Scott Moore: Welcome to the "Building Faith and Family" podcast with Steve Demme.  I'm your host, Scott Moore. Thanks for joining us today. Good morning, Steve. How  are you today? 

Steve: I'm well. How are you? 

Scott: I'm good. Cold. Snowed in. 

Steve: We have got some wetness out there, but it's nothing like they expected, which  it rarely is. I'm biting at the bit, ready to explore the riches of Genesis. Scott: Let's do it. 

Steve: For those of you that are listening, this is our first day. We're going to cover  Genesis chapter one through Genesis chapter 19, which is the reading following the  schedule, which I have on my website at buildingfaithfamilies.org. If you look down at the very bottom, it says Bible Resources, and you can find that  chart, but I'm also going to put it in the notes for this if you want to find it. In seven  days, we have read Genesis 1 through 19. 

Now, we're going to try to cover that this morning, and we're going to try to do this  all year. We're going to go from Genesis to Malachi. We're not going to cover the  Psalms, I have those in my New Testament schedule, but we're going to cover the Old  Testament. 

I think it's really important that when we start off, that we have the right attitude.  David says in Psalm 119:127, "I love Your commandments above gold." Then later in  the 97th verse, same Psalm, he says, "Oh, how I love Your law! It is my meditation all  the day." 

Let's not go into this not with an attitude of, "Well, I really think I should do it, I want  to do it, it's important that I do it," but that we delight in His word, and take delight in  His word. 

As opposed to Jeremiah chapter 6:10, "Their ears are uncircumcised, they cannot  listen. Behold, the word of Jehovah is to them an object of scorn, they take no  pleasure in it.” Before we go any further, let's purpose in our hearts to delight in God's  word and have the attitude of David, not the people at the time of Jeremiah.  Father, help us to not only read the word because we know it will benefit us and  because we should do it, but help us to delight in doing it. Help us to love your law  like David did, I pray. 

Help us to do that, and help Scott and me today as we explore the riches of these first  19 chapters. Give us ears to hear. Circumcise our ears so that we hear what you want  us to hear today. All of us together, as we move through the Bible doing this together  

as a team, I pray that you encourage us and help us every day. In Jesus' name, amen. Scott: Amen. 

Steve: Revelation, the opposite end of the Bible, Revelation 1:1-3, "The revelation of  Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show to His servants the things that must soon  take place. He made it known by sending His angel to His servant, John, who bore  witness to the word of God and to the testimony of Jesus Christ, even all that he saw. Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy and blessed are those  who hear and who keep what is written in it, for the time is near."  We know as we continue reading in Revelation chapter one, that's why John is on the  Isle of Patmos, because he's being persecuted for being faithful to God's word and to  being true to the testimony of Jesus. 

When we are faithful to His word, we will be persecuted. Doesn't make any difference,  we are going to be faithful to His word, and we're going to love His word. Genesis is the book of beginnings. This is the book of foundations, the foundations of  nations, covenants, which are everlasting. Some of the most significant people in the  Bible are mentioned in the first book of the Bible. Many of them are mentioned in  there, and a lot of them in the first 19 chapters. 

Time‑wise, if we go by our best approximations, creation would have been 4,004  years Before Christ, if we go up to the end of Genesis, it's about 1,750 years Before  Christ. That's 2,250 years or about a third of recorded history, all in one book, and we  are attempting to cover a part of that book today. 

The book begins with creation. I don't need to explain it, it's very doable. I'm going to  make some comments as we go through each of these 19 chapters, which gives me  about a minute per chapter. 

One of the things that I noticed is as God creates the world in six days, He described  a day. There was evening and there was morning, and He says this six times. This is  also not only the beginning of creation, but these first two chapters includes when  God designs Adam and Eve. 

