Seeing God in Everything

Turn with me, if you would, to Genesis chapter 2 You 've heard the phrase, They're so heavenly-minded, they are no earthly good That 's not a true statement In fact, if you are not heavenly minded, you will be of no good to earth How we see God for who He is How we perceive God to be will determine how we live our lives here on this earth This morning I ask you, what do you conceive God to be? How do you see God? Do you see God in everything? Do you see him as the controller of the world, the sovereign architect of life? Genesis 25 is a chapter About seeing God in everything

And I'm hoping that the scriptures today will bless your heart as we see God in the blessing of Ishmael As we see God in the barrenness of Rebekah, as we see God in the birth of Jacob and Esau As we see God in the birthright of Isaac being passed down Let's read it together Genesis chapter 25, verse number 12 Now these are the records of the generations of Ishmael Abraham's son, whom Hagar the Egyptian ser's maid bore to Abraham And these are the names of the sons of Ishmael by their names

In the order of their birth, Nab, the firstborn of Ishmael, and Ked, and Ad, and Mib, and Mish, and Dum, and Mas Hadad, and Timah, Jet, Nephesh, and Kad These are the sons of Ishmael, and these are their names, by their villages, and by their camps. twelve princes according to their tribes And these are the years of the life of Ishmael, one hundred and thirty seven years And he breathed his last and died, and was gathered to his people And they settled from Hav to Shur, which is east of Egypt, as one goes toward Assyria He settled in def of all his relatives

Now these are the records of the generations of Isaac Abraham's son Abraham became the father of Isaac And Isaac was 40 years old when he took Rebekah, the daughter of Bethu The Arame of Pada Aram, the sister of Laban, the Arame, to be his wife And Isaac prayed to the Lord on behalf of his wife Because she was barren, and the Lord answered him, and Rebekah his wife conceived But the children struggled together within her, and she said, If it is so, why then am I this way? So she went to inquire of the LORD

And the LORD said to her, Two nations are in your womb, and two peoples shall be separated from your body, and one people shall be stronger than the other, and the older shall serve the younger When her days to be delivered were fulfilled, behold, there were twins in her womb Now the first came forth red, all over like a hairy garment And they named him Esau And afterward his brother came forth with his hand, holding on to Esau's heel So his name was called Jacob And Isaac was sixty years old when she gave birth to them When the boys grew up, Esau became a skilful hunter, a man of the field

But Jacob was a peaceful man, living in tents Now Isaac loved Esau, because he had a taste for game But Rebekah loved Jacob, and with Jacob had cooked stew Esau came in from the field, and he was famished And Esau said to Jacob, Please let me have a swallow of that red stuff there, for I am famished Therefore his name was called Edom But Jacob said, First, sell me your birthright And Esau said, Behold, I am about to die So of what use then is the birthright to me? And Jacob said, First swear to me So he swore to him, and sold his birthright to Jacob

Then Jacob gave Esau bread and lentil stew, and he ate and drank, and rose and went on his way Thus, Esau despised his birthright It is imperative, as we continue our story in the book of Genesis, that you see God in everything For if you don't see God in everything, you're gonna have a hard time understanding the rest of this book called Genesis, the book of beginnings The first thing you need to see God in is the blessing of Ishmael And I can't think Of a more opportune message than this one Ishmael is the father of the Arab n And God bless Ishm Listen very carefully

One-fifth of the world's population is the descendant Of Ishmael One-fifth It's a lot of people And God made a promise. A promise that was foretold In Genesis 17, and a promise that was fulfilled in Genesis chapter 2 The nation of Israel has twelve came from twelve tribes The nations of Ishmael came from twelve princes And God promised that in the Messiah, all the families of the earth would be blessed That includes, listen very carefully, that includes the Arab nations All of them, not just some of them, God made a promise and we need to understand it

Our hearts need to go out to the sons of Ishmael right now, today Considering the events that happened in New York City, our hearts do not go out to the sons of Ishmael But they need to Because God promised to bless that man and the descendants of that man It would be through Isaac that the Messiah would come But because of Isaac and the seed of the promised Messiah that would come through him, all the nations of the world would be blessed, not all of them except the descendants of Ishmael And this is not true

That the millions of Arab people across the globe have been overlooked in our mission strategies May it be that our next mission trip be to Afghanistan and to Pakistan rather than some other nation Look back with me in Genesis chapter 17 Abraham said in verse number 18, Oh, that Ishmael might live before thee, but said, No, but Sarah, your wife, shall bear you a son, and you shall call his name Isaac, and I will establish my covenant with him For an everlasting covenant for his descendants after him And as for Ishmael, I have heard you Behold, I will bless him

