1
00:00:00,800 --> 00:00:05,080
Speaker 1: Let us pray, and Adam knew Eve his wife, and

2
00:00:05,200 --> 00:00:09,960
Speaker 1: she conceived and bare Cain and said, I have gotten

3
00:00:10,000 --> 00:00:15,840
Speaker 1: a man from the Lord. Genesis four one. Dear Lord.

4
00:00:16,600 --> 00:00:19,480
Speaker 1: Through to day's reading of Genesis four one through sixteen,

5
00:00:20,160 --> 00:00:24,680
Speaker 1: I now realize that even though life has its hard moments,

6
00:00:25,040 --> 00:00:28,240
Speaker 1: I can still choose to thank You that your presence

7
00:00:28,400 --> 00:00:32,320
Speaker 1: will never leave me. Because of this truth, I don't

8
00:00:32,360 --> 00:00:35,360
Speaker 1: have to allow jealousy to settle in my heart when

9
00:00:35,400 --> 00:00:39,720
Speaker 1: it appears that others are being blessed by you. Instead,

10
00:00:40,360 --> 00:00:43,040
Speaker 1: I will focus on the fact that as I keep

11
00:00:43,120 --> 00:00:47,360
Speaker 1: my heart right and serve you with gladness, nothing that

12
00:00:47,479 --> 00:00:50,040
Speaker 1: has been reserved for me will go to any one else.

13
00:00:50,680 --> 00:00:54,800
Speaker 1: Because what you have for me is for me. I

14
00:00:54,920 --> 00:00:58,840
Speaker 1: decree and declare that my seat has been reserved at

15
00:00:58,880 --> 00:01:02,840
Speaker 1: the table of success. I declare that nothing but joy

16
00:01:03,080 --> 00:01:06,720
Speaker 1: and happiness will come forth through me when I see

17
00:01:06,760 --> 00:01:10,760
Speaker 1: others succeed and win in life. Thank you God that

18
00:01:10,840 --> 00:01:14,279
Speaker 1: you've already covered my past emotions of jealousy and anger.

19
00:01:15,360 --> 00:01:18,400
Speaker 1: Thank You that hatred and resentment are not a part

20
00:01:18,440 --> 00:01:22,399
Speaker 1: of my story. Through the lives of Cain and Abel,

21
00:01:23,240 --> 00:01:26,640
Speaker 1: I will make sure that my sacrifice to you is

22
00:01:26,680 --> 00:01:31,880
Speaker 1: one of joy and wholeness of heart in Jesus name.

23
00:01:32,240 --> 00:01:35,920
Speaker 1: Listening to these daily prayers strengthens your relationship with God.

24
00:01:36,520 --> 00:01:40,360
Speaker 1: Continue hearing from the Lord by listening to today's Bible

25
00:01:40,440 --> 00:01:43,400
Speaker 1: in a Year, brought to you by Bible in a

26
00:01:43,480 --> 00:01:54,480
Speaker 1: Year dot com, Cain and Abel.

27
00:01:55,520 --> 00:01:58,840
Speaker 2: Before this story, we learned about the fall of mankind.

28
00:01:59,400 --> 00:02:03,080
Speaker 2: Adam and Eve lived with God shameless and without sin,

29
00:02:03,800 --> 00:02:06,360
Speaker 2: but because of their pride and desire to be their

30
00:02:06,440 --> 00:02:10,200
Speaker 2: own gods, they were deceived and turned away from Him.

31
00:02:10,720 --> 00:02:14,120
Speaker 2: Now they live in exile, still with God, but no

32
00:02:14,280 --> 00:02:18,160
Speaker 2: longer in an intimate relationship with him. Now we will

33
00:02:18,240 --> 00:02:21,640
Speaker 2: learn about how Adam and Eve start their family outside

34
00:02:21,680 --> 00:02:25,320
Speaker 2: of Paradise. They have their own children, but the sinful

35
00:02:25,440 --> 00:02:27,880
Speaker 2: nature of Adam and Eve has now been given to

36
00:02:27,960 --> 00:02:31,720
Speaker 2: their children, and what comes next is a tragedy that

37
00:02:31,760 --> 00:02:36,040
Speaker 2: has been repeated for all of human history. Inspired by

38
00:02:36,080 --> 00:02:37,120
Speaker 2: the Book of Genesis.

39
00:02:38,480 --> 00:02:41,880
Speaker 3: Hello, I'm pastor Jack Graham. With today's episode of the

40
00:02:41,880 --> 00:02:45,560
Speaker 3: Bible in a Year podcast. Today we pick up with

41
00:02:45,639 --> 00:02:49,519
Speaker 3: Adam and Eve outside the garden. This is life after

42
00:02:49,960 --> 00:02:54,040
Speaker 3: the curse. If yesterday's story was about doubt and pride,

43
00:02:54,600 --> 00:03:00,400
Speaker 3: today's theme is insincere worship of God, anger, bitterness, and

44
00:03:00,440 --> 00:03:04,000
Speaker 3: the passing down of sin nature to all future generations.

