Current EventWilliam Bruce JennerOctober 28, 1949 (age 65)

He is an actor and an athlete.

“Call me Caitlyn”

Oral Pop Quizzes

1. language and thought

2. awareness of the difference between right and wrong

3. freedom to make choices.

From Sumer to Canaan (2300-1700 BC)

Sumerians

Cuneiform: “Wedge-Shaped”

Writing

Harp

Sophisticated Metallurgy

Skills

at Ur

Board Game

Sumerian Religion -

Polytheistic

Enki Innana

Anthropomorphic

Gods

Ziggurat at Ur

Temple

“Mountain of

the Gods”

• Ur

Abraham ‘s Call

Hebrews 11:8, states that: "By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed; and he went out, not knowing whether he went."

Conditions of Ur during Abraham's Time

•When God called Abram he was in a city in Babylonia, named Ur of the Chaldees. Ur was a very advanced city and was believed to have been founded some five hundred years before the time of Abraham.

• Ur, could be compared to a modern city, having libraries, schools, a system of law. It was a rich city and many valuable treasures have been discovered including elaborate jewelry.

Conditions of Ur during Abraham's Time

Abraham's father, Terah according to Joshua 24:2, worshiped idols. Jewish tradition refers to Terah as an idol maker. Ur was an idolatrous city worshiping many different Gods such as the god of fire, moon, sun and stars. female in the city at some time in her life would have to take her turn in serving as a priestess prostitute in the temples.

source:

Halley's Bible Handbook, Henry H. Halley, Zondervan Pub. House, Grand Rapids, page 95.

The Covenant was fourfold:

• (1) God would make Abraham's descendants a great nation.

• (2) God would bless Abraham materially and make his name great.

• (3) God would protect Abraham by blessing those that blessed him

• and cursing those that opposed Abraham.

• (4) God would bless all the families of the earth through Abraham.

THE ABRAHAMIC COVENANT

God fulfilled his promised to Abraham(1) Abraham's descendants became the nation of Israel.

Until this very day the child of Abraham, the Jews have remained an ethnically pure people. They, of all the peoples on earth, are the only people on earth that can make that claim. It seems it would be impossible for a people to remain ethnically pure for four thousand years. And in truth it would be, except that God made an unconditional promise to Abraham. The continuing fulfillment of that covenant can be seen today. The Jews have been scattered all over the earth in every continent. Almost every city in the western world has a population of Jews. For example, many peoples from all over the world have come and settled in the United States. However, most immigrants in a generation or two lose their ethnic identity and become simply "Americans". However, the Jews have remained a pure people and retained they identity as Jews. Clearly God has done this and is keeping His promise made to Abraham

• 2) Abraham was richly blessed materially, and also in his descendants. Although the Jews have suffered great persecutions throughout their history, they are not know as a poor people. They have always been powerful in business and had great economic and political power. Their power in Europe was the cause of Hitler's great hatred of them. At the heart of his plan for a new Germany and Europe was the elimination of all Jews and their influence from Europe. Today, in the United States and Europe, the Jews are very powerful people. They have great economic and political power. Although the present day Israel, is one of the smallest countries on the earth, it is one of the most powerful. Its economic, political and technological power revels even that the USA and the USSR. Surely the hand of God is all this.

Ellison, 3rd richest person in the US

Mark Zuckerberg , founder of Facebook

Further, the name of Abraham is a world renowned name. He is the father of not only the Jews, but of Christianity, and all the Arab world as well. The three great religions of the world, Judaism, Christianity and Islam all look to Abraham as their father. Apart from the Jesus Christ, no name is as well known as that of Abraham.

(3) God promised to bless those that blessed Israel and curse those that cursed them. Every government that has persecuted the Jews has fallen even to modern times. The Russian government, which has had a national policy of persecution of the Jews, is in shambles. However, the United States, who has always been the friend of the nation of Israel, has prospered greatly. No matter how intense has been the persecution of Israel, God has protected them. In 1967, in what is called the Six Day War, the tiny nation of Israel utterly destroyed all the combined efforts the Arab nations which surround them. It has been called one of the greatest military victories in history. Against impossible odds they repelled everything the Arab threw at them. They not only defected these forces, but took great amounts of land including in the south the Gaza Strip to the Nile River, the West Bank and all of Jerusalem. Surely God's protecting hand is upon this small nation.

4) God also promised that all the families of the earth would be blessed through Abraham. History shows that the coming of the Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ, changed the whole world. The history of western civilization is the history of the spread of Christianity. Even our calendar dates from the birth of Christ. The moral teaching of Christ and the New Testament, have shaped to a large degree all of western nations. The United States Constitution was based on Biblical standards of morals. Those nations which are identified as "Christian", have prospered greatly.