The God Who Makes Things Happen Exodus #7

I’m so pleased with what I’ve heard about Family Camp. Thanks to the coordinators, Brian Murphy and Char Granados, Jennifer Caravallo, and others who were speakers and involved. It was a blessing for me on that weekend, primarily because I had the honor of being the commencement speaker at Valley Christian High School in Dublin, a momentous event that took place twenty-seven years ago. With the help of God and a very small crew of dedicated individuals, I was able to launch that school. To witness what God has achieved in that school since its inception is nothing short of incredible. The graduation ceremony on Friday night took place in their high school gymnasium, adorned with floating banners. Their athletic achievements are noteworthy, as they have triumphed in nearly every section of soccer, football, and basketball. Among the 29 graduates, many received awards, including one young man who earned a prestigious scholarship to the United States Air Force Academy—an accolade valued at about $250,000. Remarkably, he is the second individual from the same school to achieve this honor in less than four years. Such accomplishments stand as a powerful testament to the institution’s excellence.

Don Duffy accompanied me during this experience. He served as the treasurer of Valley Christian Center when we embarked on the faith-driven journey of establishing the school. I vividly recall the days of hard work, where we labored in the parking lot, digging holes and refurbishing old, dilapidated government portable classrooms. The first flags that proudly fluttered atop the three flagpoles were dedicated in honor of my late father, mother, and sister, who had recently departed to be with the Lord before the school’s inauguration. As I reflect on those early days, I am amazed to stand here 27 years later and witness the growth of the student body to 900 individuals. Furthermore, with the upcoming fall semester, all students will be consolidated onto a single campus. Notably, a state-of-the-art elementary building is nearing completion, a significant addition to the property situated on their expansive 50-acre domain in Dublin.

Participating in such endeavors is truly a blessing. On another note, I had the privilege of attending the dedication ceremony of my nephew Scott Hayes’ new church in Clute, Texas. This venue accommodates around 700 people and is nestled in an area known for its mosquito population, aptly nicknamed the “mosquito capital of the world.” A quirky fact proudly displayed on the city sign, alongside their annual mosquito festival—an event that leaves me curious about its activities. This region also boasts an abundance of crocodiles due to its swampy nature. During our visit to a local golf course, I was introduced to an interesting challenge on one of the greens. Players must skillfully navigate their golf balls over a stream that harbors the largest alligator I’ve ever seen in my life. Missing balls are often left unattended, given the risks involved. Despite this unique aspect, we had an enjoyable time, relishing in the camaraderie and scenic surroundings.

Scott, my nephew, continues to be a source of inspiration in my life. Observing his growth and witnessing the impact of his faith-based endeavors brings me immense joy. While much has been said about fathers, I’m particularly proud of the emerging generation of caring and engaged fathers. In this regard, a book titled “The Six Minute Father” by an English professor caught my attention this week. Interestingly, the author’s primary advice for becoming a nurturing and involved father is to be prepared to change numerous diapers—an essential aspect of bonding with a child that many fathers may have overlooked.

Furthermore, our community is blessed with remarkable spiritual fathers, exemplifying godly virtues. These men are integral members of our church, and if one seeks a nurturing fatherly presence, our congregation is an excellent place to find it. PCC houses devoted spiritual fathers who are ready to guide and support. Let’s take a moment, as we have done before, to appreciate these fathers who form the bedrock of our foundation. Join me in expressing gratitude to God for their presence in our lives.

Take your Bibles, please. Just have them kind of ready. I want to begin this morning with Exodus Chapter 2, Verse 23, which is a biblical statement concerning transition. It came to pass in the course of those many days, or in the process of time, that the King of Egypt died, and the children of Israel groaned because of their bondage. They cried out, and the cry came up to God because of their bondage.

God heard their groaning, and God remembered His covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. And God looked upon the children of Israel, and God acknowledged them. Isn’t that an interesting verse? Particularly Verse 23. In the course of those many days, or as another translation, our New King James version says, in the process of time, the King of Egypt died.

What a conqueror this man had been. What a builder of marvelous works. We know him best archaeologically of all the Pharaohs; he is Ramses the Great. Now, I know there are current re-examinations of that fact, but I continue to believe that this is the Pharaoh we look at. In this instance, one writer said of Ramses the Great: “Every stone in his building was cemented by human blood.” He had reigned for 67 years.

Now compare that to the 10 rulers in the USSR; the longest reign was that of Stalin. And I know the world thought Stalin’s reign was never-ending. It was 30 years long. Imagine that, 30 years compared to 67. Ramses had set his eye on what he thought would be immortality: monuments and conquering nations. And I don’t know how many campfires it took until the word came back to Moses on the backside of the desert in Horeb.

He must have been staring into the restless night or into the fire, thinking of this Ramses, his father by adoption. He must have known affection from Ramses. There must have been a time when Ramses pulled that little Hebrew, now adopted child, onto his lap. There must have been a time when Moses had himself dreamed of promises made by Ramses that he would one day take his place beside this great world leader.

What if history recorded this event this morning? A breathless young reporter from the Peninsula Times rides camelback for three days after his four-wheel vehicle gets stuck in the sand of the Saudi desert. He goes to a particular oasis, to a particular campfire. Finally, everything points to a particular isolated figure staring into a midnight fire.

