WEBVTT 00:01.100 --> 00:04.900 Alright, good evening. Welcome to Sowing Baptist Melbourne and Sowing Baptist 00:05.580 --> 00:11.460 Pampanga and we're gonna start with the song Blessed Redeemer number 12 in your soul stirring songs and hymns 00:11.740 --> 00:15.780 song number 12 Blessed Redeemer song number 12 Blessed Redeemer and 00:17.140 --> 00:19.140 Let's get started here on the first 00:19.900 --> 00:25.140 Up Calvary's mountain one dreadful morn, 00:25.140 --> 00:31.300 Walk Christ my Savior weary and worn, 00:31.300 --> 00:36.900 Facing for sinners death on the cross, 00:36.900 --> 00:42.500 That he might save them from endless loss. 00:42.500 --> 00:47.900 Blessed Redeemer, Precious Redeemer, 00:47.900 --> 00:54.900 Seems now I see him on Calvary's tree. 00:54.900 --> 01:00.900 Wounded and bleeding, for sinners pleading. 01:00.900 --> 01:06.900 Blind and unheeding, dying for me. 01:07.500 --> 01:19.020 Father forgive them, thus did he pray, In while his lifeblood flowed fast away. 01:19.400 --> 01:29.320 praying for sinners while in such woe no one but Jesus ever loved so 01:30.760 --> 01:41.080 blessed Redeemer precious Redeemer seems now I see him on Calvary's tree 01:43.720 --> 01:47.240 wounded and bleeding for sinners 01:47.400 --> 01:55.400 winners pleading, blind and unheeding, dying for me. 01:56.200 --> 02:07.560 Oh how I love him, Savior and Friend, How can my praises ever find end? 02:07.560 --> 02:18.680 Through years unnumbered on heaven's shore, My tongue shall praise him forevermore. 02:18.680 --> 02:24.120 Blessed Redeemer, Precious Redeemer, 02:24.200 --> 02:31.200 Seems now I see him on Calvary's tree. 02:31.200 --> 02:37.200 Wounded and bleeding, for sinners pleading. 02:37.800 --> 02:42.800 Blind and unheeding, dying for me. 02:42.960 --> 02:44.120 All right, let's open with a word of prayer. 02:44.120 --> 02:45.720 Dear heavenly Father, thank you for allowing us to be here today 02:45.720 --> 02:48.000 and ask you to bless this entire church service 02:48.000 --> 02:51.120 and the singing of praises and also the sermon to come. 02:51.120 --> 02:54.160 We pray this in Jesus' name, amen. 02:54.160 --> 02:57.320 Turn to number seven in soul-stirring songs and hymns. 02:57.320 --> 03:00.640 I gave my life for thee, song number seven. 03:00.640 --> 03:02.480 I gave my life for thee. 03:02.480 --> 03:04.640 I gave my life for thee, song number seven. 03:08.500 --> 03:12.080 Song seven, I gave my life for thee on the first. 03:12.080 --> 03:20.080 I gave my life for thee, my precious blood I shed. 03:20.080 --> 03:28.080 That thou might'st ransom be, and quicken from the dead. 03:28.080 --> 03:36.080 I gave, I gave my life for thee, what hast thou given for me? 03:36.400 --> 03:44.680 I gave, I gave my life for thee, what hast thou given for me? 03:44.680 --> 03:52.580 My Father's house of light, my glory's circled throne. 03:52.580 --> 04:00.500 I left for earthly night, for wandering sad and lone. 04:00.500 --> 04:04.340 I left, I left it all for thee. 04:04.400 --> 04:08.400 Hast thou left odd for me? 04:08.400 --> 04:12.400 I left, I left it all for thee. 04:12.400 --> 04:16.200 Hast thou left odd for me? 04:16.400 --> 04:24.600 I suffered much for thee more than thy tongue can tell 04:24.600 --> 04:32.560 Of bitrist agony to rescue thee from hell 04:32.560 --> 04:40.080 I've borne, I've borne it all for thee What hast thou borne for me? 04:40.400 --> 04:49.040 I've borne, I've borne it all for thee, What hast thou borne for me? 04:49.040 --> 04:56.160 And I have brought to thee, Down from my home above. 04:56.700 --> 05:04.700 Salvation full and free, my pardon and my love. 05:04.700 --> 05:08.700 I bring, I bring rich gifts to thee. 05:08.700 --> 05:12.600 What hast thou brought to me? 05:12.800 --> 05:16.800 I bring, I bring rich gifts to thee. 05:16.800 --> 05:20.800 What hast thou brought to me? 05:20.800 --> 05:26.800 Alright, great singing and turn in your Bible, actually to 2 Samuel 21. 05:26.800 --> 05:32.800 We're going to start 1 Corinthians chapter 8 next week, but I did want to preach a sermon in between. 05:32.800 --> 05:35.600 I'm preaching at Manila tomorrow and... 05:35.800 --> 05:38.920 I preached a similar sermon to this five years ago 05:38.920 --> 05:42.160 on this character Rizpa, so I decided to just preach 05:42.160 --> 05:44.760 this one here today, because I think it's kind of new 05:44.760 --> 05:48.800 to this crowd, and I'll preach a different sermon tomorrow 05:48.800 --> 05:50.040 than I was originally scheduling. 05:50.040 --> 05:52.760 So I'm gonna preach this sermon, and we're in the series, 05:52.760 --> 05:54.920 actually let me just read 2 Samuel 21, 05:54.920 --> 05:56.760 and then I will give you the sermon title 05:56.760 --> 05:58.280 and tell you what the sermon's about. 05:58.280 --> 06:01.480 2 Samuel 21, then there was a famine in the days of David, 06:01.480 --> 06:03.760 three years, year after year, and David inquired 06:03.800 --> 06:07.440 the Lord and the Lord answered is for Saul and for his bloody house because he 06:07.440 --> 06:11.060 slew the Gibeonites and the king called the Gibeonites and said unto them now 06:11.060 --> 06:13.940 the Gibeonites were not of the children of Israel but of the remnant of the 06:13.940 --> 06:17.440 Amorites and the children of Israel had sworn on to them and Saul sought to 06:17.440 --> 06:21.040 slay them in his zeal to the children of Israel and Judah wherefore David said 06:21.040 --> 06:24.680 unto the Gibeonites what shall I do for you and wherewith shall I make the 06:24.680 --> 06:28.120 atonement that you may bless the inheritance of the Lord the Gibeonites 06:28.120 --> 06:31.800 said unto him we will have no silver nor gold of Saul nor of his house 06:31.800 --> 06:34.640 neither for us shalt thou kill any man in Israel. 06:34.640 --> 06:38.320 And he said, what ye shall say, that will I do for you. 06:38.320 --> 06:41.040 And the answer of the king, the man that consumed us 06:41.040 --> 06:43.480 and that devised against us that we should be destroyed 06:43.480 --> 06:45.520 from remaining in any of the coast of Israel, 06:45.520 --> 06:47.760 let seven men of his sons be delivered onto us 06:47.760 --> 06:50.440 and we will hang them up under the Lord and give you of Saul 06:50.440 --> 06:51.480 whom the Lord did choose. 06:51.480 --> 06:53.200 And the king said, I will give them. 06:53.300 --> 06:58.600 But the king spared Mephibosheth, the son of Jonathan, the son of Saul, because of the Lord's oath that was between them, 06:58.600 --> 07:00.800 between David and Jonathan, the son of Saul. 07:00.800 --> 07:04.600 But the king took the two sons of Rizpah, the daughter of Ai, whom she bore unto Saul, 07:04.600 --> 07:08.700 Armoni and Mephibosheth, and the five sons of Michael, the daughter of Saul, 07:08.700 --> 07:11.800 whom she brought up for Adriel, the son of Barzalai, the Maholethite. 07:11.800 --> 07:15.700 And he delivered them into the hands of the Gebenites, and they hanged them in the hill before the Lord. 07:15.700 --> 07:18.500 And they fell all seven together, and were put to death in the days of harvest, 07:18.500 --> 07:20.500 in the first days in the beginning of barley harvest. 07:20.500 --> 07:21.300 and risk for the 07:21.300 --> 07:24.580 daughter of Ai took sackcloth and spread it for her upon the rock from the beginning of 07:24.580 --> 07:29.420 harvest until water dropped upon them out of heaven and suffered neither the burbs of 07:29.420 --> 07:32.300 the air to rest in them by day nor the beasts of the field by night. 07:32.300 --> 07:36.220 And it was told David what Rizpah the daughter of Ai the concubine of Saul had done. 07:36.220 --> 07:39.500 And David went and took the bones of Saul and the bones of Jonathan his son from the 07:39.500 --> 07:44.620 men of Javish-Gilead which had stolen them from the street of Bethshan where the Philistines 07:44.620 --> 07:49.300 had hanged them when the Philistines had slain Saul and 07:49.300 --> 07:54.540 and he brought it from thence the bones of Saul and the bones of Jonathan's son and they gathered the bones of them that were 07:54.540 --> 07:59.420 hanged and the bones of Saul and Jonathan's son buried they in the country of Benjamin and Zeila and the sepulcher of 07:59.620 --> 08:04.620 Kish's father and they performed all that the king commanded and after that gold was entreated for the land 08:04.900 --> 08:08.760 wherever the Philistines had yet war again with Israel and David went down in servants with them 08:09.300 --> 08:13.520 with him and fought against the Philistines and David waxed faint and ish 08:14.300 --> 08:19.180 Ishbi-bin-ab, which was the sons of the giant, the weight of whose spear weighed three hundred shekels of brass and weight, 08:19.260 --> 08:21.900 he being gird with a new sword thought to have slain David. 08:21.900 --> 08:25.620 But Abishai the son of Zariah suckered him and smote the Philistine and killed him. 08:25.620 --> 08:29.220 Then the men of David swear unto him, saying, Thou shall go no more with us to battle, 08:29.380 --> 08:31.180 that thou quench not the light of Israel. 08:31.180 --> 08:36.500 And it came to pass after this that there was again a battle with the Philistines at Gob. Then Sibakai the Hushathite, 08:37.000 --> 08:42.580 slew Saff which was of the sons of the giant and there was again a battle in Gob of the Philistines where El Hanan the son of 08:43.000 --> 08:48.120 Jer- Jer- Oregim of Bethlehemite slew the the brother of Goliath the Gittite 08:48.240 --> 08:52.040 The Saff of whose fear was like a weaver's beam and there was yet a battle in Gath 08:52.040 --> 08:56.700 Where was a man of great stature that had on every hand six fingers and on every foot six toes 08:56.920 --> 09:00.220 Four and twenty a number and he also was born to the giant 09:00.900 --> 09:05.300 And when he defied Israel, Jonathan the son of Shimeah, the brother of David, slew him. 09:05.300 --> 09:09.660 These four were born to the giant and Gath, and fell by the hand of David and by the hand of his servants." 