Family Tree

Family Tree

<< Genesis 4 >> King James Version

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16And Cain went out from the presence of the LORD, and dwelt in the land of Nod, on the east of Eden.

17And Cain knew his wife; and she conceived, and bare Enoch: and he builded a city, and called the name of the city, after the name of his son, Enoch. 18And unto Enoch was born Irad: and Irad begat Mehujael: and Mehujael begat Methusael: and Methusael begat Lamech. 19And Lamech took unto him two wives: the name of the one was Adah, and the name of the other Zillah. 20And Adah bare Jabal: he was the father of such as dwell in tents, and of such as havecattle. 21And his brother's name was Jubal: he was the father of all such as handle the harp and organ. 22And Zillah, she also bare Tubalcain, an instructer of every artificer in brass and iron: and the sister of Tubalcain was Naamah.

23And Lamech said unto his wives, Adah and Zillah, Hear my voice; ye wives of Lamech, hearken unto my speech: for I have slain a man to my wounding, and a young man to my hurt.

24If Cain shall be avenged sevenfold, truly Lamech seventy and sevenfold.

25And Adam knew his wife again; and she bare a son, and called his name Seth: For God, said she, hath appointed me another seed instead of Abel, whom Cain slew. 26And to Seth, to him also there was born a son; and he called his name Enos: then began men to call upon the name of the LORD.

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Sermon

We continue where we left off in our last sessions. Cain has just murdered his younger brother: Abel. Then The Lord pronounced a very horrible and yet mild curse upon Cain, that he should be alone, a traveller, and without friends.

So we carry on:

16And Cain went out from the presence of the LORD, and dwelt in the land of Nod, on the east of Eden.

The name “nod” seems to mean wandering or wanderers. Presumably Cain was the first inhabitant of the land, and so the name probably was given by him.

East of Eden gives the impression that perhaps the land of Nod was in the northern part of India or Pakistan.

17And Cain knew his wife; and she conceived, and bare Enoch: and he builded a city, and called the name of the city, after the name of his son, Enoch.

Cain’s likely took his wife after leaving the presence of the Lord, while dwelling in the land of Nod. I don’t believe that Cain’s wife had any biological parents, unless she was Cain’s full sister, which I feel is quite unlikely as it was forbidden of God in later generations. But I am highly opinionated in this case, so I advise that you search the scriptures diligently if you are any further curious.

Cain built a city, presumably due to his fear of being murdered, so he built this city for protection. But the population of this city must have been extremely small, as it would only have been Cain and his wife and children. Unless any of his brothers or sisters joined him. Tradition states that Adam and Eve had about 30 sons and about 20 daughters but there is no scriptural proof for this tradition.

18And unto Enoch was born Irad: and Irad begat Mehujael: and Mehujael begat Methusael: and Methusael begat Lamech.

If each of these decendants of Cain had 20 to 30 children, as was quite likely in those early years of the world, by the time of Lamech there would probably be a total of about 300 Million people, approximately the population of the United States of America. This just gives you an idea of how fast the population of the world grew in those days even in the relatively short time of 6 generations. And so Lamech would not have known the majority of people that he came across in those days!

19And Lamech took unto him two wives: the name of the one was Adah, and the name of the other Zillah.

This is the first mention of polygamy in the Bible, and may well have been a radical move in those days, as the family structure that was given to Adam and Eve at the beginning of creation was that there should be 1 man to 1 woman.

It must be noted however that in years to come it had become quite common practise for wealthy people to have multiple wives, for example: David, Solomon, and Jacob.

20And Adah bare Jabal: he was the father of such as dwell in tents, and of such as have cattle.

Notice that this was the difference between Cain and Abel, one was a gardener the other a shepherd. But now seven generations on from Cain, Jabal takes up Cattle farming.

21And his brother's name was Jubal: he was the father of all such as handle the harp and organ.

You know that must have been very irritating for those two boys Jubal and Jabel to have such similar names!

And Jubal here seemed to be a music lover (just like me), and thus created the harp and the organ. This would not have been a church organ, but probably more likely a kind of a mouth organ.

