Name of God in Judaism
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7 episodes with el elyon
8 episodes with el elyon
8 episodes with el elyon
4 episodes with el elyon
4 episodes with el elyon
4 episodes with el elyon
4 episodes with el elyon
3 episodes with el elyon
3 episodes with el elyon
Message from Kyle Burkholder on May 4, 2025
Curso Tefila #63 Shmone Esre - El Elyon (Me va como Dios quiere que me vaya ) 10 Consejos by Suri Cattan
TO KNOW ABOUT GOD BY HIS NAME (EPHESIANS 4:6) Today, I want to spend the entire message talking about God. I just happen to believe that God is the biggest subject that we can talk about, at any time, as we study the Word of God. And the amazing thing to consider is that there is so much in the Bible about God, that to talk about God for 45 minutes today would be like trying to bail out an ocean with a teacup. We will only scratch the surface. But there are some things that we can know about God, and we can know God without knowing everything about God. You also don't have to know all that the Heavenly Father does when He administrates the universe in order to know God. And so, we can find out some things about God by objective observation, but we can really only know the heart of God, the goodness of God, by revelation. And how do we know the goodness of God? And what kind of a revelation has God given of Himself? Certainly, the Bible is the most complete way that God has revealed Himself to us. But, did you know that one of the greatest revelations that God has given of Himself are the names of God. The Bible says, in (Psalm 9:10) “And they that know thy name shall put their trust in thee …” This tells us that to know the names of God is a great thing. So, today, I'm going to give you the names of God. Now, not all of the names of God, but I have selected some of them. Click on the play button to hear a message on how God reveals Himself to us by His names. He is the God of strength, “Elohim.” He is the God of sovereignty, “Jehovah.” He is the God of superiority, “Adonai.” He is the God of sufficiency, “El Shaddai.” He is the God of supremacy, “El Elyon.” He is the God of stability, “El Olam.” He is the God of sympathy, “El Roi.” All of these names are wrapped up in one sweet name, Jesus. There is one God and Father who is above all—that is the greatness of God. And through all—that is the goodness of God. And in us all—that is the grace of God. And it is all summed up in one person—and that's Jesus. Now, you'll never know the Father, until you receive the Son. This is a live recording of The Master's Class Bible Study at LifeChange Church Wichita, KS. Amen.
The birth of Isaac was the fulfillment of a 25 years wait for Abraham and Sarah; and yet, this fulfillment of God's promises sets up several other key events in the Bible. So join us as we continue to explore God's Word and how its message fits together and even applies to our lives today! DISCUSSION AND STUDY QUESTIONS: 1. What miracle happens in Genesis 21? Why does this miracle help us understand the message of Genesis 22 when God calls Abraham to offer up Isaac? 2. What were God's promises to Abraham in the preceding chapters and why was the birth of Isaac a necessary step in bringing about the fulfillment of those promises? 3. How was this miracle fulfilled in both Abraham's and Sarah's life? How old were they at the time of Isaac's birth? 4. How long did it take between God's first promises to Abraham back in Genesis 12 and their fulfillment here in chapter 21? How do you think Abraham and Sarah felt during that time? What kinds of things do you think they were telling themselves as they waited for the Lord to fulfill His promises? How might you have been working through such a long delay? 5. Back in Genesis 16, Abraham had a son with Hagar named Ishmael. How was Ishmael's conception different than Isaac's? What importance does that difference have in the identity and role of the children of Israel? 6. What was Sarah's response to Ishmael's mocking in verse 10? What was the impact of her response on Hagar and Ishmael's life? How old did the study suggest that Ishmael was? Why would this be different than Abraham abandoning a child? 7. After Hagar and Ishmael leave Abraham's household, the Lord visits her in her distress. The study explained part of the comfort and encouragement the Lord gave to her was by clarifying what resources and solutions were within her reach. What were they? How can this help us in our own prayers when we cry out to the Lord in our own times of distress? 8. The study mentioned that as people grew in their understanding of God, it changed how they referred to Him. Melchizedek called upon God as “El Elyon” meaning “God most High” in Genesis 14:19. Hagar called upon God as “El Roi” meaning “the God who sees” in Genesis 16:13. Abraham calls upon Him as “El Olam” meaning “The Everlasting God” here in Genesis 21. Which of these names has the most significance to you and why? Check out our Bible Study Guide on the Key Chapters of Genesis! Available on Amazon! To see our dedicated podcast website with access to all our episodes and other resources, visit us at: www.keychapters.org. Find us on all major platforms, or use these direct links: Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/6OqbnDRrfuyHRmkpUSyoHv Itunes: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/366-key-chapters-in-the-bible/id1493571819 YouTube: Key Chapters of the Bible on YouTube. As always, we are grateful to be included in the "Top 100 Bible Podcasts to Follow" from Feedspot.com. Also for regularly being awarded "Podcast of the Day" from PlayerFM. Special thanks to Joseph McDade for providing our theme music.
