Book of Genesis - Ch. 20, Vs. 9-Ch. 21, Vs. 19 (10/15/2000)

Park Meadows Church

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We're traveling with Abraham. He just got himself in trouble with Abimelech.

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We're in Genesis the 20th chapter in the ninth verse. Then Abimelech called

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Abraham and said unto him, What hast thou done unto us? And what have

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I offended thee? For that thou hast brought on me and on my kingdom a great sin.

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Thou hast done deeds unto me that ought not to have been done. And Abimelech said unto

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Abraham, What sawest thou that thou had done this thing? And Abraham said,

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Well because I thought, surely the fear of God is not in this place and they will slay me for my wife's sake.

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Let me ask you Bill, how could God say that Abraham had faith?

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You're so right. And yet indeed she is my sister.

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She is the daughter of my father but not the daughter of my mother. And she became my wife.

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And it came to pass when God caused me to wander from my father's house that I said unto her,

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This is thy kindness which thou shalt show unto me. At every place whether we shall come, say of me, he is my brother.

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So now we find out that before they ever left Ur of Chaldea that they had decided on this type of approach wherever they went.

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And Abimelech took sheep and oxen and men servants and women servants and gave them unto

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Abraham and restored Sarah his wife. Isn't it a little strange that the conduct of some worldly men is often a reproof to professed

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Christians. It should arouse us and make us ashamed to have more confidence in God and a greater devotion to his service.

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In lots of cases the world knows more of what we're supposed to do and the way we're supposed to act than it seems like we do.

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And that's a shame. 15. And Abimelech said, Behold my land is before thee.

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Dwell where it pleases you. Now listen to what he tells

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Sarah. And unto Sarah he said, Behold I have given thy brother a thousand pieces of silver.

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Behold he is to thee a covering of the eyes unto all that are with thee and with all others.

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Thus she was reproved. Now let's see if we can figure out what he meant by covering of your eyes.

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Clarence, what do you think? You don't?

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All right. Diane, what do you think? A covering for your eyes.

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Virge? I don't know, but I wasn't saying to try to look forward, keep your eyes in place and belong to you naturally.

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Fred? No, I think it means that she is to thee a covering of the eyes.

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I mean, he is to thee a covering of the eyes. It meant that by being called her brother, that other people would look upon the brother and not upon her.

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She protected him in that respect. All right.

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Charlie, what do you think? Well, I think that he's telling her that Abraham in spirit should be a covering to her eyes.

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She should not tell a lie or look otherwise. He was not her husband.

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And her eyes should be closed to anything other than him. All right.

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That's good. David, you've had time to think now. Sometimes, even today in those parts of the world, the women wear a veil.

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Maybe it means that if Diane told the truth and that he had said

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I'm her husband, then it would have caused the other man to cover their eyes when she walked by and stood looking at him.

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He was taken by her husband. And he's recruiting her and saying she should have told the truth.

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If you told me he was your husband, I wouldn't have even looked at you. All right. John? I don't think

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I've commanded anything. Anybody say it? Charlotte? Has everybody run out?

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I guess. Yes. She should be more modest, maybe.

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More what? Modest. Modest. Well, let me back up to a statement

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David made. Joy, you want to say something? Yes. I think referring back to verse 5, we see that she's the one that says he is my brother.

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So she spoke out to him. And he's telling her that the husband should be in charge and that her umbrella or her covering, she should move out from that covered eye, of course, and immediately wear that covering over there.

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All right. For those part of that, I think, in our view of Christ, or God, Christ is offered through nothing that we do as a covering for our sin, or as a sacrifice for a covering for the sin.

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And here, Amalek has made an offering, and he has made a restitution for the bad doings.

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But the bad doings were not his. The bad doings really were Abraham's and Sarah's.

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So I thought that what he was saying is, here I have made the payment for your misdoings.

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All right. One statement David made was that they were veils. David, can you elaborate a little bit on that?

