Sermons About Eden
God matched man with woman
Where Genesis 1 gives us a wide-angle view of creation, Genesis 2 zooms right in; this is the same creation story, but viewed from a different perspective. Three headings here: 1. Work and Rest, 2. Men and Women and 3. Creation and the New Creation. 1. God is a working God - Humans, reflecting God's character, are workers. They have responsibility for stewarding creation - for working the earth. All kinds of work have the potential to be acts of service to God. After Genesis 3 God's work (which we are ordained to further) is generally about salvation, or re-creation. Rest - on the 7th day God rested, not because he was tired, but because the work was done and He wanted to reflect on and enjoy the 'good' results of his work - and so we too should take time out to reflect on God's creation and to enjoy God. 2. Men and women are created differently - not to compete, but to complement each other. In the Bible, the word 'Helper', used to describe women's role and often taken to indicate subservience, is actually most often used to describe God! "shield and helper" (Deut 33), "helper of the fatherless" (Ps 10). The first reference to something being 'not good' in creation is a reference to man being alone and needing a helper. Woman is created to complete Man; to be one flesh, within the ordinance of marriage - to help each other serve God, providing each other with mutual encouragement in that service. 3. The description of Eden: on a hill, the source of four rivers, mention of gold, fine jewels - these descriptions point towards the temple, but most especially reflect the imagery of the final chapter of the Bible; the re-creation where this time Jesus, God-made-man is there, and we can be there too. How marvellous is that!
0 Amens
The Goodness of God in a Broken World
With the devastation of sin all around us, some can question the goodness of God. Genesis chapter two gives us a glimpse into the world as God intended it to be and it is good, reflecting a Creator who is good. It is sin, not God, that is responsible for the bitterness and brokenness of this world, and it is Christ who fully bore the bitterness of our sin on the cross so that we may enjoy the goodness of God forever.
0 Amens
Weeping for Our City
The true story of the world begins in a garden and ends in a city. Eden is an amazing and beautiful place that God planted for the first humans to enjoy and cultivate. God’s desire was that we would build a culture and city of justice, love, compassion, mercy, truth, righteousness and most importantly, deep fellowship with Him as we live out our designed purpose of making His name great in this world.
0 Amens
Nehemiah - An Introduction
We all feel homesick. We have a place where we can put our stuff, but it's not home. We're a group of people who miss the same place. Eden echoes in each of our memories. Except this place isn't imaginary; it's real. And we're not going to get it back by trying to create a new home for ourselves. That is what all of humanity has attempted to do. We've all tried to create a place where we can say, "This place is right and good and is finally home." Oh, we might feel that for a short period of time, but our souls cry out for Eden.
0 Amens
Jesus in The Garden of Eden
I don't know about all of you, but I enjoy reading novels for relaxation. But I'll be honest with you. Unless I'm reading a novel out of recommendation, I'm not going to trudge through it without it grabbing my attention. Even from the beginning, it has got to bring the goods for me to keep going. Thinking about that, I went through a few novels in our collection to see how the very first line read. Of the novels that I thought were worth reading or owning, I wondered if their first lines jumped off the page. Many of them did. For example: - "One winter morning in the long ago, four year old days of my life I found myself standing before a fireplace, warming my hands over a mound of glowing coals, listening to the wind whistle past the house outside." "American Hunger" by Richard Wright - "You don't know about me without you have read a book by the name of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer; but that ain't no matter." "Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" by Mark Twain - "Ships at a distance have every man's wish on board." "Their Eyes Were Watching God" by Zora Neale Hurston - "The man in black fled across the desert, and the gunslinger followed." "The Gunslinger" by Stephen King Truly, the way books start cast an expectation for the rest of novel. It makes you want to keep going or it can turn you off completely. I suppose there is no grander beginning to any writing than, "Genesis 1:1 In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth." This beginning is the foundation for not only all of Biblical history but all of history itself. God establishes Himself as the starting point of all things. Throughout the Bible, we find references to this moment (e.g., Psalms 8; 104; 148; John 1:1-3; 1 Cor. 8:6; Col. 1:15-17; Heb. 1:2; 11:3; 1 John 1:5-7) and the Gospel of John goes as far as to give us the complete picture of what happened. 1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made...14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. Now, the Gospel of John is either audacious in hijacking all of creation and making it about Jesus or it is continuing the unfurling of Jesus in every weave and fabric of existence. I say it is the latter. A student's look of the Old Testament finds not only Jesus in type and shadow but also in clear and overt in every book. What we want to do Sunday and over the next couple of weeks is to walk through the Old Testament and see Jesus on every page. As we celebrate the Christmas season and participate in all that goes with it, we want to walk backwards into scripture and see a grand plan orchestrated by a sovereign Lord who left nothing to chance. In that we will see an ancient faith which finds its pinnacle and purpose in the eternal son, Jesus Christ.
0 Amens
Personal Power Towers
How did the things I believe all get started? If God is so good and He created this world, how did right go wrong? When did we lose Paradise and how did it happen? Questions like these can be troubling. They can even make us frightened, confused and a little angry. Join us on a journey designed to discover how everything started and how we got to what we see on CNN each night. Learn how God plans to redeem what we lost. Most of all, we’ll find out how His redemptive plan gives each of us a new hope for paradise.
0 Amens
One Godly Family
How did the things I believe all get started? If God is so good and He created this world, how did right go wrong? When did we lose Paradise and how did it happen? Questions like these can be troubling. They can even make us frightened, confused and a little angry. Join us on a journey designed to discover how everything started and how we got to what we see on CNN each night. Learn how God plans to redeem what we lost. Most of all, we’ll find out how His redemptive plan gives each of us a new hope for paradise.
0 Amens
Faith Makes ALL the Difference
How did the things I believe all get started? If God is so good and He created this world, how did right go wrong? When did we lose Paradise and how did it happen? Questions like these can be troubling. They can even make us frightened, confused and a little angry. Join us on a journey designed to discover how everything started and how we got to what we see on CNN each night. Learn how God plans to redeem what we lost. Most of all, we’ll find out how His redemptive plan gives each of us a new hope for paradise.
0 Amens
