May 29, 2022 – Sunday Service Live Stream

Ascension Presbyterian Church Longwood

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Please take up the insert that says

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Psalm 121, and this is the point where music readers get confused.

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I can't read music, so it's very easy for me to sing this tune to Amazing Grace as we sing

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Psalm 121. Musically inclined, ignore the musical lines and sing the tune

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Amazing Grace. DJ again, please, sir. Jeremiah 15, then the

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Lord said to me, even if Moses and Samuel stood before me, my mind would not be favorable toward this people.

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Cast them out of my sight and let them go forth. It shall be if they say to you, where should we go?

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Then you shall tell them, thus says the Lord, such as are for death to death, and such as are for the sword to the sword, and such as are for the famine to the famine, and such as are for the captivity to the captivity.

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I will anoint over them four forms of destruction, says the Lord, the sword to slay, the dogs to drag, the birds of the heavens and the beasts of the earth to devour and destroy.

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I will hand them over to trouble, to all kingdoms of the earth, because of Manasseh, the son of Hezekiah, king of Judah, for what he did in Jerusalem.

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For who will have pity on you, O Jerusalem, or who will bemoan you, or who will turn aside to ask how you are doing?

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You have forsaken me, says the Lord. You have gone backward. Therefore, I will stretch out my hand against you and destroy you.

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I am weary of relenting, and I now will willow them with a winnowing fan in the gates of the land.

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I will bereave them of children. I will destroy my people since they do not return from their ways.

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Their widows will be increased to me more than the sand of the seas. I will bring against them against the mother of young men, a plunderer at noonday.

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I will cause anguish and terror to fall on them suddenly. She languishes who has borne seven.

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She has breathed her last. Her son has gone down while it was yet day. She has been ashamed and confounded, and the remnant of them

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I will deliver to the sword before the enemy, says the Lord. Woe is me, my mother, that you should have borne me, a man of strife and a man of contention to the whole earth.

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I have neither lent for interests nor have men lent to me for interests. Every one of them curses me.

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The Lord said, surely it will be well with your remnant. Surely I will cause the enemy to intercede with you in the time of adversity and in the time of affliction.

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Can anyone break iron, the northern iron and the bronze? Your wealth and your treasures I will give as plunder without price.

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Because of all your sins throughout your territories, I will make you cross over with your enemies into a land which you do not know, for a fire is kindled in my anger, which shall burn upon you.

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O Lord, you know, remember me and visit me and take vengeance for me on my persecutors, and your enduring patience do not take me away.

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Know that for your sake I have suffered rebuke. Your words were found and I ate them, and your word was to me the joy and rejoicing of my heart.

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For I am called by your name, O Lord God of hosts. I did not sit in the assembly of the mockers, nor did

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I rejoice. I sat alone because of your hand, for you have filled me with indignation. Why is my pain perpetual and my wound incurable, which refuses to be healed?

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Will you surely be to me like an unreliable stream as waters that fail? Therefore, thus does the

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Lord. If you return, then I will bring you back. You shall stand before me if you take out the precious from the vial.

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You shall be as my mouth. Let them return to you, but you must not return to them. And I will make you to this people a fortified bronze wall, and they will fight against you, but they shall not prevail against you, for I am with you to save you and deliver you, says the

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Lord. I will deliver you from the hand of the wicked, and I will redeem you from the grip of the terrible.

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This is the word of the Lord. Let us now confess our faith in the singing of the

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Apostles' Creed. I believe in God, the only begotten

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Son, our Lord, who was conceived by the

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Holy Spirit, born was crucified dead, and to judge the church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the last day.

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Please take up the hymnal and turn to number 292. Who shall ascend the mountain of the

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Lord? Sounds like Psalm 24 to me. Psalm number 292.

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Who shall ascend the mountain of the Lord? DJ, if you could get us started, sir. Really need to know that people.

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And seeing the multitudes, Jesus went up on a mountain, and when he was seated, his disciples came to him, that he opened his mouth and taught them, saying, blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

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Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.

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Lord, help us to find our strength in you. Our gracious God and Father, the world would have us to believe that power comes through strength, and that by exercising that strength against them to gain an advantage for ourselves, and to put them into a place of bondage.

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But that is not the case with you, O Lord. You have taught us to seek our strength, not in the power of this world, but in the power that comes from your spirit.

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We pray, Father, that as we remember that we have not been given a spirit of fear, but of power, that we would turn to you,

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O Lord, in love, and ask for the grace to humble ourselves before you that you may lift us up.

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We ask this in Christ's name, amen. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled.

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Lord, may we always seek first your kingdom. You would create in us hearts that are hungry for your word.

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Lord God, as we hunger after bread or water, Lord God, let us hunger after your word and your truth, if not more so.

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Father God, for it's this truth that gives us life or the last thing. Father, create in us hearts that are starving for your word and your gospel.

