Latest / Sermon Podcast at Cartersville1st / Hurry Up & Wait

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Hurry Up & Wait · Sermon Podcast at Cartersville1st

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If you have your copy of God's word, go and make your way to
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Genesis chapter 16, Genesis 16 as today we resume our series
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answering God's call through the first book of the Bible,
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Genesis, where we left off and took a couple three-week hiatus
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as we for Palm Sunday and Easter.
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We're in Isaiah 52 and 53 and then last Sunday in my absence,
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man who was with us three years prior, Wayne Nagle with families
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for families came and was a great blessing, challenging and
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calling us to care for the vulnerable.
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That ministry it really the heart of our church.
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It was been going on for quite some time now to care for foster
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children. Many foster families in the life
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of our church and many that support and serve foster
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families. And so I pray that you were
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encouraged last week is as I was away on mission with three other
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church members in Lesotho, Africa, which is a country just
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South of South Africa. And we returned this past week
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and church family. I just want to share just a
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little bit about that. And really the, the, the main
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thing I want to say is is thank you.
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Thank you for being a church that is willing to be a Great
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Commission, not just right here, but to the ends of the earth
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church. Thank you for being a church
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willing to serve and support your pastor and willingness for
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him to go, to be a part of going to tell others about Christ,
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whether it be across the street or around the world.
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What we did was we'll show some pictures here in a second, but
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we teamed up with one of our IMB partners, right?
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So part of what we do at the church is part of your offerings
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and tithes go to support the full time salary of people on
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the field around the world to tell people about Christ.
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They don't have to raise money because we're able to provide
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them with that money. So we teamed up with one of
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these families there and we were able to multiply their efforts
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as they serve in a larger city where they live in Lesotho and
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they minister to university students.
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But then they disciple them in their homes after evangelizing
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them. But then there's the rural,
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mountainous areas of Lesotho that have villages as far as you
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want to hike and walk. All right.
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And So what we did was we helped divide into teams with the
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missionaries efforts. They go and take the gospel and
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do discipleship in these rural areas and what they call the
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Highlands or the mountains of Lasutu.
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This is actually a picture from the window of the room where I
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slept in Lasutu. This is what I woke up to and
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watched every morning. That's Mahalay Reservoir right
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there. Now the the view is five star.
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I'm not necessarily saying that the lodging was all right.
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It was great. Food was great.
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I mean, for international it was I wouldn't complain one bit, but
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the views were absolutely spectacular.
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So what we were doing is we were driving a four wheel drive
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Toyota Helix with mud tires and everything.
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It was awesome. All right, crossing rivers and
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creeks and mud and climbing up Jeep trails because you don't
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have roads that go to these villages, but you could drive as
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far as you could and then you hiked from there.
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All right, We're at 5 to 7000 feet and so we're walking into
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villages. The next picture where you can
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see what the homes look like. This is one of our translators
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and our student pastor there. This is what a typical, you
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don't need to see the whole village, but you see a couple of
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the first houses there. And what we would do is, is we
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would in the villages where they had the missionaries had already
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been, we would follow up and do evangelism and do discipleship
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through a translator. As we talk, you'll see a couple
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pictures of me teaching. I think along the way we would
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also evangelize the shepherds. These are very much a
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shepherding culture. They have sheep and goats and
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cows that are ranging throughout these mountains, and you would
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go to them and hike to them to try to share.
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So if you want to keep going on the pictures, we can just kind
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of walk through those. We cross creeks, had to take off
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our shoes, put them back on, and I could have borrowed a horse
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there, but we didn't do that. Crossed in the vehicle there you
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can see just the scenery is amazing and people are
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throughout. You can't see people right here,
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but villages are tucked into these mountains and the
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shepherds are throughout them. Let's keep going.
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This lady ran from a village over to memorize the verses on
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that white card that we would give them.
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So in the language, they would take the Romans Rd. in John 316.
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In order to get a Bible, they have to memorize these verses.
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And then we would give them a Bible in their own language
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which they otherwise had no access to and a little Bible
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cover. So this lady ran from 1 village
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to the next. These were shepherds we shared
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with that had never ever heard the gospel.
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And let me just say this, I think what struck me most about
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this trip is we had an opportunity to share with more
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people who had never heard the gospel in their life than any
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other opportunity I've ever had. These three shepherds never
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heard the gospel. All young guys out there, all
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alone in these mountains shepherding their sheep.
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Obviously I could look at them and talk about the great
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Shepherd. I could look at them and say all
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we like sheep have gone astray. They knew exactly what I was
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talking about and they realized right when I'm spiritually
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speaking about sin and their need of a Savior.
