Finding Your Calling Through Venn Diagrams

The only way to get real lasting peace is to know the Pince of peace Himself. We obsess over the what and then we forget about the who has called you. What God wants to do is not dependent upon who you are, but on who God is and what He wants to do. Hey Lifvery Nation. Before we jump into the episode, this podcast is recorded right here at Lake Point Church in Dallas, Texas. But the Lify nation is spread all over the country and all around the world. So if you've been watching and thinking, man, I wish I could be part of something like this, we wanna invite you to take a simple next step and that is join us for church online. Every weekend we stream our services live on YouTube, Facebook, and our church online platform. And it's more than just watching a service. They're a live host in the chat prayer teams ready to stand with you and people all around the world worshiping together in real time. And so whether you're exploring the faith, coming back to church, or just looking for a place to start, church online is a great way to jump in and experience what God is doing here at Lake Point. We would love to see you in the chat this weekend and now enjoy the podcast Hey, welcome back to another episode of the liive Free podcast. Wait, here' some We are so back. We are back. For America two hundred fifty, baby, come on. comeome on man. My name is Carlos Arzwan. I'm here with Pastor Josh Howardon and Pastor Paul Cunningham. Let's kick this pig. Let's kick this pig. We're America maxing Right after the two hundred and fifty fifty of the birthsday of the United States. I got my shirt on. I got Grandpa's hat on, Innational harvester, very American. And then do we even have a shot of the do we have the wide shot? We got the flag up here We're all in. Come on, man. And the boys are back. Yes, we are. for the. I love that one. Hey, we're going to have a great episode today. We are going to be talking about what is the secret meaning behind the name of God Yahweh. We got Chajip Pulsei ready locked and loaded. Pastor Josh, you will be explaining a little bit more about this heated controversy on ex on Christians and immigration and faith total stranger to that. This is all new territory. We are going to be asking, hey, how can I discern the will of God for my life? And we're going be talking about this trend of high profile intellectuals and scientists exploring faith. And we're gonna talk about how Paul own was in a Pide parade in Santa Fe last. What did Ch Paul. Okay. Hey, already you were at a prride parade in Santa Fe last. Okay How did this get to you? I tell like three or four people. M, all the activists were so excited to have Chadi Paul C. Gosh of free fame and their pride parade in Santa Fe. So Paul explain yourself I can feel myself getting ready As we speak, I am turning What is going on here? I usually am. Yeah, so I was in town, good segue in a few minutes. I was in town for high school camp. Shout And we were downtown and we're in a parking lot and we got trapped by pride praise. That That the all B big pride celebration. So we get trapped and we go and we ask like we go and ask the manager like, Hey, how long is this going to take? because I was supposed to be getting to camp bless our staff and get to hang out with some students and ask answer some questions. And so we're just they're like, case for me another hour And so I'm like, okay I got we got to get at her. So I thought we should go right because there was a road right there and immediately go. My wife, amazing woman that she has told me to turn left. and wait, I just want to clarify this so right was away from the pride stuff, but a leftward directionwardight right was I was gonna to wait for a break. I how you're frring this. I was going to wait for a break in the parade, turn right and go out of there. So I listened to my wife and we turn left and then we are stopped by a f h never turn left We never turn. Actually, there might be some hidden moons mistake. So we go left and they're like stop us because maybe they thought we were like ramom or something. So like, hey, turn around. So we have to turn around and then for the next about one hundred feet we have to be in the pride parade. And so immediately my family is like, take off your L pointoint They had a Lakepoint here in this is what I was relay to. It's the mission field. Why are you try to from the mission field at off? I took it off and like get my head down and then the second we got to that street where I talked about it took a right and h toed out of that. Paul Paul, this is why we have Lake Point Merch so that you can represent in the places that need it the most. Listen. I get it. My sweet daughter must be eleven year old. She was wearing like her kingdom shirt. She's like, Dad, I need to take it off And I was like no, you need to be proud about it. Itong. do not hide that you You be ashamed. and so yeah, We'll find out who got that news to you. There's only a few people out toe. If the world is proud to get out of the classet, Christians can be proud byy the grace of God represents theingdom of God. Can canan I do a shout out? This is very, very not this is very unproud paradeish. Okay. he said to you, this is legit. So again, we're America maxing for the two hundred fifty. anniversary. So dude, we've got a shot on this. I want to make sure we see this. Wh what's the best angle on this guy Right here, littleiddle one. No, no, no, right here Okay, there you go, that works. You can barely see it. Here's what this is. I just got handed this today. So this was sent in, if you can see it, it has live free engraved on b casing. Here's where this is. This guy's name retired Colonel from the US. Air Force, Ryan Zombie Freeman sent this guy in Dude this is hardcore right here. So he sends us in live free listener twenty millimeter shell was fired from his F sixteen in support of U. S. Navy SEALals and U. S. Air Force combat controllers in North and central Afghanistan in active combat. live free listener, gotot live free on the shell casing. shhout out Ryan Zombie Freeman, retired cololonel in the U. S. Air Force Boom, wow. Bom, live free brother. That's amazing. That's awesome, right. W. Hey, you mentioned high school camp. man, we got a lot of to celebrate from camp. Yeah, and then let's get to it, man. I just gota shout this out would be nuts not to. Last week. That for me and Paul, my family was, my oldest LA. I was in a high school camp. So we're there we're there. I think it's thir' not a camp King, preaching the gospel, that gu guys anointed So I want to show this video So he just preaches like a straight up gospel message, conviction, repentance. and then he calls for people to respond, we're seeing right here is the moment, third night of camp where one hundred and seventy students stand up in front of everybody to bend their knee the Lordship of Jesus in front of all their friends. This wasn't like a bow your heads, close your eyes and do it in secret. This is them standing up in front of their friends, all those people streaming backwards Our students responding in faith and giving their lives to Christ. Wow on the same night. Ch. W. It was unbelievable. So I thinkross the across all the cam how many students across all the camps went to camp Tim? What do you think No, no, no, that was just high school was thirteen hundred It pushed pushed it twenty six hundred. So twenty six hundred kids from Likeake one, we're at all our camps and I mean, dude, are you nothing like camp.? That's amazing. It was amazing. man. We had so many salvations. My daughter actually got called to ministry in high school C comeome on. Yeah man.. Yeah. It was was a special moment. That a special moment getting didn't talk to her. I'm just say like, wow, God does a lot of work in a little time. it can't I can't. And we got to experience that in our family side. special Speaking of special thingsks, this week, we are excited because we're starting a brand new sermum series, Pessor Josh, What is it? Yeah? Okay, so we do thisce year, it's called at the movies And I always like to do this every single time because you know, online especially online angry reform people hate at the movies. Here so here's what this is we're not.'re preaching movies, right? That's what you're doing. Yeah,'re preaching moies.'s we're doing. No.s'ating movies. No what it is is is using movies to illustrate Bibl truth. So it's kind of the same concept as what Jesus did as Jesus would take uh modern popular modern day stories. And then there are some of Jesus' parables that Bible scholars will say, B that was actually a popular story in Jesus' day and then he either he tweaked the end or he used it to illustrate Bible truth. It's kind of the same thing. I use sermon illustrations in every sermon. So what it does is it's using movies to illustrate biblical truth. So you're preaching the Bible and illustrating it with movies. So it starts this week We will see an insane number of people saved. It is not online And so if you were ever going to visit a Lake Point campus, this is a great time. come hang out. Can let me do this and then I want to actually just get into exodus three and start deep diving this thing Can tell you can I tell you the story of why I started I want to do this? yeah. All right. Here's why I started I want to do this So you know the story of CS Lewis conversion. Okay. A lot of people don't know this CS Lewis, Dude to wrote Chronicles Narnia and all the things. CS Lewis was converted. bought largely by J. R. Tolkien who wrote Lord of the Rings. I'm a super Lord of the Rings nerd, J Tolkien. That's great. So here's mean me? No, he's not as much. That's. different conversation, go ahead. We got a lot to come. None of us. All right, so here's the story. So CS. Lewis was a professor at Oxford is famously a staunch atheist. famamously a staunch atheist He becomes friends with these two guys. J. R Tolkien, obviously writes Lord of the Rings and a guy nam Hugo Dyson CS. Lewis writes after his conversion, he tells the story There's this one night where there's three guys, they just sit in a room and they're smoking cigars and drink them randy And they just start talking about life, philosophy, literature, and religion And JaR Tolkien, and from what I understand, Hugo Dyson, they have already been their need to Jesus. Jared Tolkien was notoriously a very committed Catholic. Christian They just start talking and dude my my start sweating every time So Jred Jared Tolkiens begins explaining to CS. Lewis. He was a professor that studied in particular, they called them fairy stories, fairy tales, medieval fairy tales. So Tolkien starts explaining to CS Lewis. He's like, Hey man Do you know why you love all these stories And do you know why in every one of these stories, there's these little themes that it doesn't matter what culture the story came from or what year it was written in All the stories that move you the deepest They have the same themes and see us listen, Well why And he starts explaining Book of Ecclesiastes because God has written eternity into the hearts of man And he starts explaining like, Hey, man Do you know why you love these stories about how, you know it's always it's kill the Dragon, get the girl. or it's a brave prince from a far off country, you know, comes and awakens the princess from the sleep of death or it' man somebody dies in order to set the captus free. And he just starts explaining, well, because there's a story underneath every story. And all the stories that movie the deepest, they resonate with the story underneath all the stories and it's the story of the gospel. And he starts explaining, Bro. He's like, hey man The whole story of the gospel is Jesus