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So we're here in Genesis chapter 16 continuing the story, and so let's start here just at verse number one the Bible reads Now Sarai Abram's wife bare no children And she hadn't handmade an Egyptian whose name was Hagar now as we talked about in previous weeks This handmade comes from Egypt Which is all a result of Abram going to Egypt when there is a famine There's a difficult time Abram makes a decision based on money a lot of problems happen and one of those is Hagar comes back and so obviously, you know, you're bringing in people from a heathen land and even if those people You know end up being decent people. There's going to be things that attach themselves from Egypt that is what takes place and so Sarai it had no children and it says in verse 2 and Sarai said unto Abram behold now the Lord hath restrained me from bearing. So this is her opinion She says God has stopped me from having children So the question is is that something that God gets involved with does God, you know open and close the womb What does the Bible say about that? Is she right because this is her opinion Well, let's see what the Bible says go to Genesis 20 Genesis 20 Genesis 20 Now remember God has already promised that she's going to have children Right now when you read these stories You don't necessarily think about how much time has gone by and the situation and everything God has promised us a lot of things and we lose our faith and have doubts within just a couple weeks Right. So it's understandable that she has doubts But she has been promised that she's going to have children and out of her is going to be a mighty nation Genesis 20 verse 17 So Abraham prayed unto God and God healed Abimelech and his wife and his maidservants and they bear children For the Lord had fast closed up all the wombs of the house of Abimelech because of Sarah Abraham's wife So in Genesis chapter 20 we do see an example where God actually Closes wombs and what that means is God prevents women from actually having children. So is it possible? That God could close a womb like Sarai said well That is possible that God can close a womb and not allow children to actually happen Okay now in Genesis 20 The reason why this takes place is because of sin one thing we do not want to do though is just assume Well, then if you're not having children, you must have sinned that is a wrong application It is a possibility that doesn't mean that's exactly why it took place Same thing with job job went through a lot of trials in his life our first reaction What did you do wrong? Now? Is that a possibility? Yes, it is. It doesn't mean that's the case though Okay now go to Genesis 29 Genesis 29 Genesis 29 I Would Say that if you are in a situation of life where you're going through problems and trials You should take an honest look at your life and ask yourself. Have I done something that made God mad at me? however Just because things are going bad doesn't mean you've done anything wrong It's possible you're doing great spiritually and then you're having all kinds of problems in your life You know, there's no guarantee just because you have problems you did something wrong. Okay? Let us not try to develop this Pentecostal sort of attitude that hey, we must have done something wrong if things aren't going our way And hey if things are going great, I must be right with God Well, I mean are you reading your Bible? Are you coming to church? Are you going soul winning? You know just because things are going well in your life doesn't mean that you're right with God Right. We can't just look at the present circumstances But we should take an honest look at our lives when things are going You know badly if we have done something wrong Genesis 29 verse 31 and when the Lord saw that Leah was hated he opened her womb, but Rachel was barren So God opens the womb of Leah and the reason why is because her husband Likes her sister more than her and God opens her womb for the fact that she was hated Obviously, this would be tough for a woman to get married and right after you get married It's like your husband likes another woman more than you, right? So obviously that's a difficult situation in her life and God actually opens her womb for that reason Right go to Genesis 30 Genesis 30. But remember we saw Rachel was barren meaning she wasn't able to have children Genesis 30 verse 22 and God remembered Rachel and God harken to her and Opened her womb. So basically Rachel goes through this period where she's not able to have children And I don't have time to develop the entire story But basically when Leah has four children Rachel starts saying hey God's closed my womb and then all of a sudden she says just be with you know My hand mate right the same thing as as Sarah and basically I can have children Through her is the decision she makes and then of course once she does have children in that way Which aren't her children? Well, God has blessed me. No, God did not bless you when you had your husband marry another woman Right, just because you're able to have a kid and you got what you wanted Doesn't mean that God actually blessed you who did what was right? Genesis 30 look at verse 1 let it let us see the importance Biblically speaking for women of having children because that's really what Genesis 16 is about it talks about Hagar having a child Sarah's not able to have a child Genesis 30 verse 1 and when Rachel saw that she bare Jacob no children Rachel envied her sister and said unto Jacob Give me children or else I die if I'm not able to have children if you don't give me children You know what? I'd rather just be dead right now. Here's a woman that is speaking out of emotion I don't believe that she actually means this I believe she's very emotional at this time and she's very frustrated Not able to able to have children and then of course her sister who's also married to her husband is Having all these children with him and Then with Jacob and then she's just looking at her life like, you know, I'm not able to have children and she's frustrated So she says give me children or else I die but see at the end of the day They're right that God does open and close the womb So look if God has closed the womb that is God's choice Don't try to play God and basically, you know, well God won't let me have children, but you know what? I'm gonna do something sinful because of that. Well, if God closed the womb God closed the womb now We don't necessarily know why that is a case But if God closed the womb or God opens a womb that is his choice to make go to back to Genesis 16 Genesis 16 Genesis 16 Genesis chapter 16 And In Genesis 16 