Ready for Demiurge's accurate LinkedIn profile? Researcher and esotericist Simeon Landström materialises at the Virtual Alexandria to share startling biblical truths. We'll discover that El Elyon is the true cosmocrator, as well as the creator of archons and perhaps even the material Jesus. A fascinating labyrinth will include Melchizedek, the cosmic bull, Satan, and other famous Abrahamic figures and symbols.Stream All Astro Gnosis Conferences for the price of one: https://thegodabovegod.com/replay-sophia/The Gnostic Tarot: https://www.makeplayingcards.com/sell/synkrasisHomepage: https://thegodabovegod.com/ Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/aeonbyteAB Prime: https://thegodabovegod.com/members/subscription-levels/ Virtual Alexandria Academy: https://thegodabovegod.com/virtual-alexandria-academy/Voice Over services: https://thegodabovegod.com/voice-talent/ Support with donation: https://buy.stripe.com/00g16Q8RK8D93mw288Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/aeon-byte-gnostic-radio/donationsAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy
Getting To Know God | Week 1 | Ken Miller--This will be the introductory lesson to the series and is intended to set up the context for all the names of God we will be studying. In this lesson, we will look at three primary names for God: Elohim, El Elyon, and El Shaddai. --Notes
Elohim, El Shaddai, El Elyon, God of Isra-El became Immanu-El by coming to earth over 2000 years ago. Prophesied some 700 years earlier, God through the prophet Isaiah predicted the Messiah’s birth, that God would be with us. Matthew 1 quotes Isaiah’s foretelling in verse 23: “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name ‘Immanuel’ (which means, God with us).” We as God’s people realize that God’s presence is among us now because of the redemptive work Jesus accomplished on the cross. We are grateful that we do not serve a distant god, but a God who is with us and intimately acquainted with all our ways. Isaiah 7:14 “Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.” For Scripture, notes, upcoming events, & more: http://bible.com/events/49357682
Have you ever heard of Melchizedek, the mysterious priest-king who initiated Abraham? And did you know that he and Abraham are both described as worshiping NOT Yahweh, but a different god called El Elyon? “In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king.” We live in strange times, where mythology is actually history, where instead of teaching history, we obfuscate it, history is written by the victors as they say. If it can be destroyed by the truth, it deserves to be destroyed. Join me around the digital campfire as we explore the cosmos, and uncover hidden gnosis. LINKS YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/LibraryofGnosis/ Odyssey: https://odysee.com/@Library_of_Gnosis:e Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Library-of-Gnosis-102241851413980/ Bitchute: https://www.bitchute.com/channel/mvPf2ntAUShO/ Rumble: https://rumble.com/c/c-1387156 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5Nr8DYq9PhhcIzEaMQcquB?si=FsNuxvo9TsqxXwu-Ge32fg Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/library-of-gnosis/id1608143632 Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/Libraryofgnosis Paypal: https://paypal.me/LibraryofGnosis?country.x=SE&locale.x=sv_SE
Today's Passage: Genesis 14:17-22 17 After his return from the defeat of Chedorlaomer and the kings who were with him, the king of Sodom went out to meet him at the Valley of Shaveh (that is, the King's Valley). 18 And Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine. (He was priest of God Most High.) 19 And he blessed him and said,“Blessed be Abram by God Most High, Possessor of heaven and earth; 20 and blessed be God Most High, who has delivered your enemies into your hand!”And Abram gave him a tenth of everything. 21 And the king of Sodom said to Abram, “Give me the persons, but take the goods for yourself.” 22 But Abram said to the king of Sodom, “I have lifted my hand to the Lord, God Most High, Possessor of heaven and earth…Today's Prayer: El Elyon, God Most High, we praise You today because you are over everything in our lives – friendships, family, homes, work, brokenness, victory, and joy - all of it. We declare that there is nobody like You and we take comfort in knowing that you have positioned Yourself far above all that surrounds us in this world. Father, we recognize that “Faith doesn't deny reality, it leaves room for You to grant a new reality” and so as your children, we're asking You to do that very thing. Thank you for Your goodness over us and Your presence with us. Amen. For more information about this Advent season, visit our Christmas at Fellowship page. There you can find more resources, as well as information about pursuing Christ and celebrating him this season with our church.
