Video Transcript: The Fall

David - This session may be, I think, probably the most humbling session in this  whole picture, because this is where we just come face to face with our sin  before a holy God. So we go from one extreme to the other. Genesis 1-2 this  grand picture of God, His love for us creating us in his image, and then our  rebellion against Him and, and to really make sure that as you're looking through Genesis 3 is you're leading somebody else, look through Genesis 3-11. This is a mirror of our own hearts, of our own tendencies. And this is where, where we  really come face to face with our sinfulness and with the effects of sin in a fallen  world and, and the way that plays out in this disciple making relationship just  can go in all kinds of different directions.  

Francis - Yeah, because sometimes we read the story of Adam and Eve and the  serpent and, and we almost separate ourselves from it. And we don't realize that Satan still speaks to us today, he still gets thoughts in our heads, you know, we  

get these different lies that we're told that ultimately originate from the evil one.  And for you, even even you, as the leader, us as leaders having been Christians for a while to say, look, those thoughts still get in my head, you know, he's still  deceiving me and, and to even talk about what are some of the lies, and I'm  starting to believe,  

David - and that is so key, because most often, I think we have a tendency to  look at sin as behavioral issue, which it is, in some sense, but there's a route  going on here like that, yes, they ate a piece of fruit, that was disobedient. But at the core, they were believing that God is not good, that he is not, he doesn't  know what's best for them. And so when you're walking through in a discipling  relationship with somebody, and they're struggling with a particular sin, which we need to talk about how to make sure that's a clear part of this relationship, being honest about those things. But when we're honest about those things, that we  don't just talk about, okay? How can we address the behavior to really dig deep  and say, well, what's the, what's the belief problem here? What are the things  that you're believing the lies that you're believing that are leading you to sin in  these ways, otherwise, we're just putting band aids on broken limbs?  

Francis - Yeah. Because when you look at the heart of, of Eve, at that moment,  it's not just that she ate of this fruit, but Satan was trying to get her to act  independently of God, like, you know, which is a temptation for all of us, we want control of our lives, this whole idea of, he's the creator, I was created for him, we try to take that away from him and go, No, I'm gonna do this. And those are  thoughts that again, at the core of our being, it's, it's, it's evil. And it's like, Lord,  take that away from me, I want to submit to you, I want to be and the other thing, though, too, about this lesson about the fall is I know that some people are just  angry with something from the past, and have blamed God, well, why did God 

let this happen? And I just know, when I understood the fall, it helped me go,  okay, so this is part of living in a broken world, and in a world that's under the  curse, these things are going to happen, rather than saying, oh, there must not  be a God. Because some bad things happen to me, the curse kind of opened  my eyes. And so you may, you may be, you know, talking to your disciple, and,  and bring some of those things out, you know, make sure that we, we deal with  those things, again, with sin issues to, again, be the leader, even in confession. I just remember there have been times in my life when someone I admired so  much was honest with me and said, I blew it in this area. And, and not that it  makes you feel better, like but almost the sense of, okay, almost let your guard  down. Okay, let me be honest, because sometimes discipleship relations can  get very fake, and surfacey. And we try to give the right answer. And so for you  to open it up, honestly, I mean, the Bible commands us confess your sins to one  another. And you've got to model that for the person you're leading. And I know  that I think in our human mind, we think no, no, let me hide that. Let me pretend  it's not there, because I want this person to respect me. But then then you just  living a lie. 

David - Absolutely. So clearly, practically, there's so much to be explored here.  This is so much more than just a Bible study. And that's true for all of this. But as as you walk through these issues with with a person or a small group of people,  

spend time with confessing sin, you lead the way in that just like Francis was  just saying, to lead the way in that or confessing struggles, here's where I've  been angry with God or, or had had struggles because of the effects of fallen  

world in my life, and then tease that out in all kinds of different ways. and other  people's lives that you're walking through this with and just make sure that none  of this just stays at the surface. This has got to go to the core issues of our  hearts and our minds. This is disciple making mustn't just just stay up here in  this, okay, we're walking through a Bible passage together, that's what we do  know we're, we're walking through struggles with sin.  

Francis - And I would say as your as you do that, don't just leave it with, okay, I  blew it, I blew it. Because you've been in relationships like like that. It's it's  reminding the other person, okay, you've got power over this though the  reminding them of the power of the Holy Spirit, and not with every temptation,  there was a way of escape, you could have escaped it. Because you don't want  to just get in this mode of confession without reminding them of the power that's  in them. And so close that way of, hey, we're going to repent, we're going to walk away from this, because we have power  

David - all in the grace of God and just to remind them, by grace, through faith,  you are righteous before God, clothed in the righteousness of Christ just to 

leave, leave there. So now with the power that is in us in Christ, let's live this  out. So by God's grace, there's no condemnation for those who are in Christ  Jesus. So keep hammering that home, especially for well as you spend time in  us about sin. Spend time just rejoicing in salvation.