Studies in Identity - God: The Names of God - Jehovah 02-25-24

Overview: Pastor Williams discusses the importance of the name Yahweh/Jehovah and the respect it should be given. He explains that Yahweh means the self-existent One and emphasizes that God is not created, controlled, or confined. He mentions the story of Moses being called by God to go back to Egypt despite his fear and reservations, and he emphasizes that God is in control and determines our identity and purpose. He also talks about the name Elohim and its significance in the creation story. Transcription: Somebody this morning needs to be reminded of the victory that we have between that song, Victory in Jesus, and that song Brother Steve just sang, that sin has been defeated forevermore. What's that song about? Victory. The victory that we can't get on our own, but victory simply that must be paid for with a perfect sacrifice. And that perfect sacrifice was the proof of God's love and a display of His grace for you and for me. Amen? Amen. At this time, we want to dismiss the children's church. Go, Flash, go. Amen. Amen. Next week, I want to see y'all running into here as quick as he runs out there. No, amen. Amen. I encourage you to turn with me to Exodus 3 as we continue our study on the identity of God. Who is God? Exodus 3. We're beginning to look at the name Jehovah. But before we can get there, we need to take a look at the name Yahweh. Because in the original manuscripts, everywhere that you will find the name Jehovah was originally Yahweh. And why the change? It all boils down to this. That those who were copying the manuscripts into English, into the other languages, had such a respect for the name of God, which is Yahweh, that they would not utter it or write it. That they copied it to Jehovah. And I could get into the intricacies of the Hebrew letters and the sounds that they make and how it became, but I don't think we need to know that. What we need to know is this, that there was such a respect for the name of God, that they did not even want to write it for fear of taking the Lord's name in vain. Now, there's a lesson for the church in that alone. How far we have fallen as children of God that we want to put the name of God and use it so loosely and so vainly in our everyday speech and everything that we have lost the respect that they have. So I want to call us back at the very forefront of this message into that mindset. A respect for the name of God. The name Yahweh was used more than 6,500 times in the Old Testament. Almost double the amount of times of any other name. It is the most used name of God. It means the self-existent One. It tells us that God was not created. There was never a time where He did not exist. No one spoke Him into existence. There's an argument out there amongst the unbelievers that God was something that was created to control the masses, but His name alone speaks of who He is. He is not created. And because He's not created, He is not controlled. Nobody controls God. Nobody tells God what to do. Again, church, we have to be very careful of this, don't we? God, I'm going to do this. You better get on board. God, I'm going to be working over here and I want Your blessings in this. I need You to do what I want You to do at my terms, on my terms, and in my timing. But we better be very careful of that. And we don't seek God on the backside of our plans. We should seek God to establish our plans. Because we don't control God. Any of us that think that we have an inside track or that we can treat God like a little genie in our pocket, we pull Him out. Alright, God, this is what I want. Here are my three wishes for today. Keep me healthy. Make me prosperous. And give me rest. And You better do it now or else. Now, we would never vocalize it that way, but oftentimes, that's how we treat God. We don't give Him our time. We don't give Him our talent. We don't give Him our treasure until it suits us, until it benefits us, until it's in our time. And in that, we say, God, we're going to control You. But beloved, let me tell you, He is Yahweh. He is not controlled. And He is not confined. He is not limited in who He is or what He does or how He acts or where He goes outside of Him limiting Himself. You say God limits Himself? Absolutely God limits Himself. When God says that He will take our sins and throw them into the depths of the sea and He will remember them no more, He is limiting Himself. He is saying, I am choosing to forgive you of your sins, to cleanse you from that, and I'm not going to hold them against you. I am choosing to limit Myself in that way. When Christ came, He is 100% God. When He came, He took on the form of man. And He limited Himself in some ways. God the Son, God the Man, Jesus could not be in all places at all times. Now, this is where it really gets tricky theologically, right? Because that's God the Son. He was limited to a certain space and a certain time. But there still exists God the Father who could be in all places at all times and God the Holy Spirit who could be in all places at all times. Now you tell me how one God can do that in three places, three persons, three times? Because He's God. Because He's God. He is not created. He is not controlled. He is not confined. Let's read Exodus 3, verses 13-15 as we see God revealing Himself