Chapter 2: The Fall

Read God's Story: Genesis 3
Other verses we explored: Romans 5:12-16
Questions raised about the story:

1. Why would God plant a tree in the Garden that was not to be touched? Why would He "set up" Adam and Eve to fail?
2. If God knew ahead of time what was going to happen, why would He have bothered at all?
3. How could the choice to eat a fruit result in ruining all of the perfect creation?
4. Does the punishment fit the crime? Or was death simply the consequence of their actions vs. actual punishment from God?

It actually starts with Love!
The story seems funny because why would God give Adam and Eve the ability to make a decision that would ruin everything, and why would He seem to set them up with the tree in the first place?

What we learn about this is that love is a choice. God and His way is the best thing for us and all of creation, but He does not force Himself on us, but allows us to choose. And He allows for the natural consequences of our actions to occur(see Romans 1:18-32).

As Romans 5:12 says: Death enters the world because of sin.

Missing the Mark
The Hebrew word for "sin" can be understood better as "missing the mark." God is perfect and designed creation to follow in His image. Before Adam and Eve disobeyed God, they had a very intimate relationship together: They would meet and walk together in the Garden. But as a result of their choice to disobey God, a separation was created because Adam and Eve no longer shared in the perfect state of God's intention for them. They were no longer "right with God" and as we see at the end of Genesis 3, they no longer could walk intimately with God.

"Righteousness" is a big word that means "right with God". Romans 3:10 says that there is "No one righteous, not even one" because we all have this sinful nature that draws us to make choices against God's perfect standard. Every decision is like an arrow we shoot towards God's standard or target. We are told that none of us can get it perfect, just like it would be impossible to take hundreds of shots at a target and hit the bull's eye every time.

CARMOS
If you missed the introduction of our Youth Group fish, Carmos, stop by my office and say hello. The illustration is simple: We give fish a perfect home of water, plants and food. But it is within the confines of a glass bowl. We know that outside the bowl Carmos would die so those boundaries are for his protection. God provided all Adam and Eve needed, but the lure of exploring what was outside the bowl resulted in death, both physically and spiritually.


Thankfully the story doesn't end here...
Death, suffering, disease, poverty, separation from God...If we stopped at the end of Genesis 3 with Adam and Eve kicked out of paradise to face a life of hardship and broken relationship, it'd be very hopeless. But God's love continues to be faithful and perseverant.

So as we read in Romans 5:15-16:

But there is a great difference between Adam’s sin and God’s gracious gift. For the sin of this one man, Adam, brought death to many. But even greater is God’s wonderful grace and his gift of forgiveness to many through this other man, Jesus Christ. And the result of God’s gracious gift is very different from the result of that one man’s sin. For Adam’s sin led to condemnation, but God’s free gift leads to our being made right with God, even though we are guilty of many sins.and break the bond we have with the One who loves us most.

Watch this powerful video as a reminder of God's incredible love, the break caused by sin, and the pursuit of His grace for us

What we learn about God:

• God is perfect and good (Check out James 1:13-18)
• God created everything, including us, with the intention that we would also share in that goodness
• God did not create robots that are programmed to be perfect, because we would be forced into relationship, and that's not really love. God desires authentic love from us and so gives us the freed
  om to choose Him and His ways.
• God's love and desire for relationship continues to pursue us, never giving up on us. He provides a way for right relationship with Him and wants us to come to Him.

RESPONSE
DIG
Romans 3:9-28 and chp.5
What is God's law? How do we become right with God? What's the point of the law?
TALK
After you can answer the question "How do we become right with God?" talk with your parents about it. What's the point of doing "the right things" and avoiding "sin"?

And what kind of things would be on the list of "the right things"? Ask your parents and friends for their thoughts and make a list of what you think God wants you to do.
EXPERIENCE
Create a way to remind yourself of God's standard. For example: draw a small target on your hand. Each day, evaluate how close you hit the target with your conversations, thoughts, and actions.

Does your music hit the target? Do your conversations at lunch hit the target? Does what you watch on tv hit the target?

What is His standard for those things?
LIVE
At the end of each day, ask "How close am I to hitting the mark?" Journal about how well you did and your thoughts about God's standard in your life. What is the target and why bother aiming for it?

Chapter 1: Creation

We looked at an amazing video clip that explored the incredibly intricate details of our planet that allow Earth to sustain life. There are hundreds of factors that if they were slightly out of sink, we would all be goners. The point of our time together was not to figure out whether God made everything in 6 literal days or over a span of millions of years...the point was that God is the Creator of everything. He spoke into existence the entire universe and He continues to maintain control over the intricate details of life. The idea of random chance producing life as we know it is simply as foolish a thought as throwing some metal and wires off a bridge and hoping they come together to form a working Mac Book.

Now I don't know about you, but I have a hard time putting my mind around how big the state of Pennsylvania is, rather the other country...let alone the world. Just our little solar system is mind blowingly large, and we're just a small little speck in an average sized galaxy that is part of a infinitely huge universe. We watched a clip from Louie Gilgio's "How Great is Our God" dvd that compared our planet with the larger stars that astronomers have found. You can watch the longer clip by clicking here. To get the quick version of the star scale, click here.

Life is just too complex and too miraculous to be random...And the cosmos are just too large and unbelievable to not have a Designer.

So as we took our first step into God's story, we learned that:
1) God wants to be known and has placed His presence and fingerprints all over creation.
2) God made everything with the intention of GOOD.

RESPONSE
DIG
Go back over the story of creation in Genesis 1 and re-read Romans 1:19-23.
Make a list of your thoughts and questions about who God is.

TALK
Talk with your family about how you see God working in creation, your life, and the world around you. Ask them where they God at work in their lives and the world. What questions do they have about who God is?

Secondly, take your list of questions about who God is and spend time asking them directly to God.

EXPERIENCE
Take a short walk outside this week and observe nature. Be specific and intentional about this time. What qualities of God can you see represented in the things you see. Take time out of your busy schedule to just enjoy what's been created. Maybe journal about how you're feeling or thinking as you take time in creation.

LIVE
So what might all of this mean for your everyday living? What have you learned about God this week and why does it matter to your life? What could, should, and would change in your life if the things God's Story claim about God are really true?