A Broken Hearted Mother

the Bible is a book of hope it is a book filled with stories of love of power of faith of glory it is a book with a message of grace peace salvation Redemption and miracles yet the Bible is a book filled with impossible situations storms come in Our Lives needs arise death sickness and many other problems appear to us that are impossible to us yet time after time each one of these problems are handled with ease but a love of a sovereign dog one of these stories in the text is the story of this love triangle between Abraham and Sarah and Sarah's slave Hagar the story begins in Genesis at chapter number 16 where Abraham and Sarah are promised by God that they will have a seed a son who will become because of God's promise to Abraham the heir and the progenitor of a great nation but the promise is yet to be fulfilled Abraham is getting on in years and Sarah is getting past the age of childbearing and the promise is not yet fulfilled but because God delays is no indication that God has denied because God does not move according to our timing does not mean God will not sure but Abraham and Sarah are like us impatient and the hurry ahead of God and hatch a plan that has ramifications even in 2015 Sarah says to Abraham go in to Hagar and Abraham of course has no problem with that he goes into Hagar who is a younger woman beautiful Egyptian woman and Abraham goes in unto her and she gets pregnant she conceives and now Sarah who hatched the plan in the first place is jealous of his young black Egyptian woman and now Abraham is on the horns of a dilemma he's in quite a conundrum he has to now satisfy two women is hard enough trying to satisfy one black woman and now he has to somebody ought to help me preach it and and and and and and the longer they live the more angry Sarah becomes but then God opens Sarah's wound after she and Abraham away past childbearing to prove to them that God has power over old men barren women and long-forgotten promises Abraham is almost a hundred Sarah is ninety and the angel says that Sarah is pregnant and the Bible says Sarah laughs and God's is why is Sarah laughing is there anything too hard for God and she names the child Isaac which means laughter and now we are in chapter 21 and I want you to focus on the question that's in verse 17 but before I get to that Abraham and Sarah are raising this young child Isaac Isaac is now about three years old and Ishmael is 17 years old and they are celebrating that that that Isaac is moving from a baby to a small child and now Ishmael is mocking Isaac he is mocking the promise he is mocking the seed he is he is making fun he's making small of God's promise and Sarah is upset and Sarah says that says to Abraham get that woman and that child out of here now Sara devised the plan it was Sarah's idea for Abraham to go into Hagar and Abraham didn't did not back away from that idea because it sounded good to him a young woman a old man got nothing wrong with that Abraham said a kind of maid dissemble situation abraham is alright with that until the problems come and whenever you go ahead of God you invite problems I wish I had some mother to help me preach this man they be run Hagar and Ishmael away and then Sarah and Abraham are raising Isaac and Ishmael even though he didn't come in the world right he's still Abraham's son and as Abraham's son God still keeps his promise even though Abraham messed up God will not disavow his own word he will make of Isaac a great nation but Ishmael shall also be the head of a great nation that will war against Isaac's nation because Abraham and Sarah did not wait on God and the conflict is being waged in the Middle East right now between the Arabs and the Palestinians and the Israelis and the West Bank and the Gaza Strip all of that is because ever Hamm and Isaac would not we don't go and so now in the text they've run them away and Hagar takes young Ishmael and puts him under a shrub and the scripture says she goes away from him a bow shot a bow shot is about a thousand yards she's far enough away from him not to hear him cry because she can't stand to see the child die right in her presence so she goes out of earshot of the boy crying she can't hear him but God is somehow help me right here because brothers and sisters the name Ishmael means God hears and I think I need to tell somebody this morning who's been praying and look like no answers coming think about Ishmael God hears see how glad you got right there because we want everything right away and we want we want to be developed as a Christian overnight but it takes some trouble it takes some suffering it takes some trial it takes some heartbreak it takes some setback it takes some rejection it takes you being out there by yourself and nobody else may hear you but God hears that name Ishmael means God hears God is listening even when you've been put out even when you've been cast away even when nobody else is listening God hears and that won't bring you comfort until your back is up against the wall that won't make you shout until you have to cry one of these days that will really bring you joy until you've hit rock bottom and you prayed and nobody else is paying attention to you but Ishmael says God hears I'm comforted by that I'm strengthened by that I'm renewed by the fact that even though I don't see him he sees me they are out in this place and I want you to see one