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The Tree that Gives the Knowledge of Good and Evil - The Book of Genesis · Bible in a Year with Jack Graham

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  Speaker 1: Let us pray. For God doth know that in the
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  Speaker 1: day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened,
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  Speaker 1: and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.
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  Speaker 1: Genesis 3.5 Dear God, as I focus on today, I
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  Speaker 1: come against any lie of the serpent, the devil, that
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  Speaker 1: would cause me to believe that you are withholding something
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  Speaker 1: from me. Today I will make the conscious decision to
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  Speaker 1: live in critical obedience to you and to your word, Lord.
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  Speaker 1: I will not allow pride to fracture my relationship with you.
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  Speaker 1: I will not allow myself to go along with the
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  Speaker 1: lies that I can be my own God and make
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  Speaker 1: decisions apart from you. I decree and declare that even
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  Speaker 1: though I've made mistakes, I will be quick to run
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  Speaker 1: to you, God, and ask for forgiveness. Because I know,
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  Speaker 1: like how you covered Adam and Eve in Genesis chapter
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  Speaker 1: 2 and 3 in their lowest moment, you sent your Son, Jesus,
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  Speaker 1: to cover me in my lowest moments. Glory to God,
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  Speaker 1: that even when I feel the weight of my bad decisions,
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  Speaker 1: your presence is always with me and will always provide
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  Speaker 1: a way of comfort for my heart. In Jesus' name, amen.
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  Speaker 1: Thank you for making prayer a priority in your day.
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  Speaker 1: To learn more about the Bible, stay tuned for today's story.
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  Speaker 1: Brought to you by BibleInAYear.com.
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  Speaker 2: The tree that gives the knowledge of good and evil.
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  Speaker 2: Before this story, we learned about the creation of Adam
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  Speaker 2: and Eve. They lived together with God, cared for the land,
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  Speaker 2: and experienced great joy. Yet there was still a choice
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  Speaker 2: God gave them. Now we will learn more about that choice,
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  Speaker 2: the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge
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  Speaker 2: of good and evil, and Adam and Eve's temptation to
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  Speaker 2: choose against God, inspired by the book of Genesis.
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  Speaker 3: Hello, I'm Pastor Jack Graham with today's episode of the
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  Speaker 3: Bible in a Year podcast. Today we are once again
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  Speaker 3: in the Garden of Eden. God's work of creation has
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  Speaker 3: culminated in the very first wedding. Adam and Eve are together,
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  Speaker 3: naked and without shame before each other and before God.
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  Speaker 3: I think because of the effects of sin, you and
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  Speaker 3: I can't fully comprehend just how amazing life was in
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  Speaker 3: the Garden for Adam and Eve. God walked with them.
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  Speaker 3: And after all, It was his world that he made
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  Speaker 3: to enjoy with his creation, Adam and Eve and God
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  Speaker 3: in the garden together. That was all about to change, though.
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  Speaker 3: Today's story is about deception, bad choices, broken relationships. It
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  Speaker 3: all starts when a fourth character enters the scene, a
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  Speaker 3: serpent bent on ruining what God had made. God spoke
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  Speaker 3: life and truth. The serpent spoke lies and death. His
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  Speaker 3: target was none other than God's greatest creation, mankind. You
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  Speaker 3: remember the choice Adam was given by God? Two trees.
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  Speaker 3: One gave everything good, eternal life. The other, death. Adam
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  Speaker 3: and Eve knew the rules. They were free to eat
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  Speaker 3: of any tree except for that one. But the serpent,
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  Speaker 3: the enemy, the devil, wedged himself into their minds, casting
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  Speaker 3: doubt on God. Listen today to how the devil used
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  Speaker 3: doubt and pride to tempt Adam and Eve to sin.
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  Speaker 3: The choice was ultimately theirs, but he nudged them in
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  Speaker 3: that direction. The results were nothing short of catastrophic, and
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  Speaker 3: they reverberate through your own life to this very day.
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  Speaker 3: Let's hear now from Genesis 3.
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  Speaker 2: Adam and Eve lived naked with one another in the garden.
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  Speaker 2: There was no need to feel ashamed of anything. Since
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  Speaker 2: their hearts had not been exposed to evil, they lived
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  Speaker 2: together in spiritual, emotional, and physical bliss, and they were
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  Speaker 2: close to God. Yet in the garden, there was a
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  Speaker 2: lurking evil in the form.
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  Speaker 1: Of a serpent.