verse 1 It says now Sarai Abrams wife bear him no children and she had it in handmade in Egyptian Whose name was Hagar and Sarai said unto Abram behold now the Lord hath restrained me from bearing So she says God has stopped me. He's closed my womb I pray thee I'm asking you go in on to my maid It may be that I may obtain children by her and Abram hearkened to the voice of Sarai So basically what his wife is saying is this God doesn't want me to have children. So, you know what just have children with my handmaid instead, right? She's admitting the fact that God has closed my womb, but I'm not happy about it. I don't like God's decision So can you do this for me? You know marry my handmaid instead and then have children with her since I cannot have children Look if God has told you know, the answer is no Right if God says no the answer is no Now look God had promised you to have children, but obviously, you know, it's in God's time frame Anyway, she should have just accepted the answer that God gave her and you know This is this is a reminder to all of us that you know, sometimes we don't get what we want Right. Sometimes things don't work out like we want them to and look sometimes it might not be God's will for Everything to work out perfectly in our lives Now if nobody wants things to go bad in their lives But you know what if everything always went well in your life and it would make you a miserable person Actually going through trials and problems actually makes you better now Nobody during that trial wants to go through it But going through that trial going through that difficult time is going to benefit you in the long run if you're willing to patiently endure it the Bible says go to 1st Samuel 1 1st Samuel 1 1st Samuel chapter 1 And In 1st Samuel 1 we see this story here in verse 5 with Hannah who is also barren. She's unable to have children And look, here's the thing about this We see many cases of this in the in the Bible of women being barren and they didn't do anything wrong to become barren So that happened a lot in the Bible It's something that would happen a lot today and you know Sometimes people get married they wait two three four five six seven years not able to have kids Right now some people have kids immediately and some people don't Right and in the Bible, it's it's not something that just happens Once it happens with many women in the Bible that for whatever reason the womb is closed and look We can't get inside the mind of God and know every reason why he does certain things You just have to accept what God has chosen 1st Samuel 1 verse 5 But on the Hannah he gave a worthy person portion for he loved Hannah But the Lord had shut up her womb and her adversary also provoked her sore for to make her fret because the Lord had shut Up her womb and as she did so year by year when she went up to the house of the Lord So she provoked her therefore she wept and did not eat and so in this story Hannah's not able to have children And she's very upset. She's very frustrated. She weeps she begs God She prays that God will bless her with children because she's not able to have children at this time and you know one thing we can learn from this story and about the womb being closed and God opening the womb and things such as that that when you're in a difficult situation and Everything's against you it basically forces you to rely on God Right, it forces you to pray to God Because when things are going well in our lives, we don't tend to pray to God that much. Isn't that true? You don't have to raise your hand I'm just with me I would say that when things are going well It's kind of like you don't think about it when things are going bad That's when you actually seek after God, you know, I get reminded of this a lot but even the last couple of days I get reminded of this because 48 hours ago. I'm like man things are awesome. Everything's going well at our churches God's blessing everything's going great and then out of nowhere. It's like completely different 48 hours later I mean just out of nowhere Literally not no one saw this coming in Manila and but nobody saw this coming like who knows what's gonna happen But here's the thing about prayer. God knows what we need isn't that what the Bible teaches? God knows what we need before we ask God knows what we need So when we pray to God what praying does is it basically reminds us of how? Powerless we are and how powerful God is it's not like we have to remind God. Hey God, you forgot to give me this No, actually prayer something that actually teaches us More so than God being reminded It's just teaching us who we are in the place of prayer and basically have to humble ourselves and say hey God I've got to rely on you. Can you help me out in this situation? Right and I can say over the last couple days. That's the attitude I've had It's made me feel how powerless I am and how humbled I became meaning I was brought low Because I was thinking things are going great. Everything's awesome What could go wrong and then boom and that forces you to rely on God? Now look, I promise you God wants us to get people saved in the Philippines It's not like we have to remind God. Hey God Remember we're supposed to get people saved Right, I mean this could prevent us from getting people saved and growing our churches obviously those are I mean God already knows that he Wants us our churches to grow and reach more people But sometimes we have to be reminded who we are in the situation in relation to God and how we're nothing and how we're powerless I mean honestly speaking from the heart all of us at our churches in these two weeks We should be praying very hard If my people shall humble themselves and seek after God seek my face And then God can heal the land. I mean, that's the truth because I Literally, I've been thinking the last 48 hours. We're powerless. I Mean, this is a terrible situation We got church members that are being forced to take tests. They can't afford every couple weeks I mean people aren't gonna be able to come to church I mean people are literally so many people I know in Metro Manila were just stuck where they couldn't go on on public transits They're just like stuck and abandoned in the middle of Metro Manila trying to get home and everything As a result of everything taking place out of nowhere. It's like we are powerless When it comes to this situation and really the only answer is that God would step in You know when you think about in and we'll get there later on not today, but you know in several months or whatever When you think about when they were in bondage to Egypt, you know at the beginning of Exodus, you know They're in bondage to