Hello and welcome to Part 2 of Genesis 4. I’m Stephen Buckley and we’re in a series titled Eden to Zion, painting the grand narrative of the bible, through which you will develop a biblical worldview to live by and praise God in. Through five dramatic scenes in part 1 we witnessed a pair of brothers bring offerings in natural worship before the LORD. Abel the younger is accepted, Cain the acquired is not. Failing to heed the LORD’s warning to rule over his sinful urges, he murders his brother. Initially indignant under inquisition, his punishment paved potentially remorseful and fearful thoughts for his life. Marrying mercy to justice, the LORD promised protection via a special mark. Cain is then driven into the wilderness as a wanderer away from the secure paradise, his parents and presence of God. For today, the chapter goes on to record the family of Cain, their discoveries, inventions, development of society, and depending how you view it, demonic influence, or God’s underserving grace… and you do not want to miss the final verse of the chapter. It may very well change the way you pray.

Hello, I’m Stephen Buckley, welcome back to our Eden to Zion bible series, through which you will develop a biblical worldview and solid framework of the gospel narrative to live by and tell by. Today we are tackling Genesis chapter 4, that contains the first murder, and the beginning of prayer. In truth, it is a chapter of firsts. The first family, the first death, the first city, the first polygamous marriage, and more. Genesis 4 is the latter part of the section that began in Genesis 2 verse 4. We recall that Genesis contains 11 or so titles after the creation account, meaning 12 natural dividers given by the author that begin with “the history of” or “the family of” or “these are the generations of” depending on the translation. This section was titled “These are the generations of the heavens and the earth” (Gen 2:4) The section the tells us what became of creation – it was corrupted by the first family. It is not a “return to chaos” as some commentators may pen. There was no chaos beforehand, it is a turning from perfection and purity to chaos and iniquity. Creation displayed the glory and power of God. The crown of creation rebelled against God, commencing with the serpent deceiving the glory of man in the form of his wife. The man chose to rebel against God’s just law, failing to guard the garden, God’s word, and his family from attack. Our just LORD cursed the serpent, the process of childbirth, relations between the sexes, and upon the land and man’s relationship to it. In his mercy, he promised a saviour in the seed to crush the serpent. Faced with death (albeit delayed), the LORD covered the man and woman with animal skins, before escorting them out from the garden. Salvation came through judgment as James Hamilton puts, “setting forth the grandeur of the glory of God.” Life outside the garden, post-fall of man, with curses in play, is the context of Genesis 4, which is a continuation of this section with an overall theme we could title 'attachment to sin'. The “generations of the heavens and the earth” detailed in the first genealogy in history is interrupted by the story of two brothers...

"Hello and welcome. We are continuing the Olivet Discover through Matthew 24 into to 25 with an overarching theme of preparation for the Day of the LORD, the coming King, with an emphasis on mission. To recap part 1: Jesus foretold judgment against Jerusalem. The disciples respond with questions of when and what sign, connecting it with his coming at the end of the age. Expounding upon the OT prophets Jesus referred to the first half of the final week-of-years as the beginning of birth pains. Pointing to false Christs, war, famine, and earthquakes. Then the second half of the week-of-years, the great tribulation, as the birth pains intensify, that commences with the primary mid-week sign – the Abomination of Desolation. Listing false Christs, false prophets, death, martyrdom, apostasy, and the gospel going to all nations as a prerequisite before the end. Finally, his coming which involves, celestial signs, before the sign of the Son of Man, who comes publicly, suddenly, dramatically, in power to gather his elect, and rescue his people. He then gave 3 pictures of being caught out on that Day, and now and today we have three parables about preparing to meet the master, before judgement of the nations. Let’s get straight into it."

