What Does God Say About: Himself?

[Music] [Applause] [Music] uh praise god if you have your bibles turn to the book of exodus the book of exodus we are in i think this is our third week in a four-part series called what does god say and three weeks ago we talked about what god says about salvation how many think it's important to have god's input you want god's information on your situation come on could i have a better amen you know we live in an age in a culture where everybody has a platform everybody has a microphone how many of you know everybody has an opinion and they're quick to share their opinion i'm thankful for facebook but i want to hear what this book has to say about my situation we talked about what does god say about salvation i think that's one of the most important questions that can be answered if you were here last week we talked about what does god say about culture and next week i want to give you this heads up next week where the topic is going to be a kind of a pg-13 uh what does god say about sex okay so i just want to give a heads up to all the parents and grandparents if you bring your children into big church we're going to talk about big stuff and um so just a little caution there if you feel like it's best to have your children in different environments i understand that but i will say this your kids are hearing more than what you think they do your kids are exposed to way more than what you would realize and i think it's super important that we as pastors and spiritual leaders come alongside you as parents and we equip our kids with the biblical context of god's gift to husbands and wives amen so don't forget that and listen pray for me how many of you would not want to be me next sunday yeah it's awkward enough to talk about sex try doing it with you know 3 000 people watching oh yeah and my mom called me yesterday she said son i'm gonna be watching that service online i'd like to talk about this in front of your mama oh lord so don't forget that next week today i want to talk to you the topic is this what does god say about himself what does god say about himself i think one of the best ways to kick off this conversation today is to quote a famous uh theologian he's one of the great christian thinkers of our modern day a.w tozer some of you have read books by him he's so intellectual great apologist a.w tozer said this he says what comes into our minds when we think about god is the most important thing about us don't you let that sink in from for a moment in other words what a w is telling us is this the most important thing about you is what you think about when you think about god now i want you in your mind just to press pause on all the distraction around you and i want you to visualize when when i say god what comes to your mind what images what characteristics how do you connect the dots who is god to you because how you answer this question is probably one of the most important things about you you know if we were to ask a hundred random people off the streets who god is how many thinks we might have a hundred different answers how you answer that question is gonna shape the trajectory of your life some people think well god is so abstract he's he's the cosmos he's this this force he's he's karma he's so distant we can't have any knowledge of him he doesn't have much to do with us some people think god is this doomsday god this hellfire and damnation god this god that just gets joy out of seeing you mess up he's waiting for you to make a mistake and if you make a mistake then he's got a button in heaven and zap down comes a lightning bolt some people think god's a a scorekeeper you know that you have to earn almost like a checking account you have credits and you have debits and and if you earn enough credits and you you minimize your debits then on that day you get in you know some people come to church on sunday to earn a credit to make up for the debit they made last night come on this ledger system of god keeping score some people think god is a stained glass god and he speaks in in king james these thousand wherefore arthouse some people think he's a google god let me just google i mean i don't really want a relationship with him but i know he knows everything so i'll just kind of type in an answer if i get stuck or type in a question he can give me an answer some people think he's this kind of this great grandpa in the sky this old gentle man he's kind of he wears hearing aids because he's hard of hearing he's not really dialed into the 21st century how many know there are all different kinds of pictures of god i would say this god does not like to be misrepresented he doesn't like to be misquoted and he doesn't like to be misinterpreted god wants to speak for himself let me say this how many of you ever been in uh maybe you went to a restaurant you and your spouse or you and your boyfriend girlfriend you're having a date night and you're wanting a nice quiet dinner and in walks this family with crazy rowdy kids don't you just love that i mean kids all over the place you're thinking man come on mom come on dad control the kids i was at a grocery store a while back and i remember going through the checkout line and the lady in front of me bless her heart she had a lot of groceries a lot of and she had this four-year-old tasmanian devil man he was ripping stuff off the shelves and then just out of control and she turned back and looked at me as if to say isn't he sweet and i'm thinking no handcuff this kid and get him out of here man get him to the car he's going to tear the place down let me ask you this don't we form opinions of parents based on the conduct of their kids come on talk to me okay now i've set you up you know what i'm stepping into if we form opinions of parents based on the conduct of their children don't you think the world forms opinions of god based on the conduct of his kids oh come on put your hands together if you believe that [Music] god doesn't want to be misrepresented he doesn't want to be misinterpreted i would i don't want