“Hello My Name is…Rabbouni/ El Emet”

March 23, 2014

Stetson Memorial United Methodist Church

Sermon Series on “The Names of God”

Sermon 11 of series-

“The Sacred Names of God: Rabbouni/El Emet”

Psalm 31:1-5 Names of God Bible

John 13:12-17 Gods Word Bible

Let us pray…

Loving, gracious, God giver of all insight and knowledge, we pray this day that You would open Your word to us that we may receive the wisdom and knowledge that You have for us this day. May we drink deep from Your Living Water that washes over us and gives us insight of who You are and how You would have us live our lives. Pour forth Your word on us as we sit by the pool of Wisdom and Truth. Speak Lord; we thirst for Your truth in our lives…

It is interesting having a Senior in our house. Erica receives all this information for all these colleges that want her to enter their school and receive the knowledge and wisdom that she needs to follow her path of writing in her life. They make promises that if she goes to their school she will have the best teachers and that she will succeed by attending their school. It is hard, I think, for people this day who want to acquire knowledge and truth. There are so many things that are vying for our attention…some many promises of wisdom and knowledge out there. But…where is the Truth for our lives found?

We are continuing on our journey of learning the Sacred Names of God and praying in that same name. We have prayed to the one true God…our Elohim…we have talked about and prayed to El Elyon who is the Most High God…we have come to realize that our God is the everlasting, eternal God…our El Olam. Our God is our Redeemer…He is Go’el. It is within El Emet that we find Truth for our lives as long as we follow our Rabbouni…our teacher.

One of the most awesome truths that we have as children of God is that our God is El Emet, the God of Truth. Now...everyone needs to depend on and trust other people. Many people in our lives are trustworthy, but we’ve all been let down at one time or another. Maybe you trusted someone or some product with your health, only to be disappointed. Or maybe you trusted a financial advisor or broker with your money, and you lost everything. Sometimes even close friends or family members let us down in harsh and inconsiderate ways. People and things eventually let us down.

From the Psalm this morning, The name of God—El Emet—contrasts sharply with the unreliability of people and things. Emet, the Hebrew word for “trueness” and “faithfulness” calls to mind God’s trustworthiness and dependability. The psalmist conveys God’s steadfastness using rock-hard imagery: “You are my rock and my fortress.” Amid all of life’s uncertainties and disappointments, and especially when people let you down, we are still able to confess that God is our rock and fortress. If you can do that, you can also take the next step with the psalmist and say, “Into your hands I commit my spirit; deliver me, LORD, my faithful God.” We cannot always be faithful and true to God, we live in a fallen world and we are not perfect, but El Emet, “the Faithful God of Truth,” will always be faithful and true to us.

Truth is one of His many names. The Hebrew word "truth" means what is firm; faithful; something that grabs hold or supports something else. When we commit our lives to Christ, He Who is firm (the God of Truth), the truth of His Word grabs hold of us and supports. It will never deceive or lie or let us down. Numbers 23:19 tells us: "God is not a man, that He should lie, nor a son of man that He should change His mind. Does He speak and then not act? Does He promise and not fulfill?"

If we firmly believe He is El Emet (the God of Truth), we should be a people eager to know what His truth says. That is a necessary part of embracing all that He is. It is in knowing and understanding the truth of His Word so we can be guided by it. It is the basis for wisdom and understanding and it will protect us from what is untruth and lead us away from the God of Truth.

God Himself came to earth in the form of Jesus to be our Rabbouni/Rabbi…our teacher of Truth. Rabbi, a Hebrew word, is literally translated “my great one”, and it can also be translated as “my master” or “my teacher.” In the early first century, it was used to honor someone who acted as a teacher of the Torah. Rabbouni is an expanded Hebrew form that means “my rabbi. “Some decades after Jesus’ time, “rabbi” became a more formalized title. Unlike most rabbis, who merely taught what they had learned from another rabbi, Jesus taught with his own authority, as though his wisdom came from above—a fact remarked upon by many who heard him. Jesus counseled his disciples never to seek the honorific title “rabbi.” He alone was to be their Teacher and Master.

