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Welcome to Northview Church. We're doing something unique this year: exploring the 52 central figures of the Bible over 52 weeks. Many people find the Bible intimidating—it's not a novel but a library of 66 ancient manuscripts from throughout human history all telling the same story. Our story begins in an unconventional way: with a naked couple, mystical fruit, and a talking snake. That's our origin story, and understanding it helps us make sense of why the world is so broken today.
Sin and death entered the world at the very beginning when Adam and Eve rejected God's authority. This wasn't a isolated incident—it fractured all of humanity. We now carry within us a broken spiritual genetic, and we need redemption and a Savior. Biblical literacy is declining rapidly in our culture; many people don't even know who Adam and Eve are. But their story is our story—it explains the heartache, confusion, pain, and trauma we experience today.
We're going to read the entire first chapter of Genesis together. Pay attention to two things:
In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was formless and empty, and darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the spirit of God was hovering over the waters. And God said, "Let there be light." And there was light. And God saw that the light was good. And he separated the light from the darkness.
God creates, separates, and evaluates. Throughout the creation account, He repeatedly separates: light from darkness, day from night, water from water, sea from land, creatures of the sea from creatures of the land from creatures of the air. He draws distinctions. Then on day six, for the first time, He brings two things together—Adam and Eve.
And God said, "Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground. And so God created man in his own image. In the image of God, he created him male and female.
And God blessed them and said to them, "Be fruitful and increase in number. Fill the earth and subdue it."
And God saw all that he had made, and it was very good.
Many people get distracted arguing whether science and faith are compatible. The truth is, most devoted scientists don't view them as enemies. Looking at the world's design—its logic, mathematics, and the finely-tuned systems that sustain life—it's hard not to recognize brilliant design. If gravity or oxygen came off its axle, humanity could cease to exist in moments. The Bible isn't a scientific textbook, but its overarching scientific claim is simple: there is a great designer behind this grand design. That's actually pretty easy to embrace logically.
We often look at Adam and Eve's story and think, "How could they blow it? God gave them every tree on the planet—they just couldn't say no to one." But the issue isn't primarily appetite. It's autonomy.
Adam and Eve wanted to live autonomous lives where they answered to nobody and controlled everything. This is the deepest human rebellion against God. God tells them:
"You can have everything. Just do not eat from this tree, the tree of knowledge of good and evil."
But the enemy shows up and plants suspicion: "Did God really say?" The serpent suggests that God has information He's withholding for His advantage and their expense. They don't trust Him. We want whatever knowledge He has. We want to be like God.
When they eat the fruit, they don't become wise. They don't suddenly understand everything. Instead, they become ashamed. They discover what every human being discovers: we get crushed under the weight of trying to be our own God. Humanity is broken. The windshield splinters. All of history is influenced by this fall.
There's something beautiful and tragic in how God creates. He separates throughout creation—light from darkness, water from land, creatures from each other. But on day six, for the first time, He brings two things together: He creates Eve from Adam's rib.
This matters profoundly. God doesn't take Eve from Adam's head to suggest she's above him, nor from his foot to suggest she's beneath him. He takes her from his rib to show she belongs beside him, under his arm, step by step throughout life's adventure. They begin together as one.
Scripture makes clear that from the very beginning, it started with a wedding. And spoiler alert: it will end with a wedding—the return of Christ the Groom for His bride, the church. But Satan will soon enter the scene with a different agenda: to separate what God has joined together. God moves redemptively toward union; the enemy works to divide. You have to consider the trajectory of your own life: in what direction is it moving?
God sets the table to bring together this beautiful union between a man and a woman, a husband and his wife, his bride. But Satan shows up on the scene with a different agenda: to separate that marriage. Fundamentally, God is redemptively moving towards the establishment and union of these two, while simultaneously an evil wicked one works to divide them.
You must consider the trajectory of your life and ask: in what direction is it moving? Are your relationships moving towards reconciliation, forgiveness, grace, and mercy—or otherwise?
The opening pages of this divinely inspired text repetitively state: "And there was evening and there was morning." Why repeat this statement six times in the first 31 sentences? This matters profoundly.
When does your day begin? Most of us think it begins in the morning—we start our day fresh, come out the gate hot, and then come crashing into bed at night. We move from morning to night. Yet this biblical narrative introduces a different rhythm entirely: days move from evening to morning.
What is it in our human nature that instinctively assumes life moves from better to worse, from light to darkness? We are introduced to a God who functions with a different currency and rhythm. Rather than living from light to darkness, He moves all things from darkness to light. This is the redemptive rhythm.
There's something innately true to God's nature: He is constantly moving everything from darkness to light. You are being introduced to a creative, artistic God who is weaving redemptively through the world in mesmerizing fashion.
