men's diet and fertility

now, in 1 samuel 1, we find the famous storyabout hannah and she's not able to have a child. the bible says in verse 5 and 6 thatthe lord had shut up her womb. she’s praying to the lord and eli prays for her. she eventuallyhas a child and that child, of course, becomes samuel, the prophet, and so on, and so forth.what i want to preach about this morning is the subject of infertility or the subjectof women not being able to have children. this is a subject that the bible deals withover and over again. in fact, you can almost say it’s one of the great themes of thebible. it comes up so often. just looking through the bible, here’s the list thati came up with of ladies who were not able to have a child or the bible calls them barren.we would call them infertile or not able to

have a child for whatever reason. first ofall, sarah, abraham’s wife, rebecca, isaac’s wife, rachel, jacob’s wife. then, if youremember, samson’s mother was barren. the wife of elkanah, she was not able to havea child. the wife of elkanah, hannah, we just read about it. then, there was the shunammite lady in 2 kings4 who was not able to have a child until elisha prayed for her. then, elizabeth, the motherof john the baptist, the bible also says of her that she was barren, she was infertile.then, also there’s a story in genesis 20 where the lord had shut up the wombs of thehouse of abimelech. abimelech was the leader of the philistines, and his whole householdbecame barren as a result of the situation

with sarah being brought into abimelech’shouse and so forth. there are a lot of women in the bible whodealt with this but what’s interesting about it is that every single one of them eventuallyhad children in the bible. did you hear that? all these women that i listed for you, allthese stories throughout the bible, every single one of them eventually gave birth toa child. not one of them remained childless. now, some people will erroneously bring upmichal, david’s wife, and say, “that was one who was barren and remained childless,”because there is a verse in the bible, 2 samuel 6:23, you don’t need to turn there, whereit says, “therefore michal the daughter of saul had no child unto the day of her death.”they’ll say she was one that was barren

until the end, but michal was not barren atall. there’s no evidence of that whatsoever. what really happened, and if you notice thatthat verse starts with “therefore,” and i heard somebody once say that whenever yousee a “therefore,” you need to figure out what it’s therefore because thereforeis a conjunction. if you look at what comes before the “therefore,” david is chewingher out and telling her and putting her in place. then, it says, “therefore, she hadno child until the day of her death.” the reason why is because david had multiple wivesand david basically, from that point on, after she rebuked him, he had nothing to do withher ever again. obviously, that’s why she remained childless because he’s not havinga marital relationship with her. that’s

not barrenness. that story is not relevantto the discussion. every woman in the bible who was infertileor barren eventually had a child. now, i want to go through with you just biblical principleson this subject. what does the bible teach us about this? how do we handle this? thereare a lot of ladies today in 2013 that are barren or infertile. there are a lot thatwish that they could have children and could not or perhaps you know someone who is inthat situation. we need to learn from this. the first thing that we see in this passageis that god is the one who opens and closes the womb. look at verse 2. it’s just talkingabout elkanah. it says he had two wives. the name of the one was hannah and the name ofthe other, peninnah. peninnah had children

but hannah had no children. jump down to verse5, “but unto hannah he gave a worthy portion; for he loved hannah: but the lord had shutup her womb.” that’s a key phrase. look at verse 6, “and her adversary also provokedher sore, for to make her fret, because the lord had shut up her womb.” twice in thispassage, the bible makes it clear that it was the lord’s doing that she was not ableto have children. it was his will. it was something that he made a decision on. now, you don’t have to turn there but wesee this over and over again. genesis 20:18, the bible says, “for the lord had fast closedup all the wombs of the house of abimelech, because of sara, abraham's wife.” genesis29:31, “and when the lord saw that leah

was hated, he opened her womb: but rachelwas barren.” genesis 30:1, “when rachel saw that she bare jacob no children, rachelenvied her sister; and said unto jacob, give me children, or else i die. and jacob's angerwas kindled against rachel: and he said, am i in god's stead, who hath withheld from theethe fruit of the womb?” we see then that this is a decision that godmakes to open the womb and to close the womb. genesis 30:22, about rachel again, it says,“god hearkened to her, and opened her womb.” she prayed her. god harkened to her. he openedher womb. this is something that is in god’s hands, that is according to the will of god. another thing that we noticed in this passageis that this situation of not being able to

have a child is a cause of great grief, andfrustration, and sadness for those who are afflicted by it. we see that hannah is veryupset. she is crying. part of the reason why she’s upset is how she’s being treatedby peninnah. we should be careful not to treat people badly. obviously, this can be a sensitivesubject with people. therefore, if people don’t have childrenand you don’t really know why, and maybe they’ve been married for long and they don’thave children, you may not necessarily want to go to them and just say, “when are yougoing to have kids? what’s the deal? what are you waiting for?” because you couldbe obviously opening up a sore subject. you just need to be polite and tactful, and justmind your business on things of that nature,

and not always question. somebody might onlyhave one child and you say, “aren’t you going to have another one? why do you onlyhave one?” it could be a source of sadness so you don’t want to open up a bad subject.you just want to treat people nicely, and kindly, and lovingly, and gently. that’sa biblical principle. the first i would say on this subject, goback to genesis 25, the first thing i would say on the subject of infertility is thatif this is something that you’re dealing with or that anyone is dealing with is thatwomen need to be patient when it comes to this subject. patience is the first thingthat i would advise because the bible tells us that, of course, every woman in the biblewho was infertile eventually had a child but

that doesn’t mean that it happened rightaway. sometimes, we can pray and ask god to do things, and we think that god is not answeringour prayer, but really, it’s just that he doesn’t always do it in our timing. sometimes,there’s a delay before god chooses to answer our prayer. it doesn’t mean that he’snot going to answer it. for example, in genesis 25:20, it says, “andisaac was forty years old when he took rebekah to wife, the daughter of bethuel, the syrianof padanaram, the sister to laban the syrian. and isaac intreated the lord for his wife,because she was barren: and the lord was intreated of him, and rebekah his wife conceived.”now, it’s easy to read that verse and it just seems like it was just an instant answerto prayer. he marries rebekah. she’s barren.