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When did they wear a veil, and when did they not? Well, they wore a veil up until the fall of the 1780s.

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I think even after that, the veils, they wore them in public.

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All right. Let me see if you understand this statement. Wedlock is padlock.

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Does that mean anything to anybody? He was telling her everything that you all have said.

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You brought out some good points. That he is the covering of your eyes.

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You look to no one else. You look to him. And we find this throughout, even back in Genesis, in the first of Genesis, where Adam made the statement that her desire—

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No, the Lord told her at the sin punishment that her desire will be unto her husband.

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She is to look to her husband for everything. Support, protection, love, everything.

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I've been like saying almost the same thing in different words. But you brought out some mighty good points.

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17. As Abraham prayed unto God. So Abraham prayed unto God, and God healed

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Abimelech and his wife and his maidservants, and they bare children.

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For the Lord had fast closed up all of the wombs of the house of Abimelech because of Sarah, Abraham's wife.

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Because of Sarah. And the

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Lord visited Sarah as he had said, and the Lord did unto Sarah as he had spoken.

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This is all one and the same thing. When he speaks, he acts. Our problem is that he was supposed to act immediately upon saying it.

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We get impatient, Russell. We know certain things are true, so why don't they happen?

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It was God's grace that brought about this event, as well as the raising of spiritual children to Abraham, of which the birth of this son was typical.

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He is the beginning. He will be the beginning of the nation Israel, today called the

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Jew. For Sarah conceived and bare Abraham a son in his old age, at the set time of which

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God had spoken to him. To prevent all doubt, however long

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God may delay, to fulfill his promises, at the set time, at the proper time, it will occur.

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And there will not be one jot or tittle missing. Does anyone know what a jot and tittle is?

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Period and comma. What? Period and comma. Who's talking? God.

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Okay, now what? Period and comma. Period and comma. In our language, in theirs, it's even smaller.

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The very smallest little mark that they have in their language. We would call it a period and a comma.

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And Abraham called the name of his son that was born unto him, whom Sarah bare to him, Isaac. And Abraham circumcised his son

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Isaac, being eight days old, as God had commanded him. And Abraham was a hundred years old when his son

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Isaac was born unto him. It's important that you remember that he was a hundred. Now, he was circumcised when he was eight days.

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Some of you women tell me, or men, if you know, at what age is the male child circumcised today, if they are.

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No one knows.

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Three days. Somebody else had their hand.

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Today, often, baby boys are circumcised. Our doctor, being a

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Jewish man, waited until the eighth day. And that is present with all of the patients.

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But typically, doctors will circumcise the baby boys if they're born because often they don't know when they're going to die.

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Well, it wasn't like that during Abraham's time. It was always eight days. I have read lots of theories on it, but I'm not going to bother you with all of those because I don't understand them.

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Now, he was a hundred years old. He had just had a son born. How old is

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Sarah? Ninety. Is there any ninety -year -old women here?

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One almost. Would you want to have a child today? Well, God's way of timing and fulfilling his promises are such as to bring the highest glory to himself.

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Always remember. First, it is to bring honor and praise and glory to himself.

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Whatever he does, that's first. And then the fallout follows that.

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It being the first to himself, it'd be the greatest good to us, would it not? And Sarah said,

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God hath made me to laugh so that all that hear will laugh with me. And she said, who would have said unto

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Abraham that Sarah should give children suck? For I have borne him a son in his old age.

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And the child grew and was weaned, and Abraham made a great feast the same day that Isaac was weaned.

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Now, this age of weaning has varied everywhere from three years to twelve years.

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More than likely, it was around three years of age, but we don't know. But there was always a feast connected with this event.

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In Eastern countries, this is always the season of domestic festivity.

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They have a big party. The newly weaned child is formally brought in the presence of the assembled relatives and friends to partake of some delicious food.