Egypt and you know, they were in bondage for a long time and they're not able to serve God They're not able to freely so when they're not able to freely do You know what? They need to scripturally and spiritually and things such as that. Why did God allow that for so long? Right. I mean you have to ask yourself that question Why would God allow that for years and decades and hundreds of years were basically they weren't able to serve God Like why would God allow that? Because if they were able to serve God and read the scriptures and go soul winning there would be great benefits in that So why would God allow that to last so long and yet when you read closely The Bible is very clear that when they cried out to God God answered God was just waiting. I mean God knew that they needed to be let out of Egypt but he said you know what the people aren't ready yet and Honestly, what it's gonna take is Christians getting a hold of God and saying hey, we are powerless We need help. What are we gonna do? And I'll be honest. It's like man. I've been brought low to the point. That's the way I feel It's like I thought the worst was behind us and it's like man God step in here and Help us out because we can't do anything We're literally powerless All we want to do is freely serve God and be able to work That's that's really it be able to serve God work and just get our basic necessities, right? I don't think any of us are asking for the greatest life in the world or the we just want the basic Necessities here and just and you know what it's it's a difficult time right now in 2022 but we still have to believe that God does have the ability to step in if he chooses to But see here's the thing. You know what we aren't Calvinists We do believe that praying can basically change the results I don't think it's a mindless activity where God's just gonna do what he wants anyway No, I do believe that if my people shall humble themselves when I say if my people I don't mean my people Quoting the Bible if my people which includes me and all of us, right if my people shall humble themselves and and seek God I don't have the verse memorized but you know what I'm talking about in Chronicles then God will heal the land and I do believe that and you know what sometimes it takes being brought low Being humbled to have that sort of reaction because 48 hours ago, I was thinking man things are great What could go wrong? I mean everything's going great things are calmed down and then boom out of nowhere Everything was different go back to Genesis 16 Genesis 16 Genesis 16 That's what happens to Hannah and then she prays to God and God answers that request and sometimes it takes us being brought low To realize how powerless we are and you know what it's things like that that just remind us the difference between us and God Because we go about our lives. We don't think about it. And here's the thing if we really Meditated it upon it and thought about it and you know We'd spend a lot of time in prayer every day if we really believed in it Like the Bible says if we really believe that we were powerless then we would pray to God and ask for help But the fact that we don't pray that much oftentimes Shows that we think we can live our lives on our own without the help of God It's a very foolish thing when you think about it But I'm being honest that I'm like this sometimes you wake up you go about your day You don't even think about spending, you know, 15-20 minutes with God, but it's like we need God's help in 2022 We need God's help Genesis 16 verse 3 and Sarai Abram's wife took Hagar her maid the Egyptian after Abram had dwelt ten years in the land of Canaan and Gave her to her husband Abram to be his wife So we do see here that Hagar is the wife of Abram now people would ask. Well, what's the difference? You know between Hagar and Sarah they the exact same wife. Well This specific wife is referred to as a concubine and what a concubine is is a bond made that Becomes the spouse So it is a spouse but it is a bond made not a free woman that basically so it'd be like for example if somebody Owned slaves or whatever and they married one of their slaves or their servants and she's not free because she was actually Brought back from Egypt and she's basically working there and underneath the authority of Abram So it's basically a bond made that becomes a spouse is what a concubine wife would be and so This is his wife according to verse 3 notice what it says in verse 4 and when he went in on to Hagar and she conceived and when she saw that she had conceived her mistress was despised it in her eyes and Sir, I sit on to Abram my wrong be upon thee I have given my maid into thy bosom and when she saw that she had conceived I was despised it in her eyes the Lord judge between me and thee and so what's taking place Is that when Hagar actually gets pregnant she ends up actually? Hating Sarai now, this is interesting I'm not really sure whether or not she gets envious or whatever, but she ends up actually hating Sarai Over what took place and obviously Sarai or Sarah can tell this I mean she says this to her husband in the narrator confirms this in verse 4 It tells us this and Sarah can tell this in verse 5 and then she says I was despised it in her eye Then she says the Lord judge between me and me and she's saying the Lord's judge between me and She's actually referring to thee referring to Abram because that's who she's talking to but notice in verse 6 But Abram said unto Sarai behold thy maid is in thine hand Due to her as it pleaseth thee and when Sarai dealt hardly with her she fled from her face So basically what's taking place when when it says the Lord judge between me and thee Sarah is basically telling Abraham Without directly saying it. I want to get rid of Hagar. I want her to be gone She's saying hey this woman hates me, right? I'm your wife and this woman hates me and she's saying the Lord judge between me and thee she doesn't directly say What she wants? But Abraham can tell and you know, this is true Obviously many times people will not directly say something but they'll infer or expect you to get from the context Cuz she's saying the Lord judge between me and me and why is she saying between me and thee referring to Abraham? Well, cuz obviously if Abraham's gonna have a child with this woman He's gonna love his child and not what his child to be gone. He's gonna want to be a father Right to this child that's coming. So she says well the Lord judge what's the best in this situation? What I want versus what you want and it's basically her way of getting Abraham to do what she wants, right? I mean that's that's kind of what she's doing here And