WEBVTT 00:00:01.280 --> 00:00:09.599 Good morning! I want to start this morning by showing you a picture and giving you a little activity. 00:00:10.080 --> 00:00:11.679 So here's the picture. 00:00:12.320 --> 00:00:13.839 Now where's Wally? 00:00:15.519 --> 00:00:21.440 On the screen is a picture of a traditional Where's Wally puzzle. 00:00:21.679 --> 00:00:26.960 Somewhere in that image is a character called Wally, and several of his friends are there too. 00:00:27.440 --> 00:00:29.600 Who can find him first? 00:00:31.760 --> 00:00:36.799 He's difficult to spot when there's so much else going on. 00:00:37.359 --> 00:00:43.119 The word God has put on my heart for this morning is I see you. 00:00:43.759 --> 00:00:50.079 God doesn't have to go cross-eyed looking, zoom in, or systematically search for ages. 00:00:50.320 --> 00:00:53.600 He doesn't muddle us up with another character in the story. 00:00:53.920 --> 00:00:59.840 He sees us right where and as we are, no matter what's going on around us. 00:01:00.079 --> 00:01:07.200 And I believe that God is preparing to move in this nation and is looking for a people who are ready to partner with him. 00:01:07.599 --> 00:01:10.959 The enemy wants to chain us up and hold us back. 00:01:11.200 --> 00:01:24.959 And one of the greatest ways he does that is by attacking our identity and making us doubt whether we are truly seen, known, and loved by God. 00:01:25.680 --> 00:01:28.959 Playing into our insecurities and doubts. 00:01:29.280 --> 00:01:34.159 And if that's you, God wants to set you free this morning. 00:01:34.719 --> 00:01:37.200 God has many names in the Bible. 00:01:37.439 --> 00:01:40.719 Each tells us a bit more about his character. 00:01:40.959 --> 00:01:47.599 One of those names is El Ri, the God who sees me. 00:01:48.239 --> 00:01:51.359 We find this name in the story of Hagar. 00:01:51.840 --> 00:01:58.879 The backstory is that God had promised Abraham and Sarah a son, but they were both very old. 00:01:59.040 --> 00:02:05.840 And as the years passed and Sarah remained childless, they decided to take matters into their own hands. 00:02:06.079 --> 00:02:10.000 They tried to fulfill God's promise their own way. 00:02:10.639 --> 00:02:14.479 That usually doesn't work out so well for us. 00:02:14.879 --> 00:02:17.919 And it didn't hear either. 00:02:19.840 --> 00:02:28.000 Sarah gave her servant Hagar to Abraham so that Hagar could bear a child on Sarah's behalf. 00:02:28.479 --> 00:02:34.000 Hagar conceived, but things quickly unraveled. 00:02:34.400 --> 00:02:36.800 Tensions grew between the two women. 00:02:37.039 --> 00:02:40.639 Hagar began to look upon Sarah with contempt. 00:02:40.960 --> 00:02:48.639 And Sarah responded by treating Hagar so harshly that she fled into the wilderness. 00:02:49.759 --> 00:03:01.439 Hagar found herself pregnant, vulnerable, utterly alone, and convinced that no one was looking for her. 00:03:03.439 --> 00:03:05.360 Then God met her. 00:03:06.800 --> 00:03:16.400 At the end of their encounter in Genesis 16, verses 13 to 14, we read, She gave this name to the Lord who spoke to her. 00:03:24.400 --> 00:03:30.159 That is why the well was called Beer La Hairoi, well of the living one who sees me. 00:03:30.960 --> 00:03:40.879 From being alone, helpless, and in despair, Hagar felt fully and completely seen and understood. 00:03:41.439 --> 00:03:43.680 I see you. 00:03:44.560 --> 00:03:50.240 That's what God showed Hagar, and that's what he wants to show us today. 00:03:50.639 --> 00:03:57.599 So to unpack this some more, I want to look at the three individual components: I, see, you. 00:03:58.159 --> 00:04:06.400 So starting zoomed out, the I, it would be completely impossible to do this justice in the time we have. 00:04:06.560 --> 00:04:11.919 So I'm gonna focus on some of the verses in just one chapter of the Bible in Isaiah 40. 00:04:12.159 --> 00:04:14.240 So starting at verse 12. 00:04:15.360 --> 00:04:22.639 Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, or with the breadth of his hand marked off the heavens? 00:04:23.600 --> 00:04:31.199 Who has held the dust of the earth in a basket, or weighed the mountains on the scales and the hills in a balance? 00:04:32.240 --> 00:04:38.160 Who can fathom the Spirit of the Lord, or instruct the Lord as his counsellor? 00:04:39.199 --> 00:04:42.240 Whom did the Lord consult to enlighten him? 00:04:42.560 --> 00:04:44.800 And who taught him the right way? 00:04:45.439 --> 00:04:50.160 Who was it that taught him knowledge or showed him the path of understanding? 