Hello, I'm God! - Part A

The best way to learn about God is from God himself to to enter into a relationship with him and hear from him. What he says about himself. Moses does that.

Moses grew up in his life was a Jewish person you learned about that as he was raised in Egypt but in the last few chapters he has had more intimate contact with many people try to tackle the subject of God and who he is put nothing beats hearing about that from God himself today on connect with Skip Heitzigs escape explores God's autobiography in Scripture helping you know him even more personally. But before we begin want to invite you to view part of the unforgettable journey to Israel this is Pastor Skip. And I want to let you know that our 2022 trip to Israel is full speed ahead. Israel is now open trip is safe and you can still register, we will be touring May 4 through the 15th and this is such a beautiful time of the year to be in his room.

Enjoy the sea of Galilee where Jesus spent so much of his time will stop at Mount Carmel and potato then I look forward to walking with you through the gorgeous port of Caesarea will baptize people in the Jordan River will tour Masada and will even float in the Dead Sea, then the highlight up to Jerusalem, where there is so much to see and do.

Finally, we will enjoy a powerful time of worship as we take communion in the garden to those are just the highlights. There is so much more in this tour lately and I hope you will make plans now to see Israel with us on this trip. There's more information to our agenda and registration details that connect.com Israel for inspiration and towards the one 800-4789 20 Army for three days over 40 iconic site appropriate for excursions around there's still time to join in.

Lenny, I think for an epic tour is registration is open now connect.com/is okay Exodus chapter 34 as we join Skip Heitzigs reported a study there was an eight-year-old third-grader who was given the task of explaining God and he wrote a few paragraphs listen to one of them.

He said one of God's main jobs is making people. He makes these to replace the ones that die so there will be enough people to take care of things here on earth. He doesn't make grown-ups just babies.

I think that's because they're smaller and easier to make. That way he doesn't take up his valuable time teaching them to walk and talk. He can just leave that up to the mothers and fathers, God, second most important job is listening to prayers and off a lot of this goes on there. Some people like preachers and things prayed at other times. Besides that time, God doesn't have time to listen to the radio or TV on account of this, as he hears everything not only prayers. There must be a terrible lot of noise going into his ears. Unless he is thought of a way to turn it off.

One of the people pouring noise into the heirs of God was a man by the name of Moses who has a conversation with the Lord for a few chapters in the book of Exodus, a very intimate encounter with him and we pick it up in Exodus 34, when the Lord speaks to him a revelation of himself in verse five of Exodus 34 now the Lord descended in the cloud and stood with him. There and proclaimed the name of the Lord and the Lord passed before him and proclaimed the Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, long-suffering, and abounding in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, by no means clearing the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children and the children's children to the third and fourth generation.

So Moses made haste, and bowed his head toward the earth, and worshiped. I remember the night that I met my wife when you I saw her across the room, I noticed what she was wearing.

I noticed how pretty she was and I didn't talk to her and introduce myself but I remember that she came across a room, and she put out her hand and shook my hand and I was struck by the fact that she shook it so firmly and she said hi I'm Linea and I was the beginning of a very long and satisfying relationship turn into a marriage and the flame is still burning, but after that.

I remember calling her roommate or the girl who was about to be her roommate was choosing to move in with an icon on the FISA tell me about Linda Tommy. What is she like what is she like to do, etc. and then I finally said now give me her phone number, color, and escrow so I called her ass out, and on that first date.

She told me about where she was born what she grew up doing told me about her testimony. How she came to Christ to tell me about what she hoped to do and be in life when it comes to knowing God you can do a couple of things you can talk to people about God or get information about God from other people. We do that we read books we read what an author says about God go I really like this author the way he writes about God or listen to the lyrics of a song written by a Christian musician and it speaks to us assert my but at some point the best way to learn about God is from God himself to to enter into a relationship with him and hear from him. What he says about himself. Moses does that. Moses grew up in Israelite. He knew he was a Jewish person. He learned about that as he was raised in Egypt but in the last few chapters, he is had more intimate contact with God and in the previous chapters as God show me your glory and you remember God said what you can see the full expression of my glory. You'll diagnose like a bug zapper we said last time you get too close to just freak out. There's no way but he said I'm in the past by and you're gonna see something about passing, but I am going to tell you about myself, to proclaim who I am to you and when you enter into that relationship. As you learn more about me.

