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Genesis 1 begins it says

in the beginning God created the heavens

and the Earth

and the Earth was without form and void

and darkness covered the face of the

deep

and the spirit of God hovered over the

waters

as we continue reading throughout

Genesis 1 we see over and over again

that the earth goes from being this

without form and voice space into

something akin to what we experience now

the sea was filled with life the sun was

placed in the sky and over and over

again as God is creating the Earth we

hear him in those moments of Creation

with and it was good

it was good over and over again God said

let there be light and then there was

light and God saw the light and said

it’s good

Genesis 1 continues to tell us all the

way through him creating Humanity how it

was good what he created and then in

Genesis 2 he let it he lets it be known

to humanity this is man and woman at the

time as they had not received names

until later on in Genesis 3. in Genesis

2 though he tells them I set this up to

be good for you

everything in it should function the way

that it is supposed to function the sun

is not going to fall out of the sky the

day is going to be day the night will be

night the fish will stay in the sea the

seed will continue to bring forth fruit

season after season it’s all good the

only thing you have to do is not eat

from the Tree of Life

or from the Tree of the knowledge

of Good and Evil

if you will obey this everything will

stay intact

your obedient seals the deal

God says I did my part

everything is good

but if it’s going to stay good you’re

going to have to be obedient

your obedience will ensure that

everything in this system will continue

to function in the way that I have

designed it to function the only thing

you have to do is just be obedient the

only thing you have to do you may not

understand how it’s going to function

you may Wonder in one season will the

tree bring forth fruit the way that it

did in the last season God says you

don’t have to worry about any of that

just be obedient to these rules be

obedient to what I told you to do in

this season and your obedience is like

shaking the hand of a deal that’s God’s

way of saying this is what I’m going to

do for you will you obey God says I’ll

take care of all of the rest you just be

obedient

and they had it made

baby

they had it made

okay

I believe Eve had all her edges I

believe

she never had to worry about a lace

front betraying her I believe

that they had a six-pack anointing I

don’t believe that they even had to

worry about the scale what is acne I

believe they had it made their children

was going to act right I believe God set

it up for everything to be good they

weren’t going to be worried there wasn’t

going to be any depression everything

was going to work out well but then

Eve and Adam

Adam and Eve

people just be bored we are people we

just

are supposed to act right but we just be

bored like everything’s got to be an

adventure like let’s just see what

happens

and now look at us

fighting for every Edge we got

God didn’t want that for us

can’t turn down Chick-fil-A we needed to

be closed on Sunday

now carbs have a strong coat on me I was

meant to eat fruits and vegetables

that’s how God set it up

I didn’t even need the bread of life at

that time I had everything I needed

I always wondered

why is it

that God did not want them to eat from

the Tree of Life

or from the Tree of the knowledge of

Good and Evil

then I recognized in studying that God

in his gracious generous wisdom and love

for us

did not want us to eat from the Tree of

the knowledge of Good and Evil not

because he didn’t want us to know good

because Genesis 1 makes it plain

that everything he created was good so I

don’t mind you knowing what’s good

I don’t even mind you knowing what’s God

as a matter of fact the only thing I

want you to know is good and God

the way I set this system up that’ll be

the only thing you even have a point of

reference for is good and God

but if you eat from this tree of the

knowledge of Good and Evil

you’re going to have knowledge of

something

that I never wanted you to know

the knowledge

of Good and Evil wasn’t necessarily just

the knowledge of good

but it is the reality that when you have

the knowledge of Good and Evil

it can be difficult to distinguish

between the two

talk for a minute

about the knowledge

of evil

that God never intended for you to know

it’s hard for us

when we think about the generational

disappointments and the generational

struggles that are all that we have ever

known

to come to a place where we can separate

our experience from God’s intention

because when we learn to separate our

experience from God’s intention then we

begin to recognize that it was never

God’s intention for me to know this evil

that I now know

this was never God’s intention that’s

why we ask things like where was God in

the middle of this the truth is that God

is in the middle of it now because of

the way that we acted out his plan but

the truth is that in God’s original

intention you were never supposed to

know betrayal and God’s original

intention you would have never known

heartbreak and God’s original intention

there would have never been mass

shootings in God’s original intention

the headlines wouldn’t cause

discouragement and God’s original

intention there were there was no broken

family and God’s original intention

there were no abandonment issues there

were no rejection issues this was not

God’s intention and so I try to be

careful not to place the blame on God

for what Humanity did for what evil did

because I recognize that in God’s

original intention it was never meant

for me to know this I was never supposed

to know this level of Brokenness I was

never supposed to know this level of

depression I was never supposed to know

this level of insecurity and the fact

that I know it is a direct reflection of

what happened in the garden where I was

receiving the knowledge

good

and Evil

you were never supposed to know it

and it broke God’s heart

now that you know it

oh so well

now that it’s in your bloodline now that

it’s in your family God says I never

wanted them to know that

but God is so good

that he says you can’t unknow what you

know

man oh I feel like ministering in this

place

I want to talk to somebody who wants to

unknow what they know

so you got to know some things that you

don’t want to know to even understand

what that sentence means

but I want to unknow that this type of

betrayal can exist in someone I want to

know that this type of weakness exists

within me there are some things that I

know now that I wish I could know and

sometimes I’m stuck because not because

of what I don’t know I’m set because of

what I do know I do know that people

will leave you I do know that you can

get in a situation where your pride

makes you fall I know some things that

have kept me stuck and God says I can’t

I know what you know but what I can do

is cover what you know

so in the garden

God comes down

and he’s asking Adam and Eve what

happened

when he recognizes that they’ve eaten

