So for the last several weeks, we've been exploring a story that you all know. And so in some ways you could say, well, this is a waste of time. We're diving into something that we already know. It's the story of Adam and Eve, the Garden of Eden, the forbidden fruit, that whole thing, you know, the serpent, the temptation. Even if you're someone who has never been in a church in your life, you probably know this story. It's one of the most basic stories we have. It's actually one of the oldest stories in human history. Like, forget about just our faith in human history. This is one of the oldest stories. And it's amazing. I said this last week, but I was talking with a friend a few days ago and reflecting on this. It's amazing how this story is still so completely relevant to our lives today. And it shouldn't be. Like we can acknowledge this. A, it's it's old. If you found a medical journal from a hundred years ago, you should disregard most of what it says.

Right?

You'd be like, I found this really old medical journal at a yard sale, and I'm doing everything it tells me to do. It'd be like, no, don't do that. Like, we've learned a lot in the last century. You know, if you found, like, maybe a psychological journal that was about how the mind works and it was a certain, at a certain age, people would say, no, it's all outdated. Like, we that's all outdated, don't listen to that. That's the way that things typically work. Information tends to become less relevant as time goes on. Truth doesn't, though. And it's just odd that this ancient story of two naked people living in a garden, hanging out with God, and there's a talking serpent and some really cool trees, should that shouldn't really speak to us today. That shouldn't speak to our lives, and yet, as we explore it, as we kind of put the magnifying glass on it, we find that this story so perfectly describes the human dilemma. It so perfectly describes the things that we deal with, even all of us today in our world, this many years later, it understands us. And that's the that's the amazing power of Scripture. God knows us, He knows our hearts, He knows how we're wired, and He has this ability through His Word to speak into our lives in a way that it doesn't matter how old the story is, it's fresh and it's new. And so we've been exploring this story that we already know. Just asking God to show us some takeaways, give us something that we need. And here's where we're at. If you're just joining us, um, God's made people, he put them in this garden, he gave them total freedom, except for this one one guideline. He's like, hey, there's this one tree, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Don't eat from that tree. If you eat it, it won't go well for you. In fact, you'll die. And things seem to be going great until this serpent comes along and just kind of undoes what God has said. The serpent's crafty and clever and says, Hey, did God actually say you're not allowed to eat any of this stuff? He kind of starts there and he gets a conversation going. You find when you find yourself having a conversation with a serpent, you know you've already made a mistake. Like, you're this is when, if that ever happens to you, just like, why am I talking to you? I should, this is bad. This can only end poorly. So, you know, this whole dynamic plays out. We looked at it a little bit last week. We'll examine it a little bit more today. But eventually, they're tricked, Adam and Eve are tricked into eating from the very tree that God told them not to eat from. And they thought that in doing that, they would become more like God, that that would be the result, but the immediate result is actually that they feel complete shame and brokenness and find themselves actually hiding from God. And now we get to the part in the story where God shows up. And I, this is just sort of my personal way of looking at it. For me, it's like God goes into like full dad mode. A few nights ago at dinner, my oldest did an impression of me at the dinner table. And it's the first time I've ever experienced that. And it was awesome. And and what what my son said, he said, you know dad is about to like lecture you or ask you a random series of questions, because that's what I tend to do. I don't know if anyone else is like that, but like I start just rapid-fire questions, like, what are you doing? Why are you doing that? What are you thinking? What's wrong with you? You know, like those kind of questions? Um, he's like, You know, dad's about to do that when he raises his eyebrows and looks at you. And so I'll kind of do this. He said, dad, that'll look up and go. And everyone at the table laughed. I wanted to be offended, but it was just too good. Right? And what do they say? Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, so you know, there you go. But I have been super self-conscious of my eyebrows all week long. Like it's true. So there are a few times this week where like I did need to like, you know, coach one of my kids on something, but I tried really hard to like not ra it's hard not to raise your eyebrows when you're mad. But I do this thing where when when when I catch my kids doing something, when something's wrong, I I either go into a long spiel, as you can imagine, or I just start asking questions. And so, I'll give you an example. A few days ago, I'm at home alone with my youngest, Eli, my wild child, and I love him so much. But this boy is just, pray for us, guys, he is so interesting, he's interesting. So here's what happened. Here's the scenario. I walk in a room and it's really quiet, and I notice on the floor a bunch of pencils. And just a bunch of them, but no erasers on the pencils. And then I look at Eli and he has a pencil in his mouth. And so I raise my eyebrows, obviously. And I look at him, and he looks at me and just kind of stops. And I'm like, what's going on? That was question one. What's going on? Why is there a pencil in your mouth? Question two, are you eating the erasers off of our pencils? And when I asked the third question, this is no joke, he he said no. He didn't say it, he had a pencil in his mouth. He went like this, and then he obviously swallowed. He went. And then stuck his tongue out, like, see? And I'm like. And then the fourth question was, what is wrong with you? That was my fourth question. Right? Who raised you? That's the that's the question I should ask. Is this me? You know, I go into dad mode and I just have rapid fire questions. And in the story we're we're looking at right now, this first story of Adam and Eve in the garden, God shows up and we see dad mode sort of come out. And he asked, he asks people four questions. He asked them, as soon as he shows up, they're hiding. And we get these four rapid-fire questions from God. The first one I think is so interesting, Genesis chapter 3, verse 9. Then the Lord God called to the man, Where are you? That's the first question that we have recorded, God asking a person, Where are you? And I love it. Because number one, like he knows. But so many of us were brought up to believe that if you want to have a relationship with God, you better find him. You better seek him out. And if you work hard enough and you do all the right things, maybe you'll find God. And maybe it wasn't said in those terms, those explicit words, but that is the sort of general idea that religion, no matter what name it goes by, gives us. If you want to know God, you do the seeking, and maybe you'll find. And look, it's good to seek God. If you're seeking God, good for you. Jesus makes us promises. He said, Hey, you're blessed when you seek, because if you seek, you'll find. But it's important for us to know that even if we are someone who would say, Yeah, I'm seeking after God, he's seeking you more. And he sought you first. That our God looks for us, he searches for us, he seeks us out. And Jesus is the perfect ultimate illustration of that, right? It's God coming to us to be with us. So if you ever feel far from God, number one, you're not. But know that God is not hiding from you. In fact, many times we find that maybe we're hiding from him or avoiding him. He wants to know you, and he's seeking you. Always. That's how much he loves you. So I love that that's the first question God asks. Now, questions three and four are very dad mode questions. Question two is the one we're gonna focus on the most today. So I didn't skip it, I was just skip it ahead and we're gonna come back. Question three and four, uh, he says, Did you do what I told you not to do? That's the third question. Did you eat from the tree I told you not to eat from? And I wonder if they stuck their tongues out to prove, like they swallowed. No? And then question number four is, What have you done? And it's like God realizing, now I have to, now I've got to do some things that I maybe never wanted to do. He's in dad mode. But question two is the one I want us to put the magnifying glass on today. This is one of my favorite questions that God asks all throughout scripture. And it's really cool, by the way, just to study the questions that God asks. Because when someone who knows everything asks a question, you should pay attention to it. They're not seeking information. Right? God knows the answer. He's trying to help us understand something. And so let's look at the second question. We'll go back to Genesis 3, 9 again, because it comes right after. Then the Lord God called to the man, Where are you? He replied, I heard you walking in the garden, so I hid. I was afraid because I was naked. Translation, I was worried you would reject me in my current state. I was worried that you would be ashamed of me in this way, in this manner that I am. And God asks, Who told you that you were naked? Who said that? Who told you that? It's like God's way of saying, says who? That's a vital question for us as people to ask on a regular basis. When it comes to the thoughts in our head, or the things that we hear, the things that are being spoken over us and to us, says who? Who said that? Who told me that? Whose voice is that? The voice that you listen to matters. The voices you pay attention to, they matter greatly because whoever you listen to the most will probably be the person you become the most like. Right? Whoever you listen to the most, you have a high likelihood of becoming like that person. And if we want to be people who live the life that we were created to live, God has to be the one that we listen to the most. Now, sometimes phrases like the life we were created to live, I can say those phrases and they're very vague. They just sort of have this like vague, positive sort of like idea that, oh, it's a good life or whatever. But what does that actually mean? What is the life you were created to live? Genesis 1 actually, I think, gives us a lot of that answer. Then God said, Let us make human beings in our image to be like us. You were created to be like God, to be godly. That doesn't