The language is special because He says in the very first chapter, "Let us make man in  our image after our likeness," and a little bit later, He says, "God created man in His  own image, in the image of God, He created him, male and female, He created them." When you're reading this the first time, you might not see that, but it said, "Let us  make man in our image," which I think is probably speaking of the Trinity, because we  know that the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters. We know from the New  Testament that all things were made through Christ, so that's a neat image there. Notice the male and the female. Jesus goes back and talks about this in Mark 10 and  in Matthew 19 when they are quizzing him about divorce. He says, "From the  beginning of creation, God made them male and female. Therefore, a man shall leave  his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh." He's quoting from Genesis 1:2. He talks about man and woman, definition of  marriage, one man, one woman. Jesus is also mentioned along with Adam in his  genealogy in Luke 3. 

In the second chapter, we learn about the Sabbath, the seventh day. He set it apart,  He rested, He made it holy. This is way before the law was given. This is something  that God established in His culture, and we have a seven‑day week. It's not 10 days,  

it's not 5 days, it's a 7‑day week, which we still follow to this day. I went through and I looked up lots of places where Adam and Eve appear in the New  Testament. 1 Corinthians 15, "As in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made  alive." 

Eve is mentioned in two places. One in 2 Corinthians 11, “the serpent deceived Eve by  his cunning”, and in 1 Timothy 2, “Adam was formed first, then Eve. Adam was not  deceived, but the woman was deceived and became a transgressor.” I know this because I've read the whole Bible through, so when I'm reading through  Genesis now, I see these connections. If I didn't know this, I wouldn't understand in  the New Testament what God was talking about. 

In the third chapter, we have the temptation and the fall. We have garments being  made for Adam and his wife, which we covered in detail in podcast number 447.  These were royal garments. These weren't a bunch of skins thrown together at the  last minute like a Boy Scout or a Girl Scout assignment. 

In Romans 5, "Just as sin came into the world through one man, and then death  through sin," etc., 14th verse, "death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those  whose sinning was not like the transgression of Adam, who was a type of the one who  was to come, and that would be Christ." 

Then in the fourth chapter, we encounter Cain and Abel. I don't think I need to  explain it, it's horrific what happens. He slays his brother. Cain is mentioned in 1 John  3, Abel is mentioned in Luke 11. The writers of the New Testament knew the Old  Testament. They knew the first covenant. 

Then in the fifth chapter, we start covering a lot of ground here. The days of Adam  after he fathered Seth were 800 years. This is 5:4. He had other sons and daughters. This is a frequent question from people that are reading the Bible for the first time.  

They say, "Well, who did Cain and Abel marry?" They married their sisters, but this is  real close to the creation. They didn't have the issues that we have today. It's way later when we're forbidden from marrying our close relatives, but not back in  these days, which was so close to the pure and the original. 

Then Noah and his three sons. In Luke 17, Jesus is talking, "Just as it was in the days  of Noah, so will it be in the days of the Son of Man," and he talks about this. Then  later in the 28th verse, he says, "Likewise, just as it was in the days of Lot they were  eating and drinking." 

God in Christ is talking about and verifying the historicity of Genesis. These were real  people that lived at a real time. Jesus referred to Noah, he referred to Lot. 1 Peter  talks about a worldwide flood. This is in the 5th and 6th chapters. 

This was a real worldwide flood. This was not a flood in Israel. This was a flood that  covered the highest mountain peaks, exactly as it reads. It's interesting when you  read through the account of Noah, you notice that he was commanded to bring  animals. 

Actually, it says that God would bring the animals to him. Most people, when you ask  them, "Well, how many animals did he bring?" 

They say, "Well, two by two, two of every sort," which it does say in the sixth chapter,  but when you put it together with the seventh chapter, it says in the first verse,  "Jehovah said to Noah, 'Go into the ark, you and all your household, for I have seen  that you are righteous before me in this generation. 

"'Take with you seven pairs of all clean animals, the male and his mate, and a pair of  the animals that are not clean, the male and his mate, and seven pairs of the birds of  the heavens.'" There was a lot more cows than there were pigs. That's all I'm going to  say. You get that just from reading. 