45
00:03:04,040 --> 00:03:08,160
Speaker 3: After Adam, Adam and Eve start a family, they have

46
00:03:08,240 --> 00:03:12,559
Speaker 3: two sons, Cain and Abel, names that have become infamous

47
00:03:12,560 --> 00:03:17,440
Speaker 3: for the devastating effects of sibling rivalry. Cain and his

48
00:03:17,520 --> 00:03:20,600
Speaker 3: brother Abel grew up knowing God. They were taught the

49
00:03:20,639 --> 00:03:24,679
Speaker 3: importance of sacrifices. Abel chose the best to offer to God,

50
00:03:24,760 --> 00:03:28,040
Speaker 3: while Cain brought offerings from a sense of obligation rather

51
00:03:28,120 --> 00:03:33,040
Speaker 3: than gratitude and praise. So God accepts one and rejects

52
00:03:33,080 --> 00:03:37,960
Speaker 3: the other. Cain was angry, bitter, and sin took hold

53
00:03:38,000 --> 00:03:42,080
Speaker 3: of his heart. The tragedy that ensued once again created

54
00:03:42,280 --> 00:03:46,360
Speaker 3: an irreparable rift in the family. The first human blood

55
00:03:46,360 --> 00:03:49,720
Speaker 3: that was shed on God's once perfect earth came from

56
00:03:49,720 --> 00:03:54,200
Speaker 3: the hands of one brother upon another. Sin was now

57
00:03:54,240 --> 00:03:59,880
Speaker 3: spreading through generations, and the cost was high, murder, banishment another.

58
00:04:00,400 --> 00:04:03,120
Speaker 3: And yet in the midst of it all, God's grace

59
00:04:03,160 --> 00:04:07,360
Speaker 3: and mercy once again shining through. Let's listen now to

60
00:04:07,440 --> 00:04:10,480
Speaker 3: the telling of this story from Genesis four, the story

61
00:04:10,800 --> 00:04:12,040
Speaker 3: of Cain and Abel.

62
00:04:14,280 --> 00:04:17,960
Speaker 2: Adam and Eve had been banished from Eden, and their

63
00:04:18,000 --> 00:04:21,760
Speaker 2: sin had made life hard, but the steadfast love of

64
00:04:21,839 --> 00:04:25,240
Speaker 2: God had not left them. Adam and Eve knew each

65
00:04:25,279 --> 00:04:31,560
Speaker 2: other intimately and became pregnant. First came Cain, afterward came Abel.

66
00:04:32,320 --> 00:04:35,239
Speaker 2: Cain labored in the fields growing food for the family.

67
00:04:35,800 --> 00:04:39,440
Speaker 2: Abel tended to the livestock as a shepherd. Cain and

68
00:04:39,520 --> 00:04:41,640
Speaker 2: Abel are the first of us to grow up in

69
00:04:41,680 --> 00:04:46,200
Speaker 2: a world riddled with imperfection, sin, and distance from God.

70
00:04:47,279 --> 00:04:50,160
Speaker 2: Both children grew up in the New world, and it

71
00:04:50,240 --> 00:04:53,520
Speaker 2: was time for Cain and Able to bring sacrifices to God.

72
00:04:54,320 --> 00:04:58,400
Speaker 2: Cain brought some of the fruits of his labor, grains, vegetables,

73
00:04:58,440 --> 00:05:02,560
Speaker 2: and other vegetation. Abel brought the first born of his flock,

74
00:05:03,080 --> 00:05:06,400
Speaker 2: a lamb Abel brought the best of what he had.

75
00:05:07,080 --> 00:05:10,039
Speaker 2: Not only this, but Abel had to raise this little

76
00:05:10,080 --> 00:05:13,920
Speaker 2: sheep and kill it before God. This means that it

77
00:05:14,000 --> 00:05:17,760
Speaker 2: was not just a sacrifice of materials, but a sacrifice

78
00:05:18,160 --> 00:05:22,520
Speaker 2: of the heart. Because of this, God accepted Abel's offering.

79
00:05:23,320 --> 00:05:27,400
Speaker 2: God also rejected Cain's offering, knowing that it did not

80
00:05:27,520 --> 00:05:32,200
Speaker 2: come from any real love at all. Jealousy gripped Caine's heart.