or two things in the text brothers and sisters and I'm gonna leave you alone it was a time for Hagar it was a time of harsh rejection hey God had nothing to do with this plan because she's a slave and she does whatever her mistress tells her she has no part in this plan other than Abraham comes in unto her and she's pregnant she can't refuse him she can't run away from him because he is her master she's a slave woman she has absolutely nothing to do with this plan but she's caught up in a harsh rejection and oftentimes the things that happen in our lives have nothing to do with us and the things that go on in our lives are not for us is for God to demonstrate his power for somebody else Hagar has nothing to do with what Abraham and Sarah devises but we learn in the text that even though they mess up for her God would take care of her walk with me around the Tenga in this passage Isaac is about three and Ishmael is about 17 and they are celebrating as Isaac matures from a baby to a young boy and things are going to come to a head because Hagar faces a terrible time of rejection and she is so distressed she is so out of it because Abraham sends her away with a little food and some water that that's all a little food and a bag of water now Abraham sends her away because God tells him watch this to send her away listen to Sarah and send her away my brothers and sisters get this if you don't get anything else in this message get this in chapter 21 Abraham has to give up Ishmael and in chapter 22 he's gonna have to give up Isaac and if you can't give up Ishmael in chapter 21 he won't have the faith to give up Isaac in chapter 22 because everything God tells us to do is a precursor for the next thing God's gonna tell us to do and if you can't do the first thing God tells you to do you won't be able to do the second thing and many of us can't get the blessings of God right now cuz God told us to do something years ago and we haven't done it yet I wish I had my 7:30 cry Abraham had to give up Ishmael in chapter 21 which made it easier to give up Isaac in chapter 22 because if God can take care of Ishmael who's not the promise he certainly can take care of Isaac who is the problem he gives up his mouth not for him to go die in the wilderness but he gives up Ishmael into the sovereign providential hand of God that's why Joseph Parker a London pastor and preacher of long ago said speak to the suffering and you will never lack an audience because there is a broken heart in every congregation on every pew in distress this morning is somebody who's had their heart broken in every section of this church this morning there's somebody here who knows rejection who knows pain who knows to hope for something and that they not come true I wish I had one or two witnesses here you hope to have children but God never opened your wound but God sent some children who are just like your own children and and God will take care of you because he'll send somebody in your old age to look out for you even though you don't have children of your own cuz sometimes your children are not as nice to you as some other children sometimes the you do the most for of the people who reject you but somebody ought to help me testify God will take care of it he'll keep you till your hair turns gray he'll make a way out of no way he will provide for you then when you think you are just about to fall out he'll be right underneath with his everlasting arms to pick you up even when it looks like all you have left is harsh rejection harsh rejection I have no frame of reference for children who are disrespectful to their parents I don't even know how to process that when I was growing up as a boy somebody came to our house my parents made us speak say good evening a good morning and my cousin who's here now who lives in Houston now she's 99 years old she would come on the continental Trailways bus and we'd pick her up at the bus station and she'd come to our house and give each one of us a quarter and a quarter went a long ways back in the 60s you could buy five moon cookies and in a red soda water six Mary James and ten long boys you got to be over 50 to know what a Mary Jane and and the long boy is and every time every time every time without fail when when Julia would give us money my mama said what you say and the translation of that was you better say thank you because people don't have to do anything for you somebody ought to help me preaching people would come to our house parents would come to our house whose children were messing up in school or going to reform school or giving them trouble and my mama would say to them what they needed to do and they said may I whip him but it don't do no good she said I'm gonna make you go home I'm gonna make you get out of my house because I can't stand nobody telling me it don't do no good she said you ain't doing it right she said bring him over here and i'ma show you how I it ought to be done she said cuz if you do it right all they can do is go take a now I wish I had somebody who was raised like I was ready she said when you get through with them they tied and you tie come on somebody help me preach a minute but it kept us out of jail it kept us from stealing have a got a witness here it made us respectful of our elders and people will go out of way to help you when you have a good disposition because you were raised right and even right now it's hard