Good morning. Good morning. Now,
we'll be turning to Genesis 16. Brother Angus Fisher sends his
love to the brethren here, and those brethren there do too.
We don't know them, we've never met them, but we sure are thankful
for them. And the Lord's got a mighty work
there in Australia. And to all the sinners that deserve
being saved, fit to uphold his son's name
in that nation. What a thought. Genesis 16. First, we're going
to look at the sheep. The fleeing sinner found. And
the next hour, we'll look at the shepherd. And I don't want
to presume here it's going to be looking at Hagar this morning.
I don't want to just assume or presume she's one of the Lord's
elect. Many of the old writers think
so. They believe that way, and we may have feelings one way
or the other, but we're not told. We're not told. Sometimes we
are. Did you know that? I have full,
absolute confidence when the Lord said, Peter, I pray that
your faith fail not. I can stand resting assured that
Peter's faith did not fail. Did you know that? Well, I don't
know about Lazarus. What about Martha and Mary? Those
two are just wildly different, aren't they? Wildly different. John was moved to write, now
Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. I have no doubt. I have no question in my mind
that they are loved to the Lord because he said so. And if he's
loved at any point, he has always loved and shall always love.
He has an everlasting love for his people. There's no doubt
in my mind. Ought to not be any doubt in
yours. The text here is not real clear. It's not so clear concerning
Hagar. However, she's used, whether she's his or not, he knows. She's
used to give us a very clear picture of how God saves sinners. And you know what? Nothing's
changed since way back when. Before there was a national Israel,
before the law came, before the Levites were established, before
anything. Way back then. It's the exact same way. If God's
going to be pleased to save somebody, He's going to save them today.
And people can fight it. and you can lie to God, and you
can declare that it happened some other way, and that's your
business. But I can tell you, the God that
changes is not. This is how He saves sinners. What a picture
we have. We'll look at the shepherd next hour, the one that actually
does this saving, the one that comes to these sheep. But now,
here's the type of the sheep. Here's the kind of sheep that
this great shepherd we have comes to save. Here in Genesis 16,
verse 1, it says, bear him no children. And she had a handmaid,
an Egyptian. Remember when Abram went down
to Egypt and he told Sarah to lie. And she went into Pharaoh's
house and he said, what have you done? And he said, here,
take you some stuff and get out of here. Here's all your things
back. Leave, depart. This is one of those Egyptians.
This one servant girls. She wasn't appealing to Pharaoh.
Sarah was. an Egyptian whose name is Hagar.
And Sarai said unto Abram, Behold, now the Lord hath restrained
me from bearing. I can't have children. I pray
thee, go in unto my maid. It may be that I may obtain children
by her. And Abram hearkened to the voice
of Sarai. And Sarai, Abram's wife, took
Hagar, her maid, the Egyptian, after Abram had dwelt ten years
in the land of Canaan. Here I come back from Egypt.
This servant girl's been in your house for 10 years and the Lord
has promised you, gave you a sign, accepted the sacrifice that He
provided, and said, I'm going to raise up seed to you. It's
been 10 years, 10 years. They dwelt 10 years in the land
of Canaan and gave her to her husband Abram to be his wife. This is Sarai's plan and it's
her execution. She planned it. She performed
it. Sarai gave Hagar to be Abram's lawfully wedded wife. Did you
catch that? She married him. She officiated the wedding ceremony.
Didn't fare well, did it? And though there was a benevolence
between Abram and Hagar, it produced offspring. The Lord never refers
to Hagar as the bride of Abram. Doesn't matter what Sarai said,
doesn't matter what Abram said, doesn't matter what Hagar said.
The Lord never refers to Hagar as his bride. It says in verse
4, and he went into Hagar and she conceived. And when she,
when Hagar, saw that she had conceived, her mistress was despised
in her eyes. Saria was despised in the eyes
of Hagar. And why wouldn't she be? Why
wouldn't she be? Here's this young woman and she's
moving on up. She was just an old slave that
was given away in Egypt. She wasn't even worth keeping.
They wouldn't even trade it for it. Just here, you're leaving.
Take her with you. And here she's been out working and serving
for ten years. And boy, now she's caught the
eye of the man. She saw how the Lord's blessed
Abram. She watched him and those 318
go out and defeat all those kings. What a mighty man! She saw him win the battle. She
saw his boldness in front of these kings. King of Sodom came.
