Latest / Trinity Tinley Park Sermon Podcast / "Can & Able; Different Views of Life" with Pastor Paul Strand | September 20, 2026

Transcript

"Can & Able; Different Views of Life" with Pastor Paul Strand | September 20, 2026 · Trinity Tinley Park Sermon Podcast

• 0:02
  SPEAKER_00: Let me have a prayer with you.
• 0:04
  SPEAKER_00: Heavenly Father, you chose it.
• 0:07
  SPEAKER_00: Eric Mooney didn't choose it.
• 0:09
  SPEAKER_00: Strand and Schauer didn't choose it.
• 0:12
  SPEAKER_00: You chose this particular study.
• 0:14
  SPEAKER_00: It will be for the blessing, I pray, of someone in this congregation.
• 0:19
  SPEAKER_00: Or it will be the blessing of hundreds that are listening online.
• 0:24
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe they'll be blessed now.
• 0:26
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe it'll be a month from now that they'll come across this particular teaching.
• 0:31
  SPEAKER_00: Help us to live freely, Lord, for we already know how to do that.
• 0:37
  SPEAKER_00: Just help us to head that direction in this thing called faith.
• 0:43
  SPEAKER_00: In our Lord's name.
• 0:45
  SPEAKER_00: Amen.
• 0:47
  SPEAKER_00: I'm going to read a little bit more of Proverbs 3 than I did last week.
• 0:52
  SPEAKER_00: If you want to live freely, here's the inside scoop.
• 0:57
  SPEAKER_00: Trust in the Lord with all your heart.
• 1:01
  SPEAKER_00: And do not lean upon your own understanding of how God should handle things, how the world should be run, how your health should be, how your job should be, and how your relationship should be.
• 1:17
  SPEAKER_00: Trust in the Lord with all your heart.
• 1:19
  SPEAKER_00: Do not lean upon your own wisdom and understanding.
• 1:24
  SPEAKER_00: In all your circumstances, acknowledge Him as being present in your circumstance.
• 1:32
  SPEAKER_00: And he will make straight your paths, and He'll give you peace.
• 1:38
  SPEAKER_00: Do not think your wisdom is sufficient for what you face, but rather respect the Lord God Almighty and turn to Him.
• 1:51
  SPEAKER_00: If you do so, you'll find refreshment for your bones and you'll find healing for your flesh.
• 2:03
  SPEAKER_00: I'm going to bring to you six people.
• 2:07
  SPEAKER_00: If you are listening online and you're new to the faith, you don't know them.
• 2:12
  SPEAKER_00: If you're listening online, if you're here present and you're know God's word pretty well, they'll be familiar to you.
• 2:22
  SPEAKER_00: Two of them were raised by the same parents.
• 2:26
  SPEAKER_00: The man's name was Adam, their mother's name was Eve.
• 2:31
  SPEAKER_00: The boys are Cain and Abel.
• 2:34
  SPEAKER_00: Gonna bring them to you.
• 2:37
  SPEAKER_00: Then you have two people who live 40 miles apart.
• 2:42
  SPEAKER_00: They're both very wealthy individuals.
• 2:45
  SPEAKER_00: And when there were conventions for the wealthy people, they were there, they knew each other.
• 2:52
  SPEAKER_00: One is mentioned in Luke 18, not given a name.
• 2:55
  SPEAKER_00: He is a rich young lawyer.
• 2:58
  SPEAKER_00: And the other 24 hours later, his name is Zacchaeus.
• 3:04
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm gonna bring you two other people.
• 3:07
  SPEAKER_00: They were employed by the same company.
• 3:11
  SPEAKER_00: They say it had the same uh owner, manager, CEO.
• 3:19
  SPEAKER_00: One is described as having five talents, the other is described as having one talent.
• 3:27
  SPEAKER_00: And the second week of living freely, discovering your wealth in Christ, I bring you the six.
