WEBVTT 00:00:00.160 --> 00:00:02.319 Welcome to the Awakening Church podcast. 00:00:02.560 --> 00:00:07.040 We pray this message encourages you and provides the hope and light of Jesus Christ. 00:00:07.200 --> 00:00:08.560 Thanks for tuning in. 00:00:20.000 --> 00:00:23.760 So when my two daughters, I have two daughters, they're now 23 and 25. 00:00:23.920 --> 00:00:27.359 But when they were little, they used to love playing hide and seek. 00:00:27.519 --> 00:00:33.840 And they would just go hide all in underneath the bed, beneath the curtains, in little crevices. 00:00:34.079 --> 00:00:35.359 And they would wait. 00:00:35.520 --> 00:00:36.719 They would wait for me to find them. 00:00:36.799 --> 00:00:39.119 And I could see them, but you know how you pretend you can't see them. 00:00:39.200 --> 00:00:42.159 So I see like their little foot looking out or something, a little bump. 00:00:42.240 --> 00:00:43.600 But I pretend I couldn't see them. 00:00:43.920 --> 00:00:45.119 And then I'd be like, where are you? 00:00:45.200 --> 00:00:45.600 Where are you? 00:00:45.840 --> 00:00:46.799 Make this whole production. 00:00:46.960 --> 00:00:49.280 And then at some point I would say, I found you. 00:00:49.439 --> 00:00:50.719 And then they would burst out. 00:00:50.880 --> 00:00:54.240 They would be giggling, laughing, and it would be just such a great time. 00:00:54.479 --> 00:01:00.399 And for my daughters, the joy in the game was not in the hiding, it was in being found. 00:01:00.560 --> 00:01:04.959 It was knowing that someone was looking for them and that someone wanted to find them. 00:01:05.200 --> 00:01:07.760 And I think, what if I didn't look for them? 00:01:08.000 --> 00:01:14.959 What if I got busy and I got on a call, I was scrolling, I was, um, back then we didn't have iPhones, so there was no scrolling. 00:01:15.200 --> 00:01:28.400 But what if I was cooking dinner, whatever, I got distracted and didn't look for them, or just got tired of looking and said, whatever, then they would be waiting, they would feel insecure, they would feel unseen and devalued. 00:01:28.719 --> 00:01:33.599 The good news that I want to share this morning is that our God never stops looking for us. 00:01:33.840 --> 00:01:41.680 Though we sometimes hide, and that has been since the beginning of time in Genesis, that God never stops looking for us. 00:01:41.920 --> 00:01:49.519 He wants to be found, he is always pursuing us, his goodness is always chasing after us, and he sees us, he knows everything we are going through. 00:01:49.760 --> 00:01:58.079 And so we're gonna look at a story in the Old Testament of an encounter of a woman named Hagar, who's often a footnote to Abraham and Sarah's story. 00:01:58.319 --> 00:02:12.800 And but she has her own encounter, which is so incredible, and it speaks so much to me, I think, because I am also an immigrant and a foreigner to this country, and there's just some overlaps that I kind of relate to her story, and hopefully you will relate to her as well. 00:02:13.039 --> 00:02:16.240 And by the way, I don't know a single person named Hagar. 00:02:16.400 --> 00:02:18.400 Like, no one names their kid that. 00:02:18.560 --> 00:02:22.080 Lots of Esther, Sarah's, Mary's, no Hagar. 00:02:22.240 --> 00:02:25.840 And she's overlooked in our day just as she is in her time. 00:02:26.000 --> 00:02:39.120 Um so if you feel a little bit like Hagar and you feel unseen or less than in the eyes of society, workplace, finances, whatever challenge you're dealing with, then this message is really for you. 00:02:39.280 --> 00:02:45.599 Or if you're going through a struggle, a financial struggle, or dealing with a mental illness or anxiety, or any number of things. 00:02:45.680 --> 00:02:46.800 So life is hard. 00:02:47.120 --> 00:02:49.360 And there are so many things that we're carrying. 00:02:49.439 --> 00:02:57.520 Um, but the good news is that God sees this and God sees us, and we're gonna know that because the truth of who God is comes through Hagar's story. 00:02:57.599 --> 00:03:01.039 So there are three truths about God that I want you to take away this morning. 00:03:01.280 --> 00:03:09.599 One is that he's the God who sees, that he's the God who provides, and he's the God who gives us hope for today, and promise for tomorrow. 00:03:09.840 --> 00:03:18.240 And so we are introduced to Hagar in Genesis 16, the first book of the Bible, and this is kind of like, you know, previously on, so I'll give you the previously on part. 00:03:18.400 --> 00:03:20.080 Um, the quick background of her life. 00:03:20.159 --> 00:03:24.960 So Genesis 15, God promises Abram that he's gonna have a son with his wife Sarai. 00:03:25.199 --> 00:03:31.120 And Sarai and Abraham, they get their names changed to Abram and Sarah, so I'll probably refer to them that way. 00:03:31.280 --> 00:03:34.479 But as the years go on, Abram gets older and older. 00:03:34.560 --> 00:03:46.879 Um, he and his wife end up being infertile and they can't have children, which in the ancient culture is extremely shameful and devastating, especially for the woman, since that was considered her only and primary purpose. 00:03:47.039 --> 00:03:51.360 So they're getting desperate, they're waiting on God, I know, not relatable at all, right? 00:03:51.520 --> 00:03:54.800 And then they go, Oh, I have my own plan, let's try my plan. 00:03:55.039 --> 00:04:04.080 So Sarah comes up with a plan, she says to Abraham, hey, use my servant, my slave Hagar, as a surrogate and have a baby through her. 00:04:04.319 --> 00:04:14.159 And this custom was actually fairly common in ancient times, where then they would have the child, and then the child would be raised in the master's home as an adopted child. 