Foreign S welcome to Fed by the Fruit, a podcast focused on nourishment for the mind, body and soul.

I'm kb, a spirit filled certified life and nutrition coach with a calling to disciple women who are hungry for more.

Each week we will learn who God is and what he wants for and from us through powerful testimonies, biblical truth, and so much more as we fuel our minds and bodies in ways that honor Him.

Let's get fed.

Hello friends.

Happy Monday.

Welcome to Fed by the Fruit.

Where are we?

Episode 6 I believe this has been so much fun.

Such a blessing to me.

I hope it's a blessing to you.

I have such a desire to just share Jesus and what he's done for me and what he can do for you.

And I just want to always have this disclaimer that I am infallible and imperfect and a broken sinner.

And I'm just doing my best to share with you what I've learned in my, you know, in my studies and in my seeking.

And I could mess up and I will mess up.

I'm human.

So always fact check what I'm sharing with you with the word of God.

Open your Bible and really just dig in more to these stories.

I'm going to try to give you, you know, a more in depth look that maybe you've heard before.

Like some of these are just, you know, popular stories that maybe we heard as kids, but we've never really looked into them as adults and, you know, tried to glean from them the lesson or what God is trying to teach us.

Why did he feel it was important to include this in this book, these 66 books of the Bible that make up all the word of God, the whole truth.

Um, so with that, today I'm gonna be sharing with you the story of Cain and Abel.

So we're still in Genesis.

This just makes sense to share with you after the Adam and Eve story.

So in Genesis 4, we learned that Cain and Abel were the sons of Adam and Eve.

So these are the first conceived human beings.

Cain became a farmer and Abel a shepherd.

Adam and Eve told them to show gratitude to God, they would need to offer a sacrifice, something special that would please the Lord.

So Abel chose his best newly born lamb.

He believed that giving it to God was far more important than having it for himself.

Cain was puzzled by his brother's selfless sacrifice.

He himself was going to sacrifice some old dried fruit and tried to convince Abel to sacrifice something far less significant.

Some say Cain's sacrifice was some extra straw he had laying Around, Cain actually scoffed at Abel for giving something of such value.

God looked with favor on Abel's sacrifice, but he did not look with favor upon Cain's.

And Cain was jealous.

He became angry and his face was downcast.

The Lord asked Cain why he was angry and told him if he did what was right, he would be accepted.

But if not, sin would be crouching at his door.

He commanded Cain to rule over sin.

Soon after, Cain led his brother out to a field and struck him, causing him to die.

Realizing what he'd done, Cain began to fear the consequences.

So he buried Abel and went about his day as if nothing had happened.

God then appeared to Cain and asked him where his brother was.

He outright lied to God, telling him he didn't know and asking him, am I my brother's keeper?

God then challenged Cain, knowing what had happened, asking him how he became so hateful.

Cain fell to the ground, sobbing.

God condemned Cain, telling him the ground he worked would never yield crops.

It's likely this was a metaphor that whatever Cain would attempt to do in his life would result in failure.

He further condemns Cain to be a restless wanderer of the earth, denying him of any peace.

Cain argued that that punishment was too harsh and that if he wandered the earth, he may not be safe.

However, God declared not so.

Anyone who kills Cain will suffer vengeance seven times over.

He marked Cain so that no one would kill him.

But listen, that wasn't for Cain's protection.

It was so that the suffering would not end.

He was outcasted, living in the land of Nod, east of Eden.

He was denied and shunned from God's glory.

The story demonstrates the idea that there cannot be good without evil.

Abel was good.

Cain was evil.

Sin is a part of life.

Even if we live our lives as honorably as Abel, we will still be affected by sin and evil that entered the world through their parents, Adam and Eve.

So to appreciate the significance of God telling Cain sin is crouching at your door, we first must consider the context of the larger story.

Cain was angry because God accepted his brother Abel's offering and not his own.

So there's some theological debate about why God rejected Cain's offering.

Some say it was because Abel offered a blood sacrifice and Cain did not, while others believe Cain's offering was rejected because, unlike Abel's, it was not the best and first of his crop.

The Bible doesn't explicitly spell out the answer, yet we can be sure that there was something about Cain's attitude, motivation, or unwillingness to obey God's Instruction that contributed to his offering being rejected.

