2018 Maryland Men of Faith: The Want of Men

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Maryland Men of Faith

Daniel Royo

Islam, God’s Backup Plan

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Our Heavenly Father, thank you for the privilege that we have of not only meeting here together, spending this time here on this Sabbath day together as men at this retreat.

As we open your word, I pray that your spirit would be here with us that you might not only make your word clear But that Lord we might also discern the times in which we live and seek to follow as you would lead us for I pray these things in Jesus name Amen Topic for today this afternoon is Islam God's backup plan Whenever we look at the topic of Islam, I think it's helpful to kind of look first at a few of the details with regard to the overall religion of Islam as it exists in the world today in order for us to be clear on what it is that we're talking about.

And so there at the top of your handout you will see some of the statistics regarding Islam.

They are as recent as the reference that's on there, the Pew Forum on Religious and Public Life.

So statistically there are approximately 1.57 billion Muslims around the world.

To put that in perspective there are approximately 2 billion professed Christians around the world.

About 1 billion of those are Catholic and the other billion are everyone else who professes Christianity, Eastern Orthodox, Protestant, everyone else.

So That's the terms in which we discuss religion, and that's obviously everybody who at 1 time or another stepped foot in a church is what we consider Christian.

Not Everyone who professes Islam is a regular practitioner.

There are varying degrees of adherence and profession and practice.

But in broad terms, that's the broad number.

Secondly, Islam is the majority faith of 48 countries, and that is just under 1 quarter of the countries represented at the United Nations.

Third, Muslims now constitute 5% of the total population of the European Union, and an even higher share of the population of Britain, Spain, and Holland.

So, Islam, as we can very easily see if we've been paying attention to the news for the last 10 years, the presence of Islam as it has spread around the world and immigration has made its presence felt in various parts of the world.

Now these next 2 details are important for us to keep in mind.

The first 1 is more than 60% of the global Muslim population is in Asia.

And that's important to keep in mind because more often than not, when we talk about Islam, the immediate stereotype is that it's an Arab particularly Egypt or Saudi Arabia for that particular region now technically Saudi Arabia is in Asia however the truth is notice the next statistic The countries with the largest Muslim population are first Indonesia.

Indonesia is the country that has the most Muslims in it at 200 million.

The next behind that is Pakistan at 175 million.

If we keep going west, the next country is Iran.

And so the majority of Muslims, when we speak of the Muslim faith is not Arab it is in fact spread throughout the world we can even take a number of countries in Africa where there are a number of professed Muslims across North Africa and down into the Sahara area are all professed Muslim as well.

So when we talk about Islam we're not talking about a particular race or a particular ethnicity we're talking about a religion and it has professed adherence from all backgrounds that make it up.

That becomes important for what it is that we're going to look at later because it's important to be clear on what we're talking about and what we're not talking about when it comes to Islam.

When we look however at the origins, yes sir?

Roughly there's a little bit more than 90% that are Sunni less than 10% are Shia.

So it's by far Sunni When we look at the origins of the faith of Islam, the truth is that Islam is 1 of 3 faiths on earth that claim to trace their lineage to Abraham.

That Father Abraham idea is truly, at its foundation, the root of monotheism as it's present in the world today, and Judaism, Christianity, and Islam all claim Abraham as our spiritual ancestor.

It's there where the tensions that are present in the world, particularly as centered in the Middle East, can be said to be a family feud.

Everyone looks at Abraham and then argues about what exactly Abraham stood for, what he taught, and what in fact should be following his faith.

But in order for us to understand that, it requires that we go back to Abraham himself.

So I hope you have your Bibles with you today, because let's make our way there to the story as it begins in Genesis chapter 12.

In Genesis chapter 12, we find God's first encounter with Abraham.

And there, God's promises that He makes to Abraham that will go on to be the foundation of the rest of the development of the Abrahamic faith.

So Genesis chapter 12 and let's begin in verses 1 to 4.