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  Speaker 2: He was crafty, and a deceitful messenger determined to lure
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  Speaker 2: man away from God's loving presence. While God spoke life
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  Speaker 2: into existence, the serpent spoke death. his words directed towards
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  Speaker 2: Eve trying to twist and deceive. He approached her saying,
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  Speaker 2: Did God really say you could not eat from any
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  Speaker 2: tree in the garden? Eve replied, We may eat of
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  Speaker 2: the fruit of the trees in the garden. However, God
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  Speaker 2: instructed us not to eat of the fruit of the
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  Speaker 2: tree of good and evil, nor shall we touch it,
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  Speaker 2: lest we die. The serpent, knowing that pride was the
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  Speaker 2: path away from God, said, You will not surely die.
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  Speaker 2: God knows that when you eat of it, your eyes
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  Speaker 2: will be opened and you will be like him, knowing
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  Speaker 2: all good and evil. This enticed Eve and has enticed
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  Speaker 2: humanity for all generations after her. The possibility of being
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  Speaker 2: our own gods has directed the path of evil for
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  Speaker 2: thousands of years. Eve, filled with a deep curiosity and
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  Speaker 2: desire to be like God herself, ate the fruit. She
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  Speaker 2: did this with Adam beside her. She looked to Adam,
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  Speaker 2: the man supposed to care for her heart, and gave
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  Speaker 2: him the fruit also. Adam saw the fruit and saw
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  Speaker 2: that it was good to eat, so he ate it too.
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  Speaker 2: By eating the fruit, they sacrificed eternal intimacy with the
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  Speaker 2: one who had breathed life into them. At this moment,
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  Speaker 2: the relationship humanity had with God was fractured. Their eyes
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  Speaker 2: were opened to the existence of evil, and their hearts
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  Speaker 2: were exposed to sin and the shame it caused. No
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  Speaker 2: longer cloaked with God's righteousness, Adam and Eve saw their
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  Speaker 2: nakedness for the first time and were ashamed. Their physical
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  Speaker 2: nakedness represented a deep spiritual nakedness. They desperately looked to
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  Speaker 2: cover themselves up with leaves, although no clothes would ever
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  Speaker 2: cover their true shame. God was walking through the quiet
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  Speaker 2: of the garden. Adam and Eve heard him and immediately
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  Speaker 2: hid themselves. God, knowing full well what had happened, called out, Adam,
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  Speaker 2: where are you? Adam replied, Here I am. I am
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  Speaker 2: naked and afraid for you to see me. Adam's fear
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  Speaker 2: of being seen naked revealed a much deeper separation between
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  Speaker 2: him and God. God, with both intense anger and loving compassion, said,
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  Speaker 2: Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten
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  Speaker 2: of the tree I commanded you not to eat? Adam
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  Speaker 2: fell deeper and deeper into his own shame and tragedy.
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  Speaker 2: He pointed towards Eve, his companion, and the woman he
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  Speaker 2: was meant to love and protect, and threw blame towards her.
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  Speaker 2: The woman you gave me, she gave me the fruit.
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  Speaker 2: Eve was falling into the same self-loathing and pride. And
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  Speaker 2: now left alone by her husband, she pointed to the
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  Speaker 2: serpent and said, The serpent deceived me, and I ate.
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  Speaker 2: God looked to the serpent and said, Because of this
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  Speaker 2: you are cursed to crawl and eat dust for the
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  Speaker 2: rest of your days. One day I will make things right,
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  Speaker 2: and a son of Eve will come, and you will
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  Speaker 2: bruise his heel, but he will crush your head. This
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  Speaker 2: would be the foreshadowing of Jesus saying, coming to put
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  Speaker 2: an end to evil on the cross. Then God turned
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  Speaker 2: to Adam and Eve, lamenting their choice to live as
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  Speaker 2: their own gods. Their choice would not come without consequences.
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  Speaker 2: God said to Eve, The blessing life will not come
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  Speaker 2: without struggle, and childbirth will come with great pain. You
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  Speaker 2: will also struggle continually with your husband and resent his
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  Speaker 2: leadership over you. He then turned to Adam. Because you
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  Speaker 2: listened to your wife and ate from the tree I
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  Speaker 2: commanded you not to. Cursed is the ground that you
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  Speaker 2: work on. You will have to work every day for
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  Speaker 2: the rest of your life to earn your food. By
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  Speaker 2: the sweat of your face you shall eat bread until
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  Speaker 2: you die, for you are dust, and to dust you
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  Speaker 2: shall return. Adam and Eve's unity with God was fractured.
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  Speaker 2: Their knowledge of evil caused their hearts and their bodies
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  Speaker 2: to feel pain. Yet even in their disobedience, God's love
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  Speaker 2: for them remained, and would always remain. He killed an
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  Speaker 2: animal and made clothes for them. An innocent life was
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  Speaker 2: taken so they could be warm and feel safe again.