then it says what Abrams responses that I made is in thine hand due to her as it pleases The so basically Abraham listens to her. He says, okay. I'll let you pick what you want Right. The Lord doesn't really judge in this situation I mean, it's really just Sarah got what she want and Abraham let Sarah get what she want in this situation and When Sarah dealt hardly with her she fled from her face dealing hardly with her means she was basically You know mean to her or rude to her or abrasive to her or whatever and basically she showed Hagar that she wasn't wanted And remember Hagar was acting this way to Sarah because she hated her she despised her in her eyes Right and then Sarah's basically the same and the result is that Hagar ends up fleeing. She just leaves Okay Now, of course, this is a woman who is with child just kind of fleeing into the wilderness Doesn't that seem like a really foolish thing to do? I mean the Bible speaks about during the end times woe woe unto them that are with child in those days because obviously it's going to Be difficult to travel if you're with child It's not the time to travel and try to find a new place to live in the wilderness Right during this time period when you're with child, but that's what she's doing because she's emotional So we see that Sarah made a bad decision because of emotion earlier We see that Hagar makes a bad decision because of emotion as well Then it says this in verse 7 and the angel of the Lord found her by a fountain of water in the wilderness By the fountain in the way to sure and he said Hagar Sarah's made whence camest thou and whither wilt thou go now this is my favorite verse of the chapter and It's a really profound statement when you stop and think about what the angels sang and what he means by what he's saying The angel says to Hagar whence camest thou where did you come from? And whether wilt thou go where are you going and what the angels trying to get Hagar to think about is hey? Think about where you were before and what's your future situation is going to be? I mean is it going to be better for you to flee into the wilderness Right it was it better before Where did you come from where you had a home you had food he had a place to live I mean before where did you come from it wasn't that bad of? Course Sarah's mad at you you don't get along, but but isn't that better than dwelling in the wilderness When you're pregnant, and you don't know where you're going because the angels like where are you going? wither wilt thou go and She doesn't know She's pregnant Here's a woman She doesn't have financial means to provide us like where are you going and see this this basically comes back to this idea of The grass is always greener on the other side right you know That expression the grass is always greener on the other side And it's this idea that we oftentimes will look at something else and think well It would just be better if this took place Especially when we go through problems in our lives we get Emotional and then we think about our lives that we say man if I could just change this things would be great and Then you change things six months down the road if I could just change this and do this it would be great Then you're not happy Six months down the road you change it then all of a sudden you're in this noose if I could just change it And then you're just going your whole life Searching after happiness, and then the angels saying hey you had your best situation already You came from a decent situation. I mean you had a home you had food. I mean Abraham was rich Right I mean she had plenty. She had a place to say she had a nice living I mean a lot of people don't have that and Then she's gonna dwell in the wilderness, and there's not gonna be a father around for that child She's gonna be on her own providing. It's like. What are you doing? I mean when you really stop and think about what Hagar is doing in verse 8. It's foolish It's foolish, and that's exactly what the angel is saying the angels saying hey You know what you had a place to stay and now you don't even know what you're doing Whether what they'll go she doesn't even know the answer she has no idea where she's headed She's just ran and and here's the thing she's hanging out by a fountain of water in the wilderness you say why because she needs water to survive and She really doesn't want to leave that place because what is she gonna do when the water is gone I mean the number one thing you need for survival in the wilderness is water She leaves that water and goes. I mean this is a woman that's pregnant You're gonna travel for five hours without water. I mean it's it's foolish It doesn't make any sense does it and that's what the angels getting her to think about he's saying hey Whence came as thou? Where did you come from and wither wilt thou go basically what he's saying is hey? You know what the grass is always greener on the other side Hagar. You're emotional right now, but you know what? Your old situation think about this logically was better Than what your future situation is going to be if you leave Now of course Hagar situation before all this happened having a child with Abraham. Yeah, you know what it was better before Sarah didn't hate her there weren't those problems and everything, but you know sometimes in life We get to difficult situations and a tendency can be well. It's a difficult situation. I'm just gonna flee from it But the grass is always greener on the other side where are you headed to? Right wither wilt thou go is it even going to be better for you if you leave you have to be logical You can't base your decision simply off emotionalism if You base all your decisions on emotion you will destroy your life You have to think logically and be wise about situations now Go to Genesis 30 actually go to you know go to Galatians 4. We'll skip Genesis 30 go to Galatians 4 Galatians chapter 4 Now I want to preach too much on this because we're going to preach on in several weeks in Genesis And this is not a direct reference to Genesis 16. It's actually a future reference This is a short chapter though, so I want to go to this here because it there's the book of Galatians compares Hagar and Sarah and Isaac and Ishmael and I want you to start here in Galatians 4 verse 21 Galatians 4 verse 21 and Galatians is a great book to disprove You know the idea that the Jews presently are God's chosen people, but it says in Galatians 4 verse 21 Tell me ye that desire to be under the law. Do you not hear the law? For it is written that Abraham had two sons the one by a bondmaid the other by a free woman So obviously you know the the the son by the bondmaid referring