09:09.660 --> 09:11.020 Let's open a word of prayer. 09:11.020 --> 09:14.560 Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for allowing us to be here today and I ask you to just bless his service. 09:14.560 --> 09:17.720 I ask you right now to give me boldness and clarity to deliver your message. 09:17.720 --> 09:21.520 Help us to set aside distractions, and we pray these things in Jesus' name. 09:21.520 --> 09:22.220 Amen. 09:22.220 --> 09:24.980 It's always a challenge reading these chapters with these names. 09:24.980 --> 09:26.700 You're trying to pronounce them the best you can. 09:26.700 --> 09:28.900 And I'm in the middle of a series called... 09:28.900 --> 09:33.140 the alphabet of Bible characters and what I've been doing when I go up to preach on 09:33.140 --> 09:38.140 Manila for the midweek service is I go through a letter of the alphabet and I preach about 09:38.140 --> 09:43.820 a character that is not as well known or as famous as some other characters. 09:43.820 --> 09:48.800 So I went through the letter A, B, C, D. We're all the way to the letter R here and the purpose 09:48.800 --> 09:53.740 of the series is not to look at characters like Moses that everybody knows about, but 09:53.740 --> 09:56.860 What kind of look at characters where maybe there's a few stories on them? 09:56.900 --> 10:00.980 or some small information, but someone you don't really hear a lot of preaching on. 10:00.980 --> 10:04.520 And on the letter R, I want to talk to you about this character Rizpa. 10:04.520 --> 10:08.760 And if you're new at Bible reading or you're new at church, there's a good chance you've 10:08.760 --> 10:10.380 never even heard of Rizpa. 10:10.380 --> 10:12.360 You've never heard a sermon about her. 10:12.360 --> 10:14.420 You don't know anything about her. 10:14.420 --> 10:17.940 It's even possible when I said the name Rizpa, you weren't even sure, is that a man or a 10:17.940 --> 10:18.940 woman? 10:18.940 --> 10:21.220 You know, because you've never really heard that name so much. 10:21.220 --> 10:22.340 You never heard this preached about. 10:22.340 --> 10:24.340 So let me just show you who this character is and 10:24.900 --> 10:28.340 We're gonna make some applications from this now. You're in second Samuel 21 10:28.460 --> 10:32.420 That's gonna be the main part in the central focus of our sermon 10:32.420 --> 10:39.880 But let us go back to the first mention of this character Rizpa in second Samuel chapter 3 chapter 3 10:42.220 --> 10:47.380 Second Samuel chapter 3 and it came to pass verse 6 10:48.000 --> 10:52.340 Second Samuel 3 verse 6 and it came to pass well there is war between the house of Saul and the house of David 10:52.340 --> 10:58.460 That Abner made himself strong for the house of Saul and Saul had a concubine whose name was Rizpa 10:58.660 --> 11:04.980 The daughter of Ai so the first example we see of this character Rizpa is that she is a concubine of 11:05.620 --> 11:12.780 Saul okay and Ishmael said to Abner wherefore hast thou gone in on to my father's 11:13.260 --> 11:15.660 concubine and so Rizpa was a 11:16.000 --> 11:21.940 for Saul and now that Saul is gone, now that Saul is dead, the Bible is saying this, 11:21.940 --> 11:24.200 Ishbecheth is accusing Abner. 11:24.500 --> 11:29.300 that he has basically been intimate with Saul's concubine, Rizpa. 11:29.300 --> 11:32.780 So the first example of this woman is not very good, right? 11:32.780 --> 11:36.580 She's the concubine of Saul, and then as Saul is dead, 11:36.580 --> 11:40.540 all of a sudden, she's kind of like shacking up with Abner, 11:40.540 --> 11:43.260 or you know, just being sexually involved with him. 11:43.260 --> 11:45.460 It doesn't really make her look very good, okay? 11:45.460 --> 11:48.100 Now, I want you to go to Genesis 25 real quickly. 11:48.100 --> 11:50.020 Let's just talk about what is a concubine 11:50.020 --> 11:51.620 before we move on in the sermon. 11:55.400 --> 11:58.840 Genesis 25 and when we're talking about what is a concubine honestly 11:58.840 --> 12:04.960 It's a topic that's kind of debated and I think the reason why it's debated is we don't really have in most cultures the exact 12:04.960 --> 12:06.960 same thing in 12:07.280 --> 12:12.400 2026 and so the way we apply it, you know people kind of apply it a little bit differently 12:12.680 --> 12:15.260 But let's just see what it says here Genesis 25 verse 1 12:15.900 --> 12:19.300 Then again, Abraham took a wife and her name was Keterah. 12:19.300 --> 12:21.900 So here it says in Genesis 25 verse 1, 12:21.900 --> 12:24.300 that Abraham's wife is named Keterah. 12:24.300 --> 12:28.900 Okay, very clearly it says Keterah is a wife, right? 12:28.900 --> 12:32.500 Now go in your Bible to 1 Chronicles chapter 1. 12:32.500 --> 12:34.300 1 Chronicles chapter 1. 12:41.300 --> 12:46.100 First Chronicles chapter 1, what we saw in Genesis 25 verse 1, it mentions Keterah, the wife of Abraham. 12:46.100 --> 12:48.900 And we're going to go back to Genesis 25 here in a second. 12:48.900 --> 12:51.400 So my bad, I should have had you just stay there. 12:51.400 --> 12:53.800 But it mentioned Keterah, the wife of Abraham. 12:53.800 --> 12:58.300 And then I want you to notice this though, in First Chronicles 1 verse 32. 12:58.300 --> 13:01.300 First Chronicles chapter 1 verse 32. 13:02.400 --> 13:11.800 And the Bible says, now the sons of Keterah, 1 Chronicles 1 verse 32, now the sons of Keterah, Abraham's concubine. 13:11.800 --> 13:17.400 So we saw in Genesis chapter 25, the Bible is very clear that Keterah is the wife of Abraham, 13:17.400 --> 13:22.400 and yet here in 1 Chronicles 1 verse 32 it mentions Keterah is the concubine. 13:22.700 --> 13:28.580 Abraham. Now the sons of Keterah, Abraham's concubine, she bears Imran and 13:28.580 --> 13:33.860 Jokshan and Midian and Mideon and Ishbeok and Shuah and the sons of Jokshan, Sheba 13:33.860 --> 13:38.620 and Dadan. Now go back to Genesis 25. So we saw that Keterah is the wife of 13:38.620 --> 13:43.420 Abraham, Keterah is the concubine of Abraham and you're like well how is it 13:43.420 --> 13:47.540 possible she's both the wife and the concubine? And here's the thing, if wife 13:47.540 --> 13:50.700 was merely the exact same thing as how we think 13:50.700 --> 13:56.700 of as wife, like Sarah was the wife of Abraham, it would not also call Keterah the concubine 13:56.700 --> 13:57.700 of Abraham. 13:57.700 --> 14:04.380 We also cannot dismiss the fact that the Bible does refer to his concubine as his wife. 14:04.380 --> 14:05.740 Genesis 25 verse 2. 14:06.800 --> 14:10.880 and she bare him Zimran and Jokshan and Medan and Midian and Nishbak and Shuah 14:10.880 --> 14:15.160 and Jokshan begat Sheba and Dedan and the sons of Dedan were Asharim and 14:15.680 --> 14:21.520 Letoshim and Lumim the sons of Midian, Ifah and Ephur and Hanukkah and Abedah and 14:22.680 --> 14:27.680 Eldah all these were the children of Kedera and Abraham gave all that he had onto 14:29.240 --> 14:34.760 Isaac now who is Isaac? Because it's talking about all the sons of Abraham Isaac is the 14:34.800 --> 14:35.800 the son of... 14:36.100 --> 14:38.100 Sarah, right? 14:38.100 --> 14:41.200 Sarah was the wife of Abraham, right? 14:41.200 --> 14:46.200 He gave all on to Isaac, who is the son of his wife, Sarah, 14:46.620 --> 14:48.540 but onto the sons of the concubines. 14:48.540 --> 14:52.360 So onto the son of his wife, he gave everything, 14:52.360 --> 14:55.560 but onto the sons of the concubines, which Abraham had, 14:55.560 --> 14:57.600 which is gonna include Keterah, 14:57.600 --> 14:59.960 that's mentioned here in this chapter. 14:59.960 --> 15:02.640 Abraham gave gifts and sent them away from Isaac his son 15:02.640 --> 15:04.100 while he yet lived eastward onto the east. 15:04.100 --> 15:08.820 So what the Bible is showing you is this, that there's something special about Sarah, 15:08.820 --> 15:15.140 his wife, and about Isaac, his son, and Keterah is listed as his wife in one part of the Bible, 15:15.140 --> 15:17.500 but as his concubine in another part of the Bible. 15:17.500 --> 15:22.820 And this is not the only example of someone who's mentioned as a wife and as a concubine. 15:22.820 --> 15:30.680 I believe with other examples you've got Hagar, other examples with Jacob and his wives, and 15:30.680 --> 15:32.080 So he had his 15:32.100 --> 15:39.740 first two wives, Lee and Rachel, and then he had their bondmaids which became like the bondmaids or handmaidens and 15:40.180 --> 15:43.060 basically, I believe that a concubine is 15:43.780 --> 15:45.400 someone who is not 15:45.600 --> 15:50.260 Free is like a bond servant that becomes the wife and as a result 15:50.400 --> 15:53.360 There's not the same freedom as someone who's actually is a wife 15:53.360 --> 15:56.420 You know, the rules are a little bit different when you're reading those Old Testament rules 15:56.580 --> 16:02.800 You know in the Mosaic law and you know the reason why this is kind of hard to really grasp in 2026 16:03.360 --> 16:05.480 We don't really have that in the Philippines 16:06.000 --> 16:09.000 As far as I know, you don't really have that in Australia. 16:09.000 --> 16:11.400 Maybe in some of the Islamic countries, 16:11.400 --> 16:13.000 this is something that's more cultural today. 16:13.000 --> 16:14.000 I'm not really sure. 16:14.000 --> 16:15.700 But it's not really something that you have. 16:15.700 --> 16:18.200 And so it's kind of hard to make an accurate application. 