WEBVTT 00:00:00.160 --> 00:00:01.600 We're doing something different this year. 00:00:01.679 --> 00:00:06.400 Um, we're going through the entire story of the Bible in a year, and we call this the whole story. 00:00:06.480 --> 00:00:11.599 We've divided the whole story of the Bible up into 14 different series, and we've already completed the first two. 00:00:11.679 --> 00:00:13.199 We're going through it the entire year long. 00:00:13.359 --> 00:00:15.599 Now, if you're like, oh man, am I late? 00:00:15.759 --> 00:00:16.399 Well, no. 00:00:16.559 --> 00:00:23.679 Um actually, we're still pretty early in the story, and every single message and every single little series is designed to stand on its own. 00:00:23.760 --> 00:00:25.359 So you're you're totally fine. 00:00:25.600 --> 00:00:29.760 Now, we're in the third series right now, which is something called the Great I Am. 00:00:29.920 --> 00:00:34.880 And it's so cool because we actually sang a little bit of that in one of the songs this morning, that phrase, the great I am. 00:00:35.039 --> 00:00:36.159 And if you're like, what is that? 00:00:36.240 --> 00:00:38.079 You'll you'll know it in just a second. 00:00:38.399 --> 00:00:43.280 This is the part of the story of Scripture where typically we focus on Moses. 00:00:43.600 --> 00:00:47.280 And even if you haven't grown up in church, you probably know to some degree the story of Moses, right? 00:00:47.359 --> 00:00:50.640 He's he's he parts the Red Sea, and he, you know, it's Pharaoh, let my people go. 00:00:50.880 --> 00:00:52.560 They're like cartoon movies of Moses. 00:00:52.799 --> 00:00:56.000 So it's it's pretty universal in terms of people knowing about Moses. 00:00:56.240 --> 00:01:04.000 And it's Moses, and he leads the people of Israel out of Egypt into the promised land eventually, and that's what we tend to focus on at this section of Scripture. 00:01:04.079 --> 00:01:11.040 But honestly, Moses is a big part of it, but God is definitely the primary actor in this section of the story. 00:01:11.200 --> 00:01:22.560 It's not just like Moses doing things, it is God doing things, and sometimes using Moses to either, you know, help the people see what's being done or maybe explain what's being done and why. 00:01:22.719 --> 00:01:25.519 God is the main character in this story. 00:01:26.000 --> 00:01:31.760 And actually, this is the story where God sort of steps into the forefront and we see him differently. 00:01:31.840 --> 00:01:35.519 It's almost like he goes from being a little fuzzy to really in focus. 00:01:35.599 --> 00:01:41.760 We get to learn a lot about the God that we believe in through this part of Scripture, through these stories. 00:01:41.920 --> 00:01:45.840 And we're focusing on three specific aspects of God, two of which we've already covered. 00:01:46.000 --> 00:01:47.200 One, God is holy. 00:01:47.439 --> 00:01:48.719 We talked about this a few weeks ago. 00:01:48.799 --> 00:01:57.040 We learn from the story of Moses that God is holy, that he is just different, he is other, he is greater, kind of like what Matt just prayed. 00:01:57.120 --> 00:02:02.560 Like there's no way we could really ever fully grasp who he is or how he is. 00:02:02.799 --> 00:02:10.400 His ways are above us, but but he's not holy in this way where he looks down on us and says, Hey, you don't deserve to be near me because I'm holy and you're not. 00:02:10.560 --> 00:02:14.000 He actually makes us holy through Jesus, which is amazing. 00:02:14.159 --> 00:02:18.240 And if you're interested in learning more about that, you can listen to what we talked about a few weeks ago. 00:02:18.400 --> 00:02:21.439 The week before Easter, we talked about the fact that God is powerful. 00:02:21.680 --> 00:02:27.039 He shows time and time again just how powerful he is in these stories. 00:02:27.199 --> 00:02:35.520 And that's important for us to remember on a daily basis because very often we are facing things that feel far more powerful than we are, and maybe that's true. 00:02:35.759 --> 00:02:43.759 One of my favorite quotes, I heard it when I was in high school, and it's cheesy as all get up, but it stays with me, is that we're like toothpicks, all of us. 00:02:43.919 --> 00:02:49.919 We're very fragile, but through Jesus and our faith in him, we're like toothpicks who have been duct taped to a lead pipe. 00:02:50.240 --> 00:02:52.319 And that makes us just as strong as the lead pipe. 00:02:52.400 --> 00:02:56.639 And that there's a power that God has that we get to sort of be part of, and it's very interesting. 00:02:56.879 --> 00:03:04.639 Today, we're gonna look at one more aspect of God through this story, and it's the fact that God is personal. 00:03:05.439 --> 00:03:07.039 He is personal. 00:03:07.840 --> 00:03:11.280 He's not just holy and powerful, he is extremely personal. 00:03:11.520 --> 00:03:20.159 And look, if you've ever struggled with feeling distant from God, you feel like God is is far away from you. 00:03:20.319 --> 00:03:26.719 Maybe you even have faith and have believed for a long time, but for some reason it just doesn't feel like God is near, like God is close. 