Audio Tapes # 27 & 28 - April 30 & May 7, 2000         (Notes Updated ..... May 12, 2000)

Zoo Creation Tours available on request for Homeschool groups, churches, etc..

Review: (Gen 1-3:1) Creation See the notes on the Web

Genesis 3 Previous Outline points:
I. The Serpent (Gen 3:1 a)    
II. The Seducer's First Ploy (Gen 3:1 b)
III. The Woman's Deception (Gen 3:2-3)
IV. Denying God & His God's Word
      A. Denying Death (Gen 3:4) "You will not_______"
      B. Denying the Only Deity (Gen 3:5) "You will be _______"
V. Temptation in 3-D (Gen 3:6)
VI. Disordered Families Become Dysfunctional (Gen 3:7-8)

The Text: Genesis 3:9-14a (Strong's #'s in parentheses)
9 Then the Lord God called to Adam and said to him, “Where are you?” 10 So he said, “I heard Your voice in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; and I hid myself.” 11 And He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you that you should not eat?” 12 Then the man said, “The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I ate.” 13 And the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?” The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.” 14 So the Lord God said to the serpent: . . . . . "

Exposition and Commentary -

VII. The Father's Parenting Principles: (Gen 3:9 - 14a)
     (It's was like talking to a two year old. And we're the same!)
A. Personal Example: "Sid, where are you?"

When I was about 15, I lied to my parents and told them I was going to use the car and go camping and target shooting with my friend. Actually I was planning to join a huge group of hippies at an all night "field party". I brought my rifle with me to convince my Dad of my story.

The party was wild, with lots of drugs and drinking, and one older, 20 something, guy on LSD took my rifle and spent most of the night pointing it at everyone. I was terrified and began to wish I'd obeyed my Father.

Finally at about 3 AM most of the people had either passed out or gone into town to the bars. I just lay there with my friend, afraid that the nut on LSD might wake up. All of a sudden I heard a voice way off in the distance calling, "Sid, Sid, where are you?". It was my Father, who'd been called by the police when they found our car parked near the woods and traced the license plate.

When I heard my Father's voice, part of me wanted to hide and part of me wanted to be rescued. I waited and worried as he kept calling. Then I answered him just like Adam, with a long litany of twisted excuses, blaming everyone except myself. But in my heart, his question made me confront myself. I kept asking myself, "Where am I in relationship to God and others?" "Why do I think and do the things I do, even though they cause me trouble?"

Just like God the Father, my Dad took the initiative to come after me, and to rescue me from my own foolish, sinful heart. His questions were a mirror for my soul. Later, I had to face a lot of consequences, which my Dad applied in love (Heb 12). They were necessary, but I continued to rebel until I'd nearly ruined my life by my mid-twenties. Dad's loving consequences helped to keep me from doing some of the things my other friends did in the years to come. Some of my friends went to Angola Prison, and others to area jails, partially because their parents failed to teach them that you will reap what you sow. They thought they'd get away with stuff, because they always had growing up. Sadly today, even most Christian parents now practice the passive parenting principles of the world's psychological philosophies, instead of God the Father's Parenting Principles.

B. God's Word Confronts & Corrects / Man's Heart Shifts the Blame 
  1. Parents Must Exercise Delegated Authority -

- Exo 18:19 God chose to call out and know Abram, "in order that " Abraham would "command" his children and his children's children to submmisively follow God's Word. This verse is a cornerstone key to God the Father's parenting principles.
- Parents represent the delegated authority of God the Father, through Jesus the Son. Parenting is not a democracy. But in modern times, as 2 Tim 3-4 prophesied, family anarchy is the character of most homes.

  2. How Did God Handle His Rebellious Children?
       (Practical Problem Solving)

    a. God's Purpose = To reproduce His mature character in His children.

    b. Man's Problem = Loving self above God and neighbor.
        (Blame shifting instead of accepting personal responsibility)
        (The right response is hypotasso faith, confessing, repenting, and obedience)

    c. God's Plan = A Person, not a Program. His plan is Himself through His Son.

- First, God called them to attention. Throughout Scripture, this principle is repeated (Exo 3; 1 Sam 3:4; Prov 1-8; Rom 8:28-29).
- Second, God asked questions to get them to examine their countenance, behavior, and especially the heart attitudes at the root of the "dysfunctional" symptoms. Remember, it's "disorder" that produces dysfunction. Rebellion out from under God's order of authority is the root etiology.
(Gen 4; Jonah 4; Heb 4:12 - Questions can serve as a spiritual heart test).
- Third, God trained them toward maturity in the image of God the Son. (Eph 4:11-15; Gal 2:20; 4:19; 5:22-25)

2 Tim 3:15-17   God's Word Confronts and Corrects Character (TCCT):

Teaches - eat from all the trees except the one in the middle.
Convicts - Where are you? Who told you you were naked? Have you eaten ....?
Corrects - As we'll see in our study of vv. 15 and following, even the curse on creation (Rom 8) was corrective and redemptive (Heb 12), in order to bring man to a recognition of his need for God. (See my little boy, Michael's, answer to the big question of why there is suffering - six heart surgeries - Southern Medical Association message).
Trains - in Righteousness, that the man of God may be mature, thoroughly equipped for every good work.

Socialization into the Image of The Father's Son!

Show Them - the Father's face by modeling.

Know Them - no cookie cutter parenting

Grow Them - up to maturity, not across a stagnant pool of peer ingnorance.

 

 

 

 (see "Child Training" article for more details)

1. Rules - Teach them what is expected.
2. Consequences - Explain the rewards & punishments. Eph 6:1-3 "with a promise".
3. Command - Give it once, quietly. Don't yell or count to ten.
4. Apply - Consistently & sufficiently apply the consequences you promised.
5. Overcome - You as God's representative must win when challenged.
6. Praise - Reconcile like the prodigal's Father, when the child finally repents.
7. Rest - To the degree that you apply God's parenting principles, to that degree you will experience peaceful harmony in your home.