John 13:12-17 tells us:

“12 After Jesus had washed their feet and put on his outer clothes, he took his place at the table again. Then he asked his disciples, “Do you understand what I’ve done for you? 13 You call me teacher and Lord, and you’re right because that’s what I am. 14 So if I, your Lord and teacher, have washed your feet, you must wash each other’s feet. 15 I’ve given you an example that you should follow. 16 I can guarantee this truth: Slaves are not superior to their owners, and messengers are not superior to the people who send them. 17 If you understand all of this, you are blessed whenever you follow my example.”

Through his words, his miracles, and the example of his life, Jesus teaches us who God really is and how we can come into a relationship with him and others we come in contact with each day. God’s truth is still the same today as it was from the beginning. Jesus still wants to lead His disciples in the way of Truth. Jesus not only taught but showed humanity what His teachings look like and those same actions…those same principles are just as awesome and dynamic as they were when they were first modeled by the Perfector of our Faith Jesus Christ.

Jesus said, "I am the way and the Truth and the Life" (John 14:6). I'm sure we can all

agree that we love truth and find it most upsetting when we find out we haven't been told the truth. If we truly believe in our heart that Jesus is the Truth, why do we then reject His Word or even a portion of His Word? If we truly believe He is all truth, why do we hold back giving Him everything we are or have?

Jesus warned us to watch out that we are not deceived (Luke 21:8). Many will come in

His Name and they may mix some untruth with the truth and unless we say, "Wait a minute. I need to check what you way with the God of Truth," if we do not, we may just walk through deceptions door. Unfortunately, we are seeing others placing what man may say or what they write above what the God of Truth says. People are flocking to other books before God's Word. We need to be careful. Something that pleases the senses or "tickles" our ears may not line up with the author of Truth. If there is only partial truth, the whole is untruth. Just because a book is sold in a "Christian store" or labeled a "Christian book," may not contain the stamp of approval from the God of Truth. How awesome it is that we have His Word to be that guide of truth for us.

In a world full of untruths it is comforting to know that we have a God of Truth, El Emet. In a world full of false advertising it is hope giving that we have a Teacher, our Rabbouni that is the perfect example to follow…that will not give us a 30 day warranty but a life time warranty. Are you searching for the Truth in a world full of illusion? Are you ready to be taught by the One True Teacher or are you will to settle for the teachers of this world? The doors are open at the “God’s University of Truth” and your tuition has been paid by the blood of our Risen Lord Jesus.

The price of a child going to college ~ $25-50,000,

The price of Truth, 1 cross + 3 nails=4 you.

Let us pray… (pray to Rabbouni/El Emet)

“Hello My Name is…Yahweh”

March 16, 2014

Stetson Memorial United Methodist Church

Sermon Series on “The Names of God”

Sermon 9 of series-

“The Sacred Names of God: Yahweh/Yahweh Yireh”

Psalm 121 Names of God Bible

Let us pray…

Loving, gracious, God of Lent…we thank you for this day that we have come into Your house to worship You in Spirit and in Truth. You have invited us here through the blood of Your So, Lord Jesus Christ by the work that You did on Calvary’s Cross. Help us to settle our minds and hearts as we hear the word you have for us this day. Thank you for loving us and providing a way through the desert of chaos this world has to offer. Speak Lord; we are sojourners who need to drink from Your living waters. Amen

We, as humanity, work so hard every day to provide the things we need. We work at jobs that we like…and sometimes don’t like…to be able to provide for our families. Society would have us believe that if we are not able to provide the things that “it” thinks we should have we are a failure. But it can be hard sometimes because we live in a fallen world that believes that the more possessions you have the more you are able to provide for our families.  If you are not a “go getter”, willing to do anything to get what “you want”, you are weak and deserve to be on the “lower rung of society…” Oh how wrong society is. We can provide for some things but the most important provisions we are given in life don’t come of this world.

We are continuing on our journey of learning the Sacred Names of God and praying in that same name. We have prayed to the one true God…our Elohim…we have talked about and prayed to El Elyon who is the Most High God…we have come to realize that our God is the everlasting, eternal God…our El Olam. Last week we even realized that our God is also our Redeemer…He is Go’el.

