Are You Marked?

Open with prayer.

Are you marked?

Today we are going to look at marks for one day you will have to decide which one you will bear.

Genesis 4:1-16

The first mark is called the mark of Cain or the first curse and cannot be gotten rid of. This mark gave Cain protection from those who wished to harm him but did not guarantee his safety; it only promised a worse fate for those who harmed him. Cain is cursed from the earth a fugitive and a vagabond, in a world apart from God, shut out from God’s love and care yet is distinguished from the world with a mark.

Nothing is as exciting as the birth of your first child. Having your hopes, aspirations and joy all bundled up in a baby’s blanket and handed to you for the first time is breathtaking but yet Sin and death robbed Adam and Eve of any happiness they could have enjoyed through their children.

Abel was a keeper of herds, but Cain was a tiller of the ground. Both children started out so well. They both worked contributing good to the world in which they lived. They both wanted a relationship with God, both offered sacrifices to God.

Yet Cain’s life was full of sin. Cain wanted to worship God, he wanted to offer a sacrifice to God, but he wanted to do it on his own terms. Instead of offering an acceptable sacrifice of an animal, Cain offered the first fruits of the land. Cain’s worship became a means of self-recognition; he took pride in his offering. Cain wanted to approach God on his own terms with his own works.

God wanted an animal sacrifice. If we can understand that man had to give something that only God could provide, which is life.

What about worship services? Do they please God? Or us? Is God is worshipped in spirit and in truth." We have dwelt much on our spiritual gifts in the work of the church, teaching, caring ,and preaching. We focus is on what I have to offer or what I don’t have to offer, and in each case the focus is on us. Have we placed too much emphasis on what "I" have or on what "I" don’t have? It seems as though we have placed emphasis is on "I". What about the GIVER? I mean, look at Noah building an ark I realize that he didn’t work in a shipyard, he had never seen a ship much less built one. All he did was follow God’s direction, it was amazing what was accomplished in that one act of worship to God. We were saved from the waters of that flood.

There was nothing in Cain’s world that told him to do what he did. It was the evil in his heart that was speaking to him. So it was not wrong because everyone is doing it, the world says it is ok? Cain’s offering was not accepted. Abel’s was. “That’s hard to swallow. Cain cross, rejected – his solution… KILL HIS BROTHER. Cain does not show remorse nor does he feel guilty. Your problems are somebody else’s fault, you are happy when you get what you want. THE WORLD OWES YOU!!! Sounds familiar, doesn’t it?

Cain's words have a familiar ring to any parent. At times a child is truly sorry for his disobedience. At other times he is only sorry that he was caught, and bitterly bemoans the severity of punishment he is to receive. So when God pronounces Cain's punishment, Cain repeats his sentence bitterly, and expresses his fear that men will treat him as he did his brother. Every time we fail to listen and obey God’s will, we are opening the door to sin. If we fail to rule over sin, sin will rule over us. Cain got permantly marked by God, could not work, could not settle. HAVE WE GONE THE WAY OF CAIN?

AM I MY BROTHER’S KEEPER, MUM WHY ARE YOU PUNISHING ME AND NOT HER, IT IS HER FAULT, COME ON WE ALL DO IT.

The second Mark that we are going to look at is the Mark of the Beast

Is this the mark that you are wearing?

Revelation 13: 16-18

Those that are wearing it will certainly never stand in the Presence of God.

I John 1:3- believe not every spirit, for that spirit of antichrist which was to come, is already in the world working among the children of disobedient.

So, we are born into sin. Under the curse of sin however the good news is the gospel Now, you don't have to drink; you don't have to run around; you don't have to mistreat your spouse, arguing before you come to church; you don't have to curse; you don't have to lie; you don't have to steal; you don't have to be weary. Why, you've got the resources and blessings of God.