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UNC meets weekly at the Atlanta Bread Company in Cumming GA. Each Friday, the morning’s opening talk is posted to the blog. Don’t forget, you can easily subscribe to our RSS feed.

Also, you can subscribe to our Podcast in iTunes. Start iTunes, enter the iTunes Store, and search for “UNC Friday Morning”.

If you’re all about YOU then YOU may want to tell YOU to stay home and sleep in tomorrow morning.  You’ll find tomorrow of no use to YOU whatsoever.

Go grab some YOU time. Maybe catch the podcast from your sofa between commercial breaks or something.

Tomorrow morning we are going to break from series for a week in order to do some recalibrating.  

We’ll pick up the back side of Fifth Dimension next Friday.

In the Friday between (that would be tomorrow) here’s what we’re going to do…

We’re going to visit the why behind the what.

These past three years we have watched the Lord grow a simple prayer into a platform that is touching literally thousands of men each month.  

He is changing men from the inside out. 

Roots are deepening.  

Branches are widening.

And…  the peripheral is crusting.

Ouch.  

Happens all the time. 

Men turn their attention toward the sound of the revving engine.  

But this car was built to go somewhere, not to impress the pit crew.

If you are new to the Cumming Venue, you’ll want to learn more about what you have stepped into.

If you’ve walked with us a while, you’re going to get a nudge.

But if you try sometimes, you might find, you get what you need… Ah, yeah…

Not that I have a thing for the Rolling Stones since this is the second time they’ve been referenced here, but it just seemed to fit with what we discussed this morning. What we want is life to be happy, shiny, profitable, pleasing, easy and fun. Is it ever that way for you? Even in the slightest? Chances are, even on our very best day when our sports team wins, our wives tell us we’re awesome, we get to eat steak, someone else mows the lawn, our kids listen to everything we say, Ed McMahon rings our door bell with a giant cardboard check in tow and we shoot an 18 on the golf course, something bad’s going to happen. When the going’s great, it’s easy to offer up the “God is great, God is good” kind of praise. But what happens when, to just be blunt, life starts to suck? You lose your job, your wife gets cancer, you kid becomes a prodigal, you lose your job, your retirement evaporates in the span of 30 market sessions?

Is it really true, you can’t always get what you want, but you do get what you need? After the set up (listen to the podcast if you didn’t hear it!), this is what we dove into at our table:

1. Do you ever doubt God is good? If so, when and why?
2. Do you see a connection between your expectations and your confidence in God’s goodness? Explain.
3. Read the verse below out loud. What stands out to you?
“The serpent said to the woman, ‘You surely will not die! For God knows that in the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.’”
4. What strategy did Satan deploy immediately before he accused God of sinister intent?
5. Look at the circumstances immediately surrounding the woman. Did these bear witness to God’s goodness or not? Explain.
6. Do you every have difficulty reconciling what God said to what you see? Explain.

1. As much as we’d all like to say never, if we’re completely honest, there are times when we momentarily let that though creep into our minds. It happens when we get caught up in our circumstances, whenever something bad happens–really bad, like innocent children becoming headlines on the eleven o’clock news because some monster did something to them or hearing about missionaries overseas being killed for their faith, or whenever justice doesn’t come through. Or on a very personal level, something affects those we love that’s just downright not fair. These things happen when we do trust in Him completely, and fail to see His big picture.
2. Absolutely–where is our hope? If we trust in His grace being sufficient, then that impacts both our expectations and confidence. One guy said that if we don’t put our confidence in the cross alone, and God’s goodness in the form of grace that came from that, then the only expectations we can really have is putting ourselves in the position of having to pay for our transgressions. Several guys said that at the time, we don’t always see the connection, but it’s often on the other side of things, like a Monday Morning Quarterback.
3. What stood out for most of us was the craftiness of the serpent: there’s a little bit of truth in what he said. They were like God, in that they did come to knew good and evil–only he didn’t really tell them what evil fully meant. And the “surely you will not die part”… did they know what dying really meant? Of course, taking the fruit was sin, and we know that the wages of sin is death. But one guy brought up an interesting concept–surely, they (mankind) wouldn’t die, like the serpent said… if they are followers of Christ–in that regard, we don’t truly die forever.
4. The serpent made them think that they were missing out on something… like that alluring image we see on TV or our comptuer screen. He got them away from their basic needs… like the upgrades for which we mortgage our lives away because we just have to have it (like, my current cell phone is just fine … so do I keep trying to convince my wife I need an i-Phone?). He made them think they deserved something … like, oh, insert your own thing here. Basically, he put the focus on themselves instead of God. We all said we pretty much do this every day.
5. They were in paradise. They had all they needed. There was no shame. They experienced God fully–literally conversed with Him. All their needs were provided. Yeah, we all said the circumstances pretty much bore out that God was good–especially the way He handled their sin afterward, providing them what they needed afterward despite the consequences. We also talked about what it was like from Eve’s perspective, her rationale given what she may or may not have known.
6. Only when we put our levels of content and trust in something other than Him.