00:04:14.400 --> 00:04:19.279 And so, of course, Hagar, though, no one asks her what she thinks, no say in the matter, she's a slave. 00:04:19.360 --> 00:04:20.959 Um, she's property, basically. 00:04:21.120 --> 00:04:22.879 And so the plan works. 00:04:23.519 --> 00:04:32.319 Hagar gets pregnant, and then the troubles ensue because then Hagar starts feeling like, hey, I have some skin in the game here now, I have some rights. 00:04:32.399 --> 00:04:37.920 Um, I'm carrying the master's child, and then she starts, as the Bible tells us, to despise Sarah. 00:04:38.160 --> 00:04:40.079 Then Sarah, of course, lots of drama. 00:04:40.240 --> 00:04:46.720 She gets jealous, she gets resentful, then she complains to her husband, yada yada, and then Abram is like, oh, you deal with it. 00:04:46.879 --> 00:04:47.920 So he avoids. 00:04:48.000 --> 00:04:51.360 Um we can do a whole separate marriage thing on that one. 00:04:51.600 --> 00:04:53.680 But she does, so then he says, do whatever you want. 00:04:53.759 --> 00:05:00.480 So Hagar runs away to the wilderness, and she is scared, desperate, and she's pregnant, um, and she has no plan for her future. 00:05:00.639 --> 00:05:04.000 So let's pick it up in the first encounter with the Lord in Genesis 16. 00:05:04.079 --> 00:05:06.079 Turn your Bibles, verse 7 to 15. 00:05:06.160 --> 00:05:08.959 I'll read it up here, and this is in the New Living Translation. 00:05:09.199 --> 00:05:14.879 The angel of the Lord found Hagar beside a spring of water in the wilderness along the road to Shur. 00:05:14.959 --> 00:05:20.000 And the angel said to her, Hagar, Sarah's servant, where have you come from and where are you going? 00:05:20.160 --> 00:05:22.879 I'm running away from my mistress, Sarah, she replied. 00:05:23.120 --> 00:05:27.199 The angel of the Lord said to her, Return to your mistress and submit to her authority. 00:05:27.360 --> 00:05:30.959 And then he added, I will give you more descendants than you can count. 00:05:31.199 --> 00:05:34.480 Then the angel also said, You are now pregnant and will give birth to a son. 00:05:34.639 --> 00:05:37.600 You are to name him Ishmael, which means God hears. 00:05:37.839 --> 00:05:40.000 For the Lord has heard your cry of distress. 00:05:40.160 --> 00:05:44.480 Thereafter Hagar used another name to refer to the Lord, who had spoken to her. 00:05:44.639 --> 00:05:46.959 She said, You are the God who sees me. 00:05:47.120 --> 00:05:49.600 She also said, Have I seen the one who sees me? 00:05:49.839 --> 00:05:54.800 So that well was named Birlah Hairoi, which means the well of the one who sees me. 00:05:54.879 --> 00:05:57.680 And it can still be found between Kadesh and Bared. 00:05:57.759 --> 00:06:01.120 And so Hagar gave Abram a son, and Abram named him Ishmael. 00:06:01.439 --> 00:06:07.040 So let's notice what pops out from this story, first off, that God is the one who seeks her first. 00:06:07.439 --> 00:06:10.079 She runs away, he initiates the conversation. 00:06:10.319 --> 00:06:19.439 Hagar becomes the first non-Israelite person in the Bible to have a conversation with the Lord and to have an angel of the Lord come visit her. 00:06:19.680 --> 00:06:25.199 When Sarah and Abram talk about Hagar in their narrative, all the way through, they never use her name. 00:06:25.360 --> 00:06:29.199 She is just merely noted as a servant or slave, depending on your translation. 00:06:29.360 --> 00:06:31.040 She's just not a person to them. 00:06:31.439 --> 00:06:34.160 She's a conduit for what they want. 00:06:34.319 --> 00:06:35.199 They don't see her. 00:06:35.279 --> 00:06:38.079 But God starts out immediately by calling her name. 00:06:38.240 --> 00:06:43.759 And then here's the really cool part: Hagar has the honor of being the first person to give God a name. 00:06:43.920 --> 00:06:48.160 So she calls him El Roy, which means the God who sees me. 00:06:48.399 --> 00:06:58.639 And because she has experienced and encountered the personal Lord who knows her name has seen her, and that encounter gives her the courage to go back into the situation. 00:06:59.120 --> 00:07:03.519 And, you know, we often ask God to change our difficult circumstances. 00:07:03.839 --> 00:07:04.560 And that's fine. 00:07:04.800 --> 00:07:10.240 God tells us, just tells us to bring our cares to Him, to let Him know the things that we're anxious and concerned about. 00:07:10.399 --> 00:07:11.600 So that's fine. 00:07:11.920 --> 00:07:20.560 But when our circumstances continue to be difficult or unyielding or just it is, you know, illnesses, long-term stuff, like it just is. 00:07:21.120 --> 00:07:26.879 Then are we able to follow God and trust that He's gonna meet us in those circumstances? 00:07:27.120 --> 00:07:29.439 So nothing about Hagar's life had changed. 00:07:29.600 --> 00:07:38.000 When God told her to go back, she's still going back to a yucky situation with a master and mistress that is not liking her or treating her well. 00:07:38.319 --> 00:07:43.040 But she goes and she's able to persevere because she knows now that God sees her. 00:07:43.120 --> 00:07:54.879 And I just imagine that during her pregnancy, she's thinking about this conversation over and over as she thinks about her son and knowing that, okay, God sees me, God sees me each time, you know, kind of knowing that there's this promise. 