. It is ironic. When we are running from God, we also run from anything that reminds us of Him... like our church, our devotions, our pastors, etc...

Adam does not take ownership of His sin, but instead, He blames his sin on Eve and on God... Do you take ownership of your mistakes??

I think verse 14 is so interesting: A snake use to have legs, but whenever Satan used it to deceive Adam and Eve, God cursed it, and said that the snake would travel on its belly for the rest of time... That is why snakes "slither around" instead of just walking.

Verse 15 gives the first prophecy of Christs crucifixion... here is what it says: Christ will "bruise" the head of Satan, and Satan will "bruise" the Heal of Christ... I like to think of it like this... Remember the movie: "The passion of Christ": While Christ is in the Garden a snake comes by Him and He stomps on its head... Christ is victorious over Satan!!!!!!!!!!!!

More Consequences of sin are next: Women will suffer in child birth, because of their sin, and men will have to work, and sweat, and suffer just to bring home food for their family.

And finally another horrible consequence: Adam and Eve are kicked out of the garden of Eden. Could you imagine going from the perfect garden into the world??? That would be SO SCARY!!!! I know that Adam and Eve lived the rest of their life regretting that decision in the garden. The consequences of Sin are deadly!!!!!

Stay away from Sin!!!

7315