00:04:51.360 --> 00:04:53.519 Jumping down to verse 21. 00:04:54.079 --> 00:04:55.680 Do you not know? 00:04:56.639 --> 00:04:58.319 Have you not heard? 00:04:59.279 --> 00:05:02.319 Has it not been told you from the beginning? 00:05:03.120 --> 00:05:06.480 Have you not understood since the earth was founded? 00:05:07.279 --> 00:05:13.839 He sits enthroned above the circle of the earth, and its people are like grasshoppers. 00:05:14.160 --> 00:05:20.560 He stretches out the heavens like a canopy and spreads them out like a tent to live in. 00:05:20.959 --> 00:05:26.000 He brings princes to naught and reduces the rulers of this world to nothing. 00:05:26.560 --> 00:05:27.759 Verse 25. 00:05:31.360 --> 00:05:34.879 Or who is my equal, says the Holy One. 00:05:35.199 --> 00:05:38.240 Lift up your eyes and look to the heavens. 00:05:38.480 --> 00:05:40.160 Who created all these? 00:05:41.040 --> 00:05:49.199 He who brings out the starry host one by one and calls forth each of them by name. 00:05:49.519 --> 00:05:55.600 Because of his great power and mighty strength, not one of them is missing. 00:05:59.120 --> 00:06:03.680 When we encounter something new, we like a reference point. 00:06:04.160 --> 00:06:08.399 Especially for things that are big or difficult to understand. 00:06:08.720 --> 00:06:11.279 We've just read about the heavens. 00:06:11.839 --> 00:06:14.399 Who watched the eclipse the other week? 00:06:15.360 --> 00:06:16.000 I did. 00:06:16.399 --> 00:06:20.720 Here's a picture of me standing in front of the moon, which is standing in front of the sun. 00:06:21.120 --> 00:06:23.680 You can't see the moon very well, but it is there. 00:06:24.319 --> 00:06:36.240 Now, if the sun were this beach ball, and this is a giant beach ball, not a normal beach bull, our whole planet would be about the size of this little bead. 00:06:37.439 --> 00:06:41.519 And the moon would be this tiny peppercorn. 00:06:41.759 --> 00:06:44.000 In fact, it would actually be a bit smaller. 00:06:45.360 --> 00:06:52.800 A new hospital ship is being built by the charity Mercy Ships to provide free healthcare for people in Africa. 00:06:53.279 --> 00:06:58.959 I've seen photos, but I've not been to either of the existing ships. 00:06:59.199 --> 00:07:02.959 So I need a reference point to understand its scale. 00:07:03.920 --> 00:07:08.560 It's roughly the size of four premiership football pictures. 00:07:09.680 --> 00:07:13.759 I've been to premiership matches, so I can picture that. 00:07:15.600 --> 00:07:20.560 It has 12 decks, the height of eight and a half double decker buses. 00:07:21.839 --> 00:07:25.839 It has 191 beds, which is similar to when St. 00:07:26.000 --> 00:07:31.839 Auburn City was first built, or a third the size of the uh LD hospital. 00:07:33.519 --> 00:07:50.319 Suddenly, instead of a two-dimensional picture, I'm walking through corridors and wards in my mind, opening doors into operating theaters, and getting a feel for the size and scale of the ship because I have something to compare it to. 00:07:51.040 --> 00:07:55.439 But the Bible says, with whom will you compare God? 00:07:55.680 --> 00:07:57.839 To what image will you liken him? 00:07:58.319 --> 00:08:00.639 God is incomparable. 00:08:01.199 --> 00:08:03.519 We don't have a reference point. 00:08:04.240 --> 00:08:06.319 He is unlimited. 00:08:06.480 --> 00:08:08.000 He is the beginning and the end. 00:08:08.160 --> 00:08:09.600 He is the first and the last. 00:08:11.839 --> 00:08:13.759 Nothing comes close. 00:08:14.000 --> 00:08:26.879 In Ephesians 1.21, we read, He is far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every name that is invoked, not only in the present age, but also in the one to come. 00:08:27.759 --> 00:08:32.320 Our God is a great big God, doesn't even begin to cut it. 00:08:32.639 --> 00:08:39.679 He isn't bigger, he isn't X times bigger, He isn't just X to the power of N bigger. 00:08:40.000 --> 00:08:41.600 He is infinite. 00:08:41.840 --> 00:08:43.519 He is immeasurable. 00:08:43.840 --> 00:08:45.600 He is beyond scale. 00:08:46.080 --> 00:08:53.200 And when we come to our Heavenly Father, we aren't approaching some supersized human being in the sky. 00:08:53.519 --> 00:09:03.759 We are coming before the infinite God, the one who was before all things, who created all things and holds all things together. 