00:03:26.800 --> 00:03:33.919 Maybe you think that's because you don't deserve to be close to God, or maybe you've tried and you're like, I'm going to church and I'm reading the Bible even. 00:03:34.000 --> 00:03:35.840 I just don't, I don't feel close to Him. 00:03:36.080 --> 00:03:40.479 Well, know on the front end that feelings and reality are often very different. 00:03:41.680 --> 00:03:57.919 But understand that God does not in any way, shape, or form desire to have a distant relationship with any of us as he shows us through the story of Moses, and then time and time again in Scripture, he wants to be close, and he wants us to know that he's close. 00:03:58.240 --> 00:04:02.159 And so, if you ever do feel that distance, well, today is for you. 00:04:02.639 --> 00:04:07.199 And so every single time that we've explored this great I am concept, we've gone back to the same story. 00:04:07.280 --> 00:04:09.680 It's the moment that Moses first meets God. 00:04:09.840 --> 00:04:12.800 It's in Exodus chapter 3, we're going to look at verses 1 through 15. 00:04:12.879 --> 00:04:15.680 We've covered this every week because this is this is the big moment. 00:04:15.759 --> 00:04:16.879 This is the jumping off point. 00:04:17.040 --> 00:04:21.120 It says, one day Moses was tending the flock of his father-in-law Jethro, the priest of Midian. 00:04:21.360 --> 00:04:25.279 He led the flock far into the wilderness and came to Sinai, the mountain of God. 00:04:25.600 --> 00:04:29.839 There the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a blazing fire from the middle of a bush. 00:04:30.000 --> 00:04:31.519 Moses stared in amazement. 00:04:31.680 --> 00:04:34.160 Though the bush was engulfed in flames, it did not burn up. 00:04:34.319 --> 00:04:36.079 This is amazing, Moses said to himself. 00:04:36.240 --> 00:04:38.079 Why isn't that bush burning up? 00:04:38.240 --> 00:04:39.360 I must go see it. 00:04:39.600 --> 00:04:43.920 When the Lord saw Moses coming to take a closer look, God called to him from the middle of the bush. 00:04:44.079 --> 00:04:47.439 Moses, Moses, here I am, Moses replied. 00:04:47.600 --> 00:04:49.600 Do not come any closer, the Lord warned. 00:04:49.759 --> 00:04:52.480 Take off your sandals, for you're standing on holy ground. 00:04:52.639 --> 00:04:56.000 I'm the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. 00:04:56.079 --> 00:05:00.399 And when Moses heard this, he covered his face because he was afraid to look at God. 00:05:00.639 --> 00:05:04.480 And then the Lord told him, I've certainly seen the oppression of my people in Egypt. 00:05:04.639 --> 00:05:07.920 I've heard their cries of distress because of their harsh slave drivers. 00:05:08.000 --> 00:05:09.439 Yes, I'm aware of their suffering. 00:05:09.680 --> 00:05:16.480 So I've come down to rescue them from the power of the Egyptians and lead them out of Egypt into their own fertile and spacious land. 00:05:16.560 --> 00:05:23.279 It is a land flowing with milk and honey, the land where the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebuzites now live. 00:05:23.519 --> 00:05:28.240 Look, the cry of the people of Israel has reached me, and I have seen how harshly the Egyptians abused them. 00:05:28.319 --> 00:05:30.480 Now go, for I'm sending you to Pharaoh. 00:05:30.720 --> 00:05:32.720 You must lead my people out of Egypt. 00:05:32.959 --> 00:05:35.839 But Moses protested to God, who am I to appear before Pharaoh? 00:05:36.079 --> 00:05:38.079 Who am I to lead the people of Israel out of Egypt? 00:05:38.160 --> 00:05:40.639 And God answered, I will be with you. 00:05:40.959 --> 00:05:44.240 And this is the sign, your sign, that I am the one who has sent you. 00:05:44.399 --> 00:05:47.360 When you brought the people out of Egypt, you will worship God at this very mountain. 00:05:47.519 --> 00:05:54.639 But Moses protested again, if I go to the people of Israel and tell them, the God of your ancestors has sent me to you, they'll ask me, Well, what is his name? 00:05:54.879 --> 00:05:56.160 What should I tell them? 00:05:56.480 --> 00:05:59.839 And God replied to Moses, I am who I am. 00:06:00.560 --> 00:06:04.560 Say this to the people of Israel, I am has sent me to you. 00:06:05.040 --> 00:06:10.000 God also said to Moses, Say this to the people of Israel, Yahweh is a Hebrew word. 00:06:10.160 --> 00:06:14.800 Yahweh, the God of your ancestors, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob, has sent me to you. 00:06:14.959 --> 00:06:19.360 This is my eternal name, my name to remember for all generations. 00:06:20.000 --> 00:06:25.600 So this is the moment with Moses where God gets really personal. 00:06:26.319 --> 00:06:28.079 And he gets personal in a couple of ways. 00:06:28.240 --> 00:06:30.800 Number one, we see right away, verse four. 00:06:31.040 --> 00:06:34.079 He comes and he says, Moses, calls him by name. 00:06:36.240 --> 00:06:37.680 God knows Moses' name. 00:06:37.759 --> 00:06:39.040 We see this countless times in Scripture. 