February 12, 2023 / Finding God in Chaos / Finding God in a Chaotic World

Welcome to Walk in the Truth podcast. How do we know where to find answers to the toughest

questions in life? While the simplest answer is the Bible, where do we start this search

and how do we discover this truth? Today, in this teaching podcast, John Metter, lead pastor

of Cross City Church, takes a specific text of the Bible and helps us find truth for the

life we're searching for. Well, I'm so happy to be back in the book of Genesis today and

if you'll take your Bibles and turn to that very first book of the Bible, Genesis chapter

four, is where we're going to be, Finding God in a Chaotic World is the title of our

message. And we'll be walking through Genesis four through chapter 11 over the next few

weeks leading up to Easter and I think you might have heard last week if you were here,

a number of times the statement was made. If you're looking for answers for life's questions,

begin in Genesis chapter one through 11. And I really believe that with all my heart because

there you have God's creative revelation. He's telling us everything we need to know

in those first few chapters of the book of Genesis. So Genesis chapter four, beginning

in verse one today, as we begin, let me just ask you to imagine a highway for life, a highway

for life. And imagine for a moment that that highway for life has two choices on it. One

way is what we would call a narrow way. It's guarded by guardrails. It's very paved. It's

strong and solid and stable. It's got signs along the way. It's got lights on this roadway

so that no matter whether it's day or night you see the place that you're going. It even

has rest stops that you need along the way. It's got a map. It actually has an active

guide to take you as you go down this highway. That's one road. Then I want you to also imagine

a different road, an exit off this main road, this narrow road. We would call this a broad

road. And no matter where you are, you can get off the main road and get on this broad

road. Now this broad road is very different from the main road, the narrow road. The broad

road is not paved. It's not solid. You're not sure what you're going to have on the

other side of the hill that you're heading for. It's not lit up. It has no lights. It

has no signs, no maps, no guides. And you don't know where you'll end up if you take

that road. In a very real way, Genesis chapter four is about the story of two roads. One

is one that God has given us. It's lit. It's paved. It's predictable. It's clear. It has

guardrails and you know where you'll end up. But the other road is the road that anyone

can choose to go on and it can lead almost anywhere. When you read your Bible, Genesis

chapter one and two, it's an amazing picture of God's creation and the beauty of His creation,

the clarity, the power of His creation, the power of who He is, and the amazing provision

that He gives us in those two chapters is just incredible. Seven day creation, God is

at work every day. He speaks and things come into existence and they still go as they went

when He created the heavens and the earth. Now Genesis three is the picture of the fall

of mankind. Adam and Eve are in the garden and they make choices that God has forbidden

them to make and temptation takes place and sin takes place and they step off the highway

that God has built for them. God comes and finds them in the garden and makes provision

for that sin and brings them back to a place close to Him. But Genesis chapter four is

the chaos man creates as a result of getting off the road and continuing their own way.

Genesis chapter four is that broad road. Genesis chapter four is a group of people that move

in a different direction from the direction God has given them and you begin in chapter

four saying this road that ends in catastrophe and that many are still on. It's really the

story of Cain and Abel and the choices they make and how they worship God and how they

even came about. What you stand with me as we read Genesis chapter four, I'm gonna read

16 verses there. Now the man that would be Adam had relations with his wife Eve and she

conceived and gave birth to Cain and she said I've gotten a man child with the help of the

Lord and we're gonna spend some time in verse one in a bit. Verse two again she gave birth

to his brother Abel and Abel was a keeper of the flocks but Cain was a teller of the

ground. So it came about in the course of time that Cain brought an offering to the

Lord of the fruit of the ground. Abel on his part also brought of the firstlings of his

flock and their fat portion and the Lord had regard for Abel and his offering but for Cain

and for his offering he had no regard. So Cain became very angry and his countenance

fell. Then the Lord said to Cain why are you angry and why has your countenance fallen?