he gets on his knees. he prays to god andasked god to open her womb. god opens her womb. nothing to it, right? jump down to verse 25 though, this is whenshe gives birth to the twins, jacob and esau. it says, “and the first came out red, allover like an hairy garment; and they called his name esau. and after that came his brotherout, and his hand took hold on esau's heel; and his name was called jacob: and isaac was,”how old, “threescore years old when she bare them.” he was 60 years old. a scoreis 20, three score is 60. the bible says that he married her when he was 40. she was barrenand was not able to have a child. then, god answered the prayer 20 years later. was thatjust an instant answer to prayer? just, yeah,

we prayed and just fixed. no, isaac had tobe patient. he prayed unto the lord. god heard his prayer but it wasn’t an instant answerto prayer. it was 20 years that went by before the child came. here’s a scripture for you in psalm 113.you don’t have to turn there but it says, “he raiseth up the poor out of the dust,and lifteth the needy out of the dunghill; that he may set him with princes, even withthe princes of his people. he maketh the barren woman to keep house, and to be a joyful motherof children. praise ye the lord.” is god able to open the womb? yes. is god able tomake the barren to have a child? absolutely. does it always happen immediately when wepray and ask god to do it? no. patience.

the bible says, “but you have need of patiencethat after you have done the will of god, you might receive the promise.” so often,we just want everything right now. we’re like the prodigal son. “give me the portionof the inheritance that falleth to me. right now, i want everything now,” when sometimes,god wants us to wait. it’s difficult to wait and it takes faith to wait but that’swhat god counts us to do, and that’s what the examples of these ladies in the bibleshows us to do is to wait. now, i have personally known people who thought,“we are unable to have children.” they were married for literally a decade or 15years. i can name specific people like that who eventually had children even though theyhad completely given up and thought, “we

are unable to have children.” i’m thinkingof a couple in particular. finally, they tried and tried for a decade and prayed. then, theybasically adopted children which there’s nothing wrong with that. i am going to getto that later in the sermon about adoption, the specifics of what i believe is right andwrong with adoption, but they adopted children. low and behold, she had children after theyadopted. of course, there’s nothing wrong with adopting children in that case but whati’m saying is that a lot of times, we think that it’s not going to happen but reallythe answer to prayer is just still coming. you just have to be patient. just wait andnot get ahead of yourself. why are women barren? because i don’t believe that every womanis barren for the same reason. let me give

you a list of all the reasons that i’vecome up with both just biblically and just what we see around us in the world why womenare barren. number one reason why women are barren isthat god has chosen to close the womb. now, even if you go to the world and their science,and their statistics, and their research, depending on whose statistics you look at,they’ll say that 20 to 40% of those that are infertile, they have zero explanationfor why. they’ll look at the man, they’ll examine him, and everything is good with theman. they’ll look at the woman, they’ll examine the woman, everything is good withthe woman. they’ll just say, “look, you’re both perfectly healthy. everything is fine.we have no idea why you are unable to have

children.” 40% of the time, that’s thecase. they don’t know. some would say 20%. a lot of them would say 40%. that’s a pretty substantial number of womentoday where god has just closed the womb for whatever reason in his infinite wisdom. thatmight be hard to accept but that is what god chooses to do and his will is his will. whatcan we say to the will of god? he knows what’s best and he chooses sometimes to make peoplewait or to not have a child, whatsoever. now, if you look at the case with abrahamand sarah, why do you think sarah was barren? i don’t believe it was a result of any sinon her part. if we look at a lot of the women in the bible who were barren, they were notliving in sin. they were righteous and godly

people. it was not a punishment but rather,god had a purpose for a lot of women there. why do you think rebekah was barren? partof the purpose might have been that he wanted to give us that example today of prayer andwaiting 20 years to get the answer. he was using that as an illustration to teach ussomething. god wanted to perform that miracle where sarah gave birth at a very old age that’swhy he allowed her to barren. if you remember, there was a man who was blindfrom his mother’s womb in the book of john. the disciples asked jesus, “why was thisman born blind? did he sin or did his parents sin?” god said, “neither he sinned, neitherdid his parents sinned but he is blind for the glory of god.” it was so that jesuscould heal him. there could be all different

reasons why god chooses for a woman to beinfertile at a particular time in her life. maybe it’s just god’s will that you onlyhave one child. maybe it’s just god’s will that you only have two children and you’regoing to have that child later. as is the case with abraham, isaac, god had a plan,god had a will, and who are we to question god? it happened to righteous people. secondly, sometimes, god has chosen the wombor closing the womb because of the fact that it is a punishment. i am not going to getup here and lie to you and say it’s never a punishment because it is a punishment inthe bible. for example, with the house of abimelech, they were punished by having thewomb closed. that is something that comes

up in the bible. i’d be lying to you ifi told you that god never closes the womb as a punishment because he does, but wherewe make the mistake is where we look at somebody or look at ourselves and say, “i am nothaving children. it must be a punishment.” no, because there are a lot of examples whereit was not a punishment. it’s just like the book of job. job wasn’tbeing punished and god became very angry when job’s friends accused him of sin just becausebad things were happening to him and job was not in sin. we never want to judge ourselvesor someone else on that basis and say, “it’s a punishment of god, it’s a judgment ofgod,” because we don’t know what god is doing.

you say, “how do i know if god is punishingme?” are you living in sin? are you breaking his commandments? if you’re violating god’sword and breaking his commandments, and bad things happen, it’s a punishment. if you’refollowing god’s commandments and doing what’s right, then it’s not a punishment. it’sthat simple. basically, we need to go by what the bible says to determine what’s rightand wrong, not on the circumstances of our lives. we can’t really judge based on that. god chooses to close the womb is the numberone reason. even the world will say that could be up to 40% of the time, no explicable reason.god could even use other causes that science could even recognize. he could use those toclose the womb. is it always a punishment?