00:06:39.120 --> 00:06:40.639 1 Samuel chapter 3, verse 4. 00:06:40.800 --> 00:06:42.720 Suddenly the Lord called out, Samuel. 00:06:42.879 --> 00:06:43.839 Samuel's a young boy. 00:06:44.000 --> 00:06:46.399 If you don't know the story of Samuel, he's just a young kid. 00:06:46.560 --> 00:06:52.240 And one night God just speaks to him, and God begins speaking to him by calling his name. 00:06:52.480 --> 00:06:55.199 In Genesis, there's the story of this woman named Hagar. 00:06:55.519 --> 00:07:01.920 And she's the servant of Abraham's wife, Sarah, and Sarah mistreats her very badly. 00:07:02.000 --> 00:07:02.959 She runs away. 00:07:03.120 --> 00:07:05.439 And while she's in the wilderness, God shows up. 00:07:05.600 --> 00:07:11.839 In Genesis 16, it says, The angel of the Lord found Hagar beside a spring of water in the wilderness along the road to Shur. 00:07:12.160 --> 00:07:16.480 The angel said to her, Hagar, Sarai's servant, where have you come from? 00:07:16.560 --> 00:07:17.600 And where are you going? 00:07:17.759 --> 00:07:20.000 God lets her know right away, I know you. 00:07:20.319 --> 00:07:24.879 I know who you are, I know you by name, because I'm a personal God. 00:07:26.240 --> 00:07:29.040 Jesus exemplifies this many times. 00:07:29.360 --> 00:07:32.000 One of the most obvious might be in Luke chapter 19. 00:07:32.079 --> 00:07:35.439 It says that Jesus entered Jericho and he made his way through the town. 00:07:35.600 --> 00:07:41.040 There was a man there named Zacchaeus, who was the chief tax collector in the region, and he'd become very rich. 00:07:41.199 --> 00:07:44.560 Tax collectors, if you don't know, became rich by extorting people for money. 00:07:44.720 --> 00:07:46.480 So he's rich at other people's expense. 00:07:46.560 --> 00:07:52.720 He would have been the most hated person, viewed as the most immoral and disgusting person in the entire community. 00:07:52.959 --> 00:08:01.600 He tried to get a look at Jesus, but he was too short to see over the crowd, so he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore fig tree beside the road, for Jesus was going to pass that way. 00:08:01.759 --> 00:08:05.199 And when Jesus came by, he looked up at Zacchaeus and called him by name. 00:08:05.439 --> 00:08:08.240 Zacchaeus, he said, Quick, come down. 00:08:08.800 --> 00:08:11.680 I must be a guest in your home today. 00:08:11.839 --> 00:08:15.439 He doesn't just say, Hey, dude in the tree, right? 00:08:15.600 --> 00:08:17.360 He doesn't say, hey, little little man. 00:08:17.839 --> 00:08:18.079 Right? 00:08:18.240 --> 00:08:20.000 He says, hey, Zacchaeus. 00:08:20.879 --> 00:08:22.160 He knows his name. 00:08:22.639 --> 00:08:26.160 And Jesus has no reason to know his name. 00:08:27.199 --> 00:08:31.519 And it's clear if you keep reading the story of Zacchaeus, Jesus doesn't just know his name, Jesus knows him. 00:08:31.759 --> 00:08:32.720 He knows everything about him. 00:08:32.879 --> 00:08:33.440 He knows his past. 00:08:33.519 --> 00:08:34.240 He knows his struggles. 00:08:34.320 --> 00:08:35.120 He knows his issues. 00:08:35.279 --> 00:08:38.720 He knows all that goes along with being Zacchaeus. 00:08:39.279 --> 00:08:42.799 And he still responds, I want to have dinner in your home. 00:08:42.960 --> 00:08:45.120 I want to be your honored guest. 00:08:45.919 --> 00:08:51.279 It's very reminiscent of this conversation Jesus has with a woman at a well in John chapter 4. 00:08:51.440 --> 00:08:53.360 She's got all kinds of baggage, all kinds of issues. 00:08:53.440 --> 00:08:54.720 She's one of my favorite characters in the Bible. 00:08:54.799 --> 00:08:55.840 I talk about her pretty often. 00:08:56.000 --> 00:09:00.240 She's the first person Jesus ever explicitly says, I'm the Messiah to. 00:09:00.320 --> 00:09:01.519 She's the first one. 00:09:02.879 --> 00:09:09.279 And in her conversation with Jesus, it's revealed that Jesus knows her and he knows everything about her and he knows all about her baggage. 00:09:09.360 --> 00:09:11.360 And she's got a lot of bags. 00:09:12.559 --> 00:09:15.360 And she actually walks away from that conversation. 00:09:15.759 --> 00:09:22.879 John 4 29, she tells everyone she can find, come and see a man who told me everything I ever did. 00:09:23.600 --> 00:09:26.080 Could he possibly be the Messiah? 00:09:26.960 --> 00:09:28.399 He told me everything I ever did. 00:09:28.720 --> 00:09:30.320 God is personal. 00:09:30.879 --> 00:09:32.080 He knows us. 00:09:33.120 --> 00:09:34.240 Like he knows you. 00:09:34.320 --> 00:09:36.399 And I mean he knows you. 00:09:37.519 --> 00:09:39.039 And he loves you. 00:09:40.480 --> 00:09:48.000 Now, this is something that I actually probably talk about more often than just about any specific idea because it blows me away. 00:09:48.240 --> 00:09:53.840 And it's one of those ideas that the first time I realized it, it just blew me away in terms of how God is with me, with all of us. 00:09:54.000 --> 00:09:55.519 And it's something I like to think on often. 