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Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy. Lord, keep us mindful of what forgiveness means.

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Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. Lord, create in us clean hearts.

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By his blood, may

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God that, in that effectual work that you, that continue by your spirit to lead us in righteousness and in faith and in obedience to you.

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In Christ's name, amen. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.

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Lord, help us to pursue peace. Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

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Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for my sake.

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Seemingly life is your reward in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

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Amen. Please stand and take up the Psalm of the month. Psalm eight.

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We have a sadness every end of the month because we grow to love our Psalm of the month and then it passes away from us for a short time.

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We're going to sing heartily to the Lord, Psalm eight. DJ, if you could start us please. ♪ A face of enemies to stop a vengeance ♪ ♪

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With your own fingers may I see the moon and stars ♪ ♪

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With you in orderly men you should ♪ ♪

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Bless them God with praise and glory ♪ ♪

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Christ above your works, beneath him all is well ♪ ♪

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Lord, our Lord in all the earth, how excellent your name ♪

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Please remain standing for the reading of the word and welcome our brother, Pastor Michael Ware.

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We are in a closer relationship, him now formally, but we love this brother and we are the second closest church to him geographically.

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The other South Carolina church of course is closer, but we're going to be a close congregation and friend to you brother and we welcome your folks to call upon us in any need they have and let us know if we can help in any way.

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Okay brother, welcome Pastor Ware, come on brother. Genesis chapter 16, our text this morning.

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Genesis chapter 16, starting in verse one, now let us hear the word of God. Now Sarah, Abram's wife, had borne him no children and she had an

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Egyptian maid servant whose name was Hagar. So Sarah said to Abram, see now the

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Lord has restrained me from bearing children, please go into my maid, perhaps I shall obtain children by her.

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And Abram heeded the voice of Sarah. Then Sarah, Abram's wife, took Hagar, her maid, the

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Egyptian and gave her to her husband Abram to be his wife. After Abram had dwelt 10 years in the land of Canaan, so he went in to Hagar and she conceived.

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And when she saw that she had conceived, her mistress gave my maid into your embrace and when she saw that she had conceived,

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I became despised in her eyes, the Lord judge between you and me. So Abram said to Sarah, indeed your maid is in your hand, do to her as you please.

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And when Sarah dealt harshly with her, she fled from her presence. Now the angel of the

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Lord found her by the spring of water in the wilderness, by the spring on the way to Shur. And he said,

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Hagar, Sarah's maid, where have you come from and where are you going? She said,

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I am fleeing from the presence of my mistress, Sarah. The angel of the Lord said to her, return to your mistress and submit yourself under her hand.

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Then the angel of the Lord said to her, I will multiply your descendants exceedingly so that they shall not be counted for multitude.

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And the angel of the Lord said to her, behold, you are with child and you shall bear a son.

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You shall call his name Immanuel, mm -mm, Ishmael, because the Lord has heard your affliction.

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He shall be a wild man. His hand shall be against every man and every man's hand against him.

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And he shall dwell in the presence of all his brethren. Then she called the name of the

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Lord who spoke to her, you are the God who sees. For he, for she said, have

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I also here seen him who sees me? Therefore, the well was called

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Beer -leh -hi -ro -hi. Observe, it is between Kaddish and Bered.

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So Herah bore Abram a son and Abram named his son, whom

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Hagar bore Ishmael. Abram was 86 years old when Hagar bore

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Ishmael to Abram. Thus far the reading of God's word. Let us now go to the

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Lord in prayer. Blessed and holy God, we thank you. Father, that Lord, you're not only the God who sees us, but God, you are the

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God who hears in our affliction. We praise you, Father, that if we humble ourselves, we can come unto you at any time.

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And Father, you bless us. We pray, dear God, that you will bless this congregation and you will bless the preaching of the word of God, that your people will be fed, that they will be encouraged and they will be made mighty in the face of all their adversities.

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And Father, that you would be glorified in this, your body of people. And we pray, Lord God, these things in your blessed son,

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Jesus Christ, holy name. Amen. You may be seated. So as I pretend that I know what

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I'm doing with this technology, it's upside down. I'm going to make some kind remarks.

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I love being with you guys. And I jokingly told

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Christopher, he said, how do you think Presbyterian is gonna go? I said, well, it may be hot and humid, he laughed. And now

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I know what he was laughing at. So it's great to be with you. I appreciate it.

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It takes faith in God to give up your pulpit to men. And so I appreciate the confidence that Christopher has in Christ.

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So this morning we will look at chapter 16 of Genesis and thus far, Abram has come a long way with God.

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In chapter 11, we are given the Tower of Babel incident, which is then contrasted with the call of Abram.

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God tells Abram, in contrast to Babel, who was trying to make their own name, God says,

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I'm going to make a name for you, right? And so we see the things that man was trying to do by his own strength,

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God was going to do by his power. And so this is contrasted in chapter 12, and Abram leaves his father's house after his death and tours the land as kind of a victory tour or a claiming of the land.

