A question was posed in the book of Genesis that I believe still echoes through eternity for each of us to answer. God asked me the question, and I'm presenting it to you. It was first uttered by a murderer in an attempt to cover his crime. Today, many Christians use the same line to try and cover up their own crimes of jealousy, competition, and division within the body of Christ.

The question was first asked by Cain, Adam and Eve's eldest son, who was also the world's first murderer. Most theologians believe that Adam fathered three hundred children in all, and the Bible suggests that there were daughters born before Cain. When Cain was born Eve said, "I have gotten a man from the Lord." The story is recorded in Genesis, Chapter 4, beginning with verse one:

"And Adam knew Eve his wife; and she conceived, and bore Cain, and said, I have gotten a man from the Lord. And she again bore his brother Abel. And Abel was a keeper of sheep, but Cain was a tiller of the ground. And in process of time it came to pass, that Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an offering unto the Lord. And Abel, he also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of the fat thereof. And the Lord had respect unto Abel and to his offering: But unto Cain and to his offering he had not respect. And Cain was very wroth, and his countenance fell.

And the Lord said unto Cain, Why art thou wroth? And why is thy countenance fallen? If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? And if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door. And unto thee shall be his desire, and thou shalt rule over him. And Cain talked with Abel his brother: and it came to pass, when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother, and slew him. And the Lord said unto Cain, Where is Abel thy brother? And he said, I know not: am I my brother's keeper? And he said, What hast thou done? The voice of thy brother's blood crieth unto me from the ground. And now art thou cursed from the earth, which hath opened her mouth to receive thy brother's blood from thy hand."

Cain's Jealousy:
The whole problem between Cain and Abel centered around their offerings to God. You might say it was the first religious conflict. Both boys knew they were to present offerings in their worship to God. Abel's offering, the first of his flock, was accepted by God. Cain brought an offering from the fruit of the ground - ground that had been cursed when Adam and Eve sinned against God in the Garden of Eden. God rejected it. God told Cain that if he would make an appropriate sacrifice, it would be approved and accepted. The bottom line is that Cain had a fit of jealousy. He didn't want to offer a sacrifice God's way; he wanted to offer it his way. This is all Abel's fault, he probably thought, he's been everybody's favorite since the day he was born. I'm going to clean the little sheep-shearer's plow.

I was reading this passage one day when the Lord spoke to my heart. "Do you know what that means?" He asked. "Well," I replied, "Cain is asking, 'Am I responsible for my brother?'" "Should you be?" He asked. I thought it over for a moment and said, "I don't think so." "Didn't I cut covenant with you and all mankind? Why wouldn't you be responsible for them?"

Since then, I've learned that the fate of the world depends on our answer to that question. And we will each have to answer it. We'll answer it by our actions in this life, and we'll answer it face-to-face at the judgment.

For the body of Christ to function the way God intended it to function; if you hurt, I should hurt too. Have you ever wondered why churches fight churches? Because they haven't answered the question, or they gave the wrong answer. Ladies and gentlemen, we are in this together.

Stepping Across The Line:
A while back, God began speaking to me about a particular Methodist church here in New Orleans. I knew he wanted me to bless them with an offering, but I was waiting on Him for specifics. I realized they must have a need, and God was allowing me to feel it. Before I could give them my offering, I got a letter from the pastor of that particular church!

We'd just started our church, and the pastor wrote to congratulate us and welcome us into the community. He was glad that the Gospel of Jesus was being preached. Isn't that a blessing? No wonder God honored that man and let me feel his need. There wasn't one Pentecostal church who did that.

I'd just finished jogging one day and was walking to cool down when a gentleman stopped me.
"You're Jesse Duplantis aren't you?" he asked.

"Yes, Sir." I answered.

"Well, you gave a donation to our church, but you're not a Methodist. Why would you do that?" He inquired.

"Are Methodists Christians?" I asked.

"Well, certainly." He replied.

"Then I'm a Methodist," I answered. "But to answer your question, I gave that gift because the people of that congregation and your pastor are my brothers. And God spoke to me to do it."

You see, I'm not going to follow Cain. I've accepted responsibility. I am my brother's keeper.