00:09:55.679 --> 00:10:01.440 I think it's worth thinking about every single day, is that God loves us even though he knows everything about us. 00:10:01.759 --> 00:10:03.919 And that is not something we see that often in the world. 00:10:04.080 --> 00:10:07.600 Most of the time in the world we love out of ignorance. 00:10:08.080 --> 00:10:12.320 We love people more sometimes the less we know about them. 00:10:12.559 --> 00:10:17.200 Like we just we need to know just enough to decide that we love them, and then we don't want to find out anything else. 00:10:17.360 --> 00:10:18.879 Because it'll ruin it, right? 00:10:20.399 --> 00:10:24.720 I'm about to say something that's very 90s, and so do we have any 90s kids in the room? 00:10:24.879 --> 00:10:28.799 Any of you that grew up in the 90s, all right, 90s kids, maybe about 80s, like 80s and 90s, all right. 00:10:28.879 --> 00:10:29.440 You'll understand this. 00:10:29.519 --> 00:10:32.320 Those of you who are older, I'm about to age myself big time here. 00:10:32.480 --> 00:10:33.360 Alright. 00:10:33.679 --> 00:10:47.679 So when I was in the eighth grade, I got invited to my friend Travis's house, and when I got there, we went to Blockbuster Video and we rented uh the video game NBA Jam to play on his Sega Genesis, right? 00:10:47.759 --> 00:10:50.639 It's very 90s, very 90s. 00:10:51.039 --> 00:10:56.799 And then the next day we went rollerblading, super 90s, okay? 00:10:57.039 --> 00:11:05.360 And while rollerblading at this park, we bumped into these two girls who we thought were cute because we were eighth grade boys, and we were like, this was a new thing. 00:11:05.519 --> 00:11:09.039 And so I've always been, this is gonna shock you, talkative, mouthy. 00:11:09.279 --> 00:11:11.200 Uh got me in a lot of trouble for most of my life. 00:11:11.360 --> 00:11:14.000 I always tell kids who get in trouble for talking, hey, it's okay. 00:11:14.080 --> 00:11:16.559 One day they may hand you a microphone and say, Can you talk? 00:11:16.720 --> 00:11:19.360 And you'll be like, Yes, yes, I can. 00:11:19.519 --> 00:11:27.120 So I was I was not afraid to talk, and so my friend Travis is like, these two other girls rollerblading, and uh he's like, Hey, let's, you know, talk to him. 00:11:27.200 --> 00:11:28.960 And I'm like, all right, so I go up and I talk to this girl. 00:11:29.039 --> 00:11:30.080 I I think she's cute. 00:11:30.159 --> 00:11:32.480 We strike up a conversation, she gives me her phone number. 00:11:32.559 --> 00:11:34.159 Now, I know our students are in the room today. 00:11:34.240 --> 00:11:34.879 What's up, students? 00:11:34.960 --> 00:11:37.279 By phone number, I don't mean her cell phone, those didn't exist. 00:11:37.519 --> 00:11:41.200 I mean she gave me the phone that was connected to the wall and her family's house. 00:11:41.440 --> 00:11:46.639 And so I call her house, her dad picks up the phone, and I'm like, oh, hello, sir. 00:11:46.879 --> 00:11:48.159 Is your daughter home by chance? 00:11:48.240 --> 00:11:49.039 And may I speak to her? 00:11:49.120 --> 00:11:50.320 I'm like, super polite. 00:11:50.480 --> 00:11:52.399 And we start talking on the phone, okay? 00:11:52.559 --> 00:12:01.840 Now it turns out this was amazing, such a cool opportunity for me because she was she was homeschooled and I was a public school kid, so she didn't know the people that I knew. 00:12:02.000 --> 00:12:15.600 She exists in a whole different world and environment, and so not only do I get to talk to this girl, I get the opportunity to kind of embellish some things because she doesn't have any ability to like fact-check what I'm saying. 00:12:16.480 --> 00:12:19.679 Like, and another way to say that is I just lied to her a lot. 00:12:20.559 --> 00:12:21.759 Because I wanted to impress her. 00:12:21.840 --> 00:12:28.320 I was an eighth-grade boy, and so I'm like, you know, I'm talking to her and I'm telling her the stuff that I do, but there's just a little exaggeration, right? 00:12:28.480 --> 00:12:30.639 There's just a little bit of a little bit extra. 00:12:30.799 --> 00:12:35.200 I think at one point I even told her, like, I got in a fight at school and beat a kid up, which did not happen. 00:12:35.279 --> 00:12:37.759 I only got in one fight in my school days, and I lost. 00:12:37.840 --> 00:12:39.679 So it's like that didn't happen. 00:12:39.919 --> 00:12:42.320 But I'm just, I'm just, I'm, I'm lying to her. 00:12:42.399 --> 00:12:52.720 I'm telling her these things, and at the very least, I am creating this very curated, custom picked version of myself to present to her, and it worked. 00:12:52.879 --> 00:12:57.600 She liked that version of me that I sold on the telephone. 00:12:58.080 --> 00:12:59.840 And then I had this panic moment. 00:12:59.919 --> 00:13:04.240 We were talking, and I actually think we considered ourselves boyfriend and girlfriend, whatever that meant. 00:13:05.360 --> 00:13:08.159 And she told me that summer, great news. 00:13:08.480 --> 00:13:10.639 I'm gonna go to your school next year. 00:13:10.960 --> 00:13:15.360 And I was like, yay! Right? 