00:09:04.000 --> 00:09:07.759 And it's this God who sees you and me. 00:09:08.960 --> 00:09:13.039 So hold on to that thought while we think about what it means to be seen. 00:09:13.279 --> 00:09:27.679 If we go back to Hagar's description of Elroy, Roy comes from the Hebrew verb Ra, which means to see, to notice, to perceive, to inspect, to experience, and sometimes to provide. 00:09:27.759 --> 00:09:33.679 So Jehovah, as uh so Jira, as in Jehovah Jirah, God who provides, comes from the same root word. 00:09:34.320 --> 00:09:41.519 But if I was to say to you, I see you, I'd probably mean I can visually see you, I've noticed you. 00:09:41.600 --> 00:09:43.120 Like I was playing a game hide and seek. 00:09:43.200 --> 00:09:44.240 Oh, I see you. 00:09:46.879 --> 00:09:49.039 But that's all I would mean. 00:09:49.200 --> 00:09:52.159 But the Hebrew word means so much more. 00:09:52.639 --> 00:09:55.600 In the Hebrew, seeing often leads to action. 00:09:55.679 --> 00:09:59.039 And the Bible repeatedly uses see in this way. 00:09:59.200 --> 00:10:07.039 So when God spoke to Moses in the burning bush in Exodus 3:7, he says, I have seen the misery of my people. 00:10:07.200 --> 00:10:08.960 It's the same word, see. 00:10:09.440 --> 00:10:13.919 And verse 8 continues, so I have come down to rescue them. 00:10:14.240 --> 00:10:21.919 Seeing is covenant language, it isn't surveillance, he doesn't merely observe, he turns towards. 00:10:22.480 --> 00:10:30.480 And when Hagar declared God to be El Rui, she was saying, God turned his attention towards me. 00:10:32.720 --> 00:10:41.919 Unending, incomparable God notices, understands, attends, and responds to you. 00:10:42.159 --> 00:10:50.000 This isn't a catching sight of, it's a deep attention to and knowledge of you that started long before you were born. 00:10:51.759 --> 00:11:00.720 In workplaces, it can feel like the more removed you are from the top, the more invisible you are, the less influence you have, the less you're seen. 00:11:00.879 --> 00:11:06.960 And before I moved to Harpenden, I worked for an NHS trust and I reported to the chief executive. 00:11:07.120 --> 00:11:15.840 I could easily get time with him, I could have his attention, I could ask him questions, I could get to know him and understand how he worked. 00:11:16.080 --> 00:11:23.360 In fact, it got to the point where I could write articles and speeches in his name and no one could tell whether he had written them or I had. 00:11:37.679 --> 00:11:42.480 When things get bigger, often we get smaller and less significant. 00:11:42.720 --> 00:11:46.720 In an aeroplane, the higher you fly, the smaller things look on the earth. 00:11:46.799 --> 00:11:49.279 And it can feel like that in churches as well. 00:11:49.600 --> 00:11:55.919 But Jesus flips son of God, hangs out with people who've been disregarded by society. 00:11:56.240 --> 00:12:08.159 He eats with tax collectors, he touches lepers, he stops for beggars, he welcomes children, he talks to people others avoid, and he notices the people everybody else walks past. 00:12:08.879 --> 00:12:16.080 He shows that no matter how big God is, we are completely visible to him. 00:12:16.399 --> 00:12:21.840 And the more we understand how majestic and powerful God is, the more that should blow our minds. 00:12:22.080 --> 00:12:27.279 As David says, What is man that you are mindful of him? 00:12:28.480 --> 00:12:30.080 So what does God see? 00:12:30.720 --> 00:12:34.159 Hagar called him the God who sees me. 00:12:34.399 --> 00:12:36.559 El Rory is personal. 00:12:37.279 --> 00:12:45.519 And sometimes when we hear people say that God knows us, it can feel a bit generic, or it can feel like we're hearing somebody else's story. 00:12:45.919 --> 00:12:48.720 This morning, God wants to make it personal. 00:12:49.360 --> 00:13:04.720 God sees you right where you are in your loneliness, in your struggle, your pain, your anxiety, your shame, as well as your celebration and your courage and your success. 00:13:05.840 --> 00:13:09.840 So to help us, we're going to delve into everyone's favorite part of the Bible. 00:13:10.080 --> 00:13:12.960 Very excited about this: the genealogies. 00:13:14.799 --> 00:13:18.000 I used to find genealogies really boring and would skip them. 00:13:18.320 --> 00:13:21.440 Turns out books like Kings and Chronicles are a treasure trove. 00:13:21.600 --> 00:13:22.879 I recommend them. 00:13:23.360 --> 00:13:26.879 There is nothing unintentional about the Bible. 00:13:27.200 --> 00:13:31.679 2 Timothy 3.16 says all scripture is God-breathed. 