This transcript was generated by whisper.ai.

Welcome to our look at Genesis chapter 5 and day 5 of our study through Genesis.
Let me begin by reading Genesis 5, 1 to 8. This is the written account of Adam's
line, "When God created man, he made him in the likeness of God.

He created the male and female and blessed them. And when they were created, he
called them man. When Adam had lived 130 years, he had a son in his own
likeness, in his own image, and he named him Seth.

After Seth was born, Adam lived 800 years and had other sons and daughters.
Altogether Adam lived 930 years and then he died. When Seth had lived 105 years,
he became the father of Enosh.

And after he became the father of Enosh, Seth lived 807 years and had other sons
and daughters. Altogether Seth lived 912 years and then he died. Now that's
through verse 8.

As you continue through Genesis chapter 5, it's going to take us in a genealogy
from Enosh all the way to Noah. And right in the middle, the son of Jared and
the father of Methuselah is a man by the name of Enoch, a faithful man that
we're going to look at in just a minute. But before doing that, just a quick
question that I know people have in this chapter.

The question people have is why did people live so long? 930 years, 912 years,
was the timing different? What's happening here?

Well, we're not sure of all the reasons why, but there are a couple of pretty
strong theories. One is that mankind was made to live longer in the first place.
God made us to live for eternity, and sin is what brought death into our lives.

And so at the very beginning, people did live longer. The effects of sin became
greater and greater over time, and we came to a place where we only lived 70,
maybe 90, maybe 100 years. If you read through the Bible, God actually sort of
recounts for us when it becomes, well, you're only going to live 120 years now.

And then he says that to Noah. And then he says in the book of Psalms, well,
it's going to be 70, maybe 90 years. So God sort of makes a couple of cuts there
in the amount of time that we're allowed to live.

And some say it's just the effects of sin. Others are more scientific about it.
Note the fact that this earth has become a more and more difficult place to live
in, that because of the effects of what we've done, and what time has done, and
what sin has done to this planet, that it is a place where you and I live less
and less time.

I think it's probably a combination of both of those, and people are going to
live less and less time. Now right in the middle of these genealogies of these
people that lived all these years, there's the one brief story of a faithful man
by the name of Enoch. All Genesis tells us is he walked with God and he was not.

Hebrews 11 picks up on that and lets us know this is a life of faith, is a story
of a life of faith. People who live a life of faith have learned to live life
with a different kind of question. Not what will please me, but what will please
God.

Hebrews 11, the faith chapter in the New Testament, tells us that it is
impossible to please God without faith. And I believe that the reverse is true.
It is impossible to have a life of faith without a desire to please God.

And Enoch, he pleased God. He pleased God so much that God couldn't wait for him
to be with him. The Bible says he walked with God and he was not.

And Hebrews 11 confirms that that means that he just went straight to be with
God without a physical death. He's one of only two that we know of in the Bible.
In all of human history, who didn't die as most people die, Enoch went straight
to be with God without a normal physical death.

And Elijah went straight to be with God, just up into the clouds. Enoch also,
something maybe about his righteousness, had a son who lived to be the oldest
person who ever lived, Methuselah, who was killed in the flood. Who knows how
long he would have lived if he hadn't been killed then?

Enoch lived a life that pleased God. And what pleased God so much? He walked
with God.

You want to please God in your life. You want to be a person of faith. And I've
got to answer for myself the question, how do I live in a way that I walk with
God?

How do I live in a God-pleasing way? I don't know any other set of verses that's
more powerful about that, that better reflects the life of Enoch than Colossians
1, 10 to 12. Those verses say, "And we pray this in order that you may live a
life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way, bearing fruit in every
good work, growing in the knowledge of God, being strengthened with all power
according to his glorious might so that you can have great endurance and
patience, and joyfully giving thanks to the Father who has qualified you to
share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light.

" I hope you saw, as I read through those verses, four ways that you and I can
please God. In honoring the life of Enoch and emulating the life of Enoch, these
are the ways that you and I can live in God-pleasing ways, bearing fruit,
growing in faith, being strengthened and giving thanks. Now, they're all ing
words, all four of them, because they're not done once and finished.

Got that done. Please God. Now, I'm going to go on to something else.