And this young reporter adjusts the straps of his power pack, grabs his portable camera, and moves cautiously toward this lone figure. “Sir! Sir! Are you Moses? Moses, the son of Jethro?” The figure stirs. “Who is it? What do you want?” “Well, just some answers, sir. If you’re truly Moses, as they say, have you heard yet? I mean, the news? Do you know that Ramses is dead? What do you think of that?”

“There’s already a new pharaoh crowned in Egypt.” “I know,” the sullen figure speaks, “word reaches us here faster than you think. I know he’s dead. I’ve just been thinking.” And that standing figure stretches himself tall, adjusts his back, and with the end of his toe, knocks an unburned log into the fire. “I’ve just been thinking of my ma, I mean, I’ve been thinking of Princess Maris.”

“It must be very hard on her. Young Said he’s bound to take his spite out on her.” “You were going to say mother, weren’t you?” the young reporter asks. “You really are Moses, aren’t you?” “Well, that’s kind of fun to think about in terms of the fact of the reality of that moment. But you see, the fact is, in our circumstance, there has to be the deaths of our pharaohs.”

“In order to be a sign in our spirit. And these next moments are so important. There’s a divine significance in these words. In the process of time, the king of Egypt died and the children of Israel groaned because of their bondage. This Ramses is the king that the Bible says knew not Joseph. This Ramses is the king who began the taskmasters to bind God’s people to meaningless labor and affliction.”

“He’s the one who caused them to serve with rigor, to break their spirit and crush their hopes. He attempted to kill the Hebrew baby boys on the birthing stools. And when that plan was stopped by God-fearing midwives who would not cooperate with his purpose, finally, he was the deviser of a genocide plot to kill all the male children in the Nile River.”

“A plot, incidentally, which was turned by God in His providence. To become the very plan by which God would educate, protect, and prepare the deliverer for the people of God. Don’t forget, when you hear the news of the world, what may seem like bad news to you may be the beginning of divine preparation.”

History labels Ramesses as a hero—a conqueror of three continents, a magnificent builder with a reign like no other. Among the dynasty of Egypt’s homegrown rulers, he is deemed the greatest. However, true significance does not necessarily reside in historical accounts. The great individual, whoever that might be, captivates the attention of archaeologists and Egyptologists alike.

Yet, the true significance rests in the hands of God. This is the essence of the present moment. Israel had flourished in Goshen, growing prosperous and numerous. Now, they reached a juncture where they were willing to move—a point of groaning, as the Word of God puts it. They sighed deeply, mourned according to Hebrew texts, and cried out. The term “cried out” carries a deeper connotation in Hebrew, suggesting a public assembly or proclamation. Moses had already completed his education in Egypt and was spiritually simmering in preparation on the desert’s outskirts for his divine purpose.

God’s timetable indicated deliverance was imminent. His intention was to lead his people out of Egypt, guiding them into their full covenant purpose. But a prerequisite existed. Pay attention: God’s grace wouldn’t be set in motion merely due to Egypt’s worthiness, or rather, Israel’s worthiness. God’s power didn’t hinge on Israel’s specific understanding. A religious revival or renewal wasn’t mandatory. What God awaited was whether they would reach a point of longing for deliverance—a sigh for redemption, a groan for liberation, a discontent with their current state, a restlessness in their hearts.

The armies of the Lord’s Host stood ready, and the preparation aligned with God’s plan. However, Israel needed to desire escape. They needed to yearn for renewal. They had to sigh against their bondage, despising their taskmasters. A symbolic cry for purpose was necessary. This mirrors the prodigal son’s story. The father and his house were ready, but the prodigal son’s cry emerged: “Even the slaves in my father’s house have it better than I do.” God anticipated that moment. Understand this, for it’s crucial regarding this passage.

These were not articulated intercessions. If you read it closely, or listened as I read, you’d notice it never explicitly states that their cries were directed to God. It simply states their cry reached God—sobs, laments, expressions that should have been addressed to God, but were not. W. Robertson Nicoll writes, “If God’s compassion were contingent upon men’s remembrance and prayer, who among us would ever have learned to pray?”

Isn’t that the truth? God isn’t waiting for a specific intercession, a particular cry for renewal. He isn’t even waiting for articulation. He’s waiting for your dissatisfaction with where you are. He awaits a cry of discontent, a groan, a symbol propelling you toward a different purpose. Today, we explore the God who orchestrates events, who reveals himself—an inspiring call to faith and how he beckons us to believe in deliverance and inheritance. I believe this is a timely message for this church at this moment.

Yet, you must first grasp something crucial. A process of time unfolds, under Pharaoh’s rule, leading to Pharaoh’s demise. This process is meant to evoke an earnest, unreserved cry for renewal, for escape, for freedom—a desperate cry that marks the initial step toward Exodus. God has already been at work in preparation. His purpose-birthed leaders are forming and maturing, much like Moses in the desert, maturing for his destined role. God is poised to reveal his power, to confront oppressors, and to separate us from the bondage’s geography. But we must desire it.

Hence, God often bypasses religious individuals when he acts. In fact, over 2,000 years of church history, the institutional church has never embraced a move of God. Why? Religious people presume knowledge and remain content in their current state. It’s the prostitute, the addict—the one whose spirit aches for change—who leads the way. A sincere, genuine cry emerges, expressing a desire for change. “I can’t bear it as it is now.” Now, let’s rise and read the scripture in a moment.

