Sermon Tone Analysis

How many times did I fight with my older brother growing up?

A lot! my brother is about 6 1/2 years older than me.

He’s always had a considerable size advantage over me, so growing up and us fighting, rarely did I stand a chance.

And before you dismiss these fights as just simple brotherly blows, let me be clear, it could get a little scary.

You see one of my downfalls growing up was my ability or maybe addiction to argue.

Whether I had the right information about the subjects I would argue about was of little consequence.

If it was overcast outside, I would argue until I was blue in the face, that the sun was out.

I would make my brother so angry at me with arguing, it was my sister who had to step in and rescue me from time to time.

One time I had run my mouth for so long as an 8 year old, that my brother grabbed me by both arms and tossed my across the living room.

If I’m not mistaken, I think we were arguing what the new name of the Tennessee Oilers football team would be, my brother correctly knew they would be the titans, but i thought I had heard tigers…and it was something that petty that led us to an all out physical argument.

My brother and I have mostly moved on from those days, but we sure had some battles through the years of sibling rivalry.

change slide

It was through sibling rivalry, or jealousy, most likely that the first brothers in history found themselves in.

I’m referring to Cain and Abel. is where we will begin our journey this evening, but before we go further, lets take a moment and pray.

It was through sibling rivalry, or jealousy, most likely that the first brothers in history found themselves in.

I’m referring to Cain and Abel. is where we will begin our journey this evening, but before we go further, lets take a moment and pray.

Martin Luther King, Steve Jobs, and Henry Ford all had something very much in common.

They were dreamers.

They had vision for greatness.

Today we call them successful because of the great success they attained in their lives, but they also had plenty of obstacles in their way, telling them to let their dreams just be dreams

We understand the significance now of their dreams.

Steve Jobs refused to be told what to do.

He wasn’t the master designer of every apple computer, or even the ipod, but he believed in distributing quality and user friendly technology.

He had a vision for what people wanted and cared about and created a means for people to get the products they wanted.

He believed what was on the inside of the components of a computer was every bit as important as how it looked on the outside.

By age 23, he was a millionaire, by 24, he was worth over 10 million, and by 25, he was a man worth over 100 million dollars.

As his company grew, Jobs encountered men who seeked to advise him to stick to the status quo, or great job, “we’ll take it from here.”

He eventually was kicked out of his own company he had built (which had started in a garage).

However, years later, he was begged to return and bring back his quality vision for the company.

Today Apple is one of the biggest and most popular and recognizable technology companies in the world.

I don’t expect many who worked for and witnessed this company in its early stages could become something so large.

However this level of success did not seem to be out of range of possibility in the mind of Steve Jobs.

Jobs was a dreamer.

tells us that Cain was the first born and worked with Earth.

He knew how to grow things.

You could say he had more than a green thumb.

Abel was a keeper of the sheep.

The sacrificial system had been established with Adam and Eve following their sin which had led to God’s removing them from the garden of Eden.

It can be implied that Cain and Abel were familiar with this system.

The wages of sin, was death.

Because sin existed and offering of sacrifice had to be made.

Then there were men like Henry Ford.

Ford’s Model T was not his greatest vision cast.

Actually it was use of the already established assembly to build the Model T was his greatest vision cast and delivered.

In that day and age most people couldn’t afford an automobile, and only the rich had such a luxery.

However, Ford, came along and revolutionized and industry by creating an automobile that the middle class could afford.

Not only that, but his company created countless jobs and led to a major industrial revolution as other companies adopted the assembly line as well.

In that day, there was an established way of doing business, as well as how factory work was done.

Ford astonished the world in 1914 by offering a $5 per day wage ($120 today), which more than doubled the rate of most of his workers.

Ford's policy proved, however, that paying people more would enable Ford workers to afford the cars they were producing and be good for the local economy.

He viewed the increased wages as profit-sharing linked with rewarding those who were most productive and of good character.

These were philosophies Ford initially was met with much resistance on.

Resistance did not squash Ford’s dreams.

Ford was a dreamer.

Have any of you wondered why God had them offer up and innocent lamb?

Unless you work at a slaughter house, and I can’t think of any reason why someone would want to kill a lamb.

Their cute, and fluffy.

God chose the lamb to represent one day his Son coming and sacrificing himself, for all the sins of the world.

But as two brothers figuring out the world, this must’ve been one of the hardest realities of life to participate in.

A thought I had once though, was, shouldn’t this have been easier for Cain.

He wasn’t as close to the sheep as his brother, shouldn’t it have been less painful to bring a lamb offering before God than it would have been Abel.

One commentary says makes this point saying, “the fact that the two offerings correspond to the brothers respective occupations also suggests Cain’s dramatic dilemma.

For in order to offer a right and acceptable sacrifice, Cain, the older brother, would have to request the help of his younger brother.

“It is likely that Cain’s pride prevented him form the humiliation of that request.

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s most famous speech he delivered is known as the “I have a dream” speech.

Dr. King had vision for equality for all men.

This idea of equality was a polarizing topic.

Today equality is something states, companies, and sports want to be known for supporting.

From early on, there were men and women both black and white calling for Dr. King to let his dreams be only dreams.

If he kept opening his mouth, he just might get himself killed.

Dr. King had a vision for the country he loved, that it might grow out of racial prejudices.

Much because of the movement he started, I grew up in a world where it was not uncommon for children of different races to play together and develop friendships and bonds.

Dr. King may have been killed but his dreams and visions were not.

While racial prejudice still heavily exists in people, there has been much growth since those days.

Dr. King had the courage to cast such a vision, while it was ridiculed and very much threatened.

Not even death could squash Dr. King’s dreams.

How many dreamers have their been in our own church?

How many are still left only dreaming?

The Bible talks about many dreamers, but one such dreamer sticks out to me.

That dreamer was Joseph.

Today I want to examine the early life of Joseph and see if there are any links to Joseph’s dreams and members of our church seeking to cast a vision of their dreams?

Is God behind the dreams, or are we simply self-seeking.

4 And the Lord had regard for Abel and his offering, 5 but for Cain and his offering he had no regard.

So Cain was very angry, and his face fell.

Before we go further, lets take a moment to pray.

I won’t bore you to much with the hebrew words for very angry and his face fell.

But understand Cain had a quick variety of emotions, depression, distress.

Where it says his face fell, at first glance it just seems to indicate that Cain was sad, his offering wasn’t accepted, the phrase his face fell, is also translated as his countenance fell, this idiom means the light fell from his face.

Light meaning favor.

Cain has lost divine favor in the sight of God.

This is not a forever thing, and God even asks Cain, why he is angry, why has your face fallen?

If you do well will, won’t you be accepted?

In other words, Cain if you obey me once, more won’t the light return, there are consequences to your actions.

Don’t fall victim and become a slave to sin, because as he puts it, sin is crouching at your door.

Many of you whom I’ve become most acquainted with know I am the youngest of 3 siblings.

Yes sometimes I had that younger brother complex.

I wanted my voice to be heard.

Its desire is contrary to you, but you must rule over it.”

Its desire is contrary to you, but you must rule over it.”

The Hebrew word used here, teshuqah, also occurs in 3:16 in relation to Eve’s desire for her husband.