Hosts: TOLA Omoniyi, Kanyinsola
Meeting the God of Heaven: EL ELYON
Remember the Goal - Obedience over SacrificeWebsite: http://www.battle4freedom.comNetwork: https://www.mojo50.comStreaming: https://www.rumble.com/Battle4Freedom1 Samuel 15:22"Does Adonai delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as in obeying the voice of Adonai Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, to pay heed than the fat of rams."https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1Sam.15.22&version=TLVhttps://www.imdb.com/title/tt5066818/Remember the Goal movie.https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Genesis%2014&version=TLVGenesis 14Tree of Life Version14 Now it came about in the days of Amraphel king of Shinar, Arioch king of Ellasar, Chedorlaomer king of Elam, and Tidal king of Goiim, 2 that they made war with Bera king of Sodom, Birsha king of Gomorrah, Shinab king of Admah, Shemeber king of Zeboiim, and the king of Bela (this is Zoar). 3 All of these kings joined forces in the Valley of the Siddim (this is the Salt Sea). 4 For 12 years they had served Chedorlaomer, but in the thirteenth year they rebelled. 5 In the fourteenth year Chedorlaomer came with the kings who were with him, and they defeated the Rephaim in Ashterot-karnaim, the Zuzim in Ham, and the Emim in Shaveh-kiryataim, 6 and the Horites in the hill country of Seir as far as El-Paran, which is beside the wilderness. 7 Then they came again to En-mishpat (this is Kadesh), and they subdued all the territory of the Amalekites, as well as the Amorites who live in Hazazon-tamar.8 Then the king of Sodom, the king of Gomorrah, the king of Admah, the king of Zeboiim, and the king of Bela (this is Zoar) went out and lined themselves up for battle with them in the Valley of the Siddim, 9 against Chedorlaomer king of Elam, Tidal king of Goiim, Amraphel king of Shinar, and Arioch king of Ellasar: four kings against five. 10 Now the Valley of the Siddim was full of tar pits, and as the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah fled, they fell into them, and those who remained fled to the hills. 11 So they took all of Sodom and Gomorrah's possessions and their food and left. 12 They also took Lot, Abram's nephew, and his possessions, and they left (as he was living in Sodom).13 Then a survivor came and told Abram the Hebrew, who was dwelling by the large trees belonging to Mamre the Amorite, the brother of Eschol and the brother of Aner—they were Abram's allies. 14 When Abram heard that his kinsman had been taken captive, he rallied his trained men, those born in his household, 318 of them, and went in pursuit as far as Dan. 15 Then he divided his servants against them at night, and he defeated them and pursued them as far as Hovah, which is north of Damascus. 16 He brought back all the possessions, and also brought back his kinsman Lot and his possessions, as well as the women and the other people.17 Now after he returned from defeating Chedorlaomer and the kings who were with him, the king of Sodom went out to meet him in the Valley of Shaveh (this is the King's Valley). 18 Then Melchizedek, king of Salem, brought out bread and wine—he was a priest of El Elyon. 19 He blessed him and said,"Blessed be Abram by El Elyon,Creator of heaven and earth,20 and blessed be El Elyon,Who gave over your enemies into your hand."Then Abram gave him a tenth of everything.21 Then the king of Sodom said to Abram, "Give me the people—the possessions take for yourself."22 But Abram said to the king of Sodom, "I raise my hand in oath to Adonai, El Elyon, Creator of heaven and earth. 23 Not a thread or even a sandal strap of all that is yours will I take, so you will not say, 'I've made Abram rich!' 24 I claim nothing but what the young men have eaten, and the share of the men who went with me—Aner, Eschol, and Mamre—let them take their share."
#hebrewisraelites #yahweh #yah Youtube link: https://youtu.be/VOBoQfs10EU Podcast link: https://spotifyanchor-web.app.link/e/rIsVVvFGaMb Join us as we have a biblical CONCEPT conversation about the Hebrew God, Yahweh. Make sure you like, share, and comment on this information. Thanks! RBCF Hashtags: #judaism #jewish #israel #torah #jerusalem #jew #jewishlife #shabbat #jews #christianity #kosher #islam #judaica #shabbatshalom #hebrew #shalom #jewishculture #jewishcommunity #bible #israeli #religion #jewishpride #synagogue #jewishart #love #jewishhistory #god #judaismo #jewishholidays #chabad --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/realblackforum/support
What do you do when you sense you are being hunted, or that some pestilence is coming for you, or you feel terror or impending destruction? There are life situations that can totally wipe out all our strength and resources. Where do you go for protection or shelter? The answer found in Ps. 91 is "El Elyon".
SUMMARY In this sermon, Pastor Aulson emphasizes the importance of inheritance in the Christian life and ministry. He encourages pastors and believers to have an expanding coat of blessings and testimonies demonstrating God's goodness and power. Chapters 00:00 Introduction: The Importance of Inheritance 06:34 Expanding Your Coat of Blessings and Testimonies 12:47 Avoiding the Dangers of Losing Expectancy and Forgetting God's Benefits 27:22 Boldly Asking God for Blessings: The Story of Jabez 43:52 Conclusion: God's Will to Bless and Enlarge Takeaways Inheritance is important in the Christian life and ministry. Believers should have an expanding coat of blessings and testimonies. Losing expectancy and forgetting God's benefits can hinder spiritual growth. Having an accurate perspective of God as a blesser and multiplier is crucial. Boldly asking God for blessings can lead to receiving them. Sound Bites "It is God's will that we absolutely amass an ever expanding storehouse of new and old treasure." "Our father, El Elyon, the most high possessor of the heavens and of the earth, has given us in the Bible 7,000 promises, 7,000 patches with which to weave together a very distinctive coat like Joseph's father did for him." ALL PROCEEDS GO TO WORLD EVANGELISM Find a CFM Church near you: https://cfmmap.org SUBSCRIBE TO PREMIUM: Subscribe for only $2.99/month on Spotify: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/taking-the-land/subscribe Subscribe for only $3/month on Supercast: https://taking-the-land.supercast.com/ Subscribe for only $4.99/month on Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/3vy1s5b Visit our sponsors: ***FEATURED*** Global Passport Express: Mention this ad to get a 10% discount on all services: https://bit.ly/TTL-GPE Pastor Mike Ashcraft's Financial Services: (310) 403-6471 $100 Credit for Text In Church: https://bit.ly/TTL-TIC 10% Discount Off First Order from Advanced Creative Design: advancedcreativedesign23@gmail.com
Episode 152: Let's Discuss the Mitzvots Part 2? This will be Part 2 in a series on the mitzvot that can be done while we are in exile. Do not know what a mitzvot is. The mitzvots are the laws, statues, commandments, and dictates, the Most High, El Elyon, has given his people. Information on First Tabernacle Fellowship can be at found at: www.firsttab
Episode 15: Let's Discuss the Mitzvots Part 1? Let's talk about the mitzvots. This will be Part 1 in a series on the mitzvot that can be done while we are in exile. Do not know what a mitzvot is. The mitzvots are the laws, statues, commandments, and dictates, the Most High, El Elyon, has given his people. Information on First Tabernacle Fellowship can be at found at: www.firsttab
The Old Testament is littered with “OMG Moments” – moments where one of God's names is discovered, or proclaimed, or exclaimed. These moments are meant to do so much more than just provide us with another title for God. Instead, they reveal to us a facet of God's character. And when God's character is rightly understood it can serve as a refuge for the oppressed and a stronghold in times of trouble. So, join us at Faith Covenant Church this summer as we explore together God's names and in doing so experience our own “OMG Moments”.