is the warrior from a far off country who comes and he slays the dragon to get the girl, his bride to church And Jesus is the brave prince from a distant land that comes and awakens the princess from the sleep of death with his kiss and Jesus is the the warrior that dies and trades his life to set the captives free. So what he Bs explained to CS L is like Jesus is the true myth. He fast forward. CS Lewis later. It doesn't become a Christian. but it leaves an impression on him Later in nineteen thirty one, from what I understand He writes a letter to a friend named Arthur Greeves And he's explaining why he became a Christian, he says He says now the story of Christ is simply and he starts telling him what Tolkien explained to him A true myth A myth working on us in the same way as the others, but with this one tremendous difference It really happened.. I think cls now. Here's what he says on september twenty eighth, nineteen thirty one J just nine days after my conversation with Tolkien on Christ being the true myth It says this, Lewis took the final step in embracing the divinity of Christ while riding in his older brother's motorcycle side car on the way to the newly opened Whipsnod Park Zoo in Bedfordhire. Gohe and tos that picture up here. This That road right there is literally the road that CS Lewis is on the side of his brother's motorcycle when what I'm getting ready to read happens to him. So he's thinking about all this Christ is the true myth, the story underneath every story. He's riding on a motorcycle on that d gum road right there And this is what he says in this letter. I know very well when, but not how the final step was taken I was driven a whipsnide. One Sundnay morning When we set out, I did not believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. And when we reached the zoo, I did. Yet I had not exactly spent the journey in thought Wow, CS. Lewis became a Christian why because somebody showed him that there's a story underneath every story Every story whispers his name.az. That is part of the reason we do at the movies. So don't call me all you want. I'm all in.. starting this week, hang out. C on, C on. Actually, I took my three year old son to the movie theater for the first time. Toy Story five. What do you think? Okay, so super quick, let me give you a quick movie review of Toy Story five. Oh goodness. He's up. some minor spoilers. so if you haven't seen it, you know, do what you me to do. First of all, man, people ask me, how was it? Generally it's a good movie. It's a good movie. Characters are funny. story is entertaining. There's a lot of things that are true in a movie. that's what you wantan to do every time you watch a movie. What's true and what's not true Again, dangerous on technology, bravery, friendship, all the themes Having said that, there's at least two things that I'm like, I'm not a fan of those things. So for context, Story Story five makes Jessie the main protagonist of the movie, which is great. The movie' about her. But oftentimes what you'll see in some of these Pixar and Disney movies is that the female hero will be elevated, oftentimes at the expense of the male characters. And so what will happen is that the female hero, you'll see she's brave and she takes initiative and she exercises her leadership or again, all good things But then theyll also make the male characters intentionally more passive, more less competent, and more dumb by comparison And so what you'll see in this movie, again, the movie, the joke is on Woody. he's like a little bit older. He's got like a big belly. he's balding, you know, he's arguing over Buzz over who's in charge after Jesse's gone. And then Buzz, on the other hand, he used to be this like strong decisive space ranger. now he's portrayed as like this weak, super insecure and he's constantly trying to get Jesse's approval And then at the end of the movie, Buzz tries to propose again to Jesie and Jesie takes over, she takes control, kisses Buzz first. and then Buzz's leg kind of like goes up kind of like this classic movie cliche where like the woman is kissing the man and she's swept off her feet. And then during the wedding of Buzz and Jessie, Jessie takes the role of a husband. She's wearing a bow tie while waiting at the altar and then Buzz is wearing this kilt for whatever reason. He's walking down the aisle the way the Bright traditionally does, kind of reversing the roes a little bit. And so here's what I'd say as Christians, we don't consume entertainment passively, We consume it with discernment. And so because every story is shaping a worldview and we want it to be the word of God, not the world that shapes our. And so two things on that. O, this idea that a woman can only be strong and empowered only by making the man more weak, more diminished, more ridiculed is not true I want to teach my son that that's not who he's called to be. He's not called to be perfect, but he is called to be strong and he is called to take responsibility over comm insecurities, and be a leader Two, regarding the whole Jesse and Bzz kind of swapping gender roles also in the movie in the relationship, people might just say, well, just it's a joke. know you're supposed to have fun with it. It's playful, maybe. But I also want to teach my son that the Bible says that God made men and women, husbands and wives to be equal in value and dignity, but different in function and roles. And those are not interchangeable because we are designed differently. and those are not there to oppress you. they are there to bless you to bless you in your relationships and in your marriage. And so what happens is when you deviate from that design and from those rows and you think that your way is better, at the end of the day, disorder and chaos happens. And so again, does that mean that Toy Story five is terrible and it's evil and you should never watch it not necessarily No, you can enjoy with your family. That's fine First Thessalonians five hundred twenty one says test everything, keep what is good, reject what is not. But I would say this, if you're a Christian Do not settle for just passively consuming entertainment because if you parents, do not disciple your children, this and pixar will. That's right Bro. That's my rev. That's my review That's Carlis good job, dad. Yeah. Seriously good job, dad Because it's likere what you're doing is like even from a young age, you're teaching your kids to walk in. I call, Hey, man, let's have our lie detectors on. Because people don't realize, like, hey, man, like stuff like that, movies are sermons. and there's sermons and you got to figure out, is this a Christ less sermon Christ full service, fantastic. Good job D.. Hey to participate in this week's giveaway comment hats on YouTuber or Spotify Al also don't forget to subscribeing all the things. Pastor Josh have a question for you.ow What did it make it to the sermon? By the way, wecome. Amen.. Amen, you feel right at home. Oh.s his favorite sermon. Yeah, because exactly that. That's right. All right, dude. So honestly, a lot didn't make him into the sermon. So let me just take a deep breath Let shoot you real So, here's deal, All the Bible is equally true, not all the Bible is equally important. U if the Bible was a mountain range, Exodus I would be like Everest. So what's honestly, what's tough about a sermon like this is it like I'm not joking In the middle of the week, I was like, oh, this one passage could be four sermons. You could do a whole, I mean, I could do a whole. You do a whole sermon on nameame of God. Take off your feet, take off the sandals, feet place where which you're standing is holdly ground. Something I'm gonna talk about this in a second. There's a pretty significant theological thing that happens at this passage. It's called a Christophanany that is very significant. We'll get to this here in a second There's a whole bunch ofuff. let me do this real quick. So first of all, let me back up So obviously what we're doing right here to close the series. This is about reigniting a calling, you know, in Fuego fire, all this stuff. That's what happens here. So this is Exodus, Go ahe and tos up here. This is a little fun fact. I took this picture when we were in Greece last time. What's really interesting is the name Eodus, it literally just is well, it's both Greek and Latin. It's a transliteration of it's the Greek word exodus that just means to come out of So literally, if you go to Greece right now, I took that picture ofers over there. that's the second letter right there is called it's C. Is thatic C S sign Yeah, so it's that's Exodus. That's what we' that's still the That's all their exit signs. So the book of Exodus is about the exit or the going out, obviously of the people Now, what you got right here in Exodus three is this is the calling of Moses. At this point, I'm going give this here in a second. A lot of people don't realize this Moses is eighty at this point. You don't get to that later in the passage. that becomes significant in a second. I will show you this because this is really cool for centuries, But Bible critics. point to the exodus story And this is fascinating. For literally centuries, they would be like, this never happened It's just a it's a, you know, it's a national sort of, you know, seemitic myth for national pride, and somebody made this up and actually kind of the narrative was the Israelites literally were never in Egypt. That literally for a long time was the thing, bro, this is so fascinating. Okay. So then a few years ago, they dig this up, and this, go and toss that first thing up. So what they do is they go to this place and a a few years ago, they find a burial place in Egypt of Egyptian nobles And they find what you're seeing right here is on the wall of a no bomb trying to get this right. The guy's name was Recmile Then a noble's name was Rechmeer R E K H M I R E And this guy, this is on the side of his burial place He was the second in charge for two phharaohs. A guy named Thutmos the third by dating and just sort of context clues, almost everybody thinks that's the phharaoh who wanted Moses dead. So when there's a whole story about kill all the Egyptian boys and Moses gets thrown in the Nile. He's the dude that issues the commands slaughter the boys. That's what they think And then Rechmeyer was also the second of command for a guy named Amon Hotep the second. almost everybody thinks is he's never named in the book of Exodus. P people think, dude, that's the guy that was the phharaoh, okay? So this guy Reckmeer, this is the side of his burial tomb And he's the one the second in command above these guys. Now, Bro, what you're seeing right here? This is crazy So for centuries, they're saying They were this is all a myth. They were never in Egypt. Right in the middle there. lookook at these people bending over. You'll see right in the middle of that little part there, you're gonna see this guy that bent over and he's got a brick wall in front of him and underneath him. You look right underneath it and there's these people bending over on these hay littleittle heaps. What you're seeing right here is these are seemitic or at least non Egyptian slaves Making straw bricks. So they discover this. The guy. that is second in command and history during his time and he's during Exodus. It is literally depicting non Egyptian, probably Semitic slaves making strawberri. It's right there Yeah rightight there. Now, you go a second I'll also say this The mural when they dated it in his tomb, the dates that they give are fourteen seventy nine to fourteen twenty five BC. That is right in the middle. is the estimated early date of the Eodus. So fourteen forty six. anyyway, dude, I always just want to say the same thing