Before we proceed, I want to pray with you first—not after the scripture this morning—because I believe that God, the Holy Spirit, has something very specific. Would you please bow your hearts before we even stand? Father, today we need understanding. We need revelation. We need a deep spiritual longing for change.

Lord, we don’t want to approach the kingdom like self-righteous individuals, looking down on others like the harlot or the prostitute. We desire the genuine groaning and sighing that you desire from us. I pray that this morning we will find dissatisfaction in our current condition. May we be unsettled with our captivity, our bondage, and our taskmasters.

God, make us willing to embrace newness. In Jesus’ name, Amen. Please stand. Now, take your Bible or the one before you to the third chapter. Allow me to remind you where we were two Sundays ago, starting from verse one. Let me read a few of those verses. Moses tended the flock of Jethro, his father-in-law, the priest of Midian.

He led the flock to the back of the desert, reaching Horeb, the mountain of God. There, the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire from the midst of a bush. He looked, and behold, the bush burned with fire, yet was not consumed. Moses said, “I’ll turn aside and see this great sight.” The subsequent revelation follows, with God instructing him to remove his sandals and more.

Skipping ahead, we find verses that reveal God’s concern to deliver and bring his people to a new land. Look at verse 12. He declared, “I will certainly be with you, and this shall be a sign to you that I’ve sent you: When you’ve brought the people out of Egypt, you shall serve God on the mountain.” Please mark this. It’s quite unusual, isn’t it? The sign Moses would receive hinged on his obedience. Only after leading the people to that mountain would the sign confirm that God had indeed spoken to him. I find this to be a profoundly significant message.

Moving to verse 13, Moses said to God, “When I come to the children of Israel and tell them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me,’ they will ask, ‘What is His name?’ What should I say?” God’s response to Moses was, “I am who I am.” He continued, “Thus you shall say to the children of Israel, ‘I am has sent you.'” Furthermore, God instructed Moses to convey to the children of Israel, “The Lord God of your fathers—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob—has sent me to you. This is my name forever, and this is my memorial for all generations.”

God also commanded Moses to gather the elders of Israel and deliver the message that He had seen their affliction in Egypt, promising to bring them out of it and into the land flowing with milk and honey.

Now, when you approach the king of Egypt, you shall say, “The Lord God of the Hebrews has met with us. Let us journey into the wilderness to sacrifice to the Lord our God.” However, Moses was also warned that the king of Egypt would likely refuse. Thus, God would perform wonders and strikes to compel their release. Moreover, God promised favor upon the people among the Egyptians. When they left, they would not leave empty-handed; they would request articles of silver, gold, and clothing from their neighbors, as a kind of restitution.

May God’s blessings be upon His word. Please be seated. Keep your Bible open, if you will. In the previous message before family camp, we examined the account of the burning bush. The desert served as Moses’ preparation ground for the second and final stage of his life, launching him into a new phase of his journey. Remarkably, Moses was 80 years old, spending 40 years in the background of the desert before the consequential final 40 years.

Reflecting on Friday night’s conversation with Don Duffy during our journey back, we contemplated the audacious steps of faith it took to establish a private Christian school in a community where only two shopping centers existed.

And Don, though he was driving, turned to me and said, “Rick, I believe the best part of my life is ahead. I believe the best part of your life is ahead of us. What an exciting word that is.” Today we study this amazing self-revelation that God makes. And let’s begin first with the question – look at it again if your Bible’s open.

Moses said to God, “Indeed, when I come to the children of Israel, say to them, the God of your fathers has sent me. What is his name? They will say, what is his name? What am I going to say to them?” Why do you think Moses asked this question? Why was he asking for a new name? There are three theories rendered.

First, they had been so long in bondage that they had really forgotten the concept of God. Secondly, their minds were so mixed up with Egyptian theology and the gods of the Egyptians that they needed a distinction. A third purpose, probably more likely, is that Moses understood the newness, both in his life and for Israel, to have a new comprehension of God himself.

There was a whole lot of shaking going on. It was a specific moment. Chapter 2 says it was a Kairos time – a season of God’s dealing. An exodus was about to take place. A fulfillment of God’s promise was about to come. But let’s get this straight: God hadn’t changed. God hadn’t moved. God didn’t leave and forget to give a forwarding address.

That is not the issue that is at stake here. But Moses first, and Israel secondly, had to apprehend God. They had to seize a knowledge of God in a totally new way. I watch this all the time in church experience. People speak glibly about Jesus, healing, church doctrine, and heaven. And then they begin going on a nosedive into reality, and suddenly these same Christians are saying, “Where’s my footing? Where am I going to stand?”

So you know that what they’ve been talking about was not really a part of experience. The simple fact is we, like Israel, say, “Oh, I know you’re the mighty God. I know you’re the healer. I know you’re this. I know you’re that.” But we don’t really have a personal apprehension. Lloyd John Ogilvie, the former senior pastor at Hollywood Presbyterian Church, a friend of mine long before he took that assignment – and it’s been our privilege to be in several conferences as fellow speakers – is now chaplain of the United States Senate. He wrote a book a number of years ago.

That book is probably one of the few books that I continue to read and reread. The book is really about the 22 times in the New Testament where Jesus says, “I am.” Twenty-two times Jesus says, “I am the bread of life, I am the Good Shepherd, I am the door, I am the way, I am the truth, I am the life,” and so forth.

