In Renaut’s first sermon back from Sabbatical, he shares what God has shown him during this season through the ministry of Jesus in the gospels. Whenever people meet Jesus, he does not simply meet the physical needs of the people he encounters. Instead, he sees them in the midst of their need. And so it is with us, whatever we may be going through, whatever darkness may still be in us, he sees us and he is for us.
The angel of the Lord found her by a spring of water in the wilderness, the spring on the way to Shur. And he said, “Hagar, servant of Sarai, where have you come from and where are you going?” She said, “I am fleeing from my mistress Sarai.” The angel of the Lord said to her, “Return to your mistress and submit to her.” The angel of the Lord also said to her, “I will surely multiply your offspring 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,
because the Lord has listened to your affliction.
He shall be a wild donkey of a man,
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 Lord who spoke to her, “You are a God of seeing,” for she said, “Truly here I have seen him who looks after me.”
Additional passages: Mark 5:24-34, Luke 7:11-16, Mark 2:1-12, John 4:16-20, Luke 19:1-16, Luke 18:35-43