to Hagar's child which is Ishmael The one by the free woman is referring to Isaac which comes from Sarah later on in the book of Genesis We have not reached that point yet. Okay now These are actually not the only two children of Abraham because later on he has a concubine wife Keturah And you know he has children with her, but this is a comparison of Isaac and Ishmael That's going to be mentioned here verse 23 But he who was of the bond woman was born after the flesh and so this is Ishmael being born of Hagar She's the bond woman She's the concubine wife But he of the free woman was by promise and obviously Isaac was promised that God was going to bless Abraham And you know through Sarah all nations of the earth shall be blessed It was by promise which things are an allegory for these are the two covenants the one from the Mount Sinai Which tendereth to bondage which is agar or Hagar For this agar is Mount Sinai in Arabia and answer to Jerusalem which now is and is in bondage with her children But Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of a soul and see here's the thing Hagar was not a free woman and so her having a son They're going to be she's in bondage with her children because she's not a free woman Right and now that's a literal story that's taking place in Genesis, but there's symbolism being mentioned here in Galatians verse 27 For it is written rejoice thou barren that bearest not break forth and cry thou the trivial snot for the desolate Hath many more children than she with has she which hath in husband and See the Bible says here in verse 27 that the desolate hath many more children than she which hath the husband now the desolate Is referring to basically Hagar in this analogy and she has many more children than the one who has the husband referring to Sarah Right. This is symbolism. This is an analogy that's being mentioned. Okay, it's all going to piece together here in a second Now we brethren as Isaac was are the children of promise But as then he that was born after the flesh persecuted him that was born after the spirit even so it is now Well the Bible is saying in verse 29 is that born after the flesh is referring to basically an unsafe person And there's many more unsafe people than there are safe people. Isn't that true? There's a whole lot more unsafe people than safe people in this world I don't know the percentage but I think all of us would agree. It's above 90% unsaved in this world I've never lived in an area where there was 10% of people saved. I never have maybe there's an area out there I've never experienced it myself Right everywhere I've ever lived the vast majority of people are unsaved and the Bible says this is going to be the case But it also said in verse 29 That he that was born after the flesh persecuted him that was born after the spirit even so it is now now This is going to be a reference later on Several chapters in Genesis were basically Ishmael's mocking Isaac that is going to be later on But yeah, we kind of see a forerunner to this as Hagar hates Sarah When she has a child Right, and this is true in 2022 that the unsaved world is going to persecute and hate the safe people Isn't that what takes place in 2022? Unsafe people do not like the things we believe in that we stand for and it says as then But As then he that was born after the flesh persecuted him that was born after the spirit even so it is now So back in that day four thousand plus years ago four thousand years ago or whatever the unsaved Persecuted the saved and what do we see today the unsaved persecute the saved? look if we had a church in a Muslim country and We try to preach the gospel. What do you think's gonna happen? They're gonna kill us they're gonna throw us in jail You try to preach the gospel in predominantly Hindu countries. Nepal and India are the two predominantly Hindu countries. What's gonna happen? They're gonna kill you. They're gonna persecute you you say but brother Stuckey. There's lots of Christians in India No, no, not real Christians. I Mean, yeah, you know what there's Catholics and even they're getting persecuted Right, even that the non real Christians are getting persecuted I mean it look if you went to a Buddhist country you say brother second the Buddhists are pacifists, right? Well, you can read articles online about them, you know persecuting and killing Christians and we're not even necessarily talking about save people But just the idea of anything against what they teach they're gonna persecute it right Look if you started a church in Thailand or Cambodia Which I believe are the two biggest Buddhist countries by percentage and you zealously preach like we do here We would be majorly persecuted Majorly per we get few people saved and we get majorly persecuted now Of course those areas of the world need churches or at least people preaching the gospel or something over there as well But you know what? It's actually a blessing just to have a church in a Christian country Right now obviously I say Christian country because the vast majority of people are unsaved However, it's a lot easier to get a Catholic saved than a Buddhist At least they have the Trinity at least they have some basic ideas of Jesus They believe in a physical resurrection of Jesus. They believe in some of these things right if We started a church in areas where they were unsaved. We would be majorly persecuted. Not only that though I mean if you were just around unsaved people all the time and you just freely said the things that you believed and quoted The Bible they get mad at you. They persecute you isn't that what happens to us? When we're around unsaved people and you just quote the Bible people get mad they get offended It's like I didn't even know I said anything Right. I mean you say something you think is innocent and then people get offended people get mad at what you say You say why is that? Well as Then in the past those born after the flesh persecute those born after the spirit even so it is now same thing Nothing new under the Sun Cain persecuted Abel Right all the way back to gent before the flood the unsaved persecute the safe same thing now Now, of course, we understand that the children of the devil would be the biggest persecutors of us. Of course, we know that But the unsaved are going to persecute the safe now doesn't mean that every unsaved person is going to hate you It's not what I'm saying Of course, you can be at peace with unsaved people to some degree that are your co-workers and things such as that But the bottom line is the things that we believe and stand for are just different than what the world stands for They don't have the same opinion about