In the Greek, it’s present tense – egoimi, egoimi – “I am now” or “presently performing or doing in your midst” is how you would translate that. But Ogilvy talks in this book, and I’ll never forget this one passage; he actually opens the book with this suggestion. He talks about counseling a man in one of those chronic counseling experiences, and I’ve had so many in this church. Having seen the man so much, when the man walked in for his afternoon counseling session, Lloyd had already been counseling people all afternoon.

So he said, as the man was seated, “What do you feel is the deepest need in your life? And what can I do to help you?” And Dr. Ogilvie said, the response was immediate. The man said, “I need a new God.” And Ogilvy said, my words must have shown the excitement that I felt at that moment. The man continued by saying, “During the last few weeks, you’ve been talking to me about what I’m going to do with the struggles in my life, and you’ve tried to tell me how God loves me, that God is for me, that God has power for me in my struggle, but that’s difficult for me because I’ve only known about a God from my friends and family and culture. And I’ve thought a lot about what you said, and I’ve read the Bible verses, and I’ve thought about a God who had power, who wanted to give it to me. I’ve tried to memorize some scriptures, but the other day I finally understood I have a wrong idea about God.

I’ve always thought of God as a judge or a heavenly policeman. He’s up there somewhere. I couldn’t believe He either knew or cared about me and my struggle. I was fuzzy in my thinking of God. God was an absentee landlord. He was existent, but certainly not in my daily problems. Dr. Ogilvie, my greatest need is to find this new God. Not new in the sense He never existed, but in the sense I have never known Him.” Dr. Ogilvie said, I was on the edge of my chair because this man’s words set a torch to the kindling of a growing conviction. And Ogilvie goes on to say, I thought of nothing else for weeks to come. He goes on in that passage to say, I spend my life with people. That’s the business of my life.

The rich, the famous, the frustrated, the discouraged, the successful, the poor, the young, the old, the single, the married. And he says, the interesting thing is, though they are my passionate concern, they have one thing in common: They all believe in God, but in their present struggles in their lives—strife, strain, and pressures—they can’t seem to apply this God they believe in to where they are.

And he said, I thought this man gave me a key. That said, I said to myself, the reason so many of us struggle is that we need to find a new understanding of God. Most of us, most of our struggles… result from a profound misunderstanding of God. I had a very interesting time this week meeting my nephew in his territory. And though we are related, it’s been a long time since I have—in fact, I have only heard Scott preach on one occasion and been exposed to his ministry. Listening to Scott was like seeing a mirror in my own life because Scott is fixated, theologically, pretty much at the level that my parents and his parents exposed him to. I saw so much, and I was reminded of so much that came up in talking to him. I want to share some words with you this morning.

I want you to hear this very carefully. The first quandary in any spiritual renewal is really the first question of any spiritual progress: You must have a new revelation of God, whether it concerns the baptism in the Spirit or renewal. That’s why when people say, “Well, you know, this just isn’t natural to me. I don’t like this. This is too loud, too emotional, too something else,” I realize what they’re doing is drawing a cultural line that will not let God be God in a new way in their lives.

In Exodus 3, it’s just the beginning for Moses. This understanding of God doesn’t end until the 33rd chapter. Now I’m not going to suggest you turn to that, but in the 33rd chapter, Moses finally says—by now he’s led the people out of Egypt and seen the miracles and all that—but he says, “God, I really want to know you personally. I want to see you.” And God says, “I can’t show you, but if you stand in this cleft of the rock, I’ll let my goodness pass before you.” Notice what the revelation was: “The Lord, full of compassion and gracious, slow to anger, plenteous in mercy and truth.”

Now that’s not a God we truly believe in. Not when I talk to you about your life, certainly not when I talk about other people’s lives. In the life of Moses and in the life of the church, we need to have an advancing knowledge of God that is not only independent and powerful but also good, and that he directs toward us—a final knowledge, knowing the God of love.

I’ve been around preachers all my life. I want to tell you this: Young preachers are always bombastic, legalistic, and judgmental. As they get older, they start to be filled with mercy and goodness. Something changes in a man’s life. From the time he wants God to open up the world and swallow all unbelievers to when he stands with mercy on the side of a God of goodness.

This proclamation of the Lord that Moses experienced is such a critical point—God’s self-revelation. You see, I didn’t say this. This isn’t the kind of God I can believe in. I have always seen God as a police officer, someone who wakes up every morning to see how many kids he can kick out of the family. “You didn’t do right.”

Most of us live this way—in our marriages, in our lives. “Mommy loves you when you’re good. Mommy doesn’t love you when you’re bad. Daddy loves you when you do good. Daddy doesn’t love you when you do this.” Those words are not often spoken; the attitude is more frequently conveyed. But love is conditional.

Very few of us have experienced a marriage or any relationship where someone isn’t constantly saying to us, “Nasty, nasty.” It takes a self-revelation of God for me to believe in this kind of Lord—slow to anger, gracious, filled with compassion, mercy, and truth. This truth in Moses and in the life of the church is crucial. We sometimes sing a little chorus here: “God is so good. God is so good. God is so good to me.” And I look at some of us singing it and think, “You don’t believe that, honey, any more than anything.” For Moses and the children of Israel, it took a long time to understand what it meant.