mean you have all of God's power, but there's so many things about us that make us unique as people. You know, like we're creative. We can we can come up with things, we can invent things, we can have ideas that no one's ever thought of before. And there's nothing else like that in the world. Like, I love animals, animals are great, but they they do everything out of instinct. We actually have some beavers that live uh close to our church, you know, and we have a little creek back there, and beavers build dams, but there's never been a beaver that's like, you know, I have a new way to build a dam. I went to Lowe's and I found these other materials that, like, this is so much better. No, beavers just build dam. It's just what they do. Right? We we can think of things, we can come up with things. God puts something inside of us, his spirit inside of us, that makes us like him, creative, because he's the creator. So part of your purpose in life is to be like God. And then it says, they will reign over the fish in the sea, the birds in the sky, the livestock, all the wild animals on the earth, and small animals that scurry along the ground. So God created human beings in his own image. In the image of God, he created them, male and female, he created them, and then God blessed them and said, Be fruitful and multiply, fill the earth and govern it, reign over the fish in the sea, the birds in the sky, and all the animals that scurry along the ground. God created us to, it says reign. We might say he created us to manage life. You are meant to manage life. What does that mean? It means that life is not simply supposed to happen to you, although sometimes it does, but that we actually have the capacity, because of how God has made us, to manage life. Now, some of you, it's very obvious what you have to manage, right? Some of you manage entire companies. Some of you manage divisions and teams within the places that you work. Some of us manage a home. Some of us, a lot of us, have have children, and we manage our children. We're trying to raise them in such a way that they become healthy adults that don't eat erasers ever for any reason. Right? You know, you're you're many of you are really young and you're in school and you're managing your education. You're managing your future right now by investing in things that will help you become the best version of yourself that you can be. Some of you have a talent, and you have to manage that talent. You have to manage that ability. And if you don't manage it well, it'll never grow into the finely honed skill that it could be that will set you up for success. Many of us are managing relationships. We have relationships, we want them to be healthy. We have dynamics in those relationships that we have to manage. We have homes. These little parts of our world that actually we have authority over. And we're supposed to manage those in a way that's healthy and good. God gave us life to manage, but the only way we can manage life is to listen to God. And so the good news is if you ever feel like you're not managing life very well, if it ever feels like life is not being managed like it should, I feel that way. Good news is all you gotta do is listen to the voice of God. Because He will help you manage. But here's the challenge there's a lot of other voices vying for your attention. There's a lot of voices shouting, yelling, screaming, or maybe it's a little bit more subtle than that. But you know, God's voice was not the only voice active in the garden.

Right?

We talked about that last week. There's a serpent. We have an enemy. And he's a smooth talker. So, how do we as people grow in our ability to discern the voice of God versus the voice of someone else who doesn't want us to manage life, who doesn't desire us to be in a place of health in our relationships and our endeavors? How do we discern the voice of God versus all the other voices? I want us to explore that a little bit. And obviously, this is a subject we could talk about for hours and hours and hours and not cover at all. So I want to hyperfocus on one consistent thread that I, at least in my life, and what I see in scripture, which is way more important than what I've experienced in my life. A constant thread in the voice of our enemy. That if we understand it helps us discern that's not the voice I should be listening to. And it's really simply this any voice, any thought, okay, that fuels either insecurity or pride is not the voice of God. Any voice that fuels either insecurity or pride. Insecurity and pride are two sides of the same coin. They're both an unhealthy and unbalanced focus on self. We live in a very self-focused society. We just do, right? We're the we've come up with selfies. We take pictures of ourselves. Like the number of pictures that my children will have of me, it's like that's too many. Don't need that many pictures. I mean, many of us grew up in a generation where, like, if you had a picture of your great-grandfather, you know, and that those pictures back then, they weren't smiling. They were like, life has been hard. And I want this picture to communicate that. You know? One day my great-great-grandchild will be playing Nintendo, and I want them to look at my picture and know I suffered for you to have the life that you have. You know? See those pictures I'm talking about? You look at them like, how old are they? Like 70? Like, oh no, they're 27 years old in that picture. Oh, okay. Life was hard.

Okay.