things. They look at things differently and you say brother Stuckey It's so difficult in 2022 because you know believing the Bible and standing for the things the Bible It's like everybody's against it as then even so it is now Same thing thousands of years ago now. The only difference would be this The issues that the world has a problem with may be different than they were thousands of years ago There were things that are just biblical things that nowadays people would get mad at that in the past They wouldn't think anything up. For example, you know 50 years ago preach against the LGBT preach Genesis 19 Nobody's offended everybody agrees But there would have been things 50 years ago that if you said thus saith the Lord, how dare you say that? Right because it's always gonna be that way as then Even so it is now there's nothing new under the Sun now, of course There are certain times where there's more persecution or less persecution Depending on where you live the situation might be a little bit different or the thing that people get mad at I mean if you live in a country with a lot of idols, they're gonna get offended when you preach against idolatry Whereas if you live in a country with no idols, that's not going to be their issue Because that's not against their customs, right? Here they could get pretty offended about what you're gonna like what I'm gonna preach You know on this weekend since is the Feast of the Black Nazarene weekend, even though, you know We're not gonna I guess it's I don't know if they're gonna have that or not this year but it's like well, I'm gonna be preaching against idolatry because you know every second week first second week of January and it's just like The world here in the Philippines they get upset about that Because it's very common right Turn in your Bible actually look at verse 30 Verse 30 nevertheless what saith the scripture cast out the bond woman and her son for the son of the bond woman should not be Heir with the son of the free woman So then brethren we are not children of the bond woman but of the free Bottom line is these people can get mad at us as much as they want It doesn't change the fact that we are going to inherit heaven forever, and they're not it doesn't matter how powerful they are on earth Now I'll be honest with you Even though things are more difficult than they were as I said 48 hours ago Things are not that difficult in our country right now compared to other parts of the world compared to Shadrach Meshach and Abednego Right. I mean people have lived through a lot more persecution than this There was a day when getting baptized meant the death penalty like literally you're basically Committing suicide by getting baptized because it was illegal by the death penalty Now there are many things today that are illegal that are things that I don't agree with But you know what you don't get the death penalty for doing them. You don't get the death penalty for doing baptisms I don't know right now whether it's illegal or legal legal to have baptisms I know it used to be illegal in the Philippines in the last like a year ago They made it illegal or whatever baptisms. I think but You didn't get killed for it though right I never read anything on the news if somebody got killed for getting baptized Right, it's not that bad now. I mean obviously you know what it I Told it to one of my friends in Manila. I said you know what it's like it feels like you know Just getting sucker punched by Mike Tyson in the stomach. You know you didn't see it coming and then boom it's like man I never saw this coming But you know it's really not that bad compared to other parts of the world go to Genesis 16 Genesis 16 Genesis 16 As I said what we can do is for the next couple weeks We can really pray about the fact that if my people shall humble themselves and seek God Then God can heal the land and God can change What the plan is in this country from leaders? We should believe that God has that power and We need to believe that we're helpless. We need to rely on God This is something I'm going to try to be committed to every single day. Just really praying earnestly Hey, God Can we please just go back to the country being freer and open and people can freely work and freely have Church We need to pray for it Genesis 16 verse 8 and he said hey Garth Sarah's made whence cameest thou and whither wilt thou go and she said I flee from the face of my mistress Sarah Now notice she says where she came from she doesn't really say where she's going She's saying hey, I'm fleeing from Sarah, so I was there I came from Sarah I'm fleeing from her, but she doesn't have a plan where she's actually going Right I mean, she's just wandering in the wilderness now I Wouldn't want to wander in the wilderness in 2022 like what I mean symbolically is just Randomly moving to a location without a plan. I don't think that would be a good idea But she's literally just like walking in the wilderness I mean she literally is this is a dangerous situation for a pregnant woman It's not wise and the angel Lord said unto her return to thy mistress and submit thyself under her hands And the angel Lord said unto her I will multiply thy seed exceedingly that it should not be numbered for multitude And the angel of the Lord said unto her behold thou with child and shall bear a son and shall call his name Ishmael Because the Lord hath heard thy affliction and the angel says hey, you know what go back and submit yourself Anyway, this is what the Bible teaches about authority even if your authority is rude to you or mean to you It doesn't change the fact. That's your authority I mean she did the wrong thing by leaving just for the fact that she's not free to leave I mean she's a bondmaid I mean, yes, Sarah's trying to get rid of her and I understand that but basically this is her master And even though Sarah wants to get rid of her if she submits herself and is very humble then She'll be able to stay there basically and that's what the angels saying Because obviously Sarah wanted to get rid of her and the angel says go back and submit yourself So here's the thing if she went back and submitted herself and said hey, I'm sorry. I was being mean to you Then you know what Sarah obviously accepts her back, right? So Even if you have authority that you don't like the Bible teaches you're supposed to submit to that authority and being humble and saying you're Sorry will help in situations like that. Both sides are wrong in this both Hagar and Sarah in this situation But the Bible is very clear that Hagar did hate Sarah If she didn't hate Sarah, then she would have never had you know Sarah come at her like that and have to