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  Speaker 2: This would be an image used for the rest of history.
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  Speaker 2: God cast Adam and Eve from the Garden of Eden.
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  Speaker 2: and put an angel with a fiery sword to keep
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  Speaker 2: them away from the tree of life forever. But God's
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  Speaker 2: story to love.
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  Speaker 1: People is not over.
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  Speaker 2: He would remain with them, and the story of redemption
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  Speaker 2: would begin to unfold before their eyes.
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  Speaker 3: Doubt and pride. Those are the most powerful weapons the
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  Speaker 3: crafty serpent used to fracture the perfect relationship God had
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  Speaker 3: with his creation. In one fell swoop, he got humanity
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  Speaker 3: to question God's word and to desire to be equal
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  Speaker 3: to God. Listen to what Genesis 3, 4, and 5 says.
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  Speaker 3: The serpent said to the woman, you certainly will not die.
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  Speaker 3: For God knows that on the day you eat from it,
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  Speaker 3: your eyes will be opened and you will become like God,
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  Speaker 3: knowing good and evil. He's saying, there's no way God
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  Speaker 3: told you the truth, right? You won't die from eating
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  Speaker 3: that fruit. There's the doubt. Satan still uses that tactic today.
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  Speaker 3: How many problems are we facing because we don't take
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  Speaker 3: God at his word? Too many to count. But then
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  Speaker 3: he takes it another step further. He entices them with
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  Speaker 3: a lie that he himself believed and that got him
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  Speaker 3: removed from paradise, from heaven. You will be like God.
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  Speaker 3: So now the serpent is tempting Adam and Eve, the creation,
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  Speaker 3: to want equality with the creator. He knows this won't work.
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  Speaker 3: He knows what will happen. And it does happen. But
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  Speaker 3: there's one more thing I want you to notice here.
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  Speaker 3: Remember that up until now, Adam and Eve have only
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  Speaker 3: known good and very good. They already had that in
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  Speaker 3: heart and in hand. So when the devil offers them
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  Speaker 3: the opportunity to know good and evil, what he was
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  Speaker 3: really offering is evil. That's what they don't know yet.
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  Speaker 3: This is an important lesson for you and me. God
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  Speaker 3: already gives us every good and perfect thing. Sin and
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  Speaker 3: Satan tries to tell us that there is more good
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  Speaker 3: to be had, but all we are really getting is evil.
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  Speaker 3: Adam and Eve take the bait, eat the fruit, and
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  Speaker 3: sever the relationship with God. Now they have knowledge of evil.
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  Speaker 3: The freedom from shame, it is no more. They are
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  Speaker 3: naked and ashamed and afraid and aware that they've really
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  Speaker 3: messed up. So they hide from God, but it's all futile.
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  Speaker 3: God knows what they've done, and now it's time to
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  Speaker 3: pay the price. He confronts them, and we see two
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  Speaker 3: relationships broken between God and mankind and within mankind itself.
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  Speaker 3: Adam and Eve. Two parts of one flesh blame each
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  Speaker 3: other and blame God. They simply cannot remain in the
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  Speaker 3: garden eating from the tree of life. For you see, death,
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  Speaker 3: though tragic, is ultimately a gift because it is how
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  Speaker 3: they will once again be fully restored to fellowship with God.
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  Speaker 3: Were they to stay in the garden, they would suffer
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  Speaker 3: eternal separation. As the story ends, Adam and Eve are
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  Speaker 3: going to face the harsh reality of life outside the gardens.
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  Speaker 3: of toil and trouble, of sweat and tears. This was
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  Speaker 3: never God's heart for them, but He does not abandon
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  Speaker 3: them in the consequences of their sin. Ever the loving Father,
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  Speaker 3: God first clothes them. And this requires a blood sacrifice,
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  Speaker 3: the death of an animal. It's only a temporary covering,
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  Speaker 3: but it foreshadows the ultimate sacrifice Christ would one day make.
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  Speaker 3: Dear Heavenly Father, Thank you that despite our sin and
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  Speaker 3: rejection of you, you have provided a sacrifice to cover us,
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  Speaker 3: the blood of your son, Jesus. Thank you for this
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  Speaker 3: passage today and how it shows us the tactics of
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  Speaker 3: the enemy, those that he would use to cause us
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  Speaker 3: to sin and to stumble. Help us always to trust
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  Speaker 3: in you and your word. In Jesus' name, amen. Thank
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  Speaker 3: you for listening to today's Bible in a Year podcast.
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  Speaker 3: I'm Pastor Jack Graham from Dallas, Texas. Download the Pray.com
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