I believe that music in itself is very good, as all references in Scripture to music are in a good light and it is often thought that music will be played by the angels in Heaven. But on the other hand there is some music which has been polluted by wicked words which it would be wise of us if we could as much as possible keep away from such the like!

22And Zillah, she also bare Tubalcain, an instructer of every artificer in brass and iron: and the sister of Tubalcain was Naamah.

This must have been a very exciting period in history, as this were continually being invented, and everyone seemed to be famous for the invention of this that and the other.

Tubalcain seemed to be a craftsman in making items out of brass and iron.

Why Naamah is of importance is unknown. Perhaps she meant something to someone at sometime, but she’s lost in history now. And indeed we all shall be just a name in some historic record some day, I just wish that the record that I leave behind will show that I have laid down my life for my Lord Jesus Christ!

23And Lamech said unto his wives, Adah and Zillah, Hear my voice; ye wives of Lamech, hearken unto my speech: for I have slain a man to my wounding, and a young man to my hurt.

Lamech here confesses his sins to his wives! Don’t you think that maybe there is someone much more important that he should be confessing his sins to?

24If Cain shall be avenged sevenfold, truly Lamech seventy and sevenfold.

Lamech here is claiming some similarity to Cain’s murdering of Abel, but seems to have a very proud view of himself, as he thinks that the blessing should be much greater to him than to Cain.

25And Adam knew his wife again; and she bare a son, and called his name Seth: For God, said she, hath appointed me another seed instead of Abel, whom Cain slew.

God again gave Adam a son, who he called Seth. There were doubtless many more sons and daughters but Seth was of historical importance as the ancestor of Noah.

26And to Seth, to him also there was born a son; and he called his name Enos: then began men to call upon the name of the LORD.

It seems that after the incident of Cain and Abel that The Lord stopped talking to mankind as it were face to face, and so the only way that mankind could contact The Lord was through praying. And it was in the time of Seth and his son Enos that people began praying.

I love the words of the hymn:

Wrestling prayer can wonders do

Bring relief in deepest straits

Prayer can force a passage through

Iron bars and brazen gates

May the good Lord add His blessing on this sermon, and may it be of help to someones soul.

Amen

5 Minute Sermon: How to Pray

The Christian Workout

The Christian Workout

Ø Monday:

Love

Ø Tuesday:

Joy

Ø Wednesday:

Peace

Ø Thursday:

Spreading the Gospel

Ø Friday:

Poor Relief

Ø Saturday:

Prayer

Ø Sunday:

Rest

The Idea is to build up Christian muscles which are these 6 virtues followed by a day of rest. If you have ever been to the gym to build muscles or just to tone up, you will have been given a similar workout routine, working on Back, Chest, Biceps, Triceps, Shoulders, and Legs, with some cardio and a warm-up to start with. And this new method has a similar idea.

I have called this devotional method “the Christian Workout” solely because of it’s being based on a gym workout system.

I will be giving training advice on my new Workout blog http://www.thechristianworkout.blogspot.com/ but for now here is a bit of a starter:

On Monday our theme is Love:

I’m presuming that you will all be beginners for now; perhaps you are quite new to the Christian faith.

Every morning should start off with a Bible reading and a prayer, perhaps you could read 1 Corinthians 13 which is a great chapter, written by the Apostle Paul, completely devoted to love. Then you could pray that God will teach you how to love throughout the day.

Maybe you go to work, is there anyone you don’t like at work? Someone maybe you find hard to get along with? A great show of love would be to act courteously with them, be kind, and try and show a loving spirit. Remember God told us to love our enemies!

If you have time later, maybe you could pick up your study Bible, and look at all the themes of Love.

Love is the main theme in the Bible, it was all for love that Jesus came to Earth to save us, we would do well to truly understand this principle!

And before going to bed, don’t forget to read your Bible and pray again!

On Tuesday, our theme is Joy:

A great passage to read in the morning would be the Epistle to the Philippians, it’s all about Joy. Then you can pray to God that you will be given joy throughout the day.