00:13:16.080 --> 00:13:17.279 And I knew it was over. 00:13:17.360 --> 00:13:18.320 I was like, this is it. 00:13:18.399 --> 00:13:19.200 That's that's done. 00:13:19.360 --> 00:13:25.440 Because there's no way I'm not gonna live up to the version of me that I have I have sold to you. 00:13:25.600 --> 00:13:30.320 Okay, now look, it's silly and it was wrong, like, don't do that, okay? 00:13:31.120 --> 00:13:42.960 But it's it's amazing that even the eighth grade version of me somehow understood that my my best chance at getting someone to love me or really like me was to present a version of me that is not the real me. 00:13:43.759 --> 00:13:55.519 Because there's some type of knowledge in there that if they knew me exactly as I am, the real me would not impress, the real me would not be worthy of a relationship or love or whatever it is I was looking for. 00:13:56.000 --> 00:13:57.919 And we all know that. 00:13:58.320 --> 00:14:19.519 I mean, if social media has proven anything to us, it is that no matter how old you are, how mature you are, what stage of life you are in, the temptation to present a very curated version of yourself to the world is strong because something inside of us doesn't believe that if the world, if other people saw us exactly as we are, we would be loved. 00:14:19.840 --> 00:14:21.440 And that might be true. 00:14:22.720 --> 00:14:24.480 Except when it comes to God. 00:14:25.679 --> 00:14:28.000 Because he knows you everything about you. 00:14:28.080 --> 00:14:30.240 He knew Zacchaeus and all of Zacchaeus' stuff. 00:14:30.320 --> 00:14:34.960 And and the story, I learned the story of Zacchaeus as a kid in like in church, and it was just, oh, he's a short little dude. 00:14:35.039 --> 00:14:42.960 No, he's like a short little criminal mastermind who has stolen money from very poor people. 00:14:43.120 --> 00:14:45.440 There are people that are homeless because of Zacchaeus. 00:14:45.759 --> 00:14:49.679 There are families that are starving to death because of Zacchaeus. 00:14:50.879 --> 00:14:52.559 And Jesus knows it. 00:14:52.879 --> 00:14:55.519 And he loves him, and it changes Zacchaeus' life. 00:14:57.039 --> 00:15:00.320 This woman at the well, I mean, her her story, it's messy. 00:15:00.960 --> 00:15:02.960 It's messy and it's shameful. 00:15:04.000 --> 00:15:06.080 To the point where she is ostracized. 00:15:06.240 --> 00:15:08.000 She's at the well alone at a time of day. 00:15:08.080 --> 00:15:14.000 No one else goes to the well because if she went any other time of day, everyone would run away from her and shun her. 00:15:14.240 --> 00:15:16.480 And Jesus loves her. 00:15:18.000 --> 00:15:24.720 So we have to remember that our God is so personal and so loving that we never have to hide anything from him. 00:15:24.879 --> 00:15:27.039 I mean, you can't anyway, you can try. 00:15:27.840 --> 00:15:29.519 But we don't even have to. 00:15:29.919 --> 00:15:35.519 Because he sees us exactly as we are, he knows everything about us, and he loves you. 00:15:35.679 --> 00:15:40.320 He doesn't love the version of you that you've worked really hard to present to the world around you. 00:15:40.559 --> 00:15:41.759 He loves you. 00:15:42.320 --> 00:15:51.840 And even if every other person in the world could see who you actually are and all of it, and maybe they would say, I'm in, or maybe they say, Ah, I'm out. 00:15:52.080 --> 00:15:54.559 You can know for a fact that God would never do that. 00:15:54.720 --> 00:15:56.159 He loves you personally. 00:15:56.320 --> 00:15:57.759 His love isn't just general. 00:15:57.919 --> 00:16:02.480 It's not just like he loves you in the general sense that you're a person and he loves people. 00:16:02.639 --> 00:16:06.240 He loves you specifically, he knows you by name. 00:16:06.559 --> 00:16:08.240 That's how personal he is. 00:16:08.559 --> 00:16:09.440 It's amazing. 00:16:10.080 --> 00:16:11.600 But it doesn't just stop there with Moses. 00:16:11.840 --> 00:16:16.480 It's not just that God knows Moses, God wants Moses to know him. 00:16:17.919 --> 00:16:22.480 In fact, this moment in Moses' life is the first time God ever tells anyone his name. 00:16:23.360 --> 00:16:26.799 So far in Scripture, he's just God, like the title. 00:16:27.039 --> 00:16:32.159 This is the first time that God actually tells someone his name. 00:16:32.240 --> 00:16:33.360 Let's let's look at it. 00:16:33.679 --> 00:16:38.399 We'll go back to Exodus chapter 3, verses 13 and 15. 00:16:38.480 --> 00:16:44.480 Moses protested, if I go to the people of Israel and tell them the God of your ancestors has sent me, they'll ask me, Well, what's his name? 00:16:44.720 --> 00:16:45.919 What should I tell them? 00:16:46.159 --> 00:16:48.159 And God replied to Moses, I am. 00:16:48.399 --> 00:16:49.440 I am who I am. 00:16:49.679 --> 00:16:52.080 Say this to the people of Israel, I am, has sent me to you. 00:16:52.240 --> 00:16:59.679 God also said to Moses, say this to the people of Israel, Yahweh, the God of your ancestors, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you. 00:16:59.759 --> 00:17:04.400 This is my eternal name and my name to remember for all generations. 