If we are to believe in new life, if we are to believe in deliverance from Pharaoh in our personal lives, if we’re to believe that there’s deliverance from personal disasters, if we’re to get out of our silent little beds of resignation and believe that God wants something to change in our life, that God wants something to be different in our life, then we have to have and comprehend a new view of God.

And that doesn’t mean God has been compromised. God is not somehow made less because of us. We’re the ones who have been made less because of our view of God. I want to read another quote from Ogilvy, and I know these transparencies with this many words on them are hard to read, but if you get a few of the expressions, maybe just listen to me.

If the transparencies distract you, don’t use them. If they help you, do. Dr. Ogilvie said, “Struggles are the stuff of life for most of us. What are yours? I have mine. Few of us consistently feel good about ourselves. We have times of insecurity and self-doubt, times when we lack self-esteem. Anxiety is a stranger to none of us.

Fears and frustrations track us like angry dogs. We have periods of discouragement, disappointment, feelings of depression. Every one of us has memories that haunt us and unfulfilled dreams that hurt us. Who hasn’t felt the loneliness that has nothing to do with the absence of people? We need love, yet we persist in doing unlovable things.

Broken relationships, misunderstandings with people, distorted communications trouble all of us. Worry knocks at the door of our heart and is entertained like an unwelcome tenant for what seems to be an endless visit. Not all our struggles are internal. We face difficult situations at work, in society. Progress is slow, conflict is inevitable, everyone has his or her share of impossible people in their lives.

Boy, I have an enlarged share of that. We listen to the news, the daily paper. Our nerves are jangled by what’s happening in the asphalt jungle around us. We feel impotent and powerless toward things that engulf us. We wring our hands in powerless frustration, all because we’ve settled for a diminutive God of our own making.

We need a new God for our old struggles. The true God who knows, cares, intervenes, and acts. The God who is present and powerful and who makes things happen. That line haunts me. We need a new God for old struggles. Because what’s going on in most of our lives is an old struggle. Isn’t that true? It’s like a sick sitcom.

You know, we’ve never had it filmed, and it certainly has never been on ABC, but there’s a sitcom called “The Howards on Harrison.” I know exactly what Anita’s going to say in her given situation. I know how I’m going to respond. I know what she’ll say next. I know what I’ll say next. I know who walks out. I know exactly what happens. I could write it as a scenario. It’s so predictable, it’s sick. It’s old stuff, but it never changes.

It’s almost like we’re afraid to write a new play. We’re very comfortable with the Jetsons.

Moses cried out, “Who are you? I know you’re the Almighty, I know you’re the Shaddai, the provider, but what’s your name? How are you really revealed?” When I get back to the detractors and even the subtractors, those who distort truth, God said simply in Exodus 3:14 and 15, “I am who I am.” And that’s what you’re going to say to the children of Israel.

“I am” has sent you. And you shall say this to the children of Israel: “The Lord God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob, has sent me. This is my name forever, a memorial for every generation.” God says. We can do a lot of studying. There are pages of this. Believe me, I’ve given a great deal of thought to what I’m saying in the next few moments.

Not only thought, but right up to the moment of this preparation, we’re still changing some things I wanted to say to you. F. B. Meyer, one of the great commentators of the past and a godly man, talks about this name, Jehovah or Yahweh, which is made up of the three basic components of the Jewish verb “to be.”

Basically, you might say the God who is, the God who was, the God who is to be. Of course, the Jews respected it so much that they wouldn’t pronounce the word. Instead of Jehovah or Yahweh, they would pronounce LORD or Adonai at the point where it would appear. In fact, in an English translation, if you see L O R D in all caps, that means it is not the word Adonai in the manuscript; it is the word Jehovah or Yehovah or Yahweh.

Now, I want you to first notice with me that in the ancient world, names are characteristics of personality. That isn’t some preacher’s idea. Children were named prophetically by a priest. There was great significance in names. And even in the world of theology, the names of God revealed himself to the people in a certain way.

In Egypt, of course, Thaw meant the revealer. Ammon meant he who is concealed. Ra meant the swift one. And so, in the Bible, we have Jehovah Jireh, the Lord who provides; Jehovah Nissi, the Lord who is a banner; Jehovah Shalom, the Lord who sends peace; Jehovah Tzitkanu, the Lord who is our righteousness. But Moses was saying what all of us have to say.

“I know what you do, but I don’t know who you are.” Well, that’s true with husbands and wives, unfortunately. That’s true in relationships. We generally know each other by performance or activity. We don’t know each other. Guy Pryor, a young man in our congregation, I married him and Margie many, many years ago.

They came to church for a while, then they didn’t come to church. We’ve kept in contact with them. But God’s been doing something so phenomenal. You know, there are so many of these stories in this congregation every week. I wish I could just share them every week in a sermon. But Guy went with us to Israel, and God was changing his life.

Those who were on the trip could tell you significant things that happened. And everybody on the trip said universally, “This is a young man who has a servant spirit.” But Guy got a hold of my new book, and he read it through. He’s read it through several times. He set up an appointment this week and came into the office.

He said, “I believe this is exactly the truth of Christianity. I want to press in. I want to know you. I want you to know me.” I just want to say some things to you that open the door for this kind of relationship. This is what God is doing in my life. Now, “I Am” wasn’t a new name. In fact, when Moses finally gets back to this hard-to-deal-with group of people called the people of God, and he’s trying to persuade them that God’s really speaking, he’s going to say something to them. This is several chapters in advance of our thinking, chapter 6. But God is going to say, “I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and Jacob as God Almighty, but my name, Lord, or Jehovah, or I Am, was not known to them.” Now that isn’t true. You say it’s in the Bible, but it’s not true.