Then what ever you do, see if you can keep smiling non-stop throughout the day. Don’t be discouraged if you don’t succeed, it takes a long time to build up your spiritual muscles. Do the best you can this week and hopefully next week you will be doing much better.

It won’t hurt to smile on the day’s that isn’t Tuesday, Tuesday is just the day when we really focus on Joy, a Christian should always have each of these principles in the Christian Workout at all times! But the idea of the workout is to encourage us to focus on these topics.

A Christian is a saved soul; nothing in this world that can ever happen to them should be able to make them sad or depressed!

On Wednesday our theme is Peace:

This one is really, really hard! Peace isn’t something easily acquired, like love and joy, we might only be able to achieve a little in a day, but we must pray that although we only achieve little, that God would help us to improve every week.

Is your job stressful? This inner peace can make all the difference.

I am no expert in Peace, I do not claim to have received much of it, but if we look in the Bible, doubtless we will be able to find the answers. I recommend that you buy yourself a good study Bible, and a concordance, just look through each of those reference to peace, look at examples of how people received peace and you will find the Bible an excellent resource.

And remember always read your Bible and pray.

On Thursday our theme is Spreading the Gospel:

This is one for every Christian, it’s the great commission found at the end of Matthew, preaching is not just for preachers, if you truly love God and are truly grateful for Him dying to save you, you will want to take every opportunity to talk to people about Him. But the problem is that we are all very fearful people, and we are afraid that people will make fun of us because we are Christians. So I have devoted Thursday to talking to people about Jesus.

In the morning you could read some chapters from the book of Acts, where the apostles told people about Jesus, ask for God’s help to open your mouth.

If you are anything like I used to be, you probably never even mentioned to your friends that you are a Christian, so a great start for you would be to let it slip out in conversation that you are a Christian, they won’t tear you to pieces, the hardest bit is overcoming yourself.

If you are an experienced Christian you might want to strike up a conversation with someone, and tell them about what Jesus means to you.

And remember, a good Christian life is as good an example as any, be kind and loving to all, and be certain to never do anything that God would not approve of.

On Friday, our theme is Poor Relief:

Give money to charity, if you have a good income you might want to set aside a sum of money each month for charities. Remember God loveth the cheerful giver!

Maybe you have some unwanted items hanging around the house, why not take them down to your local charity store.

Read the Gospels, you will see what love Jesus had to the poor.

Pray for the poor, prayer can do more than all the money in the world! But don’t think that you can pray and then you are absolved from financial contribution, that’s like the Pharisees that say one thing and do another.

As always, Bible study and prayer are invaluable!

On Saturday our theme is Prayer:

Prayer is of number 1 importance, and should be exercised every day, that and Bible Study form the Spiritual cardio, while the others form the spiritual muscle building.

But, we have set aside Saturday as a special day of prayer, see how long you can pray for with feeling. Don’t just say words, you have to really mean them, you must be passionate.

Pray for those close to you, pray for your natural and spiritual teachers, pray for important people in every walk of life, pray for the week and infirm, pray that the Lord would make you grow in grace and in the knowledge of Him, and most of all pray that God would be glorified.

A couple scripture passages that you might want to focus on is The Lord’s Prayer in Matthew 6, and Jesus’ prayer in John 17.

There is much study that can be done on the matter of prayer, and much experience taken from simply pouring out your heart before God!

And finally on Sunday our theme is Rest:

Basically there is no theme, you just worship God as He ought to be worshipped, go to Church, sing praises just totally let God take over your life.

Remember God made the Sabbath for man and not man for the Sabbath, you should learn to enjoy your Sundays, do things that you want to do, but be certain that it’s all to do with God!

So just a few tips:

When building up your spiritual muscles, always work to your limit, love until you can love no more, be joyful until you have run out of joy, be perfectly peaceful until there is no peace left in you, and so on. Your spiritual muscles will only grow in they are pushed to their limits.

If you are new, don’t be disheartened if you feel like you are not achieving anything, everyone starts from somewhere.

And never let this workout become a burden to you, try and enjoy it. If it becomes a burden to you and makes you want to give up you Christianity it is of no use!