to Moses in this manner. Then Moses said to God, indeed, when I come to the children of Israel and say to them, the God of your fathers has sent me to you, and they say to me, what is His name? What shall I say to them? And God said to Moses, I am who I am. And He said, then, thus you shall say to the children of Israel, I am who I am has sent me to you. Moreover, God said to Moses, thus you shall say to the children of Israel, the Lord God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob has sent me to you. This is My name forever. And this is My memorial to all generations. And so when you get to verse 15 and you see in that Scripture where it says, thus you shall say to the children of Israel, the Lord, all capital L-O-R-D, the Lord, that Lord is Yahweh. That Lord will become, because of respect for His name, Jehovah. Yahweh and Jehovah mean the same thing. They mean the self-existent One. And in the context of this name being presented to Moses, He is being called to, He is being led to, He is being told to go back to Egypt to set Israel free. Now, what you have to understand is exactly what God is calling Moses to. Moses was born in a time when all the children of Israel, every male child of the children of Israel was to be killed at birth. Because they were growing too big and too strong to remain slaves in Egypt. Moses' mother hid him until she could hide him no longer, put him in the basket in the river, floated down the river, and Moses' sister Miriam stood back and watched and Pharaoh's daughter found him. And Miriam goes to Pharaoh's daughter and says, hey, do you want me to find one of the Israelite women to take care of him until he comes of age and is weaned and able to live? And then he goes and lives in Pharaoh's mansion, is raised like Pharaoh's son, has all the benefits of that. And somewhere around the 40-year-old mark, he finds out, wait a minute, I'm not Egyptian, I'm Israelite. And he goes and learns about the God of his people. And he goes and learns about his people. And he goes and starts to see the atrocities that Israel is facing under the slavery of Egypt. And he gets mad one day and kills an Egyptian. Pharaoh learns about it. Now you know who Pharaoh is, right? He's the king. He is the master of all things Egyptian. He is the ultimate authority. All he has to do is look at his advisors and give the little head nod, and that person's taken out. So here Moses is being told to go back to the man that he killed one of his people. He is wanted for murder from Pharaoh. And he's called to go back to a people who after he killed that man, looked at Moses and said, what, you're going to kill me too? So people don't trust him. His own people don't trust him. Pharaoh wants him for murder. And God's saying, that's what I want you to go back to. Now, I don't know about you, but if I found myself in that situation, I'm going to be real tempted to go, but God, You don't understand. But wait a minute, God. What does Moses do? He does that exact thing, right? Now, wait a minute, God. I know You're telling me to do that, but I don't speak real well. So I don't know that I could... And he starts making all of these excuses. But in that conversation, God says, this is who I am. Now, you're afraid of Pharaoh. You're afraid of your people. One preacher put it this way. Pharaoh may think he is, but I am. Your people may think they are, but I am. They think they're in charge, but no, God is in charge. They think they're the boss, but no, God's in charge. Beloved, there may be plenty of people in your life that are telling you what to do, or putting fear in front of you, and they're trying to beat you down and belittle you and make you into something they want you to be. But beloved, hear me this. God is Yahweh. He is in control. He determines who you are. He determines who you can be. He determines where you should go, what you're called into. He has given you the identity that He has given you because He is. They just think they are. And there's coming a day where every person that is found in that place of oppression, they're on the top, and they're oppressing the people below them, will be put in their place. Scripture tells us He takes the high things and makes them low. He's going to bring them down and put them in their place because they simply think they are, but I am. He said, I am Yahweh. I am the self-existent One that is not created, controlled, or confined. And this name can be identified in all of our English Bibles by the capital L, capital O, capital R, and capital D. So everywhere you see that name, know that it's Yahweh. It's Jehovah. So with that in mind, flip with me to Genesis 2 for just a second. I presented to you a couple of weeks ago with the name Elohim through creation. In the beginning, Elohim created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form and void and darkness and the face of the deep Spirit of Elohim was covering all of that. But then, we get into chapter 2, verse 4, and then there's a shift in this. Verse 4 says, this is the history of the heavens and the earth when they were created in the day that the Lord God... and you notice that word Lord there is all capitals, right? That the Yahweh Elohim created the earth and the heavens before any plant of the field in the earth and before any herb of the field