00:17:04.880 --> 00:17:12.640 Now, this can be a little bit confusing for us at this point in history because when's the last time any of us called God Yahweh? 00:17:12.960 --> 00:17:15.759 Like anyone in the last week, say out loud, Yahweh. 00:17:15.839 --> 00:17:16.720 By the way, it's okay if you have. 00:17:16.799 --> 00:17:17.839 You didn't do anything wrong. 00:17:18.240 --> 00:17:18.559 Okay. 00:17:19.519 --> 00:17:20.000 One. 00:17:20.240 --> 00:17:21.440 Well done. 00:17:22.240 --> 00:17:23.599 So it's weird. 00:17:23.680 --> 00:17:26.960 We we read the Bible and we don't even see the name Yahweh. 00:17:27.200 --> 00:17:28.799 But it's there all the time. 00:17:29.200 --> 00:17:30.480 And so let me let me show you something. 00:17:30.720 --> 00:17:34.319 Uh, Psalm chapter 100, verses 1 through 3. 00:17:34.400 --> 00:17:35.920 And I'm gonna actually look at the screen as I do this. 00:17:36.079 --> 00:17:46.160 So it says, It says, shout with joy to the Lord, all the earth, worship the Lord with gladness, come before him singing with joy, acknowledge that the Lord is God. 00:17:46.319 --> 00:17:52.640 Now notice that the word Lord is capitalized in each of those statements. 00:17:52.799 --> 00:18:00.480 Now there will be other scriptures, sometimes even in the same verses, where you'll have a Lord in all caps, and then you'll have a Lord that just has like one capital letter. 00:18:00.640 --> 00:18:09.279 And that's because every time in your Bible, and if you read it, notice this from now on, every single time you see the word Lord in all caps, that's Yahweh. 00:18:10.079 --> 00:18:11.519 That's Yahweh every time. 00:18:11.680 --> 00:18:15.599 And it's used thousands of times in the Old Testament alone. 00:18:15.839 --> 00:18:20.559 But it's never translated Yahweh in our Bibles, it's translated Lord. 00:18:20.799 --> 00:18:23.440 And there's some interesting history behind that. 00:18:24.240 --> 00:18:26.720 Stuff that I kind of like to geek out on. 00:18:27.039 --> 00:18:29.839 Now, like, how many of you have ever heard Jehovah? 00:18:30.400 --> 00:18:30.720 Okay? 00:18:30.960 --> 00:18:33.920 How many of you ever said Jehovah or sung Jehovah? 00:18:34.000 --> 00:18:34.240 Okay. 00:18:34.319 --> 00:18:39.359 So interestingly enough, the Jewish people would have never ever uttered that word. 00:18:39.920 --> 00:18:55.279 God was never called Jehovah once by the Jewish people, but over time, Jehovah became this thing that people began to call God, and it's sort of connected to to Yahweh, but in a kind of indirect way. 00:18:55.759 --> 00:18:58.160 How about how about this word, and this is a little bit more obscure. 00:18:58.240 --> 00:18:58.960 How about Adonai? 00:18:59.200 --> 00:19:00.720 Has anyone ever heard Adonai? 00:19:00.880 --> 00:19:01.200 Okay. 00:19:01.680 --> 00:19:07.759 Adonai is a it is a Hebrew word that means Lord, master. 00:19:08.559 --> 00:19:10.000 It's a little more formal. 00:19:10.240 --> 00:19:15.200 And so what would happen, I'm actually gonna show a video in a second that explains all this in a really cool way, because I think it's cool to know this stuff. 00:19:15.359 --> 00:19:17.839 Like the more we know about God, the better it is for us to relate to God. 00:19:17.920 --> 00:19:18.559 It's really cool. 00:19:18.720 --> 00:19:30.880 Um, over time, and we're gonna explore why in just a second, this name, this personal name that God gave his people stopped being used, and instead, this whole Adonai and Jehovah business was born. 00:19:31.039 --> 00:19:35.440 Even though it's it's not what God perhaps ever intended. 00:19:35.759 --> 00:19:42.240 So rather than me just try to explain it in a way that would be boring, um, there's a really amazing, I think it's amazing, uh, group online. 00:19:42.480 --> 00:19:46.319 They have a great podcast, they have an amazing YouTube channel, it's called the Bible Project. 00:19:46.480 --> 00:19:51.759 And they literally make these incredible animated videos explaining all kinds of concepts in scripture. 00:19:52.000 --> 00:19:53.839 Very, very interesting, very engaging. 00:19:53.920 --> 00:20:00.480 And I want to show you a really short three-minute video that they created that explains this whole Yahweh, Jehovah, Adonai business. 00:20:00.640 --> 00:20:01.359 Really interesting. 00:20:01.440 --> 00:20:05.039 So let's watch this together and we're gonna come back and talk about it because the implications are pretty cool. 00:20:05.119 --> 00:20:06.559 Let's go ahead and watch. 00:20:09.039 --> 00:20:16.480 For thousands of years, every morning and evening, Jewish people have prayed these well-known words as a way of expressing their devotion to God. 00:20:16.720 --> 00:20:17.680 They're called the Shema. 00:20:18.319 --> 00:20:22.160 Hear, O Israel, the Lord is our God, the Lord is one. 00:20:22.319 --> 00:20:29.200 And as for you, you shall love the Lord your God with all of your heart, with all of your soul, and with all of your strength. 