Where is the whisper “Did God actually say?” finding room in your life right now — and what would it look like to trust his word before you can see how it turns out?

“Did God actually say?” Four words, and the whole world tilts. The serpent does not argue with God or deny him outright; he simply raises a question where there had been trust. He asks Eve to wonder whether God’s word can really be relied on, whether it means what it plainly says. Doubt is the seed, and he plants it gently. Kent walked us through the serpent’s strategy on Sunday, and it has not changed in thousands of years. First he misrepresents what God said. Then he flatters our pride — you know better, this is yours to decide. Finally he whispers that God does not really mean it. The same three moves are still aimed at us, every ordinary week of our lives. Kent called this the great dividing line of Scripture: either there is a God who is not us and has something to say about how we

What is currently “good for food and a delight to the eyes” in your life that God has clearly asked you to leave alone — and where are you tempted toward passive silence instead of faithful action?

The woman saw that the tree was good for food, a delight to the eyes, desirable to make one wise — so she took, and ate. Eve does not weigh what God said against what she wants; she simply goes with what looks good in the moment. And beside her, the verse notes quietly, stood her husband, who was with her, and he ate too. Kent called this the first postmodern decision: feelings over facts, appetite over what God had plainly commanded. But he would not let Adam off the hook. Adam was right there. His sin was twofold — he fell for the lie, and he stood passive when he should have spoken truth and led. Passivity, Kent warned, is its own quiet kind of disobedience. Every day sets the same choice in front of us. God says, listen to my voice; I made you, I know what is best, and it will go wel

What good gift from God have you watched sin twist into a source of shame — and what would it take to bring that hidden thing into his light instead of covering it alone?

“Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked.” The serpent had promised their eyes would open to wisdom, that they would become like God. Their eyes did open — but not to glory. They opened to shame. The very first thing sin handed them was not enlightenment; it was the frantic urge to cover up, sew leaves, and hide. Kent pointed to their nakedness as a good gift from God, given so a husband and wife could rejoice in one another without fear. Sin took that gift and stained it, turning something God had called very good into a source of guilt and hiding. That, Kent said, is what sin always does — it twists God’s good gifts into instruments of shame, and even bondage. We know this in our own skin. The thing meant to bless becomes the thing we conceal. Intimacy, ap

Where are you hiding from God right now — and what would change if you believed his “Where are you?” was an invitation, not an accusation?

“But the LORD God called to the man and said to him, ‘Where are you?’” God is not asking for information; he knows exactly where Adam is crouched. The question is mercy in the shape of a search. The guilty pair ran and hid among the trees, and rather than leaving them there, God walks into the garden and calls out for the very ones who fled from him. Kent lingered on something he had not noticed before: God could have scrapped the whole experiment and begun again with a new pair. He didn’t. As Alfie had said at the top of the service, before man ever went looking for God, God came looking for man. Even as sin and death entered the world, grace came walking in right behind it. That is the pattern of the whole Bible, and it runs against everything we assume about God. We picture him waitin

If God planted the promise of rescue in the very same breath as the curse, where might he be quietly working grace into the part of your life that feels most fallen apart?

“I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.” These words fall in the middle of the curse, spoken to the serpent — and yet they are the first promise of the gospel. One of the woman’s descendants will crush the enemy’s head. Grace is tucked inside the sentence of judgment. Kent closed there, then went one step further to verse 21: to cover Adam and Eve’s shame, something innocent had to die. An animal’s skin, a substitute — a shadow of the cross thrown all the way back to the beginning. When Adam and Eve took that first bite, Kent said, Jesus packed his bags for Bethlehem. The remedy was promised in the same breath as the wound. Paul draws the line straight in Romans 5: what the first

Where in your life are you hearing 'Did God actually say…?' — and how do you recognize that strategy when it's aimed at you?

Kent Keller walks Genesis 3 — the Fall, when sin entered through doubt and disobedience, and how God's first word after judgment is grace: a Redeemer is coming.

Adam stood by passively while Eve fell. Where are you tempted toward passivity when you know you should speak or act?

Kent Keller walks Genesis 3 — the Fall, when sin entered through doubt and disobedience, and how God's first word after judgment is grace: a Redeemer is coming.

What good gift from God have you seen twisted by sin — in your own life, or in the culture around you?

Kent Keller walks Genesis 3 — the Fall, when sin entered through doubt and disobedience, and how God's first word after judgment is grace: a Redeemer is coming.

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Foundations (Week 3)

When Everything Fell Apart · Group Guide

Genesis 3

Kent Keller Sunday, September 27, 2026

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📄 Bible Study (English)📄 Estudio Bíblico (Español)

Icebreaker

Think of a time you were told 'don't do that' and did it anyway. What was the pull — did it look good, did it seem like you knew better, or did someone convince you the rule was wrong? What happened?

Discussion Questions

1
Where in your life are you hearing 'Did God actually say…?' — and how do you recognize that strategy when it's aimed at you?
2
Adam stood by passively while Eve fell. Where are you tempted toward passivity when you know you should speak or act?
3
What good gift from God have you seen twisted by sin — in your own life, or in the culture around you?
4
How does the promise in Genesis 3:15 — that the woman's offspring will crush the serpent — change the way you read everything that comes after it in the Bible?
5
Kent said God came looking for Adam and Eve before they came looking for him. How does that shape how you think about your own moments of running from God?

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When Everything Fell Apart · Group Guide

Genesis 3

Discussion Questions

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