Our daughter, Melody, and her family are living in Georgetown, Grand Cayman Island, where she and her husband teach music in an international school. They’re blessed to attend a wonderful church, First Baptist, and with technology, we are able to tune in from time to time.

Their pastor, Steve Brady, kicked off his Advent series earlier this month with a sermon from Genesis 3…Genesis 3? Yep. That’s where the battle for the souls of humanity started and where the first promise of Jesus’ coming is given. Steve had a 7-point alliterative outline (he may have attributed it to someone else – I don’t remember) that’s too good not to share. Here’s how the story starts:

Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?” And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.’” But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate. (Genesis 3.1 – 6, ESV)

Steve pointed out that the serpent made sure God’s word was…

• Disputed: “did God say?”
• Distorted: “neither shall we touch it” (God didn’t say not to touch it)
• Diminished: “God is holding back on you”
• Denied: “you won’t die”
• Defied: “so they ate the fruit”

Pastor Steve went on to say that they couldn’t hide their sin. They were…

• Discovered: hiding in the garden

Then we have the first Jesus verse in the Bible. God tells the serpent:

And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise His heel.” (Genesis 3.15, NKJV)

As Steve said, it’s the first promise of…

• Delivered: “just a hint…Jesus is the Seed of the woman”

I think we’ll stay on Genesis 3.15 one more day. See you tomorrow!