00:20:29.359 --> 00:20:33.920 We're going to look at the second key word here: Lord, written in all capital letters. 00:20:34.079 --> 00:20:36.799 This is the personal name of Israel's God. 00:20:37.039 --> 00:20:43.279 We first learn the meaning of this name in the story of Moses and the burning bush in the book of Exodus, chapter three. 00:20:43.440 --> 00:20:48.079 God appears to Moses and he commissions him to liberate the Israelites from slavery. 00:20:48.240 --> 00:20:53.039 And so Moses wonders, what if people ask the name of the God who has sent me? 00:20:53.200 --> 00:20:57.039 And so God responds, tell them, Echiah has sent me to you. 00:20:57.200 --> 00:21:00.640 Now, that Hebrew word Echia means I will be. 00:21:00.799 --> 00:21:05.759 In other words, God's name means that he is the one who is and who will be. 00:21:05.920 --> 00:21:09.359 God's existence doesn't depend on anyone or anything else. 00:21:09.599 --> 00:21:11.440 This God simply is. 00:21:11.920 --> 00:21:18.000 But it will sound kind of strange for Moses to go say to the Israelites, I will be, has sent me to you. 00:21:18.160 --> 00:21:20.240 Only God can say, I will be. 00:21:20.400 --> 00:21:24.559 So in the next sentence, God tells Moses the version he should say aloud. 00:21:24.799 --> 00:21:28.559 Yahweh, the God of our ancestors, he has sent me to you. 00:21:28.720 --> 00:21:33.359 Now, that word Yahweh is the ancient Hebrew form of the verb he will be. 00:21:33.519 --> 00:21:36.079 And this is the personal name of the God of Israel. 00:21:36.240 --> 00:21:39.839 It appears over 6,500 times in the Old Testament. 00:21:40.000 --> 00:21:41.039 Now, here's what's interesting. 00:21:41.279 --> 00:21:46.160 Over the centuries, Israelites wanted to honor the sacred nature of this divine name. 00:21:46.240 --> 00:21:55.279 So, as they read the Hebrew Bible aloud and they came to this name, they stopped saying Yahweh, and instead started saying the Hebrew word for Lord, which is Adonai. 00:21:55.519 --> 00:22:03.759 Now, this practice has been continued throughout the centuries, and so later, when people started Translating the Bible into English, they adopted the same practice. 00:22:03.920 --> 00:22:09.920 Instead of spelling out the divine name, they translated it as Lord spelled in all capital letters. 00:22:10.079 --> 00:22:10.960 Okay, you got that? 00:22:11.119 --> 00:22:12.319 Good, because there's more. 00:22:12.559 --> 00:22:19.119 Ancient Jewish scribes wanted to prevent anyone from even accidentally saying this name aloud when you read the Hebrew Bible. 00:22:19.200 --> 00:22:24.400 And so they came up with a visual device to remind you to make sure you say Adonai. 00:22:24.480 --> 00:22:27.680 They took the four consonant letters of the divine name. 00:22:27.839 --> 00:22:31.359 These letters correspond to our English letters Y-H-W-H. 00:22:31.759 --> 00:22:40.640 Then they inserted the three vowels from the word Adonai and combined these together to create an artificial hybrid word. 00:22:40.799 --> 00:22:43.519 Which, if you pronounced it, it would say Yahuwah. 00:22:43.599 --> 00:22:46.000 But no Israelite ever said Yahuwah. 00:22:46.079 --> 00:22:49.359 It's simply a visual reminder to say the word Adonai. 00:22:49.519 --> 00:22:50.799 Now it gets more interesting. 00:22:50.960 --> 00:22:56.079 Much later, Christian scribes came along who didn't know that Yahuwah was an artificial word. 00:22:56.160 --> 00:22:59.599 And so they began to say it aloud and spell it in their writings. 00:22:59.759 --> 00:23:03.200 This is the word that eventually entered into English as Jehovah. 00:23:03.279 --> 00:23:05.119 It's a word many people still use today. 00:23:05.279 --> 00:23:10.799 But the main thing is, the word Lord in all capital letters is an indication of the divine name. 00:23:10.960 --> 00:23:16.319 Don't confuse it with the word Lord in your English translations that's not in all capital letters. 00:23:16.480 --> 00:23:20.640 That is the actual Hebrew word Adon, which just means Lord or Master. 00:23:20.799 --> 00:23:26.240 This word can refer to people like kings or the master of a servant, even a shepherd over his sheep. 00:23:26.319 --> 00:23:33.519 And sometimes biblical authors will use this word to refer to God, like in the phrases the Lord of all the earth, or the Lord of Lords. 00:23:33.680 --> 00:23:41.279 But behind all of these words, Jehovah, Lord, Adonai, stands the original divine name of the God of Israel. 00:23:41.440 --> 00:23:46.000 It refers to the one who was, who is, and who forever will be. 00:23:46.880 --> 00:23:48.000 Yeah, that's cool, right? 00:23:49.200 --> 00:23:52.160 So you're like, well, that's unnecessarily complicated. 00:23:53.440 --> 00:23:54.400 And it is. 00:23:55.440 --> 00:23:58.400 And here's the question: who who made it complicated? 00:23:59.279 --> 00:23:59.839 People. 