Neil Powell Daniel 4:1-37 The Names of God June 16, 2024
Episode 150: The Spark Let's explore why most people do not know the name of the Most High, El Elyon, Yahweh. Has there been a reason to suppress the name of the Most High, and if so, to what end. Let's talk about it with Morey Robert B. Holman Jr. and Morey Shawn Appleton. Information on First Tabernacle Fellowship can be at found at: www.firsttab
Each day we'll delve into timeless wisdom and hope by reading the 150 Psalms. Psalms 21-“El Elyon” means Most High God. El Elyon is trustworthy for us to rely. Thanks for tuning into the podcast, I'm glad you're here!
Could Yahweh be a dying-and-rising god? Does Malachi speak to the worship of Asherah in the Jerusalem Temple? Was Yahweh originally an angel who served his father, El Elyon? All these questions and more are raised by the minor prophets who saw the restoration of Judah as a parallel with the restoration of nature and linked it with annual sacrifices.
On Foundations we???re in a series about the different names God uses to reveal Himself to His people. In this program, we???ll be learning about the name El Elyon.Your support sends the gospel to every corner of Australia through broadcast, online and print media: https://www.vision.org.au/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
“O YAHUAH EL SHADDAI of our fathers, Avraham, Yitschaq, and Ya'aqov, and of their righteous seed; who have made heaven and earth, with all the ornament thereof; who have bound the sea by the word of your commandment; who have shut up the deep, and sealed it by your terrible and glorious name; whom all men fear and tremble before your power; for the majesty of your glory cannot be borne; and your angry threatening toward sinners importable: But your merciful promise is unmeasurable and unsearchable; for you are El Elyon, of great compassion, longsuffering, very merciful, and repent of the evils of men. You, O Yahuah, according to your great goodness, have promised repentance and forgiveness to them that have sinned against you: And of your infinite mercies have appointed repentance unto sinners that they might be saved. You therefore, O Yahuah, that are the Elohiym of the just, as to Avraham, and Yitschaq, and Ya'aqov, which have not sinned against you; but you have appointed repentance unto me that am a sinner: For I have sinned above the number of the sands of the sea. My transgressions, O Yahuah, are multiplied: My transgressions are multiplied and I am not worthy to behold to see the height of heaven for the multitude of my Torahless deeds. I am bowed down with many iron bands that I cannot lift up my head, neither have any release: For I have provoked your wrath, and done evil before you: I did not do your will, neither kept I your commandments: I have set up abominations and multiplied offences. Now therefore I bow the knee of my heart, beseeching you of grace. I have sinned, O Yahuah, I have sinned and I acknowledge my Torahless ways: Wherefore I humbly beseech, forgive me, O Yahuah, forgive me, and destroy me not with my iniquities. Be not angry with me forever by reserving evil for me; neither condemn me to the lower parts of the earth. For you are the Elohiym, even the Elohiym of them that repent; and in me you will show all your goodness: for you will save me that am unworthy according to your great mercy. Therefore I will praise you forever all the days of my life: for all the powers of the heavens do praise you, and yours is the glory forever and ever. Amein.”
