Abraham, Father of Faith Part 12 “The Hungry Traveler”
Sermon • Submitted • Presented
0 ratings
· 5 viewsNotes
Transcript
6 And Abraham hastened into the tent unto Sarah, and said, Make ready quickly three measures of fine meal, knead it, and make cakes upon the hearth.
7 And Abraham ran unto the herd, and fetcht a calf tender and good, and gave it unto a young man; and he hasted to dress it.
8 And he took butter, and milk, and the calf which he had dressed, and set it before them; and he stood by them under the tree, and they did eat.
Introduction
Introduction
Meetings at Wendall’s
Funeral for Shayna Bivens
“The Hungry Traveler”
“The Hungry Traveler”
There are many ways God could have revealed Himself to Abraham, to speak the Word that would change His body.
Dream
Vision
Pillar of Fire
Whirlwind
Voice
Instead of that, He chose to reveal Himself as a weary traveler, who needed something to eat.
When Elohim came to Abraham he came hungry. He was hungry for fellowship.
Eating a meal is a very human thing to do.
When Noah came from the Ark he was told:
3 Every moving thing that liveth shall be meat for you; even as the green herb have I given you all things.
(“Every moving thing that Liveth” should be the name of a youtube hunting show)
In Bible times there were generally two meals served. One to “break the fast” usually served in the heat of the day after the men had worked all morning, which would have been a small snack of olives and bread maybe some fruit, and another which would have been a much larger meal at sundown.
The meal that Abraham served to these three men would have been extraordinary, it was not the normal lunchtime meal.
He went out of his way to prepare it.
Three measures of “fine meal”
סֹלֶת n.f. fine flour — fine flour, used in king’s household (|| קֶמַח), for honoured guests, a se˓āh of it sold for a shekel in time of scarcity; luxurious food (of Jerus. under fig. of woman); elsewh. only in offerings.
A calf “tender and good”. Not an old bull, or a Walmart steak.
He run out into the herd and felt around till he got the fattest calf he could find, had it killed and dressed, and come back, and brought out to eat corn cakes, veal chops, buttermilk, or milk of some sort, and butter. 55-1117 - "Jehovah-Jireh"
He brought the best. The Queen of the South brought the best she had to Solomon. He already had plenty, but she wanted to give him her best.
42 The queen of the south shall rise up in the judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it: for she came from the uttermost parts of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and, behold, a greater than Solomon is here.
She recognized God in Solomon.
And if this Christian church today would only think that in their heart. The God of heaven deserves your best of everything that you have. The best of your time, all your devotion, and everything that you are, you owe it to God.
We give God just…maybe a few minutes on Sunday. Set and go to sleep while the Sunday school teacher is teaching, go home and think we’ve done our religion for the week. What a disgrace.If God is God, He’s worth everything you are.
If Christian religion is right, it’s worth everything that you can do for it. Support your church. Support your pastor. Support your missionaries. Do everything that’s in your power to do, and give God the best you’ve got. 57-0805 - "God Manifesting His Gifts"
Abraham gave these three hungry travelers his best.
He cancelled work the rest of the day, just to fellowship with them while they ate.
Mealtime in those days was a time of fellowship. It used to be the same in our country. Mealtimes brought the family together for fellowship.
Bro. Branham ties that to a crisis in home life, when people no longer gather at the table and pray.
Elohim knew Abraham’s character, that if He showed up as a dusty, hungry traveler, Abraham would be hospitable to Him.
As far as we know, this was His first time tasting human food, but it wouldn’t be His last.
The mealtime was an opportunity for fellowship, and He was hungry for fellowship.
Ever since Adam had been turned out of the garden the heart of God longed for a reunion. Here was his opportunity, through Abraham’s royal seed the head of the serpent would be crushed.
“So then, we find out that Abraham slipped in the tent, and he said, “Get ready, Sarah, knead some meal now, and get it ready. Make some cakes out here on the hearth right quick.”
And he run out to the herd and felt around till he got a little fat calf, and had it dressed. He said, “Fry these veal chops right quick now, and you get them ready.”
And he went out and brought the bread and everything before them and set down. And I suppose he walked over and got the old fly bush, you know, and begin to shoo the flies.