from the Tree of the knowledge of Good

and Evil

it says in my text that immediately when

Adam ate from it that his eyes were

opened and he saw that he was naked

when God created him naked God said it

was good

he ate from the Tree of the knowledge of

Good and Evil and now he sees his

nakedness as evil

that’s why I said it’s difficult to

distinguish between what’s good and

what’s evil because now you have this

knowledge and what you’re calling good

God might be calling even with true

calling evil God might be calling good I

think that’s why the psalmist says it

was good for me that I was afflicted I

don’t think he stumbled into that I

think he sat back and waited long enough

to see that what I thought was an evil

Affliction was actually god making all

things work together for my good it

takes someone crazy to look at what the

enemy meant for evil and say actually I

think God may have meant it for good

because now what I thought I needed was

something that would feel good I thought

I needed something that would make me

better but maybe what I really needed

was something that would inflict me

enough that I understood who my friends

were that would afflict me enough that I

started praying differently that would

inflicts me enough that I started

worship differently some people thank

God for what he did and how he blessed

them sometimes I thank God for what he

didn’t do and there were tears streaming

down my face and I was crying and I was

heartbroken but then I waited about six

months and I said you know what God it

was good for me that I was afflicted

because I now I know you’ll never leave

me nor forsake me now I know who’s

really with me and who is against me now

I know what’s on the inside of me now I

trust the gift of God that you’ve placed

on the inside of me and I wouldn’t have

gotten there unless I was afflicted

[Applause]

I says

imma cover you

you weren’t supposed to know it but I’ma

cover you

you weren’t supposed to see your

nakedness as evil but now I gotta get

down on your level of thinking so that I

could grow you up into who I want you to

become if you’re calling it evil I’ma

cover you right here but I’m also going

to make sure that there is a plan that

takes you from the way you think now

into the discovery that your ways are

not my ways and your thoughts are not my

thoughts and so you think it’s evil and

so I’m going to allow you to vent on the

level that you think oh God help me to

say this the way I feel it in my spirit

sometimes God gets down on your level so

that he can speak the language that

you’re speaking I know you’re mad I know

you’re angry I know you’re upset I know

you’re lost and you’re confused if you

think God only speaks on a high level

then you miss out on the whole reason

why we’re here the whole reason why he

got in Mary’s room wrapped himself in

flesh is because sometimes there is a

job that requires I get down on your

level you serve a God who knows how to

get down in depression sometimes we pray

depression away sometimes we say God if

you could meet me in this depression

because it feels like it’s stronger than

me so I need you to Get Down On My Level

to break this thing off of me that is

why God gets down on your level because

sometimes you cannot fight this devil on

your own and while you’re busy trying to

get up God’s trying to get down with you

so that I can help you fight on a level

you didn’t even know was possible so

that I could breathe my words of wisdom

in a way that helps you to understand

that if they left you you didn’t need

them if they walked away let them walk

if they kept on moving so that you could

keep growing sometimes you just gotta

thank God but you gotta allow him to get

down on your level with it

Adam

[Applause]

serves

a God who doesn’t mind

getting down

on his level

Adam

and Eve

are in this Garden

having to distinguish now

between what’s

good

what’s evil

and what’s God

man

and in the process

of them trying to determine the

difference

between what’s good

what’s God and what’s evil

they recognize

that God has the ability

to take

what they are attempting to make good

and teach them and train them

so that it could actually become the

good that he had in mind

isn’t this why he gets upset with Cain

and he says to him why did you kill your

brother did you not know

that if you would have leveled up I know

you thought you had a good sacrifice but

it wasn’t good enough but I’m not just

going to leave you in the area of it not

being good enough God says I’ll also get

down there in there with you and teach

you how to take what you thought was

good and make it better

God knows how to take good

God knows how to take evil

and turn it into good

I had to use the word turn it Pastor

Phil

pointed out something in Genesis 50 and

20.

that we always say the enemy you meant

it for evil but God turned it for good

but that’s not what it says

it says you meant it for evil but God

meant it for good

there were two intentions that were

happening at the same time so when we

say that God turned it it makes it seem

like it did start off evil but then God

turned it around no no Genesis 50 and 20

actually points out that it’s not that

God turned it it’s just all while they

thought it was evil I actually thought

it was good I’m reminded of Jesus on the

cross when he said forgive me Father for

they know not what they do they think

that they’re doing something that’s good

but I actually know that it’s going to

be even better because when you get

finished with it they think it’s evil

but when you get finished they’re going

to see that it was actually good there

is something powerful about knowing that

there are two intentions moving at the

same time and so I want to know Potter’s

House which narrative are you going to

buy into are you going to buy into the

narrative that the Lord that they meant

it for evil and there’s a period on what

they meant for evil and that if God’s

going to change it he’s going to have to

turn it or are you crazy enough to

believe that God doesn’t even have to

turn it that even oh God

I know you mean one thing but God means

another thing so you can keep your

intentions God doesn’t have to change it

you can mean it for evil God still means

it for good you can talk about me all

you want to but God still means it for

good I didn’t have to get the job it

felt like it was evil that I didn’t get

the job but God must submit it for good

it felt like it was tragic that I went

through the breakdown but God meant it

for good I gotta hang on to this truth

that God meant it for good because my

mind is trying to convince me that God

meant it for evil or that God was not in

it at all but I am reminded because of

who he is that he knows how to allow the

wheat and The Tear to grow up at the

same time and it is not until Harper’s

season with a threshing floor will make

the difference the threshing floor is

when we will separate what you meant for

evil my God meant for good you thought I

was going to stumble but God says I’m

going to pick you up you thought it

would kill me but God says I know CPR

you’re right it took me out but he’s got

a resurrecting power you may and for

evil

[Applause]