This is where you have to turn off your Sunday school mind because a lot of times  when you come to scripture, you have expectations. You say, "Well, yeah, I know. I've  seen all the little pictures of Noah in the ark, and I've seen..." 

In Christmas time, you see the crèche, and you assume that the wise men were there.  Then you read through the New Testament and you see those wise men didn't come  for a couple years, they weren't there at his birth. Shepherds were, but there was no  wise men. 

I hope that God will help us to just read the Bible for what it says and not for what we  think or expect it's going to say. This water did not just come from heaven. There  were three sources of water, and you can read that. It's the fountains of the great  deep broke up, the waters, the floods. 

Then after it subsided, God put a rainbow in the sky. Sadly to this day, the world, the  flesh, and the devil have tried to co‑opt it, but they don't co‑opt it for me. When I see  that rainbow, I remember what He says in the 15th verse of the 9th chapter. "I will remember my covenant that is between me, and you, and every living creature  of all flesh, and the waters shall never again become a flood to destroy all flesh." It  does say in Revelation, in the New Testament, we're going to be judged again, but  this time by fire, not by water. 

He promised that when He sees that rainbow, when we see that rainbow, we  remember His covenant. When I look at that, I think, "God save us," because we have  plenty of reason to receive a worldwide judgment. 

Abortion itself is a plague. It's heinous. It's an abomination, but don't look at the  judgment part, look at also God's provision for His people. God provided an ark. God  provided an ark for eight people. He provided the food, He provided water for them,  and He took them through. 

We're going to see this again as Lot escapes from Sodom. Sodom is also judged, but  the angels God sent to take Lot and his family out. There's a lot when you're reading  this, but not only does God judge, but God also preserves and protects. This is the  beauty of scripture as we're reading this. 

I don't want to tell you too much because you've got to read the book yourself, but  you're also going to see in Peter that Jesus, when He rose from the dead, went and  preached to those people who perished in the flood. 

There's another aspect of God's grace and His mercy that these people who perished  in that flood got another opportunity to choose Jesus. In that 10th chapter, I call this  chapter the ites, I‑T‑E‑S, There's lots of ites. The future enemies of Israel. There are Moabites, Ammonites, Ishmaelites, lots of ites, Canaanites. Sadly, we see  that these are also part of the foundation, and as we read through the Bible, we're  going to see these people pop up again. 

In Babel, I don't think we fully understand what was going on there, but there's a lot  more than just language being disturbed. Then we have one of the future heroes of  all time appear in the 12th chapter, he actually appeared at the end of the 11th, it's  Abraham. Of course, now he's Abram. 

God makes His first covenant with Abram in the 12th chapter. In the 13th chapter,  Abram was very rich in livestock, he journeyed on from the Negev as far as Bethel to  the place where his tent had been at the beginning. There, Abram called upon the  name of Jehovah. That always blesses me. He said, "Now I want you to look, North,  South, East, and West, all the land that you see I am going to give to you and your  offspring forever." 

14th chapter, we have a really interesting man pop up. He doesn't appear much in  scripture, but when he does, he makes a huge impression, and this is Melchizedek.  This was after Abraham and his people in his home had gone out and they rescued  

Lot, and then Melchizedek, king of Salem, brought out bread and wine. He was priest of God Most High. He blessed him and said, "Blessed be Abram by God  Most High, possessor of heaven and Earth." 

Then in the 15th chapter, Abram receives two more promises. I've got, by my count,  five times that God makes a promise, a contract, a covenant with Abram. This time,  He says, "Look up at the stars, number them if you're able to, this is how many  offspring you're going to have." 

What was fascinating to me, because again, I know the New Testament, it says, "And  he believed Jehovah, and he counted it to him as righteousness." This language is  used almost word for word in Romans chapter four. 