god to look down from heaven and cringe when he sees my life and he says oh mike that is so not what i'm about so today what we're going to talk about is what god says about himself it's not the evangelist it's not what he says it's not what the missionary says it's not what your grandmama says and thank god for all of them but what does god say about himself exodus 34 verse 6. now i'm telling you this i have the impossible task of telling you what god says about himself in 24 minutes and eight seconds okay it's it's not gonna happen now i gave you a handout okay this is gonna guide our conversation and i'm going to tell you right now i'm not getting through it okay i've studied i've prepared i don't know if i have the time to cross the finish line for some of you that are left brainers you're going to be very upset with me because i'm not filling in all the blanks and connecting all the dots for those of you that are right brainers you kind of artsy fartsy creative types you don't even realize there's a handout okay but this is some good information that will allow you in your own time to follow up and see how god describes himself exodus 34 let me give you some context and i'm going to do my best to talk to you about three mountains in the eight o'clock service we didn't get off the first mountain okay sorry stuck on the mountain moses receives the ten commandments when he's on the top of mount sinai this is a place where he met with god mount sinai is a significant mountain god's speaking to moses and he writes the ten commandments he writes the law on these stone tablets now while moses is on the mountain the israelites are at the foot of the mountain and guess what they're doing they're worshiping the golden calf somebody say my my come on there's trouble in the camp listen god is with moses and men they're having this amazing conversation downloading this instruction moses goes down and he sees the idolatry of the people what does he do with those stone tablets he throws them to the ground destroys them there's this moment now it's like okay and god is so frustrated with the israelites it's so funny because as i'm reading this the journey of the children of israel half the time god is wanting to kill him and start over how many of you look at your kids sometimes and just thinking man i want to start over half the time god's wanting to kill him and start over and the other half the time moses is wanting to kill him and tell god they died and here's this moment and here's what god says in in exodus 32 and 33 he says listen i will no longer lead you i'm going to send my angel because if i walked with you i just oh i would destroy every one of you and this is where moses says wait a second lord if you don't lead us i'm not going i'm not going without you because i need two things i need your presence and i need your perspective come on somebody how many of you want the presence of god lord i need you with me i don't take a step without you i thought about you know the older i get the more i realize how desperately i need him so god says okay here's what i'm going to do i'm going to hide you in the cleft of the rock and i'm going to let my glorious presence pass in front of you no man has ever seen god at this moment and this is a significant moment not just in biblical history but in human history god is going to describe himself to moses and this is what the scripture says exodus 34 verse 6 the lord passed in front of moses calling out yahweh the lord in fact yahweh is translated the lord so there's double emphasis here notice god is passing before moses and he announces himself here i am the lord the lord and anytime there's there's a multiple occurrence of a name the significance points to the infinite importance of this moment and god is basically getting ready to show moses his greatness so if you have your your hand out greatness i want you to see now let me give you some characteristics of the greatness of our god again i won't be able to explain all of it but i'm going to do my very best i want to give you what i call the alls okay and you're going to see how this thing stacks up all's he is always existing did you know that god has no beginning and no ending aren't you thankful for the eternal quality of god now the earth has a beginning in the beginning god created god in his infinite greatness he has no starting line he has no finish line you and i have a start date and we have an expiration date but god is not confined by space or time can i have a good amen and let me just say something for all the intellectuals that are out there as well i'm a man of faith but i'm not against science okay and i know that there's a certain uh curriculum that's taught in our education system but let me tell you this i believe that science confirms everything the scripture says true science confirms biblical truths god created god has always existed notice what the scripture says in psalm 90 verse 2 before the mountains were born before you gave birth to the earth and the world from beginning to end you are god he always was he always is and he always will be can i have a good amen these are the characteristics and the attributes of this almighty yahweh the lord and i want you to see right out the gate he's always existing guess what he's always present look at the second thing in your hand he's always present omni present he's everywhere at once parents do you ever wish you could be two or three places at the same time hustling your kids to soccer practice and dance recitals and and school and youth group and and man you wish you could divide yourself into three or four different people and and be different places at once god is not confined by time or space but he is always present and this is good news you know why because it tells me this you will never go where god has not already been i want you to hear that because some of you are in a painful place right now god's been there before some of you experienced heartache and hurt some of you are in a new season you've never seen this chapter you've