00:13:32.240 --> 00:13:42.240 So the first nine chapters of One Chronicles consist of a series of genealogies, beginning with Adam, up to the Jews who returned from Babylon after the exile. 00:13:42.480 --> 00:13:46.399 And chapter 7 is mainly a list of men and their sons. 00:13:46.720 --> 00:13:51.360 But in the middle is a single verse about a woman named Shera. 00:13:52.320 --> 00:13:59.840 Verse 24 says, His daughter was Sheerah, who built Lower and Upper Betharon, as well as Uz and Sheerah. 00:14:00.000 --> 00:14:00.720 That's all. 00:14:00.960 --> 00:14:05.519 Verse 25 continues, Repha with his son, Reshef his son, and so on. 00:14:07.200 --> 00:14:09.840 We know that Sheerah was a real person. 00:14:10.559 --> 00:14:13.519 This isn't a fictional story or a myth. 00:14:14.000 --> 00:14:19.840 Her name isn't preserved in legend, but in the official genealogies of Israel. 00:14:20.080 --> 00:14:30.639 And that is a surprising honour in a patriarchal culture where property usually passed through sons and family identity was traced through fathers. 00:14:31.039 --> 00:14:37.519 Official genealogies almost always followed the male line, and the names and achievements of women were seldom recorded. 00:14:37.759 --> 00:14:46.720 And Sheera isn't mentioned anywhere else in the Bible, but here in a handful of words, we find her name, her family heritage, and what she's accomplished. 00:14:47.200 --> 00:14:53.440 She lived more than 3,000 years ago, most likely between 1800 and 1500 BC. 00:14:53.679 --> 00:14:56.720 And it's really hard to imagine the position of women then. 00:14:56.960 --> 00:15:04.720 Even in the UK, women have had fully equal voting rights for over 18s for less than 100 years. 00:15:05.120 --> 00:15:10.960 And royal succession only stopped favoring sons over daughters in 2015. 00:15:11.200 --> 00:15:18.000 If Princess Anne had been born a boy, she'd be eighth in line to the throne instead of nineteenth. 00:15:18.559 --> 00:15:23.120 But Shearer's name isn't even tucked away in a side note or an appendix. 00:15:23.279 --> 00:15:29.519 It's woven into the genealogies that established who belonged to God's covenant people. 00:15:29.759 --> 00:15:34.799 In a document where almost every name is male, we stop for Sheera. 00:15:35.679 --> 00:15:37.519 Shera built three towns. 00:15:37.759 --> 00:15:45.519 We don't know whether that means she funded them, she designed them, she organized their construction, or she governed them, but she gets the credit. 00:15:47.279 --> 00:15:53.759 The Bible doesn't tell us that she was some great spiritual powerhouse, extraordinary, or a near blameless life. 00:15:53.840 --> 00:15:56.399 In fact, it tells us almost nothing else about her. 00:15:56.720 --> 00:15:59.279 What it does tell us is her name. 00:16:00.960 --> 00:16:05.519 At New Day this year, New Day is a youth festival that some of us go to. 00:16:12.159 --> 00:16:19.120 She wasn't responding to the time of ministry, she wasn't praying for others, but neither was she disconnected. 00:16:19.279 --> 00:16:21.840 She was just there, standing with her friends. 00:16:22.000 --> 00:16:26.639 There was nothing that stood out about her other than God made me stop. 00:16:27.200 --> 00:16:33.600 And God asked me to tell her that she was called and chosen, and like those two words, that her name began with a C. 00:16:33.919 --> 00:16:38.399 In fact, I had the sense that it was something like Catherine, but I knew it wasn't quite right. 00:16:38.480 --> 00:16:41.679 It was something a bit more modern than that, like Catherine, but more modern. 00:16:42.000 --> 00:16:47.840 But instead of pressing for more, I decided that I was far enough out of my comfort zone. 00:16:48.000 --> 00:16:49.759 Thank you very much, with just the first letter. 00:16:49.919 --> 00:16:53.600 So I wrote it in a notebook so that she could see that I had it. 00:16:53.759 --> 00:16:57.759 Um and I went over and asked if I could um pray with her. 00:16:58.240 --> 00:17:00.080 I asked her her name. 00:17:00.639 --> 00:17:01.519 Caitlin. 00:17:02.320 --> 00:17:03.200 With a C. 00:17:03.440 --> 00:17:04.400 I did check. 00:17:04.559 --> 00:17:08.000 Um, and it turns out Caitlin is the Irish form of Catherine. 