Sowing Seeds Of Destruction; Series

August 14, 2016

Morning Worship

Text: Genesis 3:1-8

Subject: The Fall of Man

Title: Sowing Seeds of Destruction; The Seed Principle Part 1

Last week we finished our short series on Servanthood with “The Cost of Servanthood”. First of all, you cannot be a true servant of God unless you are born again. And if you are born again you cannot be a true servant of God unless you are willing to submit to Him and to His Word. But, if you are willing to be a servant, then you receive grace to act in the authority of your Master and you become what Paul described the body to be in Ephesians 1:23 … His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all. Isn’t that where we want to be in the Lord?

The death and resurrection of Jesus opened the door for all believers to become servants of God and what came 50 days later gave us the power to be true servants.

Isn’t that why Jesus came?

John 12:24 (NIV2011)

24 Very truly I tell you, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds.

You are the result of the seed of Jesus, planted in a tomb and raised to life in power. And as Jesus sowed the church is supposed to sow and reap a great harvest!

And we’ll talk later about how to sow and how to harvest. But I want you to look at something in the Bible. In Genesis chapter 3 we see the story of the fall of man. Now God knew this would happen before the earth was even created and He still chose to create man in His own image and that included the ability to make choices.

Before we get started would you hold your bibles up with me?

I believe this is God’s word…

I believe it is for me…

I accept it as mine…

And I will appropriate it to my life today…

In Jesus’ name! Amen!

This spiritual truth that Jesus spoke of is a truth that is still operating in the world today.

Let’s look at Genesis 3.

Genesis 3:1-8 (NKJV)

1 Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said to the woman, "Has God indeed said, 'You shall not eat of every tree of the garden'?"

2 And the woman said to the serpent, "We may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden;

3 but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, 'You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die.' "

4 Then the serpent said to the woman, "You will not surely die.

5 For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil."

6 So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate.

7 Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves coverings.

8 And they heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God among the trees of the garden.

When God created man (and woman) in His image was there anything lacking in their lives? They had everything they needed.

Genesis 1:27-28 (NIV2011)

27 So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.

28 God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.”

The word “subdue” in the NIV or “have dominion” in the KJV is the Hebrew

radah (raw-daw') v.

1. to tread down, i.e. subjugate

2. specifically, to crumble off

Being created in God’s image and likeness He has now given them total authority over all the earth and all things were to be subject to or be submissive to them.

But because they were given free will something else happened. 1 Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made.

Did you ever wonder why, when satan rebelled, that the Lord cast him down to the earth? This is just a side note but it would appear that the earth is the focus of everything God wants to do in all of His creation. And it appears that satan had entered into the snake and was speaking through it.