But like they had like a picture of their whole life. That was it. That's the one that captured it. We have like a bazillion pictures. Because we live in an egocentric society. And that focus on self, it's easy to talk about it from the stance of pride, being too into yourself, and we'll get to that later, but just for a minute. But it's amazing how much a focus on self fuels an insecurity inside of us. And our enemy, that's where he lives. I mean, think about the interaction that he has in the garden with Eve. He begins, we looked at this last week, we'll jump back into it a little later. He begins, though, by saying, hey, did God really say? And he drops some hints that basically say, God's holding out on you. God hasn't been truthful with you. And Eve goes from being very secure about where she stands with God and where she is in the world and her purpose and the way God has ordered things to all of a sudden, like, oh no, what if what if it's wrong? What if I'm missing out? What if God is holding out on me? What if I misheard him? I mean, there's all these different things. She's insecure. Insecurity is a massive, massive tool of the enemy. And when you hear a voice, whether it's external or internal, that minimizes who you are, and how do you know who you are? Who God has said that you are. That is not the voice of God, and it's a voice that you have to reject. Let's look at some examples in Scripture. 1 Samuel chapter 17 tells a very classic Bible story. It's the story of David and Goliath. It's another one of those stories that you know even if you've never been in church before. And Goliath is this massive warrior, and he's taunting the people of Israel. He's saying, hey, if anyone in your army wants to come fight me, we'll just settle it like this. Instead of us having a big war, let's just go one-on-one. I'll fight whoever you send to me. And no soldier in the entire Israeli, Israelite, whatever, that army. Doesn't really matter, it's just a word. No one wants to fight him because he's huge. But David shows up and he's young at this point in time. He's not a soldier. He's not even a soldier in the army. And he's like, what's going on? Why is everybody like so tense? And they're like, oh, there's this guy, Goliath, and none of us are gonna fight him. And so David's like, I'll do it. And so he has a conversation with the king, a man named Saul, in 1 Samuel 17. Don't worry about this Philistine. David told Saul, I'll go fight him. Don't be ridiculous, Saul replied. There's no way you can fight this Philistine and possibly win. You are only a boy. And he's been a man of war since his youth. You are only a boy. David is so much more than that. And Saul's about to find out. And in fact, the reality that David was much more than just a boy becomes a pretty big problem for Saul. Because David's actually been anointed by a prophet named Samuel to be the next king. And David has the favor of God on his life in a way that is undeniable. He is so much more than a boy. Even more than that, David has courage and he has faith. And so if you go back and you read the story, I love the story of David and Goliath, by the way. Like anyone else enjoy that story? It's like a classic. Alright, real quick, real quick, kind of Bible test. How does Goliath die? Stone. I don't know. That's how David. The stone, this is what I love about it. We have kids in the room, I'm sorry, but you're in big church and you could have gone to kids' church. But like, so we always say like the stone, right? The stone is how Goliath got knocked down. After the stone hits, David goes and picks up Goliath's own sword and just chops his head off. That's awesome. I'm sorry. That's great. I love that. It's brutal, it's gross, I know. I'm not condoning it, but it's like 3,000 years ago. That's how they did stuff, okay? It was efficient. And so like David is so not just a boy. And Goliath learned that the hard way. When they fight, Goliath is offended that David would be the one that they would send. He's like, What are you doing? And he basically says, I'm gonna murder you, I'm gonna kill you in front of all these people. And then David says, No, you don't know who you're dealing with. He says, You have you've not come against me, you've come against my God. See, when you live your life connected to God, when you live your life with faith in God, and you have courage to actually stand in that faith, you are so much more than just in anything. You are more than a man, you are more than a woman. And if there's ever a voice that tells you you're only a whatever that would Be, that is not the voice of God. That is the voice of your enemy trying to minimize who you're created to be. Jesus said that apart from God, we're not capable of doing much of anything, but with God, all things are possible. And so if you live your life connected to God through faith, if you're if you're close with him, doesn't mean you're perfect, you have a perfect track record, but it means that you trust in him above all else, you are so much more. So don't listen to a voice that says you're only anything. Jesus experienced this as well in Matthew chapter 13. He went back to his hometown, and rather than being like received and a parade thrown in his honor, because he was from the middle of nowhere and he's the most famous person ever, they get mad. They don't like that he's so successful, they can't understand it. It says, Coming to his hometown, he began teaching the people in their synagogue, and they were amazed. Where did this man get this wisdom and these miraculous powers? They asked. Isn't this the carpenter's son? He's just the carpenter's son. Isn't his mother Mary and his brothers James, Joseph, Simon, and Judas, aren't all his sisters here with us? Where did this man get all these things? And they took offense at him. They're offended at him. And they they begin the teardown of Jesus by saying, He's just the carpenter's kid. He's just the son in that family over there. That's not the voice of God. God would never look at you and say, you're just your family. Some of us are like, thank God. Okay. You know. But no, you're so much more than that. You're so much more than where you've come from when you live your life connected to God. You are not bound by the past.

Right?