Click the ‘play’ button below to listen.

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UNC meets weekly at the Atlanta Bread Company in Cumming GA. Each Friday, the morning’s opening talk is posted to the blog. Don’t forget, you can easily subscribe to our RSS feed.

Also, you can subscribe to our Podcast in iTunes. Start iTunes, enter the iTunes Store, and search for “UNC Friday Morning”.

[Y]ou will be like God…” 

The fantastic irony in the serpent’s statement is that God created us in His image.  He designed us to reflect His glory.  We, like Him, are moral and eternal, stacked with the ability to choose and the capacity to trust.

It is these the serpent sighted.  Satan took aim at the image we reflect and the choice we possess.

Choice sat between what God said and what the woman saw.  Into this gap slithered the serpent with a promise for change.

Freedom of choice is the freedom to trust.  We attach our trust where we perceive the greater good.  Will  we trust God or will we trust our eyes?

Consider the woman’s plight in Eden.  Surrounded on every side by all that God had made - all He declared to be “good”.  Good, because the creation flowed from the core of His being.  Good, because He is True to His Word.

Into the epicenter of God’s goodness the serpent slipped an alternative  - a thing called “evil”.

“…knowing good and evil.”

The woman already knew good.  She held that in portfolio.  It was evilthe serpent offered, a temptation to another good in service to another god.

The serpent convinced the woman that God was holding back, that there was more to be had should she simply switch teams.  This same temptation befalls us today.  If you hear nothing else, savor this:

Temptation prevails when you do not believe that God is good or that His Word is true.

How often does the truth of your moment conflict with the Truth of Eternal God?  How often does temptation entice you to exchange the Truth you know for the truth you see?

Here, between what God said and what you see, you must make a choice.  The same choice our ancestors made in Eden.

You must decide, “Is God good?”   

1.) Describe a good thing that has happened to you recently:

Interestingly enough, no one wanted to jump right in on this one. As we soon discovered, everyone at the table was being negatively affected by the economy. Initially no one seemed to have much “good” to talk about. Three out of four of us are directly involved with residential construction! It became quite evident that, as men, we were feeling inadequate and unable to provide for our families as we would like to. This led us to acknowledge that this was actually “good” because it was forcing us to depend more on God. To exercise our faith more!

2.) How do you determine what is “good”? By what standard do you measure?

At different times in our lives, “good”, was being measured by how certain or painless things were. As long as we felt like we were in control things were “good”. Now that we all had many years of life’s ups and downs plus the development of a stronger biblical foundation, we could now see where some of the hardest times i.e. job losses, illnesses, death of a loved one, etc., were actually “good” for us. For it was in these situations that we learned we are not in control, that we are mortal, that God’s word is timeless and speaks to us in modern times, and that pain shared is pain relieved.

3.) Do you believe the Bible is true? In what sense and to what degree? What events helped to shape your opinion?

For us, there was total agreement that the Bible is true. We agreed that it is God’s manual for life, that it is “God-breathed” and a direct revelation from God to us. Not surprisingly, it was those difficult life events that forced us to seek God in his word, thru mentors, thru trusted friends, and thru our church communities.