We're joined by Derek Gilbert, one of the OG's in this space, who has been beating the drum of just how fantastic our Bible truly is, that no other story, fact or fiction, holds a candle to the truth of God's Word! The rest of the world's religions, ancient or current, are merely a fake news version of the True Creator, The Most High God (EL ELYON), and the true narrative of history as contained in the Bible. We talk Nimrod, the tower of Babel, and much much more! Be sure to check out Derek's and his wife Sharon's many works here: Check out Derek's podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/a-view-from-the-bunker/id1620278884 Get the App: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/gilbert-house/id1619776398 Visit his website: https://www.derekpgilbert.com/ And also his and many other's excellent work here: https://www.skywatchtv.com/ Please consider supporting our podcast; for Luke and I to create 4 episodes a month takes an average of 40 hours to research, record, and produce, sometimes more. If you find value in our work and would like to help support us, please choose from the options below. Thanks very much!! -Luke and Pete Paypal: https://www.paypal.me/peteohlinger Cash App: https://cash.app/$PeteOhlinger Venmo: https://venmo.com/u/Pete-Ohlinger Feel free to contact us with any questions or comments for the show! Email us at: thedaysofnoahpodcast@gmail.com We'd love to hear from you! Thanks for listening- we appreciate each and every one of you out there. Don't forget to like, share, and subscribe, and tell your friends and family about the show, and leave us a five-star review, which helps to spread the show to others! Original Music by BassManPete Cover art is of Mt. Hermon, site of the Watcher's descent, photo credit: By Almog - Own work, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=2181987, and beautifully crafted into our logo by graphic designer Christine Forster (https://x.com/GfxChristine00?s=20)
For 52 weeks I will introduce you to the many names and titles of God. The goal is to learn about his nature and to encourage your faith. Week 8: El Elyon (Most High God) Scriptures: Genesis 14:20 and Psalm 57:2. God Over Everything Shirts: https://www.bonfire.com/god-over-everything160-8/; Tim Sheets Book (Prayers and Decrees that Activate Angel Armies: Releasing God's Angels into Action): https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/prayers-and-decrees-that-activate-angel-armies-tim-sheets/1140844140?ean=9780768463132
Join us this Sunday! 271 Bucyrus Dr. Buffalo, NY 14228 You can get connected by following us on our social media platforms. Our Website www.thevintagechurchbuffalo.com Our Facebook Page www.facebook.com/thevintagechurchbuffalo Our Instagram Page www.instagram.com/thevintagechurchbuffalo
Iglesia Evangelica San Pablo sitio Monte El Elyon - Tsidkenu - Rafa Serie: Los nombres de Dios Ps Daniel Trapala C. 21 Enero 2024
In this episode, Rabbi Schneider defines this mighty Hebrew name of God: El Elyon. Watch this episode and gain confidence in knowing Him as “God Most High." Visit our website at DiscoveringTheJewishJesus.com
The birth of Isaac was the fulfillment of a 25 years wait for Abraham and Sarah; and yet, this fulfillment of God's promises sets up several other key events in the Bible. So join us as we continue to explore God's Word and how its message fits together and even applies to our lives today! DISCUSSION AND STUDY QUESTIONS: Genesis 21 1. What miracle happens in Genesis 21? Why does this miracle help us understand the message of Genesis 22 when God calls Abraham to offer up Isaac? 2. What were God's promises to Abraham in the preceding chapters and why was the birth of Isaac a necessary step in bringing about the fulfillment of those promises? 3. How was this miracle fulfilled in both Abraham's and Sarah's life? How old were they at the time of Isaac's birth? 4. How long did it take between God's first promises to Abraham back in Genesis 12 and their fulfillment here in chapter 21? How do you think Abraham and Sarah felt during that time? What kinds of things do you think they were telling themselves as they waited for the Lord to fulfill His promises? How might you have been working through such a long delay? 5. Back in Genesis 16, Abraham had a son with Hagar named Ishmael. How was Ishmael's conception different than Isaac's? What importance does that difference have in the identity and role of the children of Israel? 6. What was Sarah's response to Ishmael's mocking in verse 10? What was the impact of her response on Hagar and Ishmael's life? How old did the study suggest that Ishmael was? Why would this be different than Abraham abandoning a child? 7. After Hagar and Ishmael leave Abraham's household, the Lord visits her in her distress. The study explained part of the comfort and encouragement the Lord gave to her was by clarifying what resources and solutions were within her reach. What were they? How can this help us in our own prayers when we cry out to the Lord in our own times of distress? 8. The study mentioned that as people grew in their understanding of God, it changed how they referred to Him. Melchizedek called upon God as “El Elyon” meaning “God most High” in Genesis 14:19. Hagar called upon God as “El Roi” meaning “the God who sees” in Genesis 16:13. Abraham calls upon Him as “El Olam” meaning “The Everlasting God” here in Genesis 21. Which of these names has the most significance to you and why? Check out our Bible Study Guide on the Key Chapters of Genesis! Available on Amazon! To see our dedicated podcast website with access to all our episodes and other resources, visit us at: www.keychapters.org. Find us on all major platforms, or use these direct links: Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/6OqbnDRrfuyHRmkpUSyoHv Itunes: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/366-key-chapters-in-the-bible/id1493571819 YouTube: Key Chapters of the Bible on YouTube. As always, we are grateful to be included in the "Top 100 Bible Podcasts to Follow" from Feedspot.com. Also for regularly being awarded "Podcast of the Day" from PlayerFM. Special thanks to Joseph McDade for providing our theme music.