leave to begin with right now Let me just read you a couple things from as we're here in Genesis 16 because we do have some extra time Let me read you about Hagar in Islam in the religion of Islam and a different teaching they have on Hagar It says this about Hagar and it's spelled slightly differently with the J instead of a G The Arabic name for the biblical Hagar was the wife of the patriarch and Islamic prophet Ibrahim which is Abraham and their mother of Ishmael She is a revered woman in the Islamic faith according to Muslim belief She was a slave and of Egyptian king who gifted her to Ibrahim's wife Sarah Abraham's wife Sarah although not mentioned by name in the Quran She is referenced and alluded to via the story of her husband She eventually settled in the desert of Peran seen as the hajaz in the Islamic view with her son Ishmael Hagar is honored as an especially important matriarch of monotheism as it was through Ishmael That Muhammad would come and so they basically elevate Hagar to a level above Sarah What they teach is she was actually every bit fully as much a wife as Sarah was and as I said Hagar was the wife of Abraham according to Genesis 16, but she was a concubine wife. She was not a free woman. So However, you want to say it. It's not the same thing, right? But that's not the way they look at it in the Islamic faith They believe that Hagar was actually just as much on the same level and they say well Ishmael came You know from her and that's where the Muslims come from. That's where Muhammad would come They actually elevate her above Sarah in the Islamic teaching and elevate Ishmael above Isaac in Islamic teaching I mean there's different opinions about this but most Muslims and most of their scholars will say that in Genesis 22 Abraham was sacrificing his son Ishmael not Isaac, right? You know the story where Abraham goes with Isaac and he has two servants and His God will provide himself the land for a burnt offering in the Quran. It doesn't mention the name Many times in the Quran it does not mention names I don't know if they want to try to make their stories vague so you can have different opinions I'm not really sure but Most of them say well that's actually referring to Ishmael and not Isaac. That's what they teach So they basically overhaul what the Bible teaches about Hagar and Sarah Ishmael and Isaac they teach basically very opposite of what the Bible teaches and It says in verse number 13 or verse number 12 I should say and he will be a wild man His hand will be against every man and every man's hand against him and he shall dwell in the presence of all his brethren Now when it says he's going to be a wild man That doesn't mean that he's going to be a reprobate It doesn't mean he's going to turn into an animal or anything What it's saying is he's going to be a man that's filled full of a lot of fighting though It says his hand will be against every man and every man's hand against him so he is going to be a man who's going to be involved in battles and he's going to be involved in wars and I don't know whether you could make this analogy or not But I would say the lineage if you look at the Arabic part of the world is very much filled with war I mean, that's definitely true. I'm not sure if I'm making an accurate. I'm not saying that's my interpretation I'm just saying it's kind of interesting that his lineage You know kind of ties down with that now Of course when we look back at the history of these people and genealogies We can't be a hundred percent for sure and stuff I'm just giving a general application that not only Ishmael But the Arabic part of the world is definitely filled full of a lot of war and they always have been they always will be That's actually how Islam as a religion is spread They just spread based on war and they basically force people to convert. That's why it became a major religion but Let me read you about Ishmael in Islam Ishmael is the figure known in Judaism Judaism Christianity and Islam as Abraham's son born to Hagar in Islam Ishmael is regarded as a prophet and an ancestor to Muhammad He also became associated with Mecca and the construction of the Kaaba these sources include the Quran, Quranic commentary, Hadith historiographic collections like that of Muhammad, Ibn Jarir, al-Tabari and Israelite Islamic texts about Biblical or ancient Israelite figures that originate from Jewish or Christian sources now Let me read you about what it says about Ishmael and the sacrifice that I mentioned Muslims believe that Abraham was told to sacrifice his son Ishmael Though the Quran does not mention the name of the son So this is from a Muslim website that says this this is what they believe So it's not just my opinion the vast majority of Muslims believe this now as I said It doesn't specifically say the name of Ishmael or Isaac So there could be some Muslims that would say that it was Isaac, but from what I understand 95% of them Basically, plus believe it was Ishmael in Genesis 22. Well, I mean they don't mention the name So it's very vague and yet, you know, what's interesting is that actually go to Genesis 22 Let me just show to you show you how specific the Bible is with this It's actually just got done memorizing Genesis 22. So it's kind of fresh in my mind And Let me see the verse I'm looking for and Just start here verse number one. I'll just show this to you It says and it came to pass after these things Genesis 22 that God did tempt Abraham and said unto Abraham and he said behold here I am now Let me just point out that when God is tempting Abraham It doesn't mean he's trying to get him to commit a sin it tempt can also mean a word like being tested Right, so it's not necessarily, you know Temptation as in Tempted to commit a sin, but just being tested or proved God obviously doesn't try to get us to sin It's not like we're going about our day and God's like, well, let me see if I can get you drunk, right? That's not the way God operates So God is tempting him meaning he's testing him and we see that in the story Verse 2 and he said take now thy son Thine only son Isaac whom thou lovest and see the whole chapter reads this way where it makes it just very Specific it doesn't just say take now thy son But then it's very specific on it being Isaac and see the way it reads in Genesis 22 verse 2 is That God always intended Isaac to be the son He didn't intend for Ishmael that was a sin that caused that to happen because he says take now thy son thine only son Isaac because Isaac is the Legitimate son and the way Genesis 22 reads The Bible is very very specific which son it is It's not a vague thing of who could this be and you know what that is