Many of us have secrets involving things that we have done, often things we are very ashamed of. Confession is the first step to dealing with these secrets.

2. In the beginning God created the heavens
and the earth. The earth was formless
and empty, and darkness covered the
deep waters. And the Spirit of God was
hovering over the surface of the waters.*
*Genesis I:I &2

3. The LORD God placed the man in the
Garden of Eden to tend and watch over it.
But the LORD God warned him, “You may
freely eat the fruit of every tree in the
gard e n — e xce p t t h e t re e of t h e
knowledge of good and evil. If you eat
its fruit, you are sure to die.”*
*Genesis 2:I5-I
7

4. “God offered nothing less to Adam and
Eve than the privilege of freedom and the
joy of dependence. Our society treats
this as an oxymoron and labels God a
tyrant . . .”*
*John H. Walton

5. The serpent was the shrewdest of all the
wild animals the LORD God had made.
One day he asked the woman, “Did God
really say you must not eat the fruit from
any of the trees in the garden?”*
*Genesis 3:I

6. “Of course we may eat fruit from the
trees in the garden,” the woman replied.
“It’s only the fruit from the tree in the
middle of the garden that we are not
allowed to eat. God said, ‘You must not
eat it or even touch it; if you do, you will
die.’”*
*Genesis 3:2 & 3

7. “You won’t die!” the serpent replied to
the woman. “God knows that your eyes
will be opened as soon as you eat it, and
you will be like God, knowing both good
and evil.”*
*Genesis 3:4 & 5

8. Then God said, “Let us make human
beings in our image, to be like ourselves.*
*Genesis I:26

9. The woman was convinced. She saw that
the tree was beautiful and its fruit
looked delicious, and she wanted the
wisdom it would give her. So she took
some of the fruit and ate it. Then she
gave some to her husband, who was with
her, and he ate it, too.*
*Genesis 3:6

10. WE SIN

11. WE SIN

12. “God offered nothing less to Adam and
Even than the privilege of freedom and the
joy of dependence. Our society treats this
as an oxymoron and labels God a tyrant. In
rejecting dependence on God (though in no
way escaping from it) people choose a far
more costly dependency — on themselves
and their own resources. In seeking auton-
omy, freedom, and power, they only forge
new chains.”*
*John H. Walton
WE SIN

13. At that moment their eyes were opened,
and they suddenly felt shame at their
nakedness. So they sewed fig leaves
together to cover themselves.*
*Genesis 3:7
WE SIN

14. WE SIN

15. When the cool evening breezes were
blowing, the man and his wife heard the
LORD God walking about in the garden.
So they hid from the LORD God among
the trees.*
*Genesis 3:8
WE SIN

16. WE HIDE

17. Then the LORD God called to the man,
“Where are you?”*
*Genesis 3:9
WE HIDE

18. He replied, “I heard you walking in the
garden, so I hid. I was afraid because I
was naked.”*
*Genesis 3:I0
WE HIDE

19. “Who told you that you were naked?” the
LORD God asked. “Have you eaten from
the tree whose fruit I commanded you
not to eat?”*
*Genesis 3:II
WE HIDE

20. The man replied, “It was the woman you
gave me who gave me the fruit, and I
ate it.”*
*Genesis 3:I2
WE HIDE

21. Then the LORD God asked the woman,
“What have you done?”
“The serpent deceived me,” she replied.
“That’s why I ate it.”*
*Genesis 3:I3
WE HIDE

22. WE BLAME

23. “I will take responsibility only if another
is at fault first.”*
*Dan Allender
WE BLAME

24. When the cool evening breezes were
blowing, the man and his wife heard the
LORD God walking about in the garden.
So they hid from the LORD God among
the trees.
Then the LORD God called to the man,
“Where are you?”*
*Genesis 3:8 & 9
WE BLAME

25. HE CALLS US OUT OF HIDING

26. You spread out our sins before you — our
secret sins — and you see them all.*
*Psalm 90:8
HE CALLS US OUT OF HIDING

27. He replied, “I heard you walking in the
garden, so I hid. I was afraid because I
was naked.”*
*Genesis 3:I0
HE CALLS US OUT OF HIDING

28. “We’re created to fear — we just fear the
wrong things.”*
*Pavi Thomas
HE CALLS US OUT OF HIDING

29. “Who told you that you were naked?” the
LORD God asked. “Have you eaten from
the tree whose fruit I commanded you
not to eat?”*
*Genesis 3:II
HE CALLS US OUT OF HIDING

