Let me ask you something...
When you think about God...
What do you feel?
Peace
Fear
Pressure
Distance
Because the way you see God...
Determines how you relate to God.
You cannot have a healthy relationship with someone you misunderstand.
Some of you are not running from God...
You're running from a wrong picture of God.
Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?”
2 The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, 3 but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’”
4 “You will not certainly die,” the serpent said to the woman. 5 “For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”
GENESIS 3:1-5
Gen 3:1 - Has God said...?
First attack: God's Word
Satan introduces doubt
The enemy doesn't start by making you sin...
He starts by making you QUESTION God.
APPLICATION
Where has doubt entered your life?
God's goodness?
God's promises?
God's love?
Gen 3:4 - You will not surely die
Direct contradiction of God
Replacing truth with deception
Every sin begins with believing a lie about God
Gen 3:5 - God knows... You will be like Him
Satan implies:
God is withholding
God is limiting
God is not good
The first temptation was not about fruit...
It was about God's CHARACTER
God is not good
Today the lie sounds like:
God is holding you back
Sin is better
You're missing out
ILLUSTRATION
It's like a parent telling a child:
Don't touch the fire
But the child believes:
They're just limiting me
APPLICATION
Identify the lie you've believed about God
Declare:
God is good - and His will for me is good
Did that which is good, then, become death to me? By no means! Nevertheless, in order that sin might be recognized as sin, it used what is good to bring about my death, so that through the commandment sin might become utterly sinful.
ROMANS 7:13
LAW was given to make sin EXCEEDINGLY sinful
The law was NOT given to:
Make you acceptable
Earn God's love
The law WAS given to:
Reveal sin
Show need for a Savior
Set a standard
BOOK OF NUMBERS 15:32-36
While the Israelites were in the wilderness, a man was found gathering wood on the Sabbath day. 33 Those who found him gathering wood brought him to Moses and Aaron and the whole assembly, 34 and they kept him in custody, because it was not clear what should be done to him. 35 Then the Lord said to Moses, “The man must die. The whole assembly must stone him outside the camp.” 36 So the assembly took him outside the camp and stoned him to death, as the Lord commanded Moses.
God enforced the law strongly because:
People minimized sin
They compared among themselves
They lost God's standard
ILLUSTRATION
It's like a doctor showing you how serious a disease is...
So you'll seek treatment.
APPLICATION
Stop using the Law to prove yourself...
Start using it to recognize your need for Jesus.
The Law exposes - Jesus restores.
Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.
1 JOHN 4:8
God is LOVE
Not:
God has love
God shows love
He is LOVE
Everything God does flows from love.
ILLUSTRATION
God is not waiting to punish you...
He's already working to restore you.
APPLICATION
Replace your wrong image of God with truth
When you think:
God is mad at me
Say:
God is love - and He is drawing me
You cannot receive love from a God you believe is against you.
God is not offering a contract...
He's offering a relationship.
CONTRAST:
Performance says:
Earn it
Maintain it
Prove it
Relationship says:
Receive it
Walk in it
Grow in it
ILLUSTRATION
A father doesn't reject his child every time they fail...
He draws them closer
APPLICATION
Stop relating to God like a boss...
Start relating to Him like a Father.
I am not earning God's love - I am living in it
Let's be honest...
What version of God have you been believing in?
Do you feel distant from God when you fail?
Do you feel accepted only when you perform?
Do you struggle to approach Him?
That's not God
That's a distorted image.
WHEN YOU FAIL
Run to God - not away
RENEW YOUR MIND
Replace lies with Scripture
SPEND TIME WITH GOD
Not out of duty... but relationship
God is not the one pushing you away...
He's the one calling you closer.
ILLUSTRATION
Like a father waiting for a child to come home...
not with anger...
but with open arms...
Let go of:
Fear
Wrong beliefs
Performance
and step into relationship
God is not against me...
He is for me...
And I will walk with Him.
You will never pursue a God you believe is against you...
But once you see His goodness...
You'll run to Him.