January 19, 2014
Stetson Memorial United Methodist Church
Sermon Series on
“The Names of God”
Sermon 3 of
series-
“The Sacred
Names of God: El, Elohim, Eloah”
Genesis 1:2-2:3
(All Scripture is from The Names of God Bible)
“Hello My Name is . . . El, Elohim, and Eloah”
Have
you ever created something that you were just so proud of that you just sat
back and thought to yourself “Wow. . . I can’t believe that I could ever create
anything like that? It is so awesome and beautiful. . . that you God for
helping me make this piece of art. . . !” I love to do beading and I sit there
at times. . . not knowing what I am going to make, I just have to create. So I
sit there and try to reason out what I am going to do. Well usually when I do
that, it fails to meet what I had in my mind and so I end up taking it apart
and starting again. But those days when I just sit there and let God take over
what I am doing. . . let Him create through me. . . well I just sit back when I
am done and am amazed at what the finished product looks like. I know it was
not me but God creating within me that got me to this end result. I love to see
God create through me and His creating through others just inspires me. God is
the ultimate creator even when using others to create a thing of beauty and
delicacy. This morning reading from Genesis is all about beauty and splendor. .
. about how God is the Master Creator of all that we see.
Let us pray:
Loving and
compassionate God. . . creator of all we survey...we thank you for the beauty
around us and the beauty you create through us. We pray this morning of the
beauty of Your wisdom to fall down upon us and that we would glimpse and
understand the Word you have for us this day. May we leave this place this day
illuminated and ready to share the beauty of Your Son with those who are in need
of beauty in their lives. May we be renewed and refreshed by Your Word. Amen.
Today we are continuing on our journey
to the heart of God as we learn “The
Sacred Names of God” and call upon those names in pray and within our
hearts. Last week we learned about Yeshua
the Mashiach. . . Jesus the Messiah as we also celebrated His baptism in
the Jordon Rive as well as remembering our own baptism. Today. . . we begin
with water. . . we begin with chaos. . . we begin in nothingness. . . only to
come away with beauty and exquisiteness that only God alone can create and
recreate. It is all about El. . . Elohim.
. . Eloah. . . God! God is a God of the extraordinary. . . God is a God
like none other. . . God is a God who takes broken and chattered chaos and
turns it into a thing of beauty. . . How awesome is our God.
When we pray to Elohim, we pray and we remember that it was He who crated
everything. . . it was He who began it all. The name El is the One True God or a pagan god named El. But there is no
mistaking. . . when we speak of. . . pray to. . . Elohim we are emphasizing on the majesty of the One True God! As a
matter of fact the use of Yahew and Elohim translates to “The Lord God”.
You see. . . everything exists because
God wanted it to. . . you and I exist because God wanted us to exist in this
time and space. This is the God, who called forth from nothing and created
something. Elohim fearfully and
wonderfully made. . . From Genesis 1:1 we see that God. . . Elohim. . . can make a majestic thing. . . .an important
thing. . . a sacred thing out of nothing. . . out of chaos. . . out of the chaos and brokenness of our lives.
. .
As you have heard me say many times,
everything is of sacred worth. God called everything. . . let me say that again. . . everything...good.
. . He even said so after making it. But here’s the kicker. . . here is the
“everyone is of sacred worth thing”. . . after Elohim created humankind. . . He exclaimed it was VERY GOOD. . . as
a matter of fact, Elohim created
humankind in His own image. . . you and I
bare the image of God. Just think about that for a moment. . . the image of
God. . . of Elohim. . . within us. We
are the image of Elohim in the world
that he created. How does that make you feel? What do you think life would be
like if all of humanity took on that ancient sacred call of being the image of
God in and to the world that Elohim created
through His Ruach. . . His breathe. . . and
with His spoken word?
We sometimes. . . OK often. . . miss life’s beauty because we are too focused on its
faults. . . but then again don’t we do that to ourselves and others. . . concentrate
on the wrong and not look at the goodness. . . the God given goodness. . . that
is far more present. . . we would rather complain about cutting the grass than
with just enjoying the feel as we walk barefoot through it. I mean even as we
look at ourselves. . . do we see a child of God or someone with many wrongs? (God created and said it was good. . . very
good).
Elohim
desires
to use His creative power not only to sustain the world but to create a blessed
life for you and for me. . . full of physical and spiritual blessings. Deuteronomy
28:2-6 tells us (and I’m paraphrasing
here)
You
have blessings abundant if you stay close to Yaweh you Elohim (the Lord Your
God). You will be blessed no matter where you are. Your very life will be
blessed.
Children
Crops
Animals
And
all these will flourish too. Out of the harvest of grain your bread will be
blessed. You will always be blessed. Even your barns will be blessed not to
mention everything that you do.
We live in a world that is ever
changing. We never know from one moment to the next about our world. We even
change ourselves as we learn and grow we change for the good. . . and the bad
at times. But. . . but...Elohim . . .
who created the heavens and the earth. . . never changes. He was and always
will be. . . He loves you and me and will never stop. Elohim will never stop being who He is. . . unlike human beings. . . His
attitude doesn’t change with His mood. . .