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And so we were able to lead several shepherds to Christ just
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through these conversations. We would hike to them.
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Let's go to the last shepherd that we had a chance to share
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with. You can see some of his sheep
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there. That's his little Hut to the
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left that he sleeps in. We had hiked down this steep
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embankment to this guy. His dogs were going crazy.
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They keep these dogs to keep sheep thieves away, which those
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dogs think we're the sheep thieves.
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You can imagine how this goes. You pick up a rock and you start
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praying. All right, say God, I don't want
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to ruin this opportunity with the shepherd with his dogs
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before I get a chance to share with him.
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We walked down. He was very receptive to us
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through a translator. We just end up, we just
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immediately drop in, hey, we've come to share the good news of
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God's love with you. And I don't know if you've ever
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heard this, but God sent his one and only son so that whosoever
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would believe in him should not perish.
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Why? Because we've strayed like
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sheep. The wages of sin is death, but
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the free gift of God in Jesus Christ is eternal life, and all
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who call on the name of the Lord will be saved.
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And have you ever heard this? No, I've never heard this.
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See, the look on his face just change as he realizes what we've
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just hiked down this mountain to share with him.
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He's not talked to anybody in two months all alone by the time
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we've shared the gospel. You think about that passage
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where I say, this is how beautiful are the feet of those
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who bring the good news of peace.
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And all over him is written this gratitude.
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I can't really explain to you the that the look that came over
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his demeanor as we shared with him.
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He didn't know who we were walking down this mountain and
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yet to hear the story. And he looked at us and then he
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says, I'm so thankful for what you've shared with me.
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I wish I had a sleep, a sheep slaughtered so I could feed you
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before you left this guy. We told the missionary was going
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to go back the following Friday after we arrived in the States
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on Thursday and the missionary said, I'm going to be back and
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I'm going to be up this road that's up the mountain.
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On Friday, the missionary sent me a WhatsApp that said that
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shepherd with four others, we're sitting by the road waiting for
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him on Friday to hear more about what we shared.
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I mean, praise God, praise God, church family, that, that that's
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what it's all about, whether it's across the street or around
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the world. You know, we when I, one of the
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reasons I love to go is because it's like a spiritual boot camp.
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It reminds me what really matters in life.
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It reminds me really what I'm supposed to be doing, whether in
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Cartersville or in Lesotho. It reminds me of the joy of the
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privilege of sharing the greatest news on the planet,
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right? And it reminds me that the power
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of God when we speak the word of God has the power to change a
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human heart. Whether someone who's never
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heard it before, who grew up hearing it, but has never
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received it in church family, this is our privilege and
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responsibility. And I'm thankful, thankful we're
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part of a church family who values getting the gospel around
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the world. One of my goals for you, if it's
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if it's something that you've not set, is that maybe at least
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once a year you would think about intentionally going
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somewhere that otherwise you would not have gone had you not
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chosen to go because you were taking the gospel.
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I think that should be a rhythm of every Christian.
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It doesn't have to be Africa, but it could be just somewhere
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further than you would normally go for the sake of telling
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someone about Christ. Well, I could keep going on
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that, but my duty here this morning is to preach the word of
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God. All right, so let me do that.
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Out of Genesis chapter 16, there are some texts that just throws
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sermon titles at you. I mean, it's like pick one,
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right? I thought about several for this
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text. I didn't choose any of them, but
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I could have said the title of this sermon is the autopsy of a
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dumb decision. That one would have fit.
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We could have called this sermon No good and the Bad and the
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ugly. We could have called this sermon
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how not to do life, marriage and family.
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All of that would have been appropriate.
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May not capture the whole story, but it's spoken to what we're
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going to see. I can tell you what we're about
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to read is the brokenness and sinfulness of man and the crazy,
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constant, never ending grace of God in the middle of all our
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mess. That's what we're going to read
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and that's what we're going to see.
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All right, So be watching for that as we go.
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Listen to Genesis 16, verses 1 and 2.
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Now Sarah, Abraham's wife, had borne him no children.
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She had a female Egyptian servant, whose name was Hagar.
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And Sarah said to Abram, Behold, now the Lord has prevented me
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from bearing children. Go into my servant.
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It may be that I shall obtain children by her.
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And Abram listened to the voice. Sarai, I warned you.
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This one starts in the shade, and it gets, it just gets
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shadier before it gets better. So just be patient, all right?
