I Am

Today on Summit life with Judy Greer quickly. We do not encounter God the lifetime of philosophical reasoning. Instead, we encounter God experience that we have forcibly confronted by the fact that you use and that he is speaking Jesus.

He does this many times encounter begins as it did with Moses with an unanswered question. As always, I'm your host Molly, but a batch throughout history people have invented a named mythological God. The Bible was not invented by mankind and I'm like Zeus or Thor. He chose his own name today on Summit life. Pastor JD describes how knowing the name that God chose for himself will change our understanding of him for ever as part of our powerful teaching series titled the name. If you've missed any of the previous messages or if you would like to get our new prayer resource. Visit us online@jdgreer.com but for now grab your Bible castigating titled this message I am. We base our study in its entirety on exit 34 seven God declares his name to Moses. I've explained to you that this verse is 34, six and seven was like the Jewish people.

John 316, Exodus 34 607 is the most quoted verse in the Bible by other Bible writers, Moses says to God. God I want to see your glory. God says to him.

Exodus 3319.

I will make all my goodness pass before you and I will proclaim before you my name, the Lord, when God is going to reveal his glory is not to this image of brightness or anything like that.

It's by declaring his name jabber 34 verse five the Lord then descended in the cloud and he proclaimed there to Moses the Lord Yahweh.

Glory to God was merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness. Keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but it will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the forefathers of the children and the children's children to the third into the fourth generation every week in the series we take another's descriptions like is attached to the name of God. We tried to unpack it today were actually going to look at the name itself, Yahweh, nor sometimes in English we say Jehovah whenever your English Bible has the word Lord in THAT'S what it means is that is the proper name of God. It is a very unusual name in Hebrew, and as I'm going to explain to you on the fact that it's so unusual reveals so much about how you were supposed to understand how we relate to God. God first revealed this name to Moses not in Exodus 34 I first revealed to send Moses back in Exodus 3 to be got your Bible look back on say bye-bye Exodus 34 we will be there again today. I'm going back to Exodus 3 because you can see that how God reveals this name to Moses is to give you the ground rules for knowing him to show you what happens to you when you actually do know him right so Exodus 3230.

Merrill explained that Exodus 3 opens up with Moses is a pretty discouraged defeated man Moses. It started out his life in a pretty good deal confidence.

Evidently he was a good looking guy I look something like Christian Bale. I think in a pretty high-paying job. He was literally the Prince of Egypt and so here there was no greater than he felt like God had wanted him to have a career change and to deliver Israel and he was just trying to obey.

But things went really bad habit Jewish people and he was supposed to deliver. They criticized him and they rejected him and Pharaoh got angry at him and he ended up killing a man that's a pretty bad day at work right. Everybody hates you. Your boss fires you and you kill someone on the way to the parking lot will enable us to say got all left Moses. Feeling pretty defeated desert for 40 years now as we come into Exodus 3 for 40 years. Moses is wandered around the wilderness nursing that failure in nursing that failure make you let them feel insecure.

I would guess that most of you know what it's like to feel insecure error to feel like you're not up to some particular challenge. Maybe you just got hired for a job and you're not sure that you can do it. What's even worse is everybody around you feels like you probably can't do it either and you can just got a feel them looking at you that way. Maybe you're dating someone new and you're not sure if you measure up to their families expectations every time you go to dinner you like to be a judge or maybe you you you just embarked on some new phase of life.

I just become a mother. Or maybe you're living on your own now for the first time or you're going into retirement unit is not sure that you have what it takes for this next stage of life. Maybe your single again. Many of our brothers and sisters at our campus that meets in wake County prison have told me that they feel best when it comes time for their release. Sometimes you know they like for 20 years I've lived in the free world and now I don't know if I've got what it takes to thrive anymore and that kind of world.

Maybe you feel like God is called you to a ministry useful, insufficient board I hear from our church planters around the around the world. You say you know I just preach a sermon. I got all inspired up on him to go over and I'm not take Jesus over here to the middle of the Middle East and I can hear. I just feel like I'll know what I'm doing and I feel completely overwhelmed and it's your fault.

And so I'm talking to you right now. Maybe you still overwhelmed by life that that the condition that I like to refer to as parenthood.

Every year I tell you guys.

I feel like I do for less and less about parenting before I had kids I have disliked several awesome theories on parenting and I taught them. Everybody I told near the church. Many of you took notes on them. When I told them that now I have four kids and I got no great ideas on parenting, not one so I just feel less confident evil overwhelmed by insecurity is a voice inside of you that whispers I am not blank enough. But here's a question for you. What is most often go to not blank for you. What was often not enough. But I'm not blank I'm not good looking enough. I'm not athletic enough.

I'm not smart enough. I'm not young enough.

