Who am I?

God According to God Exodus 3:7-15 Exodus 34:6-7

Introduction: Last week God shared with us that if we Listen, Accept and Commit, that we will begin to hear and understand who He is. This is the biggest thing we struggle with when it comes to our situations in our life. When we turn on the tv and see devastation, hatred evil and demonic tragedies. and then turn off the television and look in the mirror and see the struggles we face and begin to wonder. Where is God and does he really hear me? I stop by to tell you church, this is nothing new. It has been around since the beginning of time. Let’s look at some text to guide us this morning. in Exodus 3:8 the bible says this.

Exodus 3:8 (NKJV)

So I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up from that land to a good and large land, to a land flowing with milk and honey, to the place of the Canaanites and the Hittites and the Amorites and the Perizzites and the Hivites and the Jebusites. Now therefore, behold, the cry of the children of Israel has come to Me, and I have also seen the oppression with which the Egyptians oppress them. 10 Come now, therefore, and I will send you to Pharaoh that you may bring My people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt.”

I have come down, meaning its personal, He is not sending anyone else he is coming down Himself, because if He thought it was hard before they went into captivity, its going to be even harder to get them to trust Him. to give you a even more visual of this, He reference the final two verses of Exodus 2:23-24

23 Now it happened in the process of time that the king of Egypt died. Then the children of Israel groaned because of the bondage, and they cried out; and their cry came up to God because of the bondage. 24 So God heard their groaning, and God remembered His covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob. 25 And God looked upon the children of Israel, and God acknowledged them.

Look a at what they had endured. Groaning, Bondage, Tears, hurt, pain

God knew it was time to act. He heard their forgiveness.

The question is would they fully trust what God had in store for them?

400 hundred years of bondage, slavery, the mental, spiritual and physical toil it has taken on these people. Another name for bondage is slavery. we are familiar with the term PTSD.

PTSD- ( Post traumatic Stress Disorder) A disorder in which a person has difficulty recovering after experiencing or witnessing a terrifying event. The condition may last months or years, with triggers that can bring back memories of the trauma accompanied by intense emotional and physical reactions. Symptoms may include nightmares or unwanted memories of the trauma, avoidance of situations that bring back memories of the trauma, heightened reactions, anxiety, or depressed mood.

It’s commonly brought up with veterans in the military, but its more than just in military people. There are people who have encountered so much hurt and pain that try to mask it but never ends well. So God has to begin with Moses first in order to begin helping His people. Moses is having some struggles himself. Now Moses started out in luxury and royalty for 40 years, then He killed an Egyptian and spent the next 40 years as a shephard among his people. So let’s see how God works through Moses.

Exodus 3:11-13 But Moses said to God, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh, and that I should bring the children of Israel out of Egypt?” 12 So He said, “I will certainly be with you. And this shall be a sign to you that I have sent you: When you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall serve God on this mountain.” 13 Then Moses said to God, “Indeed, when I come to the children of Israel and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they say to me, ‘What is His name?’ what shall I say to them?”

In this passage some translation state that Moses protested. Some might say when asked to do something I’m just not feeling it. Or I just don’t believe it. Or reflecting on the last time he stood up for his people.

The relationship between these two statements is grammatically unclear, making interpretation difficult. It seems odd that God would give a reassuring sign to Moses only after he left Egypt. However, He may be referring to the burning bush, meaning that the encounter at the bush—or the miracle of the bush itself—was the sign given to Moses that God would be with him. As we shard last week that God does things in amazing ways. We have been experiencing some understanding of the word “first”. God showed Moses the burning bush that was burning in a dry desert and never burnt up as a sign that the best is yet to come. If you where amazed by the bush, wait till you see what I do to impressed my people.

This exchange between God and Moses, we see a struggle. Struggle for both to see. Here is something for us to see.

What we need to understand is that our relationship with God may really be more complicated than we realize or are willing to admit.

God is saying to Moses and us “If we don’t believe neither will our neighbor”

The question is the equivalent of asking what new thing or way has God revealed himself to me?

So God is asking Moses to go convince the people of God that “I am” is here.

And the people’s response is How can you tell us this God is who He say He is and what took him so long?

Sometime we can focus on irrelevant matters, why because there’s grief, loss, anger and fear. What we fail to realize these are the emotional and spiritual postures that shape us throughout the many seasons of life.