If you read Romans chapter four and five, it's about Abraham, it's about faith, but  here's what it says in the 21st verse of Romans four, "Fully convinced that God was  able to do what He had promised, that is why his faith was counted to him as  righteousness. 

"The words that was counted to him were not written for his sake alone, but for ours  also. It will be counted to us who believe in Him who raised him from the dead, Jesus  our Lord, who was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification.  Abraham is the father of all those who believe, and that's us." 

What Abraham did was he didn't look at the natural, he didn't even have any children  at that point, but he believed God. We need to believe that what Jesus did for us on  the cross is ours, even though we can't see it, we can't touch it, we can't measure it,  we weren't there, but we believe in Him who raised Jesus from the dead, Jesus, and  was delivered up for our trespasses. 

You can see I could preach two hours on each one of these chapters. It was also in  this chapter that God tells Abram, "Your descendants are going to spend 400 years in  Egypt." You're going to see how long they spent. 

16th chapter, Abraham receiving more wonderful promises. Sarah, his wife, and Sarah  says, "You know what, why don't you go into my maid servant? That way, since I can't  conceive, you can conceive through Hagar." 

Anyway, Abram, must have been a meek man, said, "OK," and Ishmael was born, and  that didn't go well. Hagar was basically kicked out because Sarah had issues. I'm not  even going comment on that. 

In the 16th chapter, the 13th verse, Hagar connects with the God of seeing, she called  the name of Jehovah who spoke to her, "You are a God of seeing. You see me," El,  God, Roi, seeing. We're going to bring this up again next week. Hold that thought. 17th chapter, Abram's now 99. In this chapter, he and Sarah receive new names. I'm  going to read this longer passage because this is covenant number five and big stuff. "I am God Almighty, walk before me and be blameless that I may make my covenant  between me and you and may multiply you greatly. Then Abram fell on his face and  God said to him, 'Behold, my covenant is with you and you shall be the father of a  multitude of nations. No longer shall your name be called Abram, but your name shall  be called Abraham, for I have made you the father of a multitude of nations.'" That  phrase will appear many times. 

"'I will make you exceedingly fruitful. I will make you into nations and kings shall  come from you, and I will establish my covenant between me and you and your  offspring after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant to be  God to you and to your offspring after you. 

"'I will give to you and to your offspring after you the land of your sojournings, all the  land of Canaan for an everlasting possession, and I will be their God.'" I believe that  when it says everlasting, it means everlasting. 

One of the fascinating things to me, I had read my Bible through many years and I  had always assumed that Isaac was named laughter because Sarah had laughed. She  laughs several times in the 18th chapter. 

In the 17th chapter, I was reading my Bible through several years ago, and all of a  sudden, I looked at it and it's like the veil came off my eyes, and I went, "It wasn't  because of Sarah laughing, it was Abraham." I'll read you verses 17 through 19. "Abraham fell on his face and laughed and said to him, 'Shall a child be born to a man  who is 100 years old? Shall Sarah, who is 90 years old, bear a child?' Abraham said,  'No, that Ishmael might live before you.' God said, 'No, but Sarah your wife, shall bear  you a son, and you shall call his name Isaac.'" This was in the 17th chapter. It was Abraham who fell on his face and laughed, and God named him Isaac. It was  the next chapter when the angels show up at Abraham's tent on their way to Sodom.  Sarah is standing there, and she laughs within herself in this whole interchange. You  can read it, you've read it, you know. 

I really believe it was because Abraham fell on his face, and Isaac was named even  before Sarah learned about this in the 18th chapter. We also see, in the 18th chapter,  not only laughter, we see intercession.  

It impacts me every time Abraham is so reverent and yet bold at the same time. He's  humble and reverent as he's interceding with God Himself to spare people.  In the 19th chapter, we see judgment, but we also see, in the 16th verse, Lot lingered.  The men seized him and his wife and his two daughters by the hand of Jehovah being  merciful to him. That's our dad, that's our God. 