00:17:08.640 --> 00:17:12.480 Uh so God knows us by name. 00:17:12.799 --> 00:17:20.079 God, who is incomparable and indescribable and unlimited, knows your name and sees you. 00:17:20.559 --> 00:17:23.519 When you feel unseen, he sees you. 00:17:23.920 --> 00:17:26.400 He knows everything about you. 00:17:26.640 --> 00:17:28.720 The good and the not so good. 00:17:28.960 --> 00:17:34.000 It isn't through how visible you are or what you do that you receive God's grace, but through faith in Jesus. 00:17:34.079 --> 00:17:39.279 And that thing that you feel shame about that nobody knows, God knows all about it. 00:17:39.519 --> 00:17:48.960 And still, he says, Come, still, he says, I love you no more or less today than the day you were born. 00:17:50.640 --> 00:17:55.680 If you got into heaven and stepped through the gates and someone asked, What are you doing here? 00:17:56.160 --> 00:17:57.759 What would your answer be? 00:17:58.960 --> 00:18:00.160 I don't know. 00:18:01.519 --> 00:18:03.279 I've lived a good life. 00:18:04.559 --> 00:18:06.880 I devoted myself to Jesus. 00:18:09.039 --> 00:18:12.880 If the answer starts with I, then you need to know something. 00:18:13.440 --> 00:18:17.440 It's not about you, it's all about Jesus. 00:18:17.759 --> 00:18:22.000 Jesus invited me, Jesus called me by my name. 00:18:22.240 --> 00:18:23.920 Our past is irrelevant. 00:18:24.079 --> 00:18:27.839 Jesus sees you, he knows you, he says, Come. 00:18:29.440 --> 00:18:34.079 So do you feel forgotten, overlooked, maybe worthless? 00:18:34.960 --> 00:18:39.039 Do you feel that your contribution is disregarded or someone else gets the credit? 00:18:39.200 --> 00:18:41.200 Or you weren't asked to contribute. 00:18:41.839 --> 00:18:44.880 You were the last one picked in teams at school. 00:18:45.200 --> 00:18:50.799 In fact, you weren't picked, you were left over and kind of absorbed in a team at the end. 00:18:50.960 --> 00:18:51.839 That was me. 00:18:52.319 --> 00:18:57.200 A job you'd wanted goes to someone else less qualified, and you feel unseen. 00:18:58.240 --> 00:19:06.319 God sees you, He values you, He has His attention turned towards you. 00:19:07.599 --> 00:19:10.160 Or maybe you have imposter syndrome. 00:19:10.400 --> 00:19:16.960 You don't feel qualified or deserving to do what you're doing, whether at home, in the church, in the community, or in the workplace. 00:19:17.119 --> 00:19:22.079 And in that hospital trust I worked in, um I was a non-voting member of the board. 00:19:22.240 --> 00:19:27.839 We had four hospitals, it was a big population of over half a million, and a massive building program. 00:19:28.319 --> 00:19:31.759 And I was the youngest member by a long way. 00:19:32.079 --> 00:19:35.440 And I battled with imposter syndrome daily. 00:19:35.759 --> 00:19:42.079 My office was on the exec corridor opposite the water cooler and the kitchen, which was great for keeping an eye on what was going on. 00:19:42.400 --> 00:19:44.559 And it was next to the chief nurse. 00:19:44.799 --> 00:19:48.000 And the chief nurse was a force of nature. 00:19:48.720 --> 00:19:56.160 She had transformed inpatient care, she had transformed nursing morale, quality, and patient experience. 00:19:56.319 --> 00:19:59.039 And I was just a little bit in awe of her. 00:20:08.640 --> 00:20:10.880 That someone would really be there. 00:20:11.519 --> 00:20:12.160 Do you know? 00:20:12.400 --> 00:20:17.920 I was gobsmacked when she looked me in the eye and told me she felt like that too. 00:20:18.640 --> 00:20:20.720 Folks, it's a lie. 00:20:21.519 --> 00:20:26.480 Just like Sheera, God sees you and says you are significant. 00:20:26.960 --> 00:20:36.000 Not because of what you do, but because of what he is and who he is, and that he chooses to call you his son and his daughter. 00:20:36.480 --> 00:20:39.039 God didn't have to include Shearer. 00:20:39.200 --> 00:20:45.359 She's not critical to the family tree being described or the way genealogies were described at the time. 00:20:45.759 --> 00:20:51.039 The official record could have happily ignored her, but God stopped for her. 00:20:51.680 --> 00:20:53.279 So who are today's Shearers? 00:20:53.519 --> 00:20:55.519 Well, not just women, you and me. 00:20:55.759 --> 00:21:04.960 People who faithfully build, people who create homes, raise children, care for old parents, serve quietly, volunteer, give, pray. 00:21:05.279 --> 00:21:09.279 You know, nobody applauds, but God records. 