Transcription downloaded from https://services.pcumc.org/sermons/27440/love/.

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[0:00] Good morning, everybody. This is the day that the Lord has made in spite of this. We will rejoice and be glad in it. This is the day that the Lord has made.

[0:24] Let us rejoice. And be glad in it. This is the day that the Lord has made.

[0:41] Let us rejoice and be glad in it. This is the day that the Lord has made.

[0:56] Hello! We're the Fish Fry Dish Room Cleanup Crew. If this is your first visit to the Pendleton United Methodist Church, a welcome gift is available for new visitors and can be picked up at the connection site in the back of the sanctuary following worship.

[1:17] Fill out your friendship card to get on the mailing list, sign up for activities, or list any prayers or concerns and any notes to the staff. Welcome to our church!

[1:28] They're really not that scary. Okay? They're a really fun bunch. It's a good, enjoyable crew. That's just a signal that our fish fries start this Friday.

[1:40] Great opportunity for a place to kind of get involved, meet some people, engage in ministry, or just come for a good meal. So we'd love to have you come and support us. The clipboard going around is if you want to sign up to help with that.

[1:54] The second clipboard is to help with our dinners that we do every week to provide a community meal up in Niagara Falls. And we do encourage you in that. Our mission offering, in fact, our mission moment envelope this morning is for our Joshua Connection Ministries, which is essentially for the ministries of our church, the mission ministries we do all over the place.

[2:16] And the reason we call them Joshua Connection is because we don't do them alone. We have other churches that are also helping us with this effort, so we include them in what we do. But this actually is to help with the outreach ministries of our church.

[2:29] I also wanted to mention Ash Wednesday service this week. Wednesday night we're going to be doing communion at the rail and the imposition of ashes. And also tonight there will be a gathering service.

[2:41] If you like a little more music, a little contemporary music, you're going to be hearing them later. You're invited to come back and join us for worship tonight. Shall we pray together? Dear Lord, we thank you for this morning and we thank you for the blessings you give to us.

[2:54] We pray that you would gather in this place to touch us, to move us, to give us your peace and strength in all that we do. For it's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Hear these words from Philippians chapter 2.

[3:06] Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility, value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests, but each of you to the interests of others.

[3:21] In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus, who being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his advantage.

[3:34] Rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness, and being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death, even death on a cross.

[3:49] This is the word of the Lord. Thanks be to God. I'd like to invite you all to stand if you're able as we sing together, we gather together. We gather together together together.

[4:26] We gather together together together.

[4:40] He forgets not his own. Beside us, dear, guide us, our God with us joining, ordaining, maintaining his kingdom divine.

[4:58] So from the beginning of the fight we were winning, our Lord was at our side, O glory.

[5:10] Be thy. May all do extol thee, thou leader triumphant, and pray that thou still our defender wilt be.

[5:26] Let thy congregation escape tribulation. Thy name be ever praised, O Lord, lay us free.

[5:41] The Lord be with you. Take a moment, if you will, and greet your neighbor with the peace of the spirit. Amen. I'd like to invite the children to come on up and join me today.

[6:08] Any kids want to come on up and join me? I have candy. Good morning.

[6:26] Do you know what this is? It's chocolate. Believe it or not, it's chocolate, okay? Do you guys like chocolate?

[6:39] Yeah. There's milk chocolate. There's dark chocolate with toffee and almonds.

[6:51] There's dark chocolate with just almonds. That's different kinds of chocolate, okay? So, have you ever done anything wrong? Have you?

[7:02] Yeah? So, did you ever get in trouble with your parents? So, when you do something wrong, do they give you candy? No. They don't? I don't. They don't like reward you when you do something wrong?

[7:14] No? No? You know? So, well, that makes sense. Because if they kept giving you candy when you did things wrong, what would you do? You'd be doing a lot more wrong things, wouldn't you?

[7:31] Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So, it's the same way with God. God rewards us when we do something right, not when we do something wrong, okay? All right? So, you guys came up here.

[7:42] Do you think that's the right thing? Yeah. Yeah. So, you're going to be able to get a piece of chocolate. If you're allergic to nuts, you should probably take one of these silver ones, okay?

[7:53] That's up to you. But you can have a piece of candy. But first, let's find out. What? If they're allergic to nuts, it's not up to them. They have to take a silver one.

[8:03] Oh, it's not up to you. You have to take a silver one. Okay. See, I don't get a piece of candy because I did something wrong.

[8:16] What are you guys thankful for this morning? Raise your hand if you want to share something. Friends and family. My mommy. My family. One more.

[8:29] My house. All right. Dear Lord, we are thankful for our family, our house, the blessings we have, our friends, the good things you give to us, even candy. Bless us to do what's right always.

[8:41] In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Okay. You can have a piece of candy if you'd like. One piece. One piece. All right. Children are invited to go out to church school.

[8:52] As I said, our mission moment is about Joshua Connection this morning. Our ministry and outreach to all the area around us. You're welcome.

[9:07] You and I've got to have a heart to change the world.

[9:17] Let the song start to sing in every boy and girl. Start to share.

[9:30] Start to care. From a heart of love. Let the world. Let the world. Let the world. Let the world know that Jesus loves them.

[9:43] You and I've got to have a heart to change the world.