no. most of the time, it’s women in thebible who are righteous, godly women who are not being punished. sometimes, it is a punishment. let me say this, sometimes there are stdsthat can cause one to become infertile, whether male or female. by the way, when we thinkof infertility, we often just think of the woman but in reality, 50% of the time, themodern science will tell us that 50% of the time, it’s the men. just as often as it’sthe woman, it’s a problem on the man’s end. a lot of stds or diseases that are transmittedthrough fornication can cause one to become infertile. this is something that people don’t thinkabout when they go out and commit the sin

of fornication, and they go out and commitall this sin, and then they wonder when there are repercussions to it where infertilitycould result in those type of diseases. that could be a punishment right there just builtinto the sin of fornication. most of the time, it’s not a punishment but it could a punishment.that’s number one, god choose to close the womb. number two, why are women barren today? becauseof the residual effect of birth control. the residual effects of birth control. women willtake birth control for years. then, all of a sudden, they’re “okay, i want to getpregnant now.” it might not necessarily happen. in fact, they say that for as longas you are on the birth control pills, that’s

about how long it might take you to becomepregnant. if you’re on birth control pill for five years, it could take you five yearsjust to get all of that out of your system and get your system back to normal. of course, i’m totally against birth controlpills. i’ve written a whole article about it. i am not going to go into it just becausei don’t have time all the reasons why birth control pills are bad, but the residual effectof birth control can sometimes make someone temporarily or permanently infertile fromtaking birth control pills. number three reason why women could be barrenis because of health issues. now, i will put this into two categories of health issuesand this could be either in the man or the

woman. health issues could either be a medicalproblem or a lifestyle problem. for example, a medical problem is someone have cancer,or disease, or just other issues in the body where your body is not healthy for whateverreason could cause you to be infertile either temporarily or permanently. secondly, lifestyle. it’s a proven factthat being overweight, either man or woman, or being underweight can often lead to infertility.just living an unhealthy lifestyle, being completely sedentary, just completely sittingaround, not getting any exercise, eating junk food, all the toxins and the junk that weeat sometimes, all the chemicals going into your body, that’s stuff can throw you offhormonally. that stuff can affect your body

and cause you to not be fertile. stuff that’sin the water, stuff that’s in the food can enter in and contaminate. this is not me just up here giving my politicallyincorrect opinion here. anybody will tell you, anybody will agree, and common sensecan tell you that if your body is not healthy, your body is not going to function properly.if your body is not functioning properly, that could result in you not being fertile.the bible tells us in 1 corinthians 12 that when one part of the body suffers, the wholebody suffers. we know that that’s true. you could have a bad tooth that could causeproblems in your blood and in your heart. our whole body is one system that works togetherand when we live an unhealthy lifestyle, that

will reduce your chances of being able tohave a child. if you’re overweight, if you’re underweight,if you’re sedentary, if you’re eating junk food, not exercising at all, sometimesamongst women, excessive exercise can cause them to become infertile. these that are justobsessed with just constantly running and bicycling and very underweight, and they’revegan, and they’re exercising all the time, and they’re just so underweight, and they’rejust exercising so much that they become infertile. that’s an issue. it’s not just the women,it’s the men. just 50% of the time, it’s the men. the man is living an unhealthy lifestyle.that can cause infertility as well. then, the last reason i would give is justold age. the older you get, the less fertile

you’re going to be. that’s why it wassuch a miracle when these people did give birth in old age like sarah and others. justa quick review. why are women barren? number one, because god has chosen to close the wombusually just for reasons unknown to us, just as it’s his will at this time. sometimes,it could also be a punishment. usually, it’s not but it could be a punishment. number two,it could be the residual effects of birth control. number three, it could be healthproblems in the men, whether a medical problem or a lifestyle problem. it could be a healthissue in the women, medical or lifestyle-related. it could just be older age, just advance age.those are the issues. the question is then, biblically, what arethe steps that should be taken when someone

is infertile? if a woman is infertile, whatare the steps to take and what are the steps not to take? that’s the remainder of thesermon. what steps should be taken biblically and what steps should not be taken biblicallyspeaking? first of all, the step to take when infertile is to pray, of course. remember,it says in verse 22 of genesis 30, “god remembered rachel, and god hearkened to her,and opened her womb.” that was an answer to prayer. here’s a woman, she can’t havea child, she prayed, and had children. in reality, every single woman in the bible whoprayed eventually had children. prayer works. number two, not just pray, you also need tohave faith because we need to pray believing. the bible says, “a double minded man isunstable in all his ways.” the bible says,

“let him ask in faith, nothing wavering.for he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed. f orlet not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the lord.” a key thing whenit comes to having your prayers answered is to have faith or to believe in prayer. let me give you a few scriptures on that.hebrews 11:11. you turn to matthew 21, if you would. matthew 21. i’ll read for youfrom hebrews 11:11. it says, “through faith also sara herself received strength to conceiveseed.” how did sara received strength to conceive seed? through faith. “and was deliveredof a child when she was past age, because she judged him faithful who had promised.”hebrews 11:11. the bible says the same thing

in romans 4 about abraham, about how he hadfaith, how he believed god, and that’s why he was able to have a child because of faith. matthew 21:21 says this, “jesus answeredand said unto them, ‘verily i say unto you, if ye have faith, and doubt not, ye shallnot only do this which is done to the fig tree, but also if ye shall say unto this mountain,be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; it shall be done. and all things, whatsoeverye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive.’” when we pray, we need to havefaith. we needed not just go through the motions but we need to actually believe that god hasthe power and the ability to answer our prayer if it is his will.

go to 1 john 5. 1 john 5 because we’re goingthrough just biblical steps here of what to do when you’re infertile. what does thebible teach? the bible shows prayer as being the first recourse if a woman wants to becomepregnant and is not getting pregnant, she prays? how do we get our prayers answered?it’s important that we have faith and believe in the power of god and believe in the powerof prayer. 1 john 5:14 says this, “this is the confidencethat we have in him, that, if we ask any thing according to his will, he heareth us: andif we know that he hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions thatwe desired of him.” the bible says that we know that if we ask anything accordingto his will, he heareth us. if we know that

he hear us, we know he’s going to give usthe petitions that we have desired of him. the bible says “be careful for nothing;but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be madeknown unto god. and the peace of god, which passeth all understanding, shall keep yourhearts and minds through christ jesus.” what does that mean, the peace of god? whatdoes it mean to pray believing? what it means is that when you pray to god and you ask godto answer your prayer and to give you a child, you leave it at that. as far as you know,you don’t sit there and say, “now, i am going to worry about it and stress about it.i don’t think god is going to answer my prayer so i need to go do something else.”that’s not faith.