We aren't privy to the details, but we do know, and this is that both Cain and Abel understood what God expected of them.

They understood the assignment.

God is not trying to trick anyone into punishment or out of their salvation.

Cain knew he'd given an unacceptable sacrifice because God told him later, you will be accepted if you do what is right.

He gave him the opportunity to repent.

Cain knew the right thing to do, but he just simply didn't do it.

He chose sin.

Just like his father, Adam chose sin in the garden.

Even still, God graciously allowed him the opportunity to make things right and then warned him, but if you refuse to do what is right, then watch out.

Sin is crouching at the door, eager to control you.

But you must subdue it and be its master.

We must be masters over sin.

This description of sin is striking.

The Hebrew word translated as crouching can indicate lying down, as in resting.

But it also characterizes sin as a demonic presence or, or a predatory animal waiting to pounce.

God questioned Cain, why are you angry?

Why is your face downcast?

For the same reason he quizzed Adam and Eve in the garden.

The Lord wasn't scolding them.

Instead, he wanted them to admit their sin so that they would repent, just like God wants us to do today, we are all sinners.

We all shall fall short of the glory of God.

But he allows us to repent and live differently by confessing our sins and then living the opposite way.

Then God lovingly presented Cain with a choice.

He could surrender his anger, repent of his wrong attitude, and get his heart right with God.

Or he could let sin get the better of him.

As we know, Cain failed to heed God's words of caution.

He let the wickedness of anger crouching at his door become his master and rule over him, which then led to an even greater crime.

Cain went on to slay his own brother, committing the first murder in history.

Since the creation of humankind.

God has let people know what he expects of them.

It is all spelled out for you in the Bible.

In the Garden of Eden, God told Adam and Eve how to follow his commands.

Just as he made his will clear to Cain.

Today, God continues to speak to his children through his word, the Bible, calling them to obey his commands and follow Christ's example of humble obedience.

Just as the Lord gave Cain the chance to repent and get right with him, God extends his love and gracious offer of forgiveness and cleansing to us.

But if we ignore him, the Lord puts us on notice that sin is crouching at our door.

It is waiting for just the right moment to dominate us.

1 Peter 5:8:9 tells us to stay alert.

Watch out for your great enemy, the devil.

He prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour.

Stand firm against him and be strong in your faith.

If we submit ourselves to God and resist the devil, just like the Lord urged Cain to do, we have the promise of victory over the devil.

He must flee from us.

God's warning to Cain that sin is crouching at your door should be a vivid reminder to us that sin is like a wild animal waiting for its next victim.

If we aren't careful to repent and obey the Lord, it will pounce on us and master us too, leading to deeper sin and eventual destruction and death.

That's where sin leaps to destruction and death.

That's what the devil comes for.

To steal, to kill, to destroy.

James 1:15 says, Then after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin.

And sin, when it is full grown, gives birth to death.

In this, Cain is an example to us all.

What areas of your life do you need to confess your sin to God and repent?

We all have them.

I Part of my prayer time every morning is I first praise the Lord.

I tell him all the things I'm thankful for and then the second thing I do is confess my sins and ask for forgiveness and repent, repent of those sins.

And then I ask God for what I need and then I write a verse.

And speaking of a verse, we are in to July and our verse of the month, our memory verse is Romans 8:28 and we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.

So I hope that you learned something.

I hope that this was interesting.

Maybe you didn't know the story of Cain and Abel.

Maybe you didn't realize that Cain and Abel were the children, the first children of Adam and Eve.

The first, first conceived human beings.

And it took three human beings being on the earth before one murdered.

It's crazy.

Sin.

Sin leads to death.

It's amazing.

The Bible is amazing.

I hope that that encouraged you to want to open up your Bible.

Remember we were in Genesis 4.

Read the story of Cain and Abel for yourself.

And if you have any questions, if you'd love to know more, if you need a prayer, reach out to me.

I'm so grateful that you're here.

Later, if this podcast blessed you, please share it with a friend and hit the subscribe button so you never miss an episode.

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Edbythefruit.

I'd love to connect with you there.

And most importantly, I'll see you right here next week.

Come hungry, get fed.