WEBVTT

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All right, so today we are beginning a new series

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here at the beginning of the year. We're calling

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it The Wilderness. Here's the beginning of a

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calendar year. It's a natural time for people

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to be thinking about what's coming up. Maybe

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how will this year be different than the last?

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It reminds me of a Cannon Crow song. Maybe this

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year will be better than the last. Some of us,

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we just had the best years of our lives. We got

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a promotion. We got a new relationship. Everything

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went right. We felt closer to God than we have

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ever felt before in others. Maybe not so much.

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Some of us feel like we just walked not just

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through but deep into the wilderness. Some of

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us feel like that's where we live. It's like

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we didn't just take a tent. We didn't just go

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camping. We took our whole house with us. And

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when we feel like we're in a wilderness, what

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happens is we might start feeling like God has

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lost track of us. We might start feeling like

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we're replaceable. We might start feeling invisible,

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forgettable, dispensable. But the scriptures

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show us over and over again that God meets us

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in the wilderness. So for the next six weeks,

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we're going to be walking through the wilderness

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as people in the Bible experienced it. And I

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hope that we will see that God will meet you

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no matter where you are in any season of your

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life. So let's open up our Bibles to Genesis

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chapter 16. There's Bibles on your table. If

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you don't have one, you can actually take one

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of those home or there's more of those out on

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the bookshelf in the lobby. You can't steal them

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because they're free. And then if you don't want

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a physical Bible, you can also just download

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a digital one from any of the digital app stores.

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We're going to be in chapter 16 of Genesis, the

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very first book of the Bible, easy to find. We're

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going to read a long passage, 1 through 13, I

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believe. Yep. And we have a tradition of just

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giving the scriptures our full attention when

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they're read in the context of a sermon. You

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can do that any way that you see fit. But one

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of the ways that we do that is by standing together

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as we are able. If you would like to join me

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as I read. Now Sarai, Abram's wife, bore him

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no children. She had an Egyptian slave whose

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name was Hagar. And Sarai said to Abram, you

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see that the Lord has prevented me from bearing

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children. Go into my slave, it may be that I

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shall obtain children by her. And Abram listens

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to the voice of Sarai. So after Abram had lived

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ten years in the land of Canaan, Sarai, Abram's

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wife, took Hagar the Egyptian, her slave, and

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gave her to her husband Abram as a wife. He went

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in to Hagar, and she conceived. When she saw

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that she had conceived, she looked with contempt

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on her mistress. Then Sarai said to Abram, May

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the wrong done to me be on you. I gave my slave

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to your embrace, and when she saw that she had

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conceived, she looked on me with contempt. May

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the Lord judge between you and me. But Abram

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said to Sarai, Your slave is in your power. Do

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to her as you please. Then Sarai dealt harshly

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with her, and she ran away from her. Verse 7.

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The angel of the Lord found her by a spring of

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water in the wilderness, the spring on the way

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to Shur. And he said, Hagar, slave of Sarai,

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where have you come from and where are you going?

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She said, I'm running away from my mistress Sarai.

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The angel of the Lord said to her, return to

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your mistress and submit to her. The angel of

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the Lord also said to her, I will so greatly

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multiply your offspring that they cannot be counted

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for multitude. The angel of the Lord said to

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her, now you have conceived and shall bear a

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son. You shall call him Ishmael, for the Lord

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has given heed to your affliction. He shall be

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a wild ass of a man with his hand against everyone

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and everyone's hand against him. And he shall

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live at odds with all his kin. So she named the

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Lord who spoke to her. You are Elroi. For she

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said, have I really seen God and remained alive

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after seeing him? Let us pray. God of every tribe,

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every tongue, every color, and every nation,

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we thank you for the scriptures that we have

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them, that they have persisted through the millennial,

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throughout thousands of years, that we can still

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consider them and learn from them. And I pray

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that whatever you have to teach us today, that

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it would stick, that it would become a part of

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the framework of our faith as we become more

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like your son, Jesus. Amen. Thanks, y 'all. You

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can have a seat. All right, so just before this

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in chapter 15, where we didn't read, God promised

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Abram that he would be the beginning of a great

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nation. We don't know how many years that there

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are between chapter 15 and 16, but we know that

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when Sarai was around 75 years old, that's where

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we are in chapter 16. And you can probably imagine

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or understand why she started looking for other

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ways to accomplish God's promise for Abram. Giving

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birth at any age is one of the most difficult

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things that the female human body can go through,

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let alone in your late 70s. So Sarai provides

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her own solution. She says, you can't have a

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kid with me, but I want you to have what God

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has offered you, and so I want to offer you,

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Sarai, my slave, so that you can have... a kid

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with her. Now, this wasn't uncommon in ancient

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culture. Having children with a concubine or

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a second wife to keep a family going was an acceptable

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custom. But Abram should have known better. In

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chapter 15, God didn't say explicitly, word for

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word, that his son would have to be from Sarai.