• 3:36
  SPEAKER_00: What is your true wealth in Christ?
• 3:39
  SPEAKER_00: Did you discover it after the first lesson?
• 3:42
  SPEAKER_00: Will you discover it this week?
• 3:45
  SPEAKER_00: Your true wealth in Christ.
• 3:48
  SPEAKER_00: It is peace, desperately longed for.
• 3:54
  SPEAKER_00: It is joy, desperately longed for, and it is hope.
• 4:02
  SPEAKER_00: Those three things are your and mine true wealth in Christ.
• 4:06
  SPEAKER_00: It is peace, it is joy, it is hope.
• 4:10
  SPEAKER_00: Let me, without any further introduction, head this straight to the story of Cain and Abel.
• 4:18
  SPEAKER_00: Eve gave birth, she bore a son, his name was Cain.
• 4:25
  SPEAKER_00: And again she bore a son, his name was Abel.
• 4:30
  SPEAKER_00: Abel was a shepherd, and Cain was a farmer.
• 4:37
  SPEAKER_00: In the course of time, Cain the farmer brought to the Lord an offering of the fruit of the ground.
• 4:45
  SPEAKER_00: And Abel likewise brought an offering to God.
• 4:50
  SPEAKER_00: The shepherd brought an offering to God.
• 4:54
  SPEAKER_00: And the offering he brought was the firstborn of his flock.
• 4:59
  SPEAKER_00: The best of the flock is what he brought to God as a sacrifice.
• 5:06
  SPEAKER_00: And the Lord had regard.
• 5:08
  SPEAKER_00: He blessed Abel and his offering.
• 5:12
  SPEAKER_00: But for Cain and his offering, God had no regard.
• 5:16
  SPEAKER_00: It doesn't say he had little regard, it said he had no regard.
• 5:21
  SPEAKER_00: So Cain was very angry at two people.
• 5:23
  SPEAKER_00: He was angry at God, and he was angry at his brother.
• 5:28
  SPEAKER_00: How come God is favoring you and not me?
• 5:31
  SPEAKER_00: And God came and said to Cain, Why are you so angry?
• 5:37
  SPEAKER_00: If you do well with the time, talents, and treasures I've given you, if you do well with them, if you get off the pedestal you have put yourself on, and if you start looking at me like your brother Abel does, and realize that every blessing you have, Cain, has not come from your talents, it has come from me.
• 6:01
  SPEAKER_00: If you do that, Cain, will I not accept you and bless you, which is my great desire.
• 6:10
  SPEAKER_00: But if you do not change your focus from yourself, you'll continue to be filled with anger against me and against your brother.
• 6:22
  SPEAKER_00: Sin lurketh outside your door, Cain.
• 6:27
  SPEAKER_00: You must overcome the sin.
• 6:31
  SPEAKER_00: You know how that story ends.
• 6:35
  SPEAKER_00: Why was one sacrifice acceptable to God?
• 6:40
  SPEAKER_00: Why do you say Abel Ayursex is acceptable?
• 6:44
  SPEAKER_00: Was it because of their occupation?
• 6:46
  SPEAKER_00: Did God favor shepherds?
• 6:49
  SPEAKER_00: Psalm 23 is not about a farmer, it's about a shepherd.
• 6:53
  SPEAKER_00: Did he favor shepherds?
• 6:56
  SPEAKER_00: The good shepherd, Jesus Christ, John 10.
• 6:59
  SPEAKER_00: There's nothing in there about a farmer, it's about a shepherd.
• 7:04
  SPEAKER_00: King David was not a farmer, he was a shepherd.
• 7:09
  SPEAKER_00: Is that why?
• 7:10
  SPEAKER_00: No, it has nothing to do with it.
• 7:13
  SPEAKER_00: Was one more handsome than the other?
• 7:16
  SPEAKER_00: Was one better dressed than the other?
• 7:19
  SPEAKER_00: And the answer is no.