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Sarah is 75, Abraham's 85. They left home 10 years ago,
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headed toward the land God had promised them.
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It has been over a decade since they heard God's promise that He
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would give them an offspring, and that that offspring would be
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as numerous as the stars of the sky.
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But guess what? How many offspring do they have
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after 10 years? Absolutely zero.
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Notice closely what Sarah says to Abram.
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The Lord has prevented me from bearing children.
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Now just watch this Sarah rightly acknowledges that God is
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God over her circumstances. She's rightly acknowledging that
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God is sovereign. God is the one who's ultimately
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in control. God is the one who's ultimately
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the author of life. So she's expressing belief in
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God. But this belief in God is not
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coming out in a positive way, is it?
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It's actually being expressed in a negative way, is actually
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being expressed in the form of blame.
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She is blaming God for what is happening, or rather really
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what's not happening. To be more specific, I think we
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could say and admit that her words are words that are soaked
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in pain. She's speaking out of the depth
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of pain of year after year after year of desiring a child and yet
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not having one, hearing the promise of God for a child, but
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not having a child. All right.
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So word soaked in pain of hope not realized.
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Word soaked in the pain of prayers not yet answered.
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Word soaked in pain of public shame for decades and pain now
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of blaming God for one's problems.
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Maybe you could put yourself in Sarah's shoes and I could just
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hear say it like this, Abram. Maybe you're supposed to be the
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father of many nations, but obviously I'm not the mother.
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This is how she feels ready to give up.
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Sarah believed in the sovereignty of God over the
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womb, but in her pain, she's actually about to act in direct
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opposition to the sovereignty and power of God.
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Now watch this. This is what we do when we often
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often do when we are in pain or in fear.
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It's not that we stop believing in God, but we often start
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navigating by our own power rather than waiting and
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operating in faith in God. Let me put it like this.
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Sarah believes in God. She's just tired of waiting on
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God. You ever been there?
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I'm not lacking faith in God. I'm just, I'm just tired of
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waiting on Him. I'm ready to make something
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happen. I'm ready for this to be real.
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I'm ready to be over this. I'm ready to experience.
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I want this and I've wanted, I prayed for it.
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And yet pain or fear can cause us to act illogically,
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unfaithfully, ungodly even in believing in God, right?
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So she's going to take things into her own hands because of
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her pain. And that's going to be a big
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mistake. No, notice, Sarah's plan is
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this. It's an Egyptian, one of their
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servants by the name of Hagar. Now, there was a social custom
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in this day that if a wife was barren and failed to bear
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children, then often times the man would marry another wife in
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order to have children. In fact, in Lesotho where I just
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was, it was customary, a little different than if the wife
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failed to bear the husband a son.
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Eventually they can marry another wife in order to try to
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have a son. None of that's right.
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I'm just saying it was reality. None of it was God's design.
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But this is the way they operated in their day and in
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their custom. All right, So what was Abraham's
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response? Here's what he says.
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And Abram listened to the voice of Sarai.
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Abram listened to the voice of his wife.
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Now, if you know your Bible, that ought to give you a Bible
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flashback real quick. Do you know where?
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And you know with who, where Adam and Eve in the garden in
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the beginning. Here's how it went.
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Adam, Genesis 317 and to Adam, God said, behold, Adam, you have
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listened to the voice of your wife.
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I'm going to be real careful right here.
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You ready, guys? I can tell you that if God has
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given you a good woman, all right, and I'm sure he has.
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Amen ladies, that 99% of the time you ought to listen to her.
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I need an Amen. I only got 1 from 1 man.
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Come on ladies, where you at? Right. 99% of the time, if God's
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given you a good woman, you ought to listen to her.
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Why is that? Well, let's just be honest guys,
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because God has given women an intuition and insight of
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discernment, often times a wisdom that we as guys don't
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have anywhere in our ballpark that she sees, she knows, and
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she's getting. She's understanding that we
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don't have often times and yet, and yet there's obviously a time
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not to listen to the voice of your husband or your wife.
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When is that? When the voice of your husband
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or wife contradicts the voice of God.
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I made sure you were listening right.
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Whenever that happens, that is the moment not to listen to the
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voice of one that's contradicting the voice of God.
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Young people in the room or unmarried people in the room
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that are interested in marriage. I want to read a verse of
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Scripture that by the way, probably doesn't read
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politically correct in our day. It could be applied either way
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toward a husband looking for a wife or wife looking for a
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husband. It's written in the book of
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Proverbs as to a son. So it's under the direction of
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thinking about a wife and here's what it says.