God has the knowledge of good and evil. The forbidden tree represents moral authority—not learning new facts, but deciding who gets to define good and evil. We struggle with this same issue to this day. We fight with God and resist His sovereignty because we think we should have the right to define morality ourselves. We believe we should have moral authority.
God sets the stage and gifts them everything in this brilliant, wonderful creation. He says, "I give you everything." Why? They have not done anything. They have not accomplished a single thing.
Why is this important? Because we think dignity comes after duty. This is why we become superstitious and legalistic in our religion—we think our performance secures our right standing with God. We fall into an achieving mentality rather than a receiving one.
You will run around riddled with insecurity and self-doubt, going through identity crises over and over again, until you discover who you are and who made you. Your dignity comes from your great Maker.
However, duty is still part of the equation. In a perfect world where there was no sin, no evil, no wickedness or pain, work still existed. There is something in us—we are marked with the image of God, the fingerprint of heaven. The architect of the universe has put His fingerprints upon our lives. We are creative, functioning, value-adding, productive individuals created on purpose for a purpose.
Young people, hear this: you are created to add value for such a time as this and to function in the redemptive kingdom currency of moving all things from darkness to light, moving all things redemptively towards reconciliation relationally. Your activity comes out of understanding your identity and your Maker. This will be the case for you.
Temptation fundamentally targets trust in God, not merely appetite or desire.
The original sin was an unoriginal sin. God makes His masterpiece and places them at the center of this universe. Yet humanity did not want to be human—they wanted to be God. They wanted to be something other than what they were created to be.
Still to this day, people fall into disruptive and disheartening traps rooted in this desire to be autonomous and to find identity apart from God, to be someone they were not created to be.
God does not show up announcing judgment. They bite the fruit and do not become sages—they become ashamed. They realize, "Oh my goodness, what have we done?" Before God says a single word, they are overwhelmed with shame.
The first symptom, the first sign, the first indicator of sin and death in the world is shame. If you do not understand or develop the ability to discern between conviction and condemnation, you will be overrun with shame and it will divide you from your relationship with God.
God shows up and asks a question: "Where are you?" Does God not know where they are? Absolutely He does. God is trying to get them to self-locate. Where are you right now?
As you enter this new year—2026—you should have targeted focus on your values and priorities. Faith ought to be one of them. If you are going to set goals and look at the trajectory and horizon of your faith journey, you cannot get to where you want to be if you will not accept and acknowledge where you currently are.
God does not run from their mess. He does not wipe the slate clean and start over. Instead, He threads the needle and weaves redemption through Christ Himself into the world. He redeems and restores what they broke. You are learning the God of the Bible: He is creative, artistic, gets His hands dirty, speaks life into existence, and seeks sinners right off the bat.
When God comes to this conversation, Adam says, "It was her." And she says something similar: "It was the snake." Right there, we discover humanity's oldest reflex: blame.
The immediate response of fractured humanity is blameshifting. It is easy to look at people from a distance—Adam and Eve, you idiots—and see brokenness, shortcoming, and foolishness in others. But when it comes to us, self-awareness is difficult. Ownership is difficult. And we place blame.
Blame is a lazy person's way of making sense out of chaos. It reduces things to simple talking points and avoids the work of relationship and the humility required to take ownership of your pitfalls and shortcomings. We all fall.
Ownership is what separates the overwhelmed from the overcomer. If you cannot take any responsibility, if you have no ownership in the matter, then you have no influence in the matter. You are completely powerless, able to do nothing and make no change for the better. But when you take ownership and responsibility, everything changes.
God looks at what sin has done and sees what it will cost to save it. He says, "Okay, I can save it." Immediately, God comes out swinging. He looks at this puny, defiant Lucifer in the eyes and says, "There is coming one who will come from this woman who is going to crush your head with his foot."
The first Adam brought death, but Christ comes as the new Adam bringing life, crushing the head of the serpent, facing death head on on the cross. It amazes me that God goes to such length—all to save His children.
We struggle with the free will idea, failing to recognize that love requires choice. We are not mindless robotic spiritual beings functioning on autopilot. God is not in the business of making robots. He is in the business of raising children.
From the very beginning, the first humans came out and made a huge mistake. They discovered a God who said, "I'll save you." The very first thing you messed everything up, and He says, "I'll save you." Why wouldn't you want to be curious about this God?
The rest of this year is going to be discovering God's ministry: How does He work in the life of broken, fallen, imperfect people? How does He continue to accomplish redemption? How do we anchor our lives to hope? How do we move from evening to morning, from darkness to light? How do we live as ambassadors of the kingdom, bringing about reconciliation in the world? It is all going to be throughout this study.