Recently I was invited to speak at a missions conference down in Hertfordshire in which I delivered two one hour sessions through Matthew 24 and 25, what we refer to as the Olivet Discourse. So I thought I would use that content with a little padding, preserving the emphasis on mission, and of course I will include the bulk of the scriptures and timelines on the screen for your benefit. This is by no means a comprehensive exposition, we will be moving a speed, skimming a stone over, and no doubt I will take time to concentrate on various aspects in more detail at some point in the future. The beauty of the Olivet Discourse is that it exposes both the digestion system of the congregant and the methods of the preacher. And if you want to know what I mean, I will add a bonus thought at the end. Everyone is trying to predict the future, from climate to crypto. They go to YouTube gurus, palm readers, and the medium at Endor. All the wrong places… Jesus gives us two chapters in his 5th and final major discourse. What a man has to say in the days leading up to his known death, matters greatly. How much more when it’s the Son of God. Are we listening?

Hello, I’m Stephen Buckley, and this is part 2 of Genesis 3, working verse by verse through the pivotal moment in the history of man, shortly after the creation week. In part one we witnessed Satan as the serpent deceive the woman; she ate; he ate; and when he eat everything changed. God inquired of the couple beginning with Adam as head, and began his judgment with the serpent, before turning to the woman, and today we are going to look at the remaining verses 17-24, beginning with Adam’s judgment and the aftermath: the consequences immediate, lifelong, and those that remain. Let’s get straight into it. Adam is held responsible for his own sin but also the corporate sin of his family and humanity as representing leader, and all under his rule are affected in his judgment. The buck stops with him. This priest-King is not immune to discipline. Prepare to sin, prepare to suffer.

Hello, I’m Stephen Buckley, and we’re in a series working our way through the grand narrative of the Bible, from Eden to Zion, in which you will build a biblical worldview, to function by as a Christian and mature in your relationship with Christ Jesus. Having taken a substantial detour since chapter 2 of Genesis, to step back and develop in our understanding of the aspects that make up the biblical worldview – God’s law and order, the canvas of existence or what we call the field of play with its historical and eschatological narrative, and the players or characters that are active within – so that we can understand who the Creator God is, how he has designed and established his universe, his boundaries, how we are interact with others and so forth… and today we are turning to Genesis 3, the pivotal moment in the history of man, up until the cross. Understand what took place in the garden, and you better understand the questions of suffering, temptation, judgement, the devil’s schemes, the nature of man, the foundation of the gospel, and you blame God less for your own circumstance. Such is the significance of what took place, this will be the first part, with part 2 shortly after. We’re going to be patient with the text and let the questions and answers soak in and simmer.

In early Spring 2020 I was patience to hear from the Lord. What was he doing in our land? By May I was dismayed at the church’s response, and so I published a video entitled “Weep With Me.” In it, I suggested the messages from UK church leadership were tickling the ears of church members. There were viral videos asking God to bless our nation. Which while honouring, for me missed what God is doing. It came across like a servant who under reprimand, asking for a pay rise. Some were saying God’s purpose is to unify the people of the nation. The bulk of corporate messages were to hurting individuals. None seemed to take a long hard look in the mirror. For me these messages came from the framework of how they perceived the church prior to 2020. But what if we are not this beautiful bride we think we are? So, I countered these various messages exhorting the church to change our corporate posture and get on our knees in repentance and recognition of this Judgement by God. By Summer 2020, with the introduction of face masks out of viral season, which makes no sense, it triggered me to swiftly discern something very sinister was taking place globally. I moved from the position of understanding of God’s purposes as judgment that is primarily viral, to judgment that is primarily tyrannical government. But judgement none the less. I then released a podcast early November called “Fear Not” in which I addressed: All-cause mortality stats; WEF; Klaus Schwab and the Great Reset; BBB slogans; We cautioned about the confusion and paranoia and downright evil side around conspiracy theories (particularly when they point the finger at the Jewish people), but also the reality that men conspire – so not making the error of following and get caught up in worldly theories and attaching that to our eschatology, but also not being ignorant of observable corruption and conspiracy; We discussed what is and isn’t church persecution and oppression of people; climate change and how covid is related; how the mask is a symbol of our time and deliberate muzzling of the church, who are sleepy and have failed the testing of our LORD; among other things. My concerns in that podcast have or are coming true, rapidly. But the main theme was to highlight that: “fear is a powerful thing. Fear, can make you lose sleep, it can cause health problems, it can strain relationships, it can make you do and say things that perhaps you wouldn’t in rational light.” Therefore ultimately, we are to Fear God and not Man. Again today, we are discussing dark times, but throughout, hope not fear should characterize the themes. With that journey mapped out, having been 13 months since I touched on this, and with the acceleration of events, I wanted to briefly call a spade a spade. Sometimes you just need to hear someone else say the things you are thinking. Firstly, we’re going call out what is going on: The worldly attack. Then we’ll look at the church’s response, good, bad, and what steps we can take. With worldly attacks and sleepy church, sometime the Christian walk can feel like a lonely road. As my friend Nick says, someone's testimony of events is another person's sanity. So, we’ll lay the bad news, place the good news on top, for the purposes of edification of the church.