never felt this kind of pain or pressure but you and i will never go where he has not already been god is not a travel agent sending you to places they'll never go he's a tour guide that takes you by the hand and says walk with me i'll show you how to get here i've been this route before are you with me he's always prep how many of you are thankful for the presence of god listen there may be times that you feel lonely but i promise you you're never alone look at what the scripture says jeremiah 23 24 can anyone hide from me in a secret place am i not everywhere in all the heavens and the earth says the lord nothing is off limits to god i think that's good news for us because sometimes we're in such a difficult dark place and god says that space i can occupy listen he's always existing he's always present he's always the same how many of you are thankful for that he is the same yesterday today and forever when i was in high school one of my buddies dated a girl and he called her miss dow jones i'm like why are you calling her miss dow jones he says she's like the stock market she's up one day she's down the next she gains 100 points and loses 200 points i'm like oh sweet jesus you need to get out that relationship come on somebody you know they say before you have kids you have certain highs and you have certain lows but as a parent when you have children your highs become higher and your lows become infinitely lower can all the moms and dads say amen there's something about consistency here's perhaps one of my favorite characteristics about the almighty lord he is always the same malachi 3 verse 6 the bible says i am the lord and i do not change we live in unprecedented times none of us could have imagined what the last 13 or 14 months have looked like in this country and in the world between politics and pandemics and social unrest and everything in between but here's what i love our god is steady our god is solid our god you know what you get when you're with god there is no guesswork when it comes to him you know over the centuries the church has walked through plagues we've endured oppression we've endured poverty uh we've endured wars but you know i mean think about it think about the book that we cling to think about we sing psalms that were written in caves we preached letters that were pinned in prisons we hold to teachings that were discovered and revealed in the wilderness we may be in a new set of circumstances but we serve the same god he is the god of abraham isaac and jacob he's the god of every generation can i have a good amen come on put your hands together if you believe that oh that's so good these are the the traits the characteristics the nature of yahweh he's all-knowing can i tell you this god is a know-it-all another word is omniscient omniscient he knows everything have you ever had to make a decision and you didn't know the answer how many of you are making important decisions in your life right now how many of you you need knowledge that's beyond your own intellect here's the good news about god he is all knowing do you know nothing has ever occurred to the lord some of you thinking something just now occurred to you hmm never thought about that god has never listen i've never been in prayer and heard the lord say whoa whoa whoa wait mike mike mike mike say that again wow that was really good could you i want to write that down because history makers are yeah god's not confined by history and you're never going to say anything that impresses god he already he knows it all and the good news is you don't have to know everything as long as you know the one who does know everything oh listen to this scripture in first john 3 verse 20. even if we feel guilty god is greater than our feelings and he knows everything oh this ought to help somebody today because the things you don't know are are punishing you right now you're you're worrying about unknowns can i tell you this whatever you're worrying about god is already working on he's working on that thing and guess what he knows it so when you reach the end of your knowledge you've just tapped in to his god knows everything listen to this let me let me wrap up this this first little list he's also all powerful i think i may need to just kind of drill down on this one he is sovereign he is omnipotent sometimes i feel the enemy of your soul wants you to believe that the devil is big and god is little when you're getting into some problems sometimes you're just you know consumed by everything that's going on around you and you can get this impression that the big bad devil i mean he's this this monstrous powerful this huge dark force coming against you and that god is just this little bitty pint-sized smurf can i tell you this god wants to get out of the box that you put him in see the enemy's not concerned that you come to church on sunday as long as you put god back in the box and just carry that box with you on monday tuesday wednesday thursday come on you're with me god is is bigger he's powerful he's got muscles on top of muscles come on he's got veins on top of veins he's body slamming the come on are you with me listen don't let the enemy the opposite of god is not the devil the devil is a created being remember god is infinite he's always existed no beginning and no end you think the devil is some match for god are you kidding me but you know sometimes our circumstances speak so loudly to us you know i was the other day i was i was driving down the road and i was thinking about the church and many of you know those of you that are are in business and you understand how business works and something you think about your employees you think about your staff you think about you know finances you think about the bottom line and you think about moving the organization forward i was thinking about the church i was thinking about all that god is doing across all of our campuses i thought about our mission to be a healing place for a hurting world and knowing it takes millions of dollars to to move this mission forward when we