faith says, “i’ve prayed to god aboutit. i’ve put it in his hands. now, it’s in his hands. i’m not going to worry aboutit.” carefulness means worrying. that would be the modern day word for it. carefulnessis when we’re worried and stressed out about things. what we ought to do is just put itin god’s hands, pray to the lord, and say, “god, it’s up to you.” what i thinkpart of that is when we tell god and say, “god, i want you to do this but not my willbut thy will done. i am willing to wait, lord. i am willing to be patient. i believe thatyou want what’s best for me. i want your will to be done. god, i’m casting it allupon you,” and to understand that god hears you and he can answer your prayer, and believethat he will answer your prayer in his timing.

the bible also says in chapter 3. flip backto chapter 3 of 1 john. it says in 1 john 3:22, “and whatsoever we ask, we receiveof him, because we keep his commandments, and do those things that are pleasing in hissight.” we should strive to live a life that pleases god and keeps his commandments.then, we pray to god and put our request before him. then, it’s up to him at that point.then, we live it in his hands and let him decide. if he chooses to make us wait, thenyou know what, we just are thankful for the good things that we have and we patientlywait for god’s will to be done. what’s another step that you can biblicallytake? obviously besides praying, obviously besides praying with a heart of faith andbelieving, you’re not doubting god, you’re

not doubting his choices, you’re not doubting.what if god just decides to not give you a child, or to only give you one child, or tonot give you a child for the first 20 years, are you willing to accept god’s decisionand just believe that his best for you is good enough than to try to second guess hisdecision with a lack of faith? another thing you can do besides praying andbelieving is to basically get someone else to pray for you. for example, the pastor,because if you look at these stories in the bible, this is actually something that frequentlyhappens. for example, in 1 samuel 1, what did hannah do? she went and prayed and shehad been praying for her son, but then, she actually told eli her situation. when shetold eli the situation, eli prayed. then,

it happened as a result of eli’s prayer.actually, eli’s prayer was what actually got the job done in 1 samuel 1. then, eli,again, after she had the first child, samuel, eli prayed for them again, and then they hadfive more children in 1 samuel 2 is what records that part. you could get the pastor to pray. another example of that is with abimelech’shouse. when abimelech’s household was barren, abraham prayed for them. it was a result ofabraham’s prayer that they were no longer barren. then, another example of that is withthe shunammite in 2 kings 4. she had been barren for a very long time. she was an olderwoman. elisha prayed for her that she would have a child, and she conceived and had achild. that would be one thing you could do.

you could pray. number two, you’d get aman of god to pray, have faith, et cetera. now, another thing that you could do is improveyour health. now, i don’t think that this shows a lack of faith to improve your health.to say, “okay. i’ve prayed. i’ve put it all in god’s hands. i’m trusting inthe lord. i am not going to worry about it.” covetousness can become an issue when it comesto infertility, can’t it? isn’t covetousness a sin? wishing that you had what someone elsehas wishing that you had what you do not have. we need to learn also to be content with suchthings as we have and be sure that covetousness does not enter in. there’s nothing wrongwith wanting to have a child. there’s nothing wrong with praying to god and asking the lordto give you that child, but we don’t become

covetousness where it’s like, “god isnot giving me a child but i want one anyway.” that’s a bad attitude. getting angry atgod. getting angry at other people around you that are having children. coveting whatother people have, that’s not the right attitude. there should be a faith and a peace that says,“god, i trust you. i trust your timing. i trust your judgment. i pray to you. youknow my heart. you know my request. i’m thankful for everything else i have.” yousay, “i don’t have children,” but you have a husband. that’s what hannah’s wifetold her, “am i not better than ten sons?” he said, “look, elisha have me.” thereare always people who have less than you and

who are worse off than you. you don’t wantto get a covetous attitude where you’re not content with what you have. that being said that you put it in god’shands, you have peace about it, you don’t worry, and fret, and covet about it, you justlive your life, and trust the lord. improving your health is not a lapse in faith becausethat’s something that you should probably be doing anyway. keep in mind, is every womaninfertile or is every man infertile because god has closed the womb? not necessarily becauseremember when i was giving the list of reasons why women are infertile, sometimes, it’sa lifestyle issue or a medical issue. i don’t think that it’s a lapse of faithto improve your health. if you’re saying,

“man, i would really like to have children.i am not able to have children,” you may want to address health issues. if you’rejust eating a really unhealthy diet, living a really unhealthy lifestyle, and then youjust say, “god is not blessing me with children,” maybe it has something to do also just withyou physically, with your lifestyle. i realized that god could perform a miracleand give you a child in spite of a bad lifestyle but he does teach us in the bible to takecare of our bodies. he does tell us what we should and should not eat. how many timesin the bible does he warn in proverbs about eating too many sweets? doesn’t he tellyou, “hey, don’t eat too much honey. eat honey but don’t eat too much because you’llvomit it up.” did he not say that? did he

not tell us to eat our daily bread and toeat our meats, but he does warn us also about gluttony and overeating. obviously, also,there could be under-eating issues. there could be all kinds. also, god does warn usto work with our hands and he tells us to basically do things that would be giving usexercise. now, i don’t think that necessarily thepeople in the book of genesis had a membership to the gym but do you know what? they liveda different lifestyle than we lived. the women are spinning wools, spinning flax, washingclothes. they’re doing all kinds of physical work. they’re hauling water around. they’rehauling babies around. they’re cooking meals. they’re bringing food around. the men areout farming. 90% of men have been farmers

throughout history or they’re doing a joblike a blacksmith. it’s all jobs that require physical work. the bible talks about workingwith sweat to your face. if you do have a job where you’re just seateda lot or you’re just in front of a computer a lot, in order for your body to be healthy,you do have to get out and get some exercise. go soul winning is a good start. at least,it will get you walking up and down the streets. then, go to an apartment complex and we goup and down those stairs. honestly, you got to get some exercise in your life. you gotto stop eating junk. the bible warns us about all of those things. i don’t think thatthere’s anything lacking in faith or unbiblical about improving your health.