And remember all things should be done as unto The Lord bringing all honour and glory to His precious name!

Please check the blog mentioned above for more advice, and don’t hesitate to email me on cassie.holmes@hotmail.co.uk if you need advice or if you have any advice for me, or you just want to tell us how the workout scheme has blessed your life.

I pray the Lord would bless you,

Michael Buckingham.

The Quest for Glory

The Quest for Glory

What is glory and how do we get it?

I see a young soldier, he looks barely 18 to me, he has got fear in his eyes, but he has one goal... to get glory and honour... I see him, going through his training, a hard routine, 20 press-ups followed by 30 crunches, then an hour jogging, and then more push-ups, by the end of the day, he is completely worn out. But it’s all for the prize at the end of his career. Then I look at this soldier a couple years later... he is fighting in Afghanistan, against a foe which he has been taught to hate... he’s never seen any Afghans but he, nevertheless, believes they are evil. Then I see him doing one great act of bravery, running into a group of Afghan soldiers with nothing but his stone heart and his gun, he is shot, but not before he is able to take a few enemies down. As he lies there bleeding to death on the battle field, he thinks to himself that he has done that great brave deed which will finally bring him that honour which he so much deserves, and then he thinks of his family and friends at home, and how proud they are going to be of him... and while thinking these thoughts, he breathes his last expiring breath, and he leaves this world never to return.

The soldier gets his glory in the end, his medals are sent to his grieving family, but he is not alive to see how proud they really are of him... That soldier did a grand thing, greatly to be admired and so rare in these times... but was this great sacrifice really worth it for the glory? I’ll let you decide later!

Then, I look at the young aspiring actress, whose dream is to make it big in this world... She starts off small, taking a small extra role in a movie... taking a few acting classes along the way, then she takes on some major supporting roles... by this time she’s living and breathing he acting career, she’s loving her newfound fame, and just looks forward to her big break... Then it comes, she gets a starring role in the summer’s surprise blockbuster, and she is suddenly a household name!

The fame is great but, now that she has her glory, where does she go from here?

I could also tell you about the rock-star, and the great politician, and the author of mystery novels, but alas I do not have the time for all that.

But you might laugh at some of the attempts I myself have made in my quest for glory... how at school I tried all I could to be like the other boys, so that I would be popular... but how can you be someone else? There’s a reason I was born to be me!

Then when I found that I was popular when I tried to be no-one but myself, I thought that I must have a great character... So I decided that I wanted to become an actor... but the sad thing is I never got past any auditions... it just wasn’t to be.

Then I decided to become a famous preacher! Well, I’m a preacher, but I doubt God will ever make me famous. And why should I become famous? Are preachers not just the messengers that bring the message that there is a God that saves sins? Then should all the glory go to God!

Well, I’ve been having some little bits of problems... The Lord has taught me to pray, He has taught me to trust in Him, He has taught me the need for trials, but up until recently I have had precious little instruction on how to truly glorify God.

Paul Washer is currently doing a series of sermons called “the Family Catechism” or something like that... you can find it on Sermon Audio. But this sermon series, I really recommend, because it is very simple teachings telling us the reasons that we exist on this earth, and Washer explains about the catechism.

The catechism asks the question, What is the chief end of man? (the purpose of his being created) and it answers that the chief end of man is to glorify God. Read your Bible, especially Psalms, and you will see that this glory is the one thing most needful!

So when I realised that this was my purpose in life, i was confused as to whether it was still right for me to pursue my employment! I work as a healthcare assistant, which is basically an unqualified nurse, and although it’s all about helping people, the matters of the body seem so unimportant when viewed next to the matters of the soul... basically should I not rather be preaching full time rather than doing me day job?

Well, I prayed deeply concerning the matter, and I was very close to deciding that I need to resign my post, and that wasn’t really what I wanted to do, so I was going round with a long face looking very sad.

But you know what? Christian’s shouldn’t be going around looking sad... Christ died for you, if you are thinking about Christ all the time, like Christians should, shouldn’t we be virtually ecstatic all the time?