talk about launching campuses when you have 13 campuses how many know it's not just nickels and dimes and pennies and quarters i started thinking about the finances required lord we're going to need millions of dollars man to build that that permanent worship space in ascension and god you put some things in our hearts for hpc new orleans god i feel like you're stir we're going to take millions of dollars to do something in metairie or kenner or new world god your you're stirring something man we've been talking about lsu father there's something for us that lsu can tell you we're we're not a mega church we're a local church with a mega vision and i started thinking about the finances required to move that forward and i felt intimidated and as i'm driving out of my neighborhood there is a cow field in front of our at the front of our neighborhood big old california and i looked at the cattle on that field and the lord said mike look at those cows [Music] okay there's cow you know beef i love steak no no no mike look at the cows in that field and then he reminded me psalm 50 verse 10 the bible says god owns the cattle on a thousand hills here's the thing if in bible times if you owned one cow you were rich if you owned a herd of cattle you were filthy rich but if you owned the cattle on a thousand hills that's bougie at a whole nother level come on somebody that's it should be like what did he just say is that okay i said that in church babe bougie it's all right look it up it means filthy stinking crazy ridiculous rich i mean god's like mike i got you because not only do i own the cattle on a thousand hills i created the hills that the cattle graze upon come on put your hands together if you believe that don't make god small and listen when you meditate on the character and nature of who god is all of a sudden now god begins to grow and your problems begin to shrink look at what it says here let me let's pick up this moses is on the mount sinai and look at what it says the last half of verse six that was not only the greatness of god but now let's talk about his goodness the bible says he is the god of compassion and mercy i am slow to anger and filled with unfailing love and faithfulness i lavish unfailing love to a thousand generations i forgive iniquity rebellion and sin i do not excuse the guilty i lay the sins of the parents upon their children and grandchildren the entire family is affected even children in the third and fourth generations now let me let me shift gears and give you this second stanza all right the second list we talked about the greatness of god now let's talk about his goodness okay most people can embrace the greatness of god his infinite power but sometimes they struggle to receive his goodness lord i know you're great and powerful but i'm not sure you want to be good to me can i tell you this the lord wants to be good to you not only is he powerful supernatural created everything that we see but he's so strong there's a portion of his goodness that says i want to bless your life personally isn't this the very first lie that the serpent told adam and eve in the garden he wanted them to question god's goodness no no god knows that if you eat that fruit he's telling you not to eat it but if you eat that fruit all of a sudden your eyes will be open and you'll be as smart as him you see god doesn't want the best for you he wants less for you that's the lie of the enemy can i tell you this i heard a pastor say recently that if adam and eve were cajun that we wouldn't have a sin problem because they wouldn't have eaten the fruit they would have eaten the snake come on somebody man that seen that snake killed him had a meal and maybe a pair of boots to go along with they ain't touching that fruit come on somebody come on and all the cajuns said aye goodness god wants to be good to you hey let me run through this list he is compassionate god says i care about you you know what compassion is it's the ability to step in somebody else's shoes did god not step into our shoes when he sent us jesus oh man god cares hear this all-knowing all-powerful limitless god he cares about the details of our life i combine the next two merciful and patient okay merciful and patient i want to combine his patience and mercy because i'm short on time but i also believe they go together here's my definition of mercy mercy is god's patience through your development how many of you you need god to be patient with you how many of you sometimes have a hard time being patient with other people aren't you glad god was more patient with you than you are with some of the people in your life hey listen about a month ago rachel and i we were at dinner and trevor was with us the three of us were having dinner at this restaurant and a guy walks through the front door and when i see him i say oh rachel don't look don't look don't look right now but i won't tell you about this guy that just walked in how many's ever done that to somebody you say don't look and they're like i didn't want her to blow my cover i'm like hey don't do do not look but the guy who just walked into the door now he hates me she's like what i'm like yeah he he doesn't like don't look now i'll tell you when he sits down and then you can take a little glance but i know that guy does not like me she's like well how do you know so i'm trying to tell her the story and here's the thing and so you know he feels like this about me about the church about whatever and i kind of walked up on him i caught him texting my name to somebody i saw him i literally he's texting somebody i see my name in his text message i'm like oh and so rachel says well you know we ought to do we ought to buy his dinner [Music] i said can i rewind this no that guy right there hates me he doesn't like me he's talking about me she's like yeah i heard you we ought to buy his dinner i mean at that moment i was i was wanting to go old testament i'm an old testament christian eye for an eye tooth word too she's wanting me to you know you know bless those who persecute you and say all