Stephen continued our journey through Genesis yesterday morning, by looking at Genesis 4. Having looked at the perfection of Creation (Genesis 1 & 2) and at what happens when sin enters (Genesis 3), now it was time to see the consequences of sin.

In Genesis 4, the story of Cain and Abel, we see how men are fulfilling the Lord’s commands. Adam and Eve have obeyed the command to go forth and multiply and their children are working the ground and looking after the animals (see Gen 1:28-30). Sin rears its ugly head between the two brothers, however, when both offer sacrifices to God, but only one sacrifice is accepted.

Abel’s sacrifice is accepted; Cain’s is rejected. Abel gave of the firstborn (Gen 4:4), but Cain only gave some of the fruits of the soil. In effect, his sacrifice was second best. God gives him a second chance, showing him the problem that lies with sin crouching at his door, but Cain’s sin grows as he lied to God (Gen 4:9) and became angry with Him (Gen 4:13-14).

God still has compassion on him (the mark of Cain is actually to protect him), but there are consequences to his sin – further alienation and estrangement.

We need to walk the narrow way if we are to avoid Cain’s sin. God wants the best for us, but He also wants the best from us.

Last weekend many of us were invited to supper after the evening meeting. It’s always great to spend relaxed time with each other and the weather was so good, we even got to be outdoors most of the time!




Our thanks to our hosts for their hospitality!

Some people will go to great lengths to avoid the birthday box (even being on a cruise on their actual birthday), but we usually manage to catch up with them eventually…

Others have the privilege of actually having their birthday on the Sunday itself:

Either way, we enjoy celebrating birthdays!

Last night’s family service was on the slightly unusual theme of beans!

We had a quiz about beans, naming various brands:




Then Mark preached on Psalm 133, using food as a visual aid:


If you look carefully at the pictures, you’ll see that the beans on toast were not evenly distributed between the two plates. One plate had quite a lot of beans on it; the other didn’t. Mark talked about how the church needs to dwell in unity, not isolation and how we are called to live together as Christians, not ‘going it alone’. God wants us to be united in our:
1) worship
2) love for God
3) vision and purpose

So, the next time you eat beans, think about Psalm 133 and the unity of fellowship in Christ!

Last week we heard about God’s perfect Creation (Genesis 1) and about the Garden of Eden (Genesis 2). Dave decided to continue this walk through Genesis by preaching from Genesis 3:8-21 this morning.

Genesis 3 narrates the Fall of Man. Temptation comes in stages, as Ralph discussed last week:
1) the arousing of desire
2) the mind rationalises the desire to make it seem reasonable, proper and profitable
3) the will acts
4) following sin, confusion, guilty, blame and sense of limitation follow.

In this passage, however, we see how God’s grace deals with Adam and Eve. It’s not so much a case of punishment (though there are terrible consequences because of their sin) as how God deals with each situation that arises.

He begins His dealings with this situation with 3 questions:
1) “Where are you?” (vs 8-9)
Most religions start with the idea of man searching for God, but Christianity tells us that God looks for man. Finding out where we are is always the first step when we are lost, and for most of us, this involves coming to terms with the fact that we don’t know where we are; we only know that we are not where we ought to be. In the same way, that admission is what God requires from each one of us before He can act. It’s not that He doesn’t know where we are, but that He wants us to admit to ourselves that we are lost before we are ready to accept His help.

2) “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree from which I commanded you not to eat?” (vs 10-11)
This is a question designed to make Adam think. No one told him he was naked; this realisation came upon him because of his sin; the innocence of Eden had been lost. Before he took of the fruit and ate, Adam had not known anything evil, but now the knowledge of evil has come and ultimately we all have to deal with the fact that evil is within us (see Matthrew 15:11, 19).

3)”Have you eaten from the tree from which I commanded you to eat? What is this you have done?” (vs 11, 13)
God asks both Adam and Eve what they have done. Each blames someone else, but ultimately each admits “and I ate.” This is where God wants to bring us, for this is the point at which we can repent. God has shown them they are not where they should be: they are lost. He has shown them the problem is within: they disobeyed, they sinned. Now He has led them gently and graciously to the place where each has admitted their sin.

That’s as far as man can go in correcting evil. But that immediately provides the ground for God to act. God asks no more questions. He provides garments of skin for Adam and Eve (vs 21). This is the beginning of animal sacrifices. This is the foreshadowing of that ultimate sacrifice, for it is God Himself who eternally bears the pain, the hurt and the agony of our sins.

When we have acknowledged our guilt and admitted that we have sinned, God provides the sacrifice, the clothing, for us to be ‘accepted in the Beloved’ (Eph 1:6, KJV). Just as a mother sheep will only accept another lamb if she recognises it as her own and the orphaned lamb must be covered in the skin of the lamb that has died in order to gain acceptance, so we too can be clothed in the righteousness of Christ.

Repentance is the start of the Christian life, to be sure, but it is also needed every day. We need to understand that without Christ, we can do nothing (John 15:5). We need to see that we must cultivate utter dependence on God if we are to make progress in our spiritual walk. He is ours and all that He is belongs to us. This is Standard Operating Procedure, not just for emergencies!

God is for us, not against us (Rom 8:31). May we understand that we are accepted in the Beloved and live our lives from that position of acceptance.

A year ago on Saturday 3rd July 2010, we celebrated the opening of Goldthorpe Pentecostal Community Church on Market Street.

The journey of how we came to be in this building, how we renovated it and how we celebrated the Grand Opening can be found on the St Mark’s blog:
http://stmarksgoldthorpe.blogspot.com

And if you want to read about the Open Day in particular, that’s found in July 2010
http://stmarksgoldthorpe.blogspot.com/2010_07_01_archive.html
You can scroll back through the months to see how it all started.

It’s important to remember what God has done. Ps 119:55 talks about remembering God’s name so that we may keep His law. Isaiah says, “Remember the former things, those of long ago; I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me.” (Is 46:9) We are all too prone to forget what God has said or what God has done in the stresses and strains of our ordinary lives.

Perhaps that’s why Jesus commanded us to break bread regularly, taking the opportunity to remember His sacrifice for us and to keep our eyes focussed on Him. (Luke 22:19) He knew that without a regular ‘date’ with remembrance, we’d forget even the greatest thing He has done for us.

Let’s remember all that God has done for us, celebrating the miracle and wonder of how we came to be in this amazing building, reaching out to the community, seeing God at work in Goldthorpe. Let’s remember also all the things God has done for us and hold on to all He has promised to do for us, promises which we as yet don’t see fulfilled. He who promised is faithful (Heb 10:23).

“Lord, we remember You
And remembrance leads us to worship
And as we worship You
Our worship leads to communion
We respond to Your invitation
We remember You.” (‘Remembrance’, Matt Redman)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oVtfDxGI3aY