25-0101wc Transcript

Teacher: Mike Mathis

(0:04) Last week we looked at Abraham and Sarah. (0:13) A good part of waiting to have a child, she was barren. (0:23) So she gave Hagar, her Egyptian handmaiden, to be Abraham’s wife.

(0:33) And so Abraham went in to Hagar and she conceived. (0:48) And she saw that she conceived. (0:53) And then Sarah, it was Sarah and Abraham was Abraham then.

(1:09) And so she tried to put the whole blame on Abraham. (1:23) And she tried to, you know, say that it was all on him. (1:34) And then he told Sarah to do as she pleased with her handmaiden, with Hagar.

(1:44) And she dealt harshly with her. (1:48) And Hagar fled. (1:50) And she was at a spring there in the wilderness, close to shore.

(2:05) And the angel of the Lord appeared to her, asked her where she came from, where she was going. (2:16) And she was fleeing from her mistress. (2:26) And the angel told her, he said, go back to your mistress and submit to her.

(2:38) And he told her that she was with child and that this child would grow up and be a wild man. (2:56) And Hagar realized that when the angel of the Lord stopped speaking to her, that she was talking to none other than God. (3:14) And she says that she named that well that she was at, she named it, it’s a name that I’m not going to pronounce, try to pronounce.

(3:33) But it means, you are the God who sees me. (3:44) Or you are the God who, yeah, you are the God who sees me. (3:50) And she asked the question, have I also here seen him who sees me? (4:04) And so that is the title that I put on this lesson, the God who sees me.

(4:16) Now last week I used some scripture references that seemingly pointed out that God sees what we do. (4:38) And he sees the evil that the people were doing. (4:52) And he asked in Isaiah, or rather Jeremiah, asked him if they could find a secret place and he would not see them.

(5:13) And then we went to Psalms 139, starting with verse 7, where the psalmist is saying that no matter where he went, that he could not get away from God. (5:37) But let’s look at another thing about the God who sees. (5:44) Not only does he see the things that we do, but he sees what is happening to us.

(5:58) In Genesis 21, we find that in between chapter 16 and chapter 21, that things began to take place. (6:22) And the last thing is that as Sarah had foretold that she would bear a son, she did indeed conceive a boy Abraham, his son, in his old age, at the set time of which God had spoken to him. (6:55) And so when the child Isaac grew and was weaned, Abraham made a great feast on the same day that Isaac was weaned.

(7:21) And Sarah saw the son of Hagar, the Egyptian, whom she had borne to Abraham, scoffing. (7:33) Therefore, she said to Abraham, cast out this bondwoman and her son, for the son of this bondwoman shall not be heir with my son, namely with Isaac. (7:53) And the matter was very displeasing in Abraham’s sight because of his son.

(8:02) God said to Abraham, do not let it be displeasing in your sight because of the lad or because of your bondwoman. (8:16) Whatever Sarah has said to you, listen to her voice, for in Isaac your seed shall be called. (8:27) Yet I will make a nation of the son of the bondwoman because he is your seed.

(8:39) So Abraham rose early in the morning and took bread and a skin of water and putting it on her shoulder, she gave it and the boy to Hagar. (8:56) And sent her away. (8:58) Then she departed and wandered in the wilderness of Beersheba.

(9:06) And the water in the skin was used up and she placed the boy under one of the shrubs. (9:16) Then she went and sat down across from him at a distance of about a bow shot. (9:27) For she said to herself, let me not see the death of the boy.

(9:34) So she sat opposite him and lifted her voice and wept. (9:46) Yes, now God is seeing all of this and God knows what is happening. (10:00) And with the water used up and the thirst coming on and the lad needing the water, (10:13) she is thinking the boy is going to die and she just doesn’t want to see that.

(10:25) And so she weeps. (10:33) In verse 16 of chapter 21. (10:40) So we also, God hears the cry of Christ.