81
00:05:32,880 --> 00:05:37,560
Speaker 2: Contempt towards God boiled up inside him. This is mankind's

82
00:05:37,560 --> 00:05:42,240
Speaker 2: first rumblings of true hatred. Cain's face gave away his

83
00:05:42,400 --> 00:05:46,760
Speaker 2: true feelings. God noticed this and asked, why are you

84
00:05:46,880 --> 00:05:51,479
Speaker 2: so angry, knowing full well what the issue was. If

85
00:05:51,480 --> 00:05:55,040
Speaker 2: you do well, will you not be accepted? God asked,

86
00:05:55,760 --> 00:05:58,200
Speaker 2: if you don't do well, you give more room for

87
00:05:58,279 --> 00:06:01,560
Speaker 2: hatred and sin to rule in your heart. Do not

88
00:06:01,720 --> 00:06:05,440
Speaker 2: let hate rule over you. You can overcome it. But

89
00:06:05,720 --> 00:06:10,080
Speaker 2: Cain didn't listen. His anger had already won him over.

90
00:06:10,720 --> 00:06:13,560
Speaker 2: There would be no stopping the sin he was about

91
00:06:13,600 --> 00:06:17,320
Speaker 2: to commit. Cain lured his brother into the fields.

92
00:06:17,800 --> 00:06:22,039
Speaker 4: Then at that moment, all the hatred, jealousy, and contempt

93
00:06:22,120 --> 00:06:27,359
Speaker 4: of Cain unleashed unto his brother. Blow after flow, Kin

94
00:06:27,560 --> 00:06:32,000
Speaker 4: unleashed his wrath and spited God by murdering his brother.

95
00:06:33,320 --> 00:06:39,640
Speaker 2: His hands stained red, dripping with the blood of his brother. God,

96
00:06:39,800 --> 00:06:44,240
Speaker 2: already knowing what Cain had done, asked him, Cain, where

97
00:06:44,320 --> 00:06:49,080
Speaker 2: is your brother? Cain replied, I do not know. Am

98
00:06:49,080 --> 00:06:53,960
Speaker 2: I my brother's keeper? God is the creator of life,

99
00:06:54,000 --> 00:06:58,400
Speaker 2: and Cain had taken an innocent one. This enraged God.

100
00:06:58,920 --> 00:07:02,640
Speaker 2: He cursed Cain, saying, what have you done? The voice

101
00:07:02,640 --> 00:07:05,600
Speaker 2: of your brother's blood is crying to me from the ground.

102
00:07:05,920 --> 00:07:08,640
Speaker 2: And now you are cursed from the ground, which has

103
00:07:08,680 --> 00:07:12,000
Speaker 2: opened its mouth to receive your brother's blood from your hand.

104
00:07:12,920 --> 00:07:15,920
Speaker 2: When you work the ground, it shall no longer yield

105
00:07:15,960 --> 00:07:19,440
Speaker 2: to you its strength. You shall be a fugitive and

106
00:07:19,480 --> 00:07:24,520
Speaker 2: a wanderer on the earth. This punishment was fitting because

107
00:07:24,600 --> 00:07:27,680
Speaker 2: Cain had taken a life. God wanted his life to

108
00:07:27,680 --> 00:07:32,640
Speaker 2: be burdensome. It was more than Cain could bear. Fortunately

109
00:07:32,760 --> 00:07:38,440
Speaker 2: for him, God's mercy is still present in punishment. God said,

110
00:07:38,560 --> 00:07:43,160
Speaker 2: if anyone kills you, vengeance shall be taken on them sevenfold,

111
00:07:43,960 --> 00:07:46,640
Speaker 2: and he put a mark on Cain to keep anyone

112
00:07:47,080 --> 00:07:49,400
Speaker 2: from doing to him what he did to his brother.

113
00:07:50,120 --> 00:07:53,760
Speaker 2: Cain had shed innocent blood, and this was a pattern

114
00:07:53,840 --> 00:07:58,840
Speaker 2: mankind would continue in for a thousand generations after. Yet

115
00:07:58,880 --> 00:08:03,280
Speaker 2: God continues to show mercy, waiting to bless them and

116
00:08:03,440 --> 00:08:05,320
Speaker 2: safe them from their evil.

117
00:08:07,360 --> 00:08:11,080
Speaker 3: When jealousy and anger take root, they fester and grow.

118
00:08:12,120 --> 00:08:15,720
Speaker 3: That's what we see happening in today's story. Abel, who

119
00:08:15,800 --> 00:08:19,000
Speaker 3: really only plays a brief role, is lifted up as

120
00:08:19,040 --> 00:08:23,400
Speaker 3: the example of God honoring sacrifices and offerings. He gave

121
00:08:23,440 --> 00:08:28,160
Speaker 3: God the first and the best, and God accepted that sacrifice. Cain,

122
00:08:28,200 --> 00:08:30,360
Speaker 3: whose heart was not in the right place full of

123
00:08:30,360 --> 00:08:34,560
Speaker 3: faith to begin with, brought God vegetables and grains, but

124
00:08:34,760 --> 00:08:37,960
Speaker 3: not his first fruits, not his best, and not in faith.