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And as he goes, God promises him every place his foot touches would be his. So Abram sets up altars and his little community of about 2000 people set up true worship in the land.

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There is a famine in the land and they moved to Egypt. Sarah is saved from Pharaoh by Yahweh and they exodus from Egypt after plundering the

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Egyptians. And Abram, once again, figuratively conquers the land by going through it and setting up altars and worshiping.

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He and Lot separate with Lot choosing his dwelling place with his eyes rather than by faith.

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Next, Lot is captured in the war of the kings and Abram saves him and refuses to give his glory to the wicked king of Sodom after receiving blessings from Melchizedek, the priest of the most high

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God, possessor of heaven and earth. Then Christ comes to Abram in a vision and formally makes covenant with him.

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Abram asked what inheritance he would have as his home -born slave was going to inherit all that he had.

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But Christ promised a seed from his own body would be his heir. Not only that, but taking him outside,

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Christ promised to make his seed as numerous as the stars, pointing to the fact that they would be rulers of the world one day.

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Then Christ orders that animals representing this innumerable people be brought and divided as was the normal way of cutting covenant.

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Abram drove off the birds of prey, signifying the protection that the law and this covenant would provide to God's people in the future and their salvation.

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Then Christ places him in a death sleep. The Godhead passes through the pieces both as a self -maledictory oath and as a sign that he would walk in the midst of his people and seal the eternal covenant with Father Abraham and all his children of whom we are, by God's grace, members.

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This brings us to our text. We are going to see that Abram will pass through another false situation.

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He wakes to a new bride and grasps at something that is not his yet. His wife gives him forbidden fruit and he listens to her voice.

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This opens their eyes to their sin and Hagar is driven from the garden of God. Christ comes to Hagar and shows here that leaving the garden that was

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Abram's house was not the answer. She needed to humble herself under the authority he had placed over her.

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Then he would bless her. And we learn that the way back to the garden of God is through a broken and contrite spirit.

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So the first thing that we see is when we leave Abram in chapter 15, he's asleep.

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He's in a death sleep. The same word that is used for Adam when he is placed in a deep sleep in Genesis chapter two, where his wife is given to him and he's woke up.

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God brings Eve to him, right? And they're introduced. Here's your wife, right? And he says, woo -hoo, finally, right?

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Well, this is not a woo -hoo moment. He has brought someone who doesn't belong to him and it's an illegitimate wife, but she is still a wife.

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And so when he wakes, he is introduced to a new wife. And this should be clear that at this point, this is a parallel with the history of the fall and the taking of Hagar as his wife.

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Sarah points out that God had restrained her from bearing children. And in the culture, there was nothing outrageous about multiple wives or maidservants bearing for their mistress.

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Do not misunderstand what I'm saying. You cannot have a second wife. That's unlawful, right?

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Jesus has made that clear. But what we do see is that with Ruth and Naomi, her first child was

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Naomi's. How did that happen? She gave birth on Naomi's knee.

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It was called her son. This was the idea that they had. And it was common in this culture to bear continual children through maids in this fashion.

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It was ungodly, but this was normal. This was not something that she invented. It should be clear at this point that this is, of course, sin and that they're not working within the bounds of faith, right?

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They're not believing what God had just said. God had just said, from your body, I'm going to bring four children.

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Now, a lot of times we do this, right? We get in our heads how we're going to fix

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God's problem, right? As one brother, Tom, actually told me the other week,

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Michael, quit trying to be Jesus. Let Jesus be Jesus and you be Michael, right? And we do that by trying to manipulate, by trying to twist things, do things our way.

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We go, oh, well, maybe it'll come this way. And this is what Sarah is doing. She's going, I'm barren. I have this maid servant that my husband can bear children through.

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And maybe this is how God's going to do it, right? We also should see the irony of the situation, which we'll be bore out in a moment with her being an

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Egyptian. Much is made of that fact. God had promised a child to be heir from Abram's body, but Sarah could not give that to him.

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So what is the solution? Here, take my maid servant as wife. Now, many don't like this language.

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They want to substitute it for concubine, but that's not the word here.

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It's wife. She was legally his wife. They married and that's what it was.

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And the reason that they don't like it is because it makes then Hagar Sarah's equal, but that's not what

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Sarah wanted. And we'll see as we go through the text, that was not her intention.

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It's the actual opposite, right? She wanted to make sure that she wasn't replaced.

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And so she manipulates, right? You know what manipulation means, don't you?

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It's a nice way of saying you're lying. And so when you manipulate, you're lying. You're doing things for your motives, but you're hiding them from others.

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So it's a lot. Same as flattery, right? And so we have to be careful with that.

