Review

Last month, we introduced a new series called “Hustle.”

It calls out the hurried tempo of our lives.

And it asks us to invest time with God.

Which in turn aligns our pace and priorities to match the Heavenly Father’s.

This message places a strong emphasis on slowing down so that we can prioritize our time with God.

But we had to put this all in a much broader context.

We looked at the Industrial Revolution and its impact on our fast-paced, technology-driven lives.

The Industrial Revolution was a “process of change” that shifted our economy from one based on agriculture and handicrafts to one based on industry and machine manufacturing. (Encyclopedia Britannica).

When you farm and make things with your hands, life moves at the pace of nature.

Technology is a response to the limitations of the natural world

But the challenge is this: Humanity wants to create technology to improve the natural world but without addressing the root cause of the world’s disorder.

Wounds from the past, especially from childhood, can fuel our drive toward success.

Many successful people are wounded.

Introduction

Matthew 24:42 (ESV): ⁴²Therefore, stay awake, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming.

Romans 13:11 (ESV): 11 Besides this you know the time, that the hour has come for you to wake from sleep. For salvation is nearer to us now than when we first believed.

Ephesians 5:14 (ESV): 14. . .“Awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.”

Isaiah 51:17 (ESV): 17 Wake yourself, wake yourself, stand up, O Jerusalem. . .

Isaiah 26:19 (ESV): 19 Your dead shall live; their bodies shall rise. You who dwell in the dust, awake and sing for joy!…

Big Daddy Cain

Genesis 4:1 (ESV): ¹Now Adam knew Eve his wife, and she conceived and bore Cain, saying, “I have gotten a man with the help of the Lord.”

Genesis 4:2 (ESV): ² And again, she bore his brother Abel. Now Abel was a keeper of sheep, and Cain a worker of the ground.

Genesis 4:3 (ESV): ³ In the course of time Cain brought to the Lord an offering of the fruit of the ground,

Genesis 4:4 (ESV): ⁴ and Abel also brought of the firstborn of his flock and of their fat portions. And the Lord had regard for Abel and his offering,

Genesis 4:5 (ESV): ⁵ but for Cain and his offering he had no regard. So, Cain was very angry, and his face fell.

Genesis 4:6 (ESV): ⁶ The Lord said to Cain, “Why are you angry, and why has your face fallen?

Psalm 139:23–24 (ESV): ²³ Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! ²⁴ And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting!

Genesis 4:7 (ESV): ⁷ If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is contrary to you, but you must rule over it.”

Genesis 4:8 (ESV): ⁸ Cain spoke to Abel his brother. And when they were in the field, Cain rose up against his brother Abel and killed him.

Genesis 4:9 (ESV): ⁹ Then the Lord said to Cain, “Where is Abel your brother?” He said, “I do not know; am I my brother’s keeper?”

Genesis 4:10 (ESV): ¹⁰ And the Lord said, “What have you done? The voice of your brother’s blood is crying to me from the ground.

Genesis 4:11 (ESV): ¹¹ And now you are cursed from the ground, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand.

Genesis 4:12 (ESV): ¹² When you work the ground, it shall no longer yield to you its strength. You shall be a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth.”

Genesis 4:13-14 (ESV): ¹³ Cain said to the Lord, “My punishment is greater than I can bear. ¹⁴ Behold, you have driven me today away from the ground, and from your face I shall be hidden. I shall be a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth, and whoever finds me will kill me.”

Genesis 4:15 (ESV): ¹⁵ Then the Lord said to him, “Not so! If anyone kills Cain, vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold.” And the Lord put a mark on Cain, lest any who found him should attack him.

Genesis 4:16 (ESV): ¹⁶ Then Cain went away from the presence of the Lord and settled in the land of Nod, east of Eden.

Genesis 4:17 (ESV): ¹⁷ Cain knew his wife, and she conceived and bore Enoch. When he built a city, he called the name of the city after the name of his son, Enoch.

Genesis 4:18 (ESV): ¹⁸ To Enoch was born Irad, and Irad fathered Mehujael, and Mehujael fathered Methushael, and Methushael fathered Lamech.

Genesis 4:19 (ESV): ¹⁹ And Lamech took two wives. The name of the one was Adah, and the name of the other Zillah.

Genesis 4:20 (ESV): ²⁰ Adah bore Jabal; he was the father of those who dwell in tents and have livestock.

Genesis 4:21 (ESV): ²¹ His brother’s name was Jubal; he was the father of all those who play the lyre and pipe.

Genesis 4:22 (ESV): ²² Zillah also bore Tubal-cain; he was the forger of all instruments of bronze and iron. The sister of Tubal-cain was Naamah.

Genesis 4:23-24 (ESV): ²³ Lamech said to his wives: “Adah and Zillah, hear my voice; you wives of Lamech, listen to what I say: I have killed a man for wounding me, a young man for striking me. ²⁴ If Cain’s revenge is sevenfold, then Lamech’s is seventy-sevenfold.”

• Genesis 6:1–4 (ESV): 1 When man began to multiply on the face of the land and daughters were born to them, 2 the sons of God saw that the daughters of man were attractive. And they took as their wives any they chose. 3 Then the Lord said, “My Spirit shall not abide in man forever, for he is flesh: his days shall be 120 years.” 4 The Nephilim were on the earth in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of God came in to the daughters of man and they bore children to them. These were the mighty men who were of old, the men of renown. 5 The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. 6 And the Lord regretted that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart. 
• Genesis 6:11–12 (ESV): 11 Now the earth was corrupt in God’s sight, and the earth was filled with violence. 12 And God saw the earth, and behold, it was corrupt, for all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth. 

Genesis 4:25 (ESV): ²⁵ And Adam knew his wife again, and she bore a son and called his name Seth, for she said, “God has appointed for me another offspring instead of Abel, for Cain killed him.”

Genesis 4:26 (ESV): ²⁶ To Seth also a son was born, and he called his name Enosh. At that time people began to call upon the name of the Lord.

 

© Joshua D. Smith, Ph.D., 2024