God did give the name “I Am” to Abraham. You can see it for yourself. What was he saying? Let me quote from Kyle Dielich. Now I’m not trying to make you scholars, but I want you to see scholarship for a few moments on this subject. The question, “What is his name?” These are German scholars, the greatest Old Testament scholars that exist.

In spite of all modern scholarship, and Kyle Dielich’s volumes have been out for many years. “What is his name?” presupposes the name expressed the nature and operations of God, and that God would manifest his deeds and the expression of his name. God therefore said his name, or to speak more correctly, he explained his name to them.

“I am that I am.” This name precluded any comparison between the God of the Israelites and that of the Egyptians and other nations. Now here’s a key word, and it furnished Moses and his people with strong consolation in their affliction, with powerful support in their confidence and the realization of his purpose, which had been made known to the fathers.

In other words, what God is saying is that I gave you my name, but I didn’t give you an explanation. There was an essential part of my character that I couldn’t reveal to you at this time. Now please turn the signals up at this point. And that’s not a word to the sound room. That’s a word to you. Turn the signal up, my dear troubled friend.

The greatest tragedy of a great deal of Christianity in this present era is that we’ve been taught that if we’re unhappy or the circumstances are difficult, then just pout, or stomp your foot, or yell, or wave a flag. God will somehow get you out of that. And the tragedy of this is not so much that it’s not biblical, or it diminishes the value of God’s purpose, but the greatest tragedy is when you demand that God change the circumstance, you exclude the opportunity of knowing God.

In a dimension you have not known him before. Please hear this. This is the key. When I come to the end and explain some new things the Lord has worked in my spirit, you’re going to understand how important this is. There are friends in this auditorium who love God, who are saved and going to heaven. But they have precluded God from the opportunity of revealing himself in a new and living way.

They have excluded areas of their lives from which God wants to not change their circumstance, but change the revelation of who he is in those circumstances. That’s the way it is. See, we think God’s got a mellow voice. He kind of speaks like… Like Lloyd John Ogilvie, actually, if you’ve ever heard John Ogilvie speak.

You know, there’s kind of a music box playing behind him, and this is God, kind of Cecil B. DeMille style. If you do a study – and I’m not a scholar, but one who certainly understands scholarship – the name “I Am” infinitive.

And it means to be, or to begin, or to cause to happen. When you add “your” to that, it becomes third person singular in the masculine future tense. Please, this is so critical – future tense. Thus the new name means “he who will make things happen.” “He who will cause things to be.” Now just keep your mind on that future tense a moment; that’s a very important word.

But the Hebrew word “Yahweh” then stands for the Lord’s divine self-disclosure. He’s the Lord of creation, He’s the Lord of destiny, but above all, He’s the Lord of circumstance. He’s the Lord of victory in our struggle. And that’s exactly what Moses needed to let his people know: that “I am” can only be revealed in the context of a struggle.

Because “I am” is only real in that moment. That’s why he is the “I am” that will be. It’s a word spoken pointing to the future. We’re in the sixth chapter and we’ve read that. God says “I am” the Lord Jehovah. I appeared to Abraham and Isaac and so forth and so on. I am the Lord; I will bring you out of the burden of the Egyptians, and I will deliver you from their bondage.

In other words, God was saying, I was God to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. I’m not God yet to you. I’m gonna be God to you because I’m gonna deliver you out of the hand of the Egyptians, and I’m gonna deliver you from the bondage you’re in. Now, when are you ready to hear that this morning? Please pray this question into your spirit.

When are you willing to hear God say, I was the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob? I was the God of the early Pentecostals. I was the God of the Charismatic Movement. But I can’t be God in your life until you let me bring deliverance to you.

Now if we look quickly at what this third chapter reveals, there are four quick unfolding truths. First is the truth of divine personality, and what is said here clearly in the whole third chapter is that God is not an “it”; He is a person. Let me quote F. B. Meyer again: “It is obvious when we speak of the personality of God, there cannot be less in the Creator than what we discover in the creature.”

God could not be less of a personality than Moses, whom God addresses and calls into fellowship with himself. Over the veiled statue of the Egyptian Isis is the world-famous inscription: “I am the thing that is and was and shall be.” But henceforth, Israel was not to bear witness to a mere character or substance underlying the universe, but to a living personality distinct from all others and things and transcendent above it. Not an “it,” but a “he.”

How do you speak about the Holy Spirit? I got it. I got the Holy Ghost. Honey, I don’t know what you got. The Holy Spirit is not a mysterious force. He is a divine comforter. He is a person who walks with us. When God calls out of the bush, he speaks to Moses as a man. Moses, take off your shoes. This is holy ground.

Not only is he a God of personality, but he’s also a God of relationship, and you have to see these two together. If he isn’t a God of personality, then he can’t be a God of relationship. You can’t be in a relationship with an “it” – a thing, a power. You might as well bite into an electrical cord, my friend. That doesn’t do it. He is a divine person.

In fact, it’s unique. Have you noticed the first time in the Bible, in the seventh verse in which God says, “These are my people.” Now, two kings had already said that about Israel, but this is…

I remember very well a man who came into this church; I’ve used this illustration several times, not as completely as I want to this morning. This man was a prominent leader in church denominations, known. He knew everybody in the religious world, but he sat as a total anonymous person in this congregation, had never been in a Pentecostal or Charismatic church before, was scared to death of us.