Sunday Sermon, January 14, 2024 Preacher: Matthew Price
Rosemary Shalom Girl
Today's episode continues our study of the well-known House of Tzadok (the "Zadokites") as it relates to the life of Yeshua, Hebrew Scripture, and the New Covenant. Recall from Hebrew Scripture a hereditary line that began with Abraham and then to Isaac, to Jacob. Then, through Leah, Jacob's wife, she conceived and gave birth to Levi, which means “attached” or “joined.” Through her son Levi, a son was born - Kohat. He later produced Amram. Amram added two sons, Moses and Aaron. These two were split into two unique branches, each with special functions. The branch of Aaron came to be established through his sons. They were Eliezer, Itamar, Nadav, and Avihu. These four were set apart to serve as Priests to El Elyon in the Tabernacle. Still, Scripture tells us that Aaron's sons Nadav and Avihu died as a punishment for their rebellion. Then, Aaron's son Itamar later produced sons, establishing the House of Ithamar. Still, due to more rebellion, that house of descendants was forever forbidden to serve in the priesthood, leaving only Aaron's firstborn son, Eliezer, who was chosen to carry on the hereditary line of the Aaronic priesthood. Later, Eliezer passed on his elected authority to Pinchas, who passed it down to a man named Tzadok. He became the chosen priest for the House of David and Solomon. Just before the birth of Yeshua, John (Yochanan), the Son of Zechariah and Elisheva (Luke 1:5), received the Mantle of Zadok authority. He transferred his authority over to Yeshua, son of Miriam and Yosef, but in a way that appears to be an "upline" transfer (kind of like a spiritual loop) which returns to its beginning through the Order of Melchizedek (Genesis 14:18), who was and continues as King Tzadok of the celestial city of Shalem. All who come into the New Covenant by receiving the testimony of Yeshua are then included into the chosen and elected priesthood status of the Order of Melchizedek, at least, according to Exodus 19:5-6, and are therefore called the "Sons of Tzadok" and Yehovah's "Sons of Light." Let's look into this historical line of Tzadok in today's study, Episode 137 and Part 24 in the Chronology of Yeshua's Last Passover Week.
Today's episode continues our study of the well-known House of Tzadok (the "Zadokites") as it relates to the life of Yeshua, Hebrew Scripture, and the New Covenant.Recall from Hebrew Scripture a hereditary line that began with Abraham and then to Isaac, to Jacob. Then, through Leah, Jacob's wife, she conceived and gave birth to Levi, which means “attached” or “joined.” Through her son Levi, a son was born - Kohat. He later produced Amram. Amram added two sons, Moses and Aaron. These two were split into two unique branches, each with special functions.The branch of Aaron came to be established through his sons. They were Eliezer, Itamar, Nadav, and Avihu. These four were set apart to serve as Priests to El Elyon in the Tabernacle. Still, Scripture tells us that Aaron's sons Nadav and Avihu died as a punishment for their rebellion. Then, Aaron's son Itamar later produced sons, establishing the House of Ithamar. Still, due to more rebellion, that house of descendants was forever forbidden to serve in the priesthood, leaving only Aaron's firstborn son, Eliezer, who was chosen to carry on the hereditary line of the Aaronic priesthood. Later, Eliezer passed on his elected authority to Pinchas, who passed it down to a man named Tzadok. He became the chosen priest for the House of David and Solomon.Just before the birth of Yeshua, John (Yochanan), the Son of Zechariah and Elisheva (Luke 1:5), received the Mantle of Zadok authority. He transferred his authority over to Yeshua, son of Miriam and Yosef, but in a way that appears to be an "upline" transfer (kind of like a spiritual loop) which returns to its beginning through the Order of Melchizedek (Genesis 14:18), who was and continues as King Tzadok of the celestial city of Shalem. All who come into the New Covenant by receiving the testimony of Yeshua are then included into the chosen and elected priesthood status of the Order of Melchizedek, at least, according to Exodus 19:5-6, and are therefore called the "Sons of Tzadok" and Yehovah's "Sons of Light."Let's look into this historical line of Tzadok in today's study, Episode 137 and Part 24 in the Chronology of Yeshua's Last Passover Week.Support the show
After 25 years of waiting, longing, and anticipation, Abraham and Sarah finally see God's promise of a baby fulfilled. Genesis 21 is filled with laughter and feasting and joy, and then the difficulty of family conflict and relational turmoil. In all of this, we see God's sovereignty on display. At the very end of the chapter we read a new name for God, El Elyon, the Everlasting God. We will see that this characteristic is crucial to make sense of the three major stories – Isaac, Ishmael, and Abimelech – weaving them together under God's sovereignty and work.
El Elyon means God Most High. Is he the (most high) priority in your life? Enjoy this episode where we take a look at priorities and Lordship.
