Read the Bible: Genesis 14

This is the first time we read about Lot getting into trouble and needing to be rescued; it will not be the last. The big thing in this chapter is Melchizedek, king of Salem and priest of God Most High. Little is said about him and there is much we don’t know but he will be presented in the New Testament as a type of Christ.

If you click the play button and listen to the audio you may not notice a difference between this and the other recordings up to this point. If you download the file to a laptop, cell phone – I don’t know what the other options are these days – you might notice this file is an mp3 while the first 13 chapters were saved as m4a files. Mp3 is a slightly larger format so I want to know if anyone has any issues or if the 25 MB size is going to be a problem. I am running a free version of some recording and editing software; I could save as m4a but that’s a feature that would cost something. I used to have a file type converter but that was years ago; I could probably find something like that again but I don’t want to take a bunch of unnecessary steps if nobody cares. I’m the one that is going to run into problems when I run out of storage space for the blog archives. I would like to someday have all 1,189 chapters available for anyone to listen to at any time.

Read the Bible: Genesis 13

Abram returns from Egypt, wealthier than he went in. He and Lot have so much stuff between them it is necessary to part ways. It seems innocuous in this short chapter but Lot lands near Sodom and you probably know at least a little something of what happens next.

Read the Bible: Genesis 12

God makes promises to Abram for the first time in Genesis 12 that will be repeated in Genesis 15. God spoke to Abram in verse 1 and appeared to him in verse 7. Some weirdness happens later in the chapter but what we see in the early verses is the beginning of the history of Israel.

Read the Bible: Genesis 11

In Genesis 11, we address an apparent contradiction. The Bible does not contradict itself but there are a few apparent contradictions and we will deal with those as we encounter them. Then after a short interruption to describe what happened at the Tower of Babel, we go right back into the genealogy where we left off in chapter 10. I apologize in advance… maybe, if you haven’t played the audio yet… I said begat a couple of times and switched back and forth between begat and fathered. Some of us grew up with chapters full of begats before learning there were modern translations. To be fair, 40 or 50 years ago there were not nearly as many translations in English as there are today.

Read the Bible: Genesis 10

From time to time as we read through the Bible we will come upon chapters that are almost entirely genealogy. If you thought Genesis 9 had quite a bit then fasten your seat belt. I am not an expert in Hebrew names but many of these will at least be somewhat familiar if you know anything at all about cities, nations and empires in the Old Testament. If you have been with us for a few chapters then hopefully you have developed a routine of some sort. So open your Bible (or app, or web browser, what have you) and let’s read some names I can barely pronounce.

Read the Bible: Genesis 9

At the end of Genesis 8, God said in his heart he would never again destroy all flesh. In chapter 9 he establishes a covenant with Noah and his sons, with all flesh including the animal kingdoms as a matter of fact, that he will never again destroy all flesh and there will never again be such a flood. He places his sign, the rainbow, in the clouds as a reminder.

Read the Bible: Genesis 8

Genesis 8 contains one of my most favorite verses in all of scripture. It should encourage us that we are never alone in this world. God can see, God can hear, his arm is not shortened so that he cannot save. God is near. As the flood waters subside, God makes a promise to himself to never again curse the ground and destroy all living things.

Read the Bible: Genesis 7

I posted yesterday about why the Old Testament uses The LORD as the name for God. If you are subscribed via email or follow The Master’s Table on Facebook you probably saw that but here is a link just in case.

The flood story takes place across three chapters. In Genesis 6, God gives Noah instructions to build the ark and Noah does according to all the LORD commands. In chapter 7 Noah and his family, with at least two of every animal enter the ark, and the flood comes. It rains for 40 days and 40 nights but the flood lasts much longer than that. That’s where we will leave our brave hero today but join us tomorrow for Genesis 8 and one of my favorite verses in the entire scripture.

Read the Bible: Genesis 6

I am trying to do a better job at having a professional sound but I live in the real world. I do not have a recording studio with sound proof walls, I live in a house with other people and pets. I don’t know if you can hear dogs bark outside, or the clicky clack of their feet on the floor, or cars passing or the train; but I can and it drives me nuts.

Look on the bright side; anything you do for God, anything you do that will help people find God, learn more about him or seek his will, the devil will be opposed to. So I might be talking out my head here but if the enemy is opposing me then maybe I’m doing something right. Let’s look at Genesis 6, talk about the issues, and identify what we can know for sure about Noah, his family, and what he did in response to God’s instructions.

Read the Bible: Genesis 5

Genesis 5 looks like genealogy, and it is, but there are three interesting things we will note in this chapter; and only two of them are in the list of genealogy.

*Note: in the audio recording I claim that Noah only lived to be 950 years old. That is wrong; Noah only lived 930 years. I made the recording without my laptop. That’s where the music file is saved and where I had taken a few notes. I hope I have learned my lesson.

**Note: I apologize for all of the noises, the sliding around, bumping, etc. I was looking for a more controlled environment than my house full of family members and pets. This was recorded at church, at the same podium I preach from on Sunday morning. I was standing instead of sitting and apparently cannot keep my hands still. I need to do three things: Obtain a decent podcast mic, sit at my desk or dinning room table and at the very least use a basic editing software. Let’s see how long it takes knowing better to turn into doing better.