How fitting that during Lent we talked about a Redeemer. We are in that season of the church where we journey to the cross where we are redeemed and made righteous not by our own means but by what God did to and for us on that cross long ago. We have prayed the name of Adonay…our Lord. In the name Adonay we are reminded that we serve a Lord who loves us with a passion…one who loves us without end. But today we are praying in one of my favorite names for God…we are praying to Yahweh.  Now this name also means Lord but…but…this name is the name of the Lord that reminds us of His providence for us.

You see Yahweh is a special name for God. As the sacred, personal name of Israel’s God, it was eventually spoken aloud only by priests worshiping in the Jerusalem temple. After the destruction of the temple in A.D. 70, the name was not pronounced. Adonay was substituted for Yahweh whenever it appeared in the biblical text. Because of this, the correct pronunciation of this name was eventually lost. English editions of the Bible usually translate Adonay as “Lord” and Yahweh as “LORD.” You see…Yahweh is the name that is most closely linked to God’s redeeming acts in the history of his chosen people. We know God because of what he has done.

Yahweh is not a God who is remote or aloof but One who is always near, intervening in history on behalf of his people. The knowledge of God’s proper name implies a covenant relationship. (Have there been times in your life when you have seen this name of God at work? Have you ever seen this attribute of God shown in the lives of others? We can see throughout history where God has not been distant and has rolled up His sleeves and gotten into the mix of the chaos of the world to show His loving power…the chaos of our own lives and changed it into something of beauty.) The name Yahweh evokes images of God’s saving power in the lives of his people.

I am reminded of Moses and the Israelites. They were in need of someone to provide a way for them to be set free from the tyranny that they lived in. They had been enslaved by the Egyptians and had no way out. But God provided for them in a mighty way. They were lead by the “strong arm of Yahweh into a place of freedom. (To the Egyptians the name Yahweh would have been a terror— a name to forget because it conjured plagues, darkness, defeat, and death. But to Moses and the Israelites Yahweh would forever mean deliverance, freedom, promise, and power. God’s people could not invoke his name without remembering what it was like to walk through the parted waters of the Red Sea, to gather manna in the wilderness, to receive the commandments on Sinai. How many times do we feel like the children of Israel when we see no way out but…but…Yahweh provides a way through the desert of our souls…? Yahweh —Israel’s faithful, wonder-working God, the One who out of pity and love reached into human history to untie the bonds of an enslaved people— that was the name by which this God wanted to be forever known…and still does the same today…)

We, as Christians, can believe and remember the stories of old We can remember how Yahweh has stepped into our lives and provided a way. We can picture has stepped into our lives and provided a way. We can picture Yahweh as this:

Forgiving • Healing • Redeeming • Compassionate • Delighting to bless you • Working on behalf of the oppressed • Slow to anger • Gracious • Loving .

Yes…Yahweh is an awesome name for our God that brings visions of deliverance. As we think of God in that way be begin to see and believe Yahweh Yireh… the Lord provides.

When you pray to Yahweh Yireh, you are praying to the God who sees the situation beforehand and is able to provide for your needs. Let’s think about Abraham  for a moment.

(Tell the story of Abram from his call to sacrificing Isaac…

Left family, God gave him Isaac at an old age, asked for Abram to sacrifice His son, provided a sacrifice.)

Like Abraham…Yahweh Yireh still provides. We may be tested like Abraham at times but as we trust in God’s providence He will show His compassion and providence. You and I can’t imagine the providence He has in store for us if we just believe. When we put something on the altar, sacrificing it to him, we acknowledge two things: that He is God, and that we are not God. This is the worship we need to offer, the worship that will allow us to experience his provision for our lives.

(Tell of the providence of God through Jesus)

Are you feeling that you are in need of some type of provision in your life? Are you feeling that you are in need of some type of provision from Yahweh? Is there something that you need and just can’t put your finger on it? Maybe…just maybe…if we put our lives on the altar we will see the providence of the Lord. Perhaps if we set aside our fear of the unknown…the fear of tomorrow, it will give room for Yahweh Yireh in our lives. Perhaps maybe, if we as Christians set aside our fear of ----- we will once again see the glory of God in the chaos that surrounds us…

Maybe…just maybe…

Let us pray…(pray to Yahweh Yireh)