00:07:54.959 --> 00:08:01.600 So she gives birth to the son, God keeps his promise, she names him Ishmael, which is this is so lovely, which means God hears. 00:08:01.759 --> 00:08:07.040 So what a lovely bookend to the God who sees and her son, who's named the God who hears. 00:08:07.360 --> 00:08:10.079 And then this experience stays with her. 00:08:10.240 --> 00:08:12.720 And then we pick up her story in Genesis 21. 00:08:12.800 --> 00:08:15.600 So now, fast forward, 13 years have passed. 00:08:15.759 --> 00:08:19.759 Abram and Sarah now have their son Isaac is born. 00:08:19.920 --> 00:08:25.759 So now this is the child of the promise, this is the child that's gonna be the beginning of the Israelite nation. 00:08:25.920 --> 00:08:29.839 Um, so Abram no longer needs Ishmael because he now has a legitimate heir. 00:08:30.079 --> 00:08:34.159 So um Ishmael just becomes a spare that is kind of to be tossed. 00:08:34.240 --> 00:08:35.840 And so basically that's what happens. 00:08:36.159 --> 00:08:41.679 He uh rejects them, and Hagar and her son are thrown out into the wilderness and out of the household. 00:08:41.840 --> 00:08:44.240 She's in the desert, no resources. 00:08:44.320 --> 00:08:48.480 Um, and we pick up the story in verse uh in verse 14. 00:08:48.639 --> 00:08:54.879 So Abraham got up early next morning, prepared food in a container of water, and strapped them onto Hagar's shoulders. 00:08:55.039 --> 00:09:00.240 Then he sent her away with their son, and she wandered aimlessly in the wilderness of Beersheba. 00:09:00.559 --> 00:09:03.120 When the water was gone, she put the boy in the shade of a bush. 00:09:03.360 --> 00:09:06.399 Then she went and sat down by herself about a hundred yards away. 00:09:06.639 --> 00:09:10.240 I don't want to watch the boy die, she said, as she burst into tears. 00:09:10.559 --> 00:09:16.559 Then, but God hurt the boy crying, and the angel of God called to Hagar from heaven, Hagar, what's wrong? 00:09:16.799 --> 00:09:17.919 Do not be afraid. 00:09:18.080 --> 00:09:20.399 God has hurt the boy crying as he lies there. 00:09:20.559 --> 00:09:24.240 Go to him and comfort him, for I will make a great nation from his descendants. 00:09:24.480 --> 00:09:27.679 Then God opened Hagar's eyes and she saw a well full of water. 00:09:27.840 --> 00:09:30.799 She quickly filled her water container and gave the boy a drink. 00:09:31.039 --> 00:09:37.200 And God was with the boy, and he grew up in the wilderness, and he became a skillful archer, and he settled in the wilderness of Paran. 00:09:37.279 --> 00:09:40.480 And his mother arranged for him to marry a woman from the land of Egypt. 00:09:41.039 --> 00:09:45.600 There's a painting by a famous French painter in 1835, Camille Corot. 00:09:45.840 --> 00:09:47.120 This painting is hanging at the Met. 00:09:47.279 --> 00:09:51.200 It's a little hard to see on this slide, but um if you go to New York, check it out there. 00:09:51.440 --> 00:09:56.879 But at this painter, Corot caught this moment of desperation in Hagar's life. 00:09:56.960 --> 00:10:04.480 So you see Hagar, you see the boy limp, you know, practically dead in front of her, and the desperation in her posture. 00:10:04.720 --> 00:10:12.159 And wilderness, we think sometimes of like trees and forests, um especially in Northern California, but wilderness in the Middle East would have looked more like this. 00:10:12.240 --> 00:10:14.000 It would have been a barren desert. 00:10:14.480 --> 00:10:20.000 And so here she is crying out, preparing to die, and just a desperate thing you see in her face. 00:10:20.159 --> 00:10:28.080 But what she doesn't see is that depicted by this bird and the angel of the Lord appearing behind her that's coming to her. 00:10:28.159 --> 00:10:33.039 And I just love how the motion of it, you can see he's coming to our aid, but she can't see it yet. 00:10:33.279 --> 00:10:33.600 Why? 00:10:33.840 --> 00:10:35.919 Because she's looking down at her circumstances. 00:10:36.080 --> 00:10:37.759 She's caught up with what she can see. 00:10:37.919 --> 00:10:43.360 She can't, she's not recognizing God coming to her with his provision and care for her. 00:10:43.600 --> 00:11:00.799 And I wonder how often we miss God's interaction in our life, his intervention in our life, because we're too busy worrying and complaining and just feeling sorry for ourselves or just lamenting the legitimately hard stuff that you know we go through here on this side of heaven and earth. 00:11:01.039 --> 00:11:09.039 But it's if we can lift our eyes, as she did, um, she meets, this is why she meets God again in the second encounter when he calls out. 00:11:09.360 --> 00:11:12.559 So there's a big difference because God sees from a different vantage point. 00:11:12.639 --> 00:11:18.720 There's a big difference between how Hagar sees herself, which is how the world has labeled her, and then how God sees her. 00:11:18.879 --> 00:11:22.080 So as Hagar sees herself as someone who's a slave. 00:11:22.159 --> 00:11:29.919 She has no rights, she's going to die, she's poor, she's powerless, she's a single mother, she's desperate, and there is no hope, right? 00:11:30.240 --> 00:11:43.519 Um, and I think part of why Hagar's story spoke to me, and I connected these dots a few years back in a dark time for me, was I realized this is kind of how, in some ways, how I saw myself when I was young. 00:11:43.759 --> 00:11:50.399 So I um came to the United States when I was seven years old, and I uh from Korea. 