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And so as you think about marriage, please keep this in
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consideration. Proverbs 12 for an excellent
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wife or you just thinking for girls in the room.
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An excellent husband is the crown of her husband, but she
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who brings shame is like rottenness in his bones.
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The character of your spouse will either be like a crown on
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your head, blessing your life, giving, giving goodness in your
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life and God's will in your life, or it can be the opposite,
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bringing a cancer and a rottenness at the core of your
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life. You better marry for character
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or you will regret it. Mark it down.
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Marry for character. Looks won't last anyway.
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All right, You don't have to say me into that.
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Especially if you're wives. I'll let you say that about your
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husband. But husbands don't say that
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about your. All right, let's move.
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Let's move on. Here we go.
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The first thing I want you to see out of this text is this
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truth. You ready?
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God's will by our plans is a recipe for disaster.
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God's will by our plans is a recipe for disaster.
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Have you ever realized it's possible to do the right thing
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the wrong way? Have you realized it's possible
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to have the right destination in mind, but take the wrong route?
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This is exactly what's going on. God had promised Abram and Sarah
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a child, but Sarah decided to go about it her own way, right?
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So what should Abram have said in response to Sarah?
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No, would be the most simple answer.
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I don't know. It was going to just, we're
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probably going to require more than that, right?
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But what, what, what should we do when the voice of our spouse
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contradicts the voice of God? Knowing this has happened to us
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all? There's been times my voice and
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my marriage has contradicted the voice of God.
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All right. And I'm a pastor.
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Let's be honest. This is all of us.
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What should we do? It's going to be easier said
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than done, but let me give you a little example of the way
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Abraham might have said it. Are you ready?
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I'm not saying this is easy, but here's an example.
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I'll just file this away next time you might need it.
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You ready? Sarah?
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Honey, bless your heart. We're just keeping it Southern.
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All right? You're my wife, I love you and I
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know that you are hurting, but we're in this together and as
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hard as it is, let's keep believing God for a miracle.
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I don't want to sin against God. I don't want to sin against you.
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I don't want to sin against our marriage with another woman.
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Let's pray about it and see where God leads.
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Now. Whatever four or five sentences
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that was would have been a game changer.
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Whatever four or five sentences you might need is going to be a,
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a game changer. By the way, it's not just what
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you say, it's how you say it. We talk about in our
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discipleship strategy, gather, grow, give and go.
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Part of that grow part is this idea of offering biblical
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counseling in our body. And I just kind of want to
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demystify what that is for a moment because honestly, what
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what was needed right here was just some biblical counsel
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because you know what biblical counsel is?
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It's contradicting unbiblical thinking with biblical truth.
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And this is what we owe one another as brothers and sisters
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in Christ, as friends. Hey, when you come across
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unbiblical thinking in your friend, speak up with the voice
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of God with what the Word says and confront and correct in
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love. But with what the Bible says.
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You can do this as a friend, as a spouse, as a parent, as AI
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mean as a Co worker. We ought to be doing this.
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You can sit down with somebody in our church to for biblical
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counsel, but all you're all we're seeking to do is line up
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our lives with the voice of God and correct unbiblical thinking
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with biblical thinking so we can live God's work.
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That's what that's what biblical counseling is.
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It's what Abram and Sarah needed in this moment.
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Now follow along beginning in verse 3.
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So after Abram had lived 10 years in the land of Canaan,
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Sarah Abrams wife took Hagar the Egyptian, her servant, and gave
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her to Abram her husband as a wife.
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And when he went into Hagar and she conceived, and when she saw
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that she had conceived, she looked with contempt on her
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mistress. And Sarah said to Abram, May the
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wrong done to me be on you. I gave my servant to your
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embrace. And when she saw that she had
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conceived, she looked on me with contempt.
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May the Lord judge between you and me.
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But Abram said to Sarah, Behold, your servant is in your power,
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Do to her her as you please. Then Sarah dealt harshly with
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her and she fled from her. Abram marries Hagar as his
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second wife, which was never God's design.
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Multiple wives is in the Bible because God allows mankind to
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have a choice and we choose to do things our way instead of
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God's way. But the Bible's design is is
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unmistakably clear. Genesis 224 And a man shall
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leave his father and his mother and be joined with his wife, and
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the two shall become one flesh. God's word isn't unclear.
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We do things our way instead of God's, unfortunately.
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But practically speaking, let's state the obvious.
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The plan does what the plan works, right?