had grown. For the Yahweh Elohim had not caused it to rain on the earth, for there was no man to till the ground, but a mist went up from the earth and watered the whole face of the ground. And the Yahweh Elohim formed man of the dust and of the ground and breathed into his nostrils and breath of life and man became a living being. And so from Genesis 1 to Genesis 2, we kind of see this shift, this growth in understanding of who God is. We started with creation. We look around and the logic is there. Man, look at all of these things that were created and how they're created and how they work and how one thing helps the other thing. And all of this is put together in an organized fashion. That screens of an all-powerful Creator. That screens of Elohim. But then we press into that understanding a little bit. And that's when Jehovah is revealed to us. That's when Yahweh is revealed to us. Not only is there an all-powerful Being that's above all of this, that created us and is in control of this, but if that's the case, then where did that come from? Well, that came from someone who always was. The One that was self-existent in and of Himself. So we begin to see a little bit deeper of an understanding in our growth of who God is. That He is the all-powerful God. And on top of that, He is the self-existent One. And so we begin to understand Him as Jehovah. Now for the next few minutes, I want to press into several of these names of Jehovah. Revelations of men in the Bible that began to see Him as such. There are three names that all of our understanding of God will stem from. Elohim, Jehovah, or Yahweh. And again, they're interchangeable, so from this point on, I will say Jehovah. And there's a third one, Adonai, which we will look at in a couple of weeks. But we're going to spend two weeks here on Jehovah, looking at all of the Jehovah names found in Scripture. So the first Jehovah name in Genesis 22 is Jehovah-Jireh. Jehovah-Jireh, Genesis 22 v. 14, And Abraham called the name of the place the Lord will provide. As it is said to this day, in the mouth of the Lord it shall be provided. And what I've come to understand, that is, if you have a King James version, that name will actually be in there. Jehovah-Jireh. But the New King James and other translations go ahead and give us the meaning of that name instead of giving us Jehovah-Jireh. It will say the Lord will provide. And that's exactly what that name means. That God will never, never fail to provide. God will never fail to provide. And it's used only one time in Scripture. Right here. That Moses in that instance experienced Jehovah God in this way. He provided for him. Well, what was the context of this Scripture? Well, chapter 15, Abraham is promised a son. In chapter 21, Isaac is born 25 years later after the promise. In chapter 22, Abraham is told to sacrifice Isaac at around the age of 15. And in 22, you know the story. Abraham takes Isaac up to the mountain to lay him down on that altar. And just as he's raising that knife to make that sacrifice on that altar, the voice of God comes and says, stop! Don't put your hand on that boy. Now that I have seen that you will not withhold your son, your one and only son from Me, Abraham provided himself over in the thicket. And the thorns and the thistles caught around his horns. What a picture of Christ being crowned with a crown of thorns there in that thicket was a lamb. A ram. A sacrifice that was to be made in place of Isaac. And in that context is what led Abraham to cry out, the Lord will provide. Well, what did God provide for Abraham in that moment? He provided a sacrifice. A lamb caught in the thorns. Jesus is our Lamb. He provided an opportunity for obedience. Isaac was something that Abraham had prayed for and waited for. Isaac represented Abraham's future, but also his favor with God. Many of us would be willing to lay down something we don't like very much, wouldn't we? I mean, I'd lay down my job in a second if God told me to go somewhere else. I've got to deal with my boss. I've got to deal with my co-workers. I've got to deal with all that drama and all that mess. If God would open up another opportunity for me to go work somewhere, I would lay that down in a second. But that's not what God told Abraham to get rid of. God told Abraham to sacrifice something he had prayed for and waited for and longed for. How many of us would be willing to sacrifice that thing that is most valuable to us? Most precious to us? Something that we wanted for the longest time? Something we even prayed for like Abraham did. God said, now that you've got it, now that you've had it for 15 years, put it down on that altar. Lay it down for My sake. Give up that thing that you were clinging to that has become an idol in your life. That has become an addiction. That has become maybe it was a good thing, but it's been put in the wrong place. Lay that down. And Abraham was willing to do it because he knew that even if he had to go through with that sacrifice, God would provide what he needed in that midst. God would provide anything that he needed. That's what Abraham come to know about God is God will provide. Provided the opportunity for obedience. He provided the opportunity for discipleship. Isaac would have had some questions. I mean, I don't know about you, but I want you to go