This is second part looking at the order and economy of man. Hello, I’m Stephen Buckley and we’re in a series where you will build a biblical worldview through the story of the bible. We’ve taken time between Genesis 2 and 3 to tighten up our understanding of the order of God’s cosmic kingdom: God’s Order, the order of the field (the universe), the order of the players (those who dwell within the field of play), and last time as we turned to mankind, we began to major on home order and societal order, and today we turn to order within the church. And as we do that, we are viewing the discussion within the wider context of the bible as a whole. We refreshed our frame of the original order of man in the garden; we briefly surmised the order of man throughout the OT, before turning to the instructions given to us by the apostles. And so far, we have witnessed the continuity of male-leadership from the first chapters of Genesis to the NT. And as we continue the New Covenant Economy of man, we will examine the so-called controversial passages on church order, and lastly we’ll touch on the order and economy of man within the future kingdom. Hopefully then, we will have a much better grasp of the universal principles God has delivered to man: proper Christian ordering of activities as players within his field, and under his throne. By the end of today you should appreciate the gravity and urgency of why this subject is of such significance, especially upon the hour the church finds herself. The order of the bride of Christ is no small matter, in the same way the preparation of your bride, or you as the bride, was no small matter.

Correct dynamics in the home and church are vital to build the foundations of relationships on – between each other, and our Lord Jesus. But are we orderly? We are in dismay at the world, we expect it of the world, but is the bride of Christ orderly? Principally there are two sides of the debate within Christianity when it comes to home and church order, with a sliding scale between them. Complementarianism vs Egalitarianism. As we look at the economy of man, we’re going to look at the classic NT passages within the full scope of scripture. The original economy of man (the order in Eden); the mosaic economy of man (the order of the patriarchs and Israelites); then we’ll concentrate more fully on the New covenant economy of man as described and prescribed by Jesus and the apostles; and lastly, of which I’ve never heard anyone include in the subject when preaching on the matter: the future kingdom economy of man. We will demonstrate there is a continuity of leadership principles from beginning to end. Hello, I’m Stephen Buckley and we’re in a series going long through the central storyline of the bible, building a biblical worldview in the process. shortly, we’re diving into Genesis three, but first, and today we’re turning to the Order and Economy of Mankind. After Genesis 2 we took a detour, to step back and view the total sum of reality and it’s ordering of activities. The Order of YHWH, the Order of the Field of play, then last time we turned to The Order of the Players – (Field and players is worldview language) – and we studied angels and demons, and today continuing the Order of the Players, we are concentrating on man.

Today, in continuity of the worldview language we are turning to the Order of the Players – the players or characters are those who play a part in the field or stage of all things. I said this was going to be three-parts but actually it’s going to be four, because today we’re going to exclusively concentrate on the invisible players – and I don’t want to cheat us of time in our study of angelology – so we’re going ask what are the angelic creatures, their purpose, nature, appearance, rank and order. We’ll take a look at the heavenly divine council, the origins of Satan and demons, their activity, can Christian be possessed? How we should relate to angels and more.