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But so what she was trying to do, she knew that she was gonna be replaced. If God's will was going to be done in Abram's life, in her husband's life, she's thinking, then what

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I have to do is I have to make sure that I'm there, I'm present, I'm in control of this. So here, take my maidservant, take my slave, the person

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I have most control over in all the world, take that person and make her your wife so that she can still have this semblance of control.

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But we need to understand, God doesn't honor lying in any sense, for any reason, except to save life.

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But we want to be true, right? Maybe we'll talk about that at lunch.

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So what we see is she is seeking to assure that she was not replaced.

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If her servant was the one who was the surrogate, she would still maintain a level of control.

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And so we see then in chapter 16, a parallel with chapter 3, 16 .2 says, so Sarai said to, and then 3 .2

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says, the woman said to, 16 .2b, and Abram heeded the voice of Sarai, 3 .17

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says, you have heeded the voice of your wife, 16 .3a, Sarai took, and 3 .6a,

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she took of its fruit, and then 16 .3 says, and she gave her to her husband, and 3 .6b

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says, she also gave to her husband with her. It is clear that the same thing is going on here.

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God placed Abram in a death sleep, and when he woke, his new wife is brought to him, and he is tempted.

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He listens to the voice of his wife. Now, we have to be careful, because we have some people who will tell us, look, you're not to listen to your wife.

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No, you're a fool if you don't listen to your wife. But you don't heed your wife when she's calling you to sin.

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That's what's being said here. Not don't listen to your wife. She's your greatest counselor. She should love you more than anybody in the whole world, and she should want your success and blessing more than any other person in the whole world.

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So if you don't listen to your wife, you're not being obedient, you're being a fool. So let's be clear what

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I'm saying here. I wanna make sure that we get out what's happening. You, husband and wife, should be coming one flesh.

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You should be one person. You're no longer two, you're one. And so if you are becoming one, then the greatest counselor you have is your wife.

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So it's not don't heed what she says, it's don't heed her when she calls you to be disobedient.

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There's a difference, there's a difference. So their eyes were opened by the fruit, verses four through 6a.

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Abram goes into Hagar and she conceives. Now, this made Sarai despised in Hagar's eyes.

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At this point, we should think of other women who gained the upper hand on the barren.

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We should think first of Leah, as she was not loved by her husband, but was very fruitful.

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But more than anything, we should think of Hannah and Mary. Samuel's mother was childless or barren, and her rival provoked her.

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First Samuel 1, one through seven says, now there was a certain man in Ramahath -Zotham of the mountain of Ephraim.

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His name was Elkanah, the son of Jeroham, the son of Elahu, the son of Tohu, the son of Zuth and Ephraimite.

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And he had two wives, the name of the one was Hannah, and the name of the other was Penanah. Penanah had children, but Hannah had no children.

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This man went up from his city every year to worship and sacrifice to the

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Lord of hosts in Shiloh. Also, the two sons of Elah, Hophni and Phanahas, always get that bad, the priests of the

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Lord were there. And whenever the time came for Elkanah to make an offering, he would give portions to Penanah, his wife, and to all her sons and daughters.

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But to Hannah, he would give a double portion, for he loved Hannah, although the Lord had closed her womb.

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And her rival also provoked her severely to make her miserable because the Lord had closed her womb.

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So it was, year by year, when she went up to the house of the Lord, that she provoked her.

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Therefore, she wept and did not eat. We see here that this barrenness was used against this woman to make her feel worthless, to make her feel unloved.

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Well, it's the same thing here, because Hagar felt as though she was going to take the place of her mistress.

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So why was Sarai despised in Hagar's eyes? Because we do not live in a vacuum.

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You cannot bring fire into your bosom and not be burned. Men and women cannot have casual sex, and it not have an effect.

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It not affect both men and women, right? We're not machines.

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Making love does just that. It causes us to be jealous.

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It causes us to long for that person. And we give ourselves to them, not just physically, but spiritually.

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Hagar wanted Sarai's position and status and the love of Sarai's husband. She thought she could bring down her mistress being a child.

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Her pride told her that she would not be controlled by Sarai as she would be the mother of the heir.

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She was queen mother now, she thought. This opened the eyes of Sarai and Abram to their sin.

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This is the reason for so many references to seeing. Right?

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She was despised in her eyes. Seeing that this, behold, constantly, language of seeing is throughout this text.

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Sarai tells Abram the situation and sets the guilt where it belongs, with her head.

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All right, so I ask my congregation when I preach this to them, I'm gonna ask you. Men, if your wife sins, who's guilty?

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Your wife is guilty. But who's responsible? You are, right?

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If my wife sins, her sin is her sin, she's guilty of it. But I'm responsible because I'm her head.

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So Sarai sinned here, and so did Abram. But he was not only guilty for his sin, he was also responsible for his wife's sin.

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And she comes to him rightly and says, you've misled me. This wrong that is being done to me by this maid is your fault.

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Now, this again connects us to chapter three, as the opening of their eyes causes blame shifting.

