Jesus Looks After The Overlooked

Throughout your life, you're gonna have times where you feel overlooked, you feel forgotten, you feel times of suffering and persecution, affliction, like that is the common denominator in life. You're going to, as Jesus said, have trouble, have sorrow, have suffering. This is just reality. And you need to remember, like it's so crucial that in those moments, we remember, we have a God who looks after the overlooked. Jesus looks after, cares for, is present with the overlooked. There's a digital artist named Kevin Carden. You'll see his image on the screen that he created three years ago. It's called, The Good Shepherd is on the Way. I want you to look at that picture. I see somebody nodding their head, like you're familiar with this. It's been all over social media. See yourself in that image as you look at it as they leave it up on the screen, because what you will see in scripture, like this isn't just Kevin Carden's imagination. This is the reality of Luke 15, where Jesus says that what shepherd, when he loses his sheep, does not leave the 99 in open country and goes after the one that is lost. But those words and the image that Kevin produced,

that Jesus said, you see throughout the entirety of scripture, through Genesis three, where Adam and Eve first sin, God is in pursuit of them all the way through John exiled on the island of Patmos. Like this guy is causing too much trouble. We're gonna put him in prison in a dark, dank cave that we might shut him and the gospel up. And Jesus goes to him there. In every single book in between, we have this God that is in pursuit, that he looks after the overlooked. And so in your life and in the lives of your loved ones, that's what's going to be common is that you will have pain, suffering, to have all of the trials of life. And what will be true also is this God that is in pursuit of you, who loves you and seeks after you. Also, what we're gonna see in the passage that we'll be in today is that God not only sees you, but he knows you, he hears you, he is near to you, he will instruct you. And like a one that makes me most excited for you that I can testify to, he has plans for you. That his plans are beyond the problems that we face. You're loved by this God, the inescapable love of God, and you will never suffer beyond his saving. And so today we begin this new series, Christophany. Christophany, and we'll be here the next six weeks,

is a time, lean in right here, because this may be new to you, like what is that big theological term, Christophany, what? This is when God the Son, the second person of the Trinity, steps into the Old Testament pages prior to his incarnation. So we think most often about Jesus when he took on flesh, God the Son descended from the Father, born of a virgin. We think about him from zero to 33 AD when he lived a sinless life, died the death on the cross that we deserved, was buried and raised again on the third day, then was with the apostles, appeared to 500 and ascended to the Father in his returning. We're familiar with that. We are less familiar, as a church and as a people, we are less familiar, as a church and as a people, as Christians, with what is called a Christophany, which is when the eternal Son of God steps into the Old Testament and walks and talks with his people. It's amazing. You see Jesus like jumping in to the reality in pursuit of people and loving them. And it's like often overlooked. And so what you'll see, here's some clues, because you're like, man, out of the Old Testament, a lot of pages here, how do we know when that's him? How do we know when the second person of the Trinity, God the Son, just intersects, intervenes,

intercedes with mankind? Well, there are some clues, there's some indicators when we can know this is the case. So throughout Scripture, you have many angels of the Lord. There's a multitude of multitudes of angels. You'll see in the Scripture, an angel of the Lord, A-N, like one of many. There are a few times in Scripture where you see the angel of the Lord, the definite article T-H-E, singular, there is one, the angel of the Lord. Now, when the angel of the Lord appears on the scene, this is what is called the Christophany. How can we know that? Because when you see the angel of the Lord, the author of Scripture, as inspired by the Holy Spirit, will use interchangeably the angel of the Lord and Yahweh. So it'll say like, the angel of the Lord said this, and then in the next sentence it'll say, and the Lord did that. It's like, wait, what? The angel of the Lord is the Lord. The other thing that you'll note is that angels never receive worship. In Revelation, in fact, John is visited by an angel. He falls to his knees, bows down, and the angel won't have any of it. In fact, the angel says to him, no, no, don't do this. I am a servant of God, as you are. Like, do not worship me.