125
00:08:38,760 --> 00:08:41,480
Speaker 3: His motives were wrong, and he became angry when his

126
00:08:41,600 --> 00:08:46,560
Speaker 3: offering was rejected. Sin started to creep in through resentment

127
00:08:46,760 --> 00:08:49,599
Speaker 3: and anger, so God warned him of the danger of

128
00:08:49,679 --> 00:08:53,120
Speaker 3: letting sin in. He speaks to Cain in Genesis four,

129
00:08:53,320 --> 00:08:57,040
Speaker 3: verses seven and eight, saying, if you do well, will

130
00:08:57,080 --> 00:08:59,920
Speaker 3: your face not be cheerful? And if you do not

131
00:09:00,440 --> 00:09:04,320
Speaker 3: do well, Sin is lurking at the door, and its

132
00:09:04,360 --> 00:09:08,840
Speaker 3: desire is for you, but you must master it. I

133
00:09:08,880 --> 00:09:12,760
Speaker 3: appreciate this passage providing a warning that's applicable to you

134
00:09:12,840 --> 00:09:16,240
Speaker 3: and me today. Sin is now loose in the world.

135
00:09:16,360 --> 00:09:20,440
Speaker 3: It lurks at our door. It desires us. In other words,

136
00:09:20,520 --> 00:09:23,120
Speaker 3: it wants to get in our heads and in our hearts,

137
00:09:23,160 --> 00:09:26,680
Speaker 3: into our lives. When sin is allowed to rule over us,

138
00:09:26,760 --> 00:09:32,000
Speaker 3: the outcome is never good and ultimately tragic. That's what

139
00:09:32,120 --> 00:09:35,319
Speaker 3: happened to Kane. Sin took hold of him, and he

140
00:09:36,080 --> 00:09:39,320
Speaker 3: directed his jealousy and anger at the one whose offering

141
00:09:39,440 --> 00:09:42,400
Speaker 3: was accepted to his own brother, whom he killed in

142
00:09:42,480 --> 00:09:47,040
Speaker 3: cold blood. Once again, we're reminded that sin always comes

143
00:09:47,480 --> 00:09:50,120
Speaker 3: with a price, as he did with Adam and Eve.

144
00:09:50,160 --> 00:09:53,880
Speaker 3: God questions Cain and his guilt is revealed. Cain is

145
00:09:53,920 --> 00:10:00,400
Speaker 3: cursed to wander in the earth. Sin. Separation is always, always,

146
00:10:00,440 --> 00:10:04,839
Speaker 3: always the sin. When we sin, there is always separation

147
00:10:04,960 --> 00:10:08,880
Speaker 3: that happens from God, which is the worst of all separations,

148
00:10:09,240 --> 00:10:12,560
Speaker 3: and then from others. But again, God, in his mercy,

149
00:10:12,600 --> 00:10:16,040
Speaker 3: does not abandon Cain or leave him without protection. God

150
00:10:16,160 --> 00:10:18,680
Speaker 3: marks him not as a sign of the curse, but

151
00:10:18,760 --> 00:10:23,280
Speaker 3: as a sign of God's hand of protection. God, thank

152
00:10:23,320 --> 00:10:25,600
Speaker 3: you for this story that shows us how sin can

153
00:10:25,640 --> 00:10:28,800
Speaker 3: take hold and rule our thoughts, leading us to commit

154
00:10:28,920 --> 00:10:32,640
Speaker 3: unthinkable acts. Help us, through your spirit to master the

155
00:10:32,720 --> 00:10:36,000
Speaker 3: sin that lurks at our doors. And thank you Lord

156
00:10:36,000 --> 00:10:39,720
Speaker 3: that even when we sin, even through the consequences of

157
00:10:39,760 --> 00:10:45,360
Speaker 3: our sin, your mercy and grace remain in Christ's name. Amen.

158
00:10:46,360 --> 00:10:49,559
Speaker 3: Thank you for listening to today's Bible in a Year podcast.

159
00:10:50,000 --> 00:10:53,920
Speaker 3: I'm pastor Jack Graham from Dallas, Texas. Download thepray dot

160
00:10:53,960 --> 00:10:56,959
Speaker 3: Com app and make prayer a priority in your life.

161
00:10:57,520 --> 00:11:00,400
Speaker 3: If you enjoyed this podcast, share it with someone you love.

162
00:11:00,840 --> 00:11:03,200
Speaker 3: By sharing this podcast, you can make a difference in

163
00:11:03,240 --> 00:11:06,679
Speaker 3: someone's life. And if you want more resources on how

164
00:11:06,679 --> 00:11:10,840
Speaker 3: to tap into God's power for successful Christian living, be

165
00:11:10,920 --> 00:11:14,320
Speaker 3: sure to visit Jack Graham dot org. God bless