And will make him fruitful, and will multiply him exceedingly He shall become the father of twelve princes, and I will make him a great n That was God's promise To Abraham Has he done that? You bet he is Has, as one-fifth of the world population are descendants of Ishmael, he has made him a great nation God made a promise to Abraham God made a promise to Ishmael that I will make you a great nation In Genesis chapter 25, what do you have? You have a great nation Being established, and what do you have today? You have a great nation because God kept His promise

You need to see the promise of God in the blessing to Ishmael We look at the land of Israel We look at that land and we examine that land And over that little piece of real estate in the Middle East centers the world Everything is about that land We're moving toward that very rapidly in light of current events Do you see God in everything? The Bible says in Genesis 25 that Ish was gathered to his people Same phrase used of Abraham in verse number 8 of Genesis 25 Ish was a believer in the God of Israel Was Ishmael a believer? Yes, he was Yes, he was

And he was gathered to his people as Abraham was gathered to his people Because God made a promise, and God promised Abraham, and God promised Ishmael, and God fulfilled that promise Listen, when God makes a promise, He always keeps His word, He always keeps His word Do you believe that? When God promises you eternal life, do you believe that He will keep you until that day? And we need to see God in everything Number two, in the barrenness of Rebecca. I want you to notice two things Number one, her pain And number two, her husband's prayer First of all, her pain

The Bible tells us that Isaac married Rebekah when he was 40 years of age The Bible tells us that He was 60 when the twins were born How long is that? Simple math? 20 years. 20 years Here is Ishmael Here is Ishmael having kids right and left Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, Where's Isaac? Is that having any kids? Yet he was the one that said, in him and through him, the worlds would be blessed, that in him and through him would come the Messiah, the promised seed, but he had no seed Rebecca is barren Same song, second verse: Sarah was barren for many years as well

And these two are facing a monumental test And maybe Rebekah would even begin to doubt the call of God upon her life You ever been there? Sure, you have So the Bible tells us that her husband prayed It says, and Isaac prayed to the Lord on behalf of his wife And he would plead with the Lord Do you do that? Remember Luke 18:1? Men ought always to pray and not what? Not faint If you're a prayer warrior, you won't faint You see, we need to be men and women of prayer

Where is the barrenness in your life today? Where's the heartache and the pain in your life? You need to be a person of prayer that you might experience the power of God That's the only way it's going to come The third thing I want you to see Is the birth of the twins, Jacob and Esau In the blessing of Ishm, you need to see the promise of God In the bareness of Rebekah, you need to see the power of God In the birth of Jacob and Esau, you need to see the providence of God The first thing I want you to see is the difficulty, then the declaration, and then the delivery

First of all, the difficulty It's just like God, isn't it? Here you pray, and God exemplifies His great power And she conceives This is so great She's going to have a baby But there's difficulty in the pregnancy Just like God, he wants you to trust him even more God's at work See? You got to see God in everything And so there is this difficulty that transpires in the womb There's a struggle going on in Rebecca's Womb So the Bible says, listen, so she went to inquire of the Lord Listen Husbands, if you are a man of prayer, your wife will become a woman of prayer

If you're not a man of prayer, she probably won't become a woman of prayer And God gives her the divine ultras This is so good, man God wants Isaac to trust him So he tests him God wants Rebecca to trust him So now he tests her And when God answers, another thing pops up that would cause them to go to their knees and beseech the Lord again So you had the difficulty Now I give you the declaration Listen to what the Lord says The Lord said to her, Two nations are in your womb

And two people shall be separated from your body, and one people shall be stronger than the other, and the older shall serve the younger Can you imagine going to your doctor, and your doctor's saying, Oh, you're having twins Let me tell you what they're going to be like He's not going to be able to do that, but God can And God did And so, what God did was switch around the birthright He would mess up everybody's mind It wasn't Ishmael, it was Isaac It wasn't Esau, it was Jacob God says, I want you to understand there are two nations One nation, Israel, one nation, Edom, present-day Jordan

And there will be a struggle Let's go to the delivery Verse number 24: When our days to be delivered were fulfilled, behold, me, there were twins in her womb Now, the first came forth red all over like a hairy garment And then he hemmed Esau And afterward, his brother came forth with his hand holding on to Esau's heel So his name was called Jacob. I have to say something here that's very important because the Jewish nation has been given a bad rap because people have misinterpreted this whole issue