If you do well will not your countenance be lifted up and if you do not do well sin is

crashing at the door and its desire is for you but you must master it. Cain told Abel

his brother and it came about when they were in the field that Cain rose up against Abel

his brother and killed him. The Lord said to Cain where is Abel your brother and he

said I do not know am I my brother's keeper? He said what have you done? The voice of your

brother's blood is crying to me from the ground now you are cursed from the ground which has

opened his mouth to receive your brother's blood from your hand. When you cultivate the

ground it will no longer yield its strength to you you will be a vagrant and wanderer

on the earth. Cain said to the Lord my punishment is too great to bear behold you've driven

me this day from the face of the ground and from your face I will be hidden and I will

be a vagrant and wanderer on the earth and whoever finds me will kill me. So the Lord

said to him whoever therefore kills Cain vengeance will be taken on him sevenfold and the Lord

appointed a sign for Cain so that no one finding him would slay him. Then Cain went out from

the presence of the Lord and settled in the land of Nod east of Eden. Father in Jesus

name illuminate this for us such an important part of this very first family and the directions

they took help us be warned and encouraged about the right way we should go and we ask

this in Jesus name. All God's people said amen be seated if you would. Well there's

so many verses here it won't be possible for us to really cover all of these the way

we would like to but it is possible to hit the high points in this story in this text

because it really is such an important thing. In this room today are two different kinds

of people. There are the people who embrace what God says in Genesis chapter one through

chapter eleven and who find answers and clarity for the reality of life in those answers.

There are those that are coming at worship in a different way who have their own ideas

their own thoughts and they're part of that broad way that we spoke of just a moment ago.

But what I want you to do today I want you to know that God makes it possible for us

to find him in even the darkest of situations. He makes it possible for us to find him in

true history and in true worship. Those two things are the priorities today. And when

I say true history I'm talking about the history of the creation of the world. You're going

to find some things out today about how important it is to understand and to lean into the creation

of the history of the world as we have this account from God that I bet you've never heard

before. There's some things that I'll say today that I did not know until this past

week some interesting insights and some important things that we have to hold on to. I want

to encourage you today to lean into the creation account that God gives us in Genesis chapter

one all the way through chapter eleven because the fluidity we have in this world today and

the absence of absolute truth and the morality that has gone in a different direction are

the result of not leaning into and leaning on what God says took place in Genesis chapter

one through chapter eleven. We're even going to see how Abel and Cain have a different

view of how God created it even then at that time. I also want to say this I think it's

very important for us to acknowledge that the majority view in populations today about

creation is not biblical creation. It is not God as creator but the majority view the view

that more people have than any other category is the view that evolution has taken place

that God is not required to bring about the world that we have today and all kinds of

philosophies and theories about how it came into being are the majority view today. What

that means is that among us the people of the church of Jesus Christ we must get behind

and encourage especially our younger generation to find their answers in the book of Genesis

and to be equipped to have conversations with those that do not believe as we believe but

have conversations in a persuasive loving way with our culture because we are outnumbered

in what we believe versus those who believe in a very very different way. So let's go

to Genesis for just a few moments and see what we can find out about key questions about

how to find God in chaos and where to find him and how to be able to defend that. Number

one this text tells us that you can find God in history and when I say history I mean true

history. The history of creating and framing the world that we live in by the creator God

who at the end of chapter two and at the end of all these creative acts said not only was

it good but he said it was very good. And one of the biggest battles we face today is

the battle for the truth about true history about this creative history and nowhere is

it more evident than the issue of creation itself. The questions that our culture is

asking today is did God really create the heavens and the earth or did they come about

by evolution a big bang theory and some other things that created the world that we have

today or is it some mix of the two? Is there a God who somehow allowed evolution to make

it take place so that it all happened but also science is right as well? And I just

need to tell you today that science will position itself against the God of creation and the

revelation of scripture. You're going to have to make a choice because when you blend those

two the Bible becomes impossible to truly understand if you're really trying to read

in evolution to the creation account there's no way you can see exactly what God is saying

and what he is doing and what he has for us. It's so important for us to come to the place

of leaning in on what God said. Now the Bible, God's word was written so that we might have

an accurate history of the world from the beginning and to believe in the God who created

it. I'm going to link those two truths together today in a very very important way because

the Bible helps us to understand how God created but he also helps us to understand that he

created the heavens and the earth so that we can not only worship him for all of his

power and all that he did but we can see why and how he did all this and how we then interact

with people around us. I have to tell you that atheist and scientist and others who

want to create doubt about the historical record of creation have not succeeded in eradicating

the creation account. All they've succeeded in doing is creating skepticism and doubt

among those that wrap their minds around that. But if you buy into the man-made view of the

creation of the world you'll struggle to find God in it. In fact you'll struggle to find

God anywhere. If God didn't create heavens and the earth then what right would he have

to interfere or to intervene into it? If life is not about God's purpose and plan then where

do you find a purpose and plan in life? If there is no meaningful reason why things that

are difficult happen to us then everything is chance. Nothing is worth living for. You're

going to find it difficult to worship a God, the God of creation if you don't lean into

his creation account. And that creation account is taught at churches, the pillars and grounds

of truth. It's taught in homes where truth is passed on to the next generation. It's

taught in certain schools that embrace this idea of biblical creationism. All these things

are so important but we are in the minority and we need to know how to defend our faith.

