Dear Church Family,

Thank you for your continued prayers for our NYC and Zimbabwe teams. Looking forward to hearing how the LORD worked. As Paul Rummage encouraged us Sunday, please pray, provide, and participate in VBS (aren’t we preachers in love with alliteration!?). Also, we are still receiving gifts for our Preschool Wing. $18,000 was given just last Sunday which brings our total down to about $44,000. This is incredible! What a generous faith family!  I wanted to share a portion of a funeral message I did this week about the names of God:

The most essential words in the Lord’s Prayer are these, “who is.” Without it the House of God cannot stand. Our God is the God of the present and He is the foundation of His own house.

*The key question in life is not “How strong am I?” but rather, “How strong is God?” Focus on His strength, not yours.

*That’s what God told Moses to do – “Take off your sandals because you are standing on holy ground” (Exodus 3.5). With these eleven words Moses is enrolled in a class about God. Immediately the roles are defined. God is holy. Approaching Him on even a quarter-inch of leather won’t do. And we discover that no time is spent convincing Moses what Moses can do, but much time is spent explaining to Moses what God can do.

*We aren’t the key to the strength in the foundation of God’s house; God is. We find confidence in the foundation of who God is in His names:

*The more God’s people came to know Him, the more names they gave Him. Initially, God was known as Elohim. “In the beginning God (Elohim) created” (Genesis 1.1). Elohim carries with it the meaning “Strong one or creator” and He is called that 31 times in just the first chapter, where we see His creative power.

*Jacob came to see God as Jehovah-raah, a caring shepherd. “Like a shepherd,” Jacob told his family, “God has led me all my life” (Genesis 48.15). This surely was a compliment to God, for Jacob was a less-than-cooperative sheep. Jacob was never a candidate for most well-behaved sheep award, but God never forgot him. He gave him food in famine, forgiveness in failures, and faith in his final years.

*Abraham had a different name for God – Jehovah-jireh, the Lord who provides. It’s ironic that Abraham would call God “provider,” since Abraham was well provided for already. He lived in a split-level tent with a four-camel garage. Life was good in Ur. But off they went to Canaan and his family asked, “Where will we live?” Abraham answered, “God will provide.” Later, when they split up the land and nephew Lot took the grassland and lift Abraham with the rocks, the people wondered, “How will we survive?” Abraham answered, “God will provide.” And when Abraham and Sarah stood next to the empty crib and she wondered how he’d ever be the father of thousands, Abraham whispered, “God will provide.” When God asked Abraham to sacrifice his own son and his son asked, “Where is the lamb we will burn as a sacrifice?” (Genesis 22.7), one wonders how the answer made it past the lump in Abraham’s throat: “God will give us the lamb for the sacrifice, my son” (Vs. 8). And God did!

*Then there’s Gideon—The Lord came to Gideon and told him to lead his people in victory over the Midianites. And as scared as he was, he built an altar and named it Jehovah-shalom, the Lord is peace (Judges 6.24).

*In Exodus 15.26 we read, “I am the Lord who heals you.” This is the name Jehovah-rophe (roh-phee). Moses led over a million Israelites out of captivity and into the desert. Their jubilation over liberation soon became frustration over dehydration! They finally came upon a lake, but the water was brackish, bitter, and dangerous. “So Moses cried out to the LORD and the LORD showed him a tree” (Exodus 15.25). Moses begs for water and God gives him a tree?? Well, Moses throws the tree into the lake and the water is purified; the Israelites thirst is satisfied, and God is glorified! God is the One who takes the poison out of the system. God is Jehovah-rophe!

*He is also Jehovah-nissi, the LORD is my banner. In the heat of battle, soldiers feared getting separated from their army. For that reason a banner was carried into battle. And if a soldier found himself alone, the raised flag would signal safety. When the Amalekites attacked the Israelites, Moses went up on the mountain and prayed. As long as his hands were up, the Israelites prevailed. Moses was no dummy—he kept his hands up and Israel won! Then he built an altar for God and chiseled a new name on a stone—Jehovah-nissi—the LORD my banner (Exodus 17.8-16).

*God is the shepherd who guides, the LORD who provides, the voice who brings peace in the storm, the physician who heals the sick and the banner that guides. Most of all, He is!

Press On!

Mark