16:18.200 --> 16:21.400 So I wouldn't say that a concubine is simply a living girlfriend, 16:21.400 --> 16:26.400 but at the same time, it's not a legitimate wife in the same sense either. 16:26.400 --> 16:29.900 And so the way that you look at it today is a little bit different. 16:29.900 --> 16:32.500 But I don't want to go on too big of a rabbit trail 16:32.500 --> 16:34.000 because that's not really that important. 16:34.000 --> 16:42.000 For the purposes of the sermon though, with Rizpa, it doesn't exactly make her as someone that looks really great. 16:42.000 --> 16:49.000 It's not like this shows prestige that she's the wife of Saul. No, she's the concubine of Saul. 16:49.000 --> 16:51.000 Okay? Not exactly a good start. 16:51.000 --> 16:55.000 And I'm going to be actually praising the character of Rizpa in the sermon, 16:55.000 --> 16:59.000 and that's why I'm trying to drive home the point that she doesn't have a good start when we first read about her in the Bible. 16:59.000 --> 17:02.000 I mean, she's the concubine of King Saul. 17:02.000 --> 17:06.480 And then right after Saul is gone, what's happened? She's sleeping with Abner and it's like 17:06.680 --> 17:09.920 This is not exactly a woman that she would look at as godly 17:09.920 --> 17:13.960 in fact to be a woman that I would often preach against for the fornication and 17:14.240 --> 17:20.520 Just you know the sexual sin and being a loose woman. I mean she doesn't really look that great now 17:21.600 --> 17:38.800 Of course you could ask the question with Rizpa, how much freedom did she have in the matter when she's not, you know, 100% her own free woman and everything, with Abner, I mean is she just going along with it or whatever, but either way you look at it, it doesn't exactly make her look like that great of a woman. 17:38.800 --> 17:49.000 Right? It's not like she's this woman, this great character we see from her, actually she doesn't seem to have great character when we first read about her. 17:49.600 --> 17:52.560 Now go to second Samuel 21, second Samuel 21. 17:56.000 --> 18:05.500 And we read the entire chapter, but for purposes of this sermon, it's important for me to read this story again, 18:05.500 --> 18:12.500 not the entire chapter, but a large part of it, so we kind of understand the impact as we get to Rizpa later on in the chapter. 18:12.500 --> 18:16.000 So let's start at verse number one again, 2 Samuel 21, verse one. 18:16.400 --> 18:22.400 Then there was a famine in the days of David three years, year after year, and David inquired of the Lord, and the Lord answered, 18:22.400 --> 18:25.600 It is for Saul and for his bloody house because he slew the Gibeonites. 18:25.600 --> 18:33.400 So what's happening is the country has three years of famine as a punishment from God. 18:33.400 --> 18:37.400 Why? Because of the bloody house of Saul, the Bible says. 18:38.000 --> 18:45.000 Why? Because he slew the Gibeonites, which if we go back in time, that actually broke the promise that was made. 18:45.000 --> 18:56.000 Okay, so God is actually punishing them because of what Saul did, and you know, one thing that you see here is sometimes you can be reaping a punishment from something from a prior generation. 18:56.400 --> 19:01.800 And I would say that when you look at countries today, you know, I don't know as much about Australia, 19:01.800 --> 19:06.400 even as much about the Philippines. The one I know the most about is America. 19:06.400 --> 19:11.200 And what I would say is that America is very much reaping the punishments from prior generations 19:11.200 --> 19:16.800 that departed from God, that quit serving God, that quit going to church, that quit going soul winning, 19:16.800 --> 19:21.800 that allowed feminism to be coming in, that allowed abortion, that allowed all these things coming in, 19:21.800 --> 19:24.400 and as a result, the next generation has the pun- 19:24.400 --> 19:26.400 from the prior generation. 19:26.400 --> 19:28.400 That's kind of the way that it works. 19:29.300 --> 19:35.100 And so, you know, unfortunately there's no way around that sometimes in life that is the situation. 19:35.100 --> 19:38.100 And what I would say is, you know, you're not just living for yourself. 19:38.100 --> 19:39.800 You should be living for other people. 19:39.800 --> 19:42.700 And I would say I want to fix this generation. 19:42.700 --> 19:47.100 So people, whether it be in America or the Philippines or Australia, 19:47.100 --> 19:49.500 that is great for the next generation. 19:49.500 --> 19:53.600 I hope the kids we're raising in church can have just a great situation 19:53.600 --> 19:57.000 to not only serve God, but to have nice lives. 19:57.000 --> 19:57.300 and I'll see you in the next one. 19:57.300 --> 20:00.900 I'm not saying being rich, but of course, you know, we want people to be taken care of. 20:01.100 --> 20:02.800 We don't want there to be a lot of sin. 20:02.800 --> 20:08.700 We want it to be just a clean society spiritually, but even also just physically, 20:08.900 --> 20:10.700 you know, the world we're coming into. 20:11.200 --> 20:15.100 I'm not a person that protects the is like all about protecting the environment, 20:15.100 --> 20:18.100 but I don't like the fact that you walk around there's trash everywhere 20:18.400 --> 20:21.100 and it just symbolizes a country that's actually unclean. 20:22.600 --> 20:25.400 So there even the punishment of a prior generation and the king called the 20:25.400 --> 20:28.520 Gibeonites and said unto them, now the Gibeonites were not of the children of 20:28.520 --> 20:31.880 Israel but of the remnant of the Amorites and the children of Israel had sworn 20:31.880 --> 20:36.120 unto them and Saul sought to slay them in his zeal to the children of Israel and 20:36.120 --> 20:40.640 Judas. So sometimes your zeal can be in the wrong direction and you know one 20:40.640 --> 20:45.600 thing I do not like to try to do is destroy the zeal of people that are 20:45.600 --> 20:49.900 excited to do something because zeal is hard to replicate. 20:50.100 --> 20:56.620 And you know we all need zeal to accomplish things and sometimes new church members that are maybe newer in the faith 20:56.800 --> 21:01.740 They don't know as much, but they have a lot of zeal and it provokes others to do great things 21:02.040 --> 21:04.820 But you can sometimes let your zeal go too far 21:05.040 --> 21:11.660 You know it's like the expression when you got a hammer in your hand everything starts looking like a nail and you know you might 21:12.080 --> 21:17.840 Preach against the wickedness of the Catholic Church or the LGBT, but then you might just go a little bit over 21:18.100 --> 21:23.540 And then every time there's a Baptist pastor that you disagree with something on you just go to town on them 21:23.540 --> 21:26.660 And it's like man look some battles are not worth fighting 21:26.660 --> 21:30.500 You know that's the reality and it is a tough balance because we want to be zealous 21:31.200 --> 21:34.200 But you also want to be careful you don't go too far. 21:34.200 --> 21:37.200 Wherefore David said on the giving nights, what shall I do for you? 21:37.200 --> 21:41.200 And wherewith shall I make the atonement that you may bless the inheritance of the Lord? 21:41.200 --> 21:43.200 David said, I want to make things right. 21:43.200 --> 21:48.200 You're mad, you're angry, we're being punished for what took place. 21:48.200 --> 21:53.100 You know, what do you want me to do to fix the situation? 21:53.500 --> 21:58.220 And the Gemini knight said unto him, We will have no silver nor gold of Israel, nor of his house. 21:58.220 --> 22:01.740 Neither for us shalt thou kill any man in Israel. 22:01.740 --> 22:04.620 And he said, What ye shall say, that will I do for you. 22:04.620 --> 22:10.380 So David agrees to this, and they answered the king, The man that consumed us and that devised against us 22:10.380 --> 22:13.420 that we should be destroyed from remaining in any of the coasts of Israel, 22:13.420 --> 22:16.620 let seven men of his sons be delivered unto us. 22:17.000 --> 22:23.320 And we will hang them up under the Lord and give you of Saul whom the Lord did choose and the king said I will 22:23.960 --> 22:30.220 Give them and when it's saying seven sons here. It's not necessarily saying it's not saying like 22:30.900 --> 22:37.100 You know, I have three sons, you know, four kids, three sons, you know, and it's not necessarily saying, 22:37.100 --> 22:44.200 hey, your son's Zephaniah, but you know, when I get older and my son Zephaniah gets married and he has a child, 22:44.200 --> 22:46.300 that would be under the category of son as well. 22:46.300 --> 22:49.500 And actually in the Bible, you will see that where somebody is your son, 22:49.500 --> 22:54.200 it might be what we would call a grandson or basically from your offspring, 22:54.200 --> 22:58.100 it doesn't necessarily mean the direct generation down. 22:58.100 --> 22:58.900 And so... 22:58.900 --> 23:04.660 So it says, let seven of his sons be destroyed. 23:04.660 --> 23:09.380 And the king said, and he let seven men of his sons be delivered unto us, we will hang 23:09.380 --> 23:11.940 them up unto the Lord and give you of Saul, whom the Lord did choose. 23:11.940 --> 23:14.340 And the king said, I will give them. 23:14.340 --> 23:17.540 But the king spared Mephibosheth, the son of Jonathan, the son of Saul. 23:18.000 --> 23:21.500 So once again, Mephibosheth, the son of Jonathan, the son of Saul. 23:21.500 --> 23:26.000 So he's saying, I didn't destroy the grandson of Saul, Mephibosheth, 23:26.000 --> 23:29.800 but Mephibosheth would have been one of the options, because he's one of the sons of Saul, 23:29.800 --> 23:32.000 even though he's not his direct son. 23:32.000 --> 23:33.300 I hope I'm making that clear. 