Now the serpent was more crafty than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said to the woman, “Indeed, has God said, `You shall not eat from any tree of the garden”?”

The woman said to the serpent, “From the fruit of the trees of the garden we may eat: but from the fruit of the tree which is in the middle of the garden, God has said, `You shall not eat from it or touch it or you will die.”

The serpent said to the woman, “You surely will not die!”
Genesis 3:1-4

4.) Read the verses above. What stands out to you?

For us the first words that stood out were “serpent” and “more crafty”, then perhaps “beast” and the fact that he was made by God. God had placed Man right in the middle of Satan’s domain on earth! “Indeed” or “Do I understand….” followed by the serpent’s deceitful question was evidence of his craftiness. His reference to “any” tree put the responsibility on Eve to know what God had specifically said. Eve’s description of “the tree…..in the middle of the garden” barely gave any real significance to this tree. Her response was not exactly what God had said, for there were two very specific trees in the middle of the garden, each with unique attributes. One represented “Life” the other “Death”. Satan, right from the beginning, preyed upon man’s (Eve’s) desire to trust his own knowledge as opposed to God’s wisdom. Eve and then Adam chose death over life!

5.) Read: “Something to Know…” and “Something to do…” - How might your world be different if you really believed God at His Word?

If we really believed and appropriated God’s Word, we would avoid a lot of mistakes and painful situations. It is our lack of trust and desire to be autonomous that leads us into many of the negative consequences. These not only affect us but those around us. A domino affect ensues, now and for generations!

Click the ‘play’ button below to listen.

(If you cannot see the audio controls below, click the title of this post to refresh. Flash Player is required, click here to download.)

UNC meets weekly at the Atlanta Bread Company in Cumming GA. Each Friday, the morning’s opening talk is posted to the blog. Don’t forget, you can easily subscribe to our RSS feed.

Also, you can subscribe to our Podcast in iTunes. Start iTunes, enter the iTunes Store, and search for “UNC Friday Morning”.

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Just when you thought the Universe made sense… you drift into yet another dimension, apart from our reality. You’ve just entered… The Hillbilly Dimension!

Produced by: Andy Waddell • Matt Wilson • Chris Arias | revolutionEYES
Voice talent: Doug Maudlin

The woman contemplated the scene before her, whispered into display by a little creature with big ideas. In that moment, she felt enlightened.

Like she had discovered something new.

Change was in the air. The woman felt it, and she imagined the possibilities. The fruit before her represented all the woman lacked in the center of God’s Garden.

When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and she ate it.

The serpent’s seduction traveled the troughs of temptation’s channels.

Good for food-lusting for material more (flesh)

Pleasing to the eye-wowed by worldly windows (world)

Gaining wisdom-Ahhh… wisdom…

…merchandise of the master manipluator

Wisdom is a heart that hears God. But the “wisdom” the serpent dangled echoed the voice of another.

He who aspired to position and power and to be like God offered an alternative plan. A package deal where another god peddled another good.

Satan’s twisted experiment found its footing in Eden inside the heart of the woman, in her centermost place where worship speaks. From there, the contagion spread to the man and corrupted his sanctuary similarly.

She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it.

Adam extended his hand in a purposeful reach to experience that other good - that thing God called …evil.

Evil, you see, is not the confederation of things that go bump in the night. It is the presumption of self-governance, where the creature declares in opposition to God’s Word… “it is good.”

Today, we confront our own serpents, those carriers of evil who would convince us to pursue a selfish course. Inevitably, these introduce themselves as familiars to our world. But their words betray them at that place they ask, “Did God really say…?”.

In that moment, we must decide if God’s Word is true. Because if it is not, then we are unbound to Him to pursue another good in search of another god.