Here's what you're going to have to do. You're going to have to come to the place where you

acknowledge that many just will not buy into the creation account therefore they will not

believe your answers and believe your understandings of how God created and what it all means.

And I'll answer a few of those questions that come up over and over based on Genesis chapter

Genesis 4 · chapter mention

4 just a moment. But you're just going to have to accept the fact that not everyone

will agree with you. And not everyone will agree with the Bible. But you also have to

accept the fact that all of our choices and all of our consequences and all of the fluidity

we find in life with every subject on the planet have to do with not being willing to

buy into, to leaning to God's creative history and the Word of God itself, the truth.

So here we go today as we begin to look into this. You can find God in history. We have

a biblical worldview and this is the view that informs us with all the answers we need

to have. So what does this true history tell us? Well go to chapter 4 verse 1. Let's read

that again very slowly. Now the man had relations with his wife Eve. Now please keep in mind

Genesis 1 through 3 God has given us great details about creation and the world and the

earth and Adam and Eve and now he's giving us further detail about how the families of

the earth move forward. Now the man had relations with his wife Eve and she conceived and gave

birth to Cain. And she said I've gotten a man child with the help of the Lord. Now if

you and I are going to lean into biblical history we're going to find answers to cultural

questions right here in verse 1. If you're going to lean into the account that God gives

us in the book of Genesis we're not going to be confused about what the rest of the

world says about things like marriage and sexuality and gender and all the confusion

and fluidity we hear today. We're not going to have questions. We're going to have answers.

We're going to know what God's design is. Let me give you an example of that. There are

four questions that I believe this text answers for us today and in doing so we can see God's

presence in what he says to us. First of all what does this text say about biblical marriage?

Now if you go back to the verse and answer the question what does this text say about

biblical marriage? It says that God designed for one man and one woman to be married and

that's the pattern God gave us from the beginning. The original man Adam had relations with the

original woman created out of Adam who is Eve and she conceived and gave birth. So that

says that God has a pattern. One man one woman for life and he designs for them to be together.

Now four thousand years of human history pass between Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden

and the Lord Jesus walking on the face of the earth. And one day Jesus is in conversation

with a group of people who ask him about divorce but he answers a question in a different way

than they imagined and he affirms the creation account in doing so. Matthew 19 verse 4. Jesus

Matthew 19:4

said have you not read that he who created them from the beginning made them male and

female. In other words from the beginning God created marriage to be one man and one

woman and from the beginning that's been true. So what Jesus is doing is he's affirming the

true and indisputable creation and design for mankind. He's simply saying this is what

I created marriage to be and this is what it should be. But he answers the second question

in Genesis chapter 4 is what does this say about sexual relations? And it says that the

Genesis 4 · chapter mention

man had relations with his wife Eve by design heterosexuality is enormity. It's a predetermined

plan that God had for mankind. In fact that's the only plan God had for sexuality. It's

not one of many on the ranges of a spectrum of sexuality or gender but again Jesus affirms

this in Matthew chapter 19 again four thousand years ago. Now just imagine for a moment four

Matthew 19 · chapter mention

thousand years going by hundreds of millions of people being born and living and dying.

All these philosophies all these different kinds of ideas about marriage or sexuality

and after all this time passes Jesus again refers back to creation and says no this is

the only design that God has. Matthew 19 verse 5 it says and he said for this reason a man

Matthew 19:5

shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife and the two shall become one flesh

so they are no longer two but one flesh. Now I know we live in a culture that asks a lot

of questions and they don't always start from the same place we start from when we start

from the Bible. They come from a perspective of relativism or atheism or they come from

the perspective of just secular thought. So their ideas about these questions are going

to be very very different. That doesn't mean that we can't love them. It doesn't mean that

we can't have a conversation with them. But what it does mean is we're going to have to

agree to disagree but we need to know why we disagree. We disagree because the Bible

tells us one way and the world tells us a very different way. And until a person is

willing to come to the place of seeing what God did and why God did it they may never

agree with us completely. But we can lovingly tell them this is the creation account that

God gave us. This is where we stand and we lovingly reach out to anyone else that disagrees

in any way with that. It's very important for us to have an incredible witness in the

world with people that will vehemently disagree with us. Now there are times when I've had

conversations where people would say that Jesus never said anything about homosexuality

or homosexual marriage but when they say that and when they ask that they forget that marriage

is affirmed by Jesus as exclusively a man and a woman. And by virtue of that it excludes

every other kind of marriage not his design. Jesus very clearly said there are two genders

in marriage and these are the two genders that he created a male and a female and only

this marriage in the eyes of Jesus Christ is one flesh. Nothing else is acceptable to

God or the scripture and God of course is that creator. So we have that answer. Then

there's another question we can ask. What does this say about biology and childbirth?