[9:54] Let the world. Let the world. Let the world. Start to sing in every boy and girl Start to share, start to care From a heart of love Let the world know that Jesus loves them How will the people know?

[10:22] How will the people know? How will the people know? Our love's best show Let it start with me Open up my eyes Fill my heart with your compassion Free my mind from all distractions Use my hands Set the captive free Move my feet to follow after you Or change the world And let it start with me Open up my eyes Fill my heart with your compassion Free my mind from all distractions Use my hands Set the captive free

[11:25] Move my feet to follow after you Or change the world And let it start with me Let it start with me Let it start with me Let it start with me There we go For those of you that don't know me My name is Nancy Himes I wanted to say this morning That I'm just really thankful To be a member of a church That's so vibrant And offers so many opportunities For fellowship For service And for learning and growing in my faith

[12:25] There's so many ways to worship God And we do so many of them Whether it's singing Or serving Or coming together And I wanted to say Just a little bit About my faith journey It's been impacted A great deal By a chronic illness That I've been dealing with For quite some time And in the beginning There was a lot of fear And uncertainty And upheaval And I really needed The strength and peace And the guidance That God promises us But I also had to confront That while I believed in God I wasn't really sure That I believed God I was really good At seeing him As all powerful And majestic And holy But that made him Kind of distant And I didn't really see him As approachable And relational And I think I would have called myself A Christian at the time I'd been confirmed And I grew up In a Christian home And went to church But I could see

[13:26] At a certain point Going through that journey That I didn't truly believe In his love for me I hadn't really accepted And received the true gift That Jesus gives us So at one point It was worship music That fed my soul In a particularly powerful way I've always been inspired By Pastor Sherry And her example Of total surrender I think she's an amazing example For all of us And worship music Called me to open my heart And believe in the promises That God has for us Early on in the midst Of my limitations A worship song In just a few minutes Could remind me Of God's love And faithfulness But more importantly Why I would want to praise And give thanks So hopefully The song that we play today It's called Daddy Help Me Reminds us that God Is relational When we call out To our heavenly daddy While he may not

[14:27] Take away the challenges That we're faced with In the way that we would like And I've improved greatly But he hasn't completely Taken away the physical limitations But I've gained a healing On a whole nother level He does remain steadfast In his invitation For us to be in relationship With him As we walk through This life And he promises To love us And provide for us Protect us And guide us As only he knows The greater plan For our lives All we have to do Is show up I can tell you That as I seek him In a more earnest way He continues to show His love and mercy And guidance for me In astounding ways I thank this church And its leadership For helping me To grow in my faith Thank you We don't give to God And to the work That God has us do Because we are obliged To do that

[15:28] Out of some sense of I have to We give to the Lord Out of gratitude For all God is And all God has done In our lives Let's bring our gifts Tides and offerings Before the Lord Daddy help me To rise above the fear Daddy help me When I cannot Feel you near I know I'm worthy Cause you made me As you are Lift the darkness So I see you As you are

[16:30] I know you are My friend My protector Till the end Give me courage To choose The path that leads To you Daddy help me When my life Begins to fail Daddy help me So my faith So my faith Will prevail Help me hear you

[17:31] When the world Gets too loud Help me see you In the beauty On the ground I know you are My friend My protector Till the end Give me courage To choose The path that leads To you The path that leads To you The path that leads To you The path that leads To you The path that leads To you I just want to come home I know I'm not alone I know there's work

[18:36] To be done But any battles Will be won Any battles Will be won Any battles Will be won Any battles Will be won Any battles Will be won I know you are My friend My protector Till the end Give me courage To choose The path that leads To you All right

[19:38] We'll be won Thank you.

[20:09] Here below, praise him above the heavenly host. Praise God, his love and holy host.

[20:27] Amen. Dear Heavenly Father, we do give you thanks and praise for this day that we may gather together and worship you.

[20:39] And offer our gifts to you. We thank you for all the blessings you pour out into our lives and offer back just a small portion. We just ask that you would give us wisdom to know how to use it best for the furtherance of your kingdom so many would come to faith in Jesus Christ.

[20:59] Bless all the ministries of Joshua Connection, Lord God, as we reach out to those folks who are in need. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Please be seated.

[21:11] We have some requests and concerns to bring before you this morning. Jim Phillips is having to make some decisions about his health care.

[21:26] And we need to keep him in prayer, him and Sue, so they can handle those things according to God's will. Irene Tate was supposed to have a surgical procedure on Friday.

[21:37] And it's been postponed. And she's a little stressed over that. And we need to pray for that. Sometimes you think something's going to happen and it just isn't. And it makes you wonder and get a little bit anxious.

[21:48] So we want to pray for her about that. Marlene Morrison had emergency surgery on her foot. And so we want to keep her in prayer for healing. And Jan Gertz suffered a stroke last week.

[22:00] She is in Buffalo General. And she's going to be going to rehab. She'll be staying at Buffalo General for rehab for that. So with these prayers and concerns and those that are on your hearts, join me in prayer, either in your seat or come to the rail and join me there.

[22:26] Heavenly Father, what a privilege it is to come before you. You are majestic and glorious, wonderful and all-powerful.

[22:38] The God of all that has been and that will be. And you allow us to come into your throne room. You allow us to come as your individual children.

[22:56] You are so dearly loved. So that we can talk with you. So that we can pour out our needs, our concerns.