go to ecclesiastes 11. what do you? you’reinfertile, what do you do biblically? number, you’d be patient. don’t expect it to happenovernight. number two, you pray. number three, you pray, and you believe, and have faithin what you’re praying. number four, you get someone else to pray. you go to the manof god and have him pray for you. whether in the bible, that was abraham or whetherit’s eli, or whether it was … who’s the other one? elisha. you know what, thegreat thing is that eli being overweight didn’t stop them from conceiving when he prayed forthem because the bible says that eli was a very heavy man and he was rebuked for gorginghimself on the fat of the sacrifices and so forth. where did i have you turn?

man: ecclesiastes 11. pastor: ecclesiastes 11. here’s anotherthing that you can do if you’re infertile. i want to say this very delicately but i feelthat i need to tell the whole truth on this subject is that another thing that you coulddo is you could lie with your spouse more frequently because i have literally spokento people a long time ago, no one that you know, but somebody has literally asked meto question before, “if we’re trying to have a child, is once a week enough? is thatenough if we’re trying to get pregnant?” no, it’s not enough. that right there couldvery well be the problem because that is scientifically just not going to be enough. you might getlucky but no, that’s not enough.

look what the bible says in ecclesiastes 11:4.this is a parable but he’s using it in regard to actually having children as well. lookat verse 4, it says, “he that observeth the wind shall not sow; and he that regardeththe clouds shall not reap. as thou knowest not what is the way of the spirit, nor howthe bones do grow in the womb of her that is with child: even so thou knowest not theworks of god who maketh all. in the morning sow thy seed, and in the evening withholdnot thine hand: for thou knowest not whether shall prosper, either this or that, or whetherthey both shall be alike good.” again, i’m trying to be as discreet as possiblehere as i explain this but there are some people who think to themselves, “okay, wereally want to have a child. we’re going

to get out a calendar, and we’re going tomap it all out.” there’s eve software that you can buy. there’s an app for thatliterally. i am not kidding. there is an app for this. there is software. it’s like,“if you’re trying to get pregnant, you need to buy this software,” and the softwareis going to tell you, “okay, this is the day that you need to do it. this is the daythat you need to sow that seed.” it’s like, “okay, that’s what we’re goingto do.” is that biblical according to this passage? congregation: no. pastor: the passage is saying you don’tknow. you don’t know when it’s going to

happen. you know what? it’s not that exactof a science, my friend, of just there’s a certain time and a certain day, and youhit the window, and the software is going to tell you when that is. no, wrong. the biblesays here, you don’t really know. science doesn’t even fully understand the wholeprocess of reproduction of how it even takes place. that’s why even 40% of time, they’relike, “we can’t tell you why you can’t get pregnant,” because there’s a lot ofthings that science still doesn’t understand and know. the doctor is not god. scientistsare not god. for us to sit there and think that we canplan this and understand this, and no, the bible says you don’t know how the bonesgrow in the womb of her that is with child.

you don’t know the way of the spirit orthe works of god that makes all. he says, “look, in the morning sow thy seed, andin the evening withhold not thine hand: for thou knowest not whether shall prosper, eitherthis or that, or whether they both shall be alike good.” it’s saying you don’t knowwhen it’s going to work out. you just do it and it’s going to either happen or it’snot, and it’s up to god, but you have to do it or else, it’s not going to happen. to sit there and plan out some once a week,once a month according to some app, it’s just not going to happen, my friend. it’sjust chances are you’re not just going to hit that bull’s eye. that’s a really sillyway to go about it. if you’re trying to

get pregnant, just scientifically, it needsto be happening a minimum of every other day but ideally, it should be happening everyday but, at least, every other day if you actually expect to get pregnant. that’sjust the hard truth of it. again, i don’t want to go into a bunch ofdetail on that but i feel the need to say that just because there are people who misunderstandthis and don’t comprehend this. this could be part of the reason why people are infertile.again, it’s probably a rare thing where that’s the problem but still, i’m justthrowing it out there because it is a biblical teaching here in this passage. he’s using this to talk about two differentthings because he is also talking about actually

sowing a seed out in a field like a farmer.he says in verse 4, “he that observeth the wind shall not sow; and he that regardeththe clouds shall not reap.” what he’s saying is you’re never going to find thatperfect day to sow the seed. if you’re a farmer and you’re just like, “the cloudsaren’t. it’s too windy.” pretty soon, it’s too late to sow the seed because you’vewaited for that perfect opportunity. then, do you see how god ties that in withhaving a child in the next verse? he puts this illustrations together. we could alsotake another interpretation of this and think about this, what about people who say, “we’rejust not ready for children.” think about this. we’re going to wait to sow that seed.we’re looking at the clouds. we’re looking

at the wind. i just don’t know if it’sthe right time for us to have a baby right now. then, what happens? then, eventuallythey decide, “okay, now we’re ready, god. okay, god, we’re ready to go.” then, goddoesn’t just snap to attention and give them what they want, and then they’re surprised. what god is saying is we need to live it inhis hands. we need to just get married, sow that seed, have a normal relationship withour wife, and you know what? she’s either going to get pregnant or she’s not. we don’thave to sit there and try to say, “we’re waiting and we’re trying.” people alwaysask me if i am trying for another one after this. i always think that’s funny becauseif you’re going to have eight, why would

you stop there? do you think anybody justsays, “i’m going to have eight and i’m going to stop.” pretty much, if people don’tstop after two, three, or four, they’re probably just going to keep going. people ask me, “are you guys going to tryfor another one?” i always just think to myself, i didn’t try for any of these. theyjust happened. i just think to myself, you have to try not to. you don’t have to tryto have children. you just have a normal relationship with your spouse and children are the byproduct.eventually, not always right away, it could be a long time, but that is the byproduct.it’s not something that you try for. it’s something you try not to. if you are wantingto look at it that way of we’re trying,

then, once a week is not going to cut it.you need to put in the time. anyway, go to matthew 9, the last legitimatestep that you can take biblically after you’ve prayed, after you’ve had faith that yourprayer was heard by god, after you’ve mentioned to your pastor, or some other man of god,or maybe just a close friend if you’re more comfortable with that because the bible talksabout it even just two or three gathering together, and agreeing on something, and prayingtogether that that has power. when you agree with someone else and you pray together, evenif it’s not the pastor, just whoever it is, just when you join together with someoneand pray together, that’s another step you could take.

