Genesis 4 - Ezra 4 - Matthew 4 - Acts 4

Genesis 4



- Abel's gift of the first born of his flock was good where as Cain's gift of fruit was not and Cain's response was one of anger (possibly the first ever sin of anger or jealousy)



-God told Cain he was still accepted if he did well but warned Cain that sin was crouching at his door. God told Cain that he must "rule over his temptation to sin". Cain disregarded God's warning and killed his brother and lied to God.



- Even after being banished from Eden God was still present with His people because Cain "went away from the presence of the Lord". Being away from God's presence was "more than he could bear"



- Even after Cain sinned God promised to protect him from revenge.



- Cain's great great great great grandson also murdered someone.



- After Seth was born to Eve people began to "call upon the name of the Lord"



- Why does God extend mercy to Cain?

- Why does God continue to talk to His people after the Garden of Eden?

- What kind of mark did God put upon Cain?



Ezra 4



- Jewish adversaries offered to help them rebuild the city, and they said that they too worshipped the God of Israel, but Zurubebel told them no, they'd do it themselves.



- Persian kings order must have been Cyrus, Artaxerxes, Ahasuerus (not sure if he is Persian king), then Darius.



- Adversaries wrote Artaxerxes a letter telling him that Jerusalem is a wicked city and that he should check his historical records. He did and work was ordered to cease until the second year of King Darius



- Why would God have one Persian king send Israelites to rebuild the city and then the next king to stop them?



Matthew 4



- Jesus was tempted in the wilderness after being there 40 days (when he was at his weakest)



- Jesus confronted the devil's petitions with Scripture (we should do this too)



- The devil even used scripture to try to deceive Jesus.



- God let Jesus be tempted BEFORE sending angels to care for him.



- Jesus moved to Galilee and this fulfilled Isaiah's prophecy.



- Peter and Andrew "immediately" responded to Christ's call for them.



Acts 4



- 5,000 people believed in Jesus and Peter and John were arrested for preaching in the name of Jesus and healing the man.

- Jews saw that Peter and John were uneducated men and were amazed at their knowledge.

- Jews said not to speak in the name of Jesus anymore, but could do nothing to disprove the power of Jesus done to the 40 year old crippled man.

- Peter said he could not help speaking of "what he had seen and heard". This took precedence over fear of punishment.

- The believers prayed for boldness to speak the gospel and at that moment God reassured them of His presence by shaking the place they were in.

- The believers shared everything equally and met the needs of everyone there.