over and over again. This stuff really happened. Now here's another one that's really funny. I ran across this week to this day. If you go to the British Museum They have one spot that's an Egyptian sort of display thing that is from this period. And they have, and they don't even comment on it from what I understand about it being tied to the biblical narrative. They're just like, here's a brick that was made by slaves in this era show a picture of that brick. And if you look real close, right in the middle of a dad gum brick is strw Now if you are a Bible reader that has read Exodus three fourty five, The whole story is about them, their're slaves. They're making bricks with straw. Whenever Moses asked for them to be set free Phaoh's like, you got to make bricks without straw. And all of this stuff is confirmingray. Exactly what you got in the military Bible. So I want to say same thing over again. The Bible really happened. Yes, Wow. This is not a myth. It's not a story. It's an event. The Bible really happened The real Jesus died on a real cross with the real you, and if you give him your life, he can really change it forever W So we got that now, can I de dive some stuff in the b? It's just like. So a couple of things, and then I'm going to turn over to Paul and he's going to talk about Yahweh and all the stuff under the name of God that's insane. absolutely insane So what you got over here, I'm just going to read it Exes chapter two ends like this. It says, during those many days, the king of Egypt died And the people of Israel groaned because of their slavery and they cried out for help. This is really important. listen real close The cry for rescue from slavery came up to God And God heard They're groaning And God remembered H his covenant with Abraham with Isaac and with Jacob And God saw the people of Israel and God knew Number one, I just want to point this out. you are the answer to somebody elses prayer I just want to say that we're going talk in a second about fulfilling your calling Whatever God call God puts on your life. M' not just about you. You are the answer to somebody else's prayer Their cries go to heaven and their prayers move heaven, Heaven moves Moses, Moses moves through deliverance. So that's it. Number two It's really interesting what they do here is it just emphasizes all these the things God does. So it's God heard God saw, God remembered, God knew. And Dude, there's this whole thing about how most people think about God is this very impersonal force And it's really just like, you know, when stuff happens It's kind of like, well, man, what are you going to do It is what it is But with God, it's not an impersonal force. He's a personal God He sees, he hears, he remembers. he knows and he answers So with God, it's not It is what it is with God. He reveals himself I am who I am. Well It it was like hey it's personal It's personal Now you get into this passage, Moses is eighty. A lot of people don't realize this. Moses spends first forty years of his life in Pharoh's court That's going to be important here in a second The second forty years of his life, he's doing shepherd stuff. four The guy has two names, by the way. in Exodus, I think two, he's called Riule and then Exodus four or five, he's called Jethro. It's kind of like Kanye and easy. He's one guy two names. Very different character, hopefully, It two different names. but I do just want to point this out, man I wish I'd have had time in the sermon to talk about The number of people in the Bible who the greatest thing they do for the kingdom of God is in their old age. I really wish I'd a had time. I just want to list this. this I had to cut this last second. So Moses here is eighty when he begins the most significant calling of his life, w. Abraham is seventy five years old when God calls him and he moves Anna is eighty four years old when she's interceding and fasting and prayer and she's the one that recognizes the Messiah Daniel is eighty two years old when he gets tossed in the lion's Den. Wow. John is in his nineties when he writes the book of Revelation, sees Jesus' eyes, flame of fire and all the things David is seventy years old when he sets out to build the temple, Jeahooya, who's a toal the guys I can't say that word. He's amazing. He's hardcore. Jjoyeda was one hundred years old, by the way when he leads a national coup Othrows the wicked queen, installs Joe Ash and leads the entire nation in national revival. The dude's a hundred. By the way, that guy's story is awesome He's the only priest that ends up buried among the kings because God said, what you did wow was as significant what any of them did. and he did it when he was one hundred years old. Caleb's eighty five years old. When he conquers Hebrin, he drives out all the Anakem giants. Here's all I just want to say on this. I wish I had time to say this Psalm one hundred and thirty nine says that every single one of our days before we're born, is written in God's book and he knows the full span of them. every single day So Chy Pse. Yeah. There's two days in your life that have been set in stone. Your birthday. And you know exactly when that day is But there's another day that's just as in stone as your birthday. You got no idea when it is. is when you breathe your last breath and you go and you hug Jesus Those two days set in stone And what that passage says is every single day God determines for you. There's a purpose for that day So I don't care, listen, You may be listen. and you know, JC Rle has this old quote where he says, what Satan says to you when you're young is it's too soon to serve God And then what Satan says to you when you're old is it's too late to serve God. Wow And what I want to say is like, man, if you're somebody who like, man, your age might start with a six, seven, eight, nine, I'll even venture. We've got some listeners whose age starts with a one and a zero, maybe And you may be going like, hey, dude, you know, my time probably passed by And I priorready had my chance to do whatever was the great thing I just want to say to you, listen, may soup cans and advil have expiration dates, but in the kingdom of God, people don't. That's right. And if you've still got a pulse, God's still got a purpose for your life. Gody's eighty years old when he begins the most significant thing in his life. All right. So this happens. Now I gotta talk about two other things. but I want you to talk about the whole Yahweh thing that gonna blow your mind. o One, it is very significant to me. So you read the passage, you know, and Moses, he walks up on the You know, it's the burning bush thing, the bush and it burns, but it's not consumed This is really heavy on me comeback from camp. and by the way, what I'm getting ready to say in the next forty five seconds is not hating on camp. I'm a camp guy through and through. I love camp It is very significant that throughout the Bible Arguably the most frequent way God reveals himself is as fire. Like this you stop and think, it's like There Fgo, That's right. in Wo That's like usually so you got Again, we're just Bible nerding out for a second. like just let me do it You got during the Abrahamic coovenant, I think it's Genesis thirteen or Genesis fifteen. Actually I think it's started in Genesis thirteen and it's repeated in Gesis fifteen. God puts Abram to sleep And then it says, he appears as a smoking fire pot And he passes through pieces. That's one of the coolest passures of the Bible, and I' got time to do it When he's leading the children of Israel through the wilderness, it's a pillar of cloud by day, but a pillar of fire, fire by. When God gives the law, on Sinayi It says that he descends and that our God is as a consuming fire, fire You fast forward when Solomon dedicates the temple It says it says fire comes down from heaven. The glory of God filled the temple. And it says, I think smoke was so thick with the glory could not stand in the temple, but again, it's fire and a smoke. Fast forward to Daniel seven. Again we're Bobble nerding, Ke Bobble nerding with me, Daniel seven He sees a vision of the ancient of Days, who is, by the way, a preincarnate Jesus, which by the way, I'm about to blow your mind. Jesus is in this passage in Exodus three. This is faking awesome He sees in the ancient of days And Asian of Days is sitting on a throne of. fire. Now let's go New Testament. Acts chapter two, when the Holy Spirit descends on the apostles and their preaching. It says divided tongues as of fire. Revelation chapter one, the apostle John sees the incarnate Jesus and loses his mind. He like falls on the ground. He's like, I'm gonna die. And what he sees when he sees Jesus who is God He's like, man, who's crazy. I see Jesus And he's got hair and it's like white as snow and he's got legs like burnished bronze and he's got a You know, he's got this robe on thiss like a It's white as snow. by the way, he's coming to pick a fight and with judgment. this is an old preacher joke If a guy comes to a fight dressed in white, you know you're going to lose because he knows I'm not getting blood on me That's right. If he intentially comes dressed in white, you know you're going to lose ye. So Jesus got his white robe on, but John looks in his eyes and and he freaks out but he's like his eyes. M his eyes, man. He's like his eyes, they were like flames of fir. Now How should I point this out? Here's what. People always think And the younger you are, the more you need to understand what I'm about to say People always think that like the sign of the presence of God is emotion. And like, man, I was there and I was singing this song and I started crying and it was the presence of God. I'll shoot you really straight dude. I traveled and preached a billion youth camps before becoming an actual church pastor. And listen, man, third night of camp, you're sleep deprived.. You drank forty seven energy drinks and you're all coked up on sugar and you're with all your best friends and you just burned your secular CDs and whatever it is. Like honestly, man, the third night of camp I could get you to rededicate your life to a leprechaun. It's like there's just so much emotion. Here's my point, man, is the sign of the presence of God is not emotion. So here's the question. Why does God throughout the Bible? reveal himself as fire. Well, think back to your chemistry class. Whenever something catches on fire It literally restructures the chemical composition of the thing. Before something was on fire, was it was one thing. Then it catches on fire and literally when it's finished being on fire, it's another thing Here's the big idea The sign of an encounter with God is not emotion. listen is rearranged priorities. Yes. I' must say that one more time The sign that you had an encounter with a living God is not a motion. You're going have emotion But you can have emotion without God The sign of an encounter with living God is not just emotion It's rearranged priorities is oh man Now I care about stuff I didn't care about before And I hate some things that I used to love. Dang, what happened to me? Well before that encounter, I was this thing. And then I encountered some fire And now that I'm done, I'm this thing And I'm not The man I used to be And I don't gott to do the things I used to do. Because in Christ, I'm a new creation. You see what I'm doing there? So this is why God reveals himself to Moses as fire. Now he tells him to do something here that is again, you start getting to the deep end of the pool here and then I'm going to do the deep end of the pool and then I'm going turn it to Paul and he's going to go one layer deeper. Okay So it's really interesting. I'm going to read this passage becausecause this kind of thing, if you're just a