[23:09] You care deeply for us. And by your spirit, you bind us together as your church. We all come before you now.

[23:22] We ask for you to bless all of those folks who are in our hearts. We ask you to bless our families.

[23:35] We ask you to bless the work that you have given us to do. Now, Lord, we lift up those among us who are sick and infirm. We pray that you will touch them with your healing power.

[23:50] And give them hope. That they will be well. That they will be right with you. That they will be healed. In whatever way you know they need it.

[24:05] We pray for those who are grieving losses of all kinds, Lord God. That by your spirit, you would come alongside them. And bring them the comfort and peace that they need. And the assurance of eternal life in you.

[24:19] Lord, we pray for our ability to serve you in our families, in our schools, in our workplaces, in our communities.

[24:36] Our neighborhoods, Lord. We just ask that we would be your hands and feet. We ask that we would be your voice. We ask that we would be your light in the darkness.

[24:52] Help us, Lord. To shine that light brightly. To help those who need to know you. Now, Lord, we lift up before you all of those concerns.

[25:10] That are in our hearts. That you know are there. But that have not been spoken. Take time to lift them up in the silence of our hearts. And now, Lord, we pray.

[25:40] That as we continue in worship. As we sing songs of praise. As we hear your word spoken out. That it will wash over us. And transform us.

[25:52] And prepare us. For all of those things that you know are coming into our lives this week. Help us be ready with you. To serve.

[26:04] Be with Pastor Tom as he delivers the message that you have given him for us today. Let it be a blessing to him. A blessing to us. And as always, Lord, make all of our worship to be a blessing to you.

[26:17] For that is why we came. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Shall we hear from the word of the Lord? Amen. Amen. Amen.

[26:35] Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.

[26:46] Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Good morning.

[27:01] This morning's reading is from the book of Genesis, chapter 4, verses 1 through 9. Adam made love to his wife Eve, and she became pregnant and gave birth to Cain.

[27:13] She said, with the help of the Lord, I have brought forth a man. Later she gave birth to his brother Abel. Now Abel kept his flocks, and Cain worked the soil. In the course of time, Cain brought some of the fruits of the soil as an offering to the Lord.

[27:29] And Abel also brought an offering, fat portions from some of the firstborn of his flock. The Lord looked with favor on Abel and the offering, but on Cain and his offering he did not look with favor.

[27:41] So Cain was very angry, and his face was downcast. Then the Lord said to Cain, why are you angry? Why is your face downcast? If you do what is right, will you not be accepted?

[27:54] But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door. It deserves to have you, but you must rule over it. Now Cain said to his brother Abel, let's go out into the field.

[28:06] While they were in the field, Cain attacked his brother Abel and killed him. Then the Lord said to Cain, where is your brother Abel? I don't know, he replied. Am I my brother's keeper?

[28:18] This is the word of the Lord. Amen. This morning we're finishing our last sermon on Genesis.

[28:38] And what we're looking at is some of the messages we can learn about this to understand the keys of the kingdom. And while we're doing that, we've been going with the Saints and Sinners travel agencies to different, well, not so well-known places around western New York.

[28:53] And some people asked, are we going to be able to see this? I guess they're going to take that out somewhere else in the church so you can take a closer look. Maybe we should make tours. Today we're going to visit the place closest to home.

[29:05] How many of you have ever been to the castles across the street? Yeah, did you even know there were castles across the street? We have medieval castles right across the street from the church.

[29:16] Legend says a lot of things about these castles. When I first moved here, somebody told me that it was an American industrialist that wanted to bring his wife over from Germany, but she refused to move here unless he built her two medieval castles.

[29:34] The legend goes that he started building the castles and he got a certain distance along and then she died. And so he left off building the castles. A story of lost love.

[29:46] Maybe. Secrets. It's hard to know some of the truth about things going on around us. And sometimes it feels like there's secrets to understanding God's power and God's strength in our lives.

[29:59] There's secrets we've been talking about or keys to the kingdom. First, we talked about the word of God, which is the Bible, and understanding it. Understanding who we are as people made in the image of God.

[30:12] About having hope. Hope for this life and God's promises and hope for the life to come and what it means for us in unlocking the secrets to the kingdom. Trusting God.

[30:24] Experiencing the Holy Spirit in our lives. And of course, grace, the forgiveness of God, which is the key itself to enter into the kingdom. And today we're going to talk about what 1 Corinthians calls the greatest of these, which is love.

[30:39] What the world needs now is love. Sweet love. It's the only thing that there's just too little of.

[30:52] And I know those my age are going, that's cool. Those younger go, what's he doing? All right. My wife asked me if back in the day when that song came out, when we were growing up, wasn't life a little nicer?

[31:06] And wasn't it a world, a country where we got along better? I said, well, I'm remembering riots. And I'm remembering people getting shot at Kent State.

[31:16] And I'm remembering universities getting burned and police getting attacked. I'm really sure that I would call it a more friendly culture that we lived in in many ways.

[31:27] But it was different. It was different. The anger seemed to be in our people. Now the anger seems to be in our leaders. And either way we look at it, what we need is we need more ability to get along with each other.

[31:43] We need more love. The very first verse of this chapter says that Adam and Eve made love and created a son named Cain. Now actually the word, for those of you who remember this from the old English, is Adam knew his wife Eve.