You're not stuck just based on whatever your father, your grandfather, your mother, whatever, whatever's happened in your past, if you live connected to God, you are more than that. And anyone who ever tries to tell you that you're only this, that's not the voice of God. That's fueling insecurity. That's that's minimizing who you are. And the the question you should ask, if you ever hear that voice, is says who? You're only a boy, says who? The king, but not God. You're only the carpenter's son, says who? The people in Jesus' hometown, not God the Father. God the Father said, actually, he's my son. And I'm pleased with him. Jesus was really good at listening to the voice of the Father. And it gave him a confidence that most of us have just never experienced. And the only way to have that confidence is to listen to the right voice. There's another story. Luke chapter 7. This one's a little bit longer. It says, When one of the Pharisees invited Jesus to have dinner with him, he went to the Pharisee's house and he reclined at the table. And we're seeing a lot of customs in this story. Like there's some things that, as Americans, we're like reclining at tables, we're going to see this thing with anointing of feet, and we're like, what is going on? And it's just the thing that they did back in those days. It says, A woman in that town who lived a sinful life learned that Jesus was eating at the Pharisee's house. So he came there with an alabaster jar of perfume. And as she stood behind them at his feet weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears, then she wiped them with her hair, kissed them, and poured perfume on them. This is something that you would do for like a king. This is not normal. It's extravagant. When the Pharisee who had invited them saw this, he said to himself, If this man were really a prophet, he would know who's touching him and what kind of woman she is. That she is a sinner. And Jesus answered him, Simon, I have something to tell you. Tell me, teacher, he said. Two people owed money to a certain moneylender. One owed five hundred denari, the other fifty. Neither of them had the money to pay him back, so he forgave the debts of both. Now, which of them will love him more? Simon replied, I suppose the one who had the bigger debt forgiven. You've judged correctly, Jesus said. And then he turned toward the woman and said to Simon, You see this woman. I came into your house, you did not give me any water for my feet, but she wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. You did not give me a kiss, but this woman from the time I entered has not stopped kissing my feet. You did not put oil on my head, but she has poured perfume on my feet. Therefore I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven, as her great love has shown. But whoever has been forgiven little loves little. And then Jesus said to her, Your sins are forgiven. You know, these people, they looked at this woman and said, She's just a sinner. She's just a sinner. And Jesus saw something more. You are not your greatest mistake. That's not who you are. When I was in college, I heard a woman speak. She's a nun. Her name was uh Helen Prajon, Sister Helen Prajon, and she actually wrote a book that got adapted into a movie called Dead Man Walking. It was in the 90s, won an Academy Award. And I heard her speak, and what she does is she works with death row inmates. That's her whole ministry. She spends time with men on death row. And she prays with them and she shares Jesus with them, and then very often she is there at their execution. And when asked, why in the world would you do that? Why in the world would you devote your life to those people? Like, let's be honest, if you're on death row, unless there's been an injustice, which happens, but more often than not, it's like, yeah, that's you've done horrible things. Why would you spend your whole life pouring into those people when their life is clearly like over? That's what she was asked. And she said, Because I don't believe any person is only as good as their biggest mistake. And praise God for that. Because all of us have all of us have something that our enemy could look at and say, you don't belong with Jesus because you're a sinner. You remember that one time that you failed in that big way? Whether it's something that everyone knows about or it's something secret? You know that one thing that runs through your mind? You know those issues that you have? You know, you you don't belong with Jesus because you're a sinner. That is not the voice of God. That that fueled insecurity that you don't belong close with God because of your mistakes, you're so much more than your mistakes. And Jesus saw that. And he raised this woman up. And here we are talking about her 2,000 years later. She's greatly honored by Jesus. And so my point is simply that there are external voices that will always try to diminish who you are. But if any any voice that you listen to fuels an insecurity and minimizes who God says that you are, that is not the voice of God. That's the voice of a serpent, and you shouldn't listen to it. Sometimes those voices aren't external, though sometimes they're internal. Right? The story of Moses is a classic example of that. Moses is called by God to lead his people out of Egypt. If you probably know that story as well. We're just hitting all the classics today. Exodus 3.11, when God tells Moses that he's gonna do this big thing, Moses protests. Who am I to appear before Pharaoh? Who am I to lead the people out of Egypt? I'm not worthy. Sometimes the voice that's lying to us is our own. Sometimes we're the one that's telling us that we're not worthy. And I love this is one of my favorite interactions in all of the Bible, because