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They have a child. How often do we justify a
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decision, a direction, a choice, because it because it what it
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works? But there can be a wrong way to
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do a right thing. There can be a right destination
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with the wrong route. So what they've done is not
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honored. God.
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Yeah, it's it's it's worked in one way.
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It's actually going to produce a lot more of what they didn't
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want to work. And so we don't operate our
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lives, we don't do church, we don't live the Christian life
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based on what works. We live the Christian life
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according to what God's Word says.
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By the way, that means we may not always do the easiest thing.
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We may not always live in a way that makes the most common
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sense. But if you're living according
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to God's Word, it's not about what works.
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It's about what God has said and our willingness to submit to
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that or not. So one wrong doesn't make a
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right, it just leads to more wrong.
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In this case, more wrong than Sarah saw coming in the form of
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this. Hagar is pregnant, but her it's
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not just her tummy that's getting big, it's her head
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that's gotten big first. And she starts prancing and
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dancing and bragging in front of Sarah, her mistress, and saying
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look at me, I'm better than than.
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You can imagine how that went. Sarah blows A gasket but notice
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who she blows it on. She blaming herself for blaming
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who? Blaming Abram.
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It was her idea she came up with and guess who she blames?
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Now Don't say anything husbands because this is true of all of
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us. This is default to our sin
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nature. When we make a bad decision
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guess what we look around for someone to what someone to
22:42
blame. This is this is what we do.
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Remember Adam in the garden after God came to him.
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Where are you Adam? Adam says what to God after he
22:51
knows God is known, he's disobeyed.
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Adam says what a double whammy of isn't everybody but me.
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In fact, God, it was the woman that you gave me, right?
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I'm looking at the other gender. I'm looking at God, but Adam's
23:05
not looking at you know who, because we default into blame
23:09
shifting. This is what we do.
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We don't want to take responsibility for our own sin.
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And so Abram's not innocent here either though even though he's
23:19
being blamed. All he had to do was look at
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Sarah and say honey, that's not a good idea.
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OK, but that's not what he did. Furthermore, Abram and Sarah
23:27
sink even lower. You could say when Abram
23:30
passively responds to Sarah and says not my problem, do what you
23:34
want with her. And Sarah goes from temper
23:37
tantrum to straight up Cruella Deville on Hagar, so much so she
23:42
got to flee for her life in the life of her unborn son.
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All right, so guys, this is this is where I want to just stop and
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speak to us as husbands and his father's for a minute, because
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here with Abram, we see y'all one of our most consistent
23:56
failures as men. I'm speaking to myself as much
23:59
as anyone else in the room. But we as men, you can look at
24:02
the pattern of men in the Bible. You can look at at our own
24:05
lives. I can look at my own life.
24:06
And I can tell you there are potholes in the call to be a
24:10
biblical man that we as men tend to fall into.
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And Abraham's falling flat face into one right here.
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You say, Kyle, what is that? All right, it is a failure to
24:19
lovingly and sacrificially lead to say we're going to go God's
24:25
way. All right, And let me explain.
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A crisis comes to Abram and he responds cowardly, with
24:32
avoidance. He responds selfishly, not my
24:36
problem. Passively does nothing.
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What's so ironic, though, if you know the story of Genesis has to
24:41
be what we've been walking through this.
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When Abraham's nephew Lot is abducted by armies of thousands,
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you know what Abram does? He goes into hero mode.
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He wore kits out with his M4A1 silenced assault rifle helmet
24:58
and body armor and night vision and a Glock 19 and goes out and
25:02
kicks tail and takes names and comes on a what a hero.
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But the first bullet at home, the first shots fired at home,
25:14
and Abram goes yellow belly. He runs for the hills, he
25:20
deserts, he does nothing. Man, let me modernize this is
25:24
this is this is a thing where the devil gets us so often, OK,
25:29
And I'm talking to me, too. But listen, Abram is a hero at
25:33
work, but he's a coward at home. Abram's a leader in his office,
25:39
but he's a bum at the house. Abraham is selfless on the job
25:44
site, but he's selfish at home. He gives it all at work.
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People think wonderful of him at work, but he's got nothing left
25:51
to give those most important to him at home.
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Men, may it never be. I'm convinced the devil is fine
26:00
if you win all your away games. Just don't win the ones at home.
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Men, let me tell you 3 things. You will never do anything more
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important than these three things.
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Are you ready? And none of them involve a
26:12
dollar number one, Walk personally with God #1 #2 build
26:21
a godly marriage. As far as it depends on you #3
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parent God's way. You show me a man who does those
26:31
three things. I don't care if he's got no cent
26:34
to his name. That man is a hero in the
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Kingdom of God. Walk personally with God.