Do you notice what the verse says verse one? She conceived and gave birth and of course

that's not unexpected. We know that's one of the primary purposes for sexual relations

between a man and a wife but it also goes on and says with the help of the Lord. Now

there's something being communicated here for us today. These words imply the miraculous

and sacred acknowledgement that God is in this whole process of conceiving and giving

birth and that bounds a marriage. Really a beautiful powerful picture. Somehow in our

world we have so devalued conception, so devalued children and childbirth and that whole process

that we don't see them as being with the help of the Lord. It's not just a biological

miracle it's the fact that God weaves people in the womb. He creates and weaves us in the

womb it says in the book of Psalms. And if you go through the Old Testaments you're

going to find Hannah talking about how she conceived with the help of the Lord and the

psalmist talking about that powerful miracle that goes on inside of the womb. And let me

just say to you today you're not an accident of birth either no matter how it was you were

conceived. God was aware, God knew he wove you in the womb. You are a valued being because

God was involved with that process. Aren't you glad that's true? But our world would

say that it's not true. Our world would prefer to think there is no value and that therefore

anything conceived is not truly a person, not truly valuable. I remember when we first

had our first child I was so mesmerized by the whole process and I know I'm the guy and

I know the woman is the one that actually gives birth there's no question about it.

She has the harder job. But I remember being in that birthing room this was during the

era where they were first starting to let men in that birthing room and I'm telling

you I got so excited about it I was really asking questions. After our daughter was born

I actually said can I help somebody else do that? Can I see this again? And I meant right

away. I didn't mean another year down the road I meant right away you know and they

had to correct me and say back off you're a little bit too overcome with joy there in

the moment. But what a miracle. Our child with features from both my wife and myself an amazing

thing. What an incredible miracle God does in giving us birth and it goes all the way

back to Genesis chapter 4. Listen if we can affirm that and see the beauty of that in

Genesis 4 · chapter mention

Genesis chapter 4 verse 1 why cannot we embrace all the other parts of that? They all go together.

Genesis 4:1

They all go together. God speaks about biology and childbirth. Every child is a child from

conception and is valued and to be preserved. What an important truth for us. A fourth question

this verse answers is what does this say about gender clarity? Notice immediately the biological

birth of a boy leads them to declare the gender at birth. I have gotten a man child with the

help of the Lord. Gender is not a decision to be made later on. Gender is an acknowledgement

and a declaration of exactly what you have when that child is born. Our culture would

say something entirely different but here's why we disagree with that. Because from the

beginning it's been clear that God wove that child in the womb and at birth sometimes today

before birth we know the gender of that child and at that moment we simply declare what

that child is. I've gotten a man child from the Lord. Listen when we stay on the road

that God has placed for us there's a lot of clarity but when you get off that road you

make your own way, your own rules, your own ideas, your own thoughts, your own gender,

your own sexuality, your own everything else. You have no idea where that destination goes

but it's a way from the direction of the Lord. You can find God in history, in true history

when you go back and when you look at how he created the heavens and the earth. But

this text is not just about that. Verse one lays some great truths down but this text

is really about true worship. You can find God in worship. This is the story of Cain

and Abel and the difference in how they worship God. So the Bible says in the course of time

they came and brought an offering to the Lord. Now we've got some presumptions here. I

presume and most scholars presume that Adam and Eve's experience with God after they

sinned God slew an innocent animal, blood was shed, sin was covered, relationship was

restored. That that truth was passed on to Cain and Abel in the course of time. So when

they came they understood that original pattern of worship, the original pattern that God

had with Adam and Eve and they came in the way they came to God having had some information

about that. That's presumed because it doesn't actually say that. But it seems logical to

be able to pass down to your children the most important thing that you can do in worshiping