30. HE NAMES OUR SIN

31. HE NAMES OUR CONSEQUENCES

32. Then he said to the woman, “I will
sharpen the pain of your pregnancy, and
in pain you will give birth. And you will
desire to control your husband, but he
will rule over you.”*
*Genesis 3:I6
HE NAMES OUR CONSEQUENCES

33. And to the man he said, “Since you listened
to your wife and ate from the tree whose
fruit I commanded you not to eat, the ground
is cursed because of you. All your life you
will struggle to scratch a living from it. It will
grow thorns and thistles for you, though you
will eat of its grains. By the sweat of your
brow will you have food to eat until you
return to the ground from which you were
made.*
*Genesis 3:I7-I9
HE NAMES OUR CONSEQUENCES

34. For you were made from dust, and to
dust you will return.”*
*Genesis 3:20
HE NAMES OUR CONSEQUENCES

35. And the LORD God made clothing from
animal skins for Adam and his wife.*
*Genesis 3:2I
HE NAMES OUR CONSEQUENCES

36. HE SHEDS BLOOD TO COVER
OUR SHAME

37. For God presented Jesus as the sacrifice
for sin. People are made right with God
when they believe that Jesus sacrificed
his life, shedding his blood.*
*Romans 3:25
HE SHEDS BLOOD TO COVER
OUR SHAME

38. HE SHEDS BLOOD TO COVER
OUR SHAME

39. COME OUT OF HIDING

40. Confess your sins to each other and pray
for each other so that you may be healed.
The earnest prayer of a righteous person
has great power and produces wonderful
results.*
*James 5:I6
COME OUT OF HIDING

41. COME OUT OF HIDING

42. “Hey Noel,
I’ve been thinking about the con-
sequences that are going to come out of
this series you are doing, and although I
think the good outweigh the tougher
ones . . . I’ve noticed in being a pretty
open person, that many Christians are
not positively enforced when they spill
their secrets to others.”*
*A member of Riv
I mean this in the sense that I generally
get this quot;we'll pray for youquot; kind of
COME you knowOF one where in
OUT the HIDING
response,

43. “I mean this in the sense that I generally
get this ‘we'll pray for you’ kind of
response, you know the one where in
their head they're like . . . ‘wow this one’s
pretty messed up . . . we better help them
with their walk.’ It’s pretty belittling.”*
*A member of Riv
I know this is a really crappy response for
COME OUT have to HIDING
OF people being
other Christians to

44. “I know this is a really crappy response
for other Christians to have to people
being open, but I've received it more than
once from Christians in different groups
of people/society. Just a thought, but
it’d be nice if you could add a little some-
thing in there for how we should react as
brothers/sisters to watching all this
buried stuff come up from the grave.”*
*A member of Riv
COME OUT OF HIDING

45. DEAL WITH THE CONSEQUENCES

46. “I fasted and I wept while the child was
alive, for I said ‘Perhaps the Lord will be
gracious to me and let the child live.’ But
why should I fast when he is dead? Can I
bring him back again? I will go to him
one day, but he cannot return to me.”*
*2 Samuel 12:22
DEAL WITH THE CONSEQUENCES

47. PEDAL THE BIKE

48. MY CONFESSION

49. For I pass on to you what I received from
the Lord himself. On the night when he
was betrayed, the Lord Jesus took some
bread and gave thanks to God for it. Then
he broke it in pieces and said, “This is my
body, which is given for you. Do this to
remember me.”*
*I Corinthians II:23-26
In the same way, he took the cup of wine
PEDAL THE BIKE
after supper, saying, “This cup is the new

50. In the same way, he took the cup of wine
after supper, saying, “This cup is the new
covenant between God and his people —
an agreement confirmed with my blood.
Do this to remember me as often as you
drink it.” For every time you eat this
bread and drink this cup, you are ann-
ouncing the Lord’s death until he comes
again.*
*I Corinthians II:23-26
PEDAL THE BIKE

51. So anyone who eats this bread or drinks
this cup of the Lord unworthily is guilty
of sinning against the body and blood of
the Lord. That is why you should examine
yourself before eating the bread and
drinking the cup. For if you eat the bread
or drink the cup without honoring the
body of Christ, you are eating and
drinking God’s judgment upon yourself.*
*I Corinthians II:27-30
That is why many of you are weak and
sick and some have even died.
PEDAL BIKE
THE

52. That is why many of you are weak and
sick and some have even died.*
*I Corinthians II:27-30
PEDAL THE BIKE

53. But if we would examine ourselves, we
would not be judged by God in this way.*
*I Corinthians II:3I
PEDAL THE BIKE