Adam Series

CLOSE ENCOUNTERS SERIES

1 – ADAM

Today, I want to begin a BRAND NEW series of messages entitled “CLOSE ENCOUNTERS”

And over the next few weeks, we’re going to be talking about the people of the Bible who had CLOSE ENCOUNTERS WITH GOD

And the reason that I’m going to be preaching this series is because like never before, every…

--parent

--teen-ager

--church worker

--person in this room this morning

Needs a close encounter with God

And…

--we’re living in the last days

--we’re about to have the rapture of the church

--the Anti-Christ is about to be revealed

--the church needs revival

And if there’s ever been a time to have CLOSE ENCOUNTERS with God, IT’S NOW

And you may say, “Wait a minute pastor, I’m…

--not holy enough

--not worthy enough

--educated enough

To have a close encounter with God

But the truth of the matter, and the MAIN THESIS OF THIS MESSAGE, is that no matter…

--your past

--your pain

--your failures

--your problems

--your pedigree (who you are)

We can all have CLOSE ENCOUNTERS WITH GOD

And I’ll prove that to you over the next few weeks as the people we’re going to be looking at were people…

--who struggled with their faith, like Abraham

--who made tragic choices, like David

--who had had a bad past, like Paul the Apostle

--who’s world had fallen apart, like Job

--who ran from the Lord, like Jonah

Ordinary people

Average people

Scarred people

Marred people

Every day people

And I hope that before this series of messages is over with, that we would ALL have a fresh “Close Encounter” with the living God

And so today, we’re going to start at the very beginning by talking about ADAM, the very first human being

Let’s read…

Genesis 2:7 (KJV) 7And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.

INTRODUCTION

We begin our series of those who had CLOSE ENCOUNTERS WITH GOD by talking about the one human being who ever lived who had complete and unhindered access with God, and that was ADAM and his wife Eve

For the Bible tells us that they literally…

--walked with God

--talked with God face to face

That God literally came down to talk with them in the cool of the day

And there are several things that I want to point out to you, but before I do, I can’t preach on Adam and Eve without addressing the fact that there are many who do not believe that all humanity came from Adam and Eve

The EXPERTS tell us that we just kind-of oozed out until finally, we became mankind

They say that first of all, there was some little speck of protoplasm, some little blob of something in a sea of nothing and it all just sort of happened, that this one celled animal that came to be some sort of primitive ameba and then that grew and became an unsegmented worm, that became a fish, that became a reptile, that became a bird, that became a mammal, that became a man.

And according to the experts, it all just sort of happened just by blind chance

But you know what an “expert” is sometimes – An “ex” is a has been, and “spurt” is a drip under pressure

But that really takes MORE faith to believe that than to believe Genesis

Because really, what they’re saying is that NOTHING TIMES NOBODY EQUALS EVERYTHING

And they’re looking for the missing link, but the missing link is just this…

There was literally a creation, and God literally formed man out of the dust of the ground, and God literally made woman out of man’s rib

It reminds me of the little boy who heard the Sunday School teacher talk about how God put Adam to sleep and opened his side and took out a rib and made his wife, Eve. That afternoon, he went home and started feeling a pain in his side. He told his mama and she said, “What’s wrong?” He said, “I think I’m having a wife!”

But my friend, God did make Adam, and there was no one who ever had a greater close encounter with God than he and his wife

And as we’re begin our message series on “Close Encounters” and as we consider the close encounters that Adam had with God, let me share with you three things…

First of all, I want you to understand that…

1. HOW ADAM WALKED WITH GOD IS HOW GOD ORIGINALLY INTENDED IT TO BE FOR ALL OF MANKIND FOR ALL OF TIME

Literally, God intended to walk and talk with man face to face JUST like He did with Adam and Eve