And he said, you take that stuff and go. Keep what you want. Get
out of here. I'm not bowing to you. You ain't getting a soul
out of these people. She saw God's high priest, Melchizedek,
come to him with bread and wine. This man's important, and I'm
gonna have his baby. I'm the boss now. You think Abram
may have spoke in those ten years to his own house about what God
had promised? You think that may have slipped
out? Of course he did, didn't he? About what the Lord had already
performed, that's all. Do you remember that time when
you whipped them kings? You got locked back. Oh no, I didn't
do that. The Lord did that. That's what he provided. He told
what the Lord had done, what the Lord is doing, and what the
Lord shall do. This is what God promised me.
How's that going to happen, Abram? I don't know, but that's what
he said. I'm going to have a seed that can't be numbered. He was
adding to him as this went on. Abram told what God had told
him. And now in the context of what is just written, Hagar is
going to be the right-hand woman. And you know what she saw? She
saw Sarai whispering into the ear of her husband, Abram. And
Abram, this mighty man, this king-defeater, he listened to
her. Here's a woman whispering in
her husband's ear, and he listened to her. And he's a strong man,
a mighty man. He bent down to her. What do
you think he'll do for me if I whisper in his ears? She believed
Sarah and not God. She looked to the wisdom, the
purpose, and the pattern of Sarai and not the Lord. And she thought
she could bend. Sarai called Abram Lord. She
said, you are my Lord. Because he ruled that house as
he ought to. We'll get to that in a minute.
But what a picture that is. Isn't that what this world is?
Isn't that what our nature is? What can I do to whisper in God's
ear and bend his arm and make him do what I want him to do?
It ain't going to be profitable. Ain't gonna be profitable. Verse
four says, he went into Hagar, and she conceded, and when she
saw that she conceded, her mistress was despised in her eyes. And
Sarai said unto Abram, my wrong be upon thee. It's her wrong. My wrong be upon thee. I have
given my maid into thy bosom, and when she saw that she had
conceived, I was despised in her eyes. The Lord judge between
me and thee. In my notes I wrote, expound.
but don't dig myself a hole. I'm going to speak plainly to
you. I hope I don't get in trouble. That's all right if I do. The
husband's the head of the house. The husband is the head of the
house. It doesn't matter what society
thinks. It doesn't matter what individuals think. It doesn't
matter what I think. It doesn't matter what you think.
The husband's the head of the house. Why? He's accountable
for the house. That ought to make every one
of you men shaking your boots if you're married. You are accountable
for your home. You may not be responsible for
that house that the Lord gave you, the family that the Lord
gave you, but He gave it, and you're accountable, period. You
may not be responsible. You may not be the one that performs
the act. You may not have come up with the plan, but it's on
your head. You're accountable for it. That's
in the home. You're ahead of that home as one that must give
account because you're accountable. What's that picture? In this
local assemblies that God's raised up throughout the years and throughout
this world, his under shepherds, they're the head of that house.
I am accountable as one that must give account for your souls.
People say, well, I don't need you watching over me, Kevin.
You better watch out. That's what I'm sitting here to do.
As if one has to give account for your souls. Well, what's
that picture in the home and what's that picture in the local assembly?
The body of Christ, his bride throughout time. has been responsible
for every evil thing that's ever come on this earth, isn't it?
But the Lord Jesus Christ, our great kinsman redeemer, our great
husband, he did give account for our souls. Isn't that right? What a beautiful picture that
is. Someday I hope to preach another wedding, but submission
seems… people grit their teeth. Submit. Flinch at it, don't you? What a beautiful thing that is.
in a home, in a local assembly, and to submit to our Lord and
Savior. Isn't it? That's what it shows
throughout. Makes it a lot easier. Why are
wives to submit to their husbands? As they submit unto the Lord.
Isn't it? When Abram messed up, he was
still accountable. He hearkened to his wife and
him just being a weak and sinful sinner. Just a sinner saved by
grace is all he is. He did it again. Verse 6. Verse
6 says, But Abram said unto Sarai, Behold thy maid in thy hand,
do to her as it pleaseth thee. She said, this is your fault.
And he said, do as you want. You're upset, do what you want.
He didn't leave his home, did he? Do as you please. And Sarai
dealt hardly with her, and she fled from her face. What pleased
Sarai to do? He said, do anything you please.