• 7:22
  SPEAKER_00: If you want to find the answer, it's in Hebrews chapter 11, the Hall of Fame chapter.
• 7:27
  SPEAKER_00: There's Noah, there's Abraham, there's Joseph, there's Daniel, there's Gideon.
• 7:32
  SPEAKER_00: They're all in the Hall of Fame chapter.
• 7:35
  SPEAKER_00: And Abel sneaks in there.
• 7:37
  SPEAKER_00: Why does Abel snake in there?
• 7:40
  SPEAKER_00: Because he is the first person mentioned in the Bible who wraps his arms around God and says, Everything I have and everything I am comes from God.
• 7:56
  SPEAKER_00: What do we learn about Adam and Eve?
• 7:59
  SPEAKER_00: When God kicks them out of the garden, do they say adios to God?
• 8:03
  SPEAKER_00: No.
• 8:03
  SPEAKER_00: They continue to worship him, they sacrifice him, they praise him.
• 8:10
  SPEAKER_00: How do we know?
• 8:11
  SPEAKER_00: Because Abel knows God and he worships him.
• 8:17
  SPEAKER_00: And he could only have come if Adam and Eve, the parents, still look to God for everything.
• 8:26
  SPEAKER_00: My next door neighbor, Mike, came over yesterday.
• 8:30
  SPEAKER_00: And he asked what he often does, which you're preaching on, Strand.
• 8:36
  SPEAKER_00: And I said, I'm preaching on Cain and Abel.
• 8:39
  SPEAKER_00: He said, Tell me more.
• 8:42
  SPEAKER_00: And so I did.
• 8:44
  SPEAKER_00: I said, Abel's a sacrifice acceptable to God because he believed in God's presence.
• 8:52
  SPEAKER_00: And everything that happened, if his sheep bred well in the spring, he said, Thank you, God.
• 9:00
  SPEAKER_00: When he steps in the hole out in the pasture and doesn't break his leg, he says, Thank you, God.
• 9:04
  SPEAKER_00: I can continue to be a shepherd.
• 9:07
  SPEAKER_00: When the sheep are in the pasture and he notices the poisonous weeds before the sheep get to him, he says, Thank you, God.
• 9:15
  SPEAKER_00: When a drought is predicted in the farmer's almanac and the drought doesn't come and the rains continue on for years, he says, Thank you, God.
• 9:25
  SPEAKER_00: From the moment he wakes up to the moment he goes to bed, all day long, the thank you is to God.
• 9:33
  SPEAKER_00: And then Mike said to me, Tell me, Paul, how come Adam and Eve have two boys and they teach them the same way?
• 9:41
  SPEAKER_00: And how come Cain has nothing to do with God and Abel embraces him?
• 9:45
  SPEAKER_00: I said, Mike, I'll give you the answer if you can tell me the answer to this.
• 9:49
  SPEAKER_00: Ten lepers ask Jesus to heal them, and he does.
• 9:54
  SPEAKER_00: Mike, tell me why one leper comes back and thanks God, and the other ten who are also healed, they just go on their merry way.
• 10:07
  SPEAKER_00: He said, I can't answer that.
• 10:09
  SPEAKER_00: I said, Well, maybe you can answer this one.
• 10:12
  SPEAKER_00: He and I have a good time together.
• 10:14
  SPEAKER_00: I said, Mike, answer this one.
• 10:16
  SPEAKER_00: You have four soldiers underneath the cross of Christ when he speaks the seven words.
• 10:23
  SPEAKER_00: Father, forgive them.
• 10:24
  SPEAKER_00: They don't know what they're doing.
• 10:25
  SPEAKER_00: Tell me this, Mike.
• 10:26
  SPEAKER_00: How come the thief on the cross says, Oh my goodness gracious, he's a son of God?
• 10:33
  SPEAKER_00: How come the centurion says, truly this is a son of God?