Funny enough, spiritual enough in the age of periscope and Instagram. These feelings of insecurity or heighten because no matter what you do. It's always easier to find somebody doing it better. I'm never going Instagram is a rule around Valentine's Day because no matter what I do, there's always some guy out there putting me to shame. I got my wife a bracelet not to go to a favorite restaurant, some dude got his girl a pony and took a backpacking through Europe and so you know the feelings of insecurity here is a statement by AW toes are that we look at every single week. Sorta kinda been a courier for our our series.

What comes in our minds we think about God is the most important and the most defining thing about us the most determining fact about any man or woman is not what he or she is a given time, I say or do but what he in his deep heart conceives of God to be like the most shaping determining factor on the trajectory of your life on your emotional stability on where you go and what you do is what you conceive of God to be like. It's not how much you work out it's not how much education you have. Not even a family that is around you.

It is what you think of God to be like you're going to see that that phrase is especially true when it comes to how Moses is going to deal with these insecurities that he has. Exodus 3 is beginning in verse three. Now Moses was tending the flock of Jethro his father suffered me see what I mean. I mean listen when you are 60 years old and you were still living in your father-in-law's basement that is failure in any culture at all and he led the flock to the far side of the wilderness and he came to her read the mountain of God.

Near the angel of the Lord appeared to him in flames of fire from within a bush. Moses saw, however, that though the bush was on fire. It didn't burn up. So Moses thought, I will go over and I will see the strange sight, why the bush does not really burn up first for when the Lord saw that he going over to look phrase will come back to it. God called to him from within the bush. Moses knows this and Moses said here I am, verse five. Do not come any closer. God said take off your sandals for the place where your standing is holy ground. Many said I am the God of your father and the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac, and Jacob. At this Moses hit his face because he was afraid to look at God and then the Lord said, I have indeed seen the misery of my people in Egypt.

I've heard them crying out because of their slave drivers and I'm concerned about her suffering up the whole sermon series). It got heard the cries of your suffering birthdate, so I have come down to rescue them from and of the Egyptians and I will bring them up out of that land into a good spacious lamp land that is flowing with milk and honey. So now you go. I'm sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people and the Israelites out of Egypt, the most gullible way to minute what my went to the subjects.

Which to me talk about you coming down to the liberty is like a mess on a really cool house you have a receiver that it also but the Nelsons, which to me doing and that is not close out that was not guilty, got they were to like me and they criticize me.

I never doing that again verse 12 and God said, I will be with you. Notice how God pathway deals with Moses insecurities did not reinforce Moses with positive thoughts into nothing. Moses you underestimated your account Moses. Here's Amir look into the mirror and got for me my name is Moses, I am a bad man, now close your eyes Moses and visualize yourself walking in the Pharaoh experience of feelings of taking Pharaoh that none of that pop psychology garbage simply I will be with you because real confidence in life comes not from competence. Real confidence in life come from the assurance of God's presence. You want to know how you can go confidently. The next phase of your life is not that your awesome is that God is omnipresent.

Verse 13 Moses said to God, suppose I go to the Israelites and they say I say to them, got your brother sent me to you and they say well what is his name.

What will I tell him. Verse 14 God said to Moses, I am who I am, that's what you're to say to your delight.

I am has since you are listening to Senate here will return to our teaching and testimony, but I wanted to quickly tell you about our featured resource investment at the bundle of resources that help make praying regularly a little easier three bucks each. Called five things to pray includes ideas for praying for our parents praying for our kids and praying for our community. This set will enlarge your vision and equip you to pray passionately and powerfully. For those that you live in for the renewal of your city. There's nothing we need more in this country then returned to Jesus.

So let's continue to lift those tears to ask and pray not only for their physical well-being but for their spiritual growth and maturity dig deeper by giving us a call at 866-335-5220 or checking out generally clear.com. Now let's get back to the final few minutes, and today's message. The word in Hebrew, for I am is the word hi Jan, I got where he received as I am Lord IS the work I got from a verb to be just means that you want to learn Hebrew word you say it, someone would say you say it getting a little bit on your neighbor you can say right okay I hi yeah okay I am.

It just means God says I am. He is I do not have a beginning or ending cutting come from anywhere. I'm not going anywhere. I'm the same all the time forever.

I am God. Now you see why he chose the image of the fire in the bush because he's like that fire fires need fuel to burn the fire that Moses Saul was self-sustaining the bush that it was and did not burn up right was self-sustaining. Will God be eternal. I am needs no external fuel. Nothing preceded God, nothing, created him, he needs nothing he doesn't require anything to be complete or to be happy.

He is self-sustaining. He is eternal. He is unchanging. He is always and forever the same everything that is ever existed, had its beginning in him. He was there before it started to go back to the beginning of the universe. However, it began, you would see that he would be there.