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In this case, Isaac. And when he was brought, he was attired in the symbolic robe and badge of his birthright.

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Then he was admitted heir of the tribe. Now, the next event, we must drive a peg down on this.

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Sarah saw the son of Hagar, the Egyptian, for she had borne unto

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Abraham mocking. Now, in this little verse, in the small word mocking,

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Deborah, what does mocking mean? Making fun.

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So, Ishmael is making fun of who?

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Isaac. Fred, how do you think Isaac's mother is going to feel about this?

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That's right. Now, this place, this was on a

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Sunday, about 11 o 'clock in the morning, February the 25th, 1986

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B .C. Are you sure? Yes. Absolutely, I think.

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This is where the present war between the Jew and the Arab starts. Right here.

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And the Arab started it. If you want to make a note,

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I've given you the date, the time, the place. Wherefore, she said unto

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Abraham, cast out this bondwoman and her son. For the son of this bondwoman shall not be heir with my son, even with Isaac.

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Now, the word cast is galresh. It means divorce.

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Put away. Drive out. And this is the only place this word is used in the

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Hebrew. And the thing was very grievous in Abraham's sight because he loved his son.

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But it's a picture of something.

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Here we have Ishmael and Isaac. If you were going to take a guess on the spirit that Ishmael portrays and that of Isaac, what would you say?

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Chosen and not chosen. All right. Worldly and godly.

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We, too, have two natures. Well, let me rephrase that.

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We have one nature. And we used to have one. But the one we have now is different than the one we used to have when we had one.

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But there are two forces within us, birds, that are continually fighting, much as the

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Arabs and Jews today. The flesh and the spirit.

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Every Christian's had that battle. Paul speaks of his quite often, Charlie.

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And he says it's a continual battle. Goes on all of the time.

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And I'm convinced that the more you grow in spirit, knowledge, and the closer you set to the heavenly gate, figuratively, the more that battle will rage.

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Before you were saved, again, I ask you to go back to that time if you can, did the devil ever come to you and laugh at you for not being saved?

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Didn't say a word, did he? He didn't need to. He had control right there.

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But after salvation, he forever will plague you. Knowing he cannot get a hold of your soul.

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So, David, why does he do it? Right.

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I really believe that he was the archangel under Jesus Christ.

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And his battle today is between himself and Christ. And God said unto

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Abraham, Abraham, let it not be grievous in thy sight, because of the lad, and because of thy bondwoman.

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In all that Sarah has said unto thee, hearken unto her voice. For in Isaac shall thy seed be called.

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Here's the one and only place in all of mankind's history that the husband's told to listen to his wife.

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And also of the son of the bondwoman will I make a nation, because he's thy seed.

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And Abraham rose up early in the morning, took bread and a bottle of water and gave it unto

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Hagar, putting it on her shoulder. And the child, he didn't put the child on her shoulder, and sent her away.

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And she departed and wandered in the wilderness of Beersheba. How old is this child or this lad?

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Greg? Seventeen. Seventeen years old. And the water was spent in the bottle and she cast the child under one of the shrubs.

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Now we just had the word cast. Where is it?

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Golrash. This word for cast, the same

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English word, but it's shawlock. What's his name?

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Sherlock. This is shawlock, shawlock.

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It's different than in verse 10. This one does not mean to divorce, it means to put away.

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So she cast or placed the child under one of the shrubs, wild mesquite tree.

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And she went and sat down over against him. Charlie, that phrase, over against him, always bugged me until I finally figured out what it said.

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Do you know what it means? Well, I think it wasn't against him, actually it was away from him.

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Because she didn't want to be right there next to him. Sat down over against him a good way off.

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As it were a bow shot. Is there a bow hunter here? Verge? How far is a bow shot?

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Well, usually one of their bows would be 30 yards. That's what I heard his bow shot.

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That's what the shot is. Jesus.

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Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ what? Pre -incarnate. What's pre -incarnate mean?