then, you could improve your health just incase say, “wait a minute. maybe this could have something to do with my lifestyle ormaybe this could have something to do with my diet or with my exercise or lack thereof.”then, after you’ve decided, “okay, am i even sowing the seed often enough to evenexpect to get pregnant just mathematically.” the other thing that i believe is a legitimatething to do would be if there’s a medical procedure needed just to restore the bodyto health. now, i’m going to get to in a moment medicalprocedures that are not legitimate, that are not righteous for you to do, but a medicalprocedure to restore health. look at matthew 9:12, the bible says, “but when jesus heardthat, he said unto them, ‘they that be whole

need not a physician, but they that are sick.’”the bible is not just completely anti-doctor across the board. now, people often thinkof me that i’m just completely anti-doctor, anti-medicine, anti-medical and they’reabout 99% right. anyway, they’re not fully right though because i do believe that there’sa time a place for doctors. in fact, the book of luke was written by adoctor. luke, the beloved physician. it’s not that doctors are bad. even jesus heresays that when people are sick, they may need a physician, doesn’t he? people that arehealthy, do they need a physician? pastor: no. the idea of healthy people usinga physician is the part that i have a problem with but when it comes to those that are sick,sometimes, you need a physician. for example,

when brother danny, sorry to pick on you brotherdanny, but when we went hiking with brother danny, and he slipped and fell, and dislocatedhis finger, he needed a physician. do you know what i mean? because scott and i didn’tknow how to fix it. quinn was there and we’re like, “what do we do?” we didn’t knowwhat to do. a physician was needed to reset that bone. there are a lot of times when doctors canperform procedures that could help people, and save their lives, and so forth. i’mnot against that. i’m just against unnecessary medical intervention. i think that medicalintervention should be minimal. it’s my personal opinion on that, but a medical procedureto restore health. for example, there could

be something wrong with you. you have an illness,a cancer for example, or some other problem and you’re just restoring the body to health,obviously, there’s nothing wrong with that if you have a problem going to the doctorand getting it fixed. for example, let me just give you an example.let’s say some women might have a cancer upon of their ovaries. there’s a cancerthere. they basically have a surgery that just removes the cancer. then, okay, now,they’re able to have children. obviously, there’s nothing wrong with just restoringthe body to health. any medical procedure that restores the body to its normal function,restores the body to its normal health, that’s just part of just being healthy and just takingcare of yourself.

now, let’s get into steps that should notbe taken. go, if you would, to genesis 30:1. genesis 30:1. i am going to get into somesteps that you should not take. now, one more step that you could take is some people dochoose to adopt children. i am all for that. adopting children is perfectly fine but ido believe that it is wrong for you to adopt children that have been kidnapped from theirparents by the government. i believe that’s wrong. you know what? if you’ve done that or ifyou know people who have done that, i am not attacking you or attacking them. that’syour business but i’m a bible-believing preacher and maybe you didn’t think of thator maybe they didn’t think of that. i am

not hateful toward them but i am just gettingup as a baptist preacher who is preaching the bible and what the bible teaches in sayingthat is not right for the government to take people’s children away. you’ll hear peoplesay, “yeah, but the birth mother, she is a drug addict, and she didn’t love the child,and she didn’t care.” look, it’s wrong. i don’t care if she’s on drugs. it’swrong. taking people’s children away is not biblical. you say, “prove it from the bible.” ifyou remember king solomon who had the wisdom of god, and this was an example of god’swisdom working through solomon, when he was confronted with the woman who is a prostituteand she’s got the child, and she’s a prostitute,

and there are two prostitutes living togetherin the house, and one of them rolls over on the child, and suffocates it, which by theway is pretty much impossible to do unless you’re under the influence of alcohol becausewomen have been sleeping with their children in bed with them for thousands of years. mywife has slept in bed with every baby that she’s ever given birth to. you don’t rollover it in your sleep. even me, flailing around all night, i’ve never rolled over one ofthem. it just doesn’t happen unless you’re drunk or on drugs. the bottom line is that this woman is a derelict.she’s a prostitute. they’re prostitutes. they’re negligent. one of the kids diesbut yet, what did solomon say? take it and

find a better home for it. take it to cps.no. he said, “give her the child. she’s the mother thereof.” that’s biblical,my friend. by the way, the government that we have todayis criminal. our government is a criminal government. i don’t care what level youwant to talk about, city, state, federal, it’s all criminal. they’re thieves, they’reliars, they’re murderers, they’re adulterers, they’re homosexuals in many case. we havea wicked and godless government. the government today will take people’s kids away for smokingpot or just because they spanked them wrong or whatever. i don’t believe in it. i don’tbelieve that people’s children should be taken away from them.