26:41
Build a godly marriage. Love your wife sacrificially
26:44
more than any other person on the planet.
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If your job gets more than she does, you need adjustments to be
26:49
made. If your coworkers get more than
26:52
your kids, you need to make adjustments.
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The most important things in your life do not involve a
26:57
dollar. They involve God's will for your
27:01
family, your home, and your life.
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God's will by our plans is a recipe for disaster.
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But #2 let me show you this out of this text in verse 3 through
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6. God's will requires patience and
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prayer. God's will requires patience and
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prayer. If you think about it, God has
27:19
Abram and Sarah in a spiritual waiting room.
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Who likes to sit in a waiting room?
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Are the magazines that great? But we don't look at those
27:28
anymore. It's our phone.
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Nobody likes to sit in a waiting room.
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We don't like to wait for somebody to respond to the text
27:34
message, right? Nobody likes to wait.
27:38
And yet God puts us in spiritual waiting rooms.
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Why? Let me give you 2 reasons in
27:45
your It's number one to grow your faith.
27:50
Forcing a human solution is not faith.
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But that's what we do, isn't it? But that's not faith, that's
28:02
unbiblical behavior based on unbiblical thinking, right?
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Every moment we have to wait on God, we are exercising and
28:08
growing our faith. I've said this before and I
28:10
repeat it again. Better words than I could come
28:12
up with from somebody else. The only thing that's harder
28:14
than waiting on God is wishing that you that you had this one's
28:19
even better. Watch this.
28:20
Whatever a man or woman attempts on their own without God will be
28:25
a miserable failure, or even more, a miserable success.
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The second reason why God often asks us to wait and puts us in a
28:38
spiritual waiting room is to give God the glory.
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If you think about it, God is eliminating every means but
28:51
miracle to fulfill His promise to Abram and Sarah.
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God said, Hey, y'all, you're not going to be to do it your way.
28:59
I'm going to make sure y'all so old, ain't nobody going to know,
29:02
right? They're all going to know this
29:03
was God, not y'all it. You're going to be so past the
29:06
point of any biological possibility that I'm going to
29:09
get all the credit. So just keep waiting.
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God loves to do things in ways that only he can get the credit.
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So faith requires waiting on God.
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Let me read the rest of the chapter.
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The Angel of the Lord found her by a spring of water.
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That's Hagar in the wilderness, the spring on the way to Shur.
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And he said, Hagar, servant of Sarah, where have you come from
29:35
and where are you going? And she said, I'm fleeing from
29:38
my mistress, Sarah. And the Angel of the Lord said
29:40
to her, return to your mistress and submit to her.
29:43
The Angel of the Lord also said to her, I will surely multiply
29:46
your offspring so that they cannot be numbered for
29:49
multitude. And the Angel of the Lord said
29:51
to her, Behold, you are pregnant, and you shall bear a
29:54
son. He shall call his name Ishmael,
29:57
because the Lord has listened to your reflection.
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He shall be a wild donkey of a man, his hand against everyone,
30:02
and everyone's hand against him. He shall dwell over against all
30:06
his kinsmen. So she called the name of the
30:08
Lord, who spoke to her. You are a God of seeing.
30:13
For she said truly here I have seen him who looks after me.
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Therefore the well was called Beer Lehi Roy.
30:20
It lies between Kadesh and Beret.
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And Hagar bore Abram a son, and Abram called the name of his son
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whom Hagar bore Ishmael. Abram was 86 years old when
30:30
Hagar bore Ishmael to Abram the first time.
30:35
The phrase the Angel of the Lord appears in the Bible is right
30:38
here. You might be tempted to think,
30:40
well, maybe this is just a normal Angel like we think of
30:42
angels, and yet that's clearly not the case.
30:45
Clearly the one speaking here is the very Lord himself.
30:50
And this again, as we've seen through Genesis, is another,
30:52
what we could call Christophany, A literal physical appearance of
30:57
the second person of the Trinity long before he takes on human
31:01
flesh and was called Jesus, born to the Virgin Mary, as God
31:05
promised would happen here, Hagar has hit the road somewhere
31:11
between Abram and Egypt, probably fearful she couldn't
31:14
make it all the way. She's by the only spring there
31:16
was to be had. And there the Lord finds her and
31:20
calls her Hagar, servant of Seraph.
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God calls your name and gives you a description.