00:24:00.079 --> 00:24:00.720 We did. 00:24:01.279 --> 00:24:11.279 So, as you saw in the video, over the centuries, after Moses' time, this idea sprang up that, well, we we want to make sure we honor God. 00:24:11.519 --> 00:24:16.240 And so, you know, let's just not call him by the name that he asked us to call him. 00:24:17.039 --> 00:24:20.160 Because, you know, maybe, maybe we'll we'll say it flippantly. 00:24:20.240 --> 00:24:24.799 You can see that, you know, the Bible says that you should uh make sure you keep the name of God holy. 00:24:25.039 --> 00:24:25.279 Right? 00:24:25.440 --> 00:24:28.960 Jesus actually prayed, Our Father in heaven, may your name be kept holy. 00:24:29.759 --> 00:24:31.680 And so they said, well let's just not say the name. 00:24:31.759 --> 00:24:40.880 And instead they start saying Adonai, and then they make these visual cues that if people are reading it, make sure you don't accidentally read Yahweh, so we won't write Yahweh, because then you might say it. 00:24:41.039 --> 00:24:48.160 Instead, we'll come up with this sort of word picture that reminds you to say Adonai, but also remember that it is Yahweh, and it just becomes this complicated mess. 00:24:48.240 --> 00:25:00.319 And all of it, all of it was based off this false idea that God would somehow be upset if we if we used his name too much. 00:25:00.960 --> 00:25:06.240 When clearly God wanted us to call him by name, he wanted us to have a personal relationship with him. 00:25:06.880 --> 00:25:09.039 He tells Moses, like, this is my name. 00:25:09.200 --> 00:25:10.079 Tell this to the people. 00:25:10.240 --> 00:25:19.039 And for centuries they would have said, Yahweh, Yahweh, it wasn't for another several hundred years that this whole idea developed that says, no, don't call him by name, let's use this title instead. 00:25:19.200 --> 00:25:20.640 But God never said that. 00:25:20.799 --> 00:25:22.880 That was what people just assumed. 00:25:23.359 --> 00:25:32.720 And so what you can see in this is this amazing example of how we complicate things with God and we create distance with God that he never intends. 00:25:33.839 --> 00:25:44.400 The distance that that that created, this kind of religious distance that God is is so far removed from us that we can't even say his name is something God never intended. 00:25:45.039 --> 00:25:45.839 We did that. 00:25:48.480 --> 00:25:49.119 We did that. 00:25:49.359 --> 00:25:51.200 He wants us to know his name. 00:25:52.720 --> 00:25:55.200 It matters to him that we have a personal relationship with him. 00:25:55.359 --> 00:25:58.960 In fact, years ago, there was a gentleman that I was talking to. 00:25:59.200 --> 00:26:00.240 His name was Jack. 00:26:00.400 --> 00:26:15.279 And Jack was having a hard time with this sort of general idea of why does it matter if we address God as Jesus or if if people who call God by a different name, maybe a different religion, like what does it matter? 00:26:15.519 --> 00:26:23.759 A lot of times people's objections to God is we're kind of wrestling through the idea of whether or not we believe in God, that we want to put our faith in God, wherever you're at in that wrestling. 00:26:24.000 --> 00:26:32.319 A lot of times the objections people have to God fall into this category that's basically like, well, if I were God, I wouldn't do it this way. 00:26:32.559 --> 00:26:39.359 And then it's sort of like you putting your own moral values on God, saying God should be more like you. 00:26:39.759 --> 00:26:46.240 And so for him, it's like, well, I wouldn't care if I was God, I wouldn't care if people call me Jesus or Buddha or whatever. 00:26:46.559 --> 00:26:52.160 And so that was something I haven't had a conversation like that in a while, but that was something that people would bring up several years ago. 00:26:52.319 --> 00:26:53.519 And so he's talking to me about that. 00:26:53.599 --> 00:26:54.400 He's like, what does it matter? 00:26:54.480 --> 00:26:55.599 Why do we have to call him Jesus? 00:26:55.680 --> 00:26:56.319 Why do we have to? 00:26:56.480 --> 00:26:59.039 And so I have said this little trick that I do if I ever get in these conversations. 00:26:59.119 --> 00:27:01.680 I said, Well, I don't, you know, Jack, I don't know. 00:27:01.839 --> 00:27:09.599 Um maybe, James, it's because we uh, you know, he he, I don't know, like it's just something he prefers. 00:27:09.680 --> 00:27:12.079 And so, James, I always like to, and he stops me. 00:27:12.319 --> 00:27:14.079 He's like, My name's Jack. 00:27:14.960 --> 00:27:18.880 I was like, Oh, I know your name's Jack, because I called you that, then I switched it. 00:27:19.039 --> 00:27:23.359 It's weird how it bothers you that I called you by a name that isn't your name. 00:27:24.079 --> 00:27:24.640 Right? 00:27:24.960 --> 00:27:42.240 Maybe we're created in the image of God, and maybe that part of us that like deeply desires people to know who we are by name, maybe that actually comes from God who wants to have a close relationship with us and doesn't want us to settle for just knowing that he's a force that's out there in the world. 00:27:43.359 --> 00:27:44.640