Topic: Jesus

Look, I don’t want to scare anyone, but God’s Word is clear that there is a devil.  He’s not just a character in a scary movie.  He is real and he is the enemy of God, and verse 1 tells us the devil is a created being that is “more crafty than any beast of the field.”  The word “crafty” in the original language means “clever” and we are going to see his clever ways in our passage this morning.  It’s why 1 Peter in the New Testament describes the devil like a lion that prowls around looking for someone to devour.  He’s crafty!

 And the subject of marriage is an exciting topic in our culture right now, because our culture has two competing ideas on marriage right now. 

First view, not interested in marriage.  Marriage is expensive.  Marriage is an institution.  Marriage is designed by governments to control and oppress.  Women don’t need marriage because they can make their own money.  Men don’t need marriage, because they have pornography, so that in our culture today, especially in Austin, it’s common to find people who want nothing to do with marriage.

But, there are some people in Austin who are very excited about marriage.  The excitement doesn’t have anything to do with Jesus, but people love the wedding dress, decorations, invitations, event venue, and finding that special someone. But God’s Word gives us a different perspective toward marriage this morning. 

Good morning. So good to see everyone here on such a nice day. Just another cool summer day in Texas. I am glad you appreciate the irony in that statement. I am not going to talk about irony in today’s message. But I do want to touch on a different literary topic. And that’s authorial intent- the message an author intended to communicate.

It is important for us to consider authorial intent when we watch or hear or read something. Because the actual message intended by the author is often deeper than the surface meaning of the particular words. Let me illustrate with an example from the movie “Frozen.” Many of you have probably heard of the song from the movie, “Do you want to build a snowman?”

We are a people who are already living in uncertainty.  We are a people who are already in the midst of grief / transition.  Therefore, now more than ever we need to see that God’s Word speaks into all realities of life, and we are going to get to see that in Genesis 1 this morning. One time, Richard Goldsmith said to me, “Sometimes I like to come to church just to see how you are going to apply that passage to everyday life!”  So, let’s find out!