back to your childhood for just a second. And maybe you experienced something like this. Maybe you experienced the fear of death from your own father. But if you didn't, I want you to picture yourself laying there facing towards the sky, and all you see over the top of you is your own father who said he loved you, who raised you, who taught you everything you know about life, and yet now standing over the top of you with a knife threatening to sacrifice you. And you tell me you wouldn't have had some questions. When that was all said and done, here's the glorious thing about that. Yes, Isaac would have had some questions, but Abraham would have had some answers. And I know you've got questions about what was going on. Let me tell you about the God that I serve. Let me tell you about the God who provides. Let me tell you about the God who speaks to me. Let me tell you about the God that I serve and how He loves you and He loves me and how powerful. And let me tell you about the Elohim that He was and the Jehovah that He is. Let me tell you about God. An opportunity for discipleship, beloved. God will do things in our life for teaching moments, amen? There are some lessons that we need to learn as His children and He wants us to learn those lessons and pass them on to the next generation. But we're still learning about that lesson right now. When we look in the Scripture and we see Him called Jehovah-Jireh, the Lord will provide. Because there's times in our life where we need Him to provide something. We need Him to provide strength. We need Him to provide understanding. We need Him to provide comfort and healing and wisdom. And we need Him to provide the way that we should walk. We need Him to provide guidance. We need Him to be our strong power and to give us peace and rest. We need Him to provide something. And we can claim this promise. God, You are Jehovah-Jireh. Provide for this what I need in this moment. Because we know who You are. We've seen, we've learned this lesson from Abraham. This opportunity for discipleship not only for Isaac, but for you and for me. And I believe we can open up this floor and we can say how many of you have experienced God as Jehovah-Jireh? How many of you have experienced His provision in your life? Whether it's financial, emotional, spiritual. And I believe every child of God says, I have. I have because when I was lost and dead in my sin, He provided a way out. It wasn't anything that I did. He took Himself to the cross. It was His passion. His love that became grace. It was Him that has provided for us nothing that we could do. He is Jehovah-Jireh. He is the Lord that provides the opportunity for discipleship, the opportunity for proof. God proves Himself each and every day. Not only would Isaac have experienced that, but I fully believe this with everything I am. And I'm going to say this, I don't have Scripture to back this up necessarily, but this is what I think. That when Isaac was laying there on the altar, Abraham was standing over him ready to make that sacrifice. And that Word spoke. Isaac would have heard it. Isaac would have heard it. Wait! Don't lay a hand on him. Now that I know you wouldn't have held your son, so Isaac would say, God, why are you doing this? You know Isaac's saying, oh, that's why. That's who you serve. That's who you follow. Isaac would have heard it. How do I know this? Because I fast forward to Paul on the road to Damascus. The blinding light, right? The voice spoke. That section of Scripture says this, and the people that were with him heard the voice but saw no one. So God spoke to Paul and everybody with him heard it. And so I believe when God spoke to Abraham, Isaac would have heard it. And God in His discipleship of Abraham for His discipleship of Isaac for His discipleship of us, provided proof to who He is. Well, we simply have to take time to look around us to see the proof that God is Jehovah-Jireh. Sometimes the provision of God is an opportunity to exercise our faith. And if we are obedient, we will end up with more provision than we had before. Jehovah-Jireh. Now, Exodus 15-26, we see Jehovah-Rapha. Jehovah-Rapha. Exodus 15-26 says, For I am the Lord who heals you. I am the Lord who heals you. It literally means the Lord, Yahweh, our Healer. It's only used one time. In this moment, Israel is in the wilderness. They just crossed over the sea on dry ground escaping Pharaoh. They sang praises to God for His power, His deliverance, and His salvation. They have now traveled three days into the wilderness and they're getting thirsty. The problem is the water's bitter. They can't drink it. It will make them sick. So Moses prays to God and he reveals to Moses that a tree will help. So Moses puts the tree or part of the tree in the water and now it's good to drink. God heals the water and through that, heals the thirst of the Israelites. He is the God who heals. And this is not the only healing that we see in all of the Scripture. Other healings that are done in Jeremiah 30, 16 and 17. He heals hurt, discouragement, frustration. In Psalm 107, 19 and 20, He heals trouble and disaster and destruction. In Isaiah 57, 17 and 18, He heals sin. In Hosea 14, 4, He heals unfaithfulness. In Psalm 147, 3, He heals the brokenhearted. In Psalm 103, verses 2-5, He heals disease. He is the God who heals. And