When the angel of the Lord appears on the scene, people do bow down, and he does not correct them. In Gideon's case, Gideon offers a sacrifice. An angel would never receive a sacrifice. Gideon offers a sacrifice, and the angel of the Lord touches it with his staff, and it burns up in a flame of fire. He receives the sacrifice. When the angel of the Lord appears to Samson's parents, they are terrified because they say, we've seen God, and now we're gonna die, which is in line with Exodus 33 20. When Moses is like, hey, I wanna see you, God. Like, I wanna know who you are. I wanna see you. Moses says, you can't, because man will not see me and live. And so he hides him in the cleft of the rock, and his glory passes by, and he just sees from behind. But here, with the angel of the Lord, people are interacting face-to-face with him, and they acknowledge him as Lord. He receives worship. They bow down, praise, and sacrifice. Additionally, the angel of the Lord speaks in first person as the Lord, and has divine authority. He gives promises and covenants to the people that he's interacting with. And so we know when you see the angel of the Lord, we have a Christophany as Jesus is appearing on the scene

before he took on flesh and interacting with people. Some trusted theologians, in case you guys are like, dude, you are off the reservation. What are you talking about? I've heard this before. Listen to some of the early church fathers and theologians. So Justin Martyr taught this, Tertullian, Irenaeus, Origen, Augustine. Then you get to the Reformation. John Calvin and Martin Luther taught Christophanies. Then you get to the Great Awakening in America. Jonathan Edwards taught of the Christophanies. J.I. Packer, R.C. Sproul, John MacArthur, Wayne Grudem, and the recently late Michael Heiser. All these serious students of the scripture, they are reading the Savior with the angel of the Lord. So I say that as a way to set up this next six-week series of Christophanies. The reason why, when you're like, why would we, what a random, odd thing to study. We are looking at different facets and character qualities of God the Son that we can see like, oh, this is more of who you are. We read so much about you in the gospels and in part in Acts. Now we can know you more, glorify you more as we understand the character of God. And today will be no exception as we look at the very first Christophany in all of scripture.

And what is beautiful is that the very first Christophany, when Jesus just like appears on the scene, is to this relatively unknown slave girl from Egypt named Hagar. We're gonna be in Genesis chapter 16. We're gonna walk through the entire chapter of that passage. This is the first Christophany as she appears to Hagar. Before we do, I wanna give you a little bit of a setup as to what's happening in Goddess to Genesis 16. And then I'll give you the preview of the three points. So God speaks to Abram in the Ur of Chaldees. That's in modern day Iraq. The ruins of the city of Ur is still there. He appears to Moses and he says, I'm sorry, to Abraham. And he says, I'm gonna make you a father of many nations. And Abram's like, yeah, we weren't like infertile. We can't have kids. And he's like, hey, go outside, look at the stars of the sky. So will be your descendants. Now leave this place and go to the land that I will show you. And so Abram and Sarai, his wife, begin to walk out to the promised land. And famine comes upon the land. They go down to Egypt. Pharaoh gives them male and female servants and a bunch of livestock. He leaves a rich man, goes back into the promised land. And they're still struggling with infertility, Abram and Sarai.

Sarai, in her frustration. and exhaustion thinks, well, maybe the child of promise will come through our servant and not me. And so mankind's impatience and control brings about a great deal of problems. With that in mind, here's the three points that we're gonna walk through and extract, pull out of the passage, and they are this. Christ pursues you in your pain. He pursues you in your pain. Second, Christ is personal and pastoral. And third, and what I'm most excited about, is that Christ has plans beyond your perspective, beyond what you could ever imagine. So, now that we have all that set up, Genesis 16, verses one through seven, you'll see it on the screen, I'll be reading from the ESV. Now Sarai, Abram's wife, had borne him no children. She had a female Egyptian servant whose name was Hagar. And Sarai said to Abram, behold now, the Lord has prevented me from bearing children. Go into my servant, it may be that I shall obtain children by her. And Abram, in passivity, because God made it clear from Genesis one and two, man and woman shall become one for one lifetime, and that they shall be fruitful and multiply. This would never be God's design, but in passivity. So, Abram does, he says,

Abram listened to the voice of Sarai. Verse three, so after Abram had lived 10 years in the land of Canaan, Sarai, Abram's wife, took Hagar, the Egyptian, her servant, and gave her to Abram, her husband, as a wife. And he went into Hagar, and she conceived. And when she saw that she had conceived, she, Hagar, looked with contempt on her mistress, Sarai. And Sarai said to Abram, may the wrong done to me be on you. I gave my servant to your embrace, and when she saw that she had conceived, she looked on contempt towards me. May the Lord judge between you and me. Again, Abram, in passivity. But Abram said to Sarai, behold, your servant is in your power. Do to her as you please. Then Sarai dealt harshly with her, and she fled from her. The angel of the Lord. The angel of the Lord found her by a spring of water in the wilderness, the spring on the way to Shur. We know from geography, Hagar, having been mistreated by Sarai, was 75 miles in on a 250-mile journey back to Egypt. See, Hagar had been mistreated for so much of her life. We don't know how she came to be a servant or slave in the household of Pharaoh, but at some point, she was taken, maybe because of generational debt. We don't know, but she was a servant of Pharaoh.

