GENESIS: THE BOOK OF BEGINNINGS

It is Thursday morning and I'm beginning in Genesis again.  I am excited about once again going through the Bible.  Later today, I will be heading off towards the coast where I have been asked to go fishing with a member.  We will head 20 miles out into the ocean in a 22 foot boat.  Pray for us to return home.  We will be fishing for Halibut and then bottom fishing.  I will have no internet connection for the next two days however, so catch the blog again on Sunday.  Here are some thoughts: 1) IT ALL BEGINS WITH GOD- Genesis one is not about creation, it is about the Creator.  We get it all wrong when we look at the secondary thing instead of the primary.  God is mentioned 30 times in 31 verses.  "God created"; "God said"; "God called"; "God saw"; "God set"; "God blessed"; and "God made" are the kind of phrases you see about God in chapter one.  God is active, not passive.  God is creative, not sitting back and hoping things come together.  God is personal, not impersonal.  God is pleased with His creation, not indifferent to His creation.  God is the Creator, not a spectator.  Genesis two has the phrase:  "the LORD God" eleven times and "God" mentioned 3 times, for a total of 14 times in 25 verses.  Again, it all begins with God.  "In the beginning God....."  This is how we should start each and every day.  This is how we should end every single day.  This is how we should live throughout the day..... it is all about God!!  ALL about GOD! 2) AFTER HIS KIND- God created every animal "after his kind".  In biology, we learn that there is the Kind, the Genes, and the Species.  God created all the animals and had them reproduce after their KIND.  That doesn't mean he created every color of bear, but enough to get all the colors and types there are.  It doesn't mean He created every species of fish, but enough fish of every KIND that the species would develop.  Not evolution from one type of fish to another.  A guppy did not evolve into a shark!  Or, the first shark would have eaten all of the guppies!  God created an abundance of life, and not one kind has developed into another kind!!  If a Caucasian marries an Asian, you do not get a new human, but another type of human, and so it is with the animals of the world.  A new breed of dog is developed with cross breeding, but it is not a cat… it is still a dog!!  No tadpole every crawled out of the slime and became a bird or horse.  When evolution speaks, it is humorous to someone who knows a God who created all there is and rested on the seventh day, because someone who believes in evolution believes that billions of years took nothing and made something with it!  We know God did that and not billions of years ago, but about seven to eight thousand years ago.  He made a mature planet with the look of age, just as Adam and Even were created adults, not babes! 3) NAME CHANGE- In Gen. 17:5, Abram is called Abraham and in verse 15, Sarai is called Sarah.  God changed their names when He gave them a promise of a great nation.  Abraham means "Father of a great multitude"; and Sarah means "Princess" for she would "be a mother of nations; kings of people shall be of her."  It's that wonderful?  HEY, did you know that in Heaven (Rev. 2:17) we would have a "new name" written down for us??  Yes, just like Abram and Sarai, we too will have a new name that speaks of God's blessings eternally upon us.  4) WIN YOUR FAMILY AND CHANGE THE WORLD!!  Yes, that is what Lot could have done, but didn't!  When Abraham pleaded with God for Sodom, he talked God into sparing the city if there were ten righteous individuals, and Abraham stopped there, because he knew that Lot had at least ten in his family.  If Lot had only won his own to the LORD, the city would have been spared… but he didn't.  They laughed at him, and even he tarried so much the angels had to drag him out of the city.  I want to win a world to Christ, but I want my own to be saved even more!!  I'm glad that they are, if yours are not, pray and witness every time you can.  Well, have a blessed day.  Pray I will be safe, and catch a lot of fish!  Thank you... till Sunday.   Pastor Mike Mutchler