Sermon Notes - April 14, 2024

Back to Eden // Abiding in Joy
Pastor Chris Pletcher

Genesis 2:1-9
The Lord God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature. 8 And the Lord God planted a garden in Eden, in the east, and there he put the man whom he had formed. 9 And out of the ground the Lord God made to spring up every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. The tree of life was in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

Eden = pleasure, delight
The root word is ʿāḏan (aw-dan'), which means "to delight yourself, to luxuriate, to live in a soft, comfortable and pleasant manner"

Putting man in EDEN was God's idea. Eden was a pleasant place where God dwelt with man, and where man enjoyed the great goodness of God. From Eden, man was supposed to be fruitful, multiply, and take dominion of the earth as God’s image-bearing representatives. But as we see in Genesis 3, life outside of God's presence gets hard fast.

BUT GOD HIMSELF STEPPED INTO HISTORY TO FIX WHAT ADAM BROKE. JESUS RE-OPENED THE DOOR TO EDEN.

1 Corinthians 15:21-22
For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. 22 For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive. 

It must be said at the outset that the ability to go “Back to Eden” requires a supernatural miracle that can only be accessed by FAITH in Jesus Christ.

John 3:3-5
Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.”4 Nicodemus said to him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born?” 5 Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.

John 3:16-21
“For God so loved the world,[i] that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. 18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. 19 And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. 20 For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed. 21 But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God.”

NEW Covenant
NEW Birth
NEW Heart
NEW Creation
NEWNESS of Life

John 15:1-11
“I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser.2 Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit. 3 Already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you. 4 Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. 

5 I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. 6 If anyone does not abide in me he is thrown away like a branch and withers; and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned. 7 If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. 8 By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples. 

9 As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father's commandments and abide in his love. These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.

3 Keys to Abiding in God's Love

1. Obedience // Romans 6:12-18

1. Remember what broke Eden? Disobedience. Eden cannot be restored unless obedience is restored.

2. Many think that GRACE means a free pass to keep sinning. It is the opposite actually… it is the EMPOWERMENT to obey! The Good News of the New Heart is that it has been set free to obey God.

2. Worship // "Enter His gates with thanks and praise; come into His presence with singing." Psalm 100

1. Enter with song

   1. Singing is a primary joy pathway for every single child of God… of course the enemy would never want you to discover this, because he wants to steal your joy so that he can spoil your fruit. 

   2. Practically…

      1. Take risks in your worship journey! Take baby steps into greater freedom.

      2. Don't judge how others worship... that is the #1 way to kill your own enjoyment of God. 

2. Discover the ways that you are uniquely wired to ENCOUNTER HIM. 

1. Adoration, Creation, Fasting, Solitude, Expression, Conversation, Learning, Movement, Meditation, Compassion, Reformation, Remembrance

2. "Sacred Pathways" is a great resource.

3. SOLITUDE is particularly important in our noisy and over-connected world right now. Jesus regularly slipped away from the noise and the demands of ministry.

3. Sabbath // Exodus 31:12-17

1. God Himself rested on the 7th day and was REFRESHED. It means that He INHALED. After 6 days of speaking/creating, HE TOOK A DEEP BREATH.

2. Sabbath just might be an act of holy rebellion in this valley so driven by performance. Some of us need to eject from exhaustion by committing to a regular Sabbath.

Romans 6:12-18
Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions. 13 Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness. 14 For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace.

15 What then? Are we to sin because we are not under law but under grace? By no means! 16 Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness? 17 But thanks be to God, that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed, 18 and, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness.

Psalm 100
”Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth! Serve the Lord with gladness! Come into his presence with singing! Know that the Lord, he is God!It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture. Enter his gates with thanksgiving, and his courts with praise! Give thanks to him; bless his name! For the Lord is good; his steadfast love endures forever, and his faithfulness to all generations.”

Exodus 31:12-17
And the Lord said to Moses, 13 “You are to speak to the people of Israel and say, ‘Above all you shall keep my Sabbaths, for this is a sign between me and you throughout your generations, that you may know that I, the Lord, sanctify you. 14 You shall keep the Sabbath, because it is holy for you. Everyone who profanes it shall be put to death. Whoever does any work on it, that soul shall be cut off from among his people. 15 Six days shall work be done, but the seventh day is a Sabbath of solemn rest, holy to the Lord. Whoever does any work on the Sabbath day shall be put to death. 16 Therefore the people of Israel shall keep the Sabbath, observing the Sabbath throughout their generations, as a covenant forever. 17 It is a sign forever between me and the people of Israel that in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day he rested and was refreshed.’”

Here's the point... We are ORDERING OUR LIVES SO THAT WE CAN ABIDE. This will not come easy because Jesus left us IN THE WORLD but not OF THE WORLD. So this will require an intentional re-arranging of your life... and re-directing of your pursuit of pleasure.