Imagine You’re Part of Something Bigger Part 3

Introduction 

• Loan
• Infrastructure
• Lighting
• Projection
• Stage
• Communication
• Seating

Easy Way to Remember What to Do 

• Prayer
• Devotion
• Commitment

Review 

To offer some perspective on our fundraising campaign this month we are looking closely at Old Testament figures who were faced with similar circumstances as we are. 

• As with us, they were challenged to give sacrificially, and God used their sacrifices to test their hearts and help them grow spiritually. 

Last week we looked at Cain and Able and examined them by examining their offerings. 

• They each presented an offering to the Lord.  
• Able’s offering was received. Cain’s offering was rejected. 

The differences in the reception were 

• Thier attitudes. 
• Thier motivations. 
• The kind of thought they invested in the gift. 
• The degree of sacrifice that was involved.

When you’re invited to give a sacrificial offering to the Lord, there can be a ripple effect on your life–and the lives of others. 

Another Look at Cain 

What Cain’s Rejected Offering Reveals About Him 

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 4:1 (ESV): 1 Now Adam knew Eve his wife, and she conceived and bore Cain, saying, “I have gotten a man with the help of the Lord.” 
• Genesis 4:11–12 (ESV): 11 And now you are cursed from the ground, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand. 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.” 
• Deuteronomy 8:18 (ESV): 18 You shall remember the Lord your God, for it is he who gives you power to get wealth, that he may confirm his covenant that he swore to your fathers, as it is this day. 
• Judges 16:6 (ESV): 6 So Delilah said to Samson, “Please tell me where your great strength lies, and how you might be bound, that one could subdue you.” 
• Genesis 4:12 (ESV): 12 When you work the ground, it shall no longer yield to you its strength. [Power] 

What Was Cain Keeping from God? 

• God wants to bless us materially, but when we hold possessions, there’s always the temptation to become attached to them 
• We get seduced by the power that those possessions offer us. 
• Possessions offer us godlike powers (money, power, fame, status symbols) 
• So, then we substitute God with the possessions.  
• Deuteronomy 8:11–18 (ESV): 11 “Take care lest you forget the Lord your God by not keeping his commandments and his rules and his statutes, which I command you today, 12 lest, when you have eaten and are full and have built good houses and live in them, 13 and when your herds and flocks multiply and your silver and gold is multiplied and all that you have is multiplied, 14 then your heart be lifted up, and you forget the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery, 15 who led you through the great and terrifying wilderness, with its fiery serpents and scorpions and thirsty ground where there was no water, who brought you water out of the flinty rock, 16 who fed you in the wilderness with manna that your fathers did not know, that he might humble you and test you, to do you good in the end. 17 Beware lest you say in your heart, ‘My power and the might of my hand have gotten me this wealth.’ 18 You shall remember the Lord your God, for it is he who gives you power to get wealth, that he may confirm his covenant that he swore to your fathers, as it is this day. 

Sacrifices Save Us 

God uses the sacrificial gift as a means by which to cultivate a dependence on Him. 

God is rejecting Cain’s offering, but He’s not rejecting Cain. 

God Uses Sacrifices to Disciple Us 

• Genesis 4:6 (ESV): 6 The Lord said to Cain, “Why are you angry, and why has your face fallen?  
• Genesis 4:7 (ESV): 7 If you do well, will you not be accepted?. . .   
• Genesis 4:7 (ESV): 7. . . .And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door. 
• 1 Peter 5:8 (ESV): 8 Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. 
• 1 John 2:15 (ESV): 15 Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 
• Genesis 4:7 (ESV): 7. . . .Its desire is contrary to you, but you must rule over it.” 

The Consequences of Cain’s Decision