Up Close

<p>Getting to know God: Up Close…</p><p>Book of Genesis (Celebrating Independence Day)</p><p><br></p><p>What makes a nation great? Her connection to the God that made her. Psalm 33:12 & Prov. 14:34</p><p>• Understanding the privileges & responsibilities of God SHARING His image with humanity </p><p>• Understanding the privileges & responsibilities of Adam SHARING his rib with Eve</p><p>• Understanding the privileges & responsibilities of all Christians being the Bride of Christ </p><p>• Bride of Christ - Jesus is the Groom!</p><p>• Body of Christ - Jesus is the Head!</p><p>• Psalm 11:3, 3 Foundations: A Faith in God; A Family of God; A Nation under God </p><p><br></p><p>I. The Trees - </p><p>1. Pleasing to the eyes </p><p>2. Good for food - </p><p><br></p><p>II. The Tree of Life - </p><p>1. Brings fulfillment - Solomon uses this parallel in the Book of Prov 3:18; 11:30; 13:12; 15:4</p><p>2. Maintains our status - 3:24</p><p>• State of innocence - </p><p>• State of fallenness - </p><p>• State of grace - In Adam or In Christ?</p><p>• Romans 5; I Corinthians 15</p><p><br></p><p>III. The Tree of the knowledge of</p><p>    good & evil - “to know” = </p><p>    experience. 4:1?</p><p>1. Mankind knew good - saw good, experienced nothing but that which is good. </p><p>2. Man didn’t know evil - never saw evil, never experienced anything evil. This was a test!</p><p>3. Knowledge - carnal knowledge </p><p><br></p><p>• Many today choosing Singleness over Marriage - fear of being hurt yet single people often experience fear of being alone. Both are hard. Both can hurt. One has the potential to share life. The other doesn’t. Ecclesiastes 4:11-12</p><p>• “When Sinners say “I do” </p><p>• “What did you expect?”</p><p>• Does the order of creation matter? Yes. Adam is held responsible for the fall! I Timothy 2:13</p><p>• What does leave and cleave mean? Parents are not absent. They are now secondary. I Timothy 5</p><p>• What does leave and cleave not mean?</p><p><br></p><p>“A daughter is a daughter for the rest of her life, but a son is only a son until he finds himself a wife”</p>