This Sunday, June 25 is the Fourth Sunday after Pentecost
Verse of the Season/Month:
Let the whole earth shout triumphantly to the Lord!
2 Serve the Lord with gladness;
come before him with joyful songs.
3 Acknowledge that the Lord is God.
He made us, and we are his[a]—
his people, the sheep of his pasture.
This week’s sermon is The Value a Half-Penny Sparrow by Pastor Dave Zachrich
This week’s readings are:
Things You Didn’t Learn in Sunday School About … Hagar and Ishmael
We’re talking about things you might not have learned in Sunday School – and maybe you don’t remember these names at all. (That’s okay! That’s why we’re doing this.)
Last week we heard about Sarah’s plan to “help God” keep his
promise to her husband, Abraham. That promise what that all of the nations of
the world would be blessed by his offspring. The problem being … Abraham didn’t
have any children because Sarah was unable to have babies. So Sarah decided to
give her husband her slave, a woman named Hagar, to try to have a child.
This was not God’s plan – but God has a way of using injustices and struggles to bless us.
Hagar got pregnant and this – the very thing Sarah planned
for – causes all kinds of problems with Abraham, Sarah, and Hagar.
Sarah
mistreated Hagar
Hagar ran away.
The account is recorded for us in Genesis 16:
Sarai mistreated her so much that she ran away from her.
7 The angel of the Lord found
her by a spring in the wilderness, the spring on the way to Shur. 8 He
said, “Hagar, slave of Sarai, where have you come from and where are you
going?”
She replied, “I’m running away from my mistress Sarai.”
9 The angel of the Lord said
to her, “Go back to your mistress and submit to her authority.” 10 The
angel of the Lord said to her, “I will greatly multiply your
offspring, and they will be too many to count.”
11 The angel of the Lord said
to her, “You have conceived and will have a son. You will name him Ishmael, for
the Lord has heard your cry of affliction. 12 This
man will be like a wild donkey. His hand will be against everyone, and
everyone’s hand will be against him; he will settle near all his relatives.”
13 So she named the Lord who
spoke to her: “You are El-roi,” for she said, “In this place, have I
actually seen the one who sees me?” 14 That
is why the well is called Beer-lahai-roi. It is between Kadesh and Bered.
15 So Hagar gave birth to Abram’s son, and Abram named his son (whom Hagar bore) Ishmael.
Angel of the Lord
Angel means
Messenger
We think
that sometimes this means Jesus – but before the incarnation – before He took
humanity upon Himself.
There
are times that the Angel of the Lord accepts worship
Fits – John 1 – In the beginning was the Word – Jesus, the cross and empty tomb are God’s message to us!
The message?
Go back and
submit to Sarah’s authority
Sometimes
people think that following God will lead us out of troubles – not always the
case!
We
can be confident that God will use the troubles of our lives to bless us.
Deepen
our faith – have to rely on Him
Turn
our hearts away from this world
Living
as a witness of God’s mercy to others
Persecutors
turned
She will have a son – and great nations will come from Hagar.
Name him Ishmael
Ishmael means, “God hears.”
She names God, “You are El-roi.”
It looks
like Elroy.
El-roi means, “God sees me.”
God hears and God sees.
God is not
passive when we experience troubles in life.
God uses
them to shape us and to bless us.
Faith
Teaches
us to pray
Turns
our hearts
Compassion
Equipped
to help others
Humble
Not
necessarily the blessings the world teaches us to want … but the blessings we
need.
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