Moses, like he hangs on to this. He does not relent. He tells God how wrong God is for a while. Like he even goes on later in chapter 4, verse 10. He's still arguing. This is a whole chapter later. Moses pleaded with the Lord, oh Lord, I'm not good with words. I've never been, and I'm not now. Even though you've spoken to me, I get tongue-tied and my words get tangled. And actually, many scholars would say that Moses probably had a speech impediment. He actually had a problem with stuttering or something like that. And I think that's really interesting because we happen to live at a time where more of us, more of us than ever before in human history, have been labeled with some type of diagnosis, some type of disease, some type of disorder. And that label hangs over us, and it's like you're not going to be someone who can do great things because you struggle with this. You have this. And that's not true. You might have struggles and issues, Moses clearly did, but but God can use you to do amazing things. He does it all the time. And so you're not, you're not your disability. You're not your disease. That's not who you are. You're so much more than that, and God would never tell you that that is the sum of who you can be. That's not the voice of God. Moses was the one telling God, I can't, because look, I this, this, I'm not good at this. And God's like, nope. Moses doesn't really have a choice. It's kind of an interesting situation. You get the idea that, like, Moses, you're gonna do this, okay? But God so clearly believes more in Moses than Moses does. God has a higher opinion of you than you do. More often than not, there are some people who are like classic narcissists and they have too high of an opinion of themselves, but those people are actually pretty rare. Most of us struggle to see ourselves as highly as God sees us. Those voices that fuel insecurity, those are not the voice of God. You know, sometimes it's external, sometimes it's internal, sometimes it's just like our culture at large. I want to go back to the story of Genesis, this whole interaction with the serpent. I want to read this one more time and look at this, and we're we're almost done. It says the serpent was the shrewdest of all the wild animals the Lord God had made, and one day he asked the woman, Did God really say that you must not eat the fruit from any of the trees in the garden? Of course we may eat the fruit from the trees in the garden, the woman replied. It's only the tr uh fruit from the tree in the middle of the garden that we're not allowed to eat. God said, You must not eat it or even touch it. If you do, you'll die. You won't die, the serpent replied to the woman. God knows your eyes will be opened as soon as you eat it, and you will be like God, knowing both good and evil. The woman was convinced. She saw that the tree was beautiful and its fruit looked delicious, and she wanted the wisdom it would give her. She took some of the fruit and ate it, then she gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate it too. And at that moment their eyes were opened, and they suddenly felt shame at their nakedness. So they sewed fig leaves together to cover themselves. They hid from God. That's what happens right before God shows up and goes into dad mode. I think this story is so interesting. And again, it's amazing how much it connects to our world today. Because our society and our culture does the exact same thing to us very often that we see happen to Adam and Eve in this story. Here's what happens, right? The temptation is the temptation to be greater. Like you'll be like God. You'll know good from evil. I mean, you'll know all the stuff that he owes. And Adam and Eve are tempted by the idea of being more than they are, which is silly because they're in an amazing place. They should be content, but they're tempted to be more. They're convinced that, oh, we're I'm gonna be greater than I am. But what is the immediate result of them following that advice? They're not greater, they don't feel greater, they they get shame, fear, insecurity, all of it like a flood. Now, this is something that if you've been at his hands for a while, you're this is like the here we go again, kind of like my kids at dinner, like here goes dad again. Um I love studying culture and and really trying to understand the ideas that culture sells us. I'm one of those people who just I like to ask questions. And so just because everyone in our culture is saying something is true, I just want to like, is it though? Why? I'm annoying like that. My college professors hated me. Um part because I asked a lot of questions, and part because I would sometimes order pizza to their classes uh under their name. And that happened once. All right, but it's all good. I've always liked pranks too. Questions and pranks, those are things I enjoy. So, you know, our culture has this, it's it's called secular humanism. That is the worldview that our culture is based on at this point in human history, our culture. And it's it's it does exactly what Satan does here. It sells us a lie that we we can be anything. Like you hear things like that. I grew up in this culture, like you can be anything you want to be. Just believe in yourself, right? Just believe in yourself, and you can be anything. You can do anything. If you set your mind to it, if you believe in it, you can do anything. And so we're like, yeah, that feels good. That's kind of like Satan here. It's pride, right? It's stoking some pride in us. I can I can be anything. And yet, the result of us as a culture going full sale into that and believing that and basing our lives on it is not a society filled with confident people who are like killing it in life and just going, man, I'm just so confident. I'm