Genesis 2/25/17

GENESIS

February 25, 2017

 By Pastor Kim Hickcox

(All Scripture taken from One New Man Bible unless otherwise noted.)

Genesis chapter 16 holds a rather difficult eternal Truth or God ordinance, if you will. In fact, the whole chapter is a bit odd by today’s standards. The first three verses give us the jist: “Now Sarai, Abram’s wife, bore him no children, but she had a handmaid, an Egyptian, who name was Hagar. ²And Sarai said to Abram, ‘Look now, the LORD has restrained me from bearing. Please, go in to my maid. It may be that I may obtain children by her.’ And Abram heeded the voice of Sarai. ³And Abram’s wife took Hagar her Egyptian maid, after Abram had dwelled ten years in the land of Canaan and gave her to her husband Abram to be his wife.” (Genesis16:1-3)

Now I ask you in all seriousness, what does that sound like to you – us trying to figure out how God is going to do what He promised to do, or a Holy Spirit revelation? Let’

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Subject: This week's message. And it's on WOW's facebook page too. Thanks Pastor Sam!!

GENESIS

February 25, 2017

(All Scripture taken from One New Man Bible unless otherwise noted.)

Genesis chapter 16 holds a rather difficult eternal Truth or God ordinance, if you will. In fact, the whole chapter is a bit odd by today’s standards. The first three verses give us the jist: “Now Sarai, Abram’s wife, bore him no children, but she had a handmaid, an Egyptian, who name was Hagar. ²And Sarai said to Abram, ‘Look now, the LORD has restrained me from bearing. Please, go in to my maid. It may be that I may obtain children by her.’ And Abram heeded the voice of Sarai. ³And Abram’s wife took Hagar her Egyptian maid, after Abram had dwelled ten years in the land of Canaan and gave her to her husband Abram to be his wife.” (Genesis16:1-3)

Now I ask you in all seriousness, what does that sound like to you – us trying to figure out how God is going to do what He promised to do, or a Holy Spirit revelation? Let’s just give this idea a gigantic OOPS and move on. But as with all our brilliant I know what I’ll do ideas that had no business being carried out in the first place, it carried major consequences.

LESSON #1: NEVER try to figure out how God is going to fulfill a promise in your life. Because the minute you do – I guarantee you with everything that I hold sacred and 27 years of experience to back it up – you’re wrong! First of all, if we have figured something out then it makes sense, and if it makes sense then God doesn’t get the glory. And even when we swear and believe with all our heart that He did it, the unbelieving world just says, ‘Yea, yea, yea – whatever blows you hair back’ and rolls their eyes at you. Because it made sense. Why would anyone [who didn’t believe] be tempted to bring Divine Intervention into play when whatever was done made perfectly good sense in the first place?

You’re absolutely right – they wouldn’t. So what do we do?

We pray. We wait. We worship. We stay obedient. And remember: the lack of hearing no doesn’t mean yes and vice versa. Wait – Pray – Worship – Stay obedient – Do what you know you should do and He will do what you can’t! All I can tell you is that if you wait and listen, you will eventually [in His time, not yours] hear His voice. You will just know in your heart what the next move is. “I AM the Good Shepherd and I know My sheep and My sheep know Me.” (John 10:14)

So let’s see what happened next: “And he went in to Hagar and she conceived and when she saw that she had conceived, her mistress was despised in her eyes. ⁵And Sarai said to Abram, ‘My wrong is upon you, It’s your fault! I have given my maid into your bosom, and when she saw that she had conceived, I was despised in her eyes. The LORD judge between me and you.’ ⁶But Abram said to Sarai, ‘Behold your maid is in your hand. Do with her as it pleases you.’ And when Sarai dealt harshly with her, she fled from her face.” (Genesis 16:4-6)

So she leaves and who can blame her? While on the run, “the angel of the LORD said to her, ‘I shall multiply your seed exceedingly, that it will not be numbered for multitude.’ ¹¹And the angel of the LORD said to her, ‘Behold, you are with child and will bear a son, and will call his name Ishmael because the LORD has heard your affliction. ¹²And Ishmael will be a wild man. His hand will be against every man and every man’s hand against him, and he will dwell in the presence of all his brothers.’” (Genesis 16:10-12)