In Genesis 25, Jacob's name came as a result of not hanging on to the heel of his brother, but because God told Rebekah what he would do That's very important That he would supplant his brother God told Rebekah what these boys were going to be alike And we want to say today: well, you know, the Jewish people, they're deceitful, they're trickery They're just like the descendants of Jacob, and he was a trickmeis He was shrewd That 's the way those Jewish people are Folks, that's sin because that's not true That's the world's perception That's not God's perception

Because God, listen, the providence of God said that the older would serve the younger That the younger would supplant the older That's why they named him that Not because Jacob would do what he did to obtain the birthright No, God would use that And that's where you got to see the providence of God in the whole picture of Jacob and Esau. I'm not condoning what Jacob did What I'm saying is that God had already told Rebekah what he was going to do before he was born Why? Because it's God who chooses Now, turn with me to Romans ch 9

Because this story is an illustration of the providential plan of God in choosing man for salvation You need to get this Verse number 6, Romans 9, but it is not as though the word of God has failed, for they are not all Israel Who are descended from Israel Boy, is that the truth Verse number seven Neither are they all children, because they are Abraham's descendants, but through Isaac your descendants shall be named That is, it is not the children of the flesh who are children of God, but the children of the promise. are regarded as descendants

For this is a word of promise, At this time I will come, and Sarah shall have a son And not only this, but there was Rebek also, when she had conceived twins by one man, our father Isaac For though the twins were not yet born, And had not done anything good or bad in order that God's purpose, according to His choice, might stand Not because of works, but because of him who calls, it was said, to who? To her To Rebekah The older will serve the younger Just as it is written, Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated Wow

God says, listen. I'm going to do something in your womb because the world needs to see the providential plan of God at work And the way I'm going to do that is that the younger Will supplant the older, and the older will end up serving the younger It's going to mess up everything in Jewish culture, it's going to mess up everything in your own mind Because it's me who chooses And so Rebekah would name him Jacob based on what God said to her, not based on what Jacob would do through deceptive means throughout his life That's very important to understand

Why? Because it wasn't anything that Jacob did or Esau did, it was everything that God did And so it goes on to say, in verse number 14, what shall we say then? There is no one justice with God, is there? May it never be For he says to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion So then it does not depend on the man who wills or the man who runs, but on God who has mercy For the scripture says to Pharaoh, For this very purpose I raised you up, to demonstrate my power in you And that my name might be proclaimed throughout the whole earth

So then he has mercy on whom he desires, and he hardens whom he desires The Bible says that salvation is all about God's choice It has nothing to do with man's works Man's accomplishments It has nothing to do with man's position because this man, Jacob's position, was behind his brother His brother, Esau, was the man in the proper position It has nothing to do with a man's position Has nothing to do with a man's performance because God in eternity past said, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will harden the heart of those in whom I decide to harden That's the way God does it

See, we want to get on the bandwagon and say, I can be used of God, man Just think what I can do God can really use me. I got all these gifts and talents Look at me. I got money. I got promised to the community, and God can use me God doesn't need you God doesn't need you If he chose you, praise him for that But God doesn't need you He wants you, but he doesn't need you And so we see the providence of God in the birth of Jacob and Isaac God's in control of everything Then we have the birthright of Isaac being passed down

When the boys grew up, verse 27, Esau became a skillful hunter, man of the field But Jacob was a peaceful man living in tents Now, Isaac loved Esau because he had a taste for game, but Rebekah loved Jacob The first thing I want you to see under the birthright of Isaac that's being passed down is the purpose of God Why? Because the first thing you notice is the partiality of the parents Isaac loved Esau Esau was a rugged man Esau was a man's man Dad loved the man's man That's what he wanted But Rebecca, she loved Jacob Doesn't tell us why Just says she loved Jacob

The second thing I want you to notice is the bartering by the boys And when Jacob had cooked stew, Esau came in from the field and he was famished Esau said to Jacob, Please let me have a swallow of that red stuff there, for I'm famished Therefore his name was called Edom, which means red But Jacob said, First sell me your birthright And Esau said, Behold, I'm about to die So what or so of what use then is the birthright to me? Jacob said, First swear to me So he swore to him. and sold his birthright to Jacob

Then Jacob gave Esau bread and lentil stew, and he ate and drank and rose and went on his way Thus Esau despised his birthright Jacob was a man who did many sinful things, but in the depths of his heart, Jacob was a man who understood the covenant promises of God and understood what his name meant And understood that God had a specific plan for his life And while he might take things into his own hand so that that plan might come about a little quicker, God was still in control of all that took place Esau, listen, Esau did not care about the covenant promises of God