He spoke for the first time and said, “That’s the best teaching I’ve ever heard. I’m going to stay here.” Purposely, he wouldn’t let us acknowledge him or let anyone else know who he was. He stayed about six months or so, maybe a year, and got thoroughly healed. Then he went back to a major denomination and has continued to serve them to this day.

That man has been responsible for putting tapes of our ministry even into Buckingham Palace, spreading them all around the world due to his influence. However, one of the tapes he struggled with the most was some of my teaching on the personality of the Holy Spirit. Any of you who have been around here know that’s a key part of my teaching.

Wes said, “I was driving to Santa Barbara. I had listened to that same tape 15 times. I had wrestled with you mentally on this subject.” Suddenly, he said, “Having listened to it, it broke through all my theological presuppositions.” He turned off the tape and began to talk to the Holy Spirit as a person seated in the other seat of the car.

He continued, “Suddenly, the car filled with warmth. It was like the temperature had risen by 10 or 15 degrees. Instantly, I felt the loneliness that I have grappled with all my adult life lift, because someone was in my life.” Now, that’s a simple experience of one man—a man who is more theologically trained than anybody in this church but still hadn’t dealt with the person of the Holy Spirit.

They needed to know that he was a person, that they could be in a relationship with him, and they needed to know about his divine unchangeableness—that he was a divine, unchanging God. “This is my name forever. This is a memorial to all my generations. I’m not going to change. When you come to me tomorrow, I’m going to have the same attitude I have today. I’m not going to change.”

“If you hear Rick Howard one morning and Dave Wilkerson the next, I’m the same God.” Fourth, he gives a divine description of himself, divine continuation, and divine purpose. I like what God says at this point, “I am that I am.” Why is he repeating that? He’s saying, “I’m on both sides of the equation.” There’s no circumstance that I am not up to. Of course, we looked at the burning bush two weeks ago.

The fire of God did not burn the bush. It was the tremendous, continuing, essential nature of God upon that bush. But I said, “There’s something here you need to understand. This Hebrew description is in the future tense. ‘I will be who I will be.'” Let me read one more quote from F. B. Meyer.

He suggests, “The redemptive purpose of God is suggested in the tense of the Hebrew.” He goes on to say that the superlative glory of God’s redemptive purpose could not be revealed in one age or one act because it’s progressive. The deliverance of the chosen people from the bondage of Egypt was one of the earliest chapters in the volume of redemption.

Then he continues, “When the margin suggests that the proper rendering is, ‘I will be that I will be,’ it’s not to infer that God was capable of becoming what he was not already, but that he was going to unfold before the eyes of men thoughts and purposes which from the beginning had been latent concerning his nature.”

“They waited to be unfolded in the acts of grace and salvation that, in turn, were destined to live forever in the memory of man. Now that’s a long quote, but do you understand what he’s saying? God’s nature had not changed, but God’s revelation could not be revealed until that act of redemption took place. It’s future because it isn’t anything until it becomes that in your life.”

“In that sense, though we can say the redemption ended on the cross of Christ, it didn’t, because every single case in which somebody breaks through to comprehend this God is a new unfolding of the character of God.” The minute you personally find God to be revealed, the continuation, consistency, and unchangeableness of God revealed in you, then God is revealing a new part of His character.

Because He was the God that would be and couldn’t be until you allowed Him to be. Brice Self, who is my constant supplier of new books, brought me a wonderful book. I had read about it and read three or four of the critical estimations. It’s Emmett Fox’s new translation called “The Schlock in Bible.”

He’s one of the great ISTs of this generation, and he translates the word AAA as “I will be there, howsoever. I will be there.”

And then later, Aya, I will be there to send me to you. Now, this is a modern liberal scholar dealing with the language, and he does something that I have said from the beginning in my own heart. That’s what God is saying. That’s why the future tense is there – to say, I am to be, and I will be, however I will be.

There, that is what sends Moses forward. Before Abraham was, I am, God says. When Jesus picks up this egoimi, this I am, and it’s in Greek, not in Hebrew, it’s the same continuing present tense. He’s saying, I am and will always be, I continue to be in your struggles. And here is this man, Moses, humbled in the courts of Pharaoh, now on the backside of the desert.

You know, God says – we’ll look at this next week – God says, throw your rod down and it becomes a serpent. God does all these miraculous things. Charismatics love this part of the story. We think that’s really the things of God. Let me tell you, the magicians in Egypt throw their rods down and they become serpents.

If you put your focus on miracles, you’re going to be forever confused. That isn’t what sent Moses back. He went back because he had pressed into the essential nature of who God was; he tapped into that divine resource. No matter what you could throw at Moses from that point, he knew the God he was serving was the God who would be there, however He would be there. Whatever the response of Pharaoh, whatever the response of the people of God.

Interesting, isn’t it? When Moses tried to lead the people, they wanted some other leader, and God opened the earth and swallowed up all those people who rebelled against Moses. You can relax, friends; God isn’t doing that today. But whatever the struggle is, the deepest in your life this morning – what presses in deeper than anything else, what is probably this recurring, as Ogilvy said, this old struggle – how do you think Christ would deal with that struggle?