[32:00] And the word really does mean to know someone. To know someone so closely, so deeply, so much that it creates life.

[32:13] Can we really know each other and love each other that much? Cain and Abel lived together, brothers in this world. And I would believe that there would be a bond between them.

[32:27] Just like a bond we can create with others. Over the next few weeks we're going to look at a movie called The Secret Life of Pets. I don't know if you've ever seen it. And in this we get to see what animals are thinking in their minds.

[32:41] Sort of like this little guy. I'm Max. And I'm the luckiest dog in New York. Because of her. That's Katie. Katie and I, well we have the perfect relationship.

[32:55] We met a few years ago. And boy, let me tell you, we got along right away. You know, it was one of those relationships where, where you just know. And, and get this, she was looking for a roommate.

[33:09] And so was I. So I just moved in that same day. It was perfect. We'd been together ever since. Katie would do anything for me.

[33:22] And I'm her loyal protector. You gotta love dogs, don't you? Dogs, dogs will love you regardless of what you do.

[33:37] Even when you don't treat them right, dogs still love you. They're, they're, they've got an amazing ability to love more than they should. And by the way, if you turn dog around backwards, it spells God.

[33:50] I think God gave us dogs so that we would know what real genuine love is. Cain and Abel, brothers working together. Cain went into his father's business, working the soil.

[34:01] And Abel, he took care of animals. And I imagine they got along together, they played together, they worked together, they lived together, they did things together. And there's a wonderful energy that comes when two people work together, synergy when they give their gifts to each other and share a life.

[34:19] Anybody here ever been to Viddlers down in East Aurora? Viddlers. You remember Viddlers? How about the Viddler on the roof? Right? Bob and Ed Viddler.

[34:31] They were in these commercials, these corny commercials we used to see years ago. But Bob and Ed didn't start Viddlers, their father did. They took it over from their dad. Now, the truth is, is that of all the American businesses that started, the vast majority of them die in the second generation.

[34:49] Because typically, the children can't agree with each other on what they should do with the business. So they fall apart. Viddlers is actually now in its third generation of leadership.

[35:00] It's an amazing place. What they sell, I can't tell you. Because it's really, even if you went there, you wouldn't know what they sell. It's just stuff. All kinds of stuff everywhere in this creaky old building that's just kind of cool to walk around.

[35:14] You should go down there sometime and just walk around. You'll find something you don't need. That's what they sell at Viddlers. Two brothers working together.

[35:24] What a great thing. What a great example of love. In life, love is tested. It's tested. Somewhere along the line, the question becomes, do you really love me?

[35:37] And in this passage, we have the test of our love for God. The first act of worship that's shown in the Bible is this one, where they come to God and they bring their gifts, their sacrifices before God.

[35:51] A sacrifice is brought to God. We do it in our worship because it's for us to demonstrate on a regular basis that God is more important in our life than anything else.

[36:02] They brought what they produced. Cain brought crops from the ground. God brought an animal. We tend to bring money because money and time are the two things we value above everything.

[36:16] And so when we give those to God, it demonstrates our love for God. It's the same as we do with people the same way. Do you really love me? So Cain brought some of his crops as though he walked over and just picked out whatever and brought it in, a whatever gift.

[36:35] Whereas Abel chose from his best sheep, his firstborn, and he took the fatty portions. Now, Wednesday night, Luann made a special pork loin meal because she was celebrating my birthday, which was really cool.

[36:51] And I don't know if you've ever had pork loin. It's got this kind of stuff on it that's like the fatty portions. It's really evil and you're not supposed to really eat it, but I love it. And so I was looking for the fatty portions because that's just like eating candy, you know.

[37:06] That's what he brought to God. And so the question is, do we really love God? Are we willing to make a sacrifice for God or do we bring our leftovers?

[37:19] And when we make a sacrifice, amazing things happen. Anybody here ever been to Fatima Shrine up in Lewiston? It's cool. It really is. I discovered this a few years ago.

[37:30] This big dome on the inside, it's a picture of North America. And they have gardens and grounds with all kinds of statues and things you can walk around. It's a really quiet, peaceful place to go.

[37:43] And at Christmastime, they light the place up with like a festival of lights. And it's an amazing thing. And I was thinking, I wonder who paid for all this. Like, where did this come from?

[37:53] You know, this amazing thing. And I was expecting some bazillionaire, you know, damnated the money for this, right? But then I found out this is a church. Duh.

[38:04] This is a church where people go to church and worship God. It's their church. I'm going and looking at it like it's a tourist attraction. It's a church, just like people coming and seeing our church.

[38:15] That's what it's like when you go to Fatima Shrine. So the people who built Fatima Shrine are just folk, like you and me, who gave sacrificially and did something amazing. God tests Cain, and he tests Abel to see, do you really love me?

[38:33] Do you really love me? You see, the stories in this first part of Genesis, in many ways, are stories that mirror our growing up. Going from innocence to a place where we understand and live in a society that has evil in it.

[38:50] Going from a sense of pure love and the presence of God to a place where there's brokenness. And in this particular story, it's a story about acting a little more grown up than little babies.

[39:07] The most selfish creatures on the face of the earth are human babies. Wah! Give me something! Wah! Change me! Wah! Do this! Wah! Do that!

[39:19] If they weren't so cute, we'd get rid of them, right? I mean, really, they do nothing for anybody. They're totally useless, and all they do is say, take care of me.