Isaiah 14:14
“I will make myself like the Most High”
1. Are you ever tempted to be your own god? When?
2. Do you struggle with the idea that God is your provider and sustainer? Explain.
3. Read the verse above. What stands out to you?
4. Do you ever try to “make” yourself into someone you are not? When? Why?
Proverbs18:12
“Before his downfall a man’s heart is proud, but humility comes before honor.”
5. What stands out to you from the verse above?
Philippians 2:3-4
“Do nothing from selfish ambition or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves; do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others.”
6. From the verse above, what are some things you can do today to nurture a humility of mind?

“I will…”

That’s a pretty bold statement. Not “I’d like to” or “I think I might”. But a straight up “this is what I’m gonna do.”

I can only imagine God’s verbal response when hearing his Number 2 utter all those “I wills” from Isaiah 14. “Well now, really… You don’t say… Are you out of your mind?” Of course, there was probably not much sarcasm in the response. But we know the end result in verse 15: “You are brought down to the grave, to the depths of the pit.”

Oh, how the mighty have fallen… As mentioned last week and revisited on Friday, pride comes before a fall.

It’s kind of like those sports teams who know they are so great and let everyone know just how great they are by talking all kinds of smack to their opponents and then back it up on the playing field. But every so often, some other team comes along and takes them to the woodshed, humbling them to the point where they just don’t make them eat their own words, but they shove them right down their throats. No one likes a trash-talker. They’re cocky, arrogant, and unless you’re a fan of the team, extremely obnoxious (Steve Spurrier comes to mind).

That’s what Satan was doing. He was talking trash. But he got knocked down hard.

It’s funny but we’re seeing a lot of this with our own economy right now; how great and mighty, even haughty, when it came to people making enormous returns on investments. They put all their stock in the market always succeeding and making them wealthy. And that’s where things kicked off at our table this morning…

1. All the time. We try to control our circumstances. We think we can. Whether it’s with our jobs, our families (especially our kids) and our investments. This past week, the market’s been tanking (that might actually be an understatement). So we do everything we can to save it with bail-outs and sell offs. We try to force decisions on others. But it never works.

2. A couple of guys landed in this same spot: No, we don’t struggle with the idea of God being our provider and sustainer. We know better. We’ve seen Him meet our needs time and again, sending unexpected manna from heaven when we needed it most. Yet, we’re like Israel. We don’t struggle with the idea, but we sure have a hard time living it out on a consistent basis.

3. Most of us landed on the “I wills,” which I’ve already dug into. But “Most High” also came into play, because that’s Who God is. The absolute highest of highs. Nothing compares to Him. But Satan thought he could. So do we, if we really think about it, when putting our selfish wants and desires above Him and His will.

4. Usually this happens when something great is at stake. One guy who’s a financial advisor has been trying to save his clients from the market meltdown. He’s been doing all he can, but regardless of his efforts, he can’t be the savior of their investments–it’s beyond his control. For me, I once tried to make myself into a preppy 7th grader to impress Mary Whidden, the queen of the preps. I traded in my usual Ocean Pacific garb and started wearing collared shirts–even tucked them in–combed my hair to the side instead the rockin’ feathered look I usally sported, and actually started trying to make good grades. It worked–she said “yes” to going steady. For four days. After which she dumped me cold. The problem was I was trying to make myself into someone I wasn’t–a prep. I was a dork. That couldn’t change (you could argue it still hasn’t). Had I been content with who I was created to be, I would’ve saved myself some heartbreak and humiliation.

5. There’s a direct correlation between the two aspects. An if/then. If your prideful, then you’re guaranteed a fall. If you’re humble, honor finds its way to your door step.

6. It’s not in our nature to consider others better than ourselves. Jesus said to love others like yourself. Paul, no doubt, tried to live that out. But his background as a Pharisee probably made that difficult, because he was a “holy” man back then. He was “better” than everyone else thanks to his heritage and status as a Pharisee. Everyone knew and accepted that. Paul had no qualms about it either until he was literally blinded by the Light. With the kind of baggage he carried of self-righteousness, he took the concept even further–the one that Christ set as an example–considering others better than yourself, and encouraging other believers to do the same. It’s downright impossible to do if without the love of Christ. Putting others first and considering yourself less than them creates the heart of a servant. So serving every one at every opportunity nurtures that concept in our minds.