you say, “what about these people who arepedophiles?” they should be killed. then, you don’t have to take their kids away fromthem because they’re dead. if someone has committed a crime worthy of death, then theyshould be put to death by government but nowhere do we find in the bible teaching taking people’skids away from them because you don’t like their parenting. now, look, do i see people’s parenting andoften disagree with it? yes but does that mean i should take their child away? no. imight not agree with the way someone spanks. i might think they spank too hard. i mightthink they don’t spank hard enough. i might think that they’re taking drugs and theyshouldn’t be taking drugs. i believe drugs

are a sin. i believe that alcohol is a sinbut you know what? it’s not my place to take someone’s child away. that’s notbiblical and it’s not the government’s place. when you’re complicit with the criminalkidnapping government that takes people’s children away and literally, many cases, sellsthem to the highest bidder, are you listening? they sell children. people pay thousands ofdollars to them to place these children in a catalogue and look for children with blondhair and blue eyes or whatever. you say, “yeah, you’re a conspiracy theorist.” get yourhead out of the sand and wake up. welcome to planet earth that’s filled with wickedpeople and criminals. we need to understand

that we’re a part of a wicked system whenwe’re adopting children that have been stolen from their parents. now, if you adopt a child that has been voluntarilygiven up by its parent like sometimes, women will just drop a child off at the hospital,and just drop it off because a lot of hospitals will just accept babies like that where theyjust drop them off. if you adopted a child like that or a child who’s been orphaned,and there are a lot of children out there who are orphans, who’ve been dropped off,or being voluntarily given up for adoption, but when you’re doing it through the governmentsystem of stealing children from their parents, i think that’s wrong. that’s just a wordon adoption if that’s a route that you choose

to go. here are steps that you should not take. numberone, obviously, adultery or polygamy. obviously, nobody thought that was legitimate but i amjust throwing that out there because in the bible, that’s what some people did. rememberabraham went in unto hagar, the concubine. jacob had those concubines and so forth. inthe bible, there was adultery and polygamy that took place. obviously, in 2013 in a baptistchurch, i don’t need to spend a lot of time on that point but that’s not something thatyou should do. number two, you should not do ivf or in vitrofertilization. let me explain to you why. look at the bible, it says in genesis 30:1,“and when rachel saw that she bare jacob

no children, rachel envied her sister.”now, first of all, is envy right? pastor: no. that’s a work of the flesh.that is not a work of the spirit. the bible says “she envied her sister; and said untojacob, give me children, or else i die. and jacob's anger was kindled against rachel:and he said, ‘am i in god's stead, who hath withheld from thee the fruit of the womb?’”what we need to be careful that we’re not doing is putting ourselves in the place ofgod. it’s one thing to restore health. it’s not one thing to remove a cancer, and restorehealth, and fix a problem. it’s one thing to eat healthy, and exercise, and try to improveyour chances by sowing the seed more often. it’s one thing to pray and to go to otherin prayer, but when you’re going to play

god and create children outside the womb ina laboratory, you’ve gone too far. now, let me just prove to you biblically,even if you disagree with the playing god aspect of it, why in vitro fertilization isnot right. listen to me, there are independent fundamental baptist pastors who will recommendtheir congregation to do ivf but i think it’s probably because they just don’t understandthe process because i can’t imagine how any baptist pastor could recommend this ifhe actually understood the process. let me just briefly explain the process toyou just so that you understand why this is something that you should not even consider.in vitro fertilization is where basically, they will harvest the eggs from a woman, they’llharvest eggs from a woman’s body, and then

they will take the seed from the man, andthey will take these things, and they will put them together in a laboratory in a petridish. they will take the eggs and they will fertilize them with the seed from the man.then, they’ll take the fertilized egg and inject it back into the woman’s body. then,she’ll normal pregnancy. what often is overlooked when you hear somebodydescribe that, “yeah, what’s wrong with that? you take the egg, take the seed, putit together, make the fertilization happen, and then inject it into woman’s body. sowhat?” because guess what, they don’t just do one. they don’t do one because it’sa very expensive treatment, $10,000, $20,000. i don’t know the exact price tag. i don’tthink the exact price tag is that relevant

but it’s expensive. therefore, this is whatthey’ll do, 20, 20 or maybe 30, or maybe 40. sometimes, people will get nitpicky becausei’m not giving the exact right number. sorry, it was 18, or 22. it doesn’t matter. thepoint is they do a large amount, approximately 20 from what i’ve read and studied. what they’ll do, they will fertilize 20eggs. then, they will observe them in the petri dish. then, they have a grading scalefor how they’re doing, how healthy they are. the ones that are not making the cut,guess what they do, discard them. who here believes that life begins at conception? youbelieve that when that sperm hits that egg, that’s the beginning of life, that’s fertilization,that’s conception. who believes that? put

up your hand in eyesight if you believe that. here’s the thing, if you believe that andyou’re taking 20 eggs, and then you’re fertilizing them, and some of them are doingpoorly, and are being discarded, wouldn’t that be murder if you’re fertilizing anegg and then throwing it away? you say, “but it was going to die anyway.” no, becauseit wasn’t necessarily going to die anyway, number one. number two, a petri dish is not its naturalenvironment. yeah, it might die in that environment because it’s not as … it’d be like ifi took a newborn baby and laid it out in the snow and said, “if it dies, it’s an actof god.” no, because you put it in an environment

that’s not natural environment for thatchild to live and thrive. basically, they’re fertilizing eggs in a petri dish. first ofall, they’re observing which ones are thriving and those are the only ones that they’regoing to use, the ones that are thriving and doing the best because they want the procedureto work. then, they take the rest and discard them. then, not only that. once they take the bestones and inject them, and again, if these numbers are not exact, that’s not the point,you’re still getting the idea, there’s only a 20% chance that it’s going to surviveonce they inject it. again, you can say, “it’s got a sporting chance.” yeah, but you’reputting it in a position where it’s more

likely to die then to survive. they injectthat. what they’ll often do is they’ll just inject five because they say, “if it’sa 20% chance, if we inject five, then there’s a real good chance that one of them is goingto take on. since we paid 20 grand, let’s put in five.” now, a lot of doctors will say, “we’remore ethical about it. we’re only going to put in a maximum of two,” because thatway, if both of them take on, they’re just going to have twins and it’s not a big deal.others that are less ethical will put in all five, and just if there’s too many of themthat get fertilized, they’ll just do a little reduction where they kill a few of them. eventhe most ethical is killing them in the petri