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But the promise is there if you're paying attention.

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Chapter 15. The reason that God gives Abram this

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promise is that Abram's complaint to God wasn't

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just that he had no son or that he had no heir.

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It was that everything that he had would be handed

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down to one of his servants. So when God says,

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I'll give you a son of your own, it is implicit

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in that promise that the solution will not come

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from one of his servants. Abram's problem. isn't

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that Sarai hasn't conceived yet. His problem

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is that his patience was too short. His problem

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is that his imagination was smaller than his

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libido. It should go without saying, but impatience

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and libido should not be our markers for truth.

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Well, it hasn't happened yet. Well, I really

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want it. These are not the filters that we are

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meant to comprehend God's truth through. Anytime

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we say, this is what God wants, this is what

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God said, but we ignore the agency of the people

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around us, we should also be careful. I don't

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know about you, but At some point, I lost track

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of how many times I'd heard people say, the Lord

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is saying to you. And often in my life, some

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of those were right. But often in my life, many

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of them were just something someone was saying.

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We should be careful and mindful what air quotes

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we put around God's words. But especially, especially

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when it removes the agency and free will of somebody

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else. Reality is that Hagar was not given a choice.

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She was a slave. She was given to Abram by a

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pharaoh in Egypt. She had no choice in leaving

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her home. She had no choice in being Sarai's

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servant. She had no choice whether to have sex

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with Abram, whether to have a child with a 90

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-year -old man. She was told. She was gifted.

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Was it an acceptable custom? Yes. But we should

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not forget that acceptable customs have their

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victims. So she runs. Says that the angel of

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the Lord found her near the spring on the way

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to Shur. Something that... I learned in studying

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about this passage in years past was that the

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spring on the road to Shur was the same road

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that would lead you back to Egypt. Presumably,

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she's pregnant and she's just trying to get home.

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She has a master that doesn't care about her.

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If you read it again, it says that he took her

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as a wife. But then when animosity and conflict

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came up, he said, she's your slave. She's someone

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that was used for her womb. She's someone that

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got used for her body. She's just trying to get

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home. And so... That's why it's difficult to

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hear the angel say, go back. It can feel unfair.

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It can feel unjust to send Hagar back to Sarai

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and Abram. Abram, who doesn't care about her,

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to Sarai, who is harsh to her. But the practical

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reality is also that her chances of surviving

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this journey back to Egypt were slim. Not only

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because it was a long road back to Egypt, but

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because a woman, a pregnant woman, traveling

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by herself with no food and water 4 ,000 years

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ago didn't have the best odds of making it anywhere

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safely. The angel tells her to go back, not because

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it would be easy, not because any of it was okay,

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but to save her life. To save the life. of her

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son. Let me say, if you are in a physically abusive

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situation, God is not asking you to stay. There

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might be other situations where the timing is

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different, but please don't hear this story about

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Hagar and think God is asking you to stay and

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to go back to someone that is physically hurting

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you. Don't even get in the car and go back. God

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does not want you to be in a place that you are

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being physically hurt. Now, as far as we know,

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Hagar was not being physically abused. That doesn't

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make any of the verbal abuse or harsh treatment

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okay. What I am saying, what I think the scriptures

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are telling us, is that when this angel tells

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her to go back, that he's not sending her back

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to a place that she will die. God is never asking

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us to stay in a place. where our partner will

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physically hurt us. Now, for Hagar, the angel

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knew that going back would be difficult. And

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so what we see is that the angel also gives her

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a promise of future. He actually says, the future

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of your family... will be the same as the future

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of Abram's. Not only will she not die, but the

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angel says, I will so greatly multiply your offspring

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that they cannot be counted for multitude. Where

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have we heard something like that before? It's

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the same thing, not word for word, but it's the

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same thing that God said to Abram. And with this

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bittersweet promise in hand, With this baby Ishmael

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in her womb, Hagar says, You are El -Roi. Have

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I really seen God and remained alive after seeing

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him? This encounter is what's called a theophany.

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That's your theological word for the day. If

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you leave now, I feel I have done my job. Theophany.