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Sarai blames Abram for the wrong she suffered. And though Abram failed to lead and protect his wife in this situation,

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Sarai's manipulation is a breaking of the ninth commandment, and she also bears blame here.

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She's trying to get out of all guilt. This is your fault. Well, yeah, but you sin too.

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You can't blame shift. We have to own it. When we're confronted with sin, our first response should not be just to seek out, did

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I do this specific thing? But to recognize I am a sinful human being, and I am guilty before God, if it were not for Jesus Christ.

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When you come at it that way, you're not likely to be so haughty.

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How dare you say I do that, right? That's our first response. Who do you think you are to tell me

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I did that? You're not sinless, right? But when you recognize that absent the grace of God, you are guilty before God.

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And so it shouldn't be a big thing to be guilty of sin. You know that you are.

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We all know that we are. I mean, for goodness sake, we kneel and ask

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God for forgiveness every week as a congregation, right? It shouldn't be a big thing to go, okay, well, let's humbly look at this.

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Did I do these things? Am I guilty of these things? And we take them a lot better.

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Just like Adam and Eve here, though they were grasping at something that didn't belong to them, they wanted fruit.

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Now they get the fruit. And this is the gracious thing about God. God allows us at times to act outside of his will to mature us, to help us grow.

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But he also lets us bear out those consequences. And that's what's happened here. So they get the fruit they wanted, but it's not the fruit they wanted, right?

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Just like Adam and Eve, right? I wanna be like God. But then all the pain and death that comes with that, all the pain and death that comes with that.

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Rather than waiting and trusting, they sought to snatch at it through sinful means.

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And this is our greatest struggle. I think as Christians is we know the right, but we're not patient for the right way, right?

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We want instant righteousness. We want instant joy.

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God help us, we stick grits in the microwave, brother. And we think that's gonna turn out good, right?

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As Southerners, we ought to know better. It takes 20 minutes to do a grip, period, right?

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Calm down, it's just 20 minutes. And it's the same thing, right?

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We have young men and young women who get married and they want the same kind of marriage, the same kind of situation, same kind of home that their parents have.

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But they don't realize that their parents have struggled and fought for 20 years to get to where they are financially and maritally, right?

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Why doesn't my marriage look like yours? We've been married 10 days, it's not going to, you know?

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And so instead of grasping at things sinfully and trying to do things in a sinful manner, we need to seek

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God's word and then have faith to trust it. And what that takes, and we're gonna see this with Hagar, she leaves the garden of God.

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And the reason that she does that is because she thinks all hope is lost.

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Again, a lack of faith. So we see that she leaves the garden of God. In verses six through eight, Abram reminds

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Sarah of her authority over her maidservant and gives permission to handle her. So Sarah is reminded that she can't punish her even though she's carrying the heir.

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Her status as wife and supposed queen mother of Abram's heir did not exempt her from being a slave.

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Sarah deals harshly with her and she runs away. Much like our first parents, once God exercised his authority and began to punish them, they're forced out of the garden.

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To this Egyptian slave, Abram's household was like the garden of God. Now think about what she's come from.

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She has come from an Egyptian culture with all these gods, these false gods that are ugly and mean because they're demons.

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And now she's placed into a home of a Christian. Now, is he a perfect Christian?

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No, but neither are you. And so neither am I. So what we need to understand is what it would have been like for this woman to enter this environment.

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Now there's true worship of God. There's grace, there's abundance, there's joy, there's singing, right?

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All this other things that she's experienced in her life have changed. And I'll argue with this over dinner, over lunch if you'd like,

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I think she's a believer. I think she repents and believes. So she's leaving the garden and there was riches and food beyond all that she could imagine.

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There was the true worship of God where idol worship dominated outside. Would our houses then be thought of as gardens of God?

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If someone from outside come into your house, would they see such a contrast?

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Would they say, man, this is utterly different than any place, any household I've ever seen?

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There's grace, there's working for forgiveness, there's joy, there's singing, there's worshiping

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God together as a family, teaching of the catechism and those things, joyful things, good things.

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Would they see that? Would your house be something that would make them thirsty? My old pastor used to say, the gospel should be like salt.

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It should make everybody else thirst for Christ. It should make them thirst for what you have.

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Rosario Butterfield says that our homes should be such that cause others to fall in love with Jesus as they see us loving

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Christ. And so that's the question. Are we living such a life out in our homes?

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Is there beauty and glory? Is there singing and praising God? Outside of that paradise, on the way back to Egypt, the angel of the

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Lord comes to her. Now, much like Christ dealt with Adam and Eve, he here asks where she was, right?

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Sarah, where are you going? Where have you been? Nope. Hagar, where are you going?

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And where have you been? Right? And so it's the same question. Where are you? In doing so, he reminds her of her status in the home and calls her to her responsibility.

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She is Hagar, Sarah's maidservant. You're the maidservant.

