WHERE ARE YOU?
I. INTRODUCTION
A. Me losing my keys
1. I lose my keys all the time
2. Share example of how my wife waits for me while I look for my keys
B. Lost and Found Signs
1. Lost and found
a. We know someone is looking for what is in that box.
b. Someone is missing something
2. Lost Children
a. We see these signs in public places
b. We hate to see a child near this sign
c. Somewhere out there a parent is looking for their missing child
d. That parent would do anything to bring that child home
C. Story of me getting lost when camping as a teenager at a place called Ice House
1. I disobeyed and my actions caused me to get lost
2. As a teenager, I was humiliated, scared, and embarrassed
a. I wanted to be found but at the same time I knew it would be a painful process.
3. I needed to be found
4. I had to allow myself to be found.
5. The shame and embarrassment paled in comparison to the joy of being back with my friends.
II. SCRIPTURE: GENESIS 3:1-13
A. Adam and Eve are “camping” in the Garden of Eden.
1. No Ice House but I hear it was pretty nice
B. Adam and Eve willfully disobey God and as a result of their sin become “lost”
III. ADAM AND EVE ARE “LOST”
A. Adam and Eve disobeyed
B. They do not immediately die, but their relationship with God dies!
SLIDE:
When Adam and Eve disobeyed God, they did not immediately physically die, but their relationship with God did.
1. With that broken relationship come pain, loss, the shame of losing that relationship.
C. They run away and hide from God
1. Embarrassed and ashamed of their behavior and disobedience
2. They are afraid face the pain of standing before God in their sin and shame
Adam and Eve (thus all humanity) lose their relationship with God because of an action that they do, not what God does. They are the ones that broke the relationship and ran away and hid. They are the reason that they are lost. They disobeyed; they broke their relationship with God.
SLIDE:
Adam and Eve are the ones that hide from God
IV. GOD CALLS OUT TO ADAM AND EVE (AND ALL HUMANITY)
A. The Gospel begins!
SLIDE:
Gen 3:9: God calls out, “Adam where are you?”
B. Three things:
1. God acknowledges that something is missing
SLIDE:
Something is missing
2. God speaks directly to Adam and Eve because He wants them to now He is looking for them.
SLIDE:
God wants us to know that he is looking for us
3. The “Where are you” is an invitation to respond.
SLIDE:
We have an invitation to respond, “Here I am!”
C. God calls not because he is angry, but more because he desires to mend the broken relationship between humanity and himself.
This is the beginning of the gospel! Humanity has broken the relationship between itself and God, and God is seeking to reconcile that broken relationship! - God seeking us out in order that we may have a relationship with him.
V. ERNEST HEMINGWAY’S THE CAPITOL OF THE WORLD
A. Spanish father and teenage son named Paco (A common Spanish name)
1. Could be a mother and daughter or father and daughter
2. Hemingway wrote about a father and son
B. Have a falling out and rebellious son runs away
C. Father searches for son and takes out an ad in the local newspaper
SLIDE:
Please meet me in front of the newspaper office at noon. All is forgiven.- Love Father
D. The next day at noon, there were 800 Pacos, all seeking to renew their relationship with their fathers
VI. HOPING FOR SIGNS
A. How often have we felt like the Pacos of this story?
1. Hiding from God
2. Embarrassed by our behavior
3. Afraid that God does not want us.
B. Don’t we wish we had a sign so we would know where to go when our relationships are broken?
1. A sign like those in the malls that say “Lost and Found”
2. A sign for lost children
3. A sign for lost relationships
C. How many want a sign to know that God is looking for us?
1. Calling out to us, looking for us?
VII. GOD’S SIGN
A. God has made a declaration that he is looking for us
SLIDE:
God is calling out to us with an invitation
B. Just as God called out to Adam and Eve, he is calling out to us
C. Like Paco’s father, God has made a public announcement of his desire to bring us back into relationship with him.
D. Not printed on the pages of a magazine or a newspaper. You won’t read about it in Time, the USA Today or the [Your Newspaper Here]
1. It is printed in the pages of Scripture; it has been recorded in history and the New Testament.
E. He did not use a printing press to make his statement; he used a cross and three nails.
F. The headline reads, “This is the King of the Jews”
G. The message says, “My children, all is forgiven. I am looking for you. Meet me at the Cross, love the Father”
VII. CONCLUDING THOUGHTS
A. Are you running from God, are you hiding?
B. Is your relationship with God broken?
C. Are you looking for a way to renew your relationship?
D. God is looking for you.
E. God is calling out to you.
F. God has sent his Son to bring you a message.
SLIDE:
God has made a public proclamation that he is looking for us.
G. “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him, shall not perish but have everlasting life.”
SLIDE:
“My children, Where are you? Meet me at the Cross. All is forgiven. -Love The Father”