normal Bible reader, you just skim right past a dude and you have no idea you just read something stinking mim blow, okay So this is what it says. Vverse one, chapter three. Now Moses was keeping the flock of his father in law, Jethro, the priest of Midon And he led his flock to the west side of the wilderness and came to Horb, the mountain of God. Listen, real close, listen, real close. And what's that next word? Paul you looking at it? Are you looking at it? you're finding says The That's so important. It says, An the angel of the Lord and Lord is in all caps. B the way, sometimes Lord is in all caps in your Bible and sometimes it's not. He's going to explain that in a second. There's something stinking mind blowing about that. You're gonna hear that in a second It says, and the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush. okay What you are seeing right here, virtually every Bible scholar. By the way, I'm getting ready to give six reasons for this. I got them from Bible. I got them from Old Driscoll. So I'm just gonna to give attribution here. But what you're seeing right here is nearly every Bible scholar everywhere identifies this right here. Whenever you see the phrase the angel of God in the Old Testament, almost every Bible scholar everywhere acknowledges this is a prein inccarnate. uh, u, u appearing of Jesus So dude, in a very I'm going to show to you in the Bible here in a second Moses is meeting Jesus fifteen hundred years before Jesus is born This is Jesus. Okay. Now I'm real quick, this is we're again, we're theology nerdning out here. I'm gonna give you seven reasons that we know this is what theologians call a Christophanone Or some people call it a Theophany orr is it no, it's Christoph Theophany is just an appearing of God. Christophanyy. Yeah Theos equals God, Theophanyy Christophanany is appearance of Jes. So this is Christophanyy. Okaykay. number one. passage the six reason I'm a rapid firem Number one The angel of the Lord is identified as God himself. For the rest of the passage it says God spoke to him out of out of the flame of the fire, even though it's called the angel of the Lord. That's number one. So Jesus God, this guys identify as God. N two. The New Testament specifically tells us that what the Son does is make the Father known. That's what the Son does. So John one hundred eighteen says this, no one has ever seen God But the one and only son who is himself God and is in closest relationship with the Father has made him known By the way That's why that's stinking awesome. It's the Christmas carol. Which one is it it says veiled in flesh, the Godhead sea. Wh one Inarnite Dity It'll me. it'll me Wh is that? What Chrmas Carol is that? I feeling flash guy Yeah. I feel dumb. Look it up. I can't do out the top of the head. the Godhead teeth. Yeah. Hark theeral by the way, Hark the Herald Angels saying is the best Christmas Carol. Yeah. But when that passage says it's talking about Jesus And it's the best theological line in any Christmas carol. It says veiled in flesh, the Godhead. see. Wow. It's saying Jesus put on this veil, this lens of flesh, and you're seeing the entire Godhead revealed in the flesh of Jesus Christ. Okay? Number three It uses the phrase, this passage uses the phrase the angel of the Lord, and this is repeated throughout the Old Testament. So you'll notice in the Old Testament if you pay very close attention, sometometimes it'll say an angel of the Lord, referring to like Michael or Gabriel or whoever there's only three angels that are mentioned by name. Michael, Gabriel, and Lucifer are the only three angels Sometimes it'll say the angel of the Lord. Sometimes it'll say An angel of the Lord. This is the angel of the Lord You will notice this. This is your little homework. The E theology nerds go study every single passage where quote, the angel of the Lord appears Whoever this mysterious the angel of the Lord is He receives worship. He speaks as God in the first person. He is identified as God by those who encounter him. And this passage says that God called to him Moses out of the bush. So you got that right there. Reason number four A lot of people miss this This passage has a holy ground parallel with Joshua chapter five. I did not realize this until studying this passage this week, okay So this is Joshua chapter five. It says nearly the exact same thing. An The Angel Lord appears to Joshua and it says. The commander of the Lord's army replied off your sandals for the place where you are standing is holy. Interesting. And Joshua did so. Now, here's what people miss in the previous verse. Now before I say this There's an angel in the book of Revelation that John falls down on his knees and is tempted to worship. Angel wigs out on John. He's like, Bro, get up I refuse to receive worship. I'm just the angel Well, whoever the angel of the Lord is In Joshua chapter five, it says this And he said, No, but I am the commander of the army of the Lord. Now I have come And Joshua fell on his face to the earth and worshihiped and said to him What does my Lord say to his servant? And whoever this mysterious, the angel of the Lord is, he receives the worship. Okaykay. Number five, the I am statements of Jesus. So as Paul's going talk about here in a second Jesus reveals God's name in this passage as I am who I am. Jesus throughout the book of John, reveals himself and he's doing this very on purpose as the I am He goes I'm the Bad of life, I'm the lot of the world, on' theor I'm the good Shepherd I'm the resurreion of the life, I'm the way the truth and life, I'm the true vine. The reason he's repeating, I am, I am, I am. I am is going, Hey, bro. I'm the guy from Exodus chapter three. That's me. That's what he's doing. Now let me do the last two because the last two are the most mind bllowing So Jesus says this in John. This This is what gets Jesus killed. This is what starts getting Jus killed So Jesus, he's having this big argument with the Pharisees, you know, the HOA presidents of his day. And he says, very truly I tell you Jesus answered them for this is mind blowing. He says before Abraham was born Damn M At this, they picked up stones to stone him, but Jesus hid slipping away. Yeah. What he literally says to them and this is why they start stoning him is he's literally saying to them I'm the one that was in the burning bush and revealed that I was the I am. Wow. And all of them immediately realize this guy's saying he's God. If anybody ever tells you that Jesus never said He was God, bless their heart, they're too dumb to talk to. This is what Jesus is doing right here now. Let me do this last one. And this is the one that like I was like, Ih wish I had time to get this serouron So coil up here. All right, so Moses walks up to Jesus in Exodus three And Jesus, it's a little weird. You're like, whyy iss he doing this? Jesus says, Moses. Take off your feet for the place on which you're standing or take off your shoes The place on which you're standing is holy ground and Moses feet gotott to hit the dirt, okay. Now There's this weird passage in Exodus I that when you read it, you're like, o like what the heck is that doing there? It feels so stinking weird, okay? So it's in the middle of all this and all the cool stuff' happened with the bush and then okay, let's go get all the Egyptians out of Israel. And then there's this weird like Non sequitter verse twenty four At a lodging place on the way, the Lord met him, Moses. and sought to put him to death Then Zippera, Moses wife, took a flint cut off her son's foreskin and touched Moses' feet with it and said, I know, it sounds weird. It does And said, Shirly Listen. You are a bridegroom of blood. to me U so he let him alone And it was then that she said bridegroom of blood because of the circumcision. Now you read that and you're like, what the heck man Take off your shoes and feed and we gott to put blood on the That didn't make it into the Prince of Egypt movie? Didn't make it into Prince of Egypt So you're like, what's happening here? Well, part of what's happening is You're seeing this theme of sinful things have to be redeemed by blood in order to come in contact with things that are holy And remember, what you got right here is this is a Christophanany. This is a pre inccarnate appearance of Jesus. now fast forward nearly sixteen hundred years And Jesus shows up And all of his disciples are with him for that last supper and they're getting ready, you know to see him go to the cross and be crucified And Jesus has spent his entire ministry talking about how do you know I am I'm the bridegroom And you're the bride. And he sits him down at this table. And he's like, you know what I'm gonna do before I go to the cross Hey everybody. Take off your sandals. I need to wash your feet real quick And then Peter pipes up like an idiot And Peter goes, ye, actually Jesus, I got a better idea. He's like, you wash my whole body. And Jesus this is the Josh version. J'us like, shut up, Peter And Jesus essentially goes, Hey, man, what I'm doing here is this is a symbol The water is a symbol that I'm about to touch you with my blood And unless I wash you, you have no part with me So the bridegroom leans down and he grabs their uncovered feet with no sandals And as a symbol of the blood he's about to shed, he touches their feet with a symbol of his blood. And then he goes to the cross. And they all watch him shed his blood. And what I think all of them would have been thinking of is Surely, you are a bridegroom of blood to me. And in that moment, Jesus Christ The bridegroom of Blood. He cleanses our sin so that you and me can stand on holy ground. face to face with God M twve. Dude. I didn't know that. Well, heard that before this week. Me either. The Bible is w. Amazing. Wow. Can I back up a few days though or even months You do your thing.. do your thingul. So there's another place in the Bible where Jesus meets with Moses on a mountain. That's right Oh That was the first time. Do it. This a little place called the Mount of Transfiguration where all of a sudden Jesus is revealed for his divine glory and for who He really is. And it says that two people appear with him, Moses and Elijah. And here's what's interesting. That's why I got distracted for minute when you ask me a question because I was looking it up to get the exact passage. There's this interesting phrase though in the book of Luke. It says that he appears and they're in glory And it says that he is speaking of his departure. this is Jesus speaking of his departure. You know what that word is in Greek Exodus R no way He is speaking of his exus because when he appears with Moses in the Old Testament, he is speaking of the exodus of those people which he was going to have Moses help with Here he's speaking of the exus he's gonna accomplish, but not by having other lambs slaying, but by him slaying his own life so that he can set his people free from s. Wow. Wow. Listen. I got a weird connection. Have you ever seen that YouTube video of Brian Scalabrini, who people used to say was the worst NBA player ever, like absolutely dominating a college basketball player Have you seen it? No. All right Well, Brian Scal just let me do my thing for a second here. So Brian Scalbini, who people used to say was the worst NBA player ever. He got tired of people saying it and he he asked a D one, a good D one basketball player to play in one on one and he beat him like ten to one And when he finished, he said He said, I'm closer to LeBron James than you are to me. Wh And he's right. Yeah. Okaykay. But then he said this. peopleople looked at that and they said, There's levels to this.. Listen, dude, what if you're listening Here's what just happened There's levels to this Bro. When