We continue with week 2 in our Divine Selfies study of the Names of God. We will be looking at the names: El Elyon and El Roi. These names have a shared revelation that the all-powerful personal God sees us from above and gives attention to our needs. Senior Pastor - Chuck Angel
Jesus was asked what he believed the greatest of Gods commandments was, and his answer was simple: You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets (Matt. 22:3740). Jesus answer can be reduced to seven words: Love God and also love your neighbor. How you love God will affect the way you treat the people in your life, and the way you treat the people in your life can serve as a barometer for the spiritual climate of your heart and relationship with God. What does this have to do with Malachi 2:10-17? The way the people were treating one another and the way the men were treating their wives, was symptomatic of their relationship with God. Because the men did not think highly of the promise made to their wives, God did not regard or accept their worship. We will unpack verse 13 but consider the shocking tone of this verse to set the tone for the whole passage: You cover the Lords altar with tears, with weeping and groaning because he no longer regards the offering or accepts it with favor from your hand. I am reading a book titled, The Great Dechurching; what got my attention before I purchased the book is what it said in the back: We are currently experiencing the largest and fastest religious shift in US history. This shift is greater than the First and Second Great Awakenings combined (when America experienced the largest religious shift in the Church towards growth) but in the opposite direction. In the opening pages of the book, Jim Davis and Michael Graham glean from the largest and most comprehensive study of dechurching in America: About 40 million adults in America today used to go to church but no longer do, which accounts for around 16 percent of our adult population. For the first time in the eight decades that the Gallup has tracked American religious membership, more adults in the United States do not attend church than attend church. This is not a gradual shift; it is a jolting one.[1] What this means in the words of Davis and Graham: More people have left the church in the last twenty-five years than all the new people who became Christians from the First Great Awakening, Second Great Awakening, and Billy Graham crusades combined.[2] Here are some of the takeaways so far from my reading of The Great Dechurching: Dechurching is happening on every income level, regardless of educational status, and area of the country people live, which means that people all over the country are, deciding to forgo their in-person worship for other activities on Sunday morning.[3] And they are doing so for a variety of reasons.[4] The children of the dechurched will inevitably become unchurched, which in the words of the authors of their book will change, the nature of spirituality in America significantly.[5] One of the most alarming findings that I have read in The Great Dechurching so far is what the authors state at the beginning of their book: We learned in our research that 68 percent of dechurched evangelicals said their parents played a role in the decision to leave the Church.[6] There was something about the culture of the home these evangelical dechurched Christians experienced that turned them away from the church. I believe Malachi 2:10-17 speaks into the phenomena of the great dechurching. Know God as Your Father Tozer said it well when he wrote, What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us. The history of mankind will probably show that no people has ever risen above its religion, and mans spiritual history will positively demonstrate that no religion has ever been greater than its idea of God.[7] I have used this quote so many times in sermons, Bible studies, and classes I have taught; it still has not lost its punch because it is so true! So, who is this God we identify as our Father? Or as Malachi states in the form of a question: Have we not all one Father? Has not one God created us? (v. 10). If you are a Christian, then our Father is the creator God who spoke the galaxies into existence with only the word of his mouth in only six days (Gen. 1:1; Exod. 20:11; Heb. 11:3). Our Father is El Elyon, which means, The Most High God. There is no God like him and there is not god above him (Gen. 14:18-20; Ps. 57:2; Isa. 46:8-10). Our Father is El Roi, which means, The God Who Sees. Nothing goes unnoticed by him. He sees our circumstances, he sees the secret places, he sees when no one else notices, he sees all things (Gen. 16:13-14; Prov. 24:12). Our Father is El Shaddai, which means, The All-Sufficient One. He lacks absolutely nothing, he cannot be outdone, and he is able to do what he says he will do. Our Father is Yahweh who is the covenant keeping God; He does not break his promises and He is faithful even when we are faithless (Exod. 3:13-14). Dear brothers and sisters, what comes to mind when you think of the God that you call, Father? As Yahweh, our Father provides (Yahweh-Jireh) for his children (Gen. 22:11-14). In Exodus 15:26, we discover that our Father heals his children (Yahweh-Rapha). In Exodus 17:15, our Father is a banner for his people in Whom we find our true identity and purpose (Yahweh-Nissi). In Exodus 31:13, we discover that our Father loves his children too much to leave them as they are, for He is the one who sanctifies His people (Yahweh-Mekoddishkem). In Judges 6:24, our Father is the only One who is able to bring peace (shalom) to His children (Yahweh-Shalom). In Psalm 46:7, our Father is a refuge and fortress for his children even when you find yourself standing on the ashes of what once was (Yahweh-Sabaoth). In Psalm 23, our Father is our Good Shepherd (Yahweh-Raah). But wait, there is one other name I want you to see that describes what our heavenly Father will do for His children in Jeremiah 23:5-6, Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch, and he shall reign as king and deal wisely, and shall execute justice and righteousness in the land. In his days Judah will be saved, and Israel will dwell securely. And this is the name by which he will be called: The Lord is our righteousness. Now skip down to Malachi 3:1; the Messenger Malachi prophesied would come to prepare the way for the Lord, is the One Jeremiah described as, The Lord is our righteousness. The messenger would be John the Baptist: Behold, I send my messenger, and he will prepare the way before me. And the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple; and the messenger of the covenant in whom you delight, behold, he is coming, says the