I'm confident in my relationships and my job, I'm happy. That's not our society. Our society actually uh shares more depression and anxiety and regret than than we've ever had documented before in the past. So we buy into this idea of we can be more, we can be anything, but the result is that we actually have a society filled with people who say the things they can't do. You know, I I can't help myself. I can't change the way I feel. I mean, how many how many human behaviors are excused by this idea of I just I just feel that I feel really strongly this way, and I can't deny, I can't deny my feelings. I can't deny these emotions that I have. I I have to go with it because it's how I feel. And God would look at us and say, Who told you that? Says who. So we have this this culture that on one hand is selling us this idea of you can do anything, you can do anything, you can do anything, and then everyone in this culture is like, I can't say no to myself. I can't. I can't deny my deepest desires. It's the same thing. It's pride, but then the result is shame and it's a lower status. And God would look at us and say, I didn't tell you that. So if you ever have that thought of like, I just I can't deny this, I can't stop myself, I'm not saying it's easy, but God never said that. But we have to ask that question says who? Says who? Says someone else, says my own thoughts, says culture at large, who do you listen to? Whose voice is the most important voice in your mind? Because who you listen to matters. Who you listen to matters greatly. And our enemy, he's so good, right? He gets you insecure. If you're insecure, oh man, you're you're vulnerable. Or maybe it is pride, I mentioned that earlier, that you know, pride is a is a thing. Flattery, there's a scripture, Proverbs 27, 6, says that uh wounds from a friend are better than the kisses of an enemy. It's about flattery. You just don't want to give in to flattery. Anytime somebody ever like butters you up, tells you you're amazing and awesome, and it's it's not like you don't really know me very well. You don't, like, I don't this isn't coming from a place of this is be careful with that. Like if you have a friend, and I'm not saying you shouldn't have this friend anymore, but like if you have a friend that you get advice from, and the only thing this friend ever tells you is that you're right, everyone else is wrong, that every single scenario that you're involved in, anytime there's any drama, it's never you, it's always them. Like, that's a fine friend in some ways, they're encouraging, but maybe don't take advice from them because some of it probably is your fault, right? Like, that's just how life works. Flattery doesn't actually help us that much if it fuels pride, because pride and security, again, same, just different sides of the same coin. It's an unbalanced view of self. And Satan knows that if you get if you get too focused on yourself, either insecurity, which I think is the main one, or pride, you get too focused on yourself, too caught up in your own thoughts, your own fears, your own worries, your eyes are off God, you're vulnerable. You're vulnerable. And so this story from the garden, it begs us to ask the same question that God asks: Who said that? Says who. Worship team, you guys can make your way out because we're gonna finish with a baptism this morning. Love that. But guys, I think it is so important for us today to understand who we are. You gotta understand who you are. Something that makes God so unique. When you wanna if you wanted to compare the God that we worship to all of the ideas of God that have ever existed, the idea that God likes us is very unique. In most cultures, the God or the gods of those cultures don't like people at all. They hate people, they mess with people, they tolerate at best. But God created us and he said that we're good. So if you ever hear the thought, you're good, who said that? My God said that. So you can believe that. Because that's the voice of God. And he doesn't lie. He literally can't lie. If he said it, it would be true. If God said that the sky is yellow, it would just turn yellow. You understand what I'm saying? Like that's the authority that he has. And so if God says that you're good, you're good. If God says that you're good with him, you're good with him. There's so many things that God says about us that we spend very little time reflecting on in light of all of the negative, all of the minimizing, all of the lies that our enemy tells us. Ephesians 2.10 says that you are God's masterpiece, created anew in Christ Jesus to do the good works that He created for you long ago. You're called a masterpiece. Now, like honestly, how many of you woke up this morning, looked in the mirror, and said, That is a masterpiece right there? Or how many of you said, you know what, I'm gonna wear all black because it is slimming? Maybe I did, I don't know. You know, just saying. Someone told me the other day, you look like you've lost weight, and I said, I haven't. And my wife is such an encourager of me. She'll be like, Justin, you're you haven't like I put on some weight during COVID. She's like, it's muscle. I'm like, how? I haven't done anything that would build muscle. There's no muscle. My mom used to say I was big boned, and there's not a bone right here. There's literally like there's a spine, but it runs the other way. I don't understand, right? I know the truth. So I wear black. I don't I don't look in the mirror and go, masterpiece. But God calls us a masterpiece. David wrote that we are fearfully and wonderfully made. Do you think that about yourself? That you are fearfully and wonderfully made? A masterpiece in God's eyes? Even if you're garbage in the eyes of everyone else, their