Abram and Sarai come upon the land. They're down in Egypt because of a famine, and Pharaoh's like, oh, you know what? Here's some servants. You can have male and female. So she's taken by Pharaoh, now passed off to Abram and Sarai. She's taken out of Egypt, her homeland, and now is there in Canaan. Then, because of Abram and Sarai's impatience, Sarai says, you know what? Take Hagar. She's like, what? Nothing of her own doing, and then she's taken by Abram and lies with him. This is not anything that she would have ever had in mind. Then she realizes she's pregnant with Abram's son and has contempt against Sarai, and Sarai begins to mistreat her. Abram's like, yeah, do to her as you please. Sarai's mistreating her so much so that she just runs away into the wilderness. She's a pregnant, single mom running through a wilderness wasteland, 75 miles deep, and Jesus appears on the scene to a slave girl on the run, mistreated by, frankly, the covenant people of God. And this is the first time that we see the angel of the Lord, second person of the Trinity, appear on the scene. Like, how great is our God?

How great is our Savior who pursues us in our pain? Which is the first point. Christ pursues you in your pain. You see, it says in Hebrew that the angel of the Lord found her. That's not like, oh, I lost my keys. Like, where are my keys? I don't know where my keys are. The Hebrew. word there found is to secure what is lost. Not that God who's omniscient, he's all knowing. It's not like he's like, oh, where's Hagar? Where did she go? Where'd she run off to? I have to search for her. He found her by the well on the way to Shur, going back to Egypt. It's to secure what's lost. He secured her. She was lost in her circumstances and he secured her. Just like that picture we saw by Kevin Carden. She was lost, he secured her. Christ pursues you in your pain. He sees you, he's not unaware, and he runs to you and rescues you. That's what it is, how God finds us. Christ pursues you in your pain. He looks upon the overlooked. He's not blind to your suffering.

He's not deaf to your pain and your outcries. Because with our pain in Christ, it means proximity. Proximity to God in our pain, this is Psalm 34, where it says that he is near to the broken hearted and saves the crushed in spirit. As I thought about this passage and that Christ pursues us in our pain, I couldn't help but think about my own story. And there's something that I'm gonna share with you this morning that I don't often share from the stage or when I'm mic'd up or as live streaming, and there's a reason for that. Because while I'm really comfortable sharing my past sin or my present sin from the stage, because all it does is point to my Savior. And if I can, then I believe that it makes it safe for everybody who would ever listen. Like, man, if you can say that while you're mic'd up, I guess I can tell my life group, I guess I can come forward for prayer. But what I don't often share from the stage is sin that was committed against me. Because while I'm comfortable sharing my own sin, not so much others. So I was married before Laura. I was married back when I lived in Austin. And three years into that marriage, I found out that my now ex-wife was having an affair with one of my friends that I had introduced her to in order to get a job.

When I found out about the affair, I loaded a gun, called my friend about a hundred times and told him that I was gonna murder him. It was gonna be murder-suicide. I was like, you're dead, then I'm dead. I'm not going to prison for life. And in the midst of trying to find him, flipped the safety off, put the gun to my head. I was coming undone. I destroyed our entire house like everything, utter destruction. I went manic, I lost my mind. Risky, careless behavior was coming undone, self-destructing, suicidal, manic, depressed. And as I was drinking with two homeless guys on a Wednesday morning in Austin, Texas, I grabbed them because I didn't want to sit alone. I was like, come sit with me. I'll buy you whatever I want, whatever you want. My brother got a one-way flight to Austin, put me in my own car, drove me back to Dallas for what I now understand to be a family intervention. And my family was like, we love you too much to let you go on like this. You're hurting yourself, you're hurting us. I promised them I'd get better. I went to an AA meeting. And days later, I found myself on my knees beside my fraternity brother's couch that I was sleeping on and surrendering my life to Jesus.