He didn't care about that promise being perpetuated down through his line He was not interested in that You see, to be part of the birthright meant that you not only had to be the material leader of the family and obtain that inheritance, but you had to be the spiritual leader of the family And Esau didn't want that He didn't care about that stuff But Jacob did As you go through the book of Genesis, you're going to see how this man's appetite for God grows deeper and deeper and deeper through the process of time

But the bottom line being is that God works out His divine purposes no matter what we do throughout each day Our God controls everything, He rules over everything What's the lesson we learned? Ultimately, we learned this: that Esau was an immoral and godless man How do we know that? The writer of Hebrews tells us, Hebrews chapter 12, verse number 16 That there should be no immoral or godless person like Esau, who sold his own birthright for a single meal For you know that even afterwards, when he desired to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no place for repentance

Though he sought for it with tears The Bible tells us that Esau was an immoral, godless man He wanted nothing to do with God, nothing at all And when he finally realized that his birthright had been given to his younger brother, he would cry and he would weep, but it wasn't a mourning that led to repentance It was just a feeling sorry for himself because he was so stupid And he was tricked You see, he wanted the blessings of God more than he wanted God Jacob wanted God, and Jacob got God Esau didn't

The lesson we need to learn is that so many times we're willing to forfeit a relationship with God to obtain something from God Thinking that God can give us something if we do this or do that But in reality, that's not the way it is God says, I want you to want me more than anything But only know something This is so good Because God orchestrates His divine purposes in spite of all the sin, in spite of all kinds of deception, all kinds of lies God has a plan You need to see God in everything Perception is so important to making it from one day to the next

You need to see the promise of God, the power of God, the providence of God, and the ultimate purposes of God in everything you view from this day forward. I got to share this with you because God's going to do something very significant through what I believe is the Edomite people, through what I believe are the descendants of Esau And these are the words recorded by the prophet Isaiah in the 63rd chapter When Isaiah gets a glimpse of the coming King of kings and Lord of Lords at the end of time Who is this who comes from Edom? Isaiah is looking at the majestic return of Christ

With garments of glowing colors from Bozra This one who was majestic in his apparel, marching in the greatness of his strength Why is this so important? Because Edom is south of the Dead Sea It's present-day Jordan In Edom, there's a place called Tetra, which is seven miles southwest of a place called Bozra Boz was known for garments that had been dipped and stained in order to become another garment And the prophet Isaiah says, who was this one coming from Boz? Very significant, very symbolic Because the one coming from Boz has a garment that's been stained

And could it be? I'm not saying it is. I'm only 95% sure But could it be that in Revelation chapter 12, when the nation of Israel flees to the wilderness, and always in the Old Testament, the wilderness was Edom and Moab Always That the nation of Israel, when they flee to the wilderness in Revel 12, because the Antich is after them to kill them, that he flee to a place called Petra. and hide away from the Antichrist And they would be people who would be beseeching the Lord and pleading for his return

And just when the Antichrist begins to bear down upon them, remember he gathers his armies in the field called Megidd The battle, listen, is not fought in Megiddo The battle is fought at Bozra Because when Isaiah sees him, he's already bloodied And could it be that Messiah returns at that time, just as Antichrist is about to destroy the remnants of Israel, to wipe them off the face of the earth, that the Messiah returns to protect them? And thus the battle begins

Where? In Edom, the Edomites, the descendants of Esau, could be very instrumental in hiding and protecting the children of Israel in the last days And the Bible says this in Isaiah 63: It is I who speak in righteousness, mighty to save

Why is your apparel red and your garments like the one who treads in the winepress? You see, Isaiah sees his garments already red, already stained in blood. I have trodden the wine tr alone, and from the peoples there was no man with me. I also trod them in my anger, and trampled them in my wrath, and their life bl is sprinkled on my garments, and I stained all my raiment For the day of vengeance was in my heart, and my year of redemption has come And I looked, and there was no one to help, and I was astonished, and there was no one to uphold

So my own arm brought salvation to me, and my wrath upheld me, and I trod down the peoples in my anger, and made them drunk in my wrath, and I poured out their lifeblood on the earth That, my friend, is the infamous battle at the end of the tribulation where the Messiah returns and speaks a word, and everyone is slaughtered who is against him And where does he return? none other than Edom, none other than a place called Boz, none other than a place where the people who are the descendants of Esau would be instrumental in hiding the nation of Israel to protect them from the Antichrist

You got to see God in everything. I have trust that you see Him today Let's pray.