Genesis 5

...Another example of a Toledoth; that is family tree/generations...
I love this section, because it brings out the heavy hitters in regards to how long people once lived... For example; Adam lived to be 930! If I were Adam and then was now... well, I'd have a lot of birthday cards and I would have to have the fire department to come over - just in case - in regards to my birthday cake! *smile*

Among all these people who lived into their late 800's and 900's, two individuals stick out to me... 1) Enoch - He lived to be 365, he did not die but rather "Enoch walked with God; then he was no more, because God took him away. " (verse 24)
In only a few instances in the Bible, did someone not die, but rather they were taken away by God... I don't know what to make of it, but I find it to be interesting that some people walked close enough to God and they didn't die, because God called them home without death being the way...
2) Methuselah - I like Methuselah because he was the oldest person who ever lived - "Methuselah lived 969 years, and then he died." (verse 27) - So you have someone who never died, but was taken away by God and someone who lived to be 969...wowie!

Not only were people living longer, but they were becoming parents at a later age... this kind of creeps me out (in today's context), a 500 year old having kids? (This being Noah) gross! or at least in today's context...

I could present some sound reasons into why they lived so long, which are probably true, yet I rather say this... God is an amazing God; He allows things to have a time of existance, but then it is taken away... I don't need to live to be 900 or so, I just am thankful for the time he has given me... *smile*

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Matthew 4

Jesus is someone who while as a fully man AND fully God, never had much alone time- alone with his Father time... Jesus was called by the spirit to go on a retreat/fast of sorts, *insert dramatic music* Satan took this moment to try to tempt Jesus into submitting to him, instead of God. The most common way in which Satan throws the gauntlet into Jesus' way is by saying 'do this' (part 1) and then backing it up with Bible verses! I won't call it clever, but it is a reminder that even Satan knows what the Bible says, in the same way, people can speak about the Bible on end, but only possess head knowledge instead of heart knowledge... It is quite the process of shifting the head to the heart.

Jesus also throws back Bible verses in Satan's face... I imagine Satan sneering and wondering Why didn't I think of that one? When all is said and done, Jesus is aided by angels... This is the event that occured before he started his ministry.

Jesus goes out to make disciples, He doesn't go for the popular, He doesn't go for the rich, He settles for the ordinary; smelly fisherman... In all cases, God calls the ordinary to do the extraordinary.
With the disciples, Jesus makes his way around the people; Teaching them, preaching the good news and healing... He didn't come to them to teach/preach the 'do's and don't's' of being a follower... He came in and reached them at ground level.

In the same way, we should make our lifestyle our ministry and our ministry our lifestyle... So people may never pick up a Bible and read it and understand it, but for those people, we should be a "living Bible". That is, Live out what we know as followers of Christ, and let that be the Bible that they read and understand.


Going on by God's strength alone,

Genesis 4

Genesis 4...In which 1/4th of the entire human race gets murdered!
Cain is a man of the ground, he works with his hands and grows vegetables... Abel is a shepherd, who tends to his flock... Both are valued jobs, but when it comes to giving God what is his, Abel gives the best of the best, Cain gives God his second best- This displeases God, because God wants our best, God deserves our best!

Realizing that God has not accepted the secondhandedness of Cain's labour, He gets angry at his brother Abel... God makes it clear to Cain what he should have done, as mentioned in verses 6 & 7 - "Then the LORD said to Cain, "Why are you angry? Why is your face downcast? If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must master it." Cain hears what God has to say, but sin has already seeped in and poisoned him...

Cain lures his brother away and then...he kills him! When God meets up with Cain again, God asks him where his brother is... Cain covers it up and states that he is not responsible for what his brother does or where his brother is... Yet God knows all and tells him of it and God curses him and informs him he will no longer be able to be successful...He is now a marked man.
Cain questions God if this means that people will try to kill him, God says that a heavier penalty will take place if Cain is killed... So even though he is a marked man, God will give him security from those who would normally try to kill him.