(The ”flybush” was made of a dozen or so pages of the Sears catalog on each side of a handle or stick about a yard long.)
(Bro. Branham’s job on Sunday).
(Deacons)
Abraham standing there with the fly bush, saying, “Well, I guess you’re traveling, Brethren.” “Yes, we’ve been traveling.” “I see. Look like You might have come from a strange land. You’re Strangers around. We have never seen You around here.” “Yes, I suppose we are.”
And what were they. It was God Himself and two Angels, God Himself and two Angels in human form. 59-0424A - "The Faith Of Abraham"
The Almighty God invited Himself to Abraham’s house, for a meal.
I wonder if He wants to come to our house?
20 Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.
When God wrapped Himself in a body of flesh and came down in the body of His Son, he ate with folks so often they called Him a glutton.
34 The Son of man is come eating and drinking; and ye say, Behold a gluttonous man, and a winebibber, a friend of publicans and sinners!
His very first miracle was at a wedding feast in Cana. Wine made the fellowship a lot easier.
Wine is a type of the Holy Ghost. The new wine makes the fellowship easy.
“Did you ever see a drunk man? He is just in love with everybody, you see. He don’t care. That’s the way a man is when he gets drunk on the Spirit. The Bible said, “Be not drunk on strong drink, with excess, but to be drunk on the Spirit.”
The Spirit of God makes you so drunk, you forget all your enemies, and everything. Everybody is in love with you. He don’t care about who is standing around you. You’re the biggest man in the country right then.
I don’t care if your neighbor, sitting next to you, went to some dignified church; just let the Holy Ghost get on you one time, see what takes place.
Get right, real good, souse drunk, you’ll see what takes place. You’ll say, “Sister, I got It! You want It, too!” That’s right. Yes, sir, something will take place. 54-0330 - "Redemption In Completeness, In Joy"
Abraham fed them veal and cakes. What does the Holy Spirit like to eat?
My! I feel like the Rapture is just above the church. Oh, just makes me feel so good! All sins are under the Blood. See, the Holy Spirit likes the Word. The Word is what the Holy Spirit feeds on, you see. Oh, my! It comes down and gets among the people, cleanses their sins, takes away their sickness, takes their blues away.
Now I’m drunk, just drunk as I can be, drunk on the Spirit, love drawing out of my heart. No matter what anybody had ever done, it’s forgiven.
Your bitterest enemy, it’s all over. Anybody has ever talked or said anything, if I…well, I…which is all gone, all cleansed now. 55-0724 - "Enticing Spirits"
(Illustrate: Two calves)
Oh, I like to have sheep Food, good Food, the power of God, the Word of God, the Holy Ghost feeds on It. That’s what the Church needs tonight, is good, solid Gospel preaching, Gospel teaching, Gospel salvation, and the Gospel Holy Ghost. Amen. 60-0804 - "As The Eagle Stirreth Up Her Nest"
He loved to eat with His disciples.
14 And when the hour was come, he sat down, and the twelve apostles with him.
15 And he said unto them, With desire I have desired to eat this passover with you before I suffer:
Desire = Earnest desire, passion.
16 For I say unto you, I will not any more eat thereof, until it be fulfilled in the kingdom of God.
He was so hungry for their fellowship. We don’t know if the meal was good or bad, but He desired to be with them.
The same day he rose, He made Himself another body and ate dinner with two of them again.
13 And, behold, two of them went that same day to a village called Emmaus, which was from Jerusalem about threescore furlongs.
14 And they talked together of all these things which had happened.
15 And it came to pass, that, while they communed together and reasoned, Jesus himself drew near, and went with them.
16 But their eyes were holden that they should not know him.
17 And he said unto them, What manner of communications are these that ye have one to another, as ye walk, and are sad?
18 And the one of them, whose name was Cleopas, answering said unto him, Art thou only a stranger in Jerusalem, and hast not known the things which are come to pass there in these days?
They told Him everything that had happened that weekend.
25 Then he said unto them, O fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken:
26 Ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter into his glory?
27 And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself.
What a sermon.
28 And they drew nigh unto the village, whither they went: and he made as though he would have gone further.
He was a hungry traveler.