[39:31] And if you don't, they will make you miserable. Wah! Right? So in some ways, part of growing up is to realize that it's not all about us.

[39:43] To move away from being children, being babies, particularly, self-focused people. Do we really love God with all our heart, with all our soul, with all our mind, and with all our strength?

[39:58] And that's the test that God gave in this first part of the chapter. Well, the problem is, is God accepted Abel's gift and not Cain's.

[40:13] Which leads really to a second test. Can we be happy for someone else? Do we love God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength?

[40:24] And do we really love our neighbor as ourself? Can we rejoice when the people we say we love have something good happen to them?

[40:36] Do we celebrate that they succeed? Do we love them that much? Can we be happy when someone else succeeds and we don't?

[40:49] Cain's answer is, no. He was so angry that his face showed the rejection. And it wasn't really Cain that was rejected.

[41:03] It was his gift. It was his gift. God said, if you do what's right, won't you be accepted?

[41:15] And he's talking to Cain. He hasn't rejected Cain. Cain actually talks to God more than Abel, more than Adam, more than Eve. God hasn't abandoned Cain or rejected Cain.

[41:28] This is a time to teach him about love and about sharing and about caring for your brother. Instead of rejecting and living in envy.

[41:41] But we live in envy of one another. You know, I realized that in this travel log, and we're going to a lot of places today, that the one place I left out, which is like, are you serious?

[41:56] Was Eden. Have you been to Eden? We have Eden in our community, right? Eden, what a cool place. You can go down there and go to the Corn Festival. You know what you eat at the Corn Festival?

[42:07] Corn. Yeah. It's a corny experience. It really is. It's just sort of a back kind of woods sort of kind of like farmer kind of festival, where you could just go and like hang out and act like life is simple.

[42:23] It's really neat. But if you want something more, you know, exciting in Eden, you could go down to the kazoo factory and tour the kazoo museum and see how kazoos are made. You can play them.

[42:34] Anybody can play a kazoo, right? Neat place, Eden. There's things you can do down in Eden. I looked it up, and there was stuff that you can go and experience.

[42:44] You could take a day and have a tour of Eden. Well, Kane is living east of Eden, so I looked at what's east of Eden, and it was Boston, New York. So I looked up Boston, New York to see what you could do in Boston, New York, and you know what I found?

[42:59] Nothing. Nothing. Boston, New York. Boring. There's nothing to go visit in Boston, New York, particularly. I don't have anything.

[43:10] There's nothing that goes on the map. The S&S Travel Company won't send you there. I'm sure the people of Boston sometimes, when they see those big festivals and crowds over in Eden, are feeling a little bit like, that's not fair.

[43:22] How come they get all the visitors and we get nothing? Kane was angry. And he was actually angry at God, but he took it out on his brother.

[43:36] He was angry at God for rejecting his gift. And rather than looking to see what would please God, he killed his brother.

[43:49] He killed his brother. The one person in life that he's been sharing life with that he should love the most, he kills him. And so we end up with brokenness again and sin.

[44:02] But God comes to talk to him. God comes to talk to him. In the middle of his brokenness, God still doesn't reject Kane. Still loves him.

[44:14] After all, he had said in verse 7, If you do what is accepted, if you do what is right, you will be accepted by God. If not, sin is like a crouching lion waiting to devour you.

[44:27] He wants Kane to be convicted of what he's done wrong. To confess, to repent, to return to God, to God's grace, to God's love, to live in that love.

[44:43] He wants to restore Kane. And so he says, Kane, where's your brother? Does this sound familiar at all, by the way? He says, how do I know?

[44:56] Am I my brother's keeper? Just like his dad. Just like his dad. Doesn't confess. Doesn't admit his fault.

[45:08] Deflects the answer. The sins of the father, it says in the Bible, will be visited to the second and third generation of those who hate the Lord. Your children watch what you do wrong and repeat it because they believe it's right.

[45:22] If you give them candy for doing wrong, they'll keep doing wrong. And afterwards, when God punishes him, he says, it's not fair.

[45:35] I might get killed. Not even recognizing he killed his brother. We have such a capacity for trying to dodge confession, which is the entrance, the start to grace.

[45:49] I remember reading a book a while back. Lord, I have sinned. But I have several excellent excuses. That's what we have. Excuses. Explanations.

[46:00] It's not my fault. It's the government made me do it. It's society made me do it. Well, actually, it's not really sin at all. Because I just changed the rules. Whatever we can do to try and convince ourselves that we haven't done wrong when we have.

[46:21] God wants Cain to confess. And he doesn't. Unfortunately, when Cain doesn't confess, he has no choice but to do the same thing that happened to his father and put him into brokenness more.

[46:37] In Romans chapter 1, it says, God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another.

[46:48] They exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served created things rather than the creator who is forever praised. God gives us over to brokenness, darkness, to sin, to pain, to suffering.

[47:05] And the hopes that maybe if we get messed up enough, some have called it total depravity, we'll realize we need grace.

[47:17] So God punished Cain because there's repercussions to our sins. In verse 10 of this chapter, it says to us, the Lord said, what have you done?

[47:30] Listen, your brother's blood cries out to me from the ground. And you're under a curse and driven from the ground which opened its mouth to receive your brother's blood from your hand. When you work the ground, it will no longer yield its crops for you.

