Genesis 4:1-7 NLT, James 1:22-25

Preface

Here is a story of two brothers. One seemed to have done something right and was accepted by God for it, in contrast the other was unaccepted. God then asked Cain, “why are you so angry?”, if only you do what is right you too will be accepted.

Recurrent Thought

God’s blessings and promises are Yes and Amen in Christ but it takes our alignment to access them.

Alignment requires both the person and the act to be acceptable. The bible says vs 5, “The Lord accepted Abel and his gift”. Not only was the act right, but the person offering it had become a right person.

Gen 12:1 says “The Lord had said to Abram, “Leave your native country, your relatives, and your father’s family, and go to the land that I will show you…”

• Leaving your native country, your default setting, what you love and what you know, your COMFORTS, to go and pursue your goal is a road we must all go through
• But the liberating thought is, the native/default is only a result of what has influenced you, and you can develop a new default, a default that supports you

Being acceptable and offering acceptable gifts - James 1:22-25

God is more interested in who we are becoming, more than what we are doing. 

1. Looks intently
   • Focus 
     • Has set his gaze on something. 
     • There is something he is trying to achieve
     • He has a clear goal
     • He knows what. He has countless options available, but he has zeroed in on what, or who! He has his target set
   • Intently 
     • There is an intention, in every step they take 
     • They have understood the WHY. There’s little need to convince them on what needs to be done.
     • They are trying to achieve something specifically
     • There’s clarity in their life
     • Clarity 
   • Abel in vs 4 “brought the best portions of the firstborn lambs” 
     • He understood something, it was more than just an offering to God. It was an act of faith. Heb 11:4
     • It was a declaration of faith! Taking the best of the first, is saying something to God. How much you honour him, with all that you have and also how much you trust him.
     • Offering second best or leftovers is also saying something to God.
     • Giving your dreams and your spiritual life left over time and effort is saying something to your dream. 
2. Continues in it, not forgetting what they have heard - Consistency & Persistence
   • This is where we under there’s a process to everything
   • First of all we fight the battle of resistance within ourselves
     • Battle of identity
       • Abel became a shepherd & Cain became a farmer. Understanding and embracing we are different. We will differ in somethings, calling, manifestations of gifts
       • Accepting you are enough and God has called you differently?
     • Battle of qualifications
       • Am I really up for this? Do I have what it takes?
       • Am I enough? Will I be able to achieve this?
       • What we are called to do, we tend to face limitations that make us doubt
   • God uprooting and dealing with everything that is holding us back
     • Consistency is what gives the process/God an opportunity to deal with every weight that holds us back and every sin that ensnares Heb 12:1. 
     • It says, ensnares, you may not know it, but that pleasure you are holding on to is costing you your future
     • The wilderness was the place that God had to deal with the Israelites’ unfaithfulness, rebellious spirit and bondage to Egypt
   • Endurance Test
     • Do you truly want it?
     • The time taken for the process may be dependent on requirements we have to meet or certain things to align or another reason God may have 
     • During this time, God is uprooting and planting. This person does not forget, he is retaining all God is working in him
     • Let us not grow weary, there’s a due time! Let us not lose hope. In due time we reap a harvest
     • When we attain a result without the process, we become in possession of something we cannot sustain
3. They do it - Obedience and a bias to action
   • “If you do not do it, you do not know it”
     • Nicer way, you do not know it as you should.
     • According to the Bible, “If you do not do it yet you think you know it or have understood it, you are then living in deception”
     • The only way to attain growth on your journey, is through the gates of action, you have to do it. 
     • There are those that wish it to happen, they want it to happen, but there are those that make it happen. 
     • They commit and decide to do everything they can to see it come to pass.
     • Special Message
       • Talking about doing the thing is not doing the thing 
       • Thinking about doing the thing is not doing the thing 
       • Planning to do the thing is not doing the thing.
       • Saying you’ll do the thing is not doing the thing
       • Posting about doing the thing is not doing the thing
       • Reading about doing the thing is not doing the thing
       • Wanting to do the thing is not doing the thing
       • Listening to sermons/podcasts about the thing is not doing the thing 
       • Doing the thing, is doing the thing!
     • How we see if you are in alignment with what you have become is in your unsolicited action
   • If you do not do it, sin is crouching at the door, ready to control you
     • Neglecting doing something well, or not doing it at all, not only prevents you from attaining the desired goal, but there’s an enemy ready to capitalise
     • Saying no to this call of becoming, is saying yes to something else
     • If you do not do well, there are enough distractions and sins to keep you occupied
     • Not doing well, means looking away and completely forgetting. You will continue being bound to things fighting your very purpose
     • My call today is, subdue what has been binding you and master it.
   • We ought to pay the price. There’s need for a sacrifice
     • Unfortunately attaining growth and realising our dreams is not as easy as we would want it
     • Life is transactional, you give some to get some
     • I remember back in university with Daisy we tried to build a perpetual rotating machine (to generate electricity from statically positioned magnets). We soon realised how unrealistic that principle was.
     • Do not offer God and your dream, that which costs you nothing!
     • The price may be financial, time, relationships, loneliness/isolation, reputation, pleasure, materialism, forsaking the familiar…and holding on to the unrealised (Like Noah)

Conclusion

• James 1vs22 Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.

• God and life are both asking something of you today. 
• Do what they are challenging you to do. Answer the questions correctly.

Altar Call

• Let me be a doer. 
• Not just help me do it. But help me to become the type of person that does it.