If instead of Barney Demartini or Rick Howard or some other counselor, you’d just sit down and counsel with Jesus. What if he were in the counselor’s chair? What would you say to him, and what would he say to you? What are the things that are really important in the self-revelation that God wants to make to you?

Not only that he cares. I’ll tell you what’s significant today – it isn’t the Russian election or what’s going on in the politics of America. It isn’t in your commitments, like “Lord, I’ll never do it again,” concerning some recurring struggle in your life. God wants to provide you a stepping stone, a first step of revelation that’s a new way out of this thing in your life.

And that’s why God wants you this morning to know Him in just that way. God wants you to know Him as the God who will be there – not the God who I historically remember who showed up, but the God whom I can step out on nothing because he’ll be there when I take that step. How does that happen to you? How does that happen to all you religious people who know all the answers, but have not yet that kind of faith that causes you to step out into open air, to stand when nobody else agrees, to do what’s right whether anyone else would agree with you or not?

Because you’ve had a personal revelation of this God who’s going to be there. It’s living. It’s beingness. Can I use that word? It’s the beingness of God. See, I know the way most of you were raised, you know. Don’t go to a movie theater because Jesus wouldn’t come into a movie theater for you, right?

Well, he’s not gonna come for you when you’re on the toilet either, so you can relax either way. How stupid is that whole assertion?

You know, we’ve had that kind of imagery, haven’t we? The kind of imagery of the Holy Spirit. I know! I know! You finally decide you’re going to risk something – a little sin now and then. So, you say to the Holy Spirit, “Look, I’m going to take a two-hour chance that Jesus isn’t going to come before three o’clock this afternoon, so if you’ll just stay out here, I’m going in here.”

“I know you wouldn’t be comfortable. When I come back out, I’ll pick you up and we’ll go on.” The Holy Spirit says, “Oh no, it doesn’t work that way. If you’re going in there, I’m going too. I don’t think you’d enjoy yourself much.” “Well, I’m going with you.” He’s the one who’s always sitting there saying, “Is it fun yet?”

You know?

Right?

You see, it’s the beingness of the Spirit of God. Moses, I need to transform you from a historian and a theologian. You need to understand that I am. I’m on both sides of your life’s equation. And when you get there, which is your big concern—how are the people gonna respond?—I’m telling you, I’m gonna be there.

And whatever Pharaoh does or doesn’t do, I’ll be in the midst of it. I will modify the plan as needed, but I’m not going to be absent from you. Oh, that’s a different God than most of us know. That’s a God you can’t run from, nor do you want to. That’s a God of inclusion, not exclusion.

And that’s a God for whom you cannot design circumstances where he’s not sufficient. He is there. He is there. I am there, however I will be there. Let’s bow our heads together in prayer, please. With our heads bowed this morning and every eye closed, I just want to ask you: How many of you here this morning have one of these old struggles for which there seems to be no solution?

And you need a new revelation of God for the old struggle. Just raise your hand, put them up, and down again. Yeah, a new God for an old struggle. Thank you. Put them down. God bless you.

You see, the answer isn’t that God’s going to wave His magic wand and you’re not going to have a struggle anymore. God’s answer is, “I’m gonna be there.”

That takes the sting out of the compulsive law, legalism answer to my struggle. It says God is in that struggle dynamically working with a solution for me. And He wills me out of captivity into deliverance. Please stand with me.

This is so interesting to me. This whole scenario is fascinating because this scenario, I’m talking about this entire scenario of this little Jewish couple Pharaoh’s words say, “We’re going to have a child.”

Despite genocide, they say, “We’re going to trust in the providence of God.” After they’ve nourished him and caused him to stand up, this child, now free from all ideas that the world was going to guide him to his goal, ends up in a desert with shepherds. Doing the most hated thing of all, and then God shows up in the midst of the desert.

You might wonder at some point, “Why did you wait to show up now?” Would that be something you might put in the words of Moses? “Hey, why not in the palace? Why not before all this mess happened? Why now?” Why does this happen? Because I’m the God who will be there with you.

And I want, when you have become desperate enough to know me in my full revelation of my person, I want to reveal myself to you as the God at work in your circumstances. He wants to bring you deliverance. He wants to bring us deliverance. And it’s the thinking in terms of this God that sends us back into the struggle.

Go on back to the people. Go back to Pharaoh. Not because I’m going to perform little magic tricks for you. Because I’m going to be there. That’s enough. That’s all I ask. Just go with me. Let’s pray.

Father, thank you for this people and what you want to establish in our hearts for the many who raised their hands and others who could have. I doubt there’s anyone here who doesn’t have an old struggle. And we all need a new manifestation of who you are. It’s not that you’ve changed or moved, but we’ve developed a cultural definition of who you are.

We grew up in families who taught us, who loved us, who did the best they knew how, but they left us with ideas about you that have skewed our entire comprehension of truth. Lord, we need a new manifestation. A holy God, burning without consuming, a human bush. A God who wants to be there. That’s all he wants from us. And He waits for a cry from our spirits that says, “I want to be new.”

Lord, I want us to be able to say that not only of you but of one another. “I will be there. Howsoever, whatsoever, I will be there.” God, establish that in our spirits, in Jesus’ name, and everyone said, “Amen.” See you tonight for the King’s Kids. Bring many people with you. God bless you and dismiss. Say you love somebody and mean it. Alright?