Prepare your heart for the Sermon by looking through these suggestions that will assist you in making the most of our time together hearing God's Word.

You will find suggestions for thinking more critically through the passage, meditating more intently on the text, and prayerfully seeking wisdom to deepen your understanding of the passage to be preached this Sunday.

Carefully Think

• Carefully read Genesis chapter 3, focusing on vv. 17-24. Recall what we have learned so far: the nature of sin and temptation, how sin exposes guilt and pride, and that there are consequences for sin. Specifically, in this account, the consequences are more far reaching than the sins that you and I commit as they effected the entire human race.
• Last week we looked at the limiting of Satan’s abilities, and the corrupting of woman’s priorities in vv. 14-16. This coming week we’re going to look at the curse that God pronounces on the man, God’s gracious provision for them, and God driving them out of the garden.
• What is God’s specific reason for the curse that he pronounces? Why does God remind Adam of what he had commanded him? How does this show both the simplicity and the depth of the nature of sin?
• Why would God curse the ground because of Adam? What are the specifics of the curse on the ground that you find in vv. 17-18? Remind yourself of Gen 2:15 – God had created the man to work, the curse just made work hard and toilsome.
• Why would God remind Adam that he was created from the dust? How does this contradict the pride that was exposed in Adam’s heart when he sinned? Would Adam have returned to the dust apart from sin? What is the consequence of sin that God is enforcing here?
• What does God do in vv. 20-24? What do these actions reveal about the character of God?

Prayerfully Meditate

• Recognize the simplicity of sin: it is doing what God has said not to (or not doing what he has said to do). At the same time, realize the depth of such an act. Who is the one we sin against? How does this passage reveal the devastating consequences of our sin?
• How does the fact that man came from the dust humble us? As a consequence of sin we will return to the dust, what does this reveal about our frailty and what does it reveal about what death is?
• Think on the gracious provision of God in v. 21. How was this clear act of grace also an act of judgment? Reflect on the judgment of God in vv. 22-24. How was this act of judgment also an act of tremendous grace?