23:34.500 --> 23:38.400 Obviously, some of the words that we use today are a little bit different. 23:38.400 --> 23:41.300 And, you know, you read the Bible, you kind of learn, 23:41.300 --> 23:43.200 just kind of keep that in mind as you're reading. 23:44.300 --> 23:49.420 the son of Jonathan the son of Saul because the Lord's oath that was between them between David and Jonathan the son of Saul 23:50.140 --> 23:52.780 but the king took the two sons of 23:53.480 --> 23:54.500 Rizpah 23:54.700 --> 23:57.100 the daughter of Ai, whom she bear unto Saul, 23:57.100 --> 23:58.980 Armoni and Mephibosheth, 23:58.980 --> 24:02.100 and the five sons of Michael, the daughter of Saul, 24:02.100 --> 24:05.260 whom she brought up for Adriel, the son of Barzali, the Maholathite. 24:05.260 --> 24:10.260 So you've got a mix of what we would say are sons and grandsons in this. 24:10.260 --> 24:13.300 And you've got the two sons of Rizpah. 24:13.300 --> 24:15.700 Of course, Rizpah was the concubine of Saul. 24:15.700 --> 24:19.700 But then you have Michael, who is the daughter of Saul, 24:19.700 --> 24:22.140 and she brought up the kids. 24:22.140 --> 24:22.640 I'll see you next time. 24:22.700 --> 24:26.740 raise them for her sister. We'll see that here in a second. And so those you'd be 24:26.740 --> 24:31.940 looking at the grandkids, okay? So sons and grandsons. But she takes the two sons 24:31.940 --> 24:35.740 of Rizpa, the daughter of Ai, whom she barren to Saul, Armoni and Mephibosheth. 24:35.740 --> 24:40.260 So you've got two characters here. You've got Rizpa and you've got Michael, okay? 24:40.260 --> 24:45.380 And so Rizpa and Michael, Michael of course was married to David and Michael 24:45.380 --> 24:48.620 is mentioned more in the Bible and her story is kind of fascinating as well. And 24:48.620 --> 24:50.700 the Bible is making a comparison. 24:50.700 --> 24:55.700 between two women, Rizpa and Michael. 24:55.700 --> 24:57.700 And sometimes the Bible's gonna do this 24:57.700 --> 24:59.700 where it will lump multiple characters together 24:59.700 --> 25:02.700 in the same chapter, the same verses, 25:02.700 --> 25:04.700 or even back to back chapters, 25:04.700 --> 25:07.700 and you're meant to compare these two women. 25:07.700 --> 25:10.700 Like for example, you think of Genesis 18, 25:10.700 --> 25:12.700 you think of Sarah. 25:12.700 --> 25:15.700 Genesis 19, you think of Lot's wife. 25:16.500 --> 25:17.500 Right? 25:17.500 --> 25:21.220 And in Genesis chapter 18, Sarah's making the food. 25:21.220 --> 25:23.260 Genesis 19, I mean, where's Lot's wife? 25:23.260 --> 25:24.260 We have no idea. 25:24.260 --> 25:25.260 She's not there at home. 25:25.260 --> 25:26.260 Right? 25:26.260 --> 25:31.180 So there's a comparison being made between Genesis 18, Genesis 19, Sarah versus Lot's 25:31.180 --> 25:32.180 wife. 25:32.180 --> 25:35.100 Here the comparison is Rizpa versus Michael. 25:35.100 --> 25:39.340 And so notice first with Michael, I want to show this to you and make this clear. 25:39.340 --> 25:42.020 It's going to help you understand the sermon. 25:42.020 --> 25:44.420 The five sons of Michael, the daughter of Saul. 25:44.900 --> 25:46.900 whom she brought up. 25:47.800 --> 25:51.700 Now notice that's a different wording than with rispa, whom she bare. 25:52.100 --> 25:55.100 Bare would say those children were inside of her belly. 25:56.100 --> 26:00.200 Whom she brought up, a modern day way to say that is whom she raised 26:00.200 --> 26:02.600 for Adriel the son of Barzalai the Maholathite. 26:02.600 --> 26:07.000 Now, at first glance, you look at the name Adriel the son of Barzalai 26:07.500 --> 26:10.900 the Maholathite and it's not a common name. 26:11.200 --> 26:13.760 So let us understand who this character is. 26:13.760 --> 26:18.680 Remember, Michael brought up kids for Adriel, the son of Barzalai the Moholythite. 26:18.680 --> 26:20.020 Now go to 1 Samuel 18. 26:20.020 --> 26:21.720 1 Samuel 18. 26:30.800 --> 26:32.000 First AMO 18. 26:35.200 --> 26:41.640 1 Samuel 18 verse 19, but it came to pass at that time when Merab, Saul's daughter, 26:41.640 --> 26:46.960 should have been given to David that she was given unto Adriel the Moholythite to wife. 26:46.960 --> 26:47.960 Okay? 26:47.960 --> 26:48.460 Now, I... 26:49.200 --> 26:53.520 Obviously, Adriel the Moholyphite. There's not too many people named Adriel the Moholyphite. 26:53.520 --> 26:58.560 So this is the same character that we're talking about. David was originally supposed to marry Marab, Saul's daughter, 26:58.720 --> 27:06.440 but then Marab was given to Adriel the Moholyphite. So Adriel is a guy, Marab is a woman. The woman as in the daughter of Saul. 27:06.440 --> 27:12.120 And then David ends up marrying Michael instead. So Marab and Adriel are married. 27:13.200 --> 27:14.540 And it says in verse 20, 27:14.540 --> 27:16.440 and Michael, Saul's daughter loved David, 27:16.440 --> 27:18.480 and they told Saul and the thing pleased him. 27:18.480 --> 27:22.280 And so Michael brings up children for Adriel, 27:22.280 --> 27:25.280 five children, five sons, whom she brought up. 27:25.600 --> 27:28.200 And of course the question is what happened to Merab? 27:28.200 --> 27:30.300 And the Bible does not tell us, okay? 27:30.300 --> 27:33.800 So Merab is the sister of Michael, and in my opinion, 27:33.800 --> 27:36.600 and I'm going to show you more evidence of this in a second, 27:36.600 --> 27:41.900 that Merab had five sons and perhaps, you know, daughters, 27:41.900 --> 27:46.900 but five sons with Adriel, and Merab probably died. 27:47.400 --> 27:52.920 I could be wrong, the Bible doesn't say, I mean maybe she just ran away or ran off, I would say that's probably 27:53.920 --> 27:55.920 unlikely in this society 27:56.280 --> 28:04.520 But it was very likely is that Merab died after giving birth to at least you know five sons with Adriel and 28:05.280 --> 28:07.280 Basically the kids did not have a mother 28:07.800 --> 28:10.840 And so Michael just kind of stepped in there and raised those kids. 28:10.840 --> 28:13.640 Now of course that's very common culturally. 28:13.640 --> 28:17.960 It's probably more common in the Philippines than in America. 28:17.960 --> 28:27.320 But even in America, if somebody were to die, the brother or the sister in many cases would be the ones to end up raising those kids. 28:27.320 --> 28:33.080 Even by, it's put inside your will, if something happens, I want this person to raise my kids. 28:33.080 --> 28:35.760 And of course, you know, outside of the... 28:35.800 --> 28:40.280 parents if they're still alive, the brother or the sister is going to be a very likely 28:40.280 --> 28:42.160 candidate to raise those kids. 28:42.160 --> 28:44.200 That's just kind of the way that it works. 28:44.200 --> 28:46.120 And I'm sure in Australia it's very similar. 28:46.120 --> 28:47.400 So what I'm saying is... 28:48.100 --> 28:54.780 I think most likely, Merab died, and then there is no mom in the home, and Adriel is, 28:54.780 --> 28:55.780 you know, working. 28:55.780 --> 28:59.780 I'm not saying that, you know, he passed away, although, you know, we don't really know a 28:59.780 --> 29:06.180 lot of information about these characters, but that Michael basically raised those kids. 29:06.600 --> 29:09.600 and, you know, on behalf of Adriel. 29:09.600 --> 29:12.300 So I do not believe that Michael had her own children 29:12.300 --> 29:13.900 in terms of giving birth, 29:13.900 --> 29:16.000 but she does bring up these children. 29:16.000 --> 29:17.540 It doesn't say the exact ages, 29:17.540 --> 29:22.540 but there's enough information where Rizpa bears children, 29:22.540 --> 29:24.940 Michael brings up children, okay? 29:24.940 --> 29:27.520 There's different wording for reason in my opinion, okay? 29:27.520 --> 29:30.700 Go back to second Samuel 21, second Samuel 21. 29:38.300 --> 29:43.100 And I want to be very clear because sometimes you preach on things and I know from experience, 29:43.100 --> 29:48.060 you know, in many things you offend all, you say things in not the right way or not. 29:48.700 --> 29:50.820 with the intent that you have. 29:50.820 --> 29:53.420 I've preached things before and it comes out of my mouth 29:53.420 --> 29:54.380 and immediately I'm thinking, 29:54.380 --> 29:55.900 that's not really the way I meant it. 29:55.900 --> 29:57.980 And I'm like, I want to put it back in my mouth, 29:57.980 --> 29:59.220 but I'm like, I can't, 29:59.220 --> 30:01.140 and I don't really know how to fix it or to word it. 30:01.140 --> 30:04.840 It's like, wow, it is what it is at this point. 30:04.840 --> 30:08.060 So I want to be very clear that I am not saying 30:08.060 --> 30:13.060 in this sermon that because you have not given birth 30:13.240 --> 30:14.380 to a child, 30:14.600 --> 30:17.080 that it's impossible to invest your love and heart 30:17.080 --> 30:20.040 into that child as if they're your own biological child. 30:20.200 --> 30:23.040 There are people that raise other people's children. 30:23.040 --> 30:26.640 There are people that marry into having situations where they have kids 30:26.640 --> 30:31.080 and they invest their love and their care and their effort into those kids. 30:31.080 --> 30:35.880 But what I am saying is there's also many cases where people would bring up children 30:35.880 --> 30:39.040 and they would not invest their entire heart and energy 30:39.040 --> 30:41.800 like they would if they were their own kids, right? 