Welcome to the Further Gospel Podcast, where we provide sound doctrine for everyday people. I'm your host, Kosti Hinn, and I'm so excited to kick off a new series on the names of God. So many of you have let me know what a great summer you've had, how the summer series blessed you on the go. I know that those sermons were a blessing to so many of you. I enjoyed them as well. And our family got some time off as well. So such a joy. Study has been rich, and time away is refreshing, helps my perspective on so many things, ministry, family, life, all of it. And I'm ready to come out firing this fall with multiple series that are going to deepen your relationship with God. You know, I've been thinking a lot about how to leverage the podcast to minister to you, my own local church, our friends, the network, a lot of the people who utilize these resources. And one thing is for certain, we need to know our God. And we want to be close with our God. When you're right with God and close with God and you have a high view of God, everything else flows from there. And so every Monday you can count on these to be a jump start for your week. And I believe, I'm going to be pretty confident here about this, but I do think because it's the word of God, I'm going to teach you something that you may have never known about God before. And I can't wait. So why should we study the names of God? Well, because in every name of God, there is a revelation about God. And the names of God give us a glimpse into his character. And when we know him more deeply, our faith will grow more steady. And so my prayer is over the next several weeks, you're not going to just learn a few Hebrew names and kind of feel cool like Elohim and El Shaddai and El Roy and all of that, but you're going to come to know and love God beyond just the names, but for who he is, what these names mean. The first one is the name Elohim. Elohim. It's the first name of God that we see in the Bible. It's in Genesis 1:1. It says in the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. The word God there translates Elohim. Before there was light and oxygen and stars and oceans and gravity and galaxies and all these things, there was only one. There was God, Elohim. That's what I love about Genesis 1-1. It just begins with God. The Bible never tries to prove or convince anyone that God exists. It just opens up with one of the most breathtaking statements ever written in the beginning, God. In the beginning, Elohim. Elohim was there. And the name Elohim appears more than 2,500 times throughout the Old Testament. It emphasizes God's majesty, his strength, his preeminence, his power, his sovereignty. And it is the name of God that reminds us that he is above everything and he's dependent on nothing. Interestingly enough, the word itself is grammatically plural. And yet, whenever it refers to the one true God, it consistently takes singular verbs. Now, without forcing the point too much here, a lot of Christians have long seen this as a beautifully compatible picture with the later revelation in Scripture that God is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, one God in three persons. Genesis doesn't explain the Trinity, but from the very first page, really the very first verse of Scripture, there are what I would say are hints that the God of the Bible is greater than our finite minds could even comprehend. And yet, even still, before anything else that God reveals about himself, like Redeemer and Savior and Shepherd and Father, and He is friend, the Bible says, isn't it fascinating that he chooses to reveal himself as the creator? I believe this reveals the most important thing we could ever know about God, and that is that everything begins with God. Elohim is the foundation of all creation. He's the first, the foremost, the author, the giver of life. He's the reason we're even here. And you know what else? Elohim needs nothing. God needs nothing. There's nothing about him as creator that says he needed people because he was lonely up in heaven. He wanted a companion, and so he just kind of had to make us. Or he was missing something and there was a hole in his heart, and only creation could provide this. Elohim was there. He's in the beginning. He was and is fully satisfied. And what we would say that the phrase is self-existent, meaning he is existent within himself. And I want you to think about that for a second. Because sometimes we imagine that God was up in heaven, even though in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. The heavens weren't even created, let's say that. And, you know, he's looking for someone to keep him company. Not at all. The triune God has eternally enjoyed perfect fellowship within himself. Well, the question then begs, why did Elohim create? Biblically, we would say it's because he's full of goodness and his goodness overflows into creating the world. He created a perfect world as a revelation of his perfect goodness. And if he's perfect, then his desire to create was perfect. It's not rooted in any kind of deficiency. He just wanted to do it. And that should change the way that we see God and the way that we worship God. Imagine that for a second. God didn't create us because he needed us, he created us because he wanted to. Isn't that wonderful? I think if you were to imagine this in terms of your own daily life, this will make complete sense in how significant it is. You know, sometimes when we feel like people had to do something, it doesn't feel as significant. Like if you had to get your wife flowers because she guilt tripped you and you messed up, you you had to hug your husband because he complained that you're not being affectionate. You had to do the dishes because you know you needed to. You had to do the laundry because you know you needed clothes. The famous story, of course, that all marriage counselors always tell, or everybody else, they say, you know, the husband and wife getting an argument, and he's like, fine, what do you want me to do the dishes? I'll do the dishes. And she's like, I don't want you to, I don't want you to do the dishes because you, you know, you want you have to do the dishes. I want you to do the dishes because I I want you to want to do the dishes. You know, the old storyline that I want you to want this. Have to and need to because of deficiency are completely different than want to because of pure desire. That, that, my friend, is Elohim and creation. He wanted to from pure perfect goodness within him. And so, as his creation, you're not trying to satisfy God's needs. I today am just responding to his grace, so are you. We today are not earning his attention, we're enjoying his intention. Elohim is not a needy God who created the world out of his own neediness. Elohim is a name that reveals God as infinitely self-sufficient and as one who invites his creation to just enjoy relationship with him. There's another beautiful truth tucked inside