He is eternal is unchanging. He is always and forever is the source that gives life to everything else is there in the middle of it holding it all together and he will be there when it all ends told you every once in a while we just need to try to wrap our minds around.

We can do it to wrap our minds around the size of God and I believe that God not accidentally gave us an open theater. We can think about it every single night. You don't want my watch is that not this one but one of them has a little clearer back on its you look into it deceive a you know that all the awesome you know are engineering goes into making a watch you and your Swiss be amazed by God to doubt the universe every night you got a minute is open theater readers walkout.

He just get overwhelmed at the size not of the universe.

One of the God who just spoken into existence you.

They say the light from the closest stars for light years away which I will easier what your night did you have any target your mind around that light travels at 186,282.2 mi./s, summer grade science class got 100 on the quiz and sets up as it was every single everything as I get this for years to get sister earth again as I can do whatever it right. If you fire a 30 all sex at a deer. The bullet travels at just a little over half a mile a second field instantaneous right to have a mouselike fight so that the new horizon. Bielby just went up Pluto and shot back the images to us traveling 20 miles a second 40 times faster faster than a 30 all sensible and it took nine years to get the Pluto nine years traveling 1/22 and I would not even out of our solar system. Yet you keep going you up to speed to hundred 86,282.2 mi./s, which is the speed millennium falcon goes way goes in the works. If you traveled that speed for four years you'll come to the first star and you want to get to the edge of the universe to travel that speed for 91 billion years and if you got there. When you finally got there, there would be saying I'm in your local time and you got all the way to the other side of the universe. At the same time. Soils went over there may be there to dreams outside it all.

He's been there before. All these break this cuddle point. He's bigger than big. He's bigger and all and all the words we used to say big God is not just huge, gigantic, humongous or gargantuan.

He is beyond words. That's God. This God says to Moses, think about that Moses is having a conversation with that God save the Israelites, the I am the God of your fathers, the got of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob… Is it me you this is my name forever. This is the name you shall call me from generation to generation never ever just call God I am hello is you are you will be you always are.

Moses said to the I am, but I am.

I've never been eloquent, neither in the past nor since you have spoken your servant.

I am slow of speech and tongue.

We have this image of Moses be like Charlton Heston, a Christian Bale. He speaks of the deep Val Kilmer-esque voice and that is not true that either means to be a speech impediment, he stuttered, are you really small mousy voice like on Pee-wee Herman for you children of the 80s. It was not impressive and the Lord said to him, who gave human beings are mouse Moses, who makes them deaf or mute who gives insider makes them blind is it not I the I am the revelation of God's name is I am sure you three vitally important things about your relationship to God first, explain if it shows you how you encounter God in them is warn you the section when I told her this.

At first here's a little bit philosophical.

What I want to try to show you is that burning bushes still exist all around us we see the burning bush like oh we are never saying that you probably haven't ever seen that but I'm a show you that if you see the burning bush is a metaphor which it supposed to. Also, not just the actual burning bush with a metaphor you'll see that actually God does the same thing today and he still speaks to people in the same way say that the second thing is the I am the name I am is going to give you a ground rule on the Borg ground rule is very countercultural for Americans and how you know God and in the third thing is I am shows you what knowing God will actually do to your sense of self identity.

Okay number one.

I am shows us how we encounter God. Typically, we do not encounter God to a lifetime of philosophical reasoning. Instead, we encounter God doing experience that we have were simply confronted by the fact that he is and that he is speaking EEE deceive is this many times that encounter begins as it did with Moses light with an unanswered question. Moses had it with the burning bush, he turns aside, it says to investigated. God did not resolve the mystery of the burning bush. Instead, God spoke out of the bush and says I am I a burning bush today is an unanswered question that leads you to ask questions out of which God begins to speak and say I am some people it's the mystery of the cosmos into the flu with. If you're not in the philosophy that name probably that mean a lot to you but Anthony flew was one of the primary agnostic atheist men of the last 50 or 60 years right before he died right before he died atheist Anthony flew comes out and says hey I have decided there has to be a God. They give you kind of lost me. You don't realize what a huge deal that is a bit like Coach K come out that I'm actually Carolina fan have been told that it was a big deal. It was a big deal and he said the reason is because I just can no longer put my head in the sand. I have to acknowledge that with the intensity and the complexity of design that is evident in the universe.

You can't just say that it's all one big cosmic accident. Thomas Edison said there's no way that you can look soberly at the complexities of our world and deny that there's gotta be a captain on the bridge somewhere for Albert Einstein that unanswered question was the enigma of the depth of evil in the human heart. He said that points to realities that better beyond biological and and beyond just evolution.