And thus it was that I found the way in which I could keep my job and yet be continuously testifying of the glory of God...People will look at me and see that there really is something special about me, and maybe they might ask me why I am always so cheerful all the time, and then I could simply say the name Jesus, and that would be as good as preaching 1000 sermons... as they say 1 picture is better than 1000 words, maybe I might say, 1 Godly life is better than 1000 sermons!

So to glorify God, we have to appear different to the world, and to appear different to the world, we have to think about Christ as opposed to how we can glorify ourselves. So then comes the question... “How can we always keep our minds on Christ?” Sounds really complicated, but it’s really quite simple... reading your bible and praying to God is like spending time with God... and isn’t it the people you spend the most time with that you think about the most?

Now, my prayers have been very self-centred recently, most of my prayer time has been used up in asking for this thing and that thing... but what I intend to do in the future is still to ask God for everything, but also to thank God for all the things He has done for me, just thank Him for everything, and in this way I intend to give god the glory due to Him!

It is truly impossible to glorify God as He ought to be glorified, and we will always be trying to make ourselves glorify God more on this Earth, and even in Heaven we will glorify God for eternity, and still we will need to glorify God more!

Well, I hope this sermon has been of some use to the glory of God

Amen!

Sermon - Pray Without Ceasing

Pray Without Ceasing

1 Thessalonians 5: 17 says “pray without ceasing” which is the title of our sermon today.

I have recently been reading the biography of George Muller, and like many others I have been very much inspired in reading about his amazing prayer life. It is recorded that on many occasions, Muller had to rely on God for his provision of food and daily necessities, as he was not given a set wage from his church but received only money from offerings, and trusted wholly in the Lord to supply his wants. Well, on many an occasion it is recorded that he is virtually down to his last meal and he prays for provision from God and god sends some money by some miraculous means. He tells us that this happened on many an occasion, but God has always given him something, never has he gone without a meal or necessities of life.

Well, I don’t know how you feel, but I find the thought of completely relying on God for all my necessities quite daunting, and I fear I don’t quite have the faith do such an act.

But it’s not only Muller that has had experiences like this, I remember Hudson Taylor, the great missionary to China, being in exactly the same situation.

So what the big difference between Muller and Taylor and myself? The answers right there in front of us in our text. PRAYER! These two great men had a great prayer life. But don’t think that they are any kind of super human and not on our level. We all have the potential to become great prayerful men and women of God! And in the following sermon I’m going to show you how. And don’t think I’m standing here telling you to do something I’m unwilling to do myself; I too need to take the following measures to procure a closer walk with God!

Paul Washer notes that those men of God who are used so powerfully in the work of God and in revival have also been those men who have had a great prayer life.

I remember once there was girl I loved so much in my youth, I thought that we would be together forever, and I thought that I could never live without her! But now I hardly ever thing about her... the truth is that I really can live without her. So what changed between then and now? I’ll tell you what changed... I spent time away from her, I moved thousands of miles away, so I never saw her, I didn’t hear her voice and she didn’t hear mine, there was no conversation. For weeks after that my soul was pining for her, but in time I forgot that she even existed, I started to like other girls etc etc.

The same thing can happen with God. Soon after my conversion, I loved to hear about God, I wanted to know whatever anyone said about Him, I lived and breathed Him, I prayed without ceasing. Then things seemed to go really well I was on top of the world, but I soon developed a proud nature, and got it (subconsciously) in my head that it was because of my good deeds that everything was going so well, and because in some manner I had become a semi-god, I gradually done away with my prayer life little by little, I even got to the point where I wasn’t praying in the morning when woke up, indeed the only time I ever prayed was if I was in dire need.

So what are some of the problems here?

Pride is one of the major things here, there’s not much we can really do about pride, but a great prayer is that God would give us a thorn in the flesh like He gave to Paul, that ever reminder that we are mortal and need the help of our great Redeemer. Sometimes God will give you a disease or a disability that will always remind you that you are a frail worm. George Muller had some major sicknesses which were instruments to bring him closer in prayer. These things are really hard to think about, but what is a thorn in the flesh compared with eternal condemnation and separation from God?