30:41.800 --> 30:43.640 I think common sense would tell us this. 30:43.640 --> 30:47.000 There are a lot of people that do a wonderful job raising kids 30:47.000 --> 30:48.200 that they did not give birth to. 30:48.200 --> 30:52.040 to or they're not the father to those kids but they raise them as they're 30:52.040 --> 30:56.040 their own and they do a wonderful job and love them and care for them but 30:56.040 --> 30:59.120 there's also a lot of cases where people bring up children that are not their own 30:59.120 --> 31:03.320 and they just don't invest the same heart and time and energy into those kids 31:03.320 --> 31:09.040 okay and in this story I think that's exactly what we see with Michael that 31:09.040 --> 31:13.240 RISPA does invest her love and time and energy because they are her own kids 31:13.240 --> 31:15.000 whereas with 31:15.300 --> 31:17.540 Michael, it's like, well, these are not my kids, 31:17.540 --> 31:20.500 so it's kind of like I'm only investing part of my energy. 31:20.500 --> 31:21.940 Second Samuel 21, verse nine. 31:22.860 --> 31:24.980 And this is a story that you can easily read over 31:24.980 --> 31:26.940 in second Samuel 21 and not pay attention, 31:26.940 --> 31:29.780 but it's a wonderful story, it's a very interesting story. 31:29.780 --> 31:31.380 Verse nine, and he delivered them 31:31.380 --> 31:32.620 into the hands of the Gemini Knights, 31:32.620 --> 31:34.800 and they hang them in the hill before the Lord. 31:35.500 --> 31:39.340 and they fell all seven together and were put to death in the days of harvest, 31:39.340 --> 31:42.620 in the days, first days, in the beginning of barley harvest. 31:42.620 --> 31:47.660 Now, stop for a second and imagine that you're a mom, 31:47.660 --> 31:53.180 and if you're a man, imagine being a father, and your kids have been executed. 31:54.220 --> 31:55.740 Your kids have been put to death. 31:57.180 --> 32:00.940 And not only have they been put to death, they're on display. 32:02.300 --> 32:04.800 They're hanged and everybody can see them. 32:04.800 --> 32:06.800 Can you imagine you're going to the market, 32:06.800 --> 32:09.300 you're going to the palenque, you're going to the store, 32:09.300 --> 32:11.800 and then along the way it's like you pass by the area 32:11.800 --> 32:14.800 where your son is hung up, killed. 32:16.100 --> 32:21.100 I mean this would be horrifying for a parent to see something like this or to know about this. 32:21.100 --> 32:25.100 This is the talk of the town at this time that your son has been executed. 32:25.100 --> 32:34.100 I mean, I would imagine, I've heard, you know, my dad worked at a job where he dealt with a lot of people that lived very hard lives, you know, worked for the government, 32:34.100 --> 32:44.100 but I remember him telling me a story where there was this woman that came in and she was just a heartbroken woman that was devastated where she had outlived all of her family. 32:44.100 --> 32:48.300 of her kids. Her kids had, you know, I don't know the full story behind it, but her kids 32:48.300 --> 32:52.660 had died at a young age. And she said, you know, the most painful thing is to outlive 32:52.660 --> 32:59.660 your kids. And I would imagine, you know, that's the case. You know, especially if, 32:59.660 --> 33:03.300 you know, it's one thing to have a miscarriage and that's devastating, it's something my 33:03.300 --> 33:05.300 wife and I have been through and that's horrible. 33:05.800 --> 33:11.800 But imagine having a child that's five years old or six years old or 18 years old and then they tragically die 33:11.800 --> 33:14.300 I mean it would be very tough to recover from that 33:14.300 --> 33:17.300 And that's exactly the situation here 33:17.300 --> 33:19.300 Where their sons are put to death 33:19.300 --> 33:25.300 I mean Rizpa's sons are put to death as a punishment for what Saul did 33:27.700 --> 33:33.200 And it says in the days of harvest, in the first days, in the beginning of barley harvest. 33:33.200 --> 33:38.100 So the Bible is giving you a time frame when this is taking place, okay? 33:38.100 --> 33:39.500 Verse 10, 33:39.500 --> 33:44.900 And Rizpah the daughter of Ai took sackcloth and spread it for her upon the rock from the beginning of harvest 33:44.900 --> 33:48.300 until water dropped upon them out of heaven. 33:48.300 --> 33:51.300 Okay? So the Bible is giving you a time frame of when this is taking place. 33:51.300 --> 33:54.700 Now look, if you had a child that... 33:55.100 --> 34:01.100 was killed, what's the first thing that you would want as a parent to happen to the body of your child? 34:01.100 --> 34:03.100 That they get a proper burial. 34:03.100 --> 34:09.100 Right? I mean that's kind of, especially during this society, it's like, say people, they got buried. 34:09.100 --> 34:11.100 Right? That's what you see throughout the Bible. 34:11.100 --> 34:13.100 And so you're going to want your child to be buried. 34:13.100 --> 34:15.100 It was the honorable thing. 34:15.100 --> 34:19.100 Of course you don't want them to be out there, you know, being hanged, 34:19.100 --> 34:22.900 and just their flesh is just rotting. 34:23.000 --> 34:28.520 smelling and they're being devoured by animals you're gonna want your child to 34:28.520 --> 34:32.240 be buried right I mean that's what I would want that's what anybody would 34:32.240 --> 34:40.120 want and so basically what she does is she goes out there to protect the body 34:40.120 --> 34:45.340 of her dead sons she's got two sons that are being hung to death and she goes 34:45.340 --> 34:49.700 there to protect their body and she does it from the beginning of harvest 34:50.000 --> 34:54.340 Until water dropped upon them out of heaven what is saying until water dropped 34:54.340 --> 34:57.900 It's saying she did it from the beginning of harvest until rainy season 34:58.320 --> 35:04.100 Okay, that was that is what is being said now, of course when we read this, you know 35:04.280 --> 35:10.980 We're not really sure on the time frame because I think in months and I think toward, you know the country I live in 35:12.000 --> 35:18.160 So if you said from January until rain dropped out of heaven, I'm thinking you know January till 35:18.960 --> 35:23.680 maybe July, like six months, you know what I mean? So it depends on where you live when the rainy 35:23.680 --> 35:29.600 season is and when these time frames are taking place. So I looked online because I'm not super 35:29.600 --> 35:35.920 knowledgeable about you know Israel in terms of their seasons and the beginning of harvest 35:36.600 --> 35:39.600 is said to be around April in Israel. 35:39.600 --> 35:40.600 Okay? 35:40.600 --> 35:43.600 And if you look up something and it gives you a different time frame, 35:43.600 --> 35:47.600 it's like I just looked up on AI, you know, try to be as accurate as possible. 35:47.600 --> 35:51.600 The beginning of barley harvest is around April. 35:51.600 --> 35:54.600 And until water dropped upon them out of heaven, 35:54.600 --> 35:57.600 this refers to the first rains, which I would agree on the wording. 35:57.600 --> 36:00.600 This would be referring to once you start having rain, 36:00.600 --> 36:03.600 which usually comes in October. 36:03.900 --> 36:11.740 So according to this, we're talking April until, it sounds like the beginning of October, toward the beginning. 36:11.740 --> 36:16.460 So we're talking five to six months is the time frame. 36:16.460 --> 36:26.460 So what the Bible is saying is this, this woman Rizpa willingly chose to live like a homeless woman. 36:27.000 --> 36:30.280 Sleeping on a rock, sleeping on the ground. 36:30.280 --> 36:38.580 You know what it said in these verses is she took sackcloth in verse 10 and spread it for her upon the rock. 36:38.580 --> 36:47.180 So she's basically living out in the wilderness by the bodies of her children from April to October. 36:47.180 --> 36:49.600 You're like, what in the world is she doing? 36:51.400 --> 36:56.400 It says, and suffered neither the birds of the air to rest in them by day nor the beasts of the field by night. 36:56.400 --> 37:03.400 So the Bible saying is this, that she stayed out and lived like a homeless woman for the entire purpose 37:03.400 --> 37:11.400 so the birds would not eat the bodies of her kids and the beasts of the field by night would not eat her kids as well. 37:12.700 --> 37:17.580 Now, I wish I had this. I do not have this on me. When I preached a sermon many years ago, this is 37:18.860 --> 37:23.020 one of my favorite sermons I've ever preached, you know, and I preached it on Mother's Day like five 37:23.020 --> 37:28.060 years ago because it's kind of a unique story and it's something that, you know, a lot of us are not 37:28.060 --> 37:33.420 familiar with. And I actually brought sackcloth or basically the equivalent here of the Philippines 37:33.420 --> 37:37.820 to just try to give you an idea what this woman is doing for five to six months. 37:38.400 --> 37:44.280 Now, we don't know what Rizpa looked like, but I would argue very strongly that she was 37:44.280 --> 37:46.560 probably a very attractive woman. 37:46.560 --> 37:52.920 And the reason why I say this is Saul chose her to be a concubine wife, and Abner chose 37:52.920 --> 37:57.160 to be with her as well, and those are powerful people, so she's probably visually a very 37:57.160 --> 37:58.160 attractive woman. 37:58.160 --> 38:01.720 But you know what, when you're living like a homeless woman for five to six months, you're 38:01.720 --> 38:02.960 probably not that attractive. 38:03.600 --> 38:10.600 I mean she's there throughout the day and night. I would imagine that, you know, she's probably losing a lot of weight. 38:10.600 --> 38:15.500 And maybe people are coming by, they feel bad for her, and they bring her food, they bring her water or whatever. 38:15.500 --> 38:21.700 I mean she's trusting in God to provide her needs, and she's doing this to protect her children from being devoured. 