00:11:50.559 --> 00:11:52.639 So back then, Korea was not cool. 00:11:52.720 --> 00:11:55.919 Like there was no K-pop, K drama, K food, K nothing. 00:11:56.159 --> 00:11:57.679 Korea was like unknown. 00:11:57.759 --> 00:12:01.120 Um it was recovering from the war still, and there was a better life in the US. 00:12:01.200 --> 00:12:05.200 So my parents had immigrated a year before, so I was seven years old, my passport picture. 00:12:05.360 --> 00:12:08.159 Um, as and we only knew one word. 00:12:08.240 --> 00:12:12.320 My sister and I knew one word in Korean, I mean English, which was hi, that was it. 00:12:12.480 --> 00:12:16.480 And we were thrust into school, there is no ESL program at all. 00:12:16.720 --> 00:12:29.440 Um there's just this one Korean boy whose job who my parents were so excited because he could translate for me, but what he did instead was he would point, say things in English that I did not understand, and then everyone would laugh. 00:12:29.600 --> 00:12:35.279 And this continued routinely as part of my life on the school bus, on the in the classroom. 00:12:35.440 --> 00:12:37.679 Um I, in essence, kind of became mute. 00:12:37.759 --> 00:12:41.840 In the meantime, um, if you have immigrant parents or if you're immigrants, you know this. 00:12:41.919 --> 00:12:47.039 My parents had given up so much when they came over, so they had to start over. 00:12:47.120 --> 00:12:51.600 So they had to take menial jobs, they worked nights, I mean, they had they were struggling. 00:12:51.679 --> 00:12:54.240 So I couldn't say to them, oh, this is hard for me. 00:12:54.320 --> 00:12:58.559 Like you don't want to burden your immigrant parents with anything because their burdens heavy. 00:12:58.720 --> 00:13:02.879 So I kind of tried to handle on my own, but I felt often very alone. 00:13:02.960 --> 00:13:05.039 Um I felt uh unseen. 00:13:05.679 --> 00:13:23.840 And the only place we felt a little comfortable was in our immigrant Korean church, which had other issues, which I'll might share later, but it um the place, at least we had good food at the immigrant church, but we got to, I would hear about this God who loved me and cared about me, but then I thought, why doesn't he change this? 00:13:24.000 --> 00:13:25.360 Why is this this so hard? 00:13:25.519 --> 00:13:26.799 Why is it so hard for my parents? 00:13:26.879 --> 00:13:28.159 Why is this so hard for me? 00:13:28.320 --> 00:13:30.320 Um and I thought, why doesn't he fix it? 00:13:30.559 --> 00:13:42.799 You know, and though, of course, now I'm fluent in English, um, I've gone through a number of you know careers and whatnot, I still have those seasons, and perhaps you do too, where you wonder, hey, does God see me? 00:13:42.960 --> 00:13:44.080 Does he know what I'm going through? 00:13:44.159 --> 00:13:46.799 Does he get how hard this is or how unfair it is? 00:13:46.879 --> 00:13:48.720 Or, you know, you fill in the blank. 00:13:49.039 --> 00:13:51.200 And the answer is yes, he does. 00:13:51.519 --> 00:13:55.600 And we know this because we see how God sees Hagar. 00:13:55.759 --> 00:13:56.960 So how does God see Hagar? 00:13:57.120 --> 00:13:58.879 This is similar to how God sees you. 00:13:59.120 --> 00:14:09.519 He values her, he pursues her, he seeks her out, he knows exactly what's going on, and he cares for her, as um Pastor Dave shared a little bit ago. 00:14:09.679 --> 00:14:11.919 Holistically, Jesus gives holistically. 00:14:12.159 --> 00:14:18.080 God cares about all the dimensions of our lives, physical, emotional, um, spiritual, and all the things. 00:14:18.240 --> 00:14:19.440 And he changes her future. 00:14:19.600 --> 00:14:23.039 He doesn't just take care of the today, he takes care of her for her forever. 00:14:23.440 --> 00:14:29.840 Um and so perhaps you can relate to okay, what is the story that uh the world has said about you? 00:14:30.000 --> 00:14:30.960 And is it even true? 00:14:31.120 --> 00:14:33.200 Does it match up what God says about you? 00:14:33.360 --> 00:14:37.440 And if it doesn't, then dump the other story, because that is not who you are. 00:14:37.679 --> 00:14:41.919 Who you are is who God says you are, because that is where God meets you. 00:14:42.080 --> 00:14:48.559 So there are three um truths that we get from Hagar's story that I love to um for you to walk away with, right? 00:14:48.720 --> 00:14:55.600 So when Hagar encounters God, Elroy, um the first truth is that God who sees you meets you where you are. 00:14:56.000 --> 00:15:00.320 Both times God shows up, sees her exactly where she is, and meets her there. 00:15:00.480 --> 00:15:08.480 So there's a number of verses, and these slides are gonna have multiple verses that are in your digital notes, so you can look at them through the week if you want to and meditate on that later. 00:15:08.639 --> 00:15:09.919 So this will go kind of quick. 00:15:10.000 --> 00:15:16.720 So Psalm 139, which we actually had on the slide earlier, reminds us that God knitted our bones in our mother's wombs. 00:15:16.960 --> 00:15:21.200 He made us, he knows everything about us, and we are fearfully and wonderfully made. 00:15:21.279 --> 00:15:36.159 Um, as someone who is growing up in a very patriarchal society, as a Korean person, like I was supposed to be a boy, I know, didn't work out, but my father is the only son of an only son, so goes to show. 00:15:36.320 --> 00:15:41.039 My sister got a pass, she's older, but I was supposed to be a boy, and I just remember thinking, Am I a mistake? 00:15:41.120 --> 00:15:42.480 Is this a mistake? 