God. I'm sure Adam and Eve did that well. But here's what the Bible says when these

two came to the Lord with an offering. In verse four and five it says, and the Lord

had regard for Abel and his offering but for Cain and his offering he had no regard. So

Cain became angry and his countenance fell. Now if you read the Bible you're going to

find many, many instructions about how to worship God and the spirit in which you worship

him, different commands about what you do when you worship. And it begins with that

seventh day of rest when God rested and called man to just look at all of creation and marvel

at what God had done. And that was a day of rest. And so God has built worship into the

fabric of our week as a regular devotion to the Lord in life. That's just part of what

God laid down at the beginning. And let me just say it to you, I know I'm preaching to

the choir today in a sense because you're in the room. But how important it is for you

to be in the room corporately worshiping God with other people. How important it is for

us to marvel together at our powerful God and how he works and intervenes and how he

loves and reaches out. It's so incredibly amazingly important for us to be standing

next to people side by side worshiping him with our whole heart. It's so encouraging

but it's so important to you because you know you're never alone. And you know your God

is working in your life. You experience his presence in your life. It's such a big deal.

But these verses here tell us that God will look favorably upon some worship and he will

look unfavorably on other types of worship. And you're going to need to know this. This

takes up such a huge part of our lives. Since worship and service are all we can offer God,

worship is vitally important. And we can assume several things about this worship experience

but here's what we can know. We can know that the scripture, the words we've just read,

emphasize the person before it emphasizes the manner of worship. Go back and see what

it says again in verses four and five. The Lord had regard for Abel and his offering.

For Cain and his offering he had no regard. In other words, before we actually worship

we should offer our heart. We should offer ourselves to the Lord. Before we offer our

songs, before we offer our offerings or anything else, we offer ourselves to the Lord. And

realize that worship experience is really about sinful man coming to worship a holy

God. And remember we don't do this casually. We don't take this lightly. It's a very, very

serious privilege we have of being able to worship God and really be able to connect

with him. But let's learn some lessons from Cain and Abel. First of all, Abel worshiped

by faith. Cain did not. Abel worshiped by faith. Cain did not. Now the reason we know

this is because this worship experience is also repeated several times in scriptures

and referred back to. If you go to the book of Hebrews, the hall of faith, that great

chapter, chapter 11, it says this about Abel. It says, for Abel he offered to God by faith

a better sacrifice than Cain. The American standard begins with the words by faith. By

faith Abel offered to God a better sacrifice. Now if you want to know the difference between

the two, here's where you start. Because the New Testament clarifies why this sacrifice

was so different. It's such a simple line. But I think what you're going to find is that

it opens the door to significant worship in your life or it closes the door to significant

worship in your life. Abel brought an offering to the Lord with a pure and worshipful heart

as faith and his trust was in God and not in himself. We know that much because he came

by faith. Now if you take Hebrews chapter 11 and read verses one through verse four,

Hebrews 11 · chapter mention

you're going to find out how that's defined in Cain and Abel's situation. So let's go

back and read verse one. Now faith is the assurance that things hoped for, the conviction

of things not seen. For by it the man of old gained approval, referring all the way back

to Cain and Abel. By faith we understand, guess this, that the worlds were prepared

by the word of God so that what is seen was not made out of things which are visible.

By faith Abel offered to God a better sacrifice. Don't miss this. Do you see the connection

between his worship and his view of creation? Do you see a connection between his worship

and his view of who God was? He believed that God created his world and himself and therefore

because of that kind of faith in this God who created not only the world but himself,

he leaned on God, he trusted God, he sought God, he listened to God and he would be changed

by that worship experience with God. He acknowledged that God was the creator, that he is able,

that he's all powerful and all wise. His worship revealed so much about his heart, he considered

that the God he worshiped made the worlds out of things which are not visible. So powerful.

In Luke chapter 16 along about verse 31, Jesus is talking about the man in hell in Hades.

Luke 16 · chapter mention

And the man in hell in Jesus' story appeals for someone to go tell his brothers about

the Messiah. And Jesus in Luke chapter 16 verse 31 said this, if they will not listen

Luke 16:31

to Moses and the prophets, neither will they listen if one comes to them from the dead.

But in other words, if you can't believe Moses, the cat of creation, if you can't believe

the prophets that point to Jesus, then you're not going to believe if Jesus comes to you

from the dead and appears in front of you. You need to believe the whole revelation of

God. You need to believe the picture of who God actually is. And Abel was able to do that.