[47:44] You will be a restless wanderer on the earth. And Cain said to the Lord, my punishment's more than I can bear. It's not fair. Today you're driving me from the land.

[47:55] Oh, and I will be hidden from your presence. I will be a restless wanderer on the earth. Whoever finds me will kill me. As if he had not killed his brother at all.

[48:05] If you do what's right, won't you be accepted? God says. And if not, why would you expect to be blessed?

[48:18] People who want to live a selfish, unrepentant, unloving life find themselves in separation, brokenness, darkness, and suffering.

[48:30] Cain was driven out of Boston to some place we don't even know. He was shoved further away from Eden.

[48:41] He lost his relationship with God. He no longer had his job of working the land because it didn't work for him anymore. He had to leave his parents. Just as it says in the commandment that says, honor your mother and father so you can live long in the land.

[48:57] Because if you disgrace or embarrass your parents, you have to move. You have to move someplace where your embarrassment doesn't reflect on them. That's a little harder today with Facebook, but you get the idea, right?

[49:11] He lost his home and he lost his brother, the person he had partnered in life with.

[49:22] And what did he gain? Nothing. See, in our selfishness, we can create so much pain we don't even recognize it.

[49:33] Remember how this section of Genesis starts? God says, it's not good for people to be alone. And here's Cain in total loneliness.

[49:45] But this isn't the way God wants it to be. Jesus came with a new covenant and a new command. In chapter 13 of John, he says, a new command I give you, love one another.

[49:58] As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this, everyone will know that you are my disciples if you love one another. Not just love like I love chocolate or I love a dog or I love a sunny day.

[50:13] Love as Jesus loved you. And how did Jesus love you? That passage from Philippians that Pastor Sherry read in the beginning of the service tells us, in your relationship with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus, who being in very nature God did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage.

[50:40] Rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in the appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death, even death on a cross.

[50:54] He's God. He has the glory of God. He has more than we could even imagine. But rather than lording over everyone, rather than pushing his power around, rather than bragging about how wonderful he was, he humbled himself and he offered love in a sacrificial way, dying.

[51:16] Not just dying in a regular way, but on a cross, which in our culture would be like dying in the gas chamber or the electric chair, a punishment reserved for criminals, the lowest of lows.

[51:31] He lowered himself that we might be lifted up. Because the love God wants us to have for each other is to be willing to give and to live for someone else and not for ourselves.

[51:52] Every day we'll face a choice. Do we really love God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength? Do we really love our neighbor? Do we love our brothers and sisters?

[52:03] Do we love our spouses? Do we love our children? Do we love our parents? Do we love our neighbors and friends? Cain saw it as a competition.

[52:15] We're supposed to complement each other. And all Cain could see is winners and losers. So he decided to take out the competition.

[52:28] Because if he doesn't have Abel there, he's the chosen one of God, right? See, we've got this crazy idea God grades on a curve. And so it's really not about being good.

[52:40] It's just being better than the slob next to us. You follow? But God doesn't really compare you to the person next to you. He compares you to you.

[52:53] Are you better than you were? Are you as good as you can be? And you love someone even when they succeed.

[53:06] Again, back to that passage from Philippians. Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. This is un-American by the way. Rather, in humility, value others above yourselves.

[53:19] Not looking to your own interest, but each of you to the interest of others. Can you imagine if we live our life rejoicing when our brothers and sisters rejoice?

[53:31] Being happy when other people are successful instead of resentful? Feeling glad glad that things went well for them? Over the course of my life, just like all of you, you hear people and they'll make their complaint.

[53:46] It's not fair. Other people have talent that I don't have. That's not fair. Other people have more money than I have. It's not fair. Other people don't have the problems with people, with their family, their kids, their parents, their friends, their bosses that I do.

[54:05] It's not fair. And it isn't fair. If you don't have a lot of talent, that means you don't have as much responsibility.

[54:17] That's not fair. People who are more talented have more expectations on them. By God and the world, it's not fair that you get off so easy. If you don't have a lot of money, you'll learn what the value of money is.

[54:31] I learned about money by being poor where I had to know every penny where it was going. I don't think it would be much of an advantage if I had money all the time. I never understand its value.

[54:46] And if you have people in your life that need extra care, extra love, extra attention, that have disabilities or brokenness or things that make it hard on you because you have to care for them more, that must mean God thinks you have some special ability to love that other people don't have because God thought that you are good enough to handle an extra burden of love.

[55:22] It's not fair. Life isn't fair. life often is simply a test. Can we love more?

[55:35] I've been to Boston. My wife was the pastor of the Boston Church, Church Hill Memorial. We lived in Boston for a little while. This was the church she served. You see the beautiful hills behind it?

[55:45] This is what Boston looks like. You can go and see these kind of waterfalls. You can go out and see beautiful countryside. There may not be tourist things to do there but I'm going to tell you what, it's one of the most beautiful places in America to just live and love and enjoy.

[56:02] Boston is cool. It's a great place. Even if it is East of Eden. You see, we have to look at what God has given to us instead of keeping on looking at what we don't have.

[56:19] We need to be happy in our lives and do what's right and God will accept us instead of complaining and being filled with envy.

[56:31] Love as I have loved you. We're going to talk about that for the next few weeks up till Easter because love is the greatest key to the kingdom but not just any old love, the kind of love that Jesus had for others.

