THURSDAY, September 4th, 2008

What a wonderful evening we had last night! I enjoyed it thoroughly! Everything from the Ninja Warrior opening, to our very own personal Suncoast Youth Ninja Warrior, to the message about how Abraham was proved his love to God by obeying God and Trusting God! We must do the same!

Many of you were extremely transparent in your devotions yesterday. I am very thankful for that! Several of you mentioned how hard it is to stay faithful in your devotions. I agree. I have never been as faithful in my devotions in my life as I am at this moment.

I would encourage you to make it your first priority. Write it on your hand. Really meditate on the passage! any and ALL THE ABOVE are so important to maintain a faithful time in Gods Word!!

1 And the LORD visited Sarah as He had said, and the LORD did for Sarah as He had spoken.
2 For Sarah conceived and bore Abraham a son in his old age, at the set time of which God had spoken to him.
3 And Abraham called the name of his son who was born to him—whom Sarah bore to him—Isaac.
4 Then Abraham circumcised his son Isaac when he was eight days old, as God had commanded him.
5 Now Abraham was one hundred years old when his son Isaac was born to him.
6 And Sarah said, “God has made me laugh, and all who hear will laugh with me.”
7 She also said, “Who would have said to Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? For I have borne him a son in his old age.”

Hagar and Ishmael Depart
8 So the child grew and was weaned. And Abraham made a great feast on the same day that Isaac was weaned.
9 And Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, whom she had borne to Abraham, scoffing.
10 Therefore she said to Abraham, “Cast out this bondwoman and her son; for the son of this bondwoman shall not be heir with my son, namely with Isaac.”
11 And the matter was very displeasing in Abraham’s sight because of his son.
12 But God said to Abraham, “Do not let it be displeasing in your sight because of the lad or because of your bondwoman. Whatever Sarah has said to you, listen to her voice; for in Isaac your seed shall be called.
13 Yet I will also make a nation of the son of the bondwoman, because he is your seed.”
14 So Abraham rose early in the morning, and took bread and a skin of water; and putting it on her shoulder, he gave it and the boy to Hagar, and sent her away. Then she departed and wandered in the Wilderness of Beersheba.
15 And the water in the skin was used up, and she placed the boy under one of the shrubs.
16 Then she went and sat down across from him at a distance of about a bowshot; for she said to herself, “Let me not see the death of the boy.” So she sat opposite him, and lifted her voice and wept.
17 And God heard the voice of the lad. Then the angel of God called to Hagar out of heaven, and said to her, “What ails you, Hagar? Fear not, for God has heard the voice of the lad where he is.
18 Arise, lift up the lad and hold him with your hand, for I will make him a great nation.”
19 Then God opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water. And she went and filled the skin with water, and gave the lad a drink.
20 So God was with the lad; and he grew and dwelt in the wilderness, and became an archer.
21 He dwelt in the Wilderness of Paran; and his mother took a wife for him from the land of Egypt.
A Covenant with Abimelech
22 And it came to pass at that time that Abimelech and Phichol, the commander of his army, spoke to Abraham, saying, “God is with you in all that you do.
23 Now therefore, swear to me by God that you will not deal falsely with me, with my offspring, or with my posterity; but that according to the kindness that I have done to you, you will do to me and to the land in which you have dwelt.”
24 And Abraham said, “I will swear.”
25 Then Abraham rebuked Abimelech because of a well of water which Abimelech’s servants had seized.
26 And Abimelech said, “I do not know who has done this thing; you did not tell me, nor had I heard of it until today.”
27 So Abraham took sheep and oxen and gave them to Abimelech, and the two of them made a covenant.
28 And Abraham set seven ewe lambs of the flock by themselves.
29 Then Abimelech asked Abraham, “What is the meaning of these seven ewe lambs which you have set by themselves?”
30 And he said, “You will take these seven ewe lambs from my hand, that they may be my witness that I have dug this well.”
31 Therefore he called that place Beersheba, because the two of them swore an oath there.
32 Thus they made a covenant at Beersheba. So Abimelech rose with Phichol, the commander of his army, and they returned to the land of the Philistines.
33 Then Abraham planted a tamarisk tree in Beersheba, and there called on the name of the LORD, the Everlasting God.
34 And Abraham stayed in the land of the Philistines many days.

This is a very busy chapter, and there are some VERY Important situations that we should take note of.

Although there are many different applications in this chapter, I want to look at two main points. First I want you to understand verses 8-20. WOW! This is incredible! Do you remember Ishmael? He is the son that Abraham had with Sarahs bondservant (Hagar). Well, If you remember correctly I explained that Ishmael is the direct ancestor to the modern day Arab people...

Isaac was the chosen son to carry on the lineage of Christ, but Ishmael was the son a a servant and He would be cast out of the family.

Have you ever seen Drama in your life? Well, I am sure that you have... I think it is interesting that we see Drama even here in the first book of the Bible. Let me explain: Verse 9 says that Sarah saw Hagar scoffing, or making fun of Her and her son Isaac... [ just so you know... dont ever mock the woman of the house... that is not a smart thing to do! [Trust Me!] :)

Well Sarah did not like that and so she kicked Hagaar out of their home. Hagaar left and had no place to go. She literally thought that she was going to die from dehydration in the middle of the desert. Hagar even went to the point of placing Ishmael under a bush to die so that she would not have to watch him die. THAT IS HEARTBREAKING!!

To be completely transparent, I will say this, but I want you to understand this is how deceitful the flesh is... My flesh tells me that it would not have been a bad thing to have Ishmael die right there under that bush, because then we would not have all of this global conflict between the Arab nations and the rest of the world. But THAT IS WRONG. Let me share the reason why: God, had mercy on Ishamel. God Loved Ishmael. God still loves Ishmaels descendants today.

There is a passage in the book of Colossians that says: Yes! God loves the chosen ones, but He also loves the sons of the bondservants. Who are we to judge them!

If God loves them, then we should love them as well and strive to share the gospel with the Arab nations and the Muslim nations around the world today.

I could go on and on about that, but I won't. I will just make all of my thoughts clear with this one sentance: If God loves and died for ALL MANKIND, then who am I to pick and choose who I like, and who I want to get saved, and who I want to go to Heaven. That is not my choice!

The second and final thought I want to share with you is this: Abraham could not be trusted by the King. Why? Because he was already dishonest. Abraham lost his character and integrity because of that decision. The results: It made it harder for people to believe him later on in life.

Be honest all the time, then you do not need to promise because the world will know that whatever you say is always the truth... The Bible puts it this way: Let your yay be yay and your nay be nay.

Be Honest!

I hope you got as much out of this passage as I did.... make sure you come back on tomorrow because it will be a great study on Abraham and Isaac. It is the same passage that I preached on last night about Abrahams trial in offering up Isaac for a sacrifice.