He looked at his world and the creation that he was placed in. And he basically said the

world is yours and I am yours. I bend my knee to you. And Cain did not. Cain did not. We're

told by that contrast that Cain did not worship by faith. So his view must have been the opposite

of that, which is this world is mine and my life is mine. I'll acknowledge you however

I want, but my life is mine. Let me tell you, that's so common today for people to come

to God and say, you are who you are. I'll give you what I want to give you. My life

is mine. This world is mine for the taking. But there is a certain kind of worship that

God approves of and a certain kind of worship that God does not approve of. And that was

Cain's approach to God. You know, worship is incredibly important and we see that here

in this passage. Not only was faith the difference maker, but Abel worship and obedience in Cain

did not. Now, Genesis doesn't say a great deal about Cain from this point on, but 4,000

years later the New Testament church in the book of Jude does. And it describes what we

know as creepers in the book of Jude. False teachers, people who are going their own way,

who are trying to corrupt the New Testament church and the word they describes those people.

But in Jude chapter one, verse 11, it says, for they, those creepers, have gone the way

of Cain. In other words, that phrase by now has become an acceptable and understandable

phrase of what went wrong back then in Genesis four. They have gone the way of Cain and for

pay they've rushed headlong into the era of Balaam and have perished in the rebellion

of Korah. So stay with me here. Jude describes people like Cain who disregarded God's command

and made their own way, made their own worship. They were making a show of worship, but their

hearts were far from God. In a word, Cain was simply rebellious. His refusal wasn't

accidental. He intentionally and fatally ignored God. And that only did God, did Cain fail

to have faith in God and obey God. Cain's way of dealing with God became a downward

spiral for everything else in his life. I mean, this is heartbreaking. How can the first

child of the first two human beings look at creation, look at God, look at himself and

all the animals and plants and everything in the world and say, I'm going to go my

own way. I don't need to worship that God. I want to tell you today, it's difficult for

us to grasp why sometimes our own children in 2023 don't follow the Lord. Some of you

have grief in your heart. I know what that's like. I know what that feels like to have

kids that we've taught the truth, but who turn their backs on God for one reason or

another. But can you imagine that in the very first generation? Can you imagine that with

the very first son that Adam and Eve had? As you go even further back, can you imagine

even Adam and Eve deciding to disobey God in the Garden of Eden? What does that say

about the free will of man? And what does that say about just the grief of going our

own way and moving off the road that's narrow but true that God has given us to walk on?

But here's an encouraging thing in the middle of it all. Look at God's appeal to Cain. I

just love this. Sometimes I weep about this. In Genesis chapter three when Adam and Eve

sinned, God came looking for them in the Garden. Isn't that a great picture? Because God was

going to do everything to give them the opportunity to be restored and He did restore them. He

does the same thing to Cain. He reaches out. He says, if you do well, verse seven, will

not your countenance be lifted up? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the

door. Its desire is for you, but you must master it. Here's the appeal of a merciful

God, a loving God, and the kind of appeal that we need to have for people all around

us. Don't you know you have a choice to make? God offers you a choice so that you can come

back to Him. But in spite of personally conversing with Cain, Cain ignores God. Cain goes his

own way. And the rest of his life can be described in four quick statements. Cain became a man

who became angry. Cain killed Abel. Cain lied to God. Cain is judged. What a horrific ending

that didn't have to happen, but did because this man would not worship God. Listen today,

we have so many that have to make choices today, and it all comes down to worship. Who

will we worship? Who will we lean into? Who will we trust? Who will we obey? Who will

we worship? And how we worship affects everything in our lives. Everything. What you believe

about the Bible affects you whether you know it or not. And throughout the Bible there

are all these encouraging lines that I want to remind you of today. Lines where God consistently

says, seek me and you'll find me when you search for me with all your heart. And almost

every one of those times that those words are spoken, they're spoken into a dark time,

dark cultures, most going in the wrong direction. And then there's this invitation, just like

in the Garden of Eden, just like with Cain for us in those times. I want to remind you

of some of those. David told his son Solomon at the beginning of his reign, if you seek

him, he will let you find him. But if you forsake him, he will reject you forever. Solomon

later wrote the Proverbs and affirmed this about God and about wisdom. I love those who

love me and those who diligently seek me will find me. You can find God in darkness. God

spoke to the prophet Jeremiah. This is the famous text, chapter 29 verse 13. You will

seek me and you will find me when you search for me with all of your heart. What an encouraging

word. And then Jesus said the same thing in that, in Matthew chapter seven, verse seven,