Another thing that was a big problem with my prayer life was that I thought that it was only the big things that needed to be prayed about, like family troubles or if I was worried about my health. But let me be clear, if you can’t decide what breakfast cereal to have in the morning PRAY about it! God wants to hear about the little things too!

Do you remember when we were little children? We used to think that dad knows everything! And the slightest question we would go and ask dad! Well God tells us to be like little children, and that means that every little thing we should ask our Heavenly Father! Even right now, when I’m thinking of what to say next I’m saying a little prayer in my head to God asking Him!

Let me be clear, Prayer is our only connection to God in this life. Forsake prayer and you forsake God!

Another thing that was wrong with my prayerless life was that I hadn’t planned any time for daily communion with God in reading the Bible and praying. I had an idea that it was stupid to arrange a time of prayer because prayer was something that just happened and that I should only pray when the spirit of prayer fell on me. That sounded Biblical and all, but now that I have a bit of experience and all, I realise that it was a very stupid thing, and it gave my sinful nature the excuse to give up reading and prayer altogether. So the first thing I did after I became aware of my prayerless state was to introduce a morning and evening devotional session. A time of Bible reading and prayer.

Have you noticed that reading the Bible and praying is very much like having a conversation with God? We read a portion of the Bible which is God’s way He chooses to talk to us, then we respond in prayer.

Have you noticed that when you hang around with a group of friends for a long time, they might introduce you to a kind of music which previously you didn’t like, but because they play it so often you gradually became used to it and started to prefer it more that the former music you used to listen to? This is kind of like communion with God, the more time you spend praying and reading the Bible, the more you will become like God, loving the things God loves and hating the things God hates. This is what it was like for Muller and Taylor, it wasn’t any great deeds of their own, but through spending much time with God, they began to mirror God!

We’re kind of like monkeys in a way, you know, monkey see monkey do. So this is a great piece of psychology for all of you, if you want to be a pop star all you need to do is hang around all the pop stars, if you want to be a movie icon, hang around the movie stars, if you wanna have a fun time, go to the pubs and the clubs where everyone is well versed in how to carnally amuse themselves. I assure you, spend time with them and you will learn their ways and become like them. But if you want to be like God, read the Bible and pray!

Now there are endless examples in the scripture of people praying and their pray being answered, here are just a few:

Jonah: Jonah’s just like me, he was told to go and preach to Nineveh, but, probably because of prayerlessness, he refused and took a ship to Tarshish, but in God’s mercy, Jonah was sent a thorn in the flesh, Jonah was cast into the sea, he saw his life flash before his eyes, and he was eaten up by a whale or a big fish. There was just enough air in the belly of the whale for Jonah to breath, but I imagine that he had great difficulty breathing, and seriously feared for his life. I think that Jonah must have been in such a wayward state for God to have to use such measures to bring him into submission. I don’t reckon he spent much time in Bible reading and prayer. But in God’s mercy, even Jonah wasn’t beyond hope, and neither are you or I. Jonah prayed, and renewed his relationship with God.

I’m sure the road was a bit rough in places and Jonah had times when he forgot to pray, and I’m sure those times felt far too many, but I’m sure after an ordeal like that, Jonah started to have a deeper prayer life!

Manasseh: Manasseh was probably the most wicked of all the kings of Judah, he was responsible for turning all Judah away from the true God and got them worshipping idols, but even he, at the end of his life was given that wonderful gift of prayer, and He prayed to God to forgive him of his sins, and I am sure that if I were to die this very evening I with go to Heaven and see Manasseh there worshiping at the foot of the throne worshipping God that had mercy on such a sinful sinner as he.

David: I could say so much about King David and prayer, but I have run out of time. But let me finally point you to the Psalms, and you will see that each one of them is a prayer and most of them are Davids. Some of them are short like Psalm 117, some of them are long like Psalm 119, God doesn’t care about the length of the prayer, all God cares is that you pour out your soul to Him, just say everything that is on your mind!

And remember, God is only a prayer away!

God be with you all, and I look forward to seeing you become a praying people!

Amen.