Touré Roberts - You're Doing Better Than You Think

Well, today the title is more of a declaration over you, and I want you to hear it. I want you to receive it. I want you to know it. The declaration that I believe God wants me to make over you is: you are doing better than you think! Yes, you’re doing better than you think! I want to start this off by looking at a character in Scripture who was doing better than he thought he was; however, because he lost sight of that, he actually sabotaged his destiny. You might be thinking, «Well, that’s not positive. Why do you want to look at failure?» Let me tell you something. It’s funny—I was in the car with a gentleman the other day; both of our cars were being serviced, and the shuttle was taking us to our homes. We got into a conversation about Netflix, and it was a great discussion. You know, an inquiring mind wants to know. We know that Netflix did what it did, but I also wanted to understand what happened to Blockbuster. It’s one thing to study success, but if you want to be someone who has more wins than losses, you also have to understand and look at failures. I just feel like if I can master the success and understand the failure, I can live my life always winning. Come on, somebody! A lot of what you read in Scripture shows you how to win and how not to lose. Sometimes knowing how not to lose is just as important as learning how to win, right? So I want to take a look at a character in the Scripture by the name of Cain. Cain was doing better than he thought he was. I’m going to pull out some insights. We know the story; we always look at the story of Cain and Abel. Cain got jealous and killed his brother Abel, and then he got smart with God, popping off at God when He asked him about it. He said, «Am I my brother’s keeper?» We all know that. But let’s take a closer look at the story. We know how to do well, but let’s figure out how not to do wrong. Is that cool? All right, let’s look at it quickly; we don’t have much time. It says, «Now Adam knew Eve, his wife.» Just so you know, it was more than him just knowing her because the next verse says, «and she conceived.» Come on, somebody! He knew her really well. Now Adam knew Eve, his wife, and she conceived and bore Cain. Say, «Cain, Cain!» She said, «I have acquired a man from the Lord.» Now, it’s important to know that the name Cain literally meant the firstborn child, so his name was an honorable one. He was the firstborn, and she gave him that name. Sometimes you can be in a situation where you are blessed, but then your parents or others will speak something different over you, such as the case with Jaz, right? Remember his mother called him a name that literally means «the one who causes pain»? Anyway, the man was blessed; he was blessed because he was the firstborn, and those who were stewards of his life at the time affirmed him in that blessing. Let’s keep going. Then she bore again, this time his brother Abel. Now, Abel was a keeper of sheep, but Cain was a tiller of the ground. Okay, so he was the younger brother, and then it says, «and in the process of time it came to pass that Cain brought an offering, the firstborn brought an offering of the fruit of the ground to the Lord.» He was the first one to bring an offering, right? He does that. It says, «and Abel also brought of the firstborn of his flock.» So, Abel was tending to the sheep; he was a shepherd and he brought an offering. Cain brought something from the ground, which was from his environment. Abel brought something which was the first of his livestock, and that was a byproduct of his own environment. So Abel brings this sacrifice, and the Bible says «the Lord respected Abel and his offering, but He did not respect Cain and his offering.» As a result, Cain was very angry. Oh, this is going to be good for some of you, and his countenance fell. So the Lord said to Cain, «Why are you angry?» God was shocked that he was angry, and I’ll explain why in a second. «And why has your countenance fallen?» Then God goes on to say, «If you do well, will you not be accepted?» In other words, «Why are you upset? I am not rejecting you; I’m correcting you. Why are you upset because I’m correcting you? Why are you mad because I am chasing you? Don’t you know whom I love? I correct. If I did not love you, I would not chase you.» So He’s like, «Why are you angry?» God is trying to help him understand that he’s in a bad space, and he’s getting ready to lose it all. «If you do well, will you not be accepted? If you do not do well, sin lies at the door, and its desire is…