Cain is blessed...but not directly; his decendents go on to become instrument makers and metal lurgists... All the while Adam and Eve are having more kids, and as the chapter ends it is made clear that "At that time men began to call on the name of the LORD."

I think this is suggesting that life is finally getting harder: Life was hard due to the sins of Adam and Eve, but now murder (of another human) has added to what a human can do...Because of sin.
That is what disturbs me a lot in regards to sin (among other things), the things we say we wouldn't do, we possess the capability to do so... Murder, Anarchy, Self-Immolation, etc.
Thankfully...Thankfully God provided a way out!

Going on by God's strength alone,

Matthew 3

The old meets the new... John and Jesus, The Prophet and the Son of God... John prepared the way for the Messiah; He told people that the Messiah was coming and he was also the one who announced that he was here. John was the one who passed on the baton to Jesus (metaphorically) in which ALL THE PROPHECIES IN REGARDS TO JESUS' COMING WERE CARRIED OUT TO FRUITION.

John is the cousin of Jesus, he is the one who leaped in his mother's womb when Mary came to stay with Elizabeth for a while. John is the one who baptizes Jesus as well... Yet during the baptism of water, Jesus gets baptized by the spirit and God announces why and who Jesus is: "This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased."
I think this last part is necessary on God's part... Affirmation from GOD the Father to GOD the Son, to announce to those who were there, the reasons why his son was there... Jesus was deemed heretical however, because who makes the claim of being GOD and lives? *mindset of some people in the New Testament*
Jesus was acknowledged by his Father... Affirmation is a very powerful gift.

Going on by God's strength alone,

Genesis 3

"...Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the LORD God had made" (Genesis 3:1) - Yes...the chapter in which sin enters the scene... In their realization in regards to what they did, they realized they were naked; not necessarily in regards to being without clothes, but they were vulnerable- to each other and to themselves... I find this part of Genesis 3:8 to be full of awe; "God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day" - God...walking! By this, he was present in the flesh with Adam and Eve, he walked with them, he talked to them... He was present and accounted for!
God proceeds to go looking for Adam and Eve and he calls out "where are you?" (verse 8) - They (Adam and Eve) try to hide... but regardless of where you hide, God knows where you are and so...they are found out by God. As they admit to eating from from the forbidden food tree they pass the buck...a lot! It was the woman's fault, it was the serpent's fault, etc.

Because of what they did, God tells them of what will happen; simply put...life is made worse because of sin. "In Adam's fall, we sinned all" - The sin of Adam and Eve is genetic; it has been passed on to every generation and no one is exempt! Thankfully, God provided a way out, by way of Jesus...*smile*

Going on by God's strength alone,

Matthew 2

Matthew 2 starts out with a the Magi or King-Makers on their way to visit Jesus... It does not divulge how many Magi there were, but 3 are usually presented, due to the 3 gifts...

Now I disbelieve this idea of only 3 Magi; if I had a party, I wouldn't invite only 3 guests! The Magi came from far away, their coming to Jesus was simple; "We saw his star in the east and have come to worship him." (verse 2.)

The King at the time (Herod) was distressed at this news, why (in his mind) someone was born who would take his job! He realized this and sent the Magi off and told them to come back when they found Jesus, so he could 'worship' as well... but his intentions were to kill, not to worship...

God doesn't make any mistakes, so all the odd characters have a purpose... A puzzle isn't complete if it is missing pieces, everything need to be there to see the entire picture...

Once again the angel of the Lord appears to Joseph; he warns him of Herod's intentions and so Joseph, Mary and Jesus flee to Egypt... *
random thought* I don't know where I am going with this, but... Joseph, Mary and Jesus flee to Egypt to avoid Herod who proceeds to kill boys 2 years and under AND in the Old Testament, Pharaoh kills young boys too... In which Moses is sent down the Nile and is protected by Pharaoh's own daughter!" fleeing from and to Egypt...