00:15:42.639 --> 00:15:50.480 Um, but our God's word tells us we are fearfully, wonderfully made exactly as we are, with whatever issues and whatever things going on with us. 00:15:50.639 --> 00:15:54.080 Matthew 10, 30 tells us that God even knows the number of hairs on our heads. 00:15:54.240 --> 00:15:56.399 And some of us have more, some of us have less. 00:15:56.480 --> 00:15:59.120 Um, but he knows to that detail of our life. 00:15:59.279 --> 00:16:08.080 And Romans 8, 38, 39, this is absolutely foundational for us, is that there is nothing, absolutely nothing, that can separate you from the love of God. 00:16:08.480 --> 00:16:12.960 So throughout the Bible, we see God meeting people wherever they are in whatever circumstances. 00:16:13.120 --> 00:16:15.200 Here are some examples in the Old Testament. 00:16:15.360 --> 00:16:21.919 Moses by the burning bush when he's working in the hills, David in a cave when he's hiding from Saul and running for his life. 00:16:22.240 --> 00:16:29.600 Esther, of all places, she's met by God in a foreign palace harem, in a harem, and Jonah in the belly of a whale. 00:16:29.759 --> 00:16:35.519 And then Jesus also demonstrated how he meets people exactly where they are in some of these instances. 00:16:35.679 --> 00:16:36.799 Peter, James, and John. 00:16:36.960 --> 00:16:39.600 He meets them while they're fishing, um, in their workplace. 00:16:39.759 --> 00:16:41.519 God wants to meet us in our workplaces. 00:16:41.679 --> 00:16:45.120 He wants to show up there, he wants to be with you in the work you're doing. 00:16:45.360 --> 00:16:47.600 Zacchaeus is in that tree hiding. 00:16:47.759 --> 00:16:53.200 Um, Samaritan woman, she's in the well drawing water in noonday because she's ashamed of her life. 00:16:53.360 --> 00:16:55.279 And then Lazarus in the grave. 00:16:55.440 --> 00:16:57.679 He meets him in the grave and raised him from the dead. 00:16:57.840 --> 00:17:04.960 So do you believe that Jesus wants to meet you exactly where you are in your messy, imperfect life? 00:17:05.599 --> 00:17:11.039 You know, I was raised in these Korean immigrant churches that had good food, but were a bit legalistic. 00:17:11.200 --> 00:17:12.960 So that wasn't a good part of it. 00:17:13.119 --> 00:17:27.119 And so I grew up with this warped theology that God was way up here and we were way down here, and that we had to somehow do all these Christian-y things to be worthy of the sacrifice that Christ made. 00:17:27.279 --> 00:17:33.279 And it wasn't like explicit, like no one's in our minds we knew it's you're saved by grace, grace alone, we got that. 00:17:33.440 --> 00:17:34.720 But it didn't feel like that. 00:17:34.880 --> 00:17:39.359 The messages that were sent was that we had to perform in order to earn God's approval. 00:17:39.519 --> 00:17:48.160 And because I was wired by temperament as kind of a serious child and a perfectionistic one, I was constantly like striving, trying, trying to earn it. 00:17:48.240 --> 00:17:53.359 Um, and it took me years, decades, to heal from those lies, probably until my mid-20s. 00:17:53.440 --> 00:17:55.759 Um, I actually went to an Asian American church. 00:17:55.839 --> 00:18:00.720 It's probably the last time I've been in a church that actually has Asian Americans, it's so exciting, when I went to law school in Berkeley. 00:18:00.799 --> 00:18:10.160 And I remember that I went to that church there, and that was kind of my second conversion of sorts, where I understood, oh my gosh, it is really grace and grace alone. 00:18:10.400 --> 00:18:15.440 And it changed everything, the understanding that God is not mad at me. 00:18:15.599 --> 00:18:21.680 I think a little bit like my immigrant parents, I felt like they loved me so much, but they're mildly disappointed. 00:18:21.839 --> 00:18:24.880 Like it's just there's a little flavor of, is this enough? 00:18:24.960 --> 00:18:26.880 Is this ever gonna be enough for the sacrifice? 00:18:26.960 --> 00:18:40.640 And I think I kind of carried that and put that on to the Lord, and it just to separate from that lie to say, no, God sees me and wants to meet me, broken me all the ways that I am, and that he's going to provide for that. 00:18:40.799 --> 00:18:45.359 Um, so the second truth is that God who sees you provides for you what you need. 00:18:45.599 --> 00:18:49.599 So in both encounters, God provides for Hagar, physically, emotionally, spiritually. 00:18:49.680 --> 00:19:01.920 Um, Abram gives him, gives her a bottle of water, like it's almost comical, but God gives her a well, like the extravagance of a well to sustain her for all of the years that comes. 00:19:02.000 --> 00:19:10.400 Um and like the woman at the well that we see in the Gospels with Jesus, this well is a source of physical water, but also spiritual healing for her. 00:19:10.480 --> 00:19:12.160 And it promised to walk with her. 00:19:12.319 --> 00:19:19.759 So in Matthew 11, 28, Jesus invites everyone who is weary and burdened to come to him, because his burden is light and his yoke is easy. 00:19:20.079 --> 00:19:22.880 So, what is the burden that you need to bring before Jesus? 00:19:23.039 --> 00:19:30.240 And if your burden feels really heavy, I wonder if you are carrying it with God or trying to carry it by yourself. 00:19:30.319 --> 00:19:36.240 And I invite you, he's good at carrying the burden to invite him into to help carry the burden with you. 00:19:37.359 --> 00:19:54.640 Philippians 4, 6 and 7 and 19 encourages us to not be anxious about things we can't control, which is probably like 95% of the things in our lives we cannot control, and instead trust that he cares for us and he will supply all our needs in those verses according to his riches and glory. 