How People are Transformed – Part 2

Bethel Mennonite Church – Gladys VA

Creation, the Fall, and God’s response

God’s purposes in creation: God created so Adam and Eve could experience his love; so Adam and Eve could grow to maturity; so Adam and Eve could exercise dominion over His creation.

The Fall: Eve sinned out of her desire to experience more (a God-created desire), the lies of the devil, Eve’s doubts about the goodness of God, and Eve’s failure to trust God and then her failure to surrender to God’s command not to eat of the fruit. Many of the things that are true for Adam and Eve in the Fall are true for us when we sin.

The effects of the Fall: Adam and Eve became alienated within themselves, from God, from each other, and from the rest of creation; failed to exercise dominion; interrupted their process of growth; became separated from the Kingdom of God.

God’s response to the Fall: God pursued them and clothed them and promised a Savior. Through repentance and faith in Christ who died for us, we can enter into the Kingdom of God and exercise dominion as we cooperate with God’s purposes for his world. As we cooperate with God’s work in us, we are freed from the guilt, power, and paralysis of sin and are able to live a Kingdom of God kind of life.

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