He doesn't want to wipe out Sodom, but their sin was so heinous and we get a  glimpse of it. It's bizarre, it's awful. The judgment had to come because the sins had  reached to heaven, and then God sent His angels. I often pray, "God, deliver us from  our enemies and send your angels to carry us through when things get really tough." Just a little summation. Adam is mentioned 20 times in the Bible in 10 books of the  Bible. I quoted one from Romans 5, but he's also in 1 Corinthians 15, "As in Adam all  die, so in Christ shall all be made alive." 

Noah is mentioned 50 times in the Bible, in 11 books. Melchizedek only appears 10  times, only three books, but he's eight times in Hebrews and Jesus is a high priest  after the order of Melchizedek. 

Abraham is mentioned 215 times in the Bible. He appears in 27 books of the Bible.  Most of us have read Hebrews 11 many times. I don't know if you are aware, but the  first 22 verses of Hebrews 11 are all talking about men and women that we encounter  in the book of Genesis. 

OK, Scott, that was my best shot to do a chunk of the Bible. What did I forget? Scott: I don't think you forgot anything. That's a good overview. 

Steve: Thank you. 

Scott: I will say, what did you say? There's some messy stuff or something like that  with Sarah and her servant and all that? There's a lot of messy stuff in those chapters  that you did an overview of, especially chapter 19. There's a lot of messy stuff there. 

Steve: Are you talking about the little girls? 

Scott: No. I don't want to talk about it in detail. 

Steve: Thank you. 

Scott: I'm just saying, if I was going to make up a religion, this is not how I would do  it. Which to me adds to the veracity of it. If you were going to create a religion, make  up a myth, I don't know anybody who would have chosen to do it this way. If you've  read the whole 19 chapters, you know what I'm talking about. There you go. Steve: This dynamic, I can't imagine. It's basically having two mothers in the same  home with one man. There's going to be jealousy, there's going to be issues, and we  see that. Like you said, it's very honest, it's open. Then Lot's daughters. I shake my  head at that. 

Then these become the Moabites and the Ammonites, which we're going to see them  pop up all through. David's fighting them, and it's sad. Even Ishmael. If Sarah had not  given Hagar to Abram, that's the kind of things that I think about. Steve: We wouldn't have this conflict in the Middle East today. 

Scott: Yep. 

Steve: Our decisions have far‑reaching implications. We can make all kinds of  applications from this, but I hope that you will all be encouraged because you just  read 496 verses of the inspired Word of God. Congratulations, we're on the right  track. We're two percent done. 

Scott: Nice. 

Steve: We've only got 50 weeks to do this, and we just did one. Congratulations, and  God bless you. I wish I could hear your testimonies. I'd like to hear, "Well, here's what  I noticed," because the thing is, the Bible says everybody supplies something. Scott and I are doing the best we can with this medium, but I hope that if you're  meeting with other believers, that after you read the word of God, that someone will  say, "Why don't we all just go around and write down or talk about what we noticed  ourselves, what the Spirit of God made real to us?" 

Because the Holy Spirit is the one that not only wrote the scripture, He's the one that's  interpreting it to us, and He's teaching us from the word of God. I hope that we'll have  ears to hear what He's saying to us because I believe in if we go to the word of God  with humility and we're trusting in God's spirit, that He will give us something special  just for each one of us every day. 

Thank you, Spirit of God, for being on hand, being near to us, especially when we  need you. When we're reading verses that perhaps are hard to understand, help us to  focus on what we do understand and what you have revealed to us, and then we trust  you to reveal to us what we need to know when we need to know it. In Jesus' name,  amen. 

Scott: Amen. That's our show for this week, folks. Thanks for joining us for the  Building Faith and Family podcast with Steve Demme. If you have a question for the  show, email Steve at spdemme@Gmail.com. Thanks for joining us, have a great week. 8