00:19:54.880 --> 00:20:00.400 And then, of course, Psalm 23, 1 through 6, that the Lord is our shepherd and we lack nothing. 00:20:00.559 --> 00:20:03.279 Some translations say we have all that we need. 00:20:03.839 --> 00:20:04.880 And do you believe that? 00:20:05.119 --> 00:20:07.039 Do you believe that God will provide all that we need? 00:20:07.200 --> 00:20:09.599 What if it looks different than what you want? 00:20:09.920 --> 00:20:11.039 You know, are you good with that? 00:20:11.359 --> 00:20:13.759 Is it still good to walk with God even in that? 00:20:14.000 --> 00:20:19.440 So when looking back, I you know how when you look back, you can see parts in your life where like, wow, God did provide. 00:20:19.599 --> 00:20:23.359 Oh, I just didn't see it, because in the moment we're so consumed by the challenges. 00:20:23.519 --> 00:20:30.880 And you look back and you can see those, not the footprints in the sand, because that's kind of hokey, but you can see the times where God showed up and provided. 00:20:31.039 --> 00:20:46.960 And so when I look back to myself as that little seven-year-old, shy, quiet, you know, oppressed in many ways, one day, I think it was just a few months in, I think one day there was this little girl in my class, and she had very blonde hair, like blonder than Brita's hair, like really blonde. 00:20:47.200 --> 00:20:50.400 And she one day just like went like this to me. 00:20:50.640 --> 00:20:52.160 Remember, I couldn't speak much English, right? 00:20:52.240 --> 00:20:57.839 So she went like this, and then she patted the chair next to me, next to her, uh, inviting me to sit. 00:20:58.000 --> 00:21:01.119 Um her name was Patricia, and she was my first American friend. 00:21:01.279 --> 00:21:05.039 And it was a very quiet friendship because again, couldn't communicate. 00:21:05.279 --> 00:21:09.599 So we walked over, so mostly walked around the yard, swung next to each other. 00:21:09.680 --> 00:21:11.839 Um, but I desperately needed a friend. 00:21:11.920 --> 00:21:19.839 And um I don't know what caused her to reach out to the weird, you know, new girl who didn't dress the same, didn't look the same, couldn't talk, couldn't do what she did. 00:21:19.920 --> 00:21:21.519 Um, and I'm so grateful for her. 00:21:21.680 --> 00:21:26.000 And you know, I think we often, who's the patricia, you know, in our life? 00:21:26.160 --> 00:21:27.839 Like, who has God provided for you? 00:21:27.920 --> 00:21:31.440 And more importantly, who are you to be a patricia to? 00:21:31.839 --> 00:21:34.799 God often does his work through us. 00:21:34.960 --> 00:21:36.480 We are part of the provision. 00:21:36.640 --> 00:21:43.119 So if God nudges you and says, hey, here's reach out to this person, call them, encourage them, provide for them, say hello. 00:21:43.279 --> 00:21:44.880 It can be something super simple. 00:21:45.119 --> 00:21:51.279 Like, if you're not the one doing that, then that provision is not being pro given to that person in this in that way. 00:21:51.359 --> 00:21:59.599 And you're missing out on the blessing of doing God, will figure out another way to meet that person's needs, no doubt, but you get to miss you miss out on being part of what God's doing in people's lives. 00:21:59.680 --> 00:22:01.119 So Be the Patricia. 00:22:01.200 --> 00:22:03.839 And otherwise, I will never forget her for that. 00:22:03.920 --> 00:22:07.519 And so I think God will provide in that moment. 00:22:07.599 --> 00:22:08.720 And I have so dozens. 00:22:08.799 --> 00:22:12.319 And you all too, too, of stories of how God had provided. 00:22:12.559 --> 00:22:16.640 And the third and final truth is that the God who sees you gives you hope and a future. 00:22:16.960 --> 00:22:25.759 After again, after Hagar met with the Lord, both times her circumstances did not change, but she was able to endure it and persevere through it because she had changed. 00:22:25.920 --> 00:22:28.720 Because when we meet Jesus, we are not the same. 00:22:30.160 --> 00:22:33.920 It's how we walk with God that actually shapes us from the inside out. 00:22:34.000 --> 00:22:39.680 And so God helps her to not just survive what her circumstances are, but to thrive in it and to have multiple generations. 00:22:39.920 --> 00:22:46.000 And I think when I look at that painting, I think what that speaks to is she thinks her story's over. 00:22:46.720 --> 00:22:47.279 She's done. 00:22:47.440 --> 00:22:49.680 I mean, physically, it looks like she is done, right? 00:22:49.759 --> 00:22:55.039 So she thinks, and I think sometimes we feel like when we're in the dick thick of it, that this isn't going to get better. 00:22:55.119 --> 00:23:01.759 And that is a lie from the enemy, because things do change, because we have a God who changes lives. 00:23:02.160 --> 00:23:06.400 And so when you feel like you maybe this story's not over, my best days are behind me. 00:23:06.480 --> 00:23:16.000 I I coach sometimes, um, I do leisure coaching, and I worked on this one time with um empty nester moms, and they really felt like, okay, now what? 00:23:16.079 --> 00:23:19.440 Like, what's my life worth now that I've done with this whole big thing? 00:23:19.599 --> 00:23:26.640 And they and there's people like that, people retirees, there's people that are dealing with different challenges, they feel like you know, they get laid off, they're like, What am I worth now? 00:23:26.720 --> 00:23:27.839 What my best days are behind. 