We have been promised a life of
abundance. . . an abundance of love. . . an abundance of joy. . . an abundance
of peace. . . an abundance of forgiveness. . . and abundance of blessings. Unlike
humanity. . . Elohim keeps His
promises. We as humankind make many promises in our life. . . children say that
they will eat their veggies if we let them have a candy bar first. . . lovers
promise to stay together for better or worse and when the worse comes many bail.
. . salespeople promise us the moon but we all know where that can lead. . . we
are flawed. . . but He is not.
Beloved children of the most awesome
creator Elohim, we have a mighty God
who can forge rivers in a dry land. . . who can take nothing and create a thing
of beauty. . . who can take a broken chaotic life and turn it into something
that sings His praise. He is El Elohim
the Most High creative God who is just waiting to create new life within His
children. He is waiting for His creation to lay down their life on the Potter’s
wheel so that it can be molded into a vessel that will hold His Spirit. He
wants to bless his children with an abundance of love, forgiveness, peace and
joy.
Are
you needing to be remolded into who God would have you be? Is there brokenness
in your life that needs to be fixed? Are there parts of your life that seem
shattered into pieces? Are you needing the Ruach Elohim to breathe through your
life again awakening it to the beauty that it truly is? Is the chaos of your
life needing Elohim to create a fertile ground for you to stand? Come to the
Potter’s Wheel and be remolded into a vessel that will hold the Spirit of the
God. . . that can be poured out onto a hurting world. Bring your hurts. . . your
scars. . . your brokenness and put them on the altar of renewal and grace. Let
the Master Artisan create the life of
beauty that it was meant to be.
Elohim
is calling out to you and to me on the winds of love to be renewed with a
newness of life. He is calling to you and to me to be that image of God that
this “godless”, chaotic world needs to be healed and recreated. He is calling
to us. . . “come my child and be
restored to you former self. . . to the self I always wanted you to be. . . to
that self that you were born with.”
Let
us pray. . .
Elohim,
Mighty One, you made everything out of nothing, imposed order out of chaos,
gave birth to beauty, and called it good. Help us to know you as the One True
God who created everything and everyone, the one who placed us on the earth for
a purpose-to magnify Your Name. Come. . . heal us. . . recreate us. . . breath
your breath of life onto the chaos of our lives. . . Elohim, our God and
creator.
Amen.
January
19, 2014
Sermon 3 of “What’s In A Name…”
Sermon Series on “The Sacred
Names of God”
Names
of God and Definitions from Sermon today:
-
El
à God
-
Elohimà God
-
EloahàGod
Genesis
1:2-2:3
Deuteronomy
28:2-6
(All
Scripture is from The Names of God Bible)
Offering
– “I Will Bless the Lord”
Prayer
of Thanksgiving
children’s
sermon
-
“and God Created. . . “
by
Pastor Ruth
Closing
Song – “Friend of God”
and sermon “Hello My Name is …El, Elohim, and Eloah”
(in the bulletin
as “Hello My Name Is. . . God“)
by
Pastor Ruth Foss
sermon blog
meditation blog
“God’s Whisper” blog
Stetson Memorial United Methodist Church
Patten, ME
January 19, 2014
&
Baptism
of the Lord Sunday
(and
a time to celebrate and remember our own baptism)
Sermon 2 of “What’s In A Name…”
Sermon Series on “The Sacred
Names of God”
Names
of God and Definitions from Sermon today:
-
Yeshua
--> Jesus
-
Mashiach --> Christ,
Messiah
Matthew
1:18-21
Psalm
2
Mark
1:14-20
Matthew
3:13-17
(All Scripture is from The Names of God Bible)
Reception
of new members
Offering
– “The New 23rd”
Prayer
of Thanksgiving
children’s
sermon
-
There is only One who can save us, Jesus, the one Savior
Closing
Song – “The River Is Here”
and sermon “Hello My Name is …Yeshua/Mashiach”
(in the bulletin as “Hello My Name Is. . . Jesus, Christ,
Messiah“)
by
Pastor Ruth Foss
Stetson Memorial United Methodist Church
Patten, ME
January 12, 2014
&
Epiphany Sunday
Epiphany of the Lord Sunday
Sermon Series on “The Names of God”
Sermon 1 of “What’s In A Name…”
Names
of God and Definitions from Sermon today:
-
Ha-Shem ->
the Name
-
Ehyeh -> I Am
Exodus 3:13-14
Leviticus 24:10-16
(All Scripture is from The Names of God Bible)
offering
– worship your holy name
Prayer
of Thanksgiving
children’s
sermon
-
different names, different meaning – one person
-
many names for God, all one God
communion
–
-
“Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus”
-
“Lord, You Are More Precious Than Silver”
and sermon “Our Many Faceted God”
(saved as “Hello My Name Is. . . “)
by
Pastor Ruth Foss
Stetson Memorial United Methodist Church
Patten, ME
January 5, 2014
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usage. See all 41,120+ of my poems at www.raymondafoss.blogspot.com
Poetry Where You Live.
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