Hebrews 11:4: Cain and Abel

*Hebrews 11:4: Abel offered a sacrifice that was accepted to God and Cain's sacrifice was not accepted by the Lord

~Genesis 4:1-8: The story of Cain and Abel; God had set up a system to atone for sin that required that blood be shed to forgive sin. Abel came with a sacrifice that followed the requirements of the Lord but Cain did not.

~Cain came to God on his own terms. He brought a sacrifice but it was not what the Lord had required. It has and will never be okay with God for us to come to Him on OUR terms. We must find out what pleases Him and come to Him with that...

~What pleases God? Us coming to Him on the basis of Jesus and Him alone! We all have the "cancer" of sin and need to come to God through Jesus- who died on our behalf so that we could be accepted by God. We cannot earn God's approval by anything else. He wants us to come to Him by faith, giving our whole selves to Him knowing that we have been made pure through the blood of His Son.

*Romans 12:1-2: "Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. ² And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect."

* 1 Corinthians 6:20: "For you have been bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body."

Q: How are you doing at living out Romans 12:1-2? What does this look like for you practically?

Q: Are you bringing to God "sacrifices" that YOU want to bring (like Cain) or are you coming to God in faith trying to find out what pleases Him (like Abel)?

~Cain ended up continuing in sin and things ended up much worse. He killed his brother and was banished from God's presence. Let's not be like Cain. Repent today. Come to the Lord with a humble and broken heart and give your whole self to Him.

*Luke 18:9-14: We see the same thing here. The Pharisee came to God on his terms not coming with humility with an honest heart (see Deut. 6:5). He gave God a bunch of "good words" but his life was full of pride and rejection of truth. We want to come with the humility and brokenness that we see in the tax collector. He knew God's holiness and his sinfulness and came to God with a proper heart.

Q: Do you understand your need for Jesus? Do you recognize your own depravity and that your ONLY cure is Jesus?

Q: When you come to Jesus, are you coming with the heart of a Pharisee (pride) or the tax- collector (humility and brokenness)?

Q: Look at your life. How do you spend your time? Your time reveals what you really care about. Are your relationships and desires all given to the Lord?

We encourage you to pray to Jesus and ask what changes HE wants to make in your life so that you can be fully pleasing to Him. Seek Him this week and obey Him when He tells you what changes need to be made. We love you and are praying for you!

~Sonny and Casi

Worship Songs that we played on Wednesday:

1. Open up the Sky (Deluge)

2. Came to my rescue (Hillsong)

3. Full attention (Jeremy Riddle)

4. Future version (Shane and Shane)

5. Beautiful mercy (Laura Hackett)

6. Nothing I hold to (Will Reagan & United Pursuit)

7. Running in circles (Will Reagan & United Pursuit)

8. The glory of it all (Passion)