I was not pursuing Jesus. Jesus was pursuing me. I was pursuing to destroy my life. I was filled with so much rage and hatred and malice. I was taking sleeping pills while I drank, hoping that I wouldn't wake up. I was on a doomsday course for death and Jesus intersected me. He pursued me in my pain through my brother, through my friends, through AA, through the CFO at my business that was inviting me to a Bible study, through my parents. There was this pursuit by Christ in my pain, like that picture on a rescue mission to save me. It's what he does. Jesus pursues us in our pain. C.S. Lewis said this, God whispers to us in our pleasures. He speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pain. It is his megaphone to rouse a deaf world. Now, why do I share that with you this morning? Why do I share about my past divorce and my just like desire to die? because I thought my life was over. And in truth, it was just beginning. I was 30 years old and because of Jesus, Him pursuing me in my pain, my life was just beginning. And so I want you to never doubt, maybe you've got a prodigal, maybe it's you, but never doubt that you are beyond the love and grace

and mercy and pursuit of Jesus. It doesn't matter what you've done, the divorce, the addiction, the past, the abuse, whatever it may be, like Hagar, He is in pursuit of you in your pain. He is the Luke 15 shepherd that leaves the 99 and goes after the one. And there was more rejoicing in heaven over one that repents than over 99 who need no repentance. He is after you and pursues you in your pain. But He doesn't just pursue you in your pain, like, yes, He found Hagar, but then what? Well, you will see that He personally pastors her. We're told in Hebrews 13 that He is the great shepherd of the sheep. So let's continue in the passage and see the angel of the Lord, second person of the Trinity and how He works. It says in Genesis 16, and He, the angel of the Lord said, Hagar, servant of Sarai, where have you come from? And where are you going? She said, I am fleeing from my mistress, Sarai. In fact, her name, Hagar, means fleeing one, the one running away. She's running away from Sarai. But it's interesting because Jesus knows her name. He shows up on the scene. They've never met before.

She would be like, how did you know my name? Like, how is it that you know who I am? And you don't just know who I am. You know the name of my boss and you know my role. He says, Hagar, servant. So you know my name, you know my role, servant. And then I'm a servant of Sarai. And I think that would have given her great comfort in the moment as the Lord's like, I know everything. I know everything. I know who you are. I know who she is. I know she's mistreating you. It says in Colossians 4.1, as it's speaking to masters, masters who have servants. In our context, think boss, think coach, think teacher, think administrator, CEO, father of a household. It says, masters, treat your servants with kindness because you know that you have a master in heaven. He's like, hey, I know that you think you're in charge. Well, I'm in charge of you. So treat them with kindness. I think Hagar would have felt so comforted by that. And then if you have ever been in a counseling situation or you know a counselor, you know that counselors begin by doing something that feels like counterintuitive. Rather than give you counsel, they ask you questions. A good counselor doesn't just sit down and give you all this advice, but rather is drawing out. They're asking questions

because they don't just wanna tell you what to do. They wanna know what's within that you might unearth those things that are causing all the pain and trauma and hardship. And so Jesus, like a good counselor, as a personal pastor, asks her questions. Where have you come from? And where are you going? It's an ancient Near East idiom. Like, where are you coming from? Where are you going? It's the same as a parent would do today. Like when my kids, if they're just like frustrated and hurt or angry or crying, I'll be like, hey, what's going on? It's not that as a dad, I don't know what's going on. I know that they're hurt or frustrated or angry or feel like there was some injustice. When I say, hey, what's going on? It's not a lack of omniscience that I don't know what's going on. Well, I'm not omniscient, but I know as a dad what's going on. I'm wanting them to speak it out. Like I'm hurt, I'm frustrated because this, so that I can pastor them, so that we can have this relationship. And so Jesus is doing the same. God, the son is like, where are you coming from? And where are you going?