opinions just don't count as much. When we feel like we're weak, you know we're not. When you feel like you're not able to do something, you're not gonna make it through. That's not true. Why? Because God tells us countless times in scripture, we talked about it a few weeks ago, he says, be strong and courageous. Why does he tell us to be strong and courageous? Because we are. Because we're capable of being strong and courageous, connected to him. He tells us in his word that we are more than conquerors through Christ. We are more than conquerors, not just that we're people who are gonna hang on and make it through and get by, but we can actually overcome and conquer and even sort of overdo it. That's what more than conquerors means. In the Greek language, it's actually the word hyper-conqueror. You're a hyper-conqueror according to God, if you live connected to Him with faith and with courage, you're a masterpiece, fearfully and wonderfully made. God calls you good. He says that you're strong, that you're courageous, he says that you're more than a conqueror, and more than anything, he says that you are his, that you're his son, that you're his daughter, that you belong to him. And look, look. Oh, I haven't done this. I wasn't gonna do this. I have a son who plays basketball. Okay. Actually, I know I okay. I'm gonna self-control. A few years ago, my son was uh, there was a group of kids that were just really mean to him. I'm just gonna be honest. They were just really mean to him. And it was all about sports, right? Like boys in sports, it just gets like that. Probably does with girls too. I just haven't had that experience yet with my daughter. But they were just, they, they, they were pushed him out, ostracized him. There was a lot of, it was just a lot of dynamics, and it was really hard for him. He was only in the fourth grade, and we were trying to coach him through it. Yesterday, he got to play the team that had a bunch of those boys on it. Oh, he beat him so bad. It was so good. Okay. Now, afterwards, you know, Megan and I are taking a walk and we're just reflecting and talking, and we're like, why did it feel so good? For us, grown adults, you know? It kind of revealed it actually, Megan said it so well, it revealed something in us that we need we know God. You need to work on that. You know what I mean? There it revealed something because we just enjoyed it too much. But you know, at the end of the day, he's my He's my son. And so if you mess with him, I don't like you. Even if you're a nine-year-old. You know, and yeah, my youngest is eating erasers and stuff. He'll figure it out eventually. You know? But he's mine. And so while it's fine for me to look at him and be like, you know, like I as his father can look at him and be like, he needs to stop that. If you were like, what's wrong with your kid? I'd be like, hey, shut up. If he wants to eat erasers, he can eat erasers. I don't know if they're toxic or not, but I'm gonna find out. Like, I, you know, but like there's something about us as parents, let's be honest, flawed as we are, that like we are territorial with our kids. They're ours. We love them. Even though we know all their stuff. Now, God's not as immature or as petty as we are, but his love for us is stronger than that. His love for us is so, so strong. You are deeply loved by God. Deeply loved. Not loved in some general sense, not like I love you, like I've because you're a person, I love all people. You are specifically loved by God. And so if you ever have a voice that enters your mind, external, internal, cultural, that tells you you're just this, you're just that, you don't measure up, you're not worth it, you're not good enough. Says who? Not my God. No, my God says that I am fearfully, wonderfully made, I'm a masterpiece, I've been created anew in Christ Jesus, I'm strong, I'm courageous, I'm more than a conqueror, I am the son or I am the daughter of the living God. That is what my God says, and I'm gonna listen to him. That's the voice we have to listen to. That's the voice we have to listen to. So this week, ask that question a lot. Says who? Who told me that? Who am I listening to? And if what you're hearing doesn't line up with God, ignore it. Because listening to those voices will only lead to confusion and catastrophe. But when you listen to God, you take one step closer to what you're meant to do, which is manage life well and be the person you were created to be. Let's pray. Father, thank you for this day. Thank you for this church. These people are so awesome. This church is so special, Lord. I'm so grateful that we get to be together on Sundays. Lord, I pray for everyone who's not here today. I pray for everyone who's watching from home, God, that you would just be with them and encourage them. Lord, remind all of us who we are in your eyes. Help us listen to your voice above all the others, above all the noise. Help us just enjoy the special relationship we have with you. Lord, I pray if there's anyone here who has yet to give their life to you, that they would. That they would surrender everything to you, Lord. That they would hear your voice, speak over them, and realize that no one will ever love them the way you do. No one has as high of an opinion of them as you do. And when we trust you, Lord, all we're doing is stepping into a relationship with someone who has more for us than we would ever dream of for ourselves. So if there's anyone here who hasn't done that, Lord, I pray they do that right now. And on that note, we just pray that you be with this baptism, Lord, and bless them as I know that. Help them understand how pleased you are, how proud you are of them, and help us as a church surround them with support. We pray this in your name. Amen.