you're reading your Bible, there's levels to this. You can just do the surface thing and then you can get like, bro, go under the surface, the bridegroom of Bood and like seven different connections. and then freaking Chadjin Paulsei, there's levels to this. He's going Greek words on transfiguration Mountain Exodus. Listen, there's levels to this this man. Levels to this All right, now Paul. Yeahah, let's do this. and then I want to talk about high profile intellectuals, the certain attorney God, There's two crazy clips that we're gonna to play real quick So God reveals hisis name in this passage and this becomes like arguably the most significant thing in the rest of in some ways, the entire Bible in one sense. And there's it has like major tance to even how people read their Bible. There's things that people have seen that they don't know that they're seeing that are related to the revelation of God's name. So do your thing. do my thing. We'll get to the differences that people see in their English New Testaments here in just a bit. I want to walk you through first the Hebre. We're going get fancy and going into some of the Hebrew together. I think actually we've got what's often referred to as the tetragramaton. The idea of God appears here and reveals hisis name. So oftentimes there are titles used for God in the Old Testament like Elohim or Adonai, that is what God is. He is God. Adonai means master or Lord. Yahweh is who He is. It's his name. It's his personal description. and it is by far the most used in the Old Testament. overver six thousand times, almost maybe even seven thousand times that this is use more than I believe Elohim and Adonai combined Now, what you often see when you see this in Old Testament manuscripts is right here, if you're seeing this, if you're watching YouTube or seeing the video on Spotify, you're only seeing what are called Hebrew consonants. So this has no vowels. vowels are often represented by people think they look like dots or little marks or stuff like that. We're about to say pastor D. Well I'm just going point out. So first of all, so Hebrew is the only C I ever got It's a larest you ever got I got to see and it was doctor Dubas. Man shout out, Dctor Dubas, He crushed me. So two things about Hebrew, no vowels. and it runs right to left, not left to right Exactly. And so even when I say in a second, I'm going to read the Hebrew rightit to left actually English left to right. Isn't it wrong?n At the bottom, it goes Y H W H that'sly what I was saying So the Hebrew is right to left, but then the English is left right. So the reason they call it the tetra Grammaton is because tetraon means four, which iss a Greek word meaning for grrammatas is letters. So it's four letters. So in Hebrew is yode he Vav would be the modern pronunciation, although in Old Testament would be wa and hey, so ya or yad? Wa he. And so you only appear the constants. In fact, I think I've got some stuff from what's called the Dead Sea Scrolls. These were found in the nineteen hundreds and I don't right D somewhere between three hundred and one hundred BCE so very old. And what you would see if you really kind of look closely is again, there's no vowels in this. the letters that are highlighted are actually Yahweh and a very Ancient Hebrew script. Yeah I've never seen that. So when people were writing it, even when they would get not all the Dad Sea scrows, but some of them when they would get to his name, they would try to preserve as close to the original as they could because this was a sacred name that they wanted to preserve as much as possible. Then if you fast forward, we have what's called the Leningrad codex. Over time you have group of people. I know about It's a great reading on a Wednesday night for That's what it reads before going to bed every. It is. whyles better than me. And by the way, I'm building up to like why do we why do we pronounce it yah, Yahway? How do we notice that? We're getting there. Just follow me for a little minute. We'll build this system a atad of time This is from the year of ten thirteen. It's the oldest complete Hebrew manuscript we had. There's this group of people called the Mazerites. And what they did is that the pronunciation of the words were maintained by tradition, by an or tradition. They actually went through and to help people pronounce and help people read it would go through and they put all the vowels in. So have you ever heard something called the Mazaretic text This is the Hebrews that vows in. I'm actually gonna have It originated when U the Hebrew this one is from ten thirteen, It's within a few hundred doars. So yeah. So if you're ever, you know, I don't know this is like super nerdy stuff, but if you' ever seeen Hebrew writing And it has little dots underneath it Those dots are the vowels that they tried to put in like two thousand years after the language is actually spoken. Exactly. And so actually, I think we've got a second picture that's gonna zoom in ' this right here is actually showing Yahweh or Y H W H with those vowels in there So here is how we came to the belief and most scholars would hold to this that this is pronounced Yahweh. because again, we don't have the original vowels and it was a sacred name. So even scribes would not often say this name at all. They When they write it, they would wash themselves afterwards or they would use a fresh pen. And this is really connected to the idea in the Ten commommandments it says, do not take the Lord's name in vain We often think of that as don't say GD or say OMG or anything like that. For them, it was the idea of don't take God's name lightly. So to preserve that commandment, they said we shouldn't even pronounce it. So here's they literally wouldn't even say it. They wouldn't say it. And I'll to in a minute what they would say in its place or what they would write in its place because it's really important to know. So how do we know it's pronounced Yahweh? So early Greek Writers would often give us hints of, hey, here's how they would say. So early Christian writers would really help us understand that the E that we pronounce would be the pronunciation at the end In Hebrew grammar, the word Yahweh originates from the word Hya, which simply means to be. So even when So I think we I was joking. Can we put it up? this is probably a little too much. but if we go to exodus three, fourteenth or fifteen, now the other one. Exodus three fourteenth or fifteen. So this is where and God said to Moses, it says, A here Asher Ha, I am that I am. And then you see Yahweh beneath it. So you can see they're very close to each other. So the word Yahweh literally just comes from the verb I am. And so that's a little bit of how we would know that first person is pronounced Yah. Also think about some of the names or words and scriptures, hallelu. Yah phrase Yahweh or Isai Jeremiah Yah. Their last part of their name would have been Yahgot. So this is a little bit basically pol dghter of how we know it is Yah Y way. Okay, so then where do you get things like, for example, over time you have things like Jehovah? It important. This is really important. A lot of people have no idea what the word Jehovah is. Yeah. And it's actually really interesting because when the Mazeries put in the vowels, they still wanted to preserve and to protect the sacred name Yahweh and keep it sacred. So they put in other vows specifically from the word Adoni, which means Lord. So they took the vowels from Adonai Put it to Y H W H and basically you got Y yoa Or if you then put that into Germanic language, Y became J and W became V. so you get Jehoah B. And so Jehovah is a little bit of a made up word that basically happened where you take the vowels that the Mazareites put into the name Yahweh. you change the language a little bit and you get Jehovah. But that's not the original pronunciation of the word. So the word Jeah like technically The word Jehovah is not in your Bible. It's not in the Bible because all it is is's the consonants of Yahweh. Exactly with the vowels from another word that they just sort of made up because they had such a reverence. They want the name of God, they didn't even want to say it. So Eactly. Let's say this word that's kind of like it. Exactly. But that is not it Because we want to treat God's name as holy. And by the way, Jewish people often do still do this today' instead of saying Yahweh, they'll say Adenai, or they'll say Hashem. That's where the vowels come from, right? Exactly. That's the v That's where those vowels come from and everything like that. Okay, so some things thatll help you as you're reading your Bible and translate like the translation help you understand a few deep cuts here. numberumber one, a cool little thing that connects to Jesus is that when they translated the Hebrew Testament into Greek, whenever they got to Yahweh they would translate it as curios. What Cos What? or Lord? in the Latin vulgate? No, in the Greek. In the Greek in the Greek, they would translateated it as curiious. because againreek curios is the Greek word for Lord Lord. Exactly. they were translated. So they didn't translate the name. No, they didn't. So you see because this is going somewhere even why it's in our English translations the way it is.ctually I'll go ahead and jump through. So like if you're reading if I'm reading Exodus three and I'm any place where I get to Yahweh's name, for example, it says the Lord the God of your fathers, that Lord, if you look closely is in all capital letters. And this really comes from the idea of, hey, when they put it into Greek, they made it curios, which means Lord. And so today to mark out where we see, it's in all caps, that means Yahweh, is simply when we read Lord, that's what it means If you see Lord in the lower cl case in the Old Testament, that's the word Adoni. So if you're reading your Old Testament and you see Lord in all capps, that literally just means it in the Hebrew, it's saying Yahwh If it's in lower capps, it simply means Adonah, which is basically just a term of lord or master. Wh was I? Oh, Well, here's what's interesting about that. In the Old Testament, when they translate it into Greek, they use the word curios, which means Lord Besides Messiah Any guesses of what one of Jesus's main titles is used to describe him in the New Testament. L Lord, but specifically Curios Yeah Wow. Not a coincidence. that they take the name that in Greek was over and over again used to designate Yahweh. And then when they're getting to the New Testament, anyime they want to call Jesus Lord, they use the word curios. Wh who did that translation? Oh, that was, I mean, you get to the early church I mean, the earlyurch Okay under early sorry So I mixed up a little thing. So no So like the gospel writers and the apostle Paul all them. Oh yeah, they used the word curios. Sorry, I got a little mixed up. I thought we were going back to going into situagent and some of that stuff So like the New Testament biblical authors, you're saying they did this. They did that. Yeah yeah. sor I up. I don't think I've ever heard that before. Oh yeah, this is one of the fun part. So this is when you mentioned earlier like, oh, like Jesus never referred to his God. We've talked about this before, but literally like If Jesus did only things God could do, he knew only God could know, and he said the things only God could say, well, if it looks like a duck wals like a gog and wacks like a duck, it's a duckuck. Same thing is the early writers knew exactly what they were doing. They used the titles that were only used of Yahweh in the Oldestament. So again, sorry I got a little mixed up there. I thought we were about to go intoit mode So yeah, so Jesus one of his biggest titles is Curios, which