HOWDY MY NAME IS ABRAHAM 3

Picking up where I left off, both me and Sarah had our name changed by GOD.
I thought that was just fine. GOD had begun to speak to me more often. HE said that Ishmael would be great but he was not to be the one with whom the covenant would be established with.

This left me confused although I didn’t tell GOD that. HE kept saying all this land would belong to me and my seed and the only seed I had was Ishmael.

Then one day GOD said; Genesis 15:5 Then the LORD took Abram outside and said to him, "Look up into the sky and count the stars if you can. That's how many descendants you will have!" and Abram believed the LORD, and the LORD counted him as righteous because of his faith.

At that moment everything changed from then on I knew that HE would keep HIS word to me.

Now if I told you my faith never wavered in the years that followed, that wouldn’t be exactly true because of the years that I waited for my heir until I was almost one hundred years old, and then GOD confirmed HIS promise to me and Sarah bore me a son.

All these years we had gone through the motions but no heir was conceived, but I hung on to GODS promise to me. I continued to hope - - when there was no hope and that kept my faith alive.

I wish I could say I wasn’t tested anymore but that wouldn’t be true. I don’t want to go into the details but it was concerning Isaac, and was the most difficult test of all. Just when I thought I had proved myself to be faithful then I faced a larger issue. But from beginning to end, GOD was faithful and brought me through.

Sarah spoiled Isaac, but who can blame her. She went through the period of time when she was thought to be barren for life, and was looked upon as being inferior. She couldn’t produce what Abraham wanted most and that was a son to continue his heritage. Things completely changed when Isaac was born and her ingloriousness and shame were no more.

Time had passed, my Sarah had died, I arranged for a wife for Isaac and oh by the way I revived and took another wife by whom I had several more children. Though I have joined my fathers in death I have many sons. Sons who by faith can say I am a son of Abraham.

HOWDY MY NAME IS ABRAM 2

Let me see I was telling you about me and Sarai.

We had followed my father up north to Haran where he died.

I was still in my prime about 75 years old when GOD had told me to go south to Canaan’s land. There was a famine there and so I kept moving south until we came to Egypt’s border. The further we went the more fear I had especially for my life.

When I looked at Sarai she still had all her beauty and I reasoned that someone would kill me and take her. My fear droved me to ask her to say that she was my sister and not to say she was my wife. While I didn’t feel good about that, after all - - I was scared.

Well just as I figured, as soon as the Egyptians saw her, they took her and put her in Pharaoh’s harem. I knew what that meant, for sooner or later he would have sex with her. This made me uncomfortable to say the least but I saw no viable alternative.

Well it was also as I figured Pharaoh gave me a little of everything and made me richer. Once again GOD moved upon the scene for he had greater plans for me that involved Sarai.

All of the sudden bad things began to happen to Pharaoh. When things got very bad GOD came to Abimelech the Pharaoh and told him Abraham had deceived him for Sarai was in fact Abraham’s wife. Abimelech asked God how do I get out of this mess and God told him to give Abraham his wife back along with some sheep and servants and stuff and then tell them to git out. The Pharaoh did that and then God removed all the curses from him and his household.

Something I learned from all that was you can lie while telling the truth if you leave out some of the facts, and that bad things can happen as a result of doing that. Well it was on the road again heading north with all my riches and Lot also had gotten rich too. We were so blessed that we had to part and go our separate ways.

Things were never dull because we were very busy and GOD had come back on the scene and said I would have a son which was good news to me. He also promised to make me a great nation and give me all the land I walked upon.

God made many more promises and I told HIM that I believed what HE was saying and my faith in what He said will be put to my account as righteousness. I was finding that time is the enemy of faith for the longer you wait for the promise to be fulfilled the more your faith is tested.

Sarai said you know we have been trying but so far nothing has changed and I’m still am not with child. She said take Hagar and she can be my surrogate and she can have my child. I said OK and I did and we did and shortly here was Ishmael. I tried to get GOD to accept Ishmael as the promised heir of mine but He said no. Sometime after this GOD spoke to me again and said HE was changing Sarai’s name to Sarah and she would have a son.

Moral ; most of us have “feet of clay” as did Abraham and make mistakes while working things through. "The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak," but the flesh can be controlled and the spirit strengthened if we desire

I gotta go for now but will be back.

EVERY THING IS …..

In the movie” Popeye” there is the song “Every thing is food.”