one difference between the Bible and other Religious books the Bible is very specific It gives you the place Gives you the time. I mean many of the stories in the Quran It will say well this miracle took place, but it won't tell you the location Won't tell you the time frame and there's no witnesses It's just like, you know, this Muhammad did this, you know magic trick sort of thing. It's just like okay Well, who are the witnesses? Right and see this is that and you say well, why wouldn't they be specific? Well you You wouldn't be specific if you're afraid that they can realize it's false or it's fake The Bible though wants everything to be verified. So it's very specific take now thy son thine only son Isaac It's not like well, we don't know who it is as I read earlier Hagar in Islam. They don't mention her name Right. It's just like they say she's she's not mentioned in the accounts So you don't really know in these stories, but the Bible is very specific on everything that's taking place Let me also read you about is About Ishmael and one other religion and that is in the religion known as Baha'i now the Baha'i faith is one of 12 religions listed as having five million plus people and What the Baha'i faith is is kind of like an offshoot cult of Islam and what the Baha'i faith is is They believe that Jesus was a prophet They believe that Muhammad was a prophet and then they believe in a 19th century prophet Baha'u'llah and there's a couple other prophets that they have but basically they believe that all of these prophets from Jude from Judaism are true prophets and then basically it went to Christianity and then it went to Islam and then it went to them basically because what they Believe is God works differently during different time periods so basically during this time period God speaks with this method and then he kind of changes and It says the scriptures of the Baha'i faith state that it was Ishmael and not Isaac who was the son Abraham almost sacrificed So in the Baha'i faith, they're very specific saying it's Ishmael in Genesis 22. They're not vague about it Baha'i's beliefs are sometimes described as syncretic combinations of earlier religious beliefs Baha'is however assert that their religion is a distinct tradition with its own scriptures teachings laws and history Their religion was initially seen as a sect of Islam or a denomination of Islam Because of its belief in the prophethood of Muhammad and in the authenticity and veracity of the Quran Most religious specialists now see it as an independent religion with its religious background in Shia Islam Being seen as analogous to the Jewish context in which Christianity was established Muslim institutions and clergy both Sunni and Shia consider Baha'is to be deserters or apostates from Islam Which was led to Baha'is being persecuted Baha'is describe their faith as an independent world religion Differing from the other tradition in this relative age and in the appropriateness of Baha'is teachings in the modern context Baha'u'llah is believed to fulfill the messianic expectations of these precursor faiths. So basically this religion of Baha'i What they basically teach is that God works differently during different time periods And so basically God could be completely different here and say this But that doesn't really apply in The 20th century or the 21st century, right? Well, we don't believe that because the Bible says I am the Lord I change not God doesn't change Right and look as we saw earlier in the chapter, you know We see that people make bad decisions based on emotion. Imagine that people make bad decisions based on emotion today We saw that the grass is always greener on the other side according to Genesis, you know 16 Guess what the grass is always green on the other side in 2022 people look at something that might happen Oh, it would fix all my problems. No, it won't It won't fix all your problems. You're gonna have problems. No matter where you go. The Bible is timeless We can still read it as our source of life today Genesis 16 verse 13. Let's close up Genesis 16 verse 13 and She called the name of that of the Lord that spake unto her thou God seest me for she said have I also here looked After him that seeeth me wherefore that the well was called beer beer La jay Roy behold is between Kadish and Barrett and Hagar bear Abram a son and Abram called his son's name Which Hagar bear Ishmael and Abram was four score and six years old when Hagar bear Ishmael to Abram, so She goes back submits to Sarah and then she's basically underneath the authority of Sarah and then she's Her maid and everything. She has a child with Abraham as a result of this and everything now Look, I I promise you that that Sarah and Hagar they probably weren't the best of friends over the next 13 years I'm not saying that I doubt they sent Christmas cards or made Christmas cookies for one another or whatever Right, but it's better than dwelling in the wilderness Right, you know one thing to think about is this, you know, it's like for example Let's say you have a job right and let's say you're frustrated with your job. It's not going well You know, my boss is mean to me I've got all these problems, but that's still better than not having a job Right and the tendency can be man. I'm frustrated. I'm just gonna quit but then it's like well, what's your plan? I don't know And I use that as an example because I know many people that Would quit jobs and just they don't know what they're gonna do, right? And it's like there's nothing wrong with putting a job if you've got a better job on the horizon But if you don't it's a it's a huge risk to take Right unless you have something better and look I've had jobs where people yelled at me They weren't nice jobs, but I was like and here's the thing If I if I had a better job option, I would have taken it But I didn't so it's like well, I guess I get yelled at it's just the way it is But it's better for Hagar to be underneath the authority of Sarah even though it's not gonna be the best relationship even though it's gonna be frustrating and she basically will stay underneath that authority until later on when Isaac's born and Ishmael mocks Isaac and Then all of a sudden cast out the bottom woman and her son, which is what Galatians 4 references But this is what we see here in Genesis 16, basically You know what? The big points would be reminded of is the grass is always greener on the other side of this closing order prayer your Heavenly Father Thank you for allowing us be here today and getting to see a word in this topic and help us To apply this sermon to our lives and and we know the Bible is timeless even though this was