God's not Finished Yet by Phil Kinney
Adam and Eve are in the garden.... and they fall. They take the forbidden fruit – that which God told them not to take, and they eat of it. And in doing so they become aware of their own sin.
God’s plan for mankind was that we would have children born in perfection. If sin had not come in by Adam and Eve, we would be having kids and they would resemble the perfection of our heavenly Father.
The problem is that no children were born to Adam and Eve when they were without sin. Eve gave birth after they had sin, so Cain and Abel her children were born into sin. When Adam and Eve looked at them they saw them messing up, they saw their own failures and sin as they punched and wrestled each other, told little lies and behaved as kids can be. This is the thing about kids – in them we see our own imperfections and failings – we see ourselves in them!
When Adam and Eve first started the blame game started. When God meets them in the garden Adam and Eve are hiding. God calls them out, so they come out in their pathetic little sown fig leaves – and they start the passing the buck – shifting the blame.
Adam blames Eve, Eve blames the snake. God speaks to the snake who is satan and says "And I will put enmity Between you and the woman, And between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, And you shall bruise His heel.”" (Genesis 3:15).
God promises that Eve will have children, and out of her offspring will come one who will knock the devil on the head. God gives Adam and Eve hope.
So they have kids – Cain and Abel. Cain is out there tilling the field and looking after his vege patch, Abel is looking after his flock of sheep. They get into a fight about offerings and Cain kills Abel. As a result, Cain leaves the area and settles in Nod which means “Vagabond”.
Think about this from the perspective of Eve. She has two children and her hope is in the Word of God. God has said that through her a deliverer will come. She has these two boys – and she loses them both through and act of murder – one dead and the other fleeing . Genesis 4: 16 says “Then Cain went out from the presence of the Lord” – Cain is not repentant for his actions only remorseful at the punishment and so he leaves the presence of God. Eve has lost the hope she had – her children are as dead to her – she has no deliverer, no hope in overcoming the evil one.
As she lays Cain in the grave her grief is overwhelming. She has failed to provide a deliver. But the Word of God burns within her. The promise of God is still real. God is not finished even though Eve can’t see a way.
We read in Genesis 4:25-26 " And Adam knew his wife again, and she bore a son and named him Seth, “For God has appointed another seed for me instead of Abel, whom Cain killed.” And as for Seth, to him also a son was born; and he named him Enosh. Then men began to call on the name of the Lord."
God brought Adam and Eve around to the point of bearing children, and they have given birth to Seth which means “compensation”. God compensated for Adam and Eve’s loss and made a new path toward the messiah who would deliver them. And following the birth of Seth new life comes in, he grows up and has his own children and then men began to call on the name of the Lord.
God made a new path where the old one had been destroyed. He created new hope where the old hope had died. Her first born was a vagabond, her second born was dead, but her third born paves a way for the Messiah and is named in the lineage of Jesus Christ.
God is a God of the second chance. Many of you have dream and visions and you have stepped out into them and they have not occurred, the tide of life has risen against you and swept away your dreams. They have died and gone and you are wandering around like a vagabond trying to find purpose and meaning in your life. Some of you have tried once, and tried again to step into what you believe God has for you but have not broken through and you feel broken at having to bury your dreams.
But let me tell you God’s got resurrection on His mind. He has for you tonight a dream and a purpose that is far beyond what you have seen previously. The vision you had was the tip of the iceberg, a small part of the huge and influential plan of God to put you over the top. There are businesses in this room that have yet to be started. There are marriages in this room that have yet to be joined. There are families in this room that have yet to be started. There are ministries here to bight where you as mighty men and mighty women of God have put aside the plans in your heart to preach the gospel and be ministers in the house of God – you have put these dreams aside because things did not work out as you thought they might, and the dream died and you buried and it caused exceedingly great pain and suffering. You thought it was all over but we don’t serve a God who stayed in the grave, we serve the risen Christ, the God who takes what was dead and gives it new life, new hope and new purpose. Eve thought the dream was dead but the Word of God does not return void, but accomplishes all it sets out to do, and you have not yet fulfilled what God has called you to do. It’s time to walk away from the grave and get intimate with God. In the secret place as you get into His presence the dreams and visions will rise up again, as well as the strength to do them.
Talk About
1. Do you know God's plan for your life? Do you have a dream, vision or a word form God?
2. Have you stepped in that direction to have things not work out? What happened?
3. What stops you fulfilling your dreams? Do you think that will change?
4.
Remind about inviting and to be praying for “Be Happy Day” on Sunday the 15th Nov at 9.30 -1pm. Pray for fine weather, people to bring friends, family and for people to connect with church.
Clean up and set up for Be Happy Day this Saturday, 10.30am. Many hands make light work, so come along and help out.
Remember - Read through the NT.