beloved, I know that all of us in this moment in our lives are experiencing one of those, either hurt or discouragement or frustration, trouble, disaster, destruction, sin, unfaithfulness, brokenheartedness, or disease. We're facing that right now. And there is One, a God that we serve, a God that we know, a God that has proven Himself to us that is our healer. So many times we are like that woman with the issue of blood. And we waste our years and we waste our time looking for all of these worldly remedies. And this world has a lot of remedies to offer you, doesn't it? It has a lot of remedies. And I'm going to be honest with you, some of them may work. I truly believe this with all of my heart. God gives us doctors and nurses and other health professionals to help take care of us. I've shared this. I don't remember if it was on a Sunday morning or a Sunday night. One of the spiritual gifts that we see in Scripture is healing. Where Jesus and even the disciples would go and they would lay their hands on people and they would pray and God would miraculously see them raising people from the dead. Those that were lame. Those that were blind. Those that had leprosy. Those that were demon possessed. All kinds of healings that we see in all of Scripture. Again, I'm offering this as my opinion. We don't see much of that in this world today, do we? Where people just go and lay on hands left and right. We've got some that claim to do it on TV. We don't see too much of that. Could it be that God has transitioned that spiritual gift into the hands of doctors and nurses and the wisdom and the knowledge that they have to help take care of us? I was in a hospital and I don't remember what it was for just recently. And the doctor came in and gave the news, gave the plan, all that stuff. And before he left, he said, are you ok if I pray with you right quick? And I'm sitting back going, absolutely. Amen. I'm a pastor. That's supposed to be my job. I'm supposed to ask the doctor if he wants to pray. No, he beat me to it. And prayed and acknowledged who God was and His healing power. Maybe that spiritual gift of healing has been transitioned through them. Instead of the man up on the platform, well, if you'll send me your money, I'll pray over this cloth and send it to you and just lay it on what else, you know. It'll heal you. Maybe. But here's the truth. That God is the God who heals. It's not a cloth. It's not in a prayer. It's not in a person. It's not even in your gift. It's in the God who heals. The next name, Exodus 17.15. Jehovah Nisi. And this is one of my favorite ones. Jehovah Nisi. Exodus 17.15. And Moses built an altar and called its name, The Lord is My Banner. The Lord is My Banner. Yahweh, the Jehovah is My Banner. It's only used one time. Right here, Exodus 17.15. In context, again, Israel's in the wilderness. They've crossed the Red Sea. They sing praises. The bread from heaven in Exodus 16 comes down in Exodus 17. Water from the rock. Chapters 17.8-16. There's a battle with Amalek. This is the battle where Moses goes up on the hillside and Aaron and Hur are there beside him holding his arms up. And the battle takes place. As long as his arms are held up, Israel wins. When his hands come down, they lose. So he has those there to support him and keep his hands raised. And so Israel is victorious. And at the end of that is when this altar is built. At the end of that battle, at the end of this fight, the Lord is my banner. This was a battle banner. We understand what did this banner do for Israel, for Moses. It represented leadership. You see, in a battle, the soldiers would look to that banner. There's my leader. If they're moving forward, I'm moving forward. If they're still there, if that banner's still raised and I'm still fighting, I'm not giving up. Victory is on the horizon. It's the leadership that we look to. It represents commands. Not only to look to it, to know, to keep fighting, it's the one that we are to follow. That banner presses forward, then we press on. That banner retreats, then we retreat. That banner moves right, then we move right. That banner moves left, then we move left. We follow the banner no matter what. It represents guidance. Not only the one to follow, but the way to follow. How we are to go. Do we think we can get to God? Do we think we can get to that victory anyway? We want to. All roads lead to that, right? No, there's only one banner. But it also represented victory. When the fighting was done, that banner was still held high. The victory was ours. Moses saying, the banner of the Lord. It never faltered. It never faded. It never retreated. It never quit. It stayed the course. It fought the fight. And they had victory because the Lord is our banner. Beloved, let us let God be our banner. Not the banner of pride. Not the banner of prosperity. Not the banner of popularity. May God be our banner because that's the one that will never fail. That's the one that will never falter. That's the one that will never turn back. But we can have victory if we will follow that banner. The Lord is our banner. Jehovah-Nissi. Lastly, Jehovah-Mekoddishkem. Jehovah-Mekoddishkem, meaning the Lord Who sanctifies. Now, this is used twice. First, let's look at Exodus 31.13. It's the Lord, the Jehovah Who sanctifies. Exodus 31.13, Surely my Sabbaths you