Sermon Tone Analysis
Overall tone of the sermon
This automated analysis scores the text on the likely presence of emotional, language, and social tones. There are no right or wrong scores; this is just an indication of tones readers or listeners may pick up from the text.
A score of 0.5 or higher indicates the tone is likely present.
Emotion Tone
Anger
0.11UNLIKELY
Disgust
0.09UNLIKELY
Fear
0.12UNLIKELY
Joy
0.58LIKELY
Sadness
0.62LIKELY
Language Tone
Analytical
0.66LIKELY
Confident
0UNLIKELY
Tentative
0.4UNLIKELY
Social Tone
Openness
0.74LIKELY
Conscientiousness
0.74LIKELY
Extraversion
0.32UNLIKELY
Agreeableness
0.97LIKELY
Emotional Range
0.61LIKELY
Tone of specific sentences
Tones
Emotion
Language
Social Tendencies
Anger
< .5
.5 - .6
.6 - .7
.7 - .8
.8 - .9
> .9
Let’s begin by reading our theme verse together.
Last week, we looked at the first revelation of God given to man in his title Elohim.
God is Elohim.
He is the mighty creator God.
This morning, we are going to look at a second title given to Yahweh.
This one is different than the first and really, it is different than any other name attributed to Yahweh.
It is the only time in the Bible where God is given a name by a woman.
Have you ever been lost?
I mean, like, really, really lost.
You have no idea where you are.
You have no idea where to go to find out where you are.
You are lost.
With GPS technology everywhere, it is much harder to get lost today.
Personally, I don’t like to use GPS or maps if I don’t have to use them.
I tell my wife , “I’m not lost.
I just don’t know where I am yet.”
Being lost in not always a physical thing.
You can be emotionally lost.
Have you ever been there?
Something terrible has happened and you don’t know where to turn or what to do.
You feel as if you have lost your bearings.
You can be spiritually lost.
The Bible teaches us that we are born spiritually lost and separated from God.
This morning, we are going to look at a woman who was lost in every sense of the word.
She had nowhere to go.
She had no one to turn to.
She was abused, pregnant, and scared.
But, she had an encounter with God and she realized something about God.
She gave God a name which teaches us something about Yahweh.
Before, we look at the name she gave to God, let me give you some context on what happened from .
God had promised Abram that he would make him the father of many nations.
The major problem was that Abram had no children with his wife Sarai and they were getting past the baby-making time.
Sarai had an idea, which was very common at the time.
She would take her Egyptian slave, Hagar, and give her to Abram as a wife.
Then, if she got pregnant, the child would be belong to Abram and Sarai.
Basically, it was a forced surrogate pregnancy.
Abram took his wife’s suggestion and Hagar got pregnant.
Hagar, thinking that her status in the household had changed, didn’t treat Sarai with the same respect she had before she became pregnant.
Sarai told Abram what was going on and Abram told her to do what she wanted with Hagar.
Sarai began to mistreat Hagar.
The Bible doesn’t record what she did to Hagar, but the treatment was so bad that Hagar thought her best option was to run away.
Now, I want to stop here for a moment so that we can appreciate the situation.
This woman is at the lowest place possible.
She was a pregnant run-away slave.
She is in a position of extreme vulnerability.
She was in a situation because she had done what was expected of her.
Yet, she was scared, alone, and suffering.
She ran away to get away from an abusive relationship.
Nobody cared anything for her.
Abram didn’t.
Sarai didn’t.
No one was out looking for her, except the God who made her.
Genesis 16:
Again, don’t read this too fast.
The angel of the LORD found her.
Often, when the Scriptures use the phrase “angel of the LORD”; it is referring to a preincarnate appearance of Jesus, the Son of God.
The Son of God found her.
When she was at the lowest point possible, when she was in a position of extreme vulnerability, when she was all alone, the Son of God found her.
Why did God find her?
God found her because he was looking for her.
It reminds me a story Jesus told that is recorded in the gospel of Luke.
He told about a shepherd who was counting his sheep.
The shepherd is counting and he gets all the way to 99, but something is wrong.
He had 100 sheep.
He looks around and double-checks.
There is Larry.
There is Charlie.
There is Ernesto.
There is Maria.
Where is Bob? Bob is missing!
What is he going to do?
Does he just say, “Well, I guess Bob is a goner.
99 is good enough.”
No, he went after the lost one and searches until he finds the missing one.
Then, he calls everyone and tells them, “Rejoice with me, because I have found my lost sheep!”
The angel of the LORD found her.
Look at the conversation Yawheh had with Hagar.
Genesis 16:8
He knows what has happened, but she needed to be honest with him.
She was running away and God said tells her to go back.
Perhaps it is shocking to you that God would tell a run away slave to go back to her mistress and submit to her authority, but that is exactly what God told her to do.
I am not sure that I understand all of why God would tell her to go back, but I know that you can’t run away from your problems.
Problems have a strange way of intensifying and catching up with us.
After telling her to go back and submit to Sarai’s authority over her, Yahweh blessed Hagar.
He told her that he would greatly multiply her offspring and that she would have a son.
She was to name her son Ishmael.
Ishmael would be an untamable man and he would have great relationship struggles.
God is El Roi.
He is the God who sees me.
El Roi - the God who sees me.
God sees you.
He watches over us and takes care of us.
God did not abandon Hagar and he will not abandon you.
God saw her and met her in her place of need.
Likely, Hagar didn’t know much about Yahweh.
She was likely acquired as a slave when Abram and Sarai went to Egypt during the famine recorded in .
Even Abram’s knowledge of God at this point is very basic.
Yahweh had not really told people very much about who he is.
Hagar was just a run away, pregnant, slave girl, but she knew two things.
I want you to hear these two things.
< .5
.5 - .6
.6 - .7
.7 - .8
.8 - .9
> .9