Spirit of Ishmael
Half the Truth #5
Text:
Gen 16:1-4
1 Now Sarai Abram’s wife bare him no children: and she had an handmaid, an Egyptian, whose name was Hagar.
2 And Sarai said unto Abram, Behold now, the LORD hath restrained me from bearing: I pray thee, go in unto my maid; it may be that I may obtain children by her. And Abram hearkened to the voice of Sarai.
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.
4 And he went in unto Hagar, and she conceived: and when she saw that she had conceived, her mistress was despised in her eyes.
(KJV)
Intro:
I want to look again this morning at this spirit of Ishmael
- The spirit of illegitimacy
We have looked at several things that are linked to illegitimacy
Demonic spirits that attach themselves
- A mocking spirit
- A improper view of the father
- Rebellion
- Over emotional
This morning I want to look at another spirit that is linked to this
And that is a spirit of deafness
Over the years Pastor Mitchell has prayed for a lot of people and one of the things that he began to notice several years ago was the amount of children that were brought to him for prayer that were deaf in only one ear. What he began to find out was that many of these children were illegitimate. After this spirit was renounced and rebuked these children were healed.
I. Half the Truth
I want to first look at the fact that Ishmael was borne out of half of the promise
This is why I believe many times when praying for these children they are only deaf in one ear
The word illegitimate means illegal
- Against the law
- Unlawful
- Improper
When a child is born outside of the bounds of marriage this violates the laws of God
His word is clear about
- Fornication
- Adultery
- Sex outside of marriage
God intended for a man and woman to marry
- Stay together for life
- Become one flesh
- And have children within those bonds of marriage
When the word of God is violated this makes it
- Sin
- Wrong
- Illegal
It is interesting to note that the root word of illegitimate is illegal
And the root word of illegal is ill
This means
- Not well
- Sick
- Poor health
There is an illness that comes with illegitimacy
- There is a curse that is linked to this
- That many times manifest itself in the flesh
- Like deafness in one or both ears
Abraham had a blessing upon his life
- He had a promise from God
- In chap 15 of Gen. God told him he would make him a great nation
God intended for this promise to be fulfilled in the bounds of marriage
- This was a promise for him and Sara
- Not him and Hagar
So Ishmael is birthed out of half of the promise
Abraham was his father / but Sara was not his mother
- He was birthed only out of half of the promise
As a result of this he was illegal
- Illegitimate
- Unlawful
- Cursed
One of the things I have noticed over the years
In dealing with children
- Raised in single parent homes
- Abandoned by a father or mother
- Born not knowing their fathers
Is their inability to hear the truth
- They are hard to reason with
- You can not explain things to them
- You can’t rationalize with them
This is the spirit of Ishmael at work in their lives
- A spirit of deafness
- Even though it may not be evident in the physical
- It is at work in the spiritual
They don’t want to listen to you
Again this is linked to the spirit of rebellion
They are all linked together
- This emotional
- Rebellious
- Deaf spirit
Isa 50:5 The Lord GOD hath opened mine ear, and I was not rebellious, neither turned away back. (KJV)
These spirits are linked together
Any parent here trying to raise a child on their own if they will be honest will tell you they have had to deal with this spirit at some point
- And if they haven’t then they will
They refuse to listen to the truth
- They refuse direction
- They refuse correction
- They will not receive discipline
Prov 1:7 The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction. (KJV)
Prov 3:11 My son, despise not the chastening of the LORD; neither be weary of his correction: (KJV)
The ability to hear is directly linked to your ability to receive
- Wisdom
- Direction
- Correction
From the Lord
- From a parent
- From a teacher
- From a pastor
If you can’t hear how can you be taught the truth
We are talking more here on a spiritual level than a physical
Spiritual deafness will render you useless for the kingdom
Prov 5:1 My son, attend unto my wisdom, and bow thine ear to my understanding: (KJV)
Prov 4:20 My son, attend to my words; incline thine ear unto my sayings. (KJV)
Prov 22:17 Bow down thine ear, and hear the words of the wise, and apply thine heart unto my knowledge. (KJV)
They devils goal here is to deafen you to spiritual truth
- Or at least deafen you to half the truth
Ex. Alright to know “God is a God of love”
But shuts your ears to the truth that “God will judge sin”
People bound by this spirit like to quote half-truths
- Or misuse scripture
- Twist the word of God
And what is so maddening about it is they will not hear reason unless they are delivered from this spirit
Jer 17:23 But they obeyed not, neither inclined their ear, but made their neck stiff, that they might not hear, nor receive instruction. (KJV)
II. Famine in the Land
Matt 13:13-15 Therefore speak I to them in parables: because they seeing see not; and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand.