It was a question of accountability, purpose, and identity. He's like, this isn't who you are. And this isn't what I have for you. You're running away. You're headed towards trouble and more hardship. This is not what I intend for you. And so the second point, Christ is personal and pastoral. You see it in Hagar's life, and you see it on every page of the scriptures, and you will see it in your life. He knows you. Jesus said, the Lord knows every hair on your head, and it's not because He's particularly interested in hair. It's because He knows you at a cellular, personal level. In Him, we live and move and have our being. He knows everything about us. Psalm 139 says, before a word is on my tongue, you know it completely. Your thoughts of me are greater than sand on the sea. Where can I flee from your presence? He's so personal, but it's not just that He's all-knowing. He pastors us. He is called the great shepherd of the sheep. He's the shepherd for you. He's personal, and He pastors you in great care. So when He meets the woman at the well, and He's like, yeah, it's true. As He says, like, go and bring your husband. She says, like, I have no husband. He's like, yeah, that's true.

And the truth is, you've had five, and the man you're with is not your husband. But He must have said it in such a way, she wasn't condemned by it. She was amazed by it. And so she returned to her village, and she said, come meet a man that knows everything I've ever done. You see, in that moment, she felt fully known and fully loved. She didn't say, stay away from that man. He's so condemning, so harsh. She's like, she says this, could He be the Christ? And many came, and many believed. Christ is personal and pastoral. When I met my wife, Laura, I was speaking out at Pine Cove at the Forge. I came home to the host family's house, Chris Boddy, who runs Pine Cove Camps, and he and his wife, Sarah. And when I got home, they got a babysitter because they wanted to hear me speak. So I got home to their house, and I walk in the back, and they're like, hey, come meet the babysitter. I was like, what? No, I'm good. I need to work on my talks for tomorrow. And they're like, no, come meet the babysitter. And I was like, hey, I don't want to meet

the 13-year-old neighborhood girl. I'm good. And he's like, come meet the babysitter. And I was like, okay. So I walk around the corner, and I walk in, and there was Laura. And she like sits up off the couch, and she said, you are the most handsome man I've ever seen in my life. She didn't say that. I am certain she thought it. She did not say it. So we talked for two hours. We get coffee the next day, and we're talking that night on the phone. We'd known each other 24 hours. And we're just making small talk, and she's like, where do you go to church? And I tell her there's a church in Dallas, which is a mega church, thousands of people. And she goes, oh, my aunt and uncle go to church there. Well, I gotta keep the small talk going. I'm like, well, who's your aunt and uncle? Thinking like, there's no chance. And she goes, Tom and Laura Gilbert. And I was like, what? I've had Thanksgiving dinner with your aunt and uncle. Look, what are the odds? Silence. I was like, hello?

She's like, I can't believe this. I was like, what? She's like, I can't believe this, you're the guy. I was like, what guy? She's like, you're the guy. What guy? She said, my aunt has been trying to set me up with this guy in Dallas. I don't wanna be set up, but I know your whole story. Well, at that point, my heart sank into my stomach because I was like, whole story? I mean, what that means is, I mean, you know everything. And I'm like, this is goodbye. Like, it's been a great 24 hours. You will want to have nothing to do with me. I'm certain of it. No woman in her right mind ever would. And I'm like, I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. Ever would. And she goes, yeah, I know everything. And the next question she said is, do you still talk to your ex-wife? I was like, oh, you really do know everything. I was like, no, I don't.

That would not be appropriate. She and my friend began a family. They're married. I've shared the gospel with her, like probably 12 times prior to the marriage. But no, that would not be appropriate. I still pray for them often, but no. She goes, okay. How long have you been sober? I was like, good night. Like, what? Do you know my social security? Like, what is happening? I was like, about four years. And I felt so much shame. It's like, you're a sweet girl. I've got so much in my past. Like, let me just do this for you so you don't have to. Like, great. And she said, I think it's really incredible what God has done in your life. I was like, what? And it was like tangible grace coming through the phone line from Jesus through her, so personal, so pastoral, knew all of the worst things about me. And she's like, I think it's amazing what God has done. And we've been married 15 years, all because of Jesus. This God, thank you, Maury thought it was sweet. Leave it to the newlywed, Maury's like, yes, all right, love is still alive, thank you.