Genesis 1 about Elohim. Throughout the verses that follow verse 1, you'll see, you know, then God said, Let there be light. Then God said, verse 6, let there be an expanse in the midst of the waters and let it separate the waters from the water. Let this, let that. God said, God said over and over and over again. And this reveals that Elohim is very organized. He's very prepared. He's very intentional. He's the God of order who created out of nothing. So Elohim reveals the order of God, the organization of God, the power of God. He brought everything into existence and brought it into perfect order. Contrary to the ridiculous concepts like the Big Bang theory, where the earth and the universe come because of random chaos or, you know, evolution where things just kind of evolve into whatever they are, and we kind of got lucky and came from monkeys, and so here we are. It also wasn't the result of, you know, competing deities, fighting cosmic battles. A lot of Greek mythology or ancient mythology describes, you know, the world coming to being because, you know, deities are fighting. Elohim has no rivals, no equals. He is the name above all names. He simply speaks and light obeys. He speaks and oceans form, stars ignite, clouds gather, lightning strikes, fruit grows, and of course, mankind breathes. The universe exists because Elohim spoke. You say, How do I apply that to my life? Listen, if Elohim's word is powerful enough to create the universe, it's powerful enough to sustain your life today. He is the God who specializes in bringing beauty out of chaos, order to the world. And think about your life right now. Some of you, maybe you find yourself in the midst of chaos. Your marriage feels chaotic, your finances feel uncertain, your emotions feel scattered, your future seems unclear. You got a lot of questions. You read Genesis 1 verse 2, and you're kind of like, Yeah, my life, you know, this isn't a picture of your life, but you just look at that illustratively and go, Yeah, I kind of feel formless, void, I darkness is hovering. I kind of feel like my life is sort of chaos. Well, guess what? You serve Elohim. And facing your life, if he could look into the void of the deep and bring order to it all, you think facing your life and its crises is a challenge for Elohim? Not at all. The same God who brought order to the world can and will bring order to your life if you trust him with it. The way I would say it is that chaos is never a crisis for Elohim. And so, how do we respond to this God, the God, our God? Number one, you worship him. If Elohim is the creator, you're not. I'm not. He was here first, gave you and I life. And so what do we do? We give him our worship and we make our life all about him. You think, why do I make my life all about God, all about Jesus, all about Elohim? Because he created. So you worship him. Number two, you trust him. If he's the creator, and he is, you are not. You trust him. If he's in control, you are not. You make your life all about him, you trust him, because really one of the greatest sources of anxiety in our lives is trying to control things we were never meant to control. The universe already has a sovereign. He is reigning and ruling. The universe doesn't need another one. If Elohim made galaxies with his word, he can certainly handle whatever you're facing today. So nothing has ever happened in your life that is bigger than Elohim, bigger than the God who gave you your life. Number three, we rest in him. We rest in him. Elohim has never been caught by surprise. He's never needed help to handle the world. We have an elder at our church who always just playfully, you know, whenever something happens, they go, Oh, just that's unbelievable. I didn't see that coming, you know. And he's like, Yeah, you know, it's, I'm, I'm sure, you know, God's just up in heaven, sort of like with his hand on his head, going, Man, I didn't see that. I don't know how I'm gonna fix this. I don't know how I'm gonna do that. You know, anytime there's some trial or unforeseen circumstance, you know, we're just we almost playfully in a way of just sarcasm, but really of worshiping God, just going, yeah, like, like, although we're a little concerned here, you know what's awesome? God is uh, you know, he's not up in heaven going, oh, how did I not see that coming? You kidding me? He's the God of heaven and earth. He can handle everything. And like a child resting under the shadow of a father who's handling business, don't ever imagine God up there going, Oh, I didn't see that one coming. Rest in the shadow of Elohim, the creator God and your father, who has been and will continue to be handling everything on your behalf today, even if you can't see the outcomes yet. You know how we would say this just in everyday language? Quit freaking out. Elohim is on the case. Trust him. Trust him. So let's just summarize everything with this one question. If Elohim is God, and he is, and if Elohim, this name, is who God is, how should that change the way I live today? Here it is. Because Elohim is my creator, I don't have to live as though the weight of the world rests on my shoulders. I can worship instead of worry, I can trust instead of strive, I can rest instead of panic, because my life is not ultimately held together by my wisdom, my strength, my planning, or my control. It is held together by the hands of the one who spoke the universe into existence. That is Elohim. Now, next week, there's another name of God we're gonna cover, and I cannot wait to talk with you about it. Thanks for listening, thanks for watching, and thank you so much for giving to for the gospel. We are 100% donor supported. This ministry, by the grace of God, is reaching millions of people every single month around the world in multiple languages, including Spanish. We have Poor El Evangelio all over social media, as well as YouTube, and all of that is because of faithful friends like you. But above all else, thank you so much for praying. I have seen, and especially as of late, just in the past few weeks, the way God will use the power of prayer as the source behind all gospel ministry. And so if you would, don't just keep giving to for the gospel. Don't just keep sharing these resources. Keep praying and pray that God would enable me and the team to be faithful. Pray that God would use for the gospel for his glory and that he would get all the credit for the ways that he's doing things because it's only him. If you're a new listener and you want more free resources, you can go to forthegospel.org. Make sure you're following us on TikTok and Instagram and Facebook, all over social media, as well as signing up for our emails. You'll get reports about the ministry. You'll also get resources. And if you'd like to partner with us financially, you can go to for thegospel.org and click give. All the information is there. I'll be back next Monday with another episode. Keep on living for the gospel.