Sermon Notes & Videos
2021-12-31 | Exodus 6-9 | Doomed to Repeat It
How is it even remotely possible that the covenant God made with Abraham, and thereafter promised to Isaac and Jacob, was done so without “revealing” His name? In a strange but certain revelation, shortly after Moses’ burning bush encounter, at which Yahweh revealed His name, He informs Moses that He appeared to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, as “God Almighty.” Curiously, He tells Moses that “by His name Yahweh He was NOT known to them!” How can this be? Throughout the Genesis narrative, from the birth of E’nosh in Genesis 4, ”When men began to call on the name of Yahweh,” to God’s interaction with Noah before and after the flood, and even after the incident at Babel 100 years later, when He confused the languages of the earth, we see His name Yahweh appear.
It’s understandable why Moses, at the burning bush, would ask His name. Moses lived in pagan Egypt for the first forty years of his life, and pagan Midian for the next forty years. He only had exposure to paganism. So, his concern about what he should say, if the children of Israel ask the name of who sent him, makes sense. And the reality that Moses did not know God’s name already, makes sense.
What does not make sense is that Abraham, Isaac and Jacob only knew Him as God Almighty, not as Yahweh. And quite frankly, if that is the case, how then would the children of Israel who just spent the past 215 years in Egypt, 430 years removed from Abraham’s calling, even know if Moses was right?
What also does not make sense is that the name Yahweh appears 6828 times in the Old Testament, and that even when indicated in critical verses in the New Testament, such as, “Whoever calls on the name of the LORD shall be saved,” many Christians remain ignorant that the word “LORD” has replaced Yahweh thousands of times in their Bibles. As such, the famous quote is verified; “Those who cannot learn from history are doomed to repeat it.“ In other words, “by His name Yahweh He is NOT known to them!” In the end, what does make sense is that when God Almighty tells you that His Name is Yahweh forever, and that it is His memorial to all generations, you’d better pay attention!
2021-12-24 | Exodus 1-5 | Inquiring Minds Want to Know
Ignorance is bliss, isn’t it? I guess it’s all a matter of perspective. If you want to live your life with your head buried in the sand, then I guess you might be able to pull it off. You just might get by as clueless and happy. However, there are always two sides of every story, and life itself exists on both sides of a coin. If true, then what are you missing if you choose to stay ignorant? Even if you could manage to stay safe, and comfortable, and blissfully unaware, what are you sacrificing by doing so?
Back in the early 1980’s, The National Enquirer, a supermarket tabloid, coined the phrase “Enquiring minds want to know.” Now, of course, their actual content offered nothing substantive that could even remotely remedy ignorance, but their slogan was spot on! To enquire means to ask and asking is a good thing. But again, the answers you’d get by reading that rag could never truly cure ignorance. Nevertheless, promoting the desire to ask was an excellent concept. And better than an enquiring mind is an inquiring mind. To inquire goes a step further than asking; it means to investigate. “Inquiring minds want to know!”
Investigation is very satisfying because revelation leads to truth, and truth naturally solves the ignorance dilemma. In the end, you will undoubtedly determine that inquiring is bliss, not ignorance! And, if you apply this tactic to your spiritual life, you will find that it is precisely those who are inquiring that God uses to do great things. Now, if that is not bliss, then I don’t know what is!
2021-12-17 | Genesis 47-50 | Card Carrying Member Since 1745 BC
Sometimes it’s hard to appreciate what really took place when all it is to you is words on a page. Think about history for a moment. Pick any historical narrative, and then consider how you view that memory. You likely see it in your mind as a still picture. Maybe you see it as a short video clip; that would be minimally closer to reality. But, have you ever tried to place yourself inside those scenes? Have you ever tried to live out “a day in the life” of the real person who actually endured what you experience as a photograph or a movie?
I’ve actually done that. I’ve tried to imagine myself as a soldier during the American Civil War. I’ve pictured myself frozen in my tent at night, with soaking wet boots, no way to keep warm, hardly a fragment of food, and desperately missing my loved ones. I’ve contemplated the real possibility of dying the next day, or worse yet, becoming mutilated and having to die in slow motion, while laying twisted and broken on a mucky and icy battlefield, as my life slowly slipped away, afraid, in agony, and maybe with some regrets. And what I just described is a single day in what could have lasted four years for many real soldiers. Just one dark night, of 1,488 dark nights, is all I’ve imagined. Has this gruesome painting become visceral enough for you, real enough?
Now, try reading the Bible the same way, imagining being there in real time. For a moment, stop painting pictures of characters on a page and, instead, see yourself as the one who had to endure Joseph’s 13 years of pain and sorrows, or his father’s agony of loss for 22 years. Have you ever tried to imagine yourself being there and what it would really take to persevere for so many years? Or, do you rather stay hyper-focused on your own little world of immediate needs?