for me to get away from how I was ready I don't know anything about children who talk back to their parents that's not that's not the way I was raised I don't know anything about children who got a word forward with their mother with their father I don't I can't I can't ever relate to that and it makes my skin crawl whenever I see it on whenever I hear it and and and and my parents wouldn't always jump in on us and beating on us they just raised us to be respectful because I would hear my mother on her knees praying lord if I'm not here I pray that somebody's heart would be tender towards my children let me live to raise all of my children but if I'm not here let somebody else be kind-hearted towards my children if if you just live right before people even when rejection comes even when trials comes God will give you the faith to hold on for a brighter day and many of us in here this morning can testify but there were days when I just have to hold on I didn't know what the outcome was going to be I just have to have faith enough to hold on I didn't I didn't think I had strength to make it through another week but God someway somehow you showed up and give me the strength to just stand on my feet and that somebody in here this morning who's been going through a spell of sickness or some trial in your family some stress there's almost about to break your heart I got some good news for you this morning when it looks like the bottom is about to fall out he's the rock at the bottom when it looks like all hell is going to break loose and you're not able to be able to turn the corner God will show up just in the nick of time and make a way out of no way harsh rejection but then in verse 15 and 16 there's this hopeless reality verse 15 and 16 and the water was spent in the bottle and she cast the child under one of the shrubs and she went and set her down over against them a good way off as it were a bush out a thousand yards for she said let me not see the death of the child and she said over against him and lift up her voice and wept she wept but God heard the child someone will help me shout right here she wept but God heard the child she cried she lifted a virus but God did not hear her he heard the child because he knew what she was crying for and even when you can't get the words out God knows what you're crying up have a got a witness here even when you can't put your pain in the words God understands your groan this this this word sometimes listen Ishmael is a way off from his mother and she's in pain but God had already made her a promise but when you're in pain you can't always see the promise because pain can disorient you the answer the solution is right by you it's right close but you can't see it because you're in pain you've been rejected by folk who supposed to love you you've been pushed around by people who's supposed to be on your side you've been talked about my folk you helped you've been maligned and criticized lied on by people if it weren't for you there wouldn't be where they are and that's painful that's hurtful that's heart breaking and missin sisters and brothers we need to call pain what it is stop talking about I ain't gonna claim it and stop talking about I'm I know what the doctor say but I ain't taking this medication that's crazy that ain't got nothing to do with faith that you you need a psychiatrist if you are in pain and you're not taking your medication life sends pain and sickness and you have to deal with it and your faith will not make it go away because God will not always remove the problem he'll just change you in the midst of it I wish I had somebody here who's been through some seasons of distress in your life and you are stronger Christian now because you went through the stuff you went through you have a bigger prayer life now because if you hadn't been through the struggles that you've been through you would be able to call on God the way you call on God God did not move the situation he made you stronger in the midst of nah you don't have to move them out just give me the strength to climb la don't take away my my summoning blocks just lead me somebody ought to help me preaching and I thank God for the mountains I thank God for the valleys I thank God for the storms he brought me through cuz if I had never had a problem I never know that God could solve have a got a witness here through it all through it all I've learned to trust in Jesus I've been rejected I've been through the stone I've had my heart broken I've had to cry in the midnight hour I've called on the Lord and I didn't get enhance that's a harsh rejection that's a hopeless reality but the Bible says she cried but God heard the child brothers and sisters let me let me try to hurry if the Lord is going to develop you into the image of Christ listen to me if the Lord is going to develop you into the image of Christ which is why he saved you in the first place he will do so through the events of your life he will send you exactly what it is going to take to transform you into the person he saved you to be let me say it one more time he will send exactly what it is going to take to transform you into the person he saved you to be if it's an operation he goes in that if it's a hard problem he's gonna send that if you need a transplant he's going to sin that if a child is the one to break your heart to soften you he's gonna send that if sickness