So God's answer to Moses is not an appearance but a list of attributes a theology lesson if you will. God gives him words 51 words in my English translation and something about the passage that we just read. It happens to be one of the most important Bible passages in the entire Scripture. I know that because of how many times Old Testament Bible writers referred to Exodus 34 Moses later on will remind God of this incident that Takes Pl. in Exodus 34 when he intercedes for his people as they failed to take the promised land in numbers 13 Nehemiah will pull truth out of this passage as he confesses his sin and Nehemiah chapter 9 Jeremiah will quote this passage when he prays, facing the Babylonian captivity in Jeremiah 32 David will make reference to Exodus 34 in Psalm 103 in Psalm hundred and 45, and two minor prophets Joel and Jonah knew this passage by heart.

They quoted freely shades of this passage also appear in Deuteronomy chapter 5 first Kings chapter 3 Lamentations chapter 3 Daniel nine and Nahum chapter 3, so Bible authors clearly understood that Exodus 34 is a foundational statement about God, the answer is pretty clear as to why it's the only place God himself tells you what he is like it is God's autobiography now as we go through this little section that I just read that we just read together. I want you to notice a couple aspects about God's personality, his designation that is his name and his description as well as his expectation. We begin with his name. His designation notice that God begins this little dialogue on this monologue at this point with Moses by introducing his name. He said in verse six the Lord, the Lord God, stop right there know when you meet somebody. The first thing you tell a person generally is their name. Hi, I'm Linea you give your name so that people can identify you from that point onward God is that with Moses the Lord, the Lord God in Hebrew, Yahweh. Yahweh L by the way, it's the only place in Scripture where this precise formula occurs, Yahweh. Yahweh L know that word L that's a generic word for God found in the Old Testament a systematic term even used to describe God's of other nations, but the wordy Yahweh is specific. It means I am. I am it's the name. The God introduced himself to Moses with at the burning bush number when God spoke to Moses and said Moses you could be the deliverer of the children of Israel and Moses are willing to say who sent you and I got it I got to get my name. So what is your name and God said to him in Exodus 3 I am who I am and he said thus you shall say to the children of Israel. I am has sent me to you. He goes on to say this is mine name forever so he introduces himself with a name Yahweh. Yahweh LY twice my not just Yahweh wants why Yahweh.

Yahweh is simply for emphasis to emphasize to Moses that the same God who called him in Exodus 3 is the one who is talking to him at that point that the words I am is the first person form of the Hebrew verb hi yacht, which means to be the name Yahweh is just the third person form of that for it means the self existent one. In other words God and depend on anybody for his existence.

We depend on God for our existence. God depends on no one for his existence. So he is the self existent one also the name I am refers to his eternal nature. He is is not the great. I was his other great. I used to be. He is, I am his eternal also the name I am refers to his active existence.

The verses show that God is involved in humanity. God is not aloof detaches nothing up in heaven twiddling to some snoring and nobody sees not single like is nothing was going on the mirror.

He is very much involved.

She is right. That's what Hebrews that if you cannot come to God. The writer of Hebrews said, you must first believe that God is I am that I am and that he is a rewarder of those who diligently seek him. None of the something in your Bibles at the word Lord it's all in capitals right LORD know that's not always the way it is in the Old Testament sometimes is L small ORD but whenever you see all capitals capital LORD you're dealing with the name Yahweh you're dealing with the word that is for consonants. We would call it YH WH and we think it's pronounced Yahweh surrendered his Yahweh.

I say we think because the Israelites at some point in their history felt it was better to avoid using the term Yahweh then chancing abusing the name of God so they just stop saying that they thought human lips are our two sinful, even utter the name of God so they replaced the name Yahweh with the term Adonai, which is the mighty one or Lord capital L ORD so we think it's Yahweh I am that I am.

That's what God introduces himself to Moses hi I'm God in the Bible. The idea of a name is and more is more than just a tag to identify a person unnamed carries a reputation mean somebody's character or somebody's authority. We are told to pray in Jesus name I come to the father using my reputation and my authority in the Hebrews believed that there is a connection between a person's name that a person's nature. By the way modern experts would agree. One psychologist study 15,000 juvenile delinquents discovered that those who had odd or embarrassing names got into trouble four times as much as other kids with more normal names registered the word of advice of your thinking of the goofiest name you can think for the newborn coming up.

Be careful. There is a connection between name and nature are some real names like you do not know if you if you if you take a book and you really are loving the book that you're reading you call it, it's a real page turner user right but imagine being called page turner and listen to be an author. This could be a tough name to carry around with you probably are like Leo Tolstoy was a Russian author who wrote the famous book war and peace, so the piece family decided they would call their son Warren.