He said it is easier to denature plutonium that it is to denature the evil spirit of mankind read it. What atheist to very candidly and this is not common who said that the most troubling thing for him with the problem of universal human rights is is why is it that we believe in human universal human rights of Muses words. I'm an atheist, but I believe in universal human rights, which is problematic because I believe we got here by trampling on the week. Those of us with stronger genes dominated those with weaker genes. That's why we survived so why would we give people rights now to my atheist friends say that the will of the majority grants people rights but what if the majority says that we can oppress a certain kind of person for the majority decides that a certain characteristic needs to be eliminated from the gene pool is there not a standard above the will of the majority in the oppress can appeal his conclusion.

I don't know why human universal rights exist, but I know that they have to.

Thus, I temporarily abandon my worldview in order to hold such a view, that's a burning bush that asked the question that you didn't go to is not enough in itself, but it leads people to ask a question, the God and said, I will necessarily resolve the issue, so you I am brother people. The question is less philosophical. It's more longing they feel something like the birth of a child you look at that and you said it's not just a group of colliding chemicals the year it happens in the yearning that you experience when someone you love dies and is something inside you, tells you there's more than just biology and atoms in science going into this one was fascinating testimonies of this happened on from Steve Jobs.

The last interview he gave before he died was on 60 minutes on 60 minutes. It was the interviewer asked him right for the end of the interview. The watch that he said he said is that you believe in God you believe God and Steve Jobs is like me quote everyone didn't write down throughout my life. Sometimes I have believe in God.

Sometimes I have it but ever since I found out I have cancer. I find myself believing a bit more because I want to believe in an afterlife.

When you die, it can't just all disappear the wisdom we've accumulated as a race somehow. It lives on. It can't be like an on-off switch. Were you just click it and then you're done. Incidentally, he said that's why I don't like putting an on-off switch on Apple devices which you read a novel device.

Novartis forgot to turn it off.

He said that's intentional because I don't like to just be able to turn something off. I like the concept of it just cc that is a burning bush brother.

People would see it occurs to reading the Bible and experiencing the fact that there somebody living and moving in the Bible, and rice. One of my favorites that I sometimes refer to. She was a atheist writer who would always vampire novel. She said she said not my biggest work.

I read it was gonna be on what happened around the birth of Jesus, because I knew that the real Jesus. The Christian void and another one the right guy and so I was going to figure it out. She said I knew that when all my study. I was gonna come up with a gay Jesus, or are you a communist Jesus is although I bet she's after 10 years of study.

She said there is no possible way anybody with an open mind looking at the evidence could conclude that anything else happened except for the man rose from the dead, and she says I didn't want to believe it. She says but there's just no way she says I encounter the most biased scholarship I've ever encountered in my life by people who find some way to twist the evidence to pretend that he did not erase but it sure was even weirder to me is the more I got into in the deep rest that it felt like I wasn't just studying someone like somebody was studying me. She said I'm just sheet it was haunting. I thought I was being pursued rather than the one who pursued reminded me what Peter craves the professor of philosophy at Boston College always is when he began to read the Bible. He said it was like looking through a keyhole into a room and suddenly find somebody look back at you. That's a burning bush that suddenly he speaks and says I a.m. here's my question for you. Have you had this kind of experience. Maybe it wasn't this dramatic see the book of Ecclesiastes says that God is put eternity in your heart which means she's put a restlessness report unanswered questions. Those rest feelings of restlessness.

Those questions in their burning bush and build up boarding you have questions you look inward you since longing that him and you know there's more to life than just send love and consciousness and biology and colliding chemicals that longing in your own heart questions that the world can't answer those in the burning bush is that point you to hide your listening to Senate life. The Bible teaching ministry and Jeannie Greer, Pastor Jenny leave the summit church, a growing multisite church in Raleigh, Durham, North Carolina, said Jeannie. Our current teaching series is all about learning the character of God, then why is the resource we are offering this month on prayer.

Yet, you know, whenever you learn about who God is. That's what prompts prayer.

The more you know about who God is and who you are the one natural prayer comes this series will show us that there is a God who is both more awe-inspiring and worship deserving and at the same time more intimate and more aware of our needs are more willing to help. We ever imagined. If you look at anybody's Christian life who is fruitful and flourishing your to find a fibrin fiber prayer life which of our giving this bundle of three books is are just as a discipleship tool that will help you.

You reach out to us@jdgreer.com there's five things for your kids something to break your parents about things to pray for your city, I use these books amount personal quiet time, which is why I'm excited to commend them to you Helga some structure to a part of your Christian life. A lot of people struggle to thrive in think every single day for the faithfulness of arsenic. My family.

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We will keep this short study may Thursday right here on defendant my Jeannie