(10:52) In verse 17, and God heard the voice of the lad. (10:58) Then the angel of God called to Hagar out of heaven and said to her, (11:06) What is you, Hagar? (11:10) Pray not, for God has heard the voice of the lad, for he is. (11:18) Arise, lift up the lad and hold him with your hand, for I will make him a great nation.

(11:29) In Exodus 3, 7. (11:35) Moses has been approached by God, or he’s been the angel of the Lord, (11:45) which is God himself or Jesus, the second member of the Godhead. (11:52) And informs Moses that the Lord said, (12:03) I have surely seen the oppression of my people who are in Egypt (12:11) and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters, for I know their sorrows. (12:21) So God sees and he hears what is happening.

(12:30) And then God opens Hagar’s eyes and she saw a well of water. (12:43) God provides. (12:47) She has her eyes opened and then she sees this well of water.

(12:55) And she went and filled the skin with water and gave the lad a drink. (13:04) And it says, So God was with the lad, and he grew and dwelt in the wilderness and became an archer. (13:13) He dwelt in the wilderness of Iran, and his mother took a wife for him from the land of Egypt.

(13:25) So God sees the things that happen as well as he knows what we do. (13:37) Now the thing that here is something that one might say, (13:45) Well, you know, if Hagar, when she conceived, hadn’t looked down upon Sarah and belittled her, (14:00) she wouldn’t have had to be dealt with harshly and she wouldn’t have had to flee from Sarah. (14:13) And then when we read that Ishmael, when Isaac was raised and there was a feast given, (14:29) that Ishmael was scoffing at Isaac, (14:39) that he and his mother would not have had to leave.

(14:47) But maybe there are some things that transpired here. (14:53) At the first, Ishmael was not the promised son, Isaac is. (15:02) But when people live together that are different, they do things different, (15:14) and what they do may cause a rift between two parties.

(15:27) And do so in such a manner that they just can’t stay together. (15:39) And that’s what happened here. (15:41) The blind woman was cast out with her son, and therefore they left.

(15:58) But at the same time, God said nothing to Hagar about what happened when she fled from Sarah, when she conceived. (16:21) And He didn’t say a thing about what happened when Ishmael scoffed at Isaac. (16:37) But He took care of them because He knows that they needed the water that ran out.

(16:51) And there they were, and I don’t know, maybe Hagar just in her sorrow just didn’t see it, the well at first. (17:08) But God opened her eyes so she could see the well. (17:15) And God hears, and God provides.

(17:22) You know, I was looking for a job, and Sandy, my late wife, had hers. (17:39) She had a job working, doing something about ball caps. (17:48) But I was looking for a job, and I had been to this place, Barring Technologies, filled out the application.

(18:08) And I was waiting this day after I filled in the application, waiting for a call to see if they would call me and let me know. (18:28) Well, that was getting toward evening, and between 4.30 and 5 o’clock, I said, they’re not going to call me. (18:42) I think I’m going to call them.

(18:47) And so I called, and he said, yeah, I was going to call you. (18:58) And so he told me how to come, where, you know, to go, to park, and what time to be there. (19:16) That same day, Sandy lost the job at where she was.

(19:23) Well, she didn’t know that I had at least said the comment to this employment. (19:40) So this upset her, and she came and she told me, I lost my job. (19:47) I told her, well, I’ve been told I have a job at Barring Tech, and I’m supposed to report there in the morning.

(20:00) And that kind of buffered her, you know, because she was upset. (20:12) Well, the thing of it was, that day, I prayed to God that I would find a job, and find one that was suitable for me, and one that I could be assured that I could do. (20:38) And so after calling them and receiving the job, I was with that employment until I retired.

(20:56) But God provides, and God sees, you know, just what goes on. (21:06) And it wasn’t too long after that that Sandy found another job. (21:16) You know, God knows our needs in Matthew, the 6th chapter, and verse 34, or rather in verse 31 through 34.

(21:48) Therefore do not worry, saying, What shall we eat, or what shall we drink, or what shall we wear? (21:58) For after all these things the Gentiles seek. (22:02) For your Heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. (22:11) But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.