[56:45] We need to look at it, explore it, and try to live it in our world. My understanding of the real story of the castles, and who really knows, but the best I can tell they were built by a man named Schneider.

[57:00] He was a self-made millionaire. He made his money selling electrical creations and such, some of it to the Pan Am exhibition, and he thought that thing was so cool he decided to build his own little world out here in Pendleton.

[57:17] Now some stories say that as he was building it, the woman he loved died, and so he let off in building, but I don't think that's entirely true either. I believe what happened is he just ran out of money because we had the Great Depression, and so he just stopped.

[57:33] But now here's an interesting thing. How many of you have always wanted to build a castle? Now come on honestly, you haven't built a castle on the sand or anything like that? We all want to build a castle. How cool is that?

[57:45] What would happen if they just opened the gates and said, come on in, help us build the castles? We'd probably all go over there and spend a couple days. It'd be cool to work on a castle, wouldn't it? You see, we do so much better together than we do separated.

[58:01] We are our brothers and sisters keeper. If you do what's good, you'll be accepted and you'll bring gladness and joy into the world.

[58:16] Have you ever heard the term random acts of kindness? I have an idea that for the next few weeks, I don't want you to practice random acts of kindness. I want you to practice intentional acts of love.

[58:30] You follow the difference? I don't want it to be random. I want you to be looking for places that you can do something loving, something really helpful, and we're probably going to ask you to write it down, so keep track of it, at least in your mind.

[58:45] When have you done something good for someone? in this week? It doesn't have to be a huge thing. It'll be like this boy here. Oh, look at that young Brewers fan.

[58:57] Now, wait a minute. He is. Did he get? No. Oh, boy. He is sour. He is sour. The Diamondback fan got it. The announcer's watching with their own play-by-play. He is sour.

[59:08] Oh, he is bummed out. Are you kidding me? This kid is going to do this? Oh, yeah. That is big time. Oh, my goodness. What a nice young man. He has got a Diamondback chattanooga.

[59:18] We have to get something for that kid. I can't believe I just witnessed that. That is awesome. You young man are a young dog. You don't even see parents telling them what to do, right? He just did what was right.

[59:28] We'd be all going, that's my kid. Yeah. Right? We got to give that kid a kid. He didn't do it for a prize. He did it because if you do what's right, you'll be accepted.

[59:40] You'll be loved. You'll bring this world a little closer together. What the world needs now is love. sweet love. It's the only thing that there's just too little love.

[59:56] But not love like loving chocolate or a dog, but loving as Jesus loved you. And how did Jesus do that? He went to Calvary to save your soul and to bring you back to Eden.

[60:18] God wrote his love on a hillside so long, long ago.

[60:39] For you and for me, Jesus died In God's greatest glory was told I love you, I love you That's what the glory said I love you, I love you I love you with any rest How do the ancients

[61:40] God wrote his love With the same hands that suffered and bled Giving all he had to give A message so easily read I love you, I love you That's what Calvary said I love you, I love you I love you, written in red

[62:45] I love you, written in red Lord, I come to you Let my heart be changed with you Going from the grace That I've found in you Lord, I come to know The weaknesses I see In me We'll be stripped away

[63:47] By the power of your love Holy God Holy God That your love surround me Bring me here Come to your side And as I wait I'll rise up like the eagle And I will start with you Your spirit Your spirit brings me on To the power of your love Lord, I'll fill my eyes Let me see you face

[64:49] To face the knowledge of your love As you live in me As you live in me Lord, I'll fill my life As you live in me My life And live in me every day By the power of your love Oh, may God let your love surround me Bring me here, draw me to your side And as I wait, I'll rise up like the eagle

[65:59] And I will serve with you Your spirit leads me on by the power of your love You are good, you are good When there's nothing good in me You are love, you are love On display for all to see You are light, you are light When the darkness closes in You are hope, you are hope You have covered all my sins You are peace, you are peace When my fear is crippling

[66:59] You are true, you are true Even in my wandering You are joy, you are joy You're the reason that I sing You are light, you are light When you death has lost its sting And oh, I'm running to your arms I'm running to your arms The riches of your love will always be enough Nothing compares to your embrace Light of the world Light of the world forever You are more, you are more Than my words will ever say You are Lord, you are Lord A creation will proclaim You are here, you are here In your presence I'm made whole

[68:01] You are God, you are God You are God, you are God You are God, you are God Of all else I'm letting go And oh, I'm running to your arms I'm running to your arms I'm running to your arms The riches of your love will always be enough Nothing compares to your embrace Light of the world forever reigns My heart will sing No other name Jesus, Jesus, my heart will sing No other name Jesus, Jesus, my heart will sing No other name

[69:03] Jesus, Jesus, my heart will sing No other name Jesus, Jesus Oh, I'm running to your arms I'm running to your arms The riches of your love will always be enough Nothing compares to your embrace Light of the world forever reigns Please be seated In some way, it seems too simple If we just confess what we've done wrong God will love us again

[70:04] But God said He doesn't want to make it hard He wants to make it easy to love Living in love requires sacrifice Living in love requires commitment and devotion But entering into the kingdom Just simply says Turn your life back to God And we start By just saying I'm broken God Fix me Let's confess together, shall we?