All these events- the Magi, the fleeing to Egypt, the gifts, etc. All are prophecies coming to fruition... God has kept his word to his children, of then and of now. Nothing happens by chance, all has a purpose; albeit, it sometimes requires time and the 'look back' effect to come to a point where you can say Yeah, GOD really helped me and used that difficulty for good!

Nothing
just
happens,
everything
has
a
purpose...

Going on by God's strength alone,

Genesis 2

God is not a God that sits back and watches things from afar, but as verse two and three says...
"By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work. And God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done."

God has set apart a day for resting, and yet... we live busy lives in which we don't set apart/make holy a day of rest... Not all was said and done when God was done with making the earth, he still had to make helpers- "the LORD God formed the man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being" (underlined notation is mine.)
God brought forth man with the breath of life; we did not come to be on our own, but it was God's breath that started our breathing.

As chapter 2 progresses, we read about the various items God has made, especially for his creature man. God realizes this is all good, but man is alone... God takes this opportunity to make a companion for Adam... From Adam's rib comes Eve. "For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh." (verse 24)

God has made man and woman as partners - One Man, One Woman, One Flesh... This is the Biblical context of marriage.

Going on by God's strength alone...

Matthew 1

Matthew 1 is "a record of the genealogy of Jesus Christ the son of David, the son of Abraham" (verse 1) - A family tree, of sorts... This is an example of a Toledoth which is Hebrew for Generations - which is something I learned in my Old Testament class...

Even though it seems redundant and questionable to have a timeline, I see it as informative in regards to what was happening at the time. By this I mean that they mention in verse 11 "...at the time of the exile to Babylon" - which shows historically what was happening at the time; in this case it is telling about the time in which the Israelites were in captive...

Matthew 1: 18 to 25 - "This is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about" (verse 18) - These are the verses that share of Mary, Joseph and the prophecies fulfilled...

"The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel" — which means, "God with us." (verse 23)

"God with us" - God in the flesh, God as fully man and fully God... This is an awesome show of God's love for us... He did not send a representive that was solely God, but he sent his Son to earth (to die) as fully God and Man. If we were to question if God knows what it is like to walk in our footsteps as human beings, He has! Jesus came to earth as a child/man/human and yet...he was fully God as well.

Another thing that I have pulled from this is the visitation of the angel of the Lord: Joseph had the intent of divorcing Mary quietly, and with good cause too, but an angel of the Lord came to him and explained the scenario- which was probably a refresher course on the book of Isaiah among other books/prophets that told of Jesus' coming for Joseph... He didn't divorce Mary, nor did he have sex with her until Jesus was born...

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Genesis 1

"In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth..." Genesis 1:1

I find it to be amazing that God made this world, and throughout the progress of making skies/seasons/plants/animals/etc. it constantly tells of what he thought of what he was doing with 3 words; it was good. God considers what he has made as good, that is- He takes delights in what he has made.

Also, sometimes it seems like it is from a third person perspective; as if God had a journalist writing down notes as he discussed and put into action his plans...

The next part of Genesis 1 that gets my attention are the following verses:

"Let us make man in our image, in our likeness" - verse 26

"So God created man in his own image,
in the image of God he created him;
male and female he created them." - verse 27

God has made us in an image, and that image is of him... Imago Dei/Image of God (in Latin). We are not only made by Him, but we are made in the image of Him. How wonderful we are made/designed in a way that is not random, but rather we are made in His image...

Here is another verse that catches my attention...

"Be fruitful and increase in number" - verse 28

God wants us to have children - children are a gift from God, and he encourages us to have them...yea! :)

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grrr...

I will start the Bible readings, but... where are the sheets you made up for us in regards what we will read?

This is the only thing that is slowing me down in regards to it...

Please!
Send me an email or something, so I can start and be up to date!

Going on by God's strength alone,
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