Sunday January 8 2017

 Sermon "Not All Humans Are The Same"

New Creation – People are not the Same

 We Are A New Creation Because We Have The Holy Spirit to Guide And Direct Us Every Day!

Genesis 4:1-8   

1 Adam^[a] made love to his wife Eve, and she became pregnant and gave birth to Cain.^[b] She said, “With the help of the Lord I have brought forth^[c] a man.” ² Later she gave birth to his brother Abel.

Now Abel kept flocks, and Cain worked the soil. ³ In the course of time Cain brought some of the fruits of the soil as an offering to the Lord. ⁴ And Abel also brought an offering—fat portions from some of the firstborn of his flock. The Lord looked with favor on Abel and his offering, ⁵ but on Cain and his offering he did not look with favor. So Cain was very angry, and his face was downcast.
⁶ Then the Lord said to Cain, “Why are you angry? Why is your face downcast? ⁷ If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must rule over it.”
⁸ Now Cain said to his brother Abel, “Let’s go out to the field.”^[d] While they were in the field, Cain attacked his brother Abel and killed him.

Cain And Able 

 Genesis 4:1-16 (NASB)
¹  Now the man had relations with his wife Eve, and she conceived and gave birth to Cain, and she said, "I have gotten a manchild with the help of the LORD."
²  Again, she gave birth to his brother Abel. And Abel was a keeper of flocks, but Cain was a tiller of the ground.
³  So it came about in the course of time that Cain brought an offering to the LORD of the fruit of the ground.
⁴  Abel, on his part also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of their fat portions. And the LORD had regard for Abel and for his offering;
⁵  but for Cain and for his offering He had no regard. So Cain became very angry and his countenance fell.
⁶  Then the LORD said to Cain, "Why are you angry? And why has your countenance fallen?
⁷  "If you do well, will not your countenance be lifted up? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door; and its desire is for you, but you must master it."
⁸  Cain told Abel his brother. And it came about when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother and killed him.
⁹  Then the LORD said to Cain, "Where is Abel your brother?" And he said, "I do not know. Am I my brother's keeper?"
¹⁰  He said, "What have you done? The voice of your brother's blood is crying to Me from the ground.
¹¹  "Now you are cursed from the ground, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother's blood from your hand.
¹²  "When you cultivate the ground, it will no longer yield its strength to you; you will be a vagrant and a wanderer on the earth."
¹³  Cain said to the LORD, "My punishment is too great to bear!
¹⁴  "Behold, You have driven me this day from the face of the ground; and from Your face I will be hidden, and I will be a vagrant and a wanderer on the earth, and whoever finds me will kill me."
¹⁵  So the LORD said to him, "Therefore whoever kills Cain, vengeance will be taken on him sevenfold." And the LORD appointed a sign for Cain, so that no one finding him would slay him.
¹⁶  Then Cain went out from the presence of the LORD, and settled in the land of Nod, east of Eden.  

People Are Different 

Western Europe – Renaissance  - South Pacific Still Head Hunting

Judges 3:1  
1 These are the nations the Lord left to test all those Israelites who had not experienced any of the wars in Canaan.  Verse 5: The Israelites lived among the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites. ⁶ They took their daughters in marriage and gave their own daughters to their sons, and served their gods.

Idolatry Leads To Servetude 

Judges 3:1-8 (NASB)
¹  Now these are the nations which the LORD left, to test Israel by them (that is, all who had not experienced any of the wars of Canaan;
²  only in order that the generations of the sons of Israel might be taught war, those who had not experienced it formerly).
³  These nations are: the five lords of the Philistines and all the Canaanites and the Sidonians and the Hivites who lived in Mount Lebanon, from Mount Baal-hermon as far as Lebo-hamath.
⁴  They were for testing Israel, to find out if they would obey the commandments of the LORD, which He had commanded their fathers through Moses.
⁵  The sons of Israel lived among the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites;
⁶  and they took their daughters for themselves as wives, and gave their own daughters to their sons, and served their gods.
⁷  The sons of Israel did what was evil in the sight of the LORD, and forgot the LORD their God and served the Baals and the Asheroth.
⁸  Then the anger of the LORD was kindled against Israel, so that He sold them into the hands of Cushan-rishathaim king of Mesopotamia; and the sons of Israel served Cushan-rishathaim eight years.  
  