29 But they constrained him, saying, Abide with us: for it is toward evening, and the day is far spent. And he went in to tarry with them.
30 And it came to pass, as he sat at meat with them, he took bread, and blessed it, and brake, and gave to them.
31 And their eyes were opened, and they knew him; and he vanished out of their sight.
They was talking to Him, didn’t know it. So He…and no doubt He looked at them sadly, and He started to walk on by, but He was waiting for them to invite Him. That’s what He’s waiting tonight, for you to invite Him.
Notice, when those disciples invited Him in to their fellowship around the table, it was then that He done something just like He did before His crucifixion, and their eyes come open.
They knowed His manner, His style. They knowed what He done, and He did it then just like He did before. And they said, “That’s Him!” And quickly they raised up to scream it out, and He vanished.
And where they took six hours to listen to this sermon, maybe twenty minutes they were light-footed back to tell the rest of them, “He is risen indeed. He is really alive.” 65-0801E - "Events Made Clear By Prophecy"
They recognized Him because they had fellowshipped with Him before.
The reason we don’t recognize Him in church is because we don’t fellowship much with Him outside church.
Bro. Branham said that God had confidence in Job because He had fellowshipped with him.
Job had only one way, that’s through fellowship, through the shedding of the blood. He had talked to God. He knowed that He was. God had confidence in Job because He had had fellowship with Job.
O God! May the Branham Tabernacle see that today! The only way God can have confidence in you, is not because you do something, or, with your faith do something, but when you have fellowship! Amen. Fellowship!
(More Baptists at Churchill Downs than at the Baptist Revival)
But if they had fellowship with their Maker, the Presence of God, to talk and commune with Him would be so much greater treasures than the things of this world.
They’d never have to worry about them going to such places. You don’t have to bother about that, if a man ever comes into fellowship. Amen.
(You might hear someone is a good person, but you don’t know that until you sit down with them and your spirits begin to blend.)
You might hear of Jesus, by preaching. You might hear your mother say, “He’s wonderful.” You might hear a minister say, “He heals the sick.” And He might have sent His power forth and healed you.
But you’ll never know what It is, until you’ve set down once with Him, in fellowship, and your spirits blend together, “Bearing record with each other, that you’re sons and daughters of God.”
Then, “Old things pass away.” You don’t have to worry about the world no more. “For by one offering, He has perfected forever those who have fellowshipped with Him, through the Blood.” 55-0403 - "Fellowship By Redemption"
When Jesus came to Peter and the disciples by the sea, He turned things around. He cooked for them.
He was so hungry for fellowship, that He cooked the meal.
4 But when the morning was now come, Jesus stood on the shore: but the disciples knew not that it was Jesus.
5 Then Jesus saith unto them, Children, have ye any meat? They answered him, No.
6 And he said unto them, Cast the net on the right side of the ship, and ye shall find. They cast therefore, and now they were not able to draw it for the multitude of fishes.
Peter jumped right in.
9 As soon then as they were come to land, they saw a fire of coals there, and fish laid thereon, and bread.
10 Jesus saith unto them, Bring of the fish which ye have now caught.
11 Simon Peter went up, and drew the net to land full of great fishes, an hundred and fifty and three: and for all there were so many, yet was not the net broken.
12 Jesus saith unto them, Come and dine. And none of the disciples durst ask him, Who art thou? knowing that it was the Lord.
He wanted to eat with them. Before He went away He told Peter “Feed my Sheep”.
I really want to sit down and eat a meal with Jesus. Many times I’ve fellowshipped with Him here, but I’m really hungry for the wedding supper. I’m a hungry traveler.
9 And he saith unto me, Write, Blessed are they which are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb. And he saith unto me, These are the true sayings of God.
Something in my heart longs to go. I want to eat with Him like Abraham did, Like the disciples did.
We will one day.
The Bridegroom will have everything ready. There’ll be a wedding and a supper. How we love to think of setting across the table from each other, and shaking one another’s hands, and tears running down our cheeks.