manner of evil against you falsely i'm like okay waitress hey see that guy over there he hates me would you bring me i didn't say that to her i didn't tell her that i said would you just bring bring me his bring me his ticket okay so here's the ticket i pay for the meal okay paid for it well then the guy realizes somebody paid for his meal process elimination comes over to the table i'm like oh jesus oh jesus we fixed the throw down right here cell phones are coming out people are taking video it's going to be bad healing place church pastor just beats a man down in a public restaurant cancel the pastor you're cancelled he comes over he was just so nice and so gracious and then we had a chance to hey thank you man we just appreciate you no thank you amen i see you here and there now yeah that's god bless you hey this is my family all right praise god so he left and i asked the waitress hey can you bring me our ticket and she said well somebody paid for your meal [Applause] and rachel's like told you so you ladies you tell us all the time fellas do you hear that from your spouse i told you so she got me you know what my flesh doesn't always want to act like god come on somebody but i'm grateful that mercy says i'm going to be patient as i work with you god's patience through our development he's compassionate he's merciful and patient he's full of unfailing love listen just because you fail doesn't mean that god's love for you is going to fail he's trustworthy i think about the faithfulness of god he's trustworthy you know i still don't think i'm a great pick i don't some days i look at myself i'm like god why in the world would you want me on your team most days i don't feel like a great pick but i know that god picked me and you know what if god calls you to it he will equip you for it trust him he's faithful are you catching this i got a minute and seven seconds to get and i'm not i'm still on first mountain we're stuck on this mountain let me let me give you this last point here and then we'll see what we need to do gracious and just okay gracious and just i want to ask the band to come out gracious and just he says i forgive iniquity i do not excuse the guilty i am both gracious and i am just hear me as we try to wrap this this portion of it up let's don't pick and choose the things about god that we feel good with and then leave the other things alone i mean i love piccadilly but god ain't piccadilly right he's both a god of grace but he is just there's something about the justice of god listen you won't appreciate grace until you understand god's justice and i know that that justice is the big movement of our day i i know it is and the scripture tells us to do justice to love mercy and to walk humbly before your god micah chapter six verse eight but when i stand before god i'm not gonna demand his his justice i'm gonna ask for his grace i'm in need the bible says that he he he he doesn't he he doesn't eliminate uh the wrongdoing of the guilty man if you're guilty you're guilty but here's the good news about grace you can take your guilt to the cross because the cross is where justice and grace meet in other words all the punishment that your sins and my sins requires listen man when i'm selfish and greedy and when i uh when i'm jealous and i create strife and division when i lie and say things and do things man that stuff we serve a holy god man he he can't embrace my sin that's why i gotta confess it i don't just pick and choose what i want about god you know we were on vacation a couple weeks ago and while we're on vacation we went to this restaurant and we got nothing but dessert didn't even look would you like to see a menu no no bring out the dessert menu you ever done that you ever go into a restaurant and just order dessert in fact don't even bring out the dessert menu every dessert on the menu bring it to the table come on how many like to go on vacation with the haymans hey calories on vacation don't count all right we ordered every dessert that they had and so i said bring all spoons around the table one of each dessert and we take a bite and pass it around take a bite pass it around take a bite pass it or does that sound like heaven to anybody oh that's all but you know with god you don't just order dessert the whole menu of god requires us to look at his justice and then be grateful for his grace moses on this mountain god says i'm gonna pass before you i want you to see my greatness but my goodness is available to you too now for those of you that are wondering what that last point is i didn't even have time to get there i wanted to talk to you about elijah because elijah went to the same mountain 580 years later elijah goes to the same mountain and he needs a revelation of god he defeats the prophets of baal but jezebel wants to kill him so he's fearing for his life and he hides himself in this mountain same place where moses was and guess what god passed before him there was an earthquake there was a wind storm there was a fire but god wasn't in any of that god was in that still small voice you see moses had a revelation of god but it was incomplete here comes elijah elijah needs a more complete version but if you fast forward 900 years after that there's a third mountain and it's called the mount of transfiguration and guess who's on that mountain jesus guess who shows up moses and elijah the two prophets who needed a revelation of god and on that mount of transfiguration here comes moses here comes elijah and then the bible says that the face of jesus was so radiant it began to transfigure that's why we call it the mount of transfiguration you see moses saw the greatness of god elijah saw the goodness of god but you know what the glory of god is all about jesus himself jesus you want to know what god is like you look at jesus jesus said when you've seen me you've seen the father [Music]

Channel: Healing Place Church

Views: 811

Rating: 5 out of 5

Keywords: church, healing, hpc, place, service

Id: wHpFYE7V0bw

Length: 36min 6sec (2166 seconds)

Published: Sun Apr 25 2021