00:23:27.920 --> 00:23:29.279 I'm like, no, no, no. 00:23:29.519 --> 00:23:31.680 Our best days are not behind us. 00:23:31.759 --> 00:23:44.240 There are still beautiful, sweet days ahead of us, because the power of the cross, the power of the resurrected Christ that we trust and believe in has resurrection power for us that will work in and through us. 00:23:44.400 --> 00:23:52.000 And because of that truth, our future is secure on the other side of heaven, but then also right now that God has hope for us. 00:23:52.160 --> 00:23:56.000 So the your best days are not done, and that God has more for us. 00:23:56.079 --> 00:24:01.599 And there's a line in a song in a Christian that says, if I'm not dead, then he's not done. 00:24:01.759 --> 00:24:03.759 Greater things are still to come. 00:24:04.960 --> 00:24:06.079 We need to believe that. 00:24:06.240 --> 00:24:07.680 We need to believe that when we start. 00:24:07.839 --> 00:24:08.880 We need to tell each other that. 00:24:09.039 --> 00:24:09.920 This is the best thing about it. 00:24:10.000 --> 00:24:11.599 I was a small group's pastor for 17 years. 00:24:11.839 --> 00:24:18.400 Best thing about small group is that you tell each other the truth that you know to be true when you don't believe it yourself. 00:24:18.559 --> 00:24:21.200 When you're like, okay, I don't quite believe that God is for me. 00:24:21.359 --> 00:24:23.680 Okay, but somebody else comes along and says, hey, God is for you. 00:24:23.839 --> 00:24:26.079 Remember this, remember that, remember what's happened. 00:24:26.160 --> 00:24:32.960 So you speak truth to one another that actually stirs and spurs that on when we have trouble believing for ourselves. 00:24:33.119 --> 00:24:37.599 Uh Jeremiah 29, 13, 11 is an example of a promise from God. 00:24:37.680 --> 00:24:38.480 You probably all know it. 00:24:38.559 --> 00:24:41.759 It's like a refrigerator magnet, it's like an Instagram verse. 00:24:41.839 --> 00:24:44.240 Um, for I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord. 00:24:44.400 --> 00:24:48.799 Plans to prosper you, not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. 00:24:49.119 --> 00:24:57.599 The really interesting thing about this verse is that it's actually spoken, Jeremiah's prophecy is spoken while Israel's not doing great. 00:24:57.759 --> 00:24:59.519 They are in captivity in Babylon. 00:24:59.680 --> 00:25:01.200 Their situation is not good. 00:25:01.440 --> 00:25:04.720 When they hear this promise, they probably had trouble believing it. 00:25:05.039 --> 00:25:09.359 And there's gonna be a long time before rescue is actually going to come. 00:25:09.680 --> 00:25:11.359 But God gives this promise. 00:25:11.519 --> 00:25:15.759 And so if you are wired a little bit like me, I tend to like to control things. 00:25:15.920 --> 00:25:16.720 I like order. 00:25:16.799 --> 00:25:23.359 I like my husband and I've been married 30 years, and he probably wouldn't call me a control freak to my face, but I'm sure he's thought it. 00:25:23.519 --> 00:25:24.799 I'm sure he's thought it. 00:25:24.960 --> 00:25:32.400 Um so it's so fun that like God has such a sense of humor that I'm on my third career because I don't like change. 00:25:32.720 --> 00:25:46.720 But God keeps calling me into change because change is where uh where transformation happens, where we go deeper with God is usually when something, there's a transition happening where something familiar and comfortable is being cast aside for something new that God is doing in us. 00:25:46.880 --> 00:25:49.920 So I was a lawyer first, I was actually a litigation attorney. 00:25:50.000 --> 00:25:58.400 Um, sit that for a while, stayed home with my girls, then I was a pastor for 17 years, which is so unbelievable that that happened, but I did that. 00:25:58.480 --> 00:26:00.720 And then a few years ago, I started feeling very restless. 00:26:00.799 --> 00:26:02.880 Like I wanted to help people in a different way. 00:26:02.960 --> 00:26:18.559 Um, and I wanted to just kind of come alongside people to remind them that like they don't have to be bound by the labels and the narratives that they've grown up with or that they have in their context, but rather they can be free to live out the life that God had for them, for the preferred future that God has for them. 00:26:18.720 --> 00:26:29.519 And I want to be part of that journey with people to encourage and empower them and remind them of the goodness that is within them because of who God is and what God is doing in them. 00:26:29.839 --> 00:26:35.680 So I started after I was feeling like, okay, I'm wrestling, I need to do something different, then I was kind of chicken. 00:26:35.920 --> 00:26:38.559 Because I was like, oh, but I've been at this church for so long. 00:26:38.720 --> 00:26:43.039 I love the people, I have this great ministry, people respect me. 00:26:43.200 --> 00:26:45.599 I we built this ministry, it's going well. 00:26:45.759 --> 00:26:46.640 Why would I leave? 00:26:46.720 --> 00:26:47.839 And people are like, why would you leave? 00:26:47.920 --> 00:26:48.480 Why would you leave? 00:26:48.559 --> 00:26:51.359 And I'm like, but I feel like there's something different, something more. 00:26:51.440 --> 00:26:56.640 And so you have to just like a trapeze artist where you hold one bar, you gotta let go to be, go to the other. 00:26:56.799 --> 00:27:04.319 And I realized, okay, in that letting go of one thing, taking hold of another, underneath there's a safety net, and that safety net is Jesus. 