The Bible says, Now the Lord had said to Abram, Get out of your country, from your family, and from your father's house, to a land that I will show you.

I will bless you and make your name great and you shall be a blessing.

I will bless those who bless you and I will curse him who curses you and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.

Verse 4, so Abram departed as the Lord had spoken to him and a lot went with him and Abram was 75 years old when he departed from Herod so notice what happens here as God comes to Abram and first introduces him to the series of promises that he is giving him the promises include a land that God is going to give to him, that he is going to make him a great nation that he would be a blessing in all the nations of the earth would be blessed through him.

Now what's curious about this is, as the Bible tells us, he's 75 years old when this promise comes to him.

His name, Abram, in Hebrew means exalted father, Or as I like to say, Big Daddy.

He has no children, he's 75 years old, and his name is Big Daddy.

His wife is 65 years old, and it's in this context that God comes to him and says, I'm going to make you a great nation.

I'm going to give you a land, and all the nations of the earth will be blessed through you.

So he sets off on a journey, not knowing where he's going, just taking God at His word.

Well, very shortly thereafter, God comes back to him.

God comes back and says, The Lord appeared to Abram and said, To your descendants I will give this land.

And there he built an altar to the Lord, who had appeared to him." So notice, repetition of 2 parts of the promise.

That Abraham is going to have descendants, and that there is a land promised to them.

The Bible continues, and the Lord said to Abram after Lot had separated from him, lift your eyes now and look from the place where you are, northward, southward, eastward, and westward, For all the land which you see, I give to you and your descendants forever." And then notice the analogy that God introduces, verse 16, 16 And I will make your descendants as the dust of the earth, so that if a man could number the dust of the earth, then your descendants also could be numbered.

Abram is simply wandering, and God keeps saying, You're going to have descendants.

Well Abram starts to get a little frustrated, because all he's getting from God is promises, promises, promises, promises, and nothing is in fact carrying out.

So notice what happens in the next instance.

Abram's frustration comes through in the text.

Genesis 15 verse 2, But Abram said, Lord God, what will you give me, seeing I go childless?

And the heir of my house is a liaisor of Damascus.

Then Abram said, Look, you have given me no offspring.

Indeed, 1 born in my house is my heir." Abram has gotten to the end of his rope.

And he's saying, we've heard a lot of talk.

Verse 4, Behold, the word of the Lord came to him, saying, This 1, that is, his servant, shall not be your heir, but 1 who will come from your own body shall be your heir.

Verse 5, then he brought him outside and said, Look now toward heaven and count the stars, if you are able to number them.

And he said to him, So shall your descendants be.

For all of the promises God has made, there has not been a child born yet to Abram.

All he has is this repeated idea that he's going to have lots of children, they're going to have that land, and as we looked at in the first promise all the nations of the earth would be blessed through them.

Well After 11 years of Abram having heard these promises, having wandered, and God coming back and repeating them time and again, finally, Abram and Sarai get frustrated with all of this time that has gone by, and no apparent action on God's part, and so they decide to take matters into their own hands.

Genesis 16, and verse 1, notice how the Bible records this particular episode.

Now Sarai, Abram's wife, had borne him no children.

That's pretty blunt for what the Bible has to record for us.

And she had an Egyptian maid servant whose name was Hagar.

Verse 2, So Sarai said to Abram, See now, the Lord has restrained me from bearing children.

Perhaps I shall obtain children by her.' And Abram heeded the voice of Sarai." There's a temptation there to digress.

This is a men's retreat after all, but We will stay on track.

Verse 3 Then Sarai, Abram's wife, took Hagar, her maid, the Egyptian, and gave her to her husband Abram to be his wife, after Abram had dwelt 10 years in the land of Canaan.

So he went into Hagar, and she conceived, and when she saw that she had conceived, her mistress became despised in her eyes.

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Islam, God’s Backup Plan

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