00:21:10.000 --> 00:21:12.160 So whose approval are you living for? 00:21:12.480 --> 00:21:14.400 God's or someone else's? 00:21:14.720 --> 00:21:15.920 God sees. 00:21:16.319 --> 00:21:20.799 God turns his attention towards you, and God does not forget you. 00:21:21.759 --> 00:21:26.559 And there's another short story and another list of names about a man not mentioned anywhere else. 00:21:26.799 --> 00:21:34.160 So perhaps you feel more like Jabez, unheard, misunderstood, or carrying pain you feel no one else sees. 00:21:35.119 --> 00:21:43.920 1 Chronicles 4, verses 9 to 10, we read, There was a man named Jabez who was more honourable than any of his brothers. 00:21:44.160 --> 00:21:48.240 His mother named him Jabez because his birth had been so painful. 00:21:48.559 --> 00:21:54.400 He was the one who prayed to the God of Israel, Oh, that you would bless me and expand my territory. 00:21:54.640 --> 00:21:59.039 Please be with me in all that I do and keep me from all trouble and pain. 00:21:59.200 --> 00:22:01.920 And God Granted him his request. 00:22:02.400 --> 00:22:09.920 Jabez cried out to God, asking for favor, success, and protection, and God answered his prayer. 00:22:10.160 --> 00:22:15.440 Again, we know very little about Jabez, yet God stops the genealogy again. 00:22:16.160 --> 00:22:19.359 Jabez's mother named him Payne. 00:22:20.160 --> 00:22:26.079 Rather than look to her child's future, she names him out of her current suffering. 00:22:26.799 --> 00:22:29.119 Imagine having to introduce yourself. 00:22:29.440 --> 00:22:32.000 Hello, my name's Payne Kinghorn. 00:22:34.000 --> 00:22:36.640 Hello, my name's Failure. 00:22:37.920 --> 00:22:40.240 Hello, my name's Shame. 00:22:44.319 --> 00:22:48.880 Do you feel the victim of your circumstances or a label you've been given? 00:22:49.440 --> 00:22:57.680 Jobez's story encourages us not to allow the label spoken over us to define us or our future. 00:22:58.400 --> 00:23:04.559 You might be sitting under a label of disappointment, being told you're not good enough or you won't amount to much. 00:23:05.119 --> 00:23:13.119 It might be a label that you've been given by others or one that you've given yourself, or it might be one born out of comparison to others. 00:23:13.599 --> 00:23:17.200 And you know, even labels that sound positive can be problematic. 00:23:17.440 --> 00:23:20.720 Back in Birmingham, once someone once called me super mum. 00:23:20.880 --> 00:23:22.799 It was meant to be a compliment. 00:23:23.039 --> 00:23:26.079 I was a single mum with four kids and a full-time job. 00:23:26.319 --> 00:23:28.640 But that label became a curse. 00:23:29.200 --> 00:23:33.359 When I was doing well, it fed my pride. 00:23:34.240 --> 00:23:38.079 And when I wasn't, it told me I was failing. 00:23:38.400 --> 00:23:42.559 I felt I had to be the super mum who had everything sorted. 00:23:42.880 --> 00:23:48.559 So every time things went wrong or life fell apart, I blamed myself. 00:23:49.359 --> 00:23:52.240 I felt helpless and completely worthless. 00:23:52.400 --> 00:23:55.279 And I carried the shame deep inside. 00:23:55.519 --> 00:24:03.839 I'd let a flattering label become my identity, and I listened to what it said about me instead of what God said about me. 00:24:04.160 --> 00:24:07.519 The result was I never felt good enough. 00:24:07.759 --> 00:24:13.519 And busyness is another label that, as John said last week, can be worn like a badge of honour, and I have. 00:24:14.640 --> 00:24:22.400 But even a positive label can become a prison when we allow it and not God to define who we are. 00:24:22.720 --> 00:24:27.039 And Jabez was given a name that reflected the pain surrounding his birth. 00:24:27.200 --> 00:24:32.720 And I wonder how easy it would have been for that name and that label to become his identity. 00:24:33.119 --> 00:24:35.359 I did something a bit different with my children. 00:24:35.440 --> 00:24:38.079 I gave each of them a name with a prophetic meaning. 00:24:38.480 --> 00:24:46.640 Not necessarily my favorite names, but names that reflected something that I felt God was speaking over them. 00:24:48.400 --> 00:24:50.720 Amelia's middle name is Joy. 00:24:51.440 --> 00:25:02.799 And for many years, through sleepless nights, meltdowns, trouble at school, and worse, I questioned God about that name. 00:25:04.000 --> 00:25:07.200 Things didn't feel very joyful. 00:25:07.680 --> 00:25:10.319 She wasn't very joyful. 00:25:11.359 --> 00:25:13.839 But I held on to that promise. 00:25:14.400 --> 00:25:17.440 And once she found Jesus, everything changed. 00:25:17.759 --> 00:25:20.960 She is joyful and she leaks joy around her. 00:25:21.119 --> 00:25:25.599 And people correctly guess her middle name because it's so obvious. 