[70:34] Dear God in heaven I have sinned You know what I've done wrong And so do I Forgive me, Lord Reach into my life And turn me around Help me to do what's right Help me to do what's right That I might be accepted Teach me to love As you have loved Forgive me In Jesus' name we pray Amen So God wants you To return to Eden And not just the place with the corn Real Eden Real blessing In the name of Jesus Christ Your sins are forgiven In the name of Jesus Christ For us in the name of Jesus Christ Glory to God Amen Amen Amen

[71:34] All to Jesus I surrender All to him I freely give I will ever love and trust Him In His presence daily live I surrender all I surrender all All to Thee, my blessed Savior I surrender all All to Jesus I surrender

[72:36] Humbly at His feet I bow Worthy pleasures all forsaken Take me, Jesus, take me now I surrender all I surrender all All to Thee, my blessed Savior I surrender all For God so loved the world That He gave His only begotten Son That whosoever would believe in Him Should not perish But have eternal life We celebrate at the table all that God has done for us to bring us back to give us everything we need

[73:45] Everyone is welcome at the table in the United Methodist Church If you love God Repent of your sin And seek to live in peace As a disciple of Jesus Christ You are welcome to come this morning and receive So come The Lord be with you Lift up your hearts Lift up your hearts Let us give thanks to the Lord our God Blessed are you our Alpha and Omega Whose strong and loving arms encompass the universe For with your eternal word and Holy Spirit You are forever one God Through your word you created all things and called them good And in you we live and move and have our being When we fell into sin you did not desert us You made covenant with your people Israel And spoke through prophets and teachers In Jesus Christ your word became flesh and dwelt among us Full of grace and truth

[74:45] And so with your people on earth and all the company of heaven We praise your name And join their unending hymn Holy, holy, holy Lord God of power and might Heaven and earth are full of your glory Hosanna in the highest Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord Hosanna in the highest Holy are you And blessed is Jesus Christ Who called you Abba Father As a mother tenderly gathers her children You embraced a people as your own And filled them with a longing For a peace that would last And for a justice That would never fail In Jesus' suffering and death You took upon yourself our sin and death And destroyed their power forever You raised the same Jesus from the dead And he now reigns with you in glory You poured upon us your Holy Spirit

[75:48] Making us the people of your new covenant On the night Before meeting with death Jesus took bread and he gave thanks to you Broke the bread And gave it to his disciples He said take and eat This is my body This is my body Which is given for you Do this in remembrance of me When the supper was over Jesus took the cup He gave thanks to you And gave it to all his disciples He said drink from this All of you This is the cup of my blood The blood of the new covenant Poured out for you And for many For the forgiveness of sin Do this as often as you drink it In remembrance of me And so in remembrance of these Your mighty acts in Jesus Christ We offer ourselves In praise and thanksgiving As a holy and living sacrifice In union with Christ's offering for us

[76:50] As we proclaim the mystery of faith Christ has died Christ is risen Christ will come again Pour out your Holy Spirit On us gathered here And on these gifts That in the breaking of this bread And the drinking of this wine We may know the presence Of the living Christ And be renewed as the body of Christ For the world Redeemed by Christ's blood As the grain and grapes Once dispersed in the fields Are now united on this table In bread and wine So may we and all your people Be gathered From every time and place Into the unity of your eternal household And feast at your table forever Through Christ With Christ In Christ In the unity of the Holy Spirit All honor and glory is yours Almighty God Now and forever Amen Shall we pray together the prayer That Jesus taught us Our Father

[77:51] Who art in heaven Hallowed be thy name Thy kingdom come Thy will be done On earth as it is in heaven Give us this day our daily bread And forgive us our trespasses As we forgive those who trespass against us And lead us not into temptation But deliver us from evil For thine is the kingdom And the power And the glory Forever and ever Amen Will those who are serving this morning Please come forwardek устрой Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen

[78:56] Efendimiz Thank you.

[79:27] Thank you.

[79:57] Thank you. To the rail for prayers for healing and anointing, to light a candle. God encourages and invites you wherever you come from to come back to God.

[80:11] Come and join us at the table. 녹Яруй玺ived o This chooses submission, to be报 wertsing. Thank you.

[80:48] Thank you.

[81:18] Thank you.

[81:48] Thank you.

[82:18] Thank you.

[82:48] Thank you.

[83:18] Thank you.

[83:48] Thank you.

[84:18] Thank you. Thank you.

[85:18] Thank you. Thank you.

[85:50] Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

[86:56] Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

[87:08] Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

[88:12] Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

[88:24] Thank you. I don't have to worry about that. And so then they started to take my milk chocolate and the dark chocolate. And then I'm thinking as I'm preaching, you know, if I think that this dark chocolate is more important than our kids, there's something wrong with me.

[88:41] It's time for me to start giving it away, you know? So, you know, we've got to really think about our lives.

[88:51] What really matters to us? A little chocolate candy bar? Or the people in our lives, the God in our soul, and the purpose that God put us here.

[89:05] So go out and practice intentional acts of love this week. And bring some love into the world as Jesus loved you. Go in his peace. Amen.

[89:16] You're welcome. It's a affinity for the children. Um, and the... The person who lives here. And then yeah! The place.

[89:35]  The person who exists is... The person who lives are. The person who lives im loosled the world as they're being dreamed of. There's someone who lives in the world.