is gonna bring you down to where you're totally dependent on him ask me he'll send it because I didn't think I could serve God with the kind of illness inflicted upon me my lung collapsed and and and and I had shortness of breath and it was difficult for me to catch my breath and I said God how am I gonna preach if I can't catch my breath and it came to me just like you came into Apostle Paul my grace is sufficient because y'all strength my strength can only be made perfect when you are weak somebody ought to help me preach it my strength can only be perfected in your weakness so Paul says most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities that the power of Christ may rest upon me for when I am weak then am i strong this is harsh rejection which empties into a hopeless reality comes out triumphantly into some hidden resources I'm through now this harsh rejection this hopeless reality brings us finally to some hidden resources because the scripture says God opened her eyes you're gonna help me close this won't you I said to you a minute ago pain can make you forget about the promise trouble can make you think that God has walked off and left you have I got a witness here situations will arise in your life that makes it look like God is not on your side but I want you to know this morning brothers and sisters if you give him a chance God will open your eyes I wish I had somebody whose eyes are open to see that in the midst of harsh rejection in the midst of hopeless reality there's a hidden resource God opened our eyes and she saw not just a bag of water that Abraham gave her to leave with but she saw a well of water because God's got more than a bag God's got a whale I need somebody here who needs something from the Lord this morning I'm not talking about you here who are self-sufficient and and self-assured and conceded in your own resources I'm talking about some of us here who need something from the Lord that money came by we need something from the Lord that no amount of resources that we have in our hands will be able to supplement I need something from the Lord right now that I can't get unless God delivers it I need messy right now and I don't have enough money to buy that I need grace right now and I don't have enough important people in my life to supply that I need God to wake me up in the morning and I don't care what college you went to what degrees are behind your name you can't wake yourself up in the morning God is going to have to do that I need somebody to walk with me through the valley of the shadow of death and I know somebody who's able to do exceeding abundantly above all that I can even ask ah think you got a face from the situation in a couple of days but God will stand right by your side and make a way out of no way you got some mess in your family right now but God knows how to straighten up whatever is crooked in your situation is there anybody here who knows harsh rejection is there any out here we have some hopeless realities but is there anybody here no God got some hidden resources he will make a way out of no way he will show up in the dark times in your life if the Lord made a way for you and you're not ashamed to testify if the Lord been good to you and you don't care who's looking at you if the Lord made a way for you and you don't mind testifying why don't you grab somebody why don't you shake somebody's hand tell him I have had some harsh rejections I've had some hopeless reality come on preach it like I'm preaching it but thank God I have some hidden resource he will show up he will turn it around he will open the door he will heal your body he will dry your tears he will save your soul won't he do it won't he do it I said won't he do it here's how I know you'll do it one Friday on a hill called Calvary he died didn't he die but writer alley Sunday morning he got up to prove he can do it with all power in his hand why don't you hurt somebody tell him it might get down but just hold on you might have to cry but just hold on it might look bad but just hold on it might look like it won't turn around but just hold on when we fix it Wally fix it ah no he's alright Abraham sent her away with a bag of water but God opened her eyes and she saw a well for water because not only will he give you what you need he'll give you more than you need if you trust and never doubt somebody ought to help me testify he will surely yes he will yes he will yes he will yes he will yes he will yes he will yes he will yes he will he'll protect you he'll direct you he'll lead you he'll guide you he'll take care of you yes he will yes he will yes he will yes he will yes you will yes you will yes he will yes you will come on help somebody why don't you encourage somebody tell them beam up this man what meet our God will I've had some harsh rejection I've had some hopeless reality but thank God my eyes are open and I see God's hidden resources people you think don't even know you a praying for you and I told you several months ago prayer is so powerful that God is answering the prayers of people who are dead people who pray for you who are in our grave God is still answering that prayer you

Channel: lillygrovembc

Views: 47,536

Rating: 4.7941585 out of 5

Keywords: Reverend Terry Anderson Pastor Lilly Grove Missionary Baptist Church Houston Texas

Id: euEYEzKFf0g

Length: 38min 19sec (2299 seconds)

Published: Mon Jun 13 2016