Prayer
Because the primary goal of our time together is to establish relationships and learn how to walk with one another in all that God has called us to be and do, we’d like to begin by praying for one another. So, does anyone have anything you’d like us to pray for or anything to share regarding how you’ve seen God moving in your life that we can celebrate together?
Opening Question
What is one of your favorite Christmas traditions?
Now Sarai, Abram’s wife, had borne him no children. But she had an Egyptian maidservant named Hagar; so she said to Abram, “The Lord has kept me from having children. Go, sleep with my maidservant; perhaps I can build a family through her.”
Abram agreed to what Sarai said. So after Abram had been living in Canaan ten years, Sarai his wife took her Egyptian maidservant Hagar and gave her to her husband to be his wife. He slept with Hagar, and she conceived.
When she knew she was pregnant, she began to despise her mistress. Then Sarai said to Abram, “You are responsible for the wrong I am suffering. I put my servant in your arms, and now that she knows she is pregnant, she despises me. May the Lord judge between you and me.”
“Your servant is in your hands,” Abram said. “Do with her whatever you think best.” Then Sarai mistreated Hagar; so she fled from her.
The angel of the Lord found Hagar near a spring in the desert; it was the spring that is beside the road to Shur. And he said, “Hagar, servant of Sarai, where have you come from, and where are you going?”
“I’m running away from my mistress Sarai,” she answered.
Then the angel of the Lord told her, “Go back to your mistress and submit to her.” The angel added, “I will so increase your descendants that they will be too numerous to count.”
The angel of the Lord also said to her:
“You are now with child and you will have a son. You shall name him Ishmael, for the Lord has heard of your misery.
He will be a wild donkey of a man; his hand will be against everyone and everyone’s hand against him, and he will live in hostility toward all his brothers.”
She gave this name to the Lord who spoke to her: “You are the God who sees me,” for she said, “I have now seen the One who sees me.” That is why the well was called Beer Lahai Roi; it is still there, between Kadesh and Bered.
So Hagar bore Abram a son, and Abram gave the name Ishmael to the son she had borne. Abram was eighty-six years old when Hagar bore him Ishmael.– Genesis 16:1-16
Meet Sarah
In the sermon, we heard about how Sarah’s culture equated value with producing children. What attributes or achievements does our modern-day culture equate with value?
Although God had promised a son to Abraham and Sarah, Sarah decided to use her slave, Hagar, to produce that son. How do you imagine she could have chosen differently, if she had chosen to trust God first?
What promises are you waiting for God to fulfill in your life? How can Sarah’s story help you learn patience and endurance as you wait?
Meet Abraham
Both times Sarah came to Abraham with her plan to use and abuse Hagar, Abraham encouraged her to do whatever she wanted to do. How does Abraham’s story offer us a cautionary tale about indifference and lack of engagement in our primary relationships?
Despite giving his wife whatever she wanted, Abraham’s marriage and household suffered greatly because of his and Sarah’s decision to abuse Hagar. How do you imagine he could have chosen differently, if he had valued Sarah and Hagar as God did?
Are there responsibilities or relationships in your life that need your attention and wisdom? How is Abraham’s story a cautionary tale about forgetting or ignoring the part God has asked you to play in those spaces?
Meet the Stranger
In the sermon, we heard that Hagar met The Son of God when she fled from Sarah’s abuse. What does God’s concern for Hagar, in her desperate and needful state, show us about his view of people?
The Lord promised Hagar she was pregnant with a son, “for the Lord has heard your misery.” What does Ishmael’s birth show us about how far God will go to bless and provide for those of us who end up on the underside of power?
Are there people in need you could bless and provide for this holiday season? How is this Christmas an opportunity to be generous and merciful, as God was to Hagar?
Closing Thought
Spend the last 5-10 minutes of your time together praying for any needs the people in your group may have.