So God knows that His people are going to have these emotions, but what they didn't have before was hope, a place to go in peace, a table to sit at and room that they can assure once they come out everything will be alright. So God must show Himself in other ways to ensure the people will leave and follow Him. Have you ever heard of a word called “ Theophany”

A theophany is an appearance of God that people can discern- It reminds me of the 8 styles of learning for individuals.When I was in school it was only 3 now they are up to 8 and still do not know if they can reach all kids. but they now have Auditory, visual, physical, verbal, social, logical and solitary. Now with God who is encountering more people than what he started with the 12 families and one patriarch.

we have 8 styles of learning, but there are so many ways that God can reveal himself to us.

Not all appearances of God are recognized by people. This term comes from the greek “Theos” which mean God and the verb “Phaino” means to appear or reveal. Theophanies in the Old Testament occur when God takes form in the natural world, as a phenomena (like wind, spirit, or the burning bush) or when God takes human form (like the Angel of Yahweh). The names of the fathers God used different ways to reveal himself Gen 12, He spoke in person to Abraham, in Chapter 15 He spoke to Abraham in a vision. In Genesis 26 God appeared to Isaac, In Genesis 28 God appeared to Jacob in a dream and in Genesis 32 He appeared to in the flesh as He wrestled with God. Then here in Exodus 3 He appears to Moses as a burning bush. So in Verse 14 when God says to Moses say I Am, now God is saying to us that becuase he is able to become all things to all men He is saying to shannon just let me know what I need to be this week to that I can meet you at your lowest point, darkest moment and even during your joy and happiness. God knew that all those people needed something different and He is saying the same to us. He can become whatever He needs so that we can workout our relationship and learn of Him. Now that an awesome person, thing, place to have in our lives.

God knows where and how to meet us so that we can understand who he is. Our comprehension must be willing to do as the new testament scripture that says “Seek and Ye Shall find” So when Moses ask Who sends me in Exodus 34:6-7 ,And the Lord passed before him and proclaimed, “The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abounding in goodness and truth, 7 keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, by no means clearing the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children and the children’s children to the third and the fourth generation

Lord, the Lord In Hebrew, the first use of the divine name Yahweh can be the subject of the verb “to proclaim.” The result is the rendering, “Yahweh proclaimed, ‘Yahweh, the compassionate and gracious God’”—which creates the impression that Yahweh is using the third-person voice to refer to himself. This helps us to see How the Holy Spirit was with God to witness and confirm His story.

Closing

Isa. 43:1-4 “But now, O Jacob, listen to the Lord who created you. O Israel, the one who formed you says, “Do not be afraid, for I have ransomed you. I have called you by name; you are mine. 2 When you go through deep waters, I will be with you. When you go through rivers of difficulty, you will not drown. When you walk through the fire of oppression, you will not be burned up; the flames will not consume you. 3 For I am the Lord, your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior. I gave Egypt as a ransom for your freedom; I gave Ethiopia[a] and Seba in your place. 4 Others were given in exchange for you. I traded their lives for yours because you are precious to me. You are honored, and I love you.

43:1 who created you, O Jacob Yahweh is responsible for both Israel’s creation as living beings and their formation as a nation. Isaiah uses creation language to emphasize God’s power as Creator and His special attention to His chosen people.

I have redeemed you God already identified Himself as their Redeemer in 41:14. Now, He reminds them of the relationship between Redeemer and redeemed. The exiles have no reason to fear, because salvation is assured.

I have called you by your name Isaiah’s speeches throughout this section emphasize Yahweh’s special choice of Israel (see Isa 41:8–9; 45:3–4).

Albert Tate wrote a book called “ Disobedient God, trusting a God who goes off script” He said these words” How do we invite the God of all creation to sit with us in the dark? How do we do this while acknowledging and recognizing fully that in His Sovereignty He allowed this pain, but that we can’t go through it without Him? We need Him if we’re going to survive the pain itself.

The apostle Paul said this I Cor. 9 22 I Have become all things to all men, that I might by all means save some.

The New King James Version Chapter 9

I have become all things to all men, that I might by all means save some

3 young ladies where kidnapped in 2003, and where rescued in 2013. To this day these 3 women still heal from a decade long trauma. The one thing that they struggled with for a long time was that they did not believe they deserved to be loved. Amanda Berry said She told the dispatcher “ I’ve ben kidnapped and missing for 10 years. I am free now. Who is the I am that can rescue us, Who is the Yahweh who can deliver us

This is God’s invitation to you I AM.... FOR YOU