Today Part 1 Series

Today (Part 1)

Scriptures: Genesis 3:17-19; 5:3-32 6:3; Jude 14-15;

Introduction:

The title of my message this morning is “Today” and this will; be part one as I will not be able to complete this message this morning. As I worked on this message, it was a struggle. I struggled through this message because it made me take a close look at myself, especially in relationship to my first responses which I spoke about a couple of weeks ago. God gave me this message for a specific reason: He wants us to know that “today” matters and is very important to His plan for our lives. Please keep this in mind as I share part one of this series this morning. By definition, if you were to look this word up in the dictionary, you’d find a definition similar to this: “on or during the present day; the present time.” Today means right now in the present, versus yesterday (our past) or tomorrow (our future.)

Today I can look back on yesterday and see things clearly whereas when I was “in the moment” of yesterday I might not have been able to do so because I was actively involved in that “today.” Today I can plan for tomorrow, even though I might not see tomorrow. When I stop and think about it, all I have right now is today. Today represents opportunities, opportunities to not repeat past mistakes and opportunities to fulfill what God has called me to do moving forward. "Today" gives me a chance to have an impact on the lives of others; even those that I might have missed yesterday. Benjamin Franklin said “Don’t put off until tomorrow what you can do today.” I personally have been guilty of the modern thinking pattern of “Why should I do something today when I can easily do it tomorrow?” The problem with this thinking is that there were times when I did not do it “tomorrow” and I seldom thought about the fact that tomorrow is not promised to me. I cannot undo my past and I can plan for tomorrow, but what is within my grasp of understanding and control in some measurable way right now is “today.”

The last couple of weeks have forced me to see how quickly I have lost sight of my "todays" versus my remembering/reflecting on my past and planning/dreading my the future (all of the “what ifs” that we can easily stress and worry about.) I have experienced some things on my job, in my personal life and as the pastor of this Church that caused me to ponder “what if?” Do you know that we can spend so much time living in the past or planning for our future that we fail to enjoy today? That we can spend so much time reflecting on our past that we are not able to live today or worst, think positive thoughts about our tomorrows. This morning I want to introduce this series by sharing some historical information with you and in part two I will get more personal. Let me first share with you why our days were shortened and why it is important to understand why it changed so that we can use the time we have left to make a difference in the lives of others. Let me start with the days before the flood.

A. Before The Flood

After Adam and Eve were removed from the Garden of Eden they began having children. Adam and Eve knew God personally and after sinning understood Him even more. This understanding of God was also taught to their first born sons, Cain and Abel, as evident from their interactions with God (Genesis 4:3-7). Adam and Eve had other children whom they also taught about God. As the population on the earth grew, man grew farther and farther away from God which caused God to make a change. When you read Genesis chapter five, you will find the genealogy of Adam. There are a few points I want to point out this morning from this chapter. Let’s start with verse three.

“When Adam had lived one hundred and thirty years, he became the father of a son in his own likeness, according to his image, and named him Seth. Then the days of Adam after he became the father of Seth were eight hundred years, and he had other sons and daughters. So all the days that Adam lived were nine hundred and thirty years and he died.” (Vss. 3-5) Adam was 130 when he had his third son Seth and lived for 800 more years after Seth was born. He died at the age of 930 and had other sons and daughters during this time. Seth was 105 years old when he fathered Enosh and lived for 912 years. Enosh was 90 years old when he fathered Kenan and lived for 905 years. These three men represent 3 generations of Adam descendants. Now let’s jump down to verse twenty-one.