Warren piece, but the third one, that's a tough one took to live with. Though everybody loves bacon that your name Chris B. Bacon and if that's Kevin Bacon's idea who came up with that that be a tough one back to the Bible when parents named their children in biblical times they would name their kids out with the hope that their child would live up to the name so the name Judah means praise the ideas. I hope my child grows up, praise the Lord or the name Samuel means God hears. It's the hope that my son will grow up hearing the voice of the Lord and crying out to God and God will hear him when he does all of that. That hope was built into the name sometimes parents named their children based upon the circumstances that were going on at the time of the birth so when Isaac and Rebekah had Jacob and Esau. Esau was born first and when he came out he he had a lot of hair on more than most babies.

So they called him Harry. That's what they saw when the baby current web babies very well become very that works and then the second son came out grabbing the heel of Esau, and they called him, he'll capture that's what Jacob or Jacob means one who grabs the heel of another.

So these were named at the circumstances of the birth. Some people because of that sort of got a raw deal. So one kid when he was born. It happened to be the exact same time that the ark of the covenant was being stolen by the Philistines, so Phineas and his wife had a baby boy and she called him Ichabod which means the glory has departed that I would be a tough name to go to school with what's her name glory is departed yet live without your whole life. But God's designation is Yahweh.

I am that I am I am the eternal being the all self existent one then we have a list of words that describe God's personality. These are attributes of God and what I've done is I've categorized them into three categories benevolent attributes bountiful attributes and balanced attributes.

Let's begin with the benevolent once God says the Lord, the Lord God hears the first word merciful first word God wants you to know about himself is that he is merciful. Some translations say compassionate.

The Hebrew root word refers to a mother's womb because it describes the feeling of a superior being for an inferior being like a parent for child David in Psalm 103 said just as a father has compassion on his children, so Yahweh has compassion on those who fear him.

So first attribute.

God is gracious or sees me God is merciful God is compassionate. I remember when we had our son Nate and I held him in my hands and I was so apprehensive about being the father I just didn't know how I was in the management I've never done before. So you most judges get really scared about this young dads I discovered but I was like I was thinking how my going to love this baby is so helpless. I've never done this before, but you know God gives the emotional equipment along with the child to the parents. So I discovered this growing sense of compassion for this child and one time we were in a restaurant locally and my wife and I were eating lunch. We put our little baby Nate in a high chair.

By the way, not all highchairs are created equal. I discovered, and this was sort of a rickety one and when my son was arching his head back. He went backwards.

The whole highchair fell backwards. He hit his head on a wooden floor in the restaurant. I just stood up and there was a surge of compassion. This emotional outburst that I wanted to protect this little child. So God looks on his people, much like parents look on their children knowing their limitations.

David said God knows our frail frame and he remembers that we are dust, so attribute number one God is merciful. Notice the next word is gracious word that is used 13 times in the Old Testament, it refers to the feeling of one stronger poor one who is weaker, almost always used of God is the subject when Jacob later on when he meets up with Esau again in Genesis 33 when Jacob wants to explain to Esau why he has such a big family and and and he's so wealthy and he has so many flocks and herds. He says, because the Lord has dealt graciously with me. That's the word he used God's gracious in second Samuel 12 David's son was near death and David fasted and prayed that God would spare his life, he says, who knows Yahweh may be gracious to me.

You know, if you know the Bible. The theme of grace goes throughout all of Scripture from Genesis to Revelation, but it finds its fullness in the New Testament right John writes of the law came by Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. So grace find finds its full expression in the New Testament Charles Wright rewrites Christianity is distinct from all other religions because it is a message of grace God's undeserved favor. Jesus Christ is the supreme revelation of God's grace and salvation is by grace and grace governs and empowers Christian living without grace.

Christianity is not that Skip hello, I'm God. A message from the series 2020.

Now we want to tell you about a resource that will help you unfold God's rescue mission for you in the world only half of American adults who call themselves Christian identify God is the basis of truth. This would a recent study by the cultural research Center at Arizona Christian University found in if that's the truth about truth among believers. It's more grim for unbelievers.

What's your basis of truth here. Skip icing. So the word equals the Scriptures equals doctrine equals true truth. We are primarily people of the truth Daniel.

Chapter 10 calls the Scripture. The Scripture of true because the Scriptures tell us the truth about God, about us, about our condition about our need. We want to send you to truth affirming resources by pastor Skip to help you understand the nature of truth. You can pursue God's truth and apply in your own life there skips with bloodline in his booklet why truth matters. Both resources are our gift you when you get $35 or more today to help reach more people with this Bible teaching ministry, Jesus said, everyone who is of the truth hears my voice until 892 1888 the gift today and will send you Skip Heitzig's book, bloodline, plus his booklet why truth matters is our way of saying thanks for your support, visit, connectwithskip.com/offer the global outreach to connect with skip.

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