Let’s practice. The Bible describes these years in just one sentence. You can dismiss it as quickly as it takes to read, or you can contemplate all the years this sentence represents. “Joseph saw Ephraim’s children to the third generation.” One verse…three generations. You can assume it was all sunshine and rainbows and move on, or you can further investigate Ephraim’s life and witness what it took for Joseph to see those three generations. Reality check! Ephraim’s first three sons, Shuthelah, Ezer and Elead were all murdered. Yes, “Joseph saw Ephraim’s children to the third generation,” but first he witnessed the horror of his grandsons being murdered. It’s so much more than one verse.
My admonition to you today is to stop focusing on yourself for a day, and try imagining what that was like for Joseph and Ephraim. And then go one step further and feel all their pain while still proclaiming “all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.”
2021-12-10 | Genesis 44-47 | I Am Joseph
It’s all beginning to make sense. That’s what happens when you finally see the big picture, what Yahweh had planned all along. At times it was just a complete mess; you could see nothing good in the series of disasters that had become your life. But, all of a sudden it all comes into focus. God brought you through this place, to this place, for just such a time as this. Now what?
This is when extreme humility must prevail; and more than humility—absolute meekness. You get to face all the naysayers, everyone who inspired you to give up, those who were bent on helping you curse God for your struggles. You might even come face-to-face with the culprits who were complicit in the whole debacle. They were instrumental in your demise. Now what?
This is the moment in time in which Christ-likeness must abound. “Forgive them Father, they didn’t know… Hey, don’t worry, it wasn’t your fault… This was God’s plan all along… And it all happened just so I could help you!” Can you imagine such graciousness, such meekness? You have all the power at your fingertips to make them pay; you have every opportunity to shout from the rooftops, “It’s all your fault; I hate you; I told you so!” But instead, you weep and you take hold of those who harmed you in your arms and say, “I love you; I’m here to help you; I’m here to provide for you; don’t worry about the past for even a moment; it’s all God and I wouldn’t change a thing.” “I am Joseph.”
2020-12-03 | Genesis 41-44 | New Wineskins II
It would seem that in creation mankind was clothed only in the skin on his body and in that form he reflected the glory of God. Something happened when sin came into the world. Man looked upon the glory of his own body, and instead of seeing the glory of God, he became afraid and attempted to cover what he now saw as “nakedness.” What took place next has great prophetic significance. God saw man’s new sense of embarrassment over his original glory and accommodated him by causing him to be covered with a “new skin”, an animal skin, a certain downgrade.
This downgrade would now plague mankind into the future and does not seem to have a complete resolution until the revealing of the sons of God, at which time “creation is restored.” Our ultimate hope is to be clothed with a restored heavenly image, so we shall not be found naked, like Adam.
The theme of being clothed in either sin and shame or glory and righteousness, is something that is well-defined in the life of Joseph. And this too is the exact choice you must make. “Do I remain clothed in sin and shame, or do I allow myself to be sanctified from glory to glory?” This, as I often say, depends on one thing only; will you take on your new identity in Christ, in other words, become a new creation, or do you insist on returning to the old you? It’s the choice every Christian must make.
And, taking on your new identity, or putting on a new skin that reflects God’s glory, is something that our Savior taught us in a short parable: He said it like this; “No one puts new wine into old wineskins; or else the new wine will burst the wineskins and be spilled, and the wineskins will be ruined. But new wine must be put into new wineskins, and both are preserved.” It’s time to put on your new wineskin!
2021-11-26 | Genesis 37-40 | How Do You Eat an Elephant?
Do you ever feel discouraged? Of course you do. How often is it because you are certain that God has made certain promises to you, and yet there is one disappointment after another? The twists and turns of the unexpected can get pretty exhausting, don’t you agree?
I’ll let you in on a little secret, one hiding in plain sight. Yahweh’s delay is not Yahweh’s denial. The Scriptures are filled with God’s promises and we could fill a book with how many times the journey towards those promises goes sideways. Wait a minute, we already have the book that is filled with those stories.
But seriously, you could probably fill a book with your own stories. And what I want to share with you today is how to be encouraged, even in the midst of what seems like a complete denial of God’s promises. Just think about Joseph; he had a few really incredible prophetic dreams in which he was promised a powerful role in leadership, however, on his journey he was stripped naked, sold into slavery, accused of rape, thrown into prison, and seemingly forgotten. And consider Tamar, Judah’s daughter-in-law, as she was promised three successive husbands from the sons of Judah, yet she remained childless.
Well, Joseph ultimately landed in command of the most powerful nation in the world, and Tamar gave birth to a son from whose line came the Messiah. No, God’s delays are definitely not His denial. They are just part of a much bigger plan. Think of if this way: How do you eat an elephant? Answer: One bite at a time!