• 10:36
  SPEAKER_00: How come Nicodemus and Joseph of Maravithia say, coming out of the closet, he's our Lord and Savior, I want his body?
• 10:45
  SPEAKER_00: How come those people are touched by the power of God and the former Roman soldiers are still gambling for his clothes, not a clue what's going on.
• 10:58
  SPEAKER_00: And when it gets dark at midday, they are either finished gambling or they're saying, Does someone have a flashlight?
• 11:08
  SPEAKER_00: How come?
• 11:10
  SPEAKER_00: And Mike said, Good points.
• 11:16
  SPEAKER_00: Hebrews 11 4.
• 11:18
  SPEAKER_00: By faith, not by occupation, not by human wisdom.
• 11:24
  SPEAKER_00: By faith Abel offered God a more acceptable sacrifice than Cain, through which faith, those are the key words, through which faith, not through the sacrifice, but through which faith Abel was commended as righteous.
• 11:41
  SPEAKER_00: Faith in the reality of the presence of God, every moment of every day in Abel's life.
• 11:50
  SPEAKER_00: And when the sheep were sick, he still trusted God.
• 11:53
  SPEAKER_00: And when there was a drought that came, he still trusted God.
• 11:58
  SPEAKER_00: And when the enemies came and messed with his sheep, he still trusted God.
• 12:03
  SPEAKER_00: And when the market became bad for the selling of sheep, didn't matter with him.
• 12:09
  SPEAKER_00: He still trusted God.
• 12:18
  SPEAKER_00: And it has become crucially important to me.
• 12:21
  SPEAKER_00: She said months ago that if you spend more than three minutes in fear or worry, you're in Satan's realm.
• 12:31
  SPEAKER_00: So she said, after two and a half minutes, I get out of my fear and worry and I head straight to God.
• 12:41
  SPEAKER_00: Do you understand?
• 12:45
  SPEAKER_00: Abel had no fears.
• 12:49
  SPEAKER_00: Because everything in his life was wrapped up in God.
• 12:57
  SPEAKER_00: And Cain is a wreck.
• 13:01
  SPEAKER_00: Because when it looks like it's gonna hail, he's filled with fear.
• 13:06
  SPEAKER_00: And when the insects come into his crops, he's filled with fear.
• 13:11
  SPEAKER_00: And when the market for his crops goes bad, he's filled with fear.
• 13:15
  SPEAKER_00: That's what he lives with.
• 13:18
  SPEAKER_00: That's what you and I live with if you're listening online.
• 13:21
  SPEAKER_00: That's what you and I live with if we don't have him.
• 13:26
  SPEAKER_00: Remember that license plate frame that I talked to you about, right?
• 13:30
  SPEAKER_00: Uh be still and know that I am God.
• 13:34
  SPEAKER_00: I reaped the first fruit for the kingdom.
• 13:37
  SPEAKER_00: I'm up in Bolingbrook yesterday, and I'm visiting Ted Burts and I'm giving him communion.
• 13:43
  SPEAKER_00: I come out, Hobby Lobby across the way from where he lives, and I head over there to do my fall shopping.
• 13:50
  SPEAKER_00: And when I come out half hour later, there's a gentleman parked right behind me, and he gets out of the car and he comes straight toward me, and I'm a little bit nervous.
• 13:59
  SPEAKER_00: I said, Can I help you?
• 14:02
  SPEAKER_00: And he said, You already have.
• 14:04
  SPEAKER_00: I said, Explain.
• 14:07
  SPEAKER_00: He said, Your license plate frame, be still and know that I am God.
• 14:14
  SPEAKER_00: An hour ago I found out that my father has Alzheimer's and my mother had blood cancer.
• 14:22
  SPEAKER_00: And for the last hour I have been in a panic.
• 14:26
  SPEAKER_00: I've been hyperventilating, haven't even called my wife because I wanted to calm down.