14 And in them is fulfilled the prophecy of Esaias, which saith, By hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing ye shall see, and shall not perceive:
15 For this people’s heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed; lest at any time they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and should understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them. (KJV)
We are living in the last days
- The end times
And we see the word of God being fulfilled right before our eyes
Vs. 13 says, “hearing they hear not”
Vs. 15 says, “their ears are dull of hearing”
This is a last day spirit we can see the spirit of Ishmael at work
- You can witness to people and it is like they don’t hear you
- You tell them about God
- You tell them about the judgement to come and they ignore you
We even see this spirit at work in the church world today
“Ever learning and never coming to the knowledge of the truth”
2 Tim 4:3-4 For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears;
4 And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables. (KJV)
Having itching ears
Turn away their ears from the truth
These are the days we live
It is amazing how much garbage is out their in the church world
It is almost sickining to go into a Christian bookstore anymore
90% of the books are on
- How to be blessed
- How to live a prosperous life
- How to receive from God
What happened to all the books on sacrifice?
- Taking up your cross
- Giving it all to the lord
- Faithfulness and commitment
These are not popular today
- This is not what people want to here
- They only want half the truth
- They only want to hear about the blessing not the sacrifice that is necessary to receive the blessing
Let me tell you, “You are blessed to be in a Potter’s House Church”
- Because there is a famine in the land
- There is a lot of slop being served up as preaching around this city this morning
- Superficial, emotional, half truths
- And you need to thank God that He brought you into this church
If you will open your ears
- To the Word of God
- To the preaching
- To the holy spirit
You will grow in this place
I have heard numbers of testimony from men and women here today that have said, “pastor I have grown more in this church in the last year than I did in ten years in my past church”
Heb 5:11-14 Of whom we have many things to say, and hard to be uttered, seeing ye are dull of hearing.
12 For when for the time ye ought to be teachers, ye have need that one teach you again which be the first principles of the oracles of God; and are become such as have need of milk, and not of strong meat.
13 For every one that useth milk is unskilful in the word of righteousness: for he is a babe.
14 But strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil. (KJV)
There is a direct link to your ability to hear and your growth as a child of God
It is amazing to me how many Christians there are that have been saved for 10,15,20 years and still need to be spoon-fed
You have to beg them and coax them along to do every little thing
- Please come to outreach
- Please be faithful
- Please pay your tithe
- Please don’t miss church
They are still crawling around like spiritual babies when they should be walking
These things are expected of new converts
- You expect new bourns to act like this
- You expect this from babies
But not from a 150 kg man or women
- Changing diapers on a baby is bad enough
- But you’re a bit old for this
What we are dealing with is a spirit
- It is a curse
- You can be free
If you see yourself as not growing spiritually then you need to examine your heart today because this spirit of Ishmael may be at work
Isa 55:3 Incline your ear, and come unto me: hear, and your soul shall live; and I will make an everlasting covenant with you,… (KJV)
III. Consecrated
Exod 29:20 Then shalt thou kill the ram, and take of his blood, and put it upon the tip of the right ear of Aaron, and upon the tip of the right ear of his sons, and upon the thumb of their right hand, and upon the great toe of their right foot, and sprinkle the blood upon the altar round about. (KJV)
Here we see Aaron being consecrated to Gods service
And notice the blood is being applied to his ear
Each of us here when we give our lives to Jesus
- When we accept Him as lord
- When we repent of our sin
We consecrate our lives to Him
This is a picture that we are to listen to the words of God
- We are to surrender our lives to His direction
- We are to allow Him to correct us
- To discipline us
- To impart His wisdom and truth into us
To many times we get saved and we want to hold a part of ourselves back
- We only want half the truth
- We only want the Sunday morning service
- Forget the rest of the week
- We want a partial surrender
Every child of God is to be consecrated to His service
This word consecrated means
- Sanctified
- Purified
- Set apart for His service
Have you set your life apart for Gods service?
- Or are you just playing church
- Just playing Christian
The very word means to be Christ like
When your ears have been sanctified you have to guard them
You just can’t listen to anything
- Music
- Conversation
- Movies
- Jokes
It is amazing how they would mark a slave in the Old Testament
They would mark them in there ears
Exod 21:6 Then his master shall bring him unto the judges; he shall also bring him to the door, or unto the door post; and his master shall bore his ear through with an aul; and he shall serve him for ever. (KJV)
Deut 15:17 Then thou shalt take an aul, and thrust it through his ear unto the door, and he shall be thy servant for ever. And also unto thy maidservant thou shalt do likewise. (KJV)
The devil will always mark his own
Who are you serving this morning?
What mark do you wear in your ear?
Are you bound by this spirit of Ishmael?
- Can you only hear have the truth
- Can you be reasoned with this morning
It is hard to serve God when this spirit binds you
- You may struggle along for awhile
- You may remain in you infant stage of Christianity for years
- But eventually your ears will grow dull and you will no longer be able to even hear half the truth
And when you loose your hearing you will loose you salvation because the word of God tells us in
Rom 10:17 So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. (KJV)
This morning I am preaching to you the straight word of God
- if you will hear my voice
- if you will let the holy spirit speak to you
- you can be free
Ps 78:1 Give ear, O my people, to my law: incline your ears to the words of my mouth. (KJV)
Prov 8:34 Blessed is the man that heareth me, watching daily at my gates, waiting at the posts of my doors. (KJV)