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Carnate is carnal. Pre -carnal. Carnal here means born human.

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And the angel of God called to Hagar out of heaven and said to her,

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What aileth thee, Hagar? Fear not, for God hath heard the voice of the lad where he is.

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Now, an interesting thing here. He spoke from heaven.

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There was no mistaking Bill. She couldn't confuse him with something else.

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Because his voice is such that you just don't ask who it is you know. And he calls her by name,

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Hagar. Is there any importance to that, Bill? I guess to let her know that he...

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Alright, Diane. Same thing as Jesus did with Lazarus. If he were to just call, who knows if he called him out.

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Well, the main reason that he called Lazarus by name and just did not command him get up everybody would have come out.

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So he singled him out for that reason. This is a little bit different. It isn't so much that she will know that he knows her.

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He's calling her Hagar to remind her of who she was. She was a servant of Sarah.

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Hagar belonged to Sarah. And he wants her to understand who she is.

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And just because she's been divorced by Abraham she's still a slave of Sarah.

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And she has to remember that. Fear not, for God hath heard the lad where he is.

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Otis? Yes. The way that's said, I heard the voice of the lad.

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Sounds like what? Like the lad was calling out to God. Well, he heard the voice of the lad.

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But he was talking to Hagar. What? The lad was...

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Was he saying that the lad was calling out to God? No. No. He was weeping and crying.

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And the Lord heard him. And the angel then addressed his mother,

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Hagar. He said, I heard the lad, this 17 -year -old boy. Now we'll stop here.

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Begin with verse 20. But my question is... There's a well of water there.

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She has run out of water. And that's the precarious condition that she and the boy are in.

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Why didn't she see the well of water? Why hadn't she already found it? It wasn't there.

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It was always there. It wasn't there.

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Well, I just assumed that if she's there and she's waiting to die, there's no water around.

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I'm in trouble. Clarence, what do you think? Do you mean to tell me that here's a well of water and I'm sitting here looking that way and I can't see it?

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John? Thank you.

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The well was there, Joy. But it was hidden. You just didn't see it.

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You just didn't see it. Everything has.

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Everything we know or think we know has been revealed. And the well is no different.

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It was there. And as you grow older, folks, when you get to be ancient people like my wife and I, you'll take the hearing aid out and you'll lay it in a particular spot.

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And the next morning you'll go back to the same spot and it isn't there. And you look and you look and you look and you go every place and you come back and there it is.

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You think I'm kidding. I'm not. Absolutely. I can have a tool in my hand using it and lay it down and do something and go back and I can't find it.

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So I can certainly see how it would be very easy for the

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Lord to make us blind to something. Say that again.

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Do what? Lay down the tools and it's always there when you come back. When we first moved, of course, we opened up a furniture repair and clock repair shop downtown.

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Our daughter worked with us for several years. Anytime I couldn't find something,

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I'd ask her and she'd get it because she knew where it was. And I accused her of moving things because I couldn't find them.

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But when she and her husband moved out of town, the same thing happened. And I nearly knew she hadn't come back and moved it.

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Well, the well was there, but it was hidden from Agar's eyes because there was a time for it to be opened and be shown to her just like everything else with God.

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God comes on time. Anything else? Totally give up before we realize.

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And the lad was at the point where he was 17 years old.

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That'd be like David's age. Which David you're talking about?

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I'm thinking of the oldest. Okay. I thought you meant Mitchell.

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No. I'm trying to think of a boy that was close to that age that was here.

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And it said the person might have heard the lad's cry and the mother's distress of just shooting and seeing him die.

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So they were at a point where they were ready to listen to God. And I think that's where we're ready to listen before we see it.

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That's right. And it seems like it's all hinged on what I do and do not do.

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When we know it isn't, but we're still held responsible. We still have to make choices.

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And as Diane said, we should live that close all of the time.

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Anything else? Russell dismisses, please. Great.