Now this doesn’t sound like a prophecy that I’d get all excited about, but at least she knew that they would survive and be blessed with more descendants. Genesis 25:12-18 gives you the descendants of Ishmael: “…twelve princes according to their tribes. ¹⁷And these are the years of the life of Ishmael, a hundred thirty-seven years, and he expired and died and was gathered to his people. And they dwelled from Havilah to Shur that is before Egypt, as you go toward Assyria: he died in the presence of all his brothers.” (vss 16b-18)

And Ishmael is the father of the Arabic people, who are now the national source of the Muslim religion, which is why, from its inception to today, Islam feels the land Israel holds is rightly theirs because Ishmael was Abram’s first born and he of course is ascribed as the father of their people also. And THIS is why the conflict over the land of Israel will never be resolved until Messiah returns! (BIG oops Sarai! And Abram – you should have prayed first!)

Aside from being Abram’s son, why do you suppose he and Hagar were so blessed? The answer lies in Genesis 16:7-9 & 13-16, “And the angel of the LORD found her by a fountain of water in the wilderness, by the fountain on the way to Shur. ⁸And he said, ‘Hagar, Sarai’s maid, where did you come from? And where will you go?’ And she said, ‘I am fleeing from the face of my mistress Sarai.’ ⁹And the angel of the LORD said to her, ‘Return to your mistress and submit yourself to her.’…¹³And she called the name of the LORD that spoke to her, ‘You are El-Ro’i’ for she said, ‘Have I also here looked to Him Who sees me?’ ¹⁴Therefore the well was called ‘Beer-Lakhai-Ro’i.’ Behold it is between Kadesh and Bered. ¹⁵And Hagar bore Abram a son, and Abram called his son’s name that Hagar bore, Ishmael. ¹⁶And Abram was eighty-six years old when Hagar bore Ismael to Abram.”

So when Hagar decided that the LORD was with her, she called Him El-Ro’i which in Hebrew means God Sees Me. Then she named the well she was at (a very common practice at the time), Beer-Lakhai-Ro’i, which in Hebrew means The Well of The Living One Who Sees Me. She and Ishmael started off on the right spiritual path. It wasn’t until thousands of years later that one of his descendants went awry.

But the reason for their blessings is found in her obedience to verse 9: “And the angel of the LORD said to her, ‘Return to your mistress and submit yourself to her.’”

2^nd John 8, “You must watch out for yourselves, that you would not lose what we all worked for, but that you would receive a full reward.” How do we make sure of that?

LESSON #2: 1^st Peter 2:13-17, “You must now be subordinate to every human institution in creation for the sake of the Lord, whether to a king as in authority, ¹⁴or to governors who are sent by him for punishment of evildoers and for praise of those who do good: ¹⁵because so is the will of God that by doing good you muzzle ignorant talk of foolish people, ¹⁶as free people and, since you have freedom, do not use it as a pretext for evil things, but as servants of God. ¹⁷You must now honor all people, you must constantly love the brotherhood, you must continually fear God, honor the king.”

Let’s combine 2^nd John 8 with 1^st Peter 2:17. “You must watch out for yourselves, that you would not lose what we all worked for, but that you would receive a full reward.” “You must now honor all people, you must constantly love the brotherhood, you must continually fear God, honor the king.”

Do you want your FULL REWARD? Not just in heaven, but do you want ALL that God has for you? Your FULL destiny? Your FULL healing? Your FULL Spiritual inheritance – here on earth? I honestly believe, through deep conviction this morning by the Lord, that this is what most of us don’t take serious enough: You must now honor all people.

Check out Hannah and Eli in 1^st Samuel 1:9-20

Check out David and King Saul in 1st Samuel 24:9-16

Check out Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego and Nebuchadnezzar in Daniel chapter 3.

“You must now honor all people, you must constantly love the brotherhood, you must continually fear God, honor the king.” And WATCH what the Lord will do with you, for you and through you!

SHALOM!!