00:25:25.839 --> 00:25:27.519 And it could have been different. 00:25:27.759 --> 00:25:32.480 Once at work I had to read the file of a teenager who'd struggled from a very young age. 00:25:32.799 --> 00:25:36.160 And reading the notes felt like going back in time. 00:25:36.720 --> 00:25:39.039 This could have been Amelia's story. 00:25:39.279 --> 00:25:41.839 The early years were eerily similar. 00:25:42.079 --> 00:25:48.400 But what struck me was how early this young girl seemed to have been labelled and given up on. 00:25:48.640 --> 00:25:52.400 And I realized how easily I could have done that too. 00:25:52.640 --> 00:25:57.279 Allowed what I saw in one difficult season to define Amelia's future. 00:25:57.599 --> 00:26:01.279 Exchange what I believe God had spoken over her for a label. 00:26:02.079 --> 00:26:04.160 Amelia's just married a lovely young man. 00:26:04.319 --> 00:26:07.519 Their wedding was full of joy with Jesus at the center. 00:26:07.759 --> 00:26:14.640 You know, she serves in her church, she leads young women and has a life I could not have imagined in those hardest years. 00:26:14.880 --> 00:26:18.240 What I could see then was only a moment in her story. 00:26:18.559 --> 00:26:20.480 God could see the whole of her. 00:26:20.799 --> 00:26:22.720 And that's true of Jabez too. 00:26:22.799 --> 00:26:27.759 His mother saw pain and named him from that place, but God didn't see a man called pain. 00:26:27.920 --> 00:26:30.400 He saw an honorable man who sought him. 00:26:30.559 --> 00:26:34.319 And when Jabez cried out, God heard him. 00:26:35.119 --> 00:26:40.319 So be careful what you're believing about your life, what label you're wearing. 00:26:40.799 --> 00:26:42.720 God sees you. 00:26:43.519 --> 00:26:45.279 He chooses you. 00:26:45.839 --> 00:26:49.200 He designed and created you for purpose. 00:26:49.599 --> 00:26:53.680 He sees what you are going through and he cares. 00:26:54.319 --> 00:27:01.440 Whatever you're carrying, he sees your hidden burdens and hears the prayers you can't find words for. 00:27:01.759 --> 00:27:07.680 And I'm not going to pretend I know why some prayers don't seem to be answered, others take years. 00:27:08.240 --> 00:27:09.839 Some happen right away. 00:27:10.000 --> 00:27:14.240 But I do know God hears every single one. 00:27:14.799 --> 00:27:20.880 That He is faithful and that He will answer, even if not in the way we expect. 00:27:21.119 --> 00:27:23.759 So don't let your circumstances define you. 00:27:24.000 --> 00:27:26.240 Wear the label God gives you. 00:27:26.480 --> 00:27:30.160 Look into His Word and see what He says about you. 00:27:30.640 --> 00:27:52.319 Loved, precious, known, Victorious, brave, blessed, beautiful, forgiven, free, treasured, accepted. 00:27:52.960 --> 00:27:54.720 There are loads more, too. 00:27:57.920 --> 00:28:00.880 I want to really quickly just look at one more group of people. 00:28:01.279 --> 00:28:03.839 Numbers 26 is a census. 00:28:04.079 --> 00:28:08.880 A bit like a genealogy, it lists all the clans and who they were descended from. 00:28:08.960 --> 00:28:18.400 And then at the start of chapter 7, we're introduced to five women: Mala, Noah, Hogla, Milka, and Terza, the daughters of a man called Zalefahad. 00:28:18.880 --> 00:28:31.599 So from verse 2, they came forward and stood before Moses, Eliazah the priest, the leaders and the whole assembly at the entrance to the tent of meeting, and said, Our father died in the wilderness. 00:28:31.839 --> 00:28:38.720 He was not among Korah's followers who banded together against the Lord, but he died for his own sin and left no sons. 00:28:38.960 --> 00:28:42.640 Why should our father's name disappear from his clan because he had no son? 00:28:42.799 --> 00:28:45.599 Give us property among our father's relatives. 00:28:45.920 --> 00:28:51.519 So Moses brought the case before the Lord, and the Lord said to him, What Zalephahad's daughters are saying is right. 00:28:51.759 --> 00:28:58.400 You must certainly give them property as an inheritance among their father's relatives, and give their father's inheritance to them. 00:28:58.880 --> 00:29:03.200 These five women were bravely asking, Do we count? 00:29:04.480 --> 00:29:10.000 God doesn't say they should accept tradition, or oh, they don't understand the way things are. 00:29:10.319 --> 00:29:11.920 He says they are right. 00:29:12.480 --> 00:29:13.759 They count. 