is the word they would have used for Yahweh In the Old Testament. Yeah. So that's just kind of little bit of a deep up. anythingything you want to me to double click on. I know I went through a lot in a just real quick. about I don't know if you want to do this. so the question I think a lot of people have is, okay, why did God reveal himself as I am that I am? Yeah. You want to talk there's a few different directions you go. A you gonna to go a Siity? You could talk a Siity. Let me do one and then you add on me do one that you add on Yeah. And then I'm gonna do one that's like a little speculative. I'm gonna to do the b thing. I' do one that's little speculative, and we can do it So number one It's really interesting. if you look at all the names the Old Testament, when other people give their names. So here's the quest we're anwering. Why does God reveal Hself as I am who I am Okay, Well here here's In all the other names in the Old Testament, you'll notice theirir names are always given in reference to something else. That's right. Okay, so I'm Joshua, son of none I'm Moses, the son of, you know, whoever or, you know that sort of, or they'll be in reference to a geography. Oh, this was this person who was from here or this. So all their names Jesus Jesus of Nazareth And that's a bad one because he is That's right. That's right So they're all be names. And oh, the way that you know who I am is in reference to something else One of the things that God is doing is going, Hey, man I am not in reference to anything else Everything else is in reference to me. Eactly. Well, and even think of the context because he says, Hey, when I go back and tell them who which God is this, what am I to tell them? He's going back into Egypt, which is a polytheistic pl which is a bunch of gods, but usually attied to something specifically raw, the God of the sun. And then even many people would say that each of the plagues is an attack on a specific god of Egypt. basically God's systematically saying, hey I own this joint. I'm the one in control. He's on everybody. He's dunking on everybody. He could have wiped him out in one plague. He did tend to systematically show that he was God and the false gods of Egypt were not. And so all these gods would have been attached to a specific thing. He's basically saying like, no, I just am. I am the Godd of all. And you mentioned the word of Sadi. It's a fancy word, but let me break it down as simply as I can God doesn't depend on anything else besides Himself to be himself. Yes right And because that he needs nothing, he gets the source of being from nothing. He just is. And because of that, by the way, he can be the source of joy and everything else that we need in life because he doesn't depend upon us. A. He just is who he is. Amen. He's the foundation of all reality. I go to moreore We're leaving a lot out, but I want to be careful not to take people too far the deep end To fun little things on this and then let' let's talk I want to do this Stephen Barlett and it's Andrew Huberman. Yeah. And we're going to I want to ask all also so we'll forgetot about but we'll do a quick. Yeah, that's right. That's right. Let's do this real quick. So one, here's here's an interesting way that gu's name is you. So it's you know, Moses in this passage he's got all the insecurities and he's like Matic' talk And God's like, you know, basically what God does most' like, I can't talk. And God essentially is like Wh whyy can'. That's kind of his Basically the I am is whatever you're not It's It'sa fing g. That's great. So's really interesting is throughout the rest of the entire Bible Yeah, like all those little names that you'll sing in little hymns or whatever and they're like, Jeovah Jah, Jeovah Nesi, Jehovahafa, Jehoah and honestly, I'm like, when everybody says that I'm like, That's real weird. It way. feelselt Jamaican to me. I don't know why it's not, but it feels weird to. But here's all those names for real.'s this is really interesting. So obviously what we just learned Jehovah, that's just another way to say Yahweh. Yeah, That's right.. So what he's saying is I am. I am. Okay. So this is really interesting Throughout Israel's history, whenever there's something they realize they're not that they need, God will reveal H name. as the thing that's going to fill in their gap. Okay. So for instance Jehovah Jyra me essentially means Yahweh, our provider. I am your provider. Okay. So they're like, hey, we don't have enough Lgos I'm Jehovah Jarah You don't have enough? I do. Well. Jehovvenisi, the Lord our banner. it's a war terminology. Hey, we're not powerful enough. Well, I'm Jehovvenisi. I am Hey, Jehovah Rapa, the Lord I healer. We can'tal ourself. I'm Jehovah Rapfa. I can. And all throughout the Bible, what he's doing is he's going, whatever you're not I am and' he's essentially going on, I'm the gap filler. Whatever you know, I got that. That's one. Now here's another one. Now this is goes back to I think some Jewish rabbis It sounds a little speculative, but I know people have been talking about it for centuries. People have pointed it out before, this is a little weird, man. It's a little mysterious. The way that you pronounce Yahweh, that some of the ways that people would vocalize it, particularly in ancient cultures It sounds like inhaling and exhaling So like just realre close. It's like Yeah Yeah. Way Part of what God might be signaling is from the very beginning in Genesis is that he knelt down and he breathed the breath of life into them. If that is true, now want you think about it Every single person who is ever born The first word they ever speak Yeah And then the very last thing that they say when they breathe their last Yeah B breath of life Yeah There may be some to do that. Oh I think there is. Well, and it's one quick thing it's just to me it's always been encouraging me when I've been discouraged my call. Can, can I throw up the exxodus three, seven through ten? It's really interesting. you talk about how we get discouraged and even Moses was. What's interesting, if you actually go to the calling of Moses, I highlighted in yellow all the places where it talks about God or hisis actions and the two little small places where he says, now it's a Moses You that you may bring my people, sons out of Egypt. And so he puts the emphasis not on Moses and who He is and what He has to do, but on who God is and what He is going to do. And even a little interesting fact, the next chapter, Moses like, but I have the stutter and it's interesting. God you know in our most very English translations it says, I will teach you what to speak. And the Hebrew literally says, I will be with your m And so it uses God's name and says, I am with your mouth. Be again the emphasis and time anyt time you're discouraged and' calling or the difference you can make, just remind yourself that what God wants to do is not dependent upon who you and you are, but on who God and who God is and what He wants to do. We've done a lot of theology and you know, if somebody's asking you right now, man, what is there's a lot of like Hebrew and I don't know what this s with me People need to understand too that this whole story, it is literally like your life and how Jesus saves you. There's so many levels to this. Pastor Josh like literally the whole story of Moses he just screams the gospel. Jesus is everywhere. Like we said, like if you think about it, real quick before we ask the following question, the people of Israel were in bondage to Egypt under the rule of Phaoh. Egypt represents the slavery of sin and Pharaoh is Satan before Christ. That's literally our story we are all slaves to sin under the rule of Satan. In Exodus three, God says, I have seen and hurt my people, so I have come down from heaven to rescue them. Jesus literally says in John chapter six, I have come down from heaven to seek and save the lost. The final plague of the firstborn, the death of the firstborn, there's a curse and a death that is the people are passing over the people that are covered in the blood of the lamb and then they were set free. Jesus, the Bible says is the firstborn of all creation. He takes that curse and that death upon himself and those that are covered in hisis blood are now in himim. We are set free because of that The people of Israel, so that's salvation. The people of Israel were set free and then immediately they went through the waters of the Red Sea, leaving their old life behind and coming out a new life and a new identity. that's called baptism. After you and I are saved, we go through the waters of baptism, we leave our old life behind and we have a new identity in Christ. The people of Israel were spent forty years in the wilderness, forty in the Bible is the number of testing and preparation. That's called sanctification in life of ist And finally, interestingly enough, Moses, who gave us the law, led God's people to the edge of the promisise line, but he did not go in. Instead, he points to another leader named Joshua So God's people could actually finally enter the promised land. Joshua in Hebrew is the same name as Jesus Yeshua, which literally means Yahweh is salvation. So here we see Moses literally pointing us towards Yeshua For us to be able to enter the promised land, our promised land ultimately is not a place that is a person. His name is Jesus, Jesus who said, I promise you. I will be with you. and I will never leave you and I will never forsake you. I will always be with you forever. So again, this is literally your story where Israel failed, Jesus succeeded with the law exposed, Christ fulfilled and whom sin enslave, Jesus sets free The whole story is about Jesus saving sinners like you and me There's levels to this. There's levels to this. Hey, my question real quick as we're gonna move on here is so great, that was Moses. What about me? How do I figure out God's will for my life Hey, before we get back to the episode, I want to tell you about something coming up at Lake Point that we're really excited about this summer. we're hosting at The Movies, a four week sermon series where we'll use movie clips and stories to illustrate powerful biblical truths. It's one of the most fun and creative experiences we do all year here at Lake Point and it's designed for the entire family. And so every weekend at our physical locations, we'll feature a unique movie themed experiences fun characters in the loby for both ks and adults, incredible worship and practical teaching from the Word of God, and of course, popcorn and drinks for everyone. So whether you are here, maybe you're a longtime churchger, someone who's been away from church for a while, or maybe you're looking for an easy way to invite a friend, neighbor, or coworker to church, this right here is the perfect series for you. At the movies is an in person only event and begins july eleventh and continues through August one and two. And so if you're in the Dallas area, we'd love for you to join us at one of our campuses. You can find service times, locations and more information by texting the word ATM to twoo four one one. Now, let's get back to the conversation. Yeah, crazy nuggets. That's honestly what I think this passage is pract most helpful for is what the Bible says is that God created us in advance. He created good works in advance for us to accomplish. That's what the New Testament says So somehow in some way, every single person got ever created. there are good works that he preordained and designed for you to accomplish with your life Honestly man, that's why I think this passage does is the best way to do it, I did a little VIM diagram and this is the best way to think about it is this if you look at this passage, it's like a Venn diagram of