38:23.700 --> 38:25.700 Against the birds of the air by day. 38:27.400 --> 38:32.120 Mean just think about the vultures that would come I mean you got various birds and you think of the vultures 38:32.120 --> 38:34.920 They will start to surround when they realize that 38:36.240 --> 38:40.360 They will start to do this even from my understanding when they realize someone's about to die 38:40.360 --> 38:46.320 They sense it and then once someone's dead. It's like the body starts to rot and guess what those vultures are coming down 38:46.760 --> 38:52.920 So I mean imagine this woman and I mean she probably had some sort of stick or something and she's like fending off the birds 38:53.800 --> 38:57.160 to prevent those birds from devouring her children. 39:00.200 --> 39:02.200 And imagine she goes to sleep at night. 39:02.720 --> 39:04.720 Right, she's down on the ground 39:05.280 --> 39:09.440 and her head's on a pillow, or not on the pillow I should say, but on a rock or whatever. 39:10.000 --> 39:11.760 She's on the ground 39:11.760 --> 39:17.240 trying to sleep and look, you know, think about the heart of a mom. The smallest noise 39:17.720 --> 39:20.080 will wake up a mom at night. Is that not true? 39:21.000 --> 39:30.000 It's just like, you know, they'll think, they start to imagine a baby's crying even, you know, because they're so used to it, they're so worried as a mom because they love their kids so much. 39:30.000 --> 39:36.000 I'd imagine Rizpa woke up many times in the middle of the night because she heard a noise and there was nothing going on. 39:36.000 --> 39:48.600 There's probably other times where she did hear something and it was a beast coming and she had to have a stick or something just to throw rocks at it or just attack it to stop it from devouring her kids. 39:49.800 --> 39:59.800 Sometimes when we're reading the Bible, we need to stop, slow down, and worry less about getting through our chapters for the day and just really think about these stories. 39:59.800 --> 40:05.800 Because the Bible is giving a comparison between Rizpa and Michael, these two women. 40:05.800 --> 40:10.800 And I don't believe that Rizpa was a godly woman. 40:10.800 --> 40:14.700 But I do believe that she was a good mom. 40:15.000 --> 40:19.000 I do believe she loved and she cared for her kids. 40:19.000 --> 40:21.000 And it's a lesson to all of us. 40:21.000 --> 40:23.000 Because of the fact that some people might think, 40:23.000 --> 40:25.000 man, I really messed up in my past life. 40:25.000 --> 40:28.000 You know, I slept around, I slept with all these different men and everything. 40:28.000 --> 40:32.000 You know, how in the world could I raise these kids and teach them to be godly? 40:33.000 --> 40:36.000 But wait a minute, you might have committed a lot of sins yourself, 40:36.000 --> 40:40.000 but you can fix that and become a great mom or a great father. 40:40.100 --> 40:45.100 Just because you were drunkard for a decade does not mean that you cannot become a good father to your kids. 40:45.100 --> 40:51.100 And here's a woman that actually loves and cares about her kids and she's protecting them. 40:51.100 --> 40:53.100 I mean... 40:56.200 --> 41:00.720 I stop for a second and just just think about your kids 41:01.640 --> 41:04.480 Think about the faces of your kids imagine 41:04.880 --> 41:06.880 This is a nightmare. I 41:07.400 --> 41:12.280 I mean, I can't imagine even being a father and the thing is as much as I love my kids 41:12.900 --> 41:18.900 And you know, I believe I love my kids just as much as my wife does, but there is a difference between men and women, especially emotionally. 41:18.900 --> 41:21.900 And here's a woman that kept it together to take care of her kids. 41:21.900 --> 41:29.900 I mean, just the horrifying sight of seeing your kids dead, but day after day after day after day after day after day. 41:29.900 --> 41:36.900 And as far as we know, for five plus months, protecting her kids from being devoured. 41:38.800 --> 41:40.800 It's kind of a lesson to all of us that are moms and dads. 41:40.800 --> 41:43.300 I mean, how about we invest our heart and energy into our kids? 41:45.800 --> 41:53.800 And here's the thing, the bodies of our sons are going to start to smell, the flesh is going to decay. 41:53.800 --> 41:57.480 And here's what it says in verse number 12 of 2 Samuel 21. 42:00.800 --> 42:05.440 Verse 12, and David went and took the bones of Saul and the bones of Jonathan his son from the 42:05.440 --> 42:09.040 men of Jabesh Gilead, which had stolen them from the street of Bethshan, where the Philistines had 42:09.040 --> 42:15.520 hanged them, when the Philistines had slain Saul and Gilboa. Now, David is, not David, but Saul and 42:15.520 --> 42:20.400 Jonathan have been long dead and what remains, of course this happens over time, is bones, okay? 42:21.120 --> 42:25.920 Well, this is, in my opinion, the Bible's making a connection to pretty much what remains of her sons. 42:26.600 --> 42:31.000 And he brought them up, verse 13, from thence the bones of Saul and the bones of Jonathan his son, 42:31.000 --> 42:33.400 and they gathered the bones of them that were hanged. 42:33.400 --> 42:36.280 And I believe at this point she basically protected her kids, 42:36.280 --> 42:41.240 and just day after day after day there's less and less and less of those kids, 42:41.240 --> 42:44.920 to the point where there's really only bones that are left. 42:45.640 --> 42:50.440 Just skin and bones as we say, and yet she's there trying to protect her kids to the very end. 42:51.700 --> 42:57.300 I mean she literally had to trust in people to provide her food because she can't really leave the bodies. 42:58.020 --> 43:03.000 I mean she's there to protect her kids by day and by night and just doing whatever just to survive. 43:04.060 --> 43:07.540 Now look eventually this is gonna be something that people notice. 43:08.540 --> 43:10.100 They're gonna hear about it. 43:11.100 --> 43:15.740 I just think to myself, you know, in Sacramento there'd be like street preachers that are famous 43:15.740 --> 43:18.300 because you always see them in public screaming, 43:18.300 --> 43:21.980 I'm sure everybody knew who this woman was after a month or two. 43:21.980 --> 43:24.700 Everybody's talking about it. Everybody hears about this. 43:26.220 --> 43:28.700 Now go to your Bible to Job 39. 43:35.200 --> 43:39.360 So for five to six months, RISPA's getting like no sleep. 43:41.800 --> 43:45.520 Because she loves her kids and she's trying to do whatever to protect them. 43:47.600 --> 43:51.400 On the other hand, Michael probably slept pretty well. 43:53.080 --> 43:56.400 I mean, she's bringing up the kids, but it doesn't really seem from this story 43:56.400 --> 43:58.520 like she cares that much about them. 43:59.680 --> 44:01.240 And she probably slept fine. 44:01.680 --> 44:03.760 I'm not saying she didn't care about the kids at all. 44:04.240 --> 44:06.200 I'm just saying she didn't love them as much as Rizpa. 44:06.600 --> 44:10.520 And she didn't go night after night after night with sleepless nights. 44:10.520 --> 44:12.520 I mean, maybe she did for a little while. 44:12.520 --> 44:14.520 Maybe she did. 44:14.520 --> 44:17.360 But she wasn't like Rizpa that is waking up. 44:17.360 --> 44:20.560 I mean, imagine sleeping on a rock. 44:22.560 --> 44:27.000 I mean, it would be one thing to do that a couple nights. 44:27.000 --> 44:28.440 You're out camping in the wilderness. 44:28.440 --> 44:34.360 It's not the most comfortable, you know, but I like sleeping in a bed at night. 44:34.900 --> 44:40.100 It's one thing to do it every once in a while, but I mean, her conditions would have been horrible. 44:40.100 --> 44:44.260 I mean, just think about the challenges, just getting food, using the bathroom. 44:44.260 --> 44:48.740 I mean, her clothes would begin to smell so bad. 44:48.740 --> 44:51.300 And look, maybe along the way, people kind of helped out. 44:51.300 --> 44:55.220 Maybe people gave clothes, people brought food, people brought water. 44:55.220 --> 44:58.740 I presume some of that probably happened, but... 44:59.400 --> 45:06.680 She's living like a homeless woman. This is a woman that was presumably a very beautiful woman and she lived like just a really 45:07.960 --> 45:10.360 Ugly homeless wretch for five to six months 45:11.020 --> 45:18.260 Homeless people become very unattractive no matter how naturally attractive that they are just by living in the streets and 45:18.680 --> 45:23.940 You know, usually they're doing drugs. That's not the case with RISPA, but you're gonna become very unattractive over time 45:24.460 --> 45:26.460 Because you're not taking care of your body 45:27.000 --> 45:32.000 Job 39 verse 13, gave us thou the goodly wings unto the peacocks, or wings and feathers unto 45:32.000 --> 45:34.000 the ostrich, which leave with their eggs in the earth. 45:34.400 --> 45:38.740 Warmeth them in dust and forget it that the foot may crush them or that the wild beasts may break them 45:38.740 --> 45:43.660 She is hardened against her young ones as though they were not hers her labor is in vain without 45:44.120 --> 45:51.080 Fear the Bible speaks about the ostrich mom the one that just does not care about our kids the Bible speaks about the stupidity 45:51.120 --> 45:56.800 And the idiocy of the ostrich we were just at the zoo for my birthday this past week 45:57.400 --> 46:03.000 And the person that was giving the tour was talking about the ostrich and they said, 46:03.000 --> 46:05.000 this is a very dumb animal. 46:05.000 --> 46:07.400 And I told my kids, yeah, you know, the Bible speaks about this. 46:07.400 --> 46:10.200 This is a very stupid animal. It's a very dumb animal. 46:10.200 --> 46:14.600 I think the ostrich is kind of cool. I think it's a unique looking creature. 