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Remember your place. And so Jesus calls her the maidservant.

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She could run, but she was a slave. This points to the fact that faith does not set up revolution, but reform.

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I believe that Hagar is, or would soon be, a believer at this point, but this does not change the social structure.

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1 Corinthians 7, 17 through 24 says, but as God has distributed to each one, as the

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Lord has called each one, so let him walk. And so I ordain in all the churches.

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Was anyone called while circumcised? Let him not become uncircumcised. Was anyone called while uncircumcised?

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Let him not be circumcised. Circumcision is nothing. Uncircumcision is nothing, but keeping the commandments of God is what matters.

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Let each one remain in the same calling in which he was called. Were you called while a slave?

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Do not be concerned about it, but if you are able to, if you can, be made free, rather use it.

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For he who is called in the Lord while a slave is the Lord's freedman.

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Likewise, he who is called while free is Christ's slave. You were bought at a price.

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Do not become slaves of men. Brethren, let each one remain with God in that state in which he was called.

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What we need to understand is it is communist, it's Marxist, it's wicked to want to burn a society down, even to replace it with the cathedral of God.

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We are to transform. We are to be like leaven, not like fire.

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We are to be like leaven. We are to humble ourselves to do this, and this is the way back to the garden, verses nine and 10.

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Now, for those of you who know anything about Exodus and about Solomon's temple, you'll know it's full of imagery.

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It's full of carvings overlaid with gold, carvings of pomegranates and palm trees, and it is to be a garden.

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In fact, the people of God are called the garden of God when they're worshipping rightly, and so the whole idea of redemption is to return to the garden, is to return to paradise, right?

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And so here, she is told by Christ to return to the garden.

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Jesus tells her that she is to go back and submit to her mistress. This would not be something that she would have desired.

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Remember, she fled because of the harshness, right? It was going to take humility, of which the

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Egyptian maid had shown very little so far. She would not have been.

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Now, she's probably a baby believer, and she's been mistreated by those who should have been leading her to Christ, but what is promised in return would make the humility worth suffering.

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The Lord tells her that he was going to multiply her descendants so that she could not, so that they could not be counted.

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The same promise made to Abram in the last chapter. This word, like the Abrahamic covenant, promise is seed.

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God was going to do for Hagar what she desired to have in Abram.

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She would not be the queen mother of the seed of promise, but she would be a queen mother, and what we often fail to realize is that our desires many times must come through humility.

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So, young men who have a design on ministry, please understand what

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I'm going to say to you. It is not your job to tell your minister you're ready.

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It's his job to say, you're ready, I see it. You see, you should be going,

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I don't know. I don't know yet. Brother Chris, I don't know, and him going, no,

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I see it, you're doing it. You're doing it because God exalts us who are humble.

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It is the humble that are exalted, not the other way around. We cannot think that we will be handed our desires.

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We must toil and wait for God to exalt us. Luke 14, 7 -11 says, so he told a parable to those who were invited when he noted how they chose the best places, saying to them, when you are invited by anyone to a wedding feast, do not sit down in the best place, lest one more honorable than you be invited by him, and he who invited you and him come and say to you, give place to this man.

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And then you began, with shame, to take the lowest place. But when you are invited, go and sit down in the lowest place, so that when he who invited you comes, he may say to you, friend, go up higher.

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Then you will have glory in the presence of those who sit at the table with you, and for whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.

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We need to see that this is the way back for us as well. How are we gonna win the culture?

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Right, how are we gonna win the culture? We're not gonna win the culture by telling everybody how smart we are.

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We're not gonna tell the culture, we're not gonna win the culture by telling them how stupid they are. Both of these things may be true.

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We may be very smart, and they surely are very stupid, but we need to understand that the only way that we can win them to Christ is through humble service, through being humble to them, by loving them, by sacrificing for them, not by getting them to see how much we know and understand.

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Our knowledge and understanding have nothing to do with their salvation, because it is of God and of God alone who saves.

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So a lot of times what we do when we're talking to our friends and family, we get so nervous and we start sweating, right?

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We just start, I've gotta say everything just right. I don't wanna mess this up in any way. You're doing it in your power and you're gonna fail.

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You're doing it in your power, you're gonna fail. How do you do it? You humble yourself. You live the life of Christ before them.

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You sacrifice for their good. You put them above yourself. And then as God opens the door and you have opportunity, you share the truth.

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We humble ourselves before our leaders as long as they don't ask us to sin.

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And it's much easier for you in Florida than most places in the country. But that's beside the point.

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We have to see that our Lord and Savior humbled himself and he called us to humble submission to return.

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So God hears the afflicted. Verses 11 to 12, Jesus blessed Hagar. Calvin says that this is a one -sided conversation here because she is dumbfounded.

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She is standing before the Lord of glory in the form of Jesus Christ and she's dumbfounded.

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This is likely, as she is going to show when she does speak, she's likely thought she was going to die.