What's this old woman that's wise, way older than Hagar, what
did it please that sweet little old pretty woman to do? To deal
harshly. Harsh dealings. You ever made
a bad decision? And then you got mad because
you know you're the one that made the bad decision? And so
you take it out on those around you? Has that ever happened? Maybe once, maybe twice. Happened
to me a lot. Consider, too, what group this
is that her harsh dealings made Hagar leave. That's on Sarah,
too. What did she run her way from? And what did Hagar flee from?
This is the family of God dwelling in the land. This is the only
place that's recorded, that we know of, that the true Word of
God was proclaimed, that true worship took place, that there
was an altar This is the only place in the whole land where
God spoke to His people. The only place recorded that
a true sacrifice was offered, and that sacrifice was accepted
to the true and living God. That's what she drove away from.
Is that wisdom? And that's what she left. Is
that wisdom? In this area, I deal with Hagar as one that was forgiven. as one that the Lord had been
merciful to, or was she harsh? I pray the next opportunity I
have to deal with someone, I do so in a manner as Christ dealt
with me. I pray I can be long-suffering
as He's long-suffering to me. I pray I can be gracious as He's
been gracious to me, loving as He's loved me. There's a preacher,
wrote this one time, said, some things I desire to do by the
grace of God. I want to love others without
a cause as Christ did me. I want to tell others I'm sorry
and apologize sincerely. I want to forgive without being
asked forgiveness. I want to rightly receive a loving
rebuke from a brother. I want to be taught by those
whom God has taught. I want to listen in quietness
without forcing my opinion. I want to sacrifice my will and
my opinion for the glory of God and the good of His people. I
want to show kindness and even temper at anger. I want to wait
on the Lord with patience born out of confidence that He will,
in His time, do as He said. I want to use every God-honoring
means to spread the gospel of God's grace and glory in Christ
and, above all, to know, to love and trust Christ and be found
in Him, having the righteousness that God gives as a gift, to
persevere to the end by His preserving power and grace. Ain't nothing
in that about me dealing harshly. I hope I know what I am. One
fellow told me, he said, your heart is woodpecker lips. You
can think about that later. Pretty hard. I wish I wasn't. This dealing with Hagar was severe
enough that she left this newfound earthly that she was about to
come into. The head woman. She left this family of God where
God was proclaimed. It says at the end of verse 6,
"...and when Sarai dealt hardly with her, she fled from her face."
All those benefits, being around Abram, and all those spiritual
benefits, she fled. She didn't tinker away, did she?
She ran. Where'd she go? Verse 7 says,
"...the angel of the Lord found her by a fountain of water in
the wilderness, by the fountain and the way to shore." She fled. Was that Shepard? That's what
we're looking at this morning, isn't it? That shepherd that
goes after the sheep. What kind of sheep is that? Boy,
that's the good sheep. That's the one that has the best
wool on them, and they're just so clean, and they don't have
any briars in them, and they're just so... Boy, they do so much.
They can carry stuff. No. Wicked, dirty sheep, isn't it?
Prone to wonder. The angel of the Lord found her
by a fountain of water in the wilderness, by the fountain of
the way to shore. She fled from her mistress on
her way back to Egypt, sure as south. I looked it up on a map. I thought it was, and I went
and verified, but it's south. She was heading back to Egypt.
She was making her own decisions willfully. That's where she went.
She put her left foot in front of her right foot and repeated.
That's where she was walking. Hagar was heading south back
to her homeland, running from where God was. running from any
benefit, any logical sense. She was running back to Egypt,
back to slave land. That's what she was. But God... She made it about 75, 80 miles.
But God, the angel of the Lord, found her. This is Christ speaking
to Hagar, the angel of the Lord. It's not a angel of the Lord,
it's the angel of the Lord. Down in verse 10 it says, the
angel of the Lord said unto her, I will multiply thy seed exceedingly. If this was just one of the heavenly
hosts, if this was just one of the angels of heaven, He would
have said correctly, the Lord will multiply thy seed. This
one came in power. This one came in authority. Found
her and said, I'll multiply your seed. I'll do something that
man can't do. That's our Lord. That's the Lord
Jesus Christ. The one that found her not only has the authority
and the word of God, but has the power of God. I can give
his message. I can tell His Word. I can tell
what His promises are and how He's fulfilled them, how He's
fulfilling them now, and what He will do in the future. But
only He can make the promises, and only He can make them come
to pass, and only He can make a dead sinner believe them. That's
His doing. People say so often, well, when
I found the Lord, when I found Jesus, He wasn't lost. You are. You better believe it, buddy,
I'm telling you. It's life and death. He won't allow his child
to have any glory. It'll be his glory only, and
we won't have it any other way. You may have found another Jesus,
but the Lord Jesus Christ of the Bible finds his sheep. You
don't find him. Next hour, we're looking at that
great shepherd. He said, For the Son of Man has come to seek
and to save that which was lost. He came to seek. I was looking
for God. No, you weren't. You're looking
for a God. You wouldn't look for the God you didn't know Him.