00:29:14.079 --> 00:29:28.720 And if today you're feeling mistreated, like you don't count, or you're living with the consequences of something that simply wasn't fair, I want you to know that God sees you too, and he has his attention turned towards you. 00:29:30.160 --> 00:29:36.720 I went for many years carrying feelings of injustice and shame, feeling stuck and powerless and unseen. 00:29:37.200 --> 00:29:43.920 I questioned God why he'd allowed things to happen and how on earth he could be working things for my good. 00:29:44.480 --> 00:29:51.039 I felt guilty for not trusting God, and if I'm honest, angry with him, which led to more guilt and shame. 00:29:51.279 --> 00:29:57.279 And shame is really good at stopping you from getting the support you need, keeping you locked in your prison. 00:29:57.599 --> 00:30:02.079 It wasn't fair, and God never said it was. 00:30:02.400 --> 00:30:10.400 Like with Zalefad's daughters, God could see the injustice and his attention never left me. 00:30:10.880 --> 00:30:16.079 He carried me through and ultimately he set me free and bought restoration. 00:30:16.400 --> 00:30:18.559 He told me I count. 00:30:19.039 --> 00:30:24.160 And if any of those feelings resonate for you, he can do the same for you too. 00:30:24.799 --> 00:30:33.440 God knew Shera's name, he knew Jabez's name, he knew Marla, Noah, Hogler, Milka, and Terza. 00:30:34.000 --> 00:30:35.359 He knew Hagar. 00:30:35.519 --> 00:30:37.440 He knew Caitlin in the big top. 00:30:37.599 --> 00:30:53.279 And when Jesus calls Mary outside the empty tomb, or Zacchaeus from the Sycamore tree, or Simon after the resurrection, we can see that the incomparable God doesn't merely know humanity in the abstract. 00:30:53.839 --> 00:30:56.240 He knows people by name. 00:30:56.640 --> 00:31:00.160 He knows you by name. 00:31:00.880 --> 00:31:08.079 Isaiah 49, 16 says, I have engraved you on the palm of my hands. 00:31:08.319 --> 00:31:11.839 Our names not just not written on his hands with Biro. 00:31:13.279 --> 00:31:20.480 The same word that's used for engraved here is used for establishing important laws or carving into rock. 00:31:20.799 --> 00:31:22.720 Something permanent. 00:31:23.920 --> 00:31:26.720 God sees Hagar in the wilderness. 00:31:27.039 --> 00:31:30.720 He remembers Shera among generations of names. 00:31:31.839 --> 00:31:34.640 He hears Jabez in his pain. 00:31:35.039 --> 00:31:38.880 He upholds Zalefahad's daughters when they seek justice. 00:31:39.279 --> 00:31:53.119 The incomparable, unlimited, never-ending God comes close, looks you in the eyes, and says, I see you. 00:31:54.160 --> 00:32:10.799 If you are carrying shame or loneliness or depression, anxiety, if you're suffering grief, yeah, anything really that we've touched on today, God sees you. 00:32:11.200 --> 00:32:14.880 He sees what you are going through and he wants to meet with you. 00:32:15.200 --> 00:32:19.519 Yeah, Father, you are incomparable, Father. 00:32:19.759 --> 00:32:25.759 You are amazing, God, and yet you have your attention turned towards us. 00:32:25.920 --> 00:32:28.319 You have your attention turned towards me. 00:32:28.640 --> 00:32:32.240 Lord Jesus, you aren't remote, you are personal, Father. 00:32:32.319 --> 00:32:36.640 You see us in our suffering, you see us in our success. 00:32:37.279 --> 00:32:39.119 And God, you love us. 00:32:40.079 --> 00:32:43.839 And Jesus, I just want to lift up everyone here this morning. 00:32:44.000 --> 00:32:55.200 God, everyone who is going through anything, anyone who is carrying anything, even from way in the past, that just every now and again just tries like chains to pull back. 00:32:56.640 --> 00:33:00.240 God, I just pray that you come and break those chains this morning. 00:33:00.799 --> 00:33:03.759 God, that you just bring a sledgehammer through them. 00:33:03.920 --> 00:33:08.799 Um, God, yeah, we just want to lift up people, God, that you will set them free this morning. 00:33:08.960 --> 00:33:30.480 That we, when we go from this place, we go into our workplaces, into our schools, into our communities, Lord Jesus, that we go in freedom knowing that you see us, that we are your sons and your daughters, and that the incomparable, never ending, limitless God sees little old us. 00:33:31.039 --> 00:33:33.279 And so, Father, I just want to thank you for that, God. 00:33:33.440 --> 00:33:38.240 I just want to pray that you will meet with everyone this morning who needs a touch from you in Jesus' name. 00:33:38.400 --> 00:33:38.720 Amen.