2 Corinthians  6:14  
14 [ Warning Against Idolatry ] Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness?
People groups used to live in their own part of the world.

Their Ministry Commended

2 Corinthians 6:1-18 (NASB)
¹  And working together with Him, we also urge you not to receive the grace of God in vain—
²  for He says, "AT THE ACCEPTABLE TIME I LISTENED TO YOU, AND ON THE DAY OF SALVATION I HELPED YOU." Behold, now is "THE ACCEPTABLE TIME," behold, now is "THE DAY OF SALVATION"—
³  giving no cause for offense in anything, so that the ministry will not be discredited,
⁴  but in everything commending ourselves as servants of God, in much endurance, in afflictions, in hardships, in distresses,
⁵  in beatings, in imprisonments, in tumults, in labors, in sleeplessness, in hunger,
⁶  in purity, in knowledge, in patience, in kindness, in the Holy Spirit, in genuine love,
⁷  in the word of truth, in the power of God; by the weapons of righteousness for the right hand and the left,
⁸  by glory and dishonor, by evil report and good report; regarded as deceivers and yet true;
⁹  as unknown yet well-known, as dying yet behold, we live; as punished yet not put to death,
¹⁰  as sorrowful yet always rejoicing, as poor yet making many rich, as having nothing yet possessing all things.
¹¹  Our mouth has spoken freely to you, O Corinthians, our heart is opened wide.
¹²  You are not restrained by us, but you are restrained in your own affections.
¹³  Now in a like exchange—I speak as to children—open wide to us also.
¹⁴  Do not be bound together with unbelievers; for what partnership have righteousness and lawlessness, or what fellowship has light with darkness?
¹⁵  Or what harmony has Christ with Belial, or what has a believer in common with an unbeliever?
¹⁶  Or what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we are the temple of the living God; just as God said, "I WILL DWELL IN THEM AND WALK AMONG THEM; AND I WILL BE THEIR GOD, AND THEY SHALL BE MY PEOPLE.
¹⁷  "Therefore, COME OUT FROM THEIR MIDST AND BE SEPARATE," says the Lord. "AND DO NOT TOUCH WHAT IS UNCLEAN; And I will welcome you.
¹⁸  "And I will be a father to you, And you shall be sons and daughters to Me," Says the Lord Almighty.  

2 Corinthians 5:16-19 
16 So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. ¹⁷ Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come:^[a] The old has gone, the new is here! ¹⁸ All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: ¹⁹ that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ.

The Temporal And Eternal 

  2 Corinthians 5:1-21 (NASB) ¹  For we know that if the earthly tent which is our house is torn down, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.
²  For indeed in this house we groan, longing to be clothed with our dwelling from heaven,
³  inasmuch as we, having put it on, will not be found naked.
⁴  For indeed while we are in this tent, we groan, being burdened, because we do not want to be unclothed but to be clothed, so that what is mortal will be swallowed up by life.
⁵  Now He who prepared us for this very purpose is God, who gave to us the Spirit as a pledge.
⁶  Therefore, being always of good courage, and knowing that while we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord—
⁷  for we walk by faith, not by sight—
⁸  we are of good courage, I say, and prefer rather to be absent from the body and to be at home with the Lord.
⁹  Therefore we also have as our ambition, whether at home or absent, to be pleasing to Him.
¹⁰  For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may be recompensed for his deeds in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.
¹¹  Therefore, knowing the fear of the Lord, we persuade men, but we are made manifest to God; and I hope that we are made manifest also in your consciences.
¹²  We are not again commending ourselves to you but are giving you an occasion to be proud of us, so that you will have an answer for those who take pride in appearance and not in heart.
¹³  For if we are beside ourselves, it is for God; if we are of sound mind, it is for you.
¹⁴  For the love of Christ controls us, having concluded this, that one died for all, therefore all died;
¹⁵  and He died for all, so that they who live might no longer live for themselves, but for Him who died and rose again on their behalf.
¹⁶  Therefore from now on we recognize no one according to the flesh; even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know Him in this way no longer.
¹⁷  Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.
¹⁸  Now all these things are from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation,
¹⁹  namely, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and He has committed to us the word of reconciliation.
²⁰  Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making an appeal through us; we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.
²¹  He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. 

Verse 
Matthew 7:13-14 (NASB)
¹³  "Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it.
¹⁴  "For the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life, and there are few who find it.