shall keep. This is a sign between me and you throughout your generations that you may know that I am the Lord Who sanctifies you. That second Lord, if you'll notice, is capital L, lowercase o-r-d. That is Adonai. That is the one we'll look at in a couple of weeks. He says, surely my Sabbaths you shall keep. The Lord Who sanctifies you. He's talking about the Sabbath laws. This represents the exodus. The coming out. If you remember that first Sabbath, keeping it holy. Those rules, the first things about God that He gives commandments about God, it represents the setting apart of physical bondage. Romans 13, verse 3, For the rulers are not a terror to good works, but to evil. Do you want to be unafraid of the authority? Do what is good, and you will have praise from the saints. God will set us free from physical bondage. We bound ourselves to all kinds of things in this life. We make them rulers of our lives. We put those in charge. We think those are the most important. If you want freedom from all of that, then allow Him to be Jehovah Mekoddishkem. Leviticus 20, verse 8. Exodus says you shall keep My Sabbaths. Leviticus says you shall keep My statutes and perform them. I am the Lord Who sanctifies you. So the idea of keeping His Sabbaths, this looking to God, putting Him in His proper place, our relationship with Him, this idea of keeping His statutes or our relationship here. How we treat one another. How that plays out in our lives. We will keep His statutes. That word statute means something that is prescribed. God gives us a lot of prescriptions to life right here. God says how marriage should be lived out. God says how parenting should be lived out. God tells us how being a husband and wife should be lived out. God tells us in His Word how being a child should play itself out. How being a member of society should play itself out. How being a teacher should play itself out. He gives us all kinds of prescriptions for life right here. And when we don't do that, when we don't follow His statutes, that's when we live a life that is not honoring to God. That's when we live a life that this lost and dying world looks at and says, why do I need that? This speaks of that spiritual bondage of sin. So we will just live out the statutes that He gives us. He shows us His standard. Leviticus 20, verse 7. He gives us the standard. Consecrate yourselves, therefore, and be holy. For I am the Yahweh, the Jehovah, your God. I am the Jehovah, your God. Be holy. So what's the standard? Holiness, perfection, purity. He shows the standard. He shows the sin in verse 8. And you shall keep My statutes and perform them. I am the Jehovah who sanctifies you. And so there's the sin when we don't keep those statutes. And then flip to verse 23. He shows the severity in not keeping those in verse 23. And you shall not walk in the statutes of the nation which I am casting you out before you. So don't walk according to the culture. For they commit all these things. These things being what was found in verses 9-22. They commit all these things. Don't live like they live. And therefore, I abhor them. God abhors the nations that don't live out His statutes, but live out their own statutes. That should scare us. As a people of God who are not trying to live out His statutes. Scripture says He abhors them. He detests them. The severity of sin in our life is that it leads to death and detestation. But the good news is that He is Jehovah Mekoddishkem. He can sanctify us. He can set us apart. He can free us from that bondage of sin and death. And all He asks is that we'll put our faith and trust in Him. To trust in the work that He sent His Son to do for us on the cross. To acknowledge Christ as our personal Lord and Savior. Here's the picture. Before salvation, we're spiritually dead in our sin. After salvation, we can find ourselves living in sin. Living in for the ways of the world. But if we will turn to Him in faith, confess our sins, the Bible says He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins. For salvation first. For sanctification second. He will forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. That word sanctify literally means to set apart. To pick up out of the muck and the mire that is our sin. And set us aside for holy purpose and holy use. Beloved, that's what He wants to do for you this morning. He wants to be Jehovah Mekoddishkem for you. Who do you need God to be this morning? As we see, several of these names are only used once. Meaning God revealed Himself in these manners to that person in that specific time frame for a specific reason. But He is still the same God. He is still Jehovah Jireh, Jehovah Rapha, Jehovah Nissi, and Jehovah Mekoddishkem. When you turn to Him this morning, what is it that you need? Do you need Him to be your banner in the midst of a battle? Do you need Him to be the One who sanctifies you in your sin and in your unfaithfulness? Do you need Him to be the One that is providing for you whatever it is that you need? Then He will be just that. Because it's who He is. I encourage you. I invite you to come down and to pray to God for who He is. I hope you were encouraged. I hope you gained some understanding and some insight into who God is in your life and in my life. You come. This altar is open. I'd love to pray with you. I pray for you.