We're In This Together:
Does that mean I take care of everyone on earth? No, I take care of the ones God lays on my heart. The problem a lot of people have is that their heart and ears are closed to anyone outside of their denominational circle. You see, I've made up my mind. I don't care if any church likes me. I don't care if any preacher likes me. My responsibility is to love them, because I am my brother's keeper. And I've learned that we all teach more by what we do, than by what we say.

Junior Partners:
God meant for us to be a family, and it's about time we started acting like one. As soon as we start getting together, most pastors start thinking, He's gonna get some of my sheep! But I'm not in the sheep business - God is. Our mission on earth is to produce fruit. To do that, we must transform our minds from selfish to social. That will mean getting out of our comfort zones. It will mean stepping across denominational lines. It means crossing the line of fire to help a brother.

In spite of all the things that divide us, humanity is still in unity concerning its origin, its essence and its destiny. That means we are God's junior partners in the lordship of creation and in the order of providence. We conquer and control our environment, not only in spiritual realms, but in the physical realm of our daily walk.

We also create our own essence. It was man's sensitivity to spiritual realities that brought him into a conscious relationship with God. That's why I can be in a restaurant and have the gifts of the Spirit begin to operate. It happens because I am conscious of both the reality of the restaurant and the reality of God.

Follow God:
There are times when people stumble while trying to be a blessing. For example, you might see someone who looks sad, and you want to help them. So you say, "The Lord will help you and bless you." While that's true, God will help and bless the person, if He didn't tell you that and the person thinks they've had a word from God, you're on dangerous ground. Don't imply that God has given you a word for them if He hasn't. People will base their whole life on a word of knowledge or a prophecy, and if it doesn't work they lose their faith in God. Their last state is worse than the first. Recently, a man asked me why I didn't call up a person in a wheelchair during a service. My answer was simple. God didn't tell me to call him up. If there isn't a special anointing for him, it would be foolish to call him up.

During another altar call, I asked someone to remove a man from the prayer line. "Brother Jesse, that doesn't sound like you were being your brother's keeper." Actually, I was. The Lord had told me to call for people who were having heart trouble. Occasionally, like in the case of this man, someone thinks, I'm not having heart trouble, but I want to be prayed for so I'm going up there anyway. When they do that in direct disobedience to the instructions from God, it shuts down the anointing. If I hadn't moved that man off the stage, none of his brothers would have gone home with healed, whole hearts.

Corporate Doubt:
We've got to be our brother's keeper during ministry. How many times have you stood in a service, looked at the wheelchair section and thought, "Man, I hope God goes over there and visits them, because they need a miracle. If you're thinking that, chances are many others are as well. You're going by what you see instead of what God said about the situation. Do you know what that is? It's corporate doubt. There is such a thing as a corporate anointing, and there is such a thing as corporate faith. But corporate doubt has robbed many of their miracles. It's the same thing that happened in Jesus' hometown. According to the Bible, He could do no mighty miracles there. The townspeople were filled with corporate doubt.

It wasn't easy, but I trained my mind where sickness and disease were concerned. I deny it. Don't misunderstand me, I don't deny its existence, but I deny its right to remain. If Jesus took that infirmity, why should it remain? If He bore the sickness, why should anyone else bear it as well?

Jesus, Our Keeper:
That's your problem. You're seeing through the eyes of man rather than through the Living Word of God. I never said it was easy, but it is how you tap into the God kind of faith. That's what He responds to faith. Otherwise, wouldn't Jesus have healed all the people gathered at the pool of Bethesda? Obviously, there was only one there that could receive. He was sick and tired of being sick and tired. The story is recorded in John 5:1-13. Let me ask you a question. Where was that man's brother? In the whole Jewish nation there wasn't one man willing to stop what he was doing and help him into the water except Jesus. That's not just an indictment against them, it's an indictment against us when we refuse to function as God's body. If that weren't enough, not only did no one help him, but the synagogue persecuted him for being healed and carrying his bed on the Sabbath. Why did they do it? Jealousy. And we've got to learn from their mistakes.

Today, we're facing the greatest harvest of souls known to the world. But we won't win that harvest by standing in our corner and doing our own thing. It will be won when we link arms and become the family God called us to be. It will be won when we decide to be our brother's keeper. God is asking that question today.

Don't follow Cain.

Follow Jesus.