Freddy's bread, so personal, so pastoral. There's nothing in your life that is beyond the redemption of the Redeemer, it's what he does. He knows everything, he knows everything. He's not ashamed of you, he doesn't condemn you, he doesn't despise you, he loves you. He has pursued you in your pain, he personally knows it, and he wants to pastor you through it. It's what he says, where are you coming from? Where are you going? This isn't it, you're out in the middle of this wilderness here, I've got better for you. But I think if we'd stop there, we'd be like, all right, so he's personal and pastoral. That doesn't really fix my problems, because here I am, 75 miles on the way to Egypt, dying as a single pregnant mom who's been mistreated, so now what, angel of the Lord, huh? Well, let's just see, because what God says is unthinkable and unimaginable. It's like, no, how could you do that? Oh, how could you do that? Let's continue reading, verse nine through 16. The angel of the Lord said to her, return to your mistress and submit to her. I mean, you know she's gotta be thinking like, are you kidding me? You're asking me to go back? And by the way, this is descriptive, not prescriptive. I'm not saying to go, the Lord is not saying

to go back into an abusive relationship, but in this instance, he's like, this is not what I have for you. I want you to go back, totally counterintuitive, return to your mistress and submit to her. The angel of the Lord also said to her, this is no angel, this is God, I will surely multiply your offsprings so that they cannot be numbered for multitude. And the angel of the Lord said to her, behold, you are pregnant and shall bear a son. You shall call his name Ishmael, which means the Lord hears because the Lord has listened to your affliction. He shall be a wild donkey of a man, which means strength and independence, his hand against everyone and everyone's hand against him, and he shall dwell over against all his kinsmen. So she called the name of the, who? Lord. She called the name of the Lord. Here we have the author, the narrator, Moses as inspired by the Holy Spirit, the angel of the Lord equating her to the Lord. So she called the name of the Lord, who spoke to her? You are a God of seeing. She's the first person in the scriptures, this Egyptian servant girl impregnated by another woman's husband, El Roy. She names him El Roy. You are the God who sees.

You are a God of seeing. For she said, truly here, I have seen him who looks after me. What a statement, what a thing to say. I have beheld him who looks after me. You always have been looking after me. You see everything. You don't just like see, but you look after me. Jesus looks after the overlooked. Therefore, the well was called Be'er L'Chai Roy, well of the living one. It lies between Kadesh and Bered. And Hagar bore Abram a son, and Abram called the name of his son, whom Hagar bore Ishmael. Abram was 86 years old when Hagar bore Ishmael to the Lord. So crazy, like God tells her like, hey, I want you to go back. I know you're out here, you're running back to Egypt. She was mistreating you. I want you to go back and submit to her. This is completely illogical. It would have seemed like, God, you don't, you say you know everything. You're here to personally pastor me, and now you're asking me to go back there where I was mistreated. How? Like how could that be a good thing? It's better that I just go home to where I'm from.

Like this does not seem good. And God is after our good for his glory. And we don't always get to know what's on the additional page turn. We just follow. Him in faith, to say like, all right, if you say so, if you say so, then I will. It's unthinkable to her, and yet she does. She follows what he says in faith, because he says, she comes to understand, like I know that you say you're gonna bless me, you've given me a promise, and so I'm gonna follow in faith. The third point is Christ has plans beyond your perspective. He has plans beyond your perspective. You think, what could God do in this mess? An Egyptian servant girl run through the desert, impregnated, and what she would find in later pages is that Ishmael would become the father of 12 nations, multitude of multitudes. That's what God can do. He can take all the broken pieces and make something beautiful. I, in my life, at the age of 30, there just like a month sober, on my knees, having trusted Christ at step three of Alcoholics Anonymous, going through a divorce, living on a couch, having put cigarettes out of my hand, guns in my head, all the pills, all the poison, doctors telling me I was dying of hepatitis of the liver.

I was like, okay, well, now I'm saved. Like my salvation's secure. I've trusted in Jesus for the forgiveness of my sins. I'm born again, like born again. But I thought it was totally unusable. Like, what can you do with me? A divorced alcoholic, now a month sober, living on a couch, losing my job, was in advertising and sales. I just quit going to work. I'm like, what could you do with me? But this is what I knew. I was like, oh, Jesus is real. He is real. Like at the age of 30, saved me, set me free from alcoholism. I was like, oh, dude, this is, you're real. And I believed you're never too far gone. I was like, if I wasn't too far gone, then nobody's too far gone. And the third thing, I'm gonna spend the rest of my life telling everybody, you're real, you're never too far gone, and he can change everything. But I had a problem. Because I was like, well, who, I was like, I'm gonna leave my life of business. My friends were like, this is career suicide. Don't do it, you're just going through a hard time. I was like, no, I'm done. I'm gonna tell everybody that I can.