• 14:32
  SPEAKER_00: And when I saw that license plate frame, be still and know that I am God.
• 14:39
  SPEAKER_00: You brought me back to my face.
• 14:47
  SPEAKER_00: John 644 from last week.
• 14:50
  SPEAKER_00: No one can come to me unless the Father draws them.
• 14:56
  SPEAKER_00: And he wants to draw everybody.
• 15:00
  SPEAKER_00: The Jew, the Greek, the male, the female, the slave, and the free.
• 15:04
  SPEAKER_00: He wants to draw everybody.
• 15:07
  SPEAKER_00: He wants all to have peace and joy and hope.
• 15:11
  SPEAKER_00: He wants all to have the true wealth that comes in him.
• 15:15
  SPEAKER_00: He was so excited that the one thief on the cross came to the faith.
• 15:20
  SPEAKER_00: And the angels in heaven rejoiced.
• 15:23
  SPEAKER_00: But was it was he heartbroken that the other thief, listening to the same thing, hearing and seeing the same thing, the other thief, it appears, did not come to the faith.
• 15:36
  SPEAKER_00: He wanted both criminals next to him.
• 15:39
  SPEAKER_00: He wanted the four soldiers gambling for his clothes.
• 15:43
  SPEAKER_00: He wanted the centurion, he wanted Nicodemus.
• 15:46
  SPEAKER_00: He wanted the chief priests, scribes, and Pharisees.
• 15:49
  SPEAKER_00: He wanted his mother Mary.
• 15:53
  SPEAKER_00: He wanted Lydia, the seller of purple, so rich he opens up her mansion for the first church, home church there in Thessalonica.
• 16:03
  SPEAKER_00: And he wanted Rahab the prostitute from the Old Testament.
• 16:08
  SPEAKER_00: He wants everyone to come to him.
• 16:11
  SPEAKER_00: Remember, I said last week, in order to have a relationship with him, you have to respond to him.
• 16:18
  SPEAKER_00: And if you respond to him by saying, me being safe in that car accident, bunch of good luck finally came my way, I ought to buy a lottery ticket.
• 16:32
  SPEAKER_00: If you do two and two plus equals good luck, good fortune, bad fortune, if you do that, you're not responding to him.
• 16:47
  SPEAKER_00: But if everything in your life, my dear lady, that dear lady, she's been in heaven five years.
• 16:54
  SPEAKER_00: She was 94 when she died.
• 16:57
  SPEAKER_00: And I would go out to see her at Smith Crossing.
• 17:00
  SPEAKER_00: She had a huge album.
• 17:02
  SPEAKER_00: I asked her one time, what's in the album?
• 17:05
  SPEAKER_00: He said, Every deliverance that God has ever done in my life, it is written down.
• 17:12
  SPEAKER_00: From the time I was four years of age and my mother died, and my father put me in an orphanage.
• 17:18
  SPEAKER_00: Every moment in my life where I saw God, it is written in this book.
• 17:26
  SPEAKER_00: And I said to her, Can I see the book?
• 17:29
  SPEAKER_00: Next time I come, can you let me have this book?
• 17:32
  SPEAKER_00: I promise I'll protect it with my life.
• 17:35
  SPEAKER_00: Can I see what you've written?
• 17:38
  SPEAKER_00: She said, most certainly.
• 17:41
  SPEAKER_00: She said, Every time a storm has come into my life, I open up this album and I see what God has done, and I instantly have peace.
• 17:56
  SPEAKER_00: You want to live freely.
• 17:59
  SPEAKER_00: You want love, joy, and peace ruling your life.
• 18:04
  SPEAKER_00: If your memory is not very good, like mine isn't, then I suggest you start writing it down.
• 18:12
  SPEAKER_00: Every time God comes and gives a deliverance, like the man pulling into a parking lot at the same moment in time that I'm there, and with all that stuff going on in his life, he sees a license plate.