31:25
It's time to listen up. When God starts asking you
31:28
questions, it's really time to pay attention because let me
31:31
remind you, God doesn't ask questions because he doesn't
31:33
know the answer. He asked questions because you
31:37
need to think about the answer and I need to think about the
31:40
answer. So here's the questions he asked
31:43
Hagar to answer. Are you ready?
31:45
Hagar, where have you come from? Let me translate.
31:49
Hagar, are you running away from the place you belong?
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Hagar, are you running from the place that I put you?
31:58
Second question, Hagar, where are you going?
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Let me translate. Hagar, are you going to a place
32:04
I haven't called you? Hagar, are you striking out on
32:07
your own power, on your own will, your own way?
32:10
Hagar, are you headed to a place I'm not leading you?
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She responds by saying what God already knows.
32:17
I'm fleeing from my mistress Sarai, she says.
32:20
But God says go back and submit to her.
32:23
Go back to the place I have for you, my will for you, my purpose
32:26
for you. Submit yourself to my plan.
32:29
Abram and Sarah obviously didn't care for you.
32:32
God says, but I care for you. I'm going to bless you.
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I'm going to be with you. Go back.
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As I was reading and setting this, I just couldn't help but
32:39
believe with all my heart that this is a word from the Lord
32:42
that somebody needs to hear in the room today or maybe watching
32:45
online. You say, Kyle, what word is
32:46
that? That word is to go, to go back,
32:49
maybe to hear that question, where are you going?
32:52
Where are you leaving? Are you leaving the place I put
32:54
you? Are you abandoning the plan I
32:57
have for you? Are you leaving my my will where
33:03
I placed you? I said, Kyle, what might we need
33:06
to go back to the deal is maybe you're in the room and you're
33:09
fleeing a person, place or thing or situation where God LED you.
33:13
God put you. But if you're being honest, it
33:16
got hard and you wanted to run. You wanted out.
33:18
So you fled and you struck out on your own and God's calling
33:23
you to go back. You say, Kyle, go back to what?
33:26
Well, let me give you some ideas.
33:28
Maybe a family relationship that you ended, Someone that you've
33:33
chosen not to speak to for years.
33:37
God's calling you to go back. What about the spouse that you
33:40
might have abandoned? What about the parents or
33:44
grandparents you may have cut off and ceased a relationship
33:47
with over some disagreement? What about a job or a boss or a
33:52
Co worker that you dropped because you got offended?
33:56
What about a school or a degree or a trajectory for a career you
34:01
felt God calling you to that you quit?
34:04
What about the church you walked away from because you got hurt?
34:08
Is God calling you to go back anywhere you've run from?
34:14
Hagar thought her circumstances needed changing, but actually it
34:17
was Hagar that needed changing. And if you think about it, most
34:20
of the time it's not our circumstances that need
34:22
changing, it's us that need changing.
34:26
The flesh just wants to run away, but God wants to
34:29
demonstrate his power. He says to her, I will multiply
34:31
your offspring. I you will bear a son, Ishmael.
34:35
And Ishmael's name means God has heard.
34:38
The question is, will she say yes to God's call and allow God
34:43
to pick up the pieces of her life that are now shattered as
34:46
she's chosen to run away from God's place and God's plan and
34:50
God's purpose. Verse 13 says this.
34:53
So she called the name of the Lord who spoke to her.
34:57
You are a God of seeing that in the Hebrew is you are El Roy.
35:04
That is the God who sees, which means God is a God who cares.
35:13
He is not a God up there, unaware of your situation, of
35:19
the details of your life. He sees, he knows, and he cares.
35:24
Parents, if you teach your kids the names of God, one you ought
35:27
to teach them is that God is Elroy.
35:30
He is the God who sees. He knows them.
35:33
He watches over them. He has a plan for them.
35:35
No matter where they go, whether it might make stray, even if
35:38
they run away, God sees. God knows.
35:40
God cares. She's seeing now.
35:43
She's feeling now. She's experiencing now the
35:45
personal love of God for her. Even when life is shattered.
35:52
She's run away. She's got nowhere to go, and yet
35:56
she notices. God has noticed her.
35:59
God, you're a God who sees me. You're God who cares for me.
36:03
She names the well beer Laha Roy, the well of the living one
36:06
who sees me. Remember this chapter is a
36:10
testimony to the fact as we as human beings as broken as we
36:13
are, but God is always so good. Number three, let me put it to
36:20
you like this as practically as I know how God will pick up the
36:23
pieces, but there's a big keyword.
36:27
It's 2 letters IF if you let him, God and only God can pick
36:36
up the pieces if you let him. Hagar said yes to the call of
36:44
God and she returned. I'm sure she told Abram and
36:48
Sarah all that she had experienced.