And think, He will come around, wipe all tears from our eyes, say, “Don’t cry. It’s all over now. Enter into the joys of the Lord that’s been prepared for you since the foundation of the world.” Oh, brother, that will make us love one another more. 62-0121E - "The Marriage Of The Lamb"
Did you ever stop to think, just a moment, that this could be our last time ever meeting together? Do you know there may be some of us here, if we come back again the next meeting day, we be, some of us, missing?
We don’t know what will happen. And then this may be our last time to set in a group like this, and associate and eat together, on this earth.
But remember, there is coming a time where we’ll meet again, not at a breakfast, but at a supper, oh, where the great banquet of God, and the marriage of the Lamb, and the great chairs are stretched from sky to sky, and the redeemed of all ages set across the table from one another. That’ll be a glorious time. I’m looking for that. 63-0223 - "A Door In A Door"
Now, if I never see you again, remember, the Marriage Supper is at hand. 63-0728 - "Christ Is The Mystery Of God Revealed"
Lord Jesus, as my poor heart jumps for joy, as I see the possibilities of me, a middle-aged man, but yet, the possibilities of me seeing You come in this generation; to be alive and stand here, and see when that Trumpet sounds, “He that’s filthy, is filthy still. He that’s righteous, is righteous still. He that’s holy, is holy still.” O Lord God!
And to think of us standing, in a moment, in a twinkling of an eye, when the world won’t know what’s going on, but all of a sudden, you’ll see appear before you, your loved ones that’s gone on, has come to unite with you again.
And we’ll be changed in a moment, in a twinkling of an eye; and be caught up, together, to meet our Lord in the air. And then unite with Him, to be there forever, and never to have to be out of His Presence again.
What a great thing it is today, Lord, to know that now we are united with one Spirit. One Spirit, the Holy Spirit, has got the Word in His grip, comes in us. And what a great thing it is, what a privilege to cut loose from all the world, to unite ourself to Jesus Christ.
And to think that someday, in a physical form, with a body like His Own glorious body, we will set down at the table at the Wedding Supper and there be united and wed in marriage to Him; to live as Bride and Bridegroom through all times that is to come, through a ceaseless Eternity.
Lord God, may this not be just a mythical thought to the people, but may it become such a reality till such hunger and thirst will set into the people that they’ll…reading their newspapers, looking upon…listening at the radio and the news, and seeing it’s uniting time. The signs are flashing.
(These things ought to create a hunger in us)
Lord God, like we spoke of the women, what they would do in the last days; what the church would do in the last days; and what the Church Ages would be, and what the Seals would be, all these other things.
And we see as it was, in the days of Noah. We see as it was, in the days of Sodom and Lot, when the Angel of God made Hisself known in human flesh, that eat the flesh of a cow and drinking the milk from the cow, and eat bread; and stood there and could tell what was going on behind Him. And Jesus said the same thing will take place at the coming of the Son of man.
Lord God, we seen the pyramid, how we built it up there, and seen how we added these things to it; and find that we’re at the end-time, waiting for the Chief Cornerstone. Glory to God!
We pray, Father, that You’ll wake people up, quickly now, and gather us together, with godly love and respect to Jesus Christ and to each other. 63-0818 - "The Uniting Time And Sign"
If you’re going to have fellowship with Him at that supper, You’ve got to come in at the door.
Jesus tells of a king who had a wedding for His Son, and many were invited, but only some came, so he invited the Gentiles.
11 And when the king came in to see the guests, he saw there a man which had not on a wedding garment:
12 And he saith unto him, Friend, how camest thou in hither not having a wedding garment? And he was speechless.
13 Then said the king to the servants, Bind him hand and foot, and take him away, and cast him into outer darkness; there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
The door is Christ the Word. The wedding garment is the Holy Ghost. You must come in by the door of the Word and be clothed with the baptism of the Holy Ghost to fellowship with Him.
Conclusion
Conclusion
2 Be not forgetful to entertain strangers: for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.
Strangers = Hungry travelers
Entertain:
Lexham Theological Wordbook φιλοξενία
φιλοξενία (philoxenia). n. fem. hospitality. Practical kindness paid especially to strangers, often in the sharing of food and drink, lodging, and provision.
(Dream)
Let me run to the herd, kill the best calf, make a cake with the best flour, preach with all my heart, to get people ready for that great Wedding Supper in the sky.
Going Home, I’m Going Home.