dish and throwing them in the trash. then, here’s the thing, they’ll do 20of them and then, they’ll put some in the freezer for later. what you get is it’simpossible to do this process without killing human life, first of all. if you’re doingivf, you’re killing human life, no way around it because you’re fertilizing a bunch ofeggs that are dying in the petri dish. that simple. not only that, you’re playing god becauseyou’re tampering with god’s natural process for producing children. see, god has createdthis beautiful action between a man and a woman that results in a child. it’s thisbeautiful process. it’s this act of love

and intimacy between husband and wife thatproduce that child. with ivf, you’re completely bypassing it. in fact, it will be possiblefor a virgin to conceive through ivf. true or false? think about it. now, look, our lord jesus christ was bornof a virgin and you see how this could make a mockery of that? it’s almost blasphemousthe way basically a virgin could conceive. not only that but sodomites, lesbians usethis frequently. every famous lesbian out there that you hear about having a child,this is how they have a child, fact. we could name all the filthy sodomites in hollywoodand in the music industry that have had children through ivf with their sodomite partner.

therefore, this is something where it’spaying god, where you’re circumventing the natural relationship between men and women,and conceiving children in a laboratory. you’ve gone beyond men’s realm and now, you’vestepped into god’s realm. god says, “i kill and i make a life. the lord is my name.”it’s not our job to kill and to make a life in a petri dish and say, “okay, we’regoing to kill these. we’re going to let these survive. we’re going to inject this,”and so forth. i believe that ivf is sinful because it involves murder, because it’splaying god, and because it’s perverse because, again, it’s something that is twisting god’sdesign. it’s also a lack of faith because now, you’renot trusting in the prayer that you prayed.

when you prayed and said, “god, bless mewith a child,” you’ve lost faith in that. just like remember when abraham had a lapsein faith and sarah, and they went to hagar. that was a lapse of faith. ivf is a lapsein faith. another step that i believe should not betaken, although not as extreme as ivf, is that often, women will take fertility pills.somebody help me out, what’s the main called? it starts with a cl, clo something. does anybodyknow? help me out. man: clomid. pastor: i can’t hear you. pastor: clomid or something. yeah, it’ssomething that starts with a clo. if it starts

with a clo, i’m against it. anyway, thesefertility drugs or fertility pills, what they will do is they basically are an artificialsubstance, artificial hormone coming in just to cause a woman to just hyper-ovulate orto ovulate more than normal. this is different than just restoring normal health. that’dbe like if i’m a bodybuilder and i took steroids, and say, “i’m just restoringnormal health so i won’t be sore after i work out. i just want to restore my musclesafter i work out so i am going to take steroids.” would you think that’s legitimate? pastor: no. i would liken this to steroidsfor your reproductive system. taking these fertility pills that cause you to hyper-ovulate.women who take this will often have twins,

triplets, quadruplets, quintuplets becausethey’re just hyper-ovulating. women who do ivf will often have twins, triplets, quadruplets,quintuplets because they’re tampering with it. when my wife was pregnant with twins, therewas a lot of people, “are they natural?” that’s what everybody asked. i’m like,“yeah, they’re natural,” but the reason they ask that is because today, it seems likemost of the time, they’re not natural because of the fact that it’s done through ivf orthrough taking fertility drug. i think when you’re taking a fertility drug that causeyou to hyper-ovulate, you’ve crossed the line. now, you’re playing god. now, you’retampering with the reproductive process instead

of just having faith. again, i’m for a medical procedure or amental procedure if needed, but i’m for a medical procedure that restores health buti’m not for one that plays god and tampers with the normal reproductive process but,again, i believe that this is a subject that needs to be preached because it’s a subjectthat, number one, the bible talks a lot about. i gave you all those examples at the beginning.number two, it’s a subject that people are dealing with today. i think they say 10% ofpeople in america, they’re dealing with now, the world will define infertility asyou tried for one year and didn’t have a child. now, i find that to be completely ridiculous.one year? that is impatience to the extreme

but there is a medical industry, there’sa pharmaceutical industry that wants your money. when i was first married and this isnot something that my wife and i have ever struggled with if you’ve noticed, but wehaven’t struggled with infertility, but when we were first married, they said twoyears. that was 13-and-a-half years ago. everyone said two years. if you tried for two years,get a fertility treatment. now, they’re saying one year. they’re saying if you’reover 35, give it six months and then come see us. six months? now, i’ve known people, i know someone whohas, i think, six children and went well over a year where they were trying to get pregnantwith one of those in the middle, and just

wasn’t getting pregnant. good night. yougot to just give it some time sometimes. to sit there and say, “one year, give up. sixmonths, give up. two years, give up.” tell that to isaac and rebekah, 20 years, but there’sa pharmaceutical industry that wants you to play god and they want to take your moneyfrom you. 10% of people by those standards strugglewith this. it is something that is common. it is something that’s dealt with a lotin the bible. we need to know where we stand on this. we need to pray for those who arebarren that they would give birth to children. we need to pray if that’s our situationbut ultimately, we need to trust god. see, look, you think because we’re against birthcontrol, we’re saying everybody needs to

have 20 children. that’s not what we’resaying because you know what, i am against birth control both ways. i am against tryingto prevent it and i am against doing things to make it happen. do you know what i mean?chemically, you’re using these fertility drugs or ivf. what i’m saying is we just need to trustthe lord. if the lord decides to bless you with one child, praise the lord. if he blessyou with two, praise god. if he blesses you with 17, praise god, but we should just letgod be god. let him decide. trust in him. pray to him. look, i am not saying don’tpray because prayer does change things. pray. ask god to do what you want him to do butin the end, you need to just be happy with

his decision and trust his judgment. be patient,take care of your health, and let the chips fall where they may. let’s bow our headsand have a word of prayer. father, we thank you so much for your wordand your promises, lord. we thank you that every woman in the bible who was infertileeventually had a child and that’s something that can give assurance and faith to thosewho are struggling with this. lord, just please help us to understand what our job is, whatour responsibility is, and help us to stay out of your responsibility, and let you doyour part and we will do our part, and not to try to tamper with your will and your plan.in jesus’ name, we pray. amen.