00:27:04.480 --> 00:27:11.279 He's my co-pilot, he's my you know the one piloting me, he's the he's my CEO of my new coaching business. 00:27:11.440 --> 00:27:19.519 Like I just, and I've had to dig in more deeply into my time with him, more in living more in his presence. 00:27:19.599 --> 00:27:27.920 I think I've grown more in kind of this uh season than I had probably in several years prior because I'm doing something that's a little more risky. 00:27:28.079 --> 00:27:33.039 So I wonder if you're in a comfort zone sort of time and God's nudging you towards a transition. 00:27:33.200 --> 00:27:37.920 It could be any kind of transition, really, or a different challenge that you may need to think about. 00:27:38.000 --> 00:27:40.559 Um, because he wants to do life with you. 00:27:40.720 --> 00:27:47.119 He's inviting you to life with him so you get to see and experience and have your own encounter to see how God meets you in that. 00:27:47.279 --> 00:27:51.680 Because ultimately, our future and our hope isn't in our circumstances. 00:27:51.920 --> 00:27:54.880 It's really in knowing who God is. 00:27:55.039 --> 00:28:01.759 And these things about God that he sees you, that he provides, that he gives you hope, isn't like just stuff he does. 00:28:02.000 --> 00:28:02.960 This is who he is. 00:28:03.039 --> 00:28:05.039 It's like the color of my hair being black. 00:28:05.119 --> 00:28:06.880 It'll, this is just who I am. 00:28:07.119 --> 00:28:08.319 This is just who God is. 00:28:08.559 --> 00:28:10.480 He can't not be a pursuer of you. 00:28:10.640 --> 00:28:15.359 He cannot be someone who doesn't provide because this is in his character. 00:28:15.599 --> 00:28:23.359 So if in the second part of the verse in Jeremiah 29, 12, it says, then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. 00:28:23.519 --> 00:28:27.119 You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. 00:28:27.279 --> 00:28:30.160 Um, I will be found by you, declares the Lord. 00:28:30.400 --> 00:28:36.880 So if God was playing hide and seek, he would be terrible at the hiding part because he wants to be found. 00:28:37.119 --> 00:28:38.000 He will be found. 00:28:38.079 --> 00:28:41.039 And if he's not, he's gonna come after you to find you. 00:28:41.119 --> 00:28:46.160 Um, because he wants to be with you in the journey in all the parts that's going on. 00:28:46.319 --> 00:28:52.559 And so as the man comes back up, I want to invite you to declare together. 00:28:52.720 --> 00:28:54.960 We're gonna do a sense of this, the audience participation part. 00:28:55.119 --> 00:29:01.759 We're gonna declare this together as the body of Christ, that um we believe this about God, that this is who God is. 00:29:01.920 --> 00:29:10.559 So I'm gonna ask you to stand together, and we will say each of these lines and say them like you mean them, and say them only if you do believe them. 00:29:10.640 --> 00:29:11.119 And you know what? 00:29:11.200 --> 00:29:15.519 It's okay if you say it with the heart of, God, I believe, help my unbelief. 00:29:15.680 --> 00:29:19.279 That is so legit, that is so welcomed by the Lord. 00:29:19.519 --> 00:29:20.799 He will not despise that at all. 00:29:20.880 --> 00:29:24.160 So you feel like I want this to be true, but I'm not quite there yet. 00:29:24.400 --> 00:29:25.119 Tell the Lord that. 00:29:25.279 --> 00:29:25.839 It's totally okay. 00:29:25.920 --> 00:29:28.480 So I'm gonna say each line and then you will repeat together. 00:29:28.640 --> 00:29:31.599 Um, the God who sees me meets me where I am. 00:29:31.920 --> 00:29:34.480 The God who sees me meets me where I am. 00:29:34.720 --> 00:29:37.200 The God who sees me provides what I need. 00:29:37.519 --> 00:29:39.839 The God who sees me provides what I need. 00:29:40.240 --> 00:29:43.119 And the God who sees me gives me hope and a future. 00:29:43.359 --> 00:29:45.440 The God who sees me gives me hope. 00:29:46.319 --> 00:29:46.960 Amen. 00:29:48.000 --> 00:29:49.200 Let's pray. 00:29:49.519 --> 00:29:57.839 Lord, thank you for being the God who sees us where we are, who provides for us, and who gives us hope and a future for today and then for forever. 00:29:58.160 --> 00:30:00.000 God, thank you for being a pursuer. 00:30:00.319 --> 00:30:05.359 Thank you for who you are and your love for us that just never ends. 00:30:05.519 --> 00:30:19.200 So, Lord, help us, each of us here, embrace that truth, God, not just with our head, like we know it in our head, but God move it to our heart where we can really marinate in its truth and live out what that means for us. 00:30:19.359 --> 00:30:28.799 So, Spirit, work on us, soften us, help us to remember this week as we go about work and life and school and all the things, to remind us this is who you are. 00:30:29.039 --> 00:30:33.039 You're a God who sees us, knows us, loves us, and wants to be with us. 00:30:33.119 --> 00:30:38.160 And may we do life with you because it is only, that is the only life we want. 00:30:38.319 --> 00:30:40.079 So, God meet us always. 00:30:40.240 --> 00:30:41.519 We pray in Christ's name. 00:30:41.680 --> 00:30:42.319 Amen. 00:30:43.599 --> 00:30:45.839 We hope you are blessed by this message. 00:30:46.000 --> 00:30:50.400 Please subscribe to our podcast for access to every episode as they're uploaded. 00:30:50.640 --> 00:30:52.720 And hey, we'd love to connect with you. 00:30:52.880 --> 00:30:58.799 Take a next step by filling out our virtual connection card at awakeningchurch.com slash card.