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He points to her being with child and prophesies that she will have a son and call his name

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Ishmael. This helps us to understand too, the names are to be seen in scripture as meaning something.

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His name would be Ishmael because God heard her affliction.

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Now, this was going to be very important for the people of God and is still for two reasons.

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First, while they are in Egypt, as in Egyptian slavery, they need to remember that Yahweh hears them.

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Yahweh hears. When we're afflicted, when we're going through difficulty, God hears us.

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He hears his people. Second, we are shown the outcome of taking foreign wives and this should remind us of Deuteronomy 7, 1 through 5.

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The second half of the blessing reveals the character of the son. He is literally called a donkey,

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P -E -R -E in the Hebrew, transliterated, pera, of a man.

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This is a wordplay for the area Ishmaelites will eventually inhabit, Peran, 2121.

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We must not think that this is speaking only of Ishmael, who will show signs of faith later on in the book of Genesis, right?

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This is speaking of the multitude and their character, those that would come from her body.

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Notice also should be taken to the word the Lord uses for himself.

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He is Yahweh who has heard her affliction. This points us to the fact that he was in a propitious relationship with her.

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He was her God. Yahweh is the covenant name of God. He doesn't call himself that, anyone else.

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He is our God, Yahweh. And so he was calling himself her God. He is the

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Yahweh who hears. And so Ishmael is going to be a wilderness man.

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He is the father of the Arab people who were by and large nomads. They then conquered from Asia Minor to the

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Iberian Peninsula, which is Spain. Then through Christ, we can see God and live, verses 13 through 16.

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We have here the first instance of a person giving an experiential name to God.

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This reinforces my belief that Hagar was a believer. She names him, which is a way of owning

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God. So as you hear each of the men today praying, they address

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God differently. You know, they, a lot of men like Tom Penning, every time he prays, my

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Lord and my God. That's who God is to Tom Penning, right? I usually go with Heavenly Father or God Almighty, something to that effect, but that's me owning

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God. Now, not in such a way that we think like young adult, but like he's mine, he's my

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God. And this is what I call him by. Now, in my family, dad was pop and his dad was pop and his dad was pop.

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I'm gonna be pop aware. I don't know how that got out of the tradition, but so the thing that we need to understand is that's what children do, right?

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When everybody found out I was gonna be grandpa, that's what they asked. What are you gonna be called?

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Man, if he calls, I don't care. Just as long as he calls. And this is the thing that we see,

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God allows this because she is making him her God. He's no longer

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Abram and Sarah's God, he's her God. He is the God who hears her.

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He is the God who sees her. He is the God she now sees. She's owning him.

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It's a personal thing. And so that's why you have a lot of believers who will, you know, they will address

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God in different ways. Hopefully not irreverently, but they will use certain names mainly when they pray to God.

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And so she was owning him. She was owning him as God. She called

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Yahweh the God who sees. Now there is much controversy as to what she says, as to the reason that he is given this name.

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Many say that he is the God who sees because she says he sees her and others say that she sees his backside in the

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King James, it says, the God I see after or look after. So they think it's his backside.

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I don't agree with that. It seems clear to me following on the thoughts of Calvin about her dumbness and fear that she is astonished to be alive.

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She's astonished that she here sees God who has seen her and she still lives.

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She's still alive. And so that seems clear to me. Have I also seen here him who sees me?

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She is looking after him, giving the idea not of his backside, but astonished, gazing after Christ.

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This then would give the idea that God is the only one, is the one who not only sees us, but also reveals himself so that we can see him and live.

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We know that this comes through Jesus Christ alone. Colossians 1, 13 through 18 reads, he has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the son of his love in whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins.

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He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by him, all things were created there in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers, all things were created through him and for him.

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And he is before all things and in him, all things consist. And he is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things, he may have the preeminence.

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Christ enables us to stand before him, the God of the universe and not die.

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We should die, we're sinful, but we're allowed to live because we're in him.

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God has made a way that we can stand before the holy one and live.

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The prediction comes true and Abram hears and grants the name of Ishmael.

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This is Abram owning his son and believing Hagar. So when you name your child, you're saying, this is my child, right?

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Emily, where's Stacey, is my child. I named her, I helped name her. We named her, however that happened.

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So she's mine. Likewise, when fathers would name their children in this culture, they were owning that child.

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This is my child, this is my child. And then we think about the fact that God said to Isaiah, I'm gonna give you a holy new name, a name of my choosing and I will place it upon you.

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And you are now Christians. He's given you a new name, he has owned you. So if you are in Christ, if you have repented of your sins, then you are his child.

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He has owned you as his own and he has adopted you and given you a new name.

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Notice, there is no mention of reprisals or harshness.

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Hagar received back through her humility and God's promise comes to her through faithfulness.

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May God show us our folly before we commit it so that we would not have to humble ourselves in such a way before others and give us instead patience and righteous desires.