He came to seek. And he came to say, I helped
him, I chose him, I, I, I, I, I. No you didn't. For his sheep,
this shepherd seeks his sheep and he saves his sheep. Sheep
are fully equipped to do a few things. Do you know that? They
are just real good at some things. They're good at getting dirty.
They're real good at getting smelly. If they're not sheared,
that wool gets clogged up with mud and it'll kill them. They're
real good at getting hurt. They're fragile. They have no
self-defenses, and they're real good at getting lost. All but to be his sheep. That
doesn't sound appealing, does it? All but to be his sheep. Goats are in the wild. They dwell
in the elements of this world, and they can make it in this
harsh wilderness. They're just fine going out by themselves.
Sheep are a herd animal. They gotta be around the other
ones. If you see a sheep by itself, there's one of two things. Either
it's lost, Hadn't been found yet, or it's sick. One of the two. There's something
bad wrong if one's off by itself. In verse 7, the Lord repeats
something here. The angel of the Lord found her by a fountain
of water in the wilderness, comma, by the fountain in the way to
shore. Who found who? The angel of the
Lord found her, didn't he? Where did he find her? By the
fountain. A fountain in the wilderness,
by the fountain on the way to shore. He found her by a fountain.
He said it twice, didn't he? Is that what he said? He said
it two times. Where did you find the Lord? Where did he find you? If he's found you, it's going
to be by the living waters, coming out of dirt, coming out of the
earthen vessel. That's where he's going to find
you. That earthen clay pot ain't got nothing to do with it. But
those living waters that flow out of the belly of His preachers,
that's how He's going to save His people. Nobody's sitting
in a recliner in their basement and God come and spoke to them
and they just woke up one day. It ain't happen. God says it
doesn't. And you put stock in that and
my heart hurts as if I got to give account for somebody. I
hear this all over my family. My oldest aunt had children The
same age as my dad, he was the baby. We called her Granny June,
because the ones at our age, that was their grandmother. Anyway,
she's in the hospital. And they took her off all medication,
I found out this morning, and she's probably going to die today.
And she's going to die hating God. Now, she's a sweet woman
that went to church and accepted Jesus, and Mommy and Daddy was
saved, and this other one was saved, and everybody else was
saved, and she's going to meet God without Christ. If I could shake it into them. It's there by those waters, coming
out of rock, coming out of nothing, coming out of dirt. Many claim
to have found the Lord in a dream, in an experience, in a feeling,
in an observation. They claim to have found Him
by learning and then coming to know Him, or that the Lord spoke
to them individually. They're some kind of apostle.
But He reveals Himself to His sheep through the preaching of
the truth. And He said, those false prophets, they will not
profit My people. He said, well, I learned a whole
bunch, and I think the Lord in Providence may use that, the
means, but don't go back to it. Leave it alone. In the preaching
of Christ, he doesn't say people have a well, a fountain of poison.
He says they have good water. If there was a fountain there
in this desert, there'd probably been a lot of people there, but
he found her. He came for one, didn't he? It says in verse 8,
and he said, He called her by name. Does he do that? He said, my sheep hear my voice.
I know them, and they follow me. And he called to Adam after
Adam fell. He said, Adam, where are you?
He knew where he was. But he called him by name, didn't
he? Samuel? Samuel went running to Eli. What
do you want? He said, go back to bed, son.
I didn't call you. He says, the Lord called me.
He called him by name. Saul, Saul, why persecute my people? Caught him by name, didn't he?