The song starts;

Everything is food, food, food
Everything is food to go
Everything is food for thought
Everything you knead is dough
It is food, Everything is food

I had a Bible teacher who said, "We give our bodies three meals a day and for our spirit a cold snack on Sunday” and then he added, “is it any wonder that the voice of our bodies is much stronger than the voice of our spirits?”

Philippians 3:18-19
For many, of whom I have often told you and now tell you even with tears, walk as enemies of the cross of Christ. Their end is destruction, their god is their belly, and they glory in their shame, with minds set on earthly things.

Proverbs 23:20
Be not among drunkards or among gluttonous eaters of meat.

The truth of these verses stands out when I look in the mirror. While I don’t struggle with the drunkard’s part, the eater of meat gets me. What makes it worse is both issues are lumped together in one verse with equal value.

Song goes on;
Everything is upside down now
Everything is sunny side up
It's ubiquitous
Enigmatic and
They can't trick us
With no hot dogmatic

When we look deeper we find it is appetite that is the villain for we will strain to be filled with what the appetite demands.

Genesis 25:30-34
And Esau said to Jacob, “Let me eat some of that red stew, for I am exhausted!” (Therefore his name was called Edom.) Jacob said, “Sell me your birthright now.” Esau said, “I am about to die; of what use is a birthright to me?” Jacob said, “Swear to me now.” So he swore to him and sold his birthright to Jacob. Then Jacob gave Esau bread and lentil stew, and he ate and drank and rose and went his way. Thus Esau despised his birthright.

It would take a large book to explain what can be learned from this passage. You start with; hunger, then compromise, then satiation and lastly despising that which was lost. Later deception by his brother caused him to also lose the blessing due to him also.

Hebrews 12:17
For you know that afterward, when he (Esau) desired to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no chance to repent, though he sought it with tears. Don’t you just hate it when there is no way to erase the consequences of an error committed?

Matthew. 5:6 How blessed are those who are hungry and thirsty for righteousness, because it is they who will be satisfied! Do you suppose they will be filled with what they are hungry for?

Romans 13:14
But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires.

Looks like it is a two step proposition; step 1 put on the Lord Jesus Christ, step 2 make no provision for the flesh.

There was a dance called the two step and the guys that could only do one step were left standing on the dance floor while the girl moved on and so it is there is no one stepping in Christ.

Moral; it simply comes down to appetite; you will do whatever it take to satisfy what you are hungering for.   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oz884EUAqi4

HOWDY MY NAME IS ABRAM

This is actually about me and Sarai. There is much written about me but I want to focus more on my personal side of it.

We lived in Ur; some claim that this is where the Garden of Eden used to be. You couldn’t prove it by me for the flood had wiped out all traces of it. My family is a little confusing so I’ll try to explain it to you.

Terah had three boys and one girl, actually he had some more but we don’t talk about them. My brother Haran had a boy named Lot and a girl named Milcah and he died in Ur at a young age. My brother Nahor married up with Haran’s daughter and had a boy named Bethuel who had a son named Laban and a daughter named Rebekah and then Laban had two girls; Leah who was a little homely and Rachel who was comely.

Well getting back to the important part, I married my half sister named Sarai. Terah first married Yona, by whom he had Abraham; afterwards he married Tehevita, by whom he had Sarah.” Thus she was my half sister being the daughter of my father but not my mother.

Sister or not she was hot and I had my eye on her from the time she was little and before someone else got her I closed the deal. I was excited about having a son but Sarai couldn’t get pregnant, no matter how hard we tried, it just didn’t work. We tried and tried but there was no issue of life coming forth.

Some of the men began to talk about me behind my back saying that it was my fault and maybe I needed some help.

This was embarrassing and was causing me to lose some self-esteem. Later it got so bad that Sarai told me to take her maid Hagar and spend some time with her. Well, presto change-o right off she was with child and that just caused another problem called jealousy. But I’m getting ahead of my story.

My dad had wanted to move up north so we packed up our goods and persons and headed for the city of Haran. Things worked out pretty good there and we accumulated quite a bit of wealth.

As it happens my father died having lived a long time and that left me with all the responsibility for the family. Then to complicate matters GOD had previously spoke to me and said to leave my country and the family clan.

I waited until Terah died before I headed south.

We were very comfortable in Haran but I determined to obey what GOD had told me. When all you have is what GOD has spoken to you it is hard to leave and go to a place where you haven’t been before. About that time my faith was being tested severely GOD spoke to me again and I welcomed that fresh word for the first word was slipping away.