46:14.600 --> 46:19.000 It moves very fast. It tastes very good to the belly, you know. 46:19.000 --> 46:21.800 And so there's a lot of good things about the ostrich. 46:21.800 --> 46:22.600 But... 46:23.300 --> 46:28.300 The ostrich is an example of a woman who labors in vain. 46:29.540 --> 46:31.220 And there's a lot of moms that feel like 46:31.220 --> 46:32.420 they're spending so much energy 46:32.420 --> 46:33.980 and they feel exhausted all the time. 46:33.980 --> 46:35.220 They're laboring and laboring, 46:35.220 --> 46:36.140 but you're doing it in vain 46:36.140 --> 46:38.540 because you don't actually really care. 46:38.540 --> 46:39.820 Instead of just shoving your kids 46:39.820 --> 46:41.280 in front of an iPad or a TV, 46:41.280 --> 46:42.780 actually invest your time and energy 46:42.780 --> 46:45.860 to talk to your kids and actually raise your kids. 46:45.860 --> 46:47.380 Not like the ostrich mom. 46:47.380 --> 46:50.460 Go to 2 Samuel 6, 2 Samuel chapter 6. 46:58.600 --> 47:02.520 And so when it comes to women in the characters in the Bible part of the series 47:02.520 --> 47:08.860 We've got a mix some characters are just kind of good throughout some are bad throughout some have a mix of both 47:09.720 --> 47:10.960 Rizpa 47:10.960 --> 47:12.960 starts off kind of bad and 47:14.320 --> 47:18.940 The Bible actually highlights her as a great example of a wonderful mom 47:19.900 --> 47:27.600 And so, and here's, I don't want you to misunderstand what I'm saying because if you're living in major sin, you will fail as a mom. 47:27.600 --> 47:29.900 You know, you need to be living a godly life. 47:30.100 --> 47:32.540 But that's obviously what she did in the past. 47:32.540 --> 47:34.260 But in terms of raising those kids, 47:34.260 --> 47:37.140 she invested her time and her energy and effort 47:37.140 --> 47:40.420 into loving those kids and actually raising those kids. 47:40.420 --> 47:42.420 And I believe she's an example of a great mom 47:42.420 --> 47:44.140 that moms can look at. 47:44.140 --> 47:47.700 And I believe as a father, it teaches me a lot as well 47:47.700 --> 47:49.740 to care a little bit less about my hobbies 47:49.740 --> 47:51.940 and invest my time and energy into my kids. 47:51.940 --> 47:53.580 Here's what it says about Michael. 47:53.580 --> 47:55.900 Let me give you more proof that, in my opinion, 47:55.900 --> 47:56.900 Michael did not, 47:58.100 --> 48:01.280 never give birth to kids but she just brought up kids. 48:01.280 --> 48:02.780 Second Samuel 6 verse 20. 48:03.200 --> 48:07.360 Then David returned to bless his household and Michael the daughter of Saul came out to meet David and said, 48:07.360 --> 48:15.080 How glorious was the king of Israel today who uncovered himself today in the eyes of the handmaids of his servants as one of the vain fellows shamelessly uncovered himself. 48:15.080 --> 48:21.720 And David said unto Michael, It was before the Lord which chose me before thy father and before all his house to appoint me ruler over the people of the Lord over Israel. 48:21.720 --> 48:30.520 Therefore will I play before the Lord and I will yet be more vile than thus and will be based in mine own sight and of the maid servants which thou have spoken of, of them shall I be had in honor. 48:30.520 --> 48:31.200 So big f- 48:31.200 --> 48:37.360 between David and Michael. Therefore, as a result of this, Michael the daughter of Saul had no child 48:38.160 --> 48:43.440 on the day of her death. And what it's saying is Michael and David never came together again. 48:43.440 --> 48:48.720 Now this is listed as one of the big contradictions by Muslims and atheists. It's like wait a minute, 48:48.720 --> 48:52.800 Michael didn't have any children, but it says she had five kids. Okay. 48:53.200 --> 48:54.980 Look, people have different explanations. 48:54.980 --> 48:58.940 For me, I think when you tie this together and with Adriel being her brother-in-law, 48:58.940 --> 49:05.880 I think it's clear that she raised kids, but she didn't give birth to kids. 49:05.880 --> 49:09.820 And even though she raised those kids, I don't think she poured her heart and her energy 49:09.820 --> 49:14.000 and love into those kids like Rizpa did to her kids. 49:14.600 --> 49:19.600 And it makes sense because they're not really her kids, biologically or genetically. 49:19.600 --> 49:26.100 And I do not say that to try to sound insulting to people that have raised kids that are not their own 49:26.100 --> 49:31.100 or are raising kids that are not their own because you can pour that time and energy into those kids 49:31.100 --> 49:34.600 and love them like they are your very own biologically and genetically. 49:34.600 --> 49:38.600 Of course, absolutely. But many times people do not do that. 49:38.600 --> 49:41.600 And Michael is an example, in my opinion. 49:42.000 --> 49:44.000 that very thing and 49:44.600 --> 49:46.520 Here's the thing about this 49:46.520 --> 49:48.520 Michael's life was not that good 49:49.080 --> 49:55.160 She married David and then because of everything that happened with David and Saul they're gone from each other. I 49:55.840 --> 49:57.840 Don't think Michael was ever a godly person 49:58.200 --> 50:00.200 she ends up marrying somebody else and 50:00.680 --> 50:03.440 Then she's taken from that guy and brought back to David 50:04.440 --> 50:06.400 And they get into fight 50:06.400 --> 50:08.280 David marries other women 50:08.280 --> 50:09.900 She's on her own 50:10.300 --> 50:17.660 And it's not that hard to put the pieces together and see that a woman like that could be very bitter 50:17.660 --> 50:20.060 because her life sucks. 50:20.060 --> 50:23.460 Her life did not work out the way that she expected. 50:23.460 --> 50:25.860 I mean, what's the dream for young people? 50:25.860 --> 50:29.300 You meet the right person, you get married. 50:29.500 --> 50:31.840 Happily ever after, right? 50:31.840 --> 50:34.180 And look, if this is the way that your life turned out, 50:34.180 --> 50:36.660 you're thinking it would be better not to even marry 50:36.660 --> 50:38.060 if that's the way things are gonna go. 50:38.060 --> 50:39.500 I mean, I'm sure that's what she thought. 50:39.500 --> 50:42.060 It's like, man, she wishes she had never married David 50:42.060 --> 50:45.300 because everything just got messed up in her life. 50:45.300 --> 50:47.220 It's very easy to become bitter 50:47.220 --> 50:48.720 about everything that took place. 50:48.720 --> 50:50.740 And, you know, bitterness is something 50:50.740 --> 50:52.060 that's very powerful. 50:52.060 --> 50:54.140 It's something all of us can fall into 50:54.140 --> 50:57.000 where we can be very upset with certain things in our life. 50:57.100 --> 51:00.660 And sometimes it's because of our own choices that we do. 51:00.660 --> 51:02.660 Other times it's just 51:03.960 --> 51:08.680 The sun and the rain fall upon the just and the unjust and sometimes things just don't work out for us 51:09.180 --> 51:13.720 But the last thing you want to do is allow yourself to get bitter because things didn't go the way that you wanted them to 51:14.000 --> 51:19.440 You need to make the best with whatever situation in life that you have 51:25.600 --> 51:28.440 Go to your Bible to Proverbs 31. 51:28.440 --> 51:29.960 We'll look at a few more places. 51:29.960 --> 51:31.220 As you're turning there, I'm gonna read to you 51:31.220 --> 51:34.000 in the Bible where it says in Isaiah 49 verse 15, 51:34.000 --> 51:37.100 can a man, can a woman forget her sucking child 51:37.100 --> 51:40.260 that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? 51:40.260 --> 51:44.280 Yea, they may forget, yet will I not forget thee. 51:44.280 --> 51:47.520 The Bible speaks about a woman that would have kids 51:47.520 --> 51:49.900 and have no compassion upon them. 51:51.120 --> 51:52.400 Now look, kids. 51:52.700 --> 51:59.660 can be a headache sometimes. I know. I have four kids. I understand that kids can, you know, be, 51:59.660 --> 52:04.860 we say in the Philippines for the Australians listening, it's they can be makulits, right? 52:05.300 --> 52:12.180 I say with my youngest son, my boonso, that he is pinakamakulit, he is the most energetic 52:12.180 --> 52:15.300 and just, he tests our patience, right? 52:15.300 --> 52:20.300 He's a great kid, but he's at that age where he tests our patience, you know? 52:20.300 --> 52:22.900 And sometimes kids are like that. 52:22.900 --> 52:30.180 And unfortunately, sometimes moms can not have compassion on the kids they raised. 52:30.700 --> 52:33.980 Here's the thing, that's the way that you acted as a young child. 52:35.020 --> 52:37.420 Right? I mean, the Bible says this, we should spank our kids because 52:37.420 --> 52:39.580 foolishness is bound in the heart of a child. 52:40.000 --> 52:44.320 Now the rot of correction is going to drive it from them, but the purpose of what I'm preaching about is this, 52:44.320 --> 52:49.840 that your kids will be foolish. They will act up. They will cause problems. They will test your patience. 52:49.840 --> 52:56.160 They will spill food. They will spill drink. They will make a mess. They will disobey you sometimes. 52:56.160 --> 53:01.200 But you don't want to lose the compassion and the love for the kids that God has blessed you with. 53:01.200 --> 53:06.080 Think about in the news in America with the Lindsey Clancy case. 53:06.600 --> 53:11.600 Here's a mom who, if I'm remembering correctly, three kids. 53:12.000 --> 53:14.320 She had a third child and she said, 53:14.320 --> 53:16.280 well, you know, I'm just kind of suffering from, 53:16.280 --> 53:19.760 you know, emotional stress after the pregnancy. 53:19.760 --> 53:21.320 And I might be getting the facts wrong, 53:21.320 --> 53:24.080 but as far as I know, it wasn't right after the pregnancy. 