I'm going to go on to my agenda. No, there's something I'm going to do as a part
of my daily life, the rest of my life. How can I please God?

Bearing fruit, bearing fruit in every good work. God enjoys watching the
victories of faith that occur in your life. When you bear fruit, when you do
something that makes an impact on this world for him, an impact on eternity for
his sake, whether it's you sharing your faith and people coming to faith in
Christ, you praying a prayer and something changes because of your faith, life
changes, you making a decision to let God work in your character and seeing the
fruit of a Christ-like character, bearing fruit.

But this says specifically in every good work, bearing fruit by doing things in
obedience to God. When I do the things that God has asked me to do and see
fruit, see results from that, that pleases God. It's not me doing things on my
own energy and power that pleases God.

There's plenty of people who do that, selfishly, pridefully, just to earn more
for themselves, more money or more honor or more whatever they think they need.
God says, "You want to really please me? Bear fruit for me in every good work
that you do.

" That pleases me. It also pleases God when I grow in faith, growing in the
knowledge of God. God enjoys watching you grow in him.

Now what brings about growth? Well in plants, it's fertilizer and water. That
meets the plant's needs.

In health, it's food and water. That meets the body's needs. In faith, well
there's five ingredients, basic ingredients to growth in faith.

I need Bible study. I need God's word in my life, in my relationship with him. I
need fellowship.

I need a relationship with other believers. I need worship. I need to connect
with God personally.

I need sharing. I need to share my faith, what God's doing in my life with
others. I need serving.

I need to let other people know how great God is and what he's doing. Growing in
faith, when you do that, it is pleasing to God. It makes God smile.

Growing in faith, bearing fruit, being strengthened. And specifically, and this
really goes to the life of Enoch, I believe, being strengthened for all patience
and endurance. Enoch, this faithful man, lived in a world that was getting worse
and worse and worse.

And in an unfaithful age, he decided to live with faith. He was the precursor to
a man by the name of Noah that we're going to be looking at together next week.
Just think of the kind of faith he had to have when everyone else was choosing
not to have faith.

That may be one of the reasons God decided, just come on home. I want you to be
with me. I don't want you to have to live there any longer.

Being strengthened for patience and endurance. What brings God joy? What makes
God happy?

What pleases God? Your patience and endurance. Now, I think what makes God happy
is when I get what I want quickly.

But no, what pleases God is me patiently waiting. Me enduring. Now, patience
plus endurance, that equals active waiting.

That's not just me sitting in a chair and waiting. That is me praying as I'm
waiting. That is me serving as I'm waiting.

That is me worshiping as I'm waiting. That's me expecting as I'm waiting. That's
what it means to please God.

Maybe you're having to be patient for something right now, endure something
right now. As you're doing that with faith, God is pleased. And there's a fourth
thing in these few verses in Colossians, giving thanks.

It really pleases God for you to take the time to thank him. Just to tell him
thank you. A miracle happens when we live to please him.

When we try to find a life that is truly pleasing to us, we find ourselves
caught up in ourselves and the life that we're trying to live becomes more and
more confusing and more and more miserable. But when we try to live a life by
God's grace, God's strength, God's power, depending on him, to live a life
that's pleasing to him, then life, it makes more and more sense. It becomes more
and more real.

We live with more and more joy. Making God happy makes us happy. Making God, in
the end, is the most life-pleasing way to live.

Now, I said just a moment ago that it pleases God when you and I give thanks. So
let's just take a moment to thank him. God, thank you.

Thank you for creating us. As we read through these first five chapters of
Genesis, we're reminded that you're our loving creator and that whatever
happens, God, you love us. And I pray that you'd help me, help us to make
choices today to please you, to trust you, to bear fruit through our lives, to
do the things you're calling us to do, to begin to mix into our lives these
ingredients for growth where they haven't been, to have new attitudes towards
our opportunities for patience, and to recognize even there we can please you,
God, by trusting you.

And God, help me, help us to make praise a part of our daily diet. We praise you
right now for something specific, something that you're doing right now in our
lives. Thank you for this.

Thank you, Jesus, in your name, amen. And we'll see you next week as we continue
our study in the book of Genesis. Next week, the focus is on a man and his ark.