• 18:32
  SPEAKER_00: Write that down, sir.
• 18:35
  SPEAKER_00: Write that down.
• 18:43
  SPEAKER_00: Do you respond to him?
• 18:46
  SPEAKER_00: His response to you, I'm gonna die on the cross for your salvation.
• 18:51
  SPEAKER_00: His response to you.
• 18:52
  SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna tell you 365 times from the one who created this universe, do not be afraid.
• 18:59
  SPEAKER_00: Gonna tell you 800 times your sins are forgiven.
• 19:03
  SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna bring the promises to you.
• 19:11
  SPEAKER_00: The one talent man and the five-talent man.
• 19:15
  SPEAKER_00: Same owner of the land.
• 19:19
  SPEAKER_00: The five-talent man says, Everything I have comes from my master, it comes from God.
• 19:27
  SPEAKER_00: The one talent man, Matthew 25, I shudder whenever I see it.
• 19:31
  SPEAKER_00: One talent man said, God, you receive credit for things you never did.
• 19:38
  SPEAKER_00: You don't get up at 5 a.m.
• 19:40
  SPEAKER_00: in the morning, I do.
• 19:43
  SPEAKER_00: You don't dig the holes, I do.
• 19:45
  SPEAKER_00: You don't plow the ground, I do.
• 19:47
  SPEAKER_00: You don't collect the harvest, I do.
• 19:50
  SPEAKER_00: You don't have to worry about the marketplace, I do.
• 19:55
  SPEAKER_00: He said, God, just get out of my life.
• 19:59
  SPEAKER_00: I'm tired of the five-talent guy and the two-talent guy telling me all the time, God has given you the blessing.
• 20:06
  SPEAKER_00: One of these days I'm gonna punch him in the face.
• 20:09
  SPEAKER_00: You give me no blessing, God.
• 20:12
  SPEAKER_00: He's the most brusque person in the Bible.
• 20:15
  SPEAKER_00: Even Cain isn't that nasty.
• 20:18
  SPEAKER_00: And you know what happens to him.
• 20:25
  SPEAKER_00: You got a lot of anger, you got a lot of disturbed sleep, you got a lot of fear, you got a lot of worry.
• 20:31
  SPEAKER_00: If it's all on you, but if it isn't, if your trust is in him, the potential for peace and joy and hope, it comes.
• 20:52
  SPEAKER_00: And finally, Habakkuk.
• 21:00
  SPEAKER_00: When he was the richest farmer in the territory, he gave all praise and thanks to God.
• 21:08
  SPEAKER_00: And then in Habakkuk chapter three, in one twelve-hour period, everything changes.
• 21:16
  SPEAKER_00: The Babylonians come, his olive crops are destroyed, his cattle are killed, his families destroyed, everything's destroyed.
• 21:29
  SPEAKER_00: And his comment is this Habakkuk chapter 3.
• 21:33
  SPEAKER_00: Though I have nothing left, I still have God, and I will praise him with my last breath.
• 21:42
  SPEAKER_00: He will lift me on the highest mountain, and he will give me strength and joy.
• 21:51
  SPEAKER_00: Most important thing you will ever, ever, ever have in this life is that five-letter word faith.
• 21:59
  SPEAKER_00: In the other five-letter word Christ, your faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.
• 22:08
  SPEAKER_00: Heavenly Father, bless this second week of living freely, discovering true wealth in Christ.
• 22:17
  SPEAKER_00: And may the truths of your word and the truths of the lies of Cain and Abel and the rich lawyer and Zacchaeus and all the rest, may your spirit grab hold of those truths, bring them into our heart.
• 22:31
  SPEAKER_00: So that maybe a few more people listening online, or a couple of more people here on a Sunday morning, might actually say there's some truth in that.
• 22:53
  SPEAKER_00: Such things we ask in our Lord's name.
• 22:57
  SPEAKER_00: Amen.