GOD HAS A PURPOSE FOR YOU

When Adam had lived 130 years, he had a son in his own image and named him Seth.  After Seth was born, Adam lived 800 years.

  

            When we thing about Adam, the things that usually come to our mind is:

                        1.  The first man

                        2.  The first husband

                        3.  The first father

            It seems like this would be enough for one man.  You would imagine that once these were accomplished God would not have any further use for Adam.  Yet, looking closer at the scriptures, we can see that God had a purpose for Adam all of his life.

            Adam’s original purpose was to:

                        1.  Rule over the earth and creatures

                        2.  Be fruitful and fill the earth

            Adam did not fulfill or accomplish the first purpose.  His sin in the Garden of Eden caused Adam to lose the rule over the earth.  When He sinned God told him that his punishment would cause him to be ruled by the earth, not rule over it.

Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will ear of it all the days of your life.  It will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat the plants of the field.  By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground…Genesis 3:17

            Adam also did not fulfill the second purpose.  He was told to be fruitful and fill the earth, yet at the age of 130 the Bible only records two children: Cain and Able.

            You would think after 130 years, and his failure to fulfill both of the purposes God had required of Adam, that God would give up on him.  Fortunately, God is not a respecter of age.  Nor does He hold our failures against us.  God is patient with us and gives us second chances.

            At the age 130 God gave Adam  new purpose:

            1.  To teach his offspring about the “ Cost” of sin

            3.  To be the Historian of God’s word for his family

            4.  To leave a legacy for his children’s children

            Did Adam fulfill this new purpose?    Adam lived for 800 years.  Take a look at his lineage.

            At age 130 Adam had Seth

            When Adam was 235 Seth had Enosh

            When Adam was  325  Enosh had Kenan

            When Adam was   395 Kenan had Mahalalel

            When Adam was 470 Mahalalel had Jared

            When Adam was 632 Jared had Enoch

                        And the word says that, “Enoch walked with God: then he was no more because God took him away,”

            When Adam was 695 Enoch had Methuselah

            When Adam was 887 Methuselah had Lamech

            When Adam was 930 he died.

            182 years later Noah was born

            Did Adam fulfill the new purposes in for his life?  I believe he did.  He was alive to see seven generations of Grand children and great Grand Children.  During those many years, he must have shared the story of creation, the first sin and the cost of that sin, with his family.  He must have been the great story teller; passing down the word of the Lord to his grand children and great grand children.

            If he had not, the generations which followed would not have had any knowledge of God.  But when Adam was 632 Enoch was born.  The word says that Enoch walked with God. 

            I can imagine that Enoch spent many hours with his Great, Great, Great, Great Grand father. For Enoch to have become a man whom the Bible says, “ Walked with God,” he had to know must have spent time with Adam getting been so hungry to know the God whom Adam had walked with and talked with. 

            Enoch was not taken away until 88 years after Adam’s death.  So Adam was an influence to Enoch for most of his life.  Due to this influence, Enoch’s relationship with God was so strong that God did not even allow Enoch to suffer the penalty of death, which was given to mankind when Adam sinned.  Instead Enoch was taken away.

LOVE FOUND IN BANDERA, TEXAS

by Teresa Ives Lilly

When Dale returns to Bandera, Texas for Christmas
All he expects is to spend time with his beloved Dog Buck
However, running into Shanna, his high school sweetheart reminds him of the time he has wasted and all he lost by running away on Christmas Eve nine years earlier.
When he discovers that something awful happened to Shanna on the night that he left, Dale is determined to make it up to her, but first He must be able to forgive the way that God has forgiven him.

PURCHASE AT AMAZON