36:50
Abram claims the boy is his own son.
36:54
Why? Why should you?
36:56
The name of this series is Answering the Call of God.
37:00
Why should you say yes to God's call on your life?
37:03
What if you say Kyle, listen, I've run so far, I've, I've left
37:07
what I feel like is God's will. It's got to be too late for me.
37:10
God is a God who sees you right where you are.
37:13
You can't outrun his gaze. You can't outrun his care or his
37:16
sight. Why should you say yes to God no
37:18
matter where you are, like Hagar did?
37:20
Because God is a God who sees you, who cares for you.
37:25
If you've got breath in your lungs, His plan for you is not
37:28
over. And He can pick up whatever
37:30
pieces are broken if if you give all the pieces to him, but if
37:37
you hang on to them, they'll stay broken.
37:41
But God can pick up the pieces. Let me finish like this.
37:45
Ishmael told you means God has heard.
37:48
I want you to just imagine Abram and Sarah every time they heard
37:51
the name Ishmael in their household.
37:53
That means God has heard, no doubt.
37:58
I think it probably was a reminder #1 never to attempt
38:02
God's will their way again, right?
38:07
I bet it was a reminder to never forget that God's will requires
38:10
patience and prayer. And I bet it was a reminder that
38:13
despite their mistakes, God was faithful to pick up the pieces
38:17
and even give His blessing when they chose to do it their way
38:22
instead of God's way. Is it God good?
38:25
Is it God good despite all our mess?
38:30
Only He and only He can pick up the pieces.
38:33
Let me finish with the words of another.
38:35
One writer makes the following observation about this chapter,
38:39
and it's helpful. He says the thing that shouts
38:41
the loudest here in this chapter is not is that there's not an
38:45
honorable character in the whole cast of Genesis 16.
38:50
They're all imperfect. So are we.
38:54
Abram was the worst. He was pathetic, passive,
38:57
impotent, uncaring about either his wife or Hagar.
39:00
Neither woman had any compassion for the other.
39:02
Sarah was worse, but you get the impression that if Hagar had the
39:06
chance, she'd have just been just as bad.
39:10
Now let's to be real honest, every single one of us have had
39:13
chapters in our life that could be titled The Autopsy of a Dumb
39:17
Decision, the No Good, the Bad and the Ugly, How not to do XY
39:26
or Z. But God is the God who sees, the
39:33
God who knows and the God who cares.
39:36
So much so that He sent his one and only Son to die in your
39:39
place despite all our sin and the fact that no matter, no
39:44
matter where we've run, no matter what we've done, that if
39:47
we're willing to put the pieces at the feet of Jesus, he'll pick
39:52
him up. And so therefore, hurry up and
39:55
wait on God. Hurry up and wait on God.
40:01
Maybe today, as John and Praise team come out, you need to hurry
40:04
up and wait on God by placing your faith in Jesus Christ for
40:07
salvation. Maybe you've delayed.
40:10
Maybe you've thought about it. Maybe you've heard about it.
40:13
But today is the day. Maybe maybe you're thinking I'll
40:16
have other time or I need more time to process.
40:18
But listen, every time you feel that tug, that conviction of the
40:21
Holy Spirit that he's calling you and you say no, it's a
40:24
little more of a stepping back from the will of God rather than
40:26
a step toward it. Would you be willing to come out
40:29
and tell me, say, Kyle, I need to trust Christ?
40:34
Maybe maybe you're in a situation where you're tempted
40:38
to get a hedagon and to force a human solution in a situation
40:43
where you need to wait on God. Maybe you want to come pray
40:46
about that to get on your knees or come stand or come talk to
40:48
one of our encouragers or me to pray for you.
40:51
Maybe finally you've got pieces that you know only God could put
40:54
back together, and the question is, will you let him?
40:59
Will you give them to him? We say, God, if I need to go
41:02
back, I'll go. God.
41:03
If I need to repent, if I need to restore, if I need to say I'm
41:06
sorry, if I need to return God, I'll go if you'll go with me and
41:11
only God will put back the pieces if you'll let him.
41:13
Heavenly Father, I pray that whatever you want to do in our
41:16
lives right now and in the moments that followed that you
41:19
would have your way. We'd say yes to you.
41:21
In Jesus name I pray, Amen. Would you stand with me?
41:23
We're going to sing, we're going to wait on you.
41:25
We're going to worship and let's respond in faith to what you've
41:28
heard today. You come.