(22:18) Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own face. (22:28) Sufficient for the day is its own trouble. (22:34) You see, God sees, and He provides.

(22:41) But then in chapter 7 and verse 7 and 8, (22:52) Ask, and it will be given to you. (22:56) Seek, and you will find. (22:59) Knock, and it will be opened to you.

(23:02) For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds. (23:10) And to him who knocks, it will be opened. (23:16) Someone asked, Well, if God knows what you already need, why pray to Him? (23:33) Well, you know, God communicates with us through His Word.

(23:40) And in this communication should not be a one-way thing. (23:52) A one person just doing all the talking. (23:55) God is speaking to us, telling us what we ought to do.

(24:00) But He also knows that there are things that we will need, that we do need. (24:11) We are to ask Him. (24:15) We are to seek His help.

(24:24) And we are to let Him know that we are depending on Him. (24:35) And that we know that we depend on Him. (24:42) He wants to hear from us.

(24:44) And this asking, and seeking, and knocking, (24:51) it is implied that we keep asking, seeking, and knocking. (25:02) Sometimes a person will pray to God, (25:06) ask for whatever it is that they need, (25:12) or may pray to Him for something, (25:21) and yet to them God hasn’t given it to them. (25:30) Well, He may be saying, Not now, wait a while, or no.

(25:37) You know, this is, God knows what’s best for us. (25:42) And it does say, He knows that you need all these things. (25:52) It’s things that we need.

(25:54) And we should be careful not to ask Him for things that we don’t need. (26:01) But we may pray to Him to remove certain things. (26:10) He may one day do that.

(26:16) For us, it might be a long time. (26:20) But for God, it’s a short while. (26:24) God isn’t controlled by time.

(26:30) But we are to keep asking. (26:34) We are to keep seeking. (26:36) And we are to keep knocking.

(26:39) And so, we should trust God. (26:47) He provided for Hagar and her son. (26:53) He provided for the Israelites.

(27:02) Delivered them from Egyptian bondage. (27:06) And in spite of all their murmuring and complaining from time to time, (27:14) He provided for them. (27:16) And He provides for us.

(27:22) May this new year be better than last year. (27:29) I made a typographical error here, but I know what I meant. (27:35) May this new year be better than last year for each one.

(27:43) God knows what lies ahead. (27:48) Let us trust Him. (27:51) And again, may this new year be a happy one for us.

(28:00) Let us trust the God who sees. (28:05) Let us know that we have all this sickness that’s going around. (28:13) The colds and the earaches and all the other things.

(28:23) And we pray to God to heal. (28:26) Let us expect Him to do that. (28:30) We can pray for that.

(28:33) So, with that, I’ll end with, let us trust the God who sees. (28:46) Let us, at this time, go to God in prayer. (28:53) Father in heaven, we are thankful for this new year.

(29:03) For the message coming from Your Word, we pray, oh Father, that we will trust You. (29:16) And know that You do see us when we come upon hard times. (29:23) That You know, and You see, and You do provide.

(29:29) Father in heaven, we do pray for those that cannot be here because of sickness. (29:40) We pray for their healing. (29:44) We pray that You’ll be with those that are bedridden or in hospice care.

(29:57) Especially Bob Jordan. (29:59) We pray that You’ll be with him and put peace in his family’s hearts. (30:13) We pray, oh Father, that You’ll be with Carl and Wally.

(30:22) That You will bless them. (30:26) We pray that You’ll heal what is Carl’s problem. (30:36) We know, oh Father, that You work with the doctors and they provide medicine.

(30:45) And we pray, oh Father, that that medicine takes care of the problem. (30:52) We pray, oh Father, that You will go with us as we leave. (31:01) Help us to do what is right in Your sight.

(31:09) And we pray, oh Father, that when the end comes, that we will see Your face. (31:17) And that we will live with You forever and ever in heaven. (31:21) In the name of Christ we pray, amen.