But I was like, who's gonna hire me? A divorced alcoholic. And I truly, I was like, well, maybe a homeless shelter or a prison ministry. Because they're pretty familiar with pain. So I'll just go and serve in those two areas, which I did. And I was like, they'll probably take me in. Because I never felt so much condemnation as I did from other Christians. As I would tell them my story and I would see their countenance change. When I mentioned the word divorce, like, oh. And I would feel this like giant scarlet D. The alcoholism I feel like people could deal with. But when I said divorced, it was like, oh, wow. And it just, I was like, man, I wanna spend the rest of my life telling others about Jesus, but no church in their right mind would ever hire me. No church in their right mind would ever allow me to preach a sermon. No church in their right mind would ever allow me to officiate a wedding. I've been divorced. And for the last 20 years, I've been serving in church ministry. Preaching Christ, officiating weddings. Yeah. And like, please, like every hand clap for Jesus. It ain't me.

You would not have applauded for my life before. All of that is the Lord. And like the risk in me sharing some of that stuff is just to be like, okay, well, yeah, you're just boasting about you. I'm not, I'm boasting about our God. Who like does the unthinkable. Christ who has plans beyond your perspective. I thought my life was over. It was just beginning. So like, here's the risk that you'd think I'm boasting. I'm not, I'm just saying like, look what God does. Regeneration, our ministry here on Monday nights. Okay, there's your invitation. If people are that excited about regen, you should probably go. There's two kinds of people in this church. Those that go to regen and those who should. You're one of two. See you Monday at 6.30. And experience the healing and joy that the front row has. I remember me and my boss at the time on a dry erase marker on my office window, sketching out what we wanted to be regen to be. Like we developed it right there on my window. He went off to write, I led it. Years later, I would be leading the world's largest recovery ministry, 1200 people on a Monday night. Like what am I doing doing?

I was a divorced alcoholic who was suicidal. And now I'm doing this. There's a country phrase. If you see a turtle on a fence post, you know he had some help. Like, how'd that turtle get there? Somebody must have, boom. That's what was happening. I was like, what am I doing here? My life was over. How am I doing this? How am I here today before you? How is it that some publisher was like, yeah, we'll bank on you writing this book, Freedom Starts Today, about how people get free from addiction. What publisher would ever be like, okay, so divorced, suicidal, alcoholic. Yeah, get in line, we got a lot of you guys. It's Jesus, it's Jesus. Because he has plans beyond our perspective. I didn't think God could do anything. He was just getting started. And so you need to know, no matter what the debt, what the criminal record, what the abuse, what the offense, what the divorce, what the adultery, whatever it is, God has plans beyond your perspective. But you gotta put it in his hands. You gotta give it to him.

You know the greatest sin that has ever been committed? That they crucified Jesus. That they killed the author of life. No one took his life, he laid it down. But that's the greatest sin that's ever been committed is that Roman soldiers, by the commission of Jews, put to death God in flesh. But you wanna know the greatest blessing in all of human history? The death of Jesus Christ. For the forgiveness of our sins. Well, how can they both be true? Because what man meant for evil, God meant for good for the saving of many lives. And so church, you have to personally grasp this. He has plans for you beyond your perspective. Like story, no matter what happens in life, beyond your perspective, beyond your wildest dreams. And Wes and Randy, no matter what has happened or ever will, plans beyond your perspective in your wildest dreams. Because everything laid in the master's hands becomes a thing of beauty. Because all morning, right behind me, has been a mosaic that Charlotte Dixon created. And it is made up of broken pieces. But a designer with very purposeful intention laid each one beside another to create a beautiful design for the world to behold. And it's what he will do in your life

as you give him every broken piece. He has plans beyond your perspective. He's a good God. So we've seen from Hagar and God, this God who sees, the one who looks after the overlooked, that Christ pursues you in your pain. Christ is personal and pastoral. And that Christ has wild plans beyond your perspective. Give them to him. Hagar went back. She did the unthinkable. She did the illogical. And it begs the question, what would have happened if she wouldn't have gone back? But I think the question for us today is, what if we don't come? Come to God. Give him our pain. Give him our problems. Give him the brokenness. And let him make something beautiful.