53:24.080 --> 53:25.240 It wasn't like a couple of days later. 53:25.240 --> 53:27.800 I think it was several months down the road. 53:27.800 --> 53:29.800 I don't want to misspeak. 53:29.800 --> 53:31.000 Off the top of my head. 53:31.000 --> 53:32.900 And then she murdered those kids. 53:33.200 --> 53:36.200 From what I understand, she sent the husband out of the home so she could kill him. 53:36.200 --> 53:41.200 And it's like, what in the world? Don't you have compassion on the kids that you raised? 53:41.200 --> 53:45.200 I mean, how selfish is it to kill your kids? Why? 53:45.200 --> 53:47.200 Because you don't want to invest time and energy into it. 53:47.200 --> 53:50.200 And yet, you know, society backs her up. 53:50.200 --> 53:54.200 Society defends it. It's like, what in the world? 53:54.200 --> 53:58.000 What kind of world are we living in? It's crazy. 53:59.200 --> 54:02.700 Not what in the world, like what world are we living in, right? 54:02.700 --> 54:04.700 Like what world is this? 54:05.400 --> 54:09.000 But yet the Bible speaks about women that would not have compassion on their kids. 54:09.000 --> 54:10.520 Proverbs 31 verse 27, 54:10.520 --> 54:13.480 She looketh well to the ways of her household and eateth not the bread of idleness. 54:13.480 --> 54:15.480 Her children will rise up and call her blessed. 54:15.480 --> 54:17.160 Her husband also any praise of her. 54:17.160 --> 54:20.760 Many daughters have done virtuously, but thou excelest them all. 54:20.760 --> 54:25.320 Favors deceitful and beauty is vain, but a woman that feareth the Lord, she shall be praised. 54:25.320 --> 54:28.120 Give her the fruit of her hands and let her own works. 54:29.560 --> 54:30.680 Praise her in the gates. 54:31.500 --> 54:35.500 Look, what you want as a mom is to raise kids. 54:35.500 --> 54:38.500 And then, when they grow up... 54:41.000 --> 54:43.160 They love you, they care about you. 54:43.160 --> 54:45.240 And look, I understand it's not always that way. 54:45.240 --> 54:47.880 You might invest your love and energy and they might choose not to. 54:47.880 --> 54:53.080 Unfortunately, that's kind of an epidemic in today's world of kids that grow up and become adults 54:53.080 --> 54:54.840 and they don't care about the parents that raise them. 54:54.840 --> 54:55.880 And I think that's horrible. 54:55.880 --> 54:57.000 I think that's wicked. 54:57.000 --> 54:58.440 I will never justify it. 54:58.440 --> 54:59.560 I will never defend it. 54:59.560 --> 55:01.640 You got to love your mom and dad that raised you. 55:01.640 --> 55:06.120 Unless your mom and dad were reprobates and these evil people that molested you. 55:06.120 --> 55:09.000 It's like, you know, you got to be thankful for the mom and dad that God gave you. 55:09.000 --> 55:14.400 you, even though they did not do a perfect job, and no parents do a perfect job, you 55:14.400 --> 55:21.840 ought to be thankful for the mom and dad that God blessed you with, that God gave you. 55:21.840 --> 55:25.600 And you say, well, you know, I didn't have a mom and dad in the home, you know, they 55:25.600 --> 55:28.080 disowned me and had nothing to do with me. 55:28.080 --> 55:30.720 It's like, well, you know what, you have a heavenly father that's there for you, though. 55:31.400 --> 55:34.520 And you don't want to be bitter against the mistakes that were made by your mom or dad 55:34.520 --> 55:37.160 or even if one of them ran out of the home and you didn't have one of them. 55:37.160 --> 55:40.840 It's like, you know, you do have a mom and a dad that love or you do have a heavenly father. 55:40.840 --> 55:43.000 Even if you don't have a mom and dad that care about you, 55:43.000 --> 55:46.200 you do have a heavenly father that actually loves you and cares about you. 55:46.200 --> 55:49.480 And you do not want to become bitter because of things that happen in your life. 55:51.400 --> 55:58.760 But let's say, for example, you invest your time and your heart and your energy in your kids. 56:00.100 --> 56:02.900 And they grow up and they don't appreciate it. 56:05.100 --> 56:07.420 Now I think usually they will. 56:07.420 --> 56:08.260 Let's say they don't. 56:08.260 --> 56:10.780 I mean, my kids are still young. 56:10.780 --> 56:11.820 They're under the age of 10. 56:11.820 --> 56:14.100 What if my kids grow up and they don't appreciate it? 56:17.800 --> 56:19.800 Well, you have a God in heaven that sees everything you do. 56:20.640 --> 56:25.840 And in the Bible, in many ways, King David is a type of Jesus Christ. 56:26.520 --> 56:30.440 And I want to show you this verse in second Samuel 21, second Samuel 21. 56:33.900 --> 56:35.660 Second statement 21 verse 11. 56:38.200 --> 56:41.080 I mean, nobody else finds, nobody appreciates it. 56:41.080 --> 56:43.000 But wait a minute, 2 Samuel 21 verse 11, 56:43.000 --> 56:47.560 and it was told David what Rizpa the daughter of Ai, 56:47.560 --> 56:49.240 the concubine of Saul, had done. 56:51.000 --> 56:55.320 Now look, imagine just inside of David's head for a second. 56:55.320 --> 56:58.760 I mean, David knew Rizpa. 56:58.760 --> 57:00.360 This was the concubine of Saul. 57:00.360 --> 57:02.760 I mean, that doesn't really make her such a great woman. 57:02.760 --> 57:04.200 You know, being the concubine of Saul. 57:05.100 --> 57:10.300 And then you've got the other woman in this story, Michael, well that's the wife of David, right? 57:11.420 --> 57:15.660 And what does he hear? He hears about his wife, the first woman he married, 57:15.660 --> 57:18.380 she doesn't really care about the kids that are out there being devoured. 57:18.940 --> 57:25.340 And then you've got this concubine woman, Rizpa, that actually is willing to do whatever to take 57:25.340 --> 57:30.860 care of her kids. And here's someone who actually loves her kids and has actually taken care of them. 57:30.860 --> 57:31.860 them. 57:31.860 --> 57:32.500 And, you know... 57:32.900 --> 57:38.900 In most cases, when you invest your time and your energy and your heart and your kids, 57:38.900 --> 57:40.900 people will find out about it. 57:41.900 --> 57:48.600 But even if they don't, David serves as a type of Christ, and God will see what you do. 57:49.000 --> 57:51.300 God will bless you for the time and energy you did. 57:51.300 --> 57:54.300 Look, your labor is not in vain 57:54.300 --> 57:56.500 if you invest your time and your energy 57:56.500 --> 57:58.900 into loving your kids and taking care of them 57:58.900 --> 58:01.700 and bringing them to church and teaching them the Bible 58:01.700 --> 58:02.800 and spending time with them. 58:02.800 --> 58:04.600 Your labor is not in vain. 58:04.600 --> 58:06.800 And we have a great example of a woman 58:06.800 --> 58:08.800 that is not the godliest, Rizpa. 58:09.400 --> 58:11.180 that shows us this very thing. 58:11.180 --> 58:14.340 Not a godly woman, at least not when she started, 58:14.340 --> 58:16.200 but you know what, she loved her kids, 58:16.200 --> 58:18.180 and you know what, despite past mistakes you made, 58:18.180 --> 58:20.680 you can invest your love and time and energy 58:20.680 --> 58:23.100 into the kids that God has given you. 58:23.100 --> 58:23.940 Let's go to the water prayer. 58:23.940 --> 58:25.140 Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for allowing us 58:25.140 --> 58:26.340 to be here today, and thank you for allowing us 58:26.340 --> 58:28.540 to learn from this woman, Rizpa. 58:28.540 --> 58:31.300 I ask you to help all of us, not just moms, 58:31.300 --> 58:33.260 but also fathers and even people that are younger, 58:33.260 --> 58:35.260 to learn from this story about a woman 58:35.260 --> 58:37.400 who really did an amazing job. 58:37.400 --> 58:40.400 amazing thing because she loved and cared about our kids, God, 58:40.400 --> 58:42.800 and help us to invest our heart and energy into our kids. 58:42.800 --> 58:44.600 We pray this in Jesus' name, amen. 58:45.920 --> 58:47.880 Let us finish with 58:49.760 --> 58:51.800 Near the Cross, song number 10. 58:51.800 --> 58:56.800 Song number 10 in our hymnal, song number 10. 59:02.000 --> 59:04.000 Verse number one. 59:25.800 --> 59:32.300 In the cross be my glory ever. 59:32.700 --> 59:42.400 Till my raptured soul shall find rest beyond the river. 59:42.400 --> 59:51.900 Near the cross a trembling soul, love and mercy found me. 59:51.900 --> 01:00:00.700 There the bright and morning star sheds its beams around me. 01:00:00.700 --> 01:00:17.500 In the cross, in the cross, be my glory ever, Till my raptured soul shall find rest beyond 01:00:17.500 --> 01:00:20.020 the river. 01:00:20.020 --> 01:00:28.700 Near the cross, O Lamb of God, brings its scenes before me. 01:00:28.700 --> 01:00:37.700 Help me walk from day to day with its shadows o'er me. 01:00:37.700 --> 01:00:46.700 In the cross, in the cross be my glory ever, 01:00:46.700 --> 01:00:55.700 Till my raptured soul shall find rest beyond the river. 01:00:56.700 --> 01:01:08.580 the cross I'll watch and wait hoping trusting ever till I reach the golden 01:01:08.580 --> 01:01:24.700 strand just beyond the river in the cross in the cross be my glory ever till 01:01:24.700 --> 01:01:29.700 my raptured soul shall find rest beyond the river. 01:01:33.080 --> 01:01:35.580 All right, let us end with prayer to your heavenly father. 01:01:35.580 --> 01:01:36.640 Thank you for not being here today 01:01:36.640 --> 01:01:39.760 and ask you to help us to apply this sermon to our lives, God. 01:01:39.760 --> 01:01:41.920 Also ask you to help us have a wonderful rest of the week 01:01:41.920 --> 01:01:44.000 and help us to love you and serve you and read the Bible 01:01:44.000 --> 01:01:45.800 and keep our minds and hearts clean. 01:01:45.800 --> 01:01:48.420 And we pray these things in Jesus' name, amen.