Come to him, caught him by name. He said unto her, Hagar, comma,
the bride of Abram. Oh, no, no, no, no. That's man's
doing. That's woman's doing. Lord ain't
gonna give credit to that. He didn't join those two. Comma,
Sariah's maid, comma, the Lord declares the way things are in
truth. And we will not forget what we
are. We're not gonna make ourselves in a way that's gonna make us
the child of Abram, the wife of Abram. We're just Sarai's
maid, ain't we? Especially us, that's the Gentiles. This was an Egyptian girl, slave
girl, that's all I was. They said unto her, Hagar, Sarai's
maid, whence comest thou, and whither wilt thou go? And she
said, I flee from the face of my mistress, Sarai. Where are
you coming from and where are you going? This was not for information. It was for Hagar to see what
she was and what she had done. Hagar said she fled from her
mistress, Saria. Where did she really come from?
That's what we talked about, wasn't it? She left where God
was worshipped, where God was known. She left the only recorded
believers we know of in that time because of some bumps in
the road. What I've seen people leave a
gospel over is piddly. Piddly. That's what it is. Where
did I come from? In truth, where do we come from?
I come from Adam. That's where I come from. He
was in the garden and he fell, and I fell in him. And every
day that I've been born and breathed on this earth, I fell by myself,
willfully. That's where I come from. What
about after the Lord saved me? I left him. I left where his
word was. I left where he was worshiped.
I left him. Some believers say, well, I've
never left the Lord. After he saved me, I beg to differ. I
beg to differ. I wrote that and I thought, man,
that's just hard. And then go read Haggai. Him
and Zechariah came in the same generation, and it was good cop,
bad cop. Boy, Haggai laid them out. Somebody says, well, after
the Lord saved me, I've clung to him. I've never left. I've
never strayed. I beg to differ. that old nature's prone to wonder,
prone to leave the God I love. And in daily life, how many times
have I, this morning, how many times have I left the peace and
comfort of my Lord for the troubles and the worries of this world?
How many times have I left His Word and His promises and I'm
like, boy, there's so much traffic behind that red light. You know
how mad I get at traffic? I hope there's still police.
I'd be the one passing about the side of the road. God sent that traffic light,
didn't he? He sent those cars around. Where did you come from? Horribly depraved. And he says,
whence comest thou and whither wilt thou go? Where are you going? Leave the house of God, leave
the house of bread, and you're going to an eternity of wrath and damnation.
Apart from Christ. Separated from him. Outside of
him is death. In him is life. and all we like
sheep have gone astray." We willfully left. If he wasn't our shepherd,
if he didn't keep us and seek us and save us, we'd dive off
a cliff as fast as we could. She said, I flee from the face
of my mistress Saria. She did not say where she was
going, did she? The Lord asked her two questions. He talked
to old Job after Job's pity party during Job 38, and he said, you
gird your loins up like a man. I'm going to ask you some questions,
and you're going to answer me. And boy, did he lay them out.
Here the Lord spoke to Hagar, asked her two questions. Where
are you coming from? Where are you going? She said where she came from.
She didn't say where she was going, did she? Perhaps she didn't
know. Perhaps she wasn't good at cardinal directions. She's
like, I'm just walking. I'm going to go anywhere that
ain't here. Or she didn't want to admit. that she was willfully
going back to Egypt. I'd rather be a slave in a foreign
land than to be here where the God's people are, than to be
where he's preached. That's the truth of it. Christ
asked his disciples at the end of John. So many of his disciples
went back and they walked no more with him. And he said to
the twelve, will you go away also? And Simon Peter said to
him, Lord, to whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal
life. Where are you going? Where did I come from? Where
am I going? I pray it's to whom? I pray I'm
not going to a place. I pray I'm not going to heaven.
I pray I'm going to the one that saved me. To a person. My first love. That's who I'll
return to. He said, return to your first love. The one that
first loved you. And the angel of the Lord said
in verse 9, return to thy mistress and submit thyself under her
hands. What love there is in that instruction. Where are you
from? Where are you coming from, Hagar?
Where are you going? We've got some problems at home."
And he said, return to thy mistress and submit thyself under her
hands. What instruction is that? When
you go back to them people, it's mean to you. No, that's not it.