We rambled from place to place without really finding the right spot until the famine struck. There was no rain, no crops. And I decided it was time to go further south, down to a country called Egypt.

Seems I have some chores to do so I will pick up on this later.

Promises From the Bible

THE BIBLE AUTHORS SAID
(Remember, 2Tim 3:16 tells us, "All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness.")

Ps 5:12, "For thou, LORD, wilt bless the righteous; with favor wilt thou compass him as with a shield.”

Ps 9:9, "The LORD also will be a refuge for the oppressed, a refuge in times of trouble."

Ps 22:24, "For he hath not despised nor abhorred the affliction of the afflicted; neither hath he hid his face from him; but when he cried unto him, he heard."

Ps 25:8, "Good and upright is the LORD: therefore will he teach sinners in the way."

Ps 27:14, "Wait on the LORD: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the LORD."

Ps 29:11, "The LORD will give strength unto his people; the LORD will bless his people with peace."

Ps 34:7, "The angel of the LORD encampeth round about them that fear him, and delivereth them."

Ps 34:9, "O fear the LORD, ye his saints: for there is no want to them that fear him."

Ps 34:10, "The young lions do lack, and suffer hunger: but they that seek the LORD shall not want any good thing."

Ps 34:17, "The righteous cry, and the LORD heareth, and delivereth them out of all their troubles."

Ps 34:18, "The LORD is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart; and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit."

Ps 34:19, "Many are the afflictions of the righteous: but the LORD delivereth him out of them all."

Ps 37:4-5, "Delight thyself also in the LORD; and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart. Commit thy way unto the LORD; trust also in him; and he shall bring it to pass."

Ps 37:39-40, "But the salvation of the righteous is of the LORD: he is their strength in the time of trouble. And the LORD shall help them and deliver them: he shall deliver them from the wicked, and save them, because they trust in him."

Ps 46:1, "God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble."

Ps 46:11, "The LORD of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge. Selah."

Ps 62:12, "Also unto thee, O Lord, belongeth mercy: for thou renderest to every man according to his work."

Ps 63:8, "My soul followeth hard after thee: thy right hand upholdeth me."

Ps 68:5, "A father of the fatherless, and a judge of the widows, is God in his holy habitation."

Ps 72:6-7, "He shall come down like rain upon the mown grass: as showers that water the earth. In his days shall the righteous flourish; and abundance of peace so long as the moon endureth."

Is 40:29, "He giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might he increaseth strength."

Is 40:31, "But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint."

John 3:36, "He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him."

Phil 4:7, "And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.

GOD SAID:
Ps 32:8, "I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go: I will guide thee with mine eye."

Ps 50:15, "And call upon me in the day of trouble: I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me."

Is 41:10, "Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness."

Is 41:13, "For I the LORD thy God will hold thy right hand, saying unto thee, Fear not; I will help thee."

Jer 29:13, "And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart."

Jer 33:3, "Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and shew thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not."

Ez 34:15, "I will feed my flock, and I will cause them to lie down, saith the Lord GOD."

Ez 34:16, "I will seek that which was lost, and bring again that which was driven away, and will bind up that which was broken, and will strengthen that which was sick: but I will destroy the fat and the strong; I will feed them with judgment."

Ez 34:26, "And I will make them and the places round about my hill a blessing; and I will cause the shower to come down in his season; there shall be showers of blessing."

Hos 14:4, "I will heal their backsliding, I will love them freely: for mine anger is turned away from him."

JESUS SAID
Matthew 6:31-33, "Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed? (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you."

Matthew 7:7-8, "Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you: for every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened."

Matthew 11:28-29, "Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls."

Matthew 17:20, "... If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you."

Matthew 21:21-22, "... Verily I say unto you, If ye have faith, and doubt not, ye shall not only do this which is done to the fig tree, but also if ye shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; it shall be done. And all things, whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive."

Mark 9:23, "If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth."

Mark 11:23-26, "...whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith. Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them. And when ye stand praying, forgive, if ye have ought against any: that your Father also which is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses. But if ye do not forgive, neither will your Father which is in heaven forgive your trespasses."

Luke 6:38, "Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom. For with the same measure that ye mete withal it shall be measured to you again."

Luke 11:9-10, "And I say unto you, Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you. For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened."

John 5:24, "He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life."

John 6:37, "All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out."

John 14:12-14, "... He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father. And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If ye shall ask any thing in my name, I will do it."

John 14:18, "I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you."