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Theological word. It is when God appears on earth

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in a physical form. One of the factors for deciding

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if it is in a theophany or not is whether that

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person or angel accepts worship that belongs

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to God or allows themselves to be called or treated

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like God is only to be treated. Hagar says, have

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I really seen God and remained alive? And the

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angel does not correct her. But not just that.

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It's in what she says, what she calls him. She

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says, you are El Roy. Those words mean you are

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the God who sees me. She doesn't just feel like

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she has seen God. She feels like she has been

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seen by God. And something that's very fascinating.

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is that Hagar is actually the first recorded

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person in all the scriptures to give God a name.

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Think about that. Abram is Father Abraham, beginning

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of a people. Adam and Eve, first people described

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in the scriptures. All of the people that came

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after. Noah. Anyone from the first 15 chapters

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of the Bible. No one else. is recorded as looking

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at God, talking to God, and giving God a name

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that then God accepts. But a female, Egyptian,

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runaway slave used for her body. Guys, I don't

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know how to make it any more important. The least.

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The absolute least person gets to name God. She

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saw and she felt seen. Maybe some of us have

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never felt either. But I don't think... That

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if that's how you feel, that God has lost track

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of you. I don't think that it means that God

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has forgotten your future. I think that if God

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sees an Egyptian slave, then he sees you. If

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he sees someone that was treated harshly and

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misused and cast out by Father Abraham, then

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he sees you. And I wonder if maybe today each

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of us should also consider giving God a name.

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Naming. who you are and who God is to you in

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this moment in your life. You can call just God,

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God. You can say just Jesus, Jesus. You can say

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Abba, Father. You can say Elohim, Emmanuel, Jehovah,

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Jireh, my provider. You can say Yahweh. You could

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say El Roy. Or you can take a moment and think,

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where am I with you right now? How would I name

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you? Are you the God who feels what I feel? Are

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you the God who sees my pain? Are you the God

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who holds me close? You are the God who saw me

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in my mother's womb. He surely saw Ishmael. So

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he has seen you. And I think... That there is

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as much of a promise for every single person

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in this room, every single person in our neighborhood,

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every single person in our city, as there was

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for Hagar and for Ishmael. There is a promise

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for you. In the same way that the promise of

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a future for Hagar and Ishmael could not be stopped

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by Abram and Sarai and their impatience and their

00:18:42.279 --> 00:18:46.799
frustration and their humanity. The future and

00:18:46.799 --> 00:18:48.900
promise that God has for you cannot be stopped

00:18:48.900 --> 00:18:51.339
by anyone that you think is controlling your

00:18:51.339 --> 00:18:56.160
life either. The promise of God is not determined

00:18:56.160 --> 00:19:00.920
by anyone that you know. The promise of God is

00:19:00.920 --> 00:19:04.619
not determined or controlled by your ex. God's

00:19:04.619 --> 00:19:06.819
promise or the future that he has for you is

00:19:06.819 --> 00:19:09.759
not determined by your boss, your career, your

00:19:09.759 --> 00:19:12.880
vocation, where you live. The promise and future

00:19:12.880 --> 00:19:19.309
that God has for you is immutable because it

00:19:19.309 --> 00:19:24.869
is God's. Before it ever enters our womb, before

00:19:24.869 --> 00:19:30.009
it is ever in our hand, it is in his mouth. And

00:19:30.009 --> 00:19:35.589
if it is from God, no plan of God can be thwarted.

00:19:39.130 --> 00:19:41.170
So I don't know what kind of wilderness you have

00:19:41.170 --> 00:19:44.960
been in or you feel that you are in. Truth is,

00:19:44.960 --> 00:19:48.220
this last year, not on my top 10, everybody.

00:19:51.339 --> 00:19:53.619
But I know that God has not lost track of me.

00:19:59.480 --> 00:20:03.119
And so I believe that God has not lost track

00:20:03.119 --> 00:20:18.819
of you. Let us pray. All -seeing, all -knowing,

00:20:18.819 --> 00:20:30.200
ever -present God, you are where we are. There

00:20:30.200 --> 00:20:33.480
is nowhere we go that you cannot see us, find

00:20:33.480 --> 00:20:44.769
us, be present to us, convince us. I pray that

00:20:44.769 --> 00:20:48.730
those that have not seen might see. That those

00:20:48.730 --> 00:20:55.069
that have never felt seen might feel seen. And

00:20:55.069 --> 00:20:59.289
that those that have felt both will take the

00:20:59.289 --> 00:21:02.130
hand of someone in the wilderness and walk with

00:21:02.130 --> 00:21:16.809
them. And show them the way. I name you love

00:21:16.809 --> 00:21:27.529
because you are the God that is love. Amen.