Sarah was a picture of that covenant of grace, covenant of God's purpose
in His Son, where His seed shall come. That's what she pictured,
His working, His will, His doing in Him alone. And this angel
of the Lord says, return to her and submit thyself under her
hands. What's that to you and I? Go
to that throne of grace. Throw yourself at the feet of
the Lord and beg. Somebody says that, well, I came
to the Lord 15 years ago. That's too long ago. That's too
long. What about today? I was out there
walking my chickens last night. And I thought, Lord, let me come
to you now. Let me come to you tomorrow. Come to him now. Go back to your mistress. Go
back to that covenant of grace and cast yourself to him. Submit
yourself under her hands. What may be harsh, it will be
if you see yourself as you truly are. It's going to sting. Return
and submit. Stand still and see the salvation
of the Lord. if he's worth more than your
pain, if he's worth more than your embarrassment. I've seen
so many people that disobeyed the Lord in baptism because they
weigh the fear and embarrassment of being seen in public over
God and his ordinances. That's so common. Well, I can't
have somebody thank that of me. Well, I was baptized for. What
if I didn't know something? The secret might get out, I don't
know as much as I know, or I'm gonna be the center of attention
and I don't like it. Man can't change. If I can talk you into
something, somebody else talk you out of it. God can do it. He can break that pride. He can
heal the wound that he gives. And his children will obey him. I have a heavy heart. I think
time's near. And I pray I can preach as a dying man to dying
men and women. And I hope I'm tender, not harsh. My friend
wrote this. He said, God's messengers may
not always be pleasant, but they will be profitable." I pray on
both. I pray on pleasant and profitable.
It says in verse 10, And the angel Lord said unto her, I will
multiply thy seed exceedingly, that thou shalt not be numbered
for multitude. And the angel Lord said unto her, Behold, thou
art with child, and shalt bear a son, and shalt call his name
Ishmael, because the Lord hath heard thy affliction. He will
be a wild man, His hand will be against every man, and every
man's hand against him. And he shall dwell in the presence
of all his brethren. And she called the name of the
Lord that spake to her. Thou, God, seest me. For she
said, I have also here looked after him that seeth me. Question
mark. Brother Hawker wrote, he said,
it's good to have set up tokens of praise where God has set up
banners of love. He said, pray, pause over this
verse, then remember, that same eye which looked on Hagar looks
on you, looks on me, and looks on all. She said, this is where
the Lord saw me, and he came to me. But she asked a question. That's not a period, that's a
question mark, isn't it? Have I also here looked after him
that seeth me? He sees all. The Lord knows the
heart. I don't have to. I could be fooled.
He knows the heart. He sees me, but she says, have
I looked after him that seeth me? Have I looked upon him? Have I sought his kingdom? Have
I sought his glory? Or have I seeking my own comfort? That's the name of a fountain.
Have I sought the Lord? What a blessing that would be.
Every time there was a big old fountain south of wherever I
lived, and I was leaving the Lord, and every time I was leaving,
somebody would say, what's the name of that fountain? Have I
sought the Lord? Have I looked for Him? We will declare He looked
upon us first, that He came to us first, that He loved us first. But what a desire the believer
has to look upon Him, that we would see Jesus, to continually
come to Him and to love Him more. That's where our desire is. Have
I seen Him? It says in verse 14, Berelehorei, which is a well
of a living one, my seer. This is the well, the one that
lives, that told me my future. Told me what was going to happen
before it come to pass. Behold, it is between Kadesh
and Berid. And Hagar bare Adam a son, and
Abram called his son's name, which Hagar bare Ishmael. That's
a hard time Hagar had been through, isn't it? This all happened within
nine months. This was her pregnancy. While she was pregnant, She ran,
and the Lord brought her back before she gave birth. And Abram
was four score and six years old. He was 86 years old when
Hagar bared Ishmael to Abram. He'd been there for 10 years
after the Lord brought him back and hadn't spoke to him. And then
he hearkened to his wife, just as Adam did. And the Lord put
him through all this, and it was another 13 years before Isaac
will be born. Another 13 years before another
word came. It seems so barren, doesn't it?
Such a wilderness, such a barren place. But you know how precious
that is? What if water only came out of a spigot? That's all we
had in the desert. Water only came out of a spigot once a week. I'll tell you where I want to
be. I want to be where that water come out, wouldn't you? All right,
let's pray together. Father, we're so prone to wonder.
Forgive us for what we are. We pray we're your sheep. Lord,
seek us, find us early. Allow us to see you. You saw
us, Lord, allow us to see you early in the day. Lord, call
out your sheep that you have in this world. We know you promised
you will, Lord, and you will not lose one, but we ask anyway.
Lord, allow us to be a beacon. Allow us to truly be used to
further your gospel. Lord, thank you for this day.
Be with us. Be with us in power. Have your
spirit with us. Allow us to see Christ high and lifted up. It's
in his name that we ask it. Amen. All right. We'll meet back at 10.30.