John 14:27, "Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid."

John 15:7, "If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you."

John 16:13, "Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come."

John 16:15, "All things that the Father hath are mine: therefore said I, that he shall take of mine, and shall shew it unto you."

John 16:23, "And in that day ye shall ask me nothing. Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name, he will give it you."

Acts 1:8, "But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N-lqYLoBZqI

HOWDY MY NAME IS SETH

There is so much to tell I hardly know where to start. Noah was my father and I had two brothers, Ham and Japheth.

Dad was pretty straight laced and made us toe the line. While other boys we knew were wild and reckless we obeyed dad. One day dad told us boys that we were going to build an ark. He described how it would be built and that one day a flood would come.

I personally thought that it was a dumb idea but nobody argued with dad. Furthermore I thought we could rent apartments in case the flood never showed up. Building the ark was a tremendous task, and I almost flipped when dad told us to gather up all them animals, and food enough to feed them.

To be frank about it I was getting a little pushed out because the ark was finished, and was ready for the rain, and we just sat there with everybody making fun of us.  I got into it with some of the nastiest ones and wasn’t much fun at home with my wife.

Then suddenly it happened.  Dad said, “Load up boys the time has come.” We broke the records for moving people and animals because all the sudden time was of the essence. When we were all set, GOD shut the door and the torrents of water fell.

Simply put being shut with all them animals wasn’t the most pleasant time in my life, and I was glad when the voyage was finally over. Them animals emptied the ark in record time and we got on with the task of being fruitful and multiplying; this was mostly the women’s job although they didn’t get much credit for it.

At first it started slow but after a few years there was so many people that each tribe went in separate ways and spread across the earth. I did my share of replenishing and even though I had many girls I only counted the boys as worth mentioning.

We were farming, raising stock and enjoying life. Noah, dad that is liked to raise grapes and make wine. One time he got drunk and took his clothes off. When Ham accidentally saw him buck naked dad got real mad and said some bad things to Ham.

Two years after the flood I had my first son and from there it was like a flood of kids inundating the earth. Because I lived so long, I outlived many of young ones, Even years later Abraham died before I did. Seems like those born after the flood were not made out of the same stuff.
One thing that survived the flood was the ability and desire to sin, much to my sorrow. If in the future, times return to what they were in “The days of Noah,” GOD will once again have to deal with the problem severely.

In later years I was called Melchizedek and was a priest unto GOD.

HOWDY MY NAME IS NOAH

My pappy had the idea if he called me by the name Noah then the world would get better but it didn’t work out that way, in fact things only just got worse!

Genesis 5:28-29 And Lamech was a hundred and eighty-two years old when he had a son: And he gave him the name of Noah, saying, Truly, he will give us rest from our trouble and the hard work of our hands, because of the earth which was cursed by God.

As time went by, the folks (Cain’s kids) completely forgot about GOD but the devil was alive and active on the East side of Eden. Meanwhile in the West the sons of GOD (Seth’s kids) were beginning to neglect the altar and the worship time. The result of this was the East and the West finally met and there was intermarriage between the sons of GOD and the daughters of the devil.

While they had religion it was destitute of any adequate sense of sin, or need of atonement this resulted in the whole race being defiled.

Meanwhile I stayed my course and walked uprightly before the LORD.

Genesis 6:5-8 Then the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. 6 The LORD was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart. 7 The LORD said, "I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the land, from man to animals to creeping things and to birds of the sky; for I am sorry that I have made them." 8 But Noah found favor in the eyes of the LORD.

The one thing I discovered was, though all around me, evil prevailed I could still walk uprightly before the LORD. His ways, could be my ways. His thoughts could be my thoughts and I could be in the world but not of the world.

Now I knew this couldn’t go on much longer for GOD was fed up with the way people were conducting themselves, but I lived on a “Need to know” basis until one day when GOD spoke to me and said;

Genesis 6:13-14 "The end of all flesh has come before Me; for the earth is filled with violence because of them; and behold, I am about to destroy them with the earth. 14 "Make for yourself an ark of gopher wood………

HE continued giving me instructions until I knew the whole of what I must do in obedience to his words. It took me many years to complete my task and every day was a test of my faith in what GOD had said.

I felt bad for the people who were shut out; the only consolation for them was “They did it their way.” The flood came and went, dry land appeared and it was a new world, washed and dried. I wondered if man had learned his lesson or would they revert to doing the same thing again.

The moral is: If everybody is doing it, it is probably wrong!