what is at the intersection of ability, affinity, and opportunity. Say that one more time. Yeah. Ability, affinity, opportunity. All. So let me explain it's like ability is if you ask the question, watch what happens with Moses here? How does Moses figure out what he's supposed to do? okay? Aility What am I good at? Yep. What other people say that I'm good a better way is what other people say that I'm good at? because a lot of people think they're good at something not good at something. It' like heads up, just by the way, that's why you need people's eyes on your life because like your whole life is the first two episodes of American Idol every season where you think you're awesome and nobody ever loves you enough to tell that you weren't awesome about that thing. And it's like the people who, they think they got the spiritual gift singing. but nobody ever seems to have the spiritual gift of listening to him. It's like, okay, man. So you need to ask, what do other people say that I'm good at? Well, look at Moses' life It is not a coincidence. He spent forty years in Pharaoh's Ct learning how to at the executive level, how to lead a nation. So think about the skills they got downloaded into Moses in those forty years Well God put him in a position so that he'd be able to someday lead two to three million Israelites out of. You see what I'm doing there? Okay, so ability What am I good at? Like what skills do I have, okay Affinity is ask this question. It's a little counterintuitive. Not just like what's my heart sort of vibrate to ask this question. What can you not stand? H And here's like, when you see this in Moses life In I think it's Exodus one. the first time we ever see Moses as an adult, he commits mur he kills a guy. He murders a guy. Why because he saw an Egyptian taskmaster beating a Hebrew slave And he just could not stand to see the injustice of the slavery. He's like, I can't literally I can't I can't say, make me kill somebody Well, ask your don't start killing people, but ask the question like what is it that when you see it? you're like, bro, I literally cannot even watch. Like I'll be honest. ks you. It kills me. kills me. I'll be honest, dude. So like All the best student minisry volunteers are all the best Kismarary or volnteers, you know who they are There are people who when they see kids who don't got spiritual fathers and mothers., it's just like something just wants to snap inside of ' them. They're like, they gotta have this orr there are people who like, I didn't have that and I know what happened. and it just grates on me And it hey, man, if you walk past the kids minisry room and the thought of those kids growing up without a spiritual dad or a spiritual mom, like you just I just can't stand it. That's pride part of your calling. That's good. Like for me, man. Honestly, when I hear a bad sermon, it's like I can't do it Like literally I'll just turn it off. I just go on Facebook and you criticize it. No, I do not. No, I do not. I just I literally I cannot listen to a just it does something so emotionally eviscerating in me, I'll just turn it off. Gan I ask you this, Pastor ask because I'm sure people are curious. Was that always the case Is that was what your thing was very, very early Very, very You always had a thing for preaching Very, very, very early. likeike and we don't need to get into this, but like I don't know this sounds weird. It's just what God did in my life. I'm a third generation pastor. and for some reason, dude, when I was I think I was like thirteen. I had a really gifted communicator that was my childhood pastor And my parents will get the little tapes Carlis the tape was this thing. No I know that. My parents would get the sermon tapes. The round things, right? That this what the tape was They were a buck of piece. They were a buck of piece. My parents would get the sermon tapes. And from the time I was thirteen to the time I graduated from high school, every night, I fell asleep listening to one of those tapes. That's how I fell asleep every single night. You had a tape recorder with you? No, I had No, I had a tape player. Oh t stop man. Stop man. We don't have time for this. And literally every night I had like thirty of those tapes of like his best of sermons. And from the time I was thirteen, time I was eighteen, that's how I fell asleep And it's just, I don't know, man, I just It just I can't listen to b. So the second question is affinity Yeah What is it like I'm drawn to? what drives me nuts? And the last one is opportunity And the question you ask there is, what's the open door or what's the greatest need? So notice this, bro, this is fascinating Because of Moses being raised in Pharaoh's court Two things He's probably he might be out of two to three million Hebrews, the only one that's bilingual Number two, he almost certainly was out of three million Hebrews, the only one who had access to the palace of Pharaoh Hm He was the only guy who had that opportunity. So you need to start asking yourself the question What the apostle Paul says in the New Testament, for a wide door of effective service has been open to me You need to ask the question, what's the thing thiss the door that open to me? or you might ask it like this. Walk through your church and ask the question, Wh's the greatest need?. Because that was the other thing. Where's the greatest need? And I'll just tell you right now it's kids ministry. I don't care what yours you're. I don't care what yours you're in. It's like you need somebody be spiritual mamas and spiritual daddies to all those kids they always wear his hats Those are the three. and then once you sit down and like literally, I'd encourage you to do it. sit down, draw a little ven diagram, threecent little circles that overlap. Okay, affinity, ability, opportunity. and whatever is the one spot in your life where all three intersects, boom, there's your calling ' so good. abbility, affinity, opportunity. That's really good Now I was just going to give some advice to probably more of our younger people because you may be not even you may not even know yet what your abilities and affinities are. So I would actually nothing else, lean into those opportunities because you asked Pastor Josh earlier, like, did he know from an early age? We probably didn't know until we actually started preaching and was listening to preaching. That's. And so the same thing I'd say, if you're on the younger end, if you're you know, man, middle school, high school, college, young adult Try some different things, see what it seems like God has his hand on and both you have a knack for, you have an ability for and an affinity for, and then lean into that. That was going to be more for some of our younger people that you actually might need to just try to get some opportunities to help learn what those other twoes. Just get reps and figure out which pitches you can hit. You just gott to do it. You gott to do a whole bunch reps doing a whole bunch of things, figure out which pitches you hit Last thing I'll say because you know, we obsess over the what and then we forget about the who has called you. Right. I think before you're called to an assignment, you are called to a person. Even when you look at the gospels, Mark chapter three, verse thirteen fourteen, it says, I'm just going to read it. And Jesus went up the mountain and called to him those whom he desired and they came to him, and he appointed twelve whom He also named apostles, so that they might be with him and he might send them out to preach. So the being with him comes before sending him out to preach. What happens often is we obsess over that what God has called us to do and we oftentimes disregard the who God has called us to be with. And so ultimately, again, if you're young, trying to figure out run towards Jesus, makeake sure you obsess over how do you get to know Jesus more? How do we pray more? how do you get fall in love with H more? And ultimately, you will get more clarity about the what? Before we shift gears to have a conversation on the air warar pastor Js, we cannot continue right now before taking a moment this week is your birthday. N Jer N jer. And so because before an h I know, I know. But this is important for No we're just gonna take a second to, first of all, man, happappy birthday. Happy birthday. And before your birthday, we created a song for you that I'm gonna to play. It's a very short song. You gotta be specialized for you. Here it is, I'm going to make sure we get it right. y birthday Pastor J Wait hold on, hold on. everyvery I'm I'm glad I'm glad it didn't play. that one This is Pidence. This is to do a blluetooth on something? I hope I did not give you the opportunity. Okay, hold on course Oh my gosh. This is classic Happy birthday, pastor Jh What is wrong with you The lyrics are intentional He walks on stage with the Gzle big. F words out. Let's kick this you can ji We got five ses for that. There's some my shout. Bro little Remberget to check out li We sa one second in the presence of God can change everything. That's your life bro. hard We're a kite God in a Why Why? Now let's kick this. music k. Thank for the spiritually enriching. eighty fifty seconds. Aabyiess baby, but. Hey, man. honestly. Hey, honestly, we mess around here a lot. Happy birthday. Happyirthday.. You are a great pastor, great friend, husband, father. We honor you for that. Yes. Thank you, Matt. And now, let's now. All right, let's finish talking about this I to let me c this Okay. I wantanna finish about this. So first of all Triny, we toss our graph up? I think what you're starting to see, bro, I keep saying this over and over again If you're looking at things in our culture right now, the tide is turning. I want to let that sit The tightest something is happening that I have not seen in my lifetime that is now forty three years. There's something I haveve not seen. Okay. now. You want to say, this is Galluop So what you're seeing right here, Americans who say religion is quote, very important in their own lives. Now some trends that are not awesome. You see some things that are not awesome. A lot of those lines are down and to the right. All right. now. Look at that green line. There is something that is happening right now among men, especially young men. and you're seeing a massive jump. It went from in like a two to three years twenty eight percent to forty two percent. That'sordingity I just want to say it again, twenty eight to forty two percent are jumping from religion not super important to religion super important. And in America, the vast majority of the, like vast vast majority is Christians. Something is happening. something there's a sea change happening underneath the surface. with men in particular young men. Now This is a whole different podcast and you know don't get mad at me on the internet before I get a chance to explain everything Usually what happens the way that God has designed the world is things will happen in a man or man before they happen to the rest of society. That's just how God's made the world. You can call that whatever you want, toxic, whatever. That's just how God made the world I'm hopeful about that. Now what's interesting to me, I'm getting ready to show this to you, You're starting to see stats. start to trickle up into like pop culture and above the surface where now you're starting to see the stats become stories. So while I was I watched these while I was working out on vacation with Janna, the best vacation I' ever taken There were two dudes that like very high profile podcasters. Both said something really interesting. So this first clip I'm gonna show on back to backat real fast and we shuts this thing down. F first one is a guy named Andrew