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May he grant to us hearts that long to see him and may we humble ourselves to be fit to build

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Christ's garden kingdom on earth. Amen? Amen. Let's pray. Blessed and most gracious heavenly father, we thank you,

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Lord God, for this your word. We thank you, father, for the example that we have seen here in Hagar, humbling herself before God and the great grace that you give to those who need it the most.

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And father, we are of those people. And so God, we praise you and thank you and we ask

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God these things in the name of Jesus Christ, our savior. Amen. Amen. I'm gonna ask you guys to pray with me now.

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Lord Jesus, we come to you now with an act of worship, which is giving, a recognition of your ownership over all things and our roles as stewards, vice -gerants under your authority.

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And Lord, I pray that these tithes and offerings would be used for the advance of your kingdom, primarily through the bold proclamation of your gospel and the exceptional living of the

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Christian life. And we ask these things in Jesus' name.

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Brothers, if you could pass the plates now, please stand with me.

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Lord, we bring the tithe into the storehouse and we ask that you would bless our faithfulness, that you would grant us greater obedience and that we would open our hands and our mouths wide and you would fill us with all spiritual blessing in Christ.

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We ask these things in Jesus' name. There's some really cool theology in that Genesis 16 passage.

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We have seen something of the glory of our God in light of that word from our brother.

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Let us heartily and zealously sing the Gloria Patria together. ♪

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Oh, as it was in the beginning ♪

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The Lord be with you. Lift up your hearts. Lift them up.

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Let us give thanks to the Lord. It is good. It is a right and a good and a joyful thing.

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That we should at all times and in all places give thanks to you, oh

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Holy Lord, Father Almighty, Everlasting God, because you sent your beloved

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Son to redeem us from sin and death and to make us heirs in him of everlasting life.

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That when he shall come again in power and great triumph to judge the world, we may without shame or fear rejoice to behold his appearing.

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Therefore, with angels and archangels and with all the company of heaven, we praise and magnify your glorious name, evermore praising you and singing.

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Almighty God, our Heavenly Father, who of your tender mercy gave your only

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Son, Jesus Christ, to suffer death upon the cross for our redemption, who made there by his one oblation of himself once offered a full, perfect and sufficient sacrifice, oblation and satisfaction for the sins of the whole world, and at Institute and in his

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Holy Gospel, command us to continue a perpetual memory of that his precious death until his coming again.

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Hear us, oh merciful Father, we beseech you and grant that we, receiving these, your creatures of bread and wine, according to your

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Son, our Savior, Jesus Christ, holy institution, in remembrance of his death and passion, may be partakers of his most blessed body and blood.

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You may be seated. On the night that our

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Lord was betrayed, he took the bread and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to his disciples saying, take, eat, this is my body which is broken for you.

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Do so in remembrance of me. Likewise, after supper, he took the cup and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them saying, drink you all of this and this is my blood of the new covenant which is shed for you.

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As often as you drink this, do so in remembrance of me. Therefore, we proclaim the faith.

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Christ is risen, Christ will come.

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Let us come before the Lord, praying this prayer together. We do not presume to come to this your table, oh merciful

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Lord, trusting in our own righteousness, but in your manifold and great mercies.

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We are not worthy so much as to gather up the crumbs under your table, but you are the same

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Lord who always shows mercy. Grant us therefore, gracious Lord, so to eat the flesh of your dear son,

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Jesus Christ, and to drink of his blood, that our sinful bodies may be made clean by his body and our souls washed through his most precious blood and that we may evermore dwell in him and he in us.

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Amen. Christ our Passover was sacrificed for us. The gifts of God for the people of God.

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♪ A place where Christ within the doorstep ♪ ♪

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That still refuse to taste and perish in our sin ♪ ♪

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Indeed the nations, oh, are the constraint to come ♪ ♪

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The stranger to see our church's foe ♪ ♪

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A wasting glory,

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Jesus blessed be ♪ ♪ His meek, oh,

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Jesus, receive him, forgive him ♪

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Let us make this prayer of commitment together. Almighty and everliving

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God, we thank you for feeding us with the spiritual food of the most precious body and blood of your son, our savior,

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Jesus Christ, and for assuring us in these holy mysteries that we are living members of the body of your son and heirs of your eternal kingdom.

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And oh, Lord, grant us this other benefit, that you will never allow us to forget these things, but having them imprinted on our hearts, may we grow and increase daily in the faith of that work and every good deed.

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And now, Father, send us out to do the work you have given us to do, to love and serve you as faithful witnesses of Christ our

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Lord. To him, to you, and to the Holy Spirit, be honor and glory now and forever.

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Amen. Let us stand and sing the doxology. Receive the blessing of our

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Lord Jesus Christ. May the peace of God, which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in the love and knowledge of God and of our

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Lord Jesus Christ. And the blessing of God Almighty, the Father, the Son, and the