Hubberan, right am I pronounced that right? Hubberan'm Janna listenens to him, I never listen to him ' because he's he guy right he is a neuroscientist. Yeah, All right, That's not my thing. So do listen to the next guy but he's apparently like pretty pretty big. He's got a big podcast, yes. Okay. So explain real quick who these guys is before I do this. Yeah, so the first cl if we're going to watch the Andrew Hubberman, he's Hubberman Hberan, Hubberman. Yeah, you How is Jason Hubberman? you go. Thankk you, Jason. Neuroscience is a professor of neurobiology at Stanford School of Medine. So so he's got his own podcast, cl we're about to watch right now. He's in a different podcast. It's called Modern Wisdom hosted by Chris Williamson. and this is a podcast basically on self improvement philosophy and psychology. Okay. Now what youre getting ready to see here is while he was on vacation, he essentially, if I understand correctly likeike had his coming out. as a person of faith Moving towards Christianity. All right. Now check this out. I want to explain a couple of things here, but check this out. and Triny, I'm going to have you stop it at a certain point And and and you know, it's my You know, I love teaching science. I love learning and teaching science. I hope that's obvious to people. I Um But it's my one wish for people that at some point in their life, they at least explore the possibility And and get morning sunlight, but the it's known for that. Well you open to faith and get morning sunlight.. I just hit fifty recently and and I will say u If I look back on my life Sure I wish I had done certain things differently. I mean, who doesn't, right? This notion of like no regrets,, Yeahah, I wish I had made certain decisions, not others By and large, I'm very, very happy with the decisions I made B and large And I was happy to discover resistance training and running and neuroscience and you know cuttlefish and ferrets. I had a pet ferret. and I don't recommend. Bulldogs. And I had an amazing relationship to family and friends. and I'm very blessed in my personal life. and my romantic life is feeling awesome these days. And it's just like it's overwhelmingly positive despite a lot of strain and hardship. But the one thing that I wish that I had done earlier was to stop resisting the voice in my head that said, you know, I think there's a God and I'm going to pray. I kept pushing that away. It was like incompatible with my notion of what it meant to be a scientist. It was just incompatible with things. I just kept pushing down and ye at the same time wishing. Okay, first of all, now I'm but first of all, he spent his whole life doing this thing, Hey man, it feels like faith is incompatible with science and being a scientist Now first of all, you're seeing a bunch of this. Ian Hersey Ali. there's a bunch of different scientists and intellectuals you're seeing the same trend in. I just want to point this out So you' you're not old enough for this, Carlos, but I'm going be forty three for a second here. Okay. When I was growing up That was like the dominant narrative. Yeah is hey man, like science and faith completely incompatible One of the things that's driving what you're seeing right now is the exact opposite is starting to like it's leading in different conclusions. So if you go back, Wall Street Journal publishes article I think was Eric Mataxis a few years ago The title of the article was just science increasingly makes the case for God. When I was growing up There was like a much more limited level of awareness The people felt like it led it in one way. Now it's the opposite for a few reasons. One, you're seeing guys like this. You got issues like fine tuning of the universe. That's the whole deal of, you know, astrophysicists now No, like it's just the hey, the force of gravity, strong and weak nuclear forces, electromagnetic force. L people understand if any of those little physics things Infinitismal fraction different a universe couldn't exist. Yeah. Interesting little side note, somebody asked Christopher Hitchens before he died What's the thing that's the strongest argument that you don't know what to do with And he was he said, hey Fine tuning universe keeps me up at night. Wow It keeps me. So you get that. you got complexity of life. It's just like, hey dude, you know, sixty years ago People thought cells were just sort of amorphous blobs Well's like, Broke, now they know like there's like a complex human city inside of every one of yourself's protein delivery mechanisms. There's a human language written into the double helix inside of every DNA strand in your body that's more complex. than a computer programming language. L so guys like this, they're starting to get their heads around this stuff. What they're here's boil it all down. Here's why I think some intellectuals are starting to kind of go like, Hey, man, as opposed to atheism agnosticism I've got a problem to deal with Guys like that are starting to realize, man, an atheist has to believe in at least six miracles. They got to believe in something from nothing Order from Chaos Life from non life personal from the non personal Reason from non reason and morality for matter. And for guys like this, it's becoming really difficult to believe that everything and everyone came from nothing and no one You're seeing this now, but watch what he says happened to him. When he starts moving towards Jesus, check this out, Lgeway sessing for it And recently on my fiftieth birthday, I had to give an uncomfortable toast because believe it or not, I'm somewhat introverted, especially in large groups. I'm happy to talk science and talk like this with you, but And I and I said it then and I'll say it again now. like I'm fifty and for the first time in my life in my entire life,isten I've experienced sustained Tim of real deep peace while, like just peace Like just the like everything's okay. Everything is as it should be, not just some little mantra that you say when you're on the big Sir Cast. I dude. Now notice that, note that where I'm coming back to it He says, first on my life, I'm experiencing real sustained peace. So I'll just toss this out Staint Augustine said this in his confessions He said, You have made us for yourself, O Lord and our heart is restless until it rests in you Now what you got right there is you got a scientist who's like been all up here. I gott to understand, I got to understand it I gott understand. He's got peace What he's saying right there where he's literally saying, I canan't quite explain it. Yeah I got this peieace that surpasses understanding. That sounds little familiar. By the way, in order to give a pieace that surpasses understanding. You have to give up your right to understand. And you got this guy that's going, Hey man, if God's the size of the Pacific Ocean and my mind's the size of Coke canan Prob gonna be some things that don't fit. Yeah. But man, when I get up in there There's some peace I've never had before. Now, all right, so I see that clip The next day I'm working out in the little workout gym And I run across this. Now which this is my favorite one of the two What you're getting ready to see is a guy named John Lenox. So he's in this clip you're getting ready to see. he's like the eighty year old White dude John Lennox is the professor of mathematics at Oxford, who by the way, fun fact Before C.S. Lewis died, he gave a series of lectures about his Christian faith at Oxford John Lennox is just old enough to have attended those lectures So John Lennox, professor of mathematics at Oxford is a Christian man. Yeah He's on Stehven Bartlet's podcast. I know you love E exxplain you, Stephven Bartlet is rep. Yeah. Diar of CEO, one of the most popular podcasts for interview format. and Steven's just a great interviewer, my favorite. killer. Other than the Lrereey podcast, that's my podcast.. And his pod is huge.. likeike it's absolutely enormous. Okay. Diary of a CEO. Now this one I'm not going interrupt it even once. I'm just going to let this clip play to let the force of it fall on you. All right. So he does, I listen to the whole thing. He does like a two hour interview with John Lenox about faith. Bartlet's not a Christian Lenox is a Christian At the very end of the interview, this happens In a world with so many challenges What can we do to restore hope and trigger engagement a real basis for hope transcends this world The only place I know where to find that. is in Christ and in Christianity John, thank you. one of one of the most compelling arguments for a God. presented and your way of seeing the world and being. It's not actually necessarily anything you've written in your books or not necessarily anything you've said. it is actually D And uh you you a certain Peace. and contentment that I raly see in people that I interview But I often see and I've almost always seen Christans that I've interviewed. And this is an interesting phenomenon for me I interviewed Wesley Huff recently. Do you know Wesley Huff? Yes Yeah It was the sameian. Yeah. Wesley's a bright cookie. Yeah. He was very much he gave me the same feeling as she was just feels like a really happy person f sort of content rounded well, there aren't many of us Yeah. But it seems to be a trend that, you know a lot of the Christian apologists that I've interviewed have that anchoring that Yeah, so many of us are looking for. There's a real sense of that You know, I sit in front of many people and of course they often ask me questions. I don't even understand. but in life, that peace is very important me and also what We started with When I look at you I see someone who's of infinite value made in the image of God. And so what I say to you or think about you is hugely important. to me. And I wish you well What you just saw is the reality that there are five gospels There's not four There's Matthew, Mark. John and you. And if you watch the interviewe, it is fascinating. You got this guy. owering intellect, prorofessor Emeritus of mathematics at Oxford University. You watch the interview, multiple times in the interview, Bartlett asked him a question and he literally says don't know Literally I don't know. That's tough. I don't know. Listen He didn't have all the answers He had something far better peace that surpasses understanding And what everybody needs to understand when they watch stuff like that Is it the only way to get real lasting peace is to know Prince of Pace himself And that is what those guys are responding to. And so what we got to do is watch stuff like that and honestly, we just have to go. Let your light So shine before men that they may see your good. and I'm going to say spirit and glorify your Father who is in heaven. That's what you're seeing. Hey man man. Now, Bter Josh would you pray for?' be honor. Father, would you please make every single person sitting at this table in this room and listening to this podcast That type of man or that type of woman Jesus Christ, I pray that you would be the prince of peace and the presence of peace. to everybody that knows you and draws near And Father, I pray that you would, that you would send us out like light in the darkness, like your word says as sheep among wolves, but that everywhere we go We would simply be people who know you and love you and enjoy you and we just let people see that we know you and we love you and enjoy you. And our life just naturally says comeome play Father, I pray for anybody that's listen to this that they don't know you yet. they would bend their knee to Jesus Christ, the prrince of peace and know that piece that we want them to know. And I pray those things in the name of Jesus Christ himimself risen from the dead A man Amen. Amen They're free, brother They're free