Lord of hosts. Malachi 3:1 is a part of next weeks sermon, but before we look at the rest of Malachi 2, I want you to hear two things: The Righteous Branch from David is Jesus, the righteousness of all whose faith rests in Him, for in Jesus we discover a Father who is our righteousness who sent His Son to be our righteousness: For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God (2 Corinthians 5:21). Because of what Jesus accomplished for you, Christian, we read in five verses earlier in 2 Corinthians 5:17, Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold the new has come. Richard Gaffin wrote something that amplifies the significance of what it means to have God as your Father in the following statement: At the core of their being, in the deepest recesses of what they arein other words, in the inner selfbelievers will never be more resurrected than they already are. God has done a work in each believer, a work of nothing less than resurrection proportions that will not be undone. Such languageis not just a metaphor.[8] If you can truly call God, Father because you have reconciled to Him by faith through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, then you, will never be more resurrected at the core of your inner self than you already are. Before we can go any further, I want you to let that truth settle upon your heart for a moment. Recognize the Bond You Share with Gods People If you are a Christian, then God has done a work in your life that has changed the DNA of your inner self is such a way that what was once spiritually dead is now alive! That work will and can never be undone (if you doubt that, just read Ephesians 1:3-14 and Romans 8). So, if you are tempted to believe the lie that you cannot change, you need to preach to your own heart that the same resurrection power that raised Jesus from the grave, is the same power that has made you spiritually alive and empowers change in you. The power at work in your life is a power those addressed in Malachi 2 did not know. The evidence that a person can truly call God, Father is seen by that persons loving response to God and those who bear His image. So, for those in Malachis day who claimed to know God as Father, but were faithless to one another received the following rebuke: Why then are we faithless to one another, profaning the covenant of our fathers? Judah has been faithless, and abomination has been committed in Israel and in Jerusalem. For Judah has profaned the sanctuary of the Lord, which he loves, and has married the daughter of a foreign god. May the Lord cut off from the tents of Jacob any descendant of the man who does this, who brings an offering to the Lord of hosts! (Malachi 2:1012) What was the covenant of the fathers that was being profaned? It was the covenant that included certain prohibitions, and one such prohibition was not to marry individuals from certain people groups who did not love or worship Yahweh because they worshiped other gods. Specifically, God instructed His people: You shall not intermarry with them, giving your daughters to their sons or taking their daughters for your sons, for they would turn away your sons from following me, to serve other gods (Deut. 7:34). Generations before Malachi, Solomon married women from other people groups who worshiped other gods and they turned his heart away from God and the consequences where catastrophic for the nation of Israel. Solomons disregard of Deuteronomy 7 was the soil that resulted in nation-wide idolatry and the eventual discipline of God that exiled the Hebrew people, yet the men of Malachis day ignored all of that and went and married women who worshiped other gods anyway. If God is a Father to you and you know Him to be all that He has identified Himself to be, then why on Gods green earth would you enter into the one covenantal relationship that was instituted by God with a person who does not love or worship that same God as you do? If God is God and He is a Father to you, then why would you risk entering into a relationship with someone who will at best make the worship of Him burdensome and at worst turn your heart against Him? If the God who instituted marriage where sex is to be enjoyed and the procreation of children to be shared for the purpose of raising them up to know the One True God, why would you willingly enter into a relationship where your child/children will inevitably be torn between whatever god is worshiped by one parent verses the true God worshiped by the other? Listen, Malachi 2:10-12 is not just for Malachis contemporaries, these verses are for the Church too! What is in Malachi 2:10-12 is not an Old Testament principle to be ignored by New Testament saints in the name of grace or missionary dating, for we are told in the New Testament: Do not be mismatched with unbelievers; for what do righteousness and lawlessness share together, or what does light have in common with darkness? Or what harmony does Christ have with Belial, or what does a believer share with an unbeliever (2 Cor. 6:1415, NASB20)? Listen carefully, the point being made in these verses is that the only reason you would want to marry someone who does not love or know the true God is because you love the unbelieving man or woman more than you love God. To profane the covenant of marriage in verse 11, is to treat the covenant of marriage as common and nothing more than simple romance that can be disregarded when the feelings fade, or the intimacy is gone. If what I just said seems harsh to you, then how else do you explain verse 13, which states: And this second thing you do. You cover the Lords altar with tears, with weeping and groaning because he no longer regards the offering or accepts it with favor from your hand. This is exactly what Esau did after he found out that by trading his birthright for a bowl of stew and after the blessing was given to his younger brother, he wept (see Gen. 28:30-38); Hebrews 12:17 describes Esaus response this way: For you know that afterward, when he desired to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no chance to repent, though he sought it with tears (Heb. 12:17). Sin is simply the trading your birthright in for a bowl of stew that will not satisfy your soul. Faithfully Nurture the Covenant You Have Entered The other thing the men in Malachis day were doing, was that they were divorcing their Hebrew wives to marry women who worshiped other gods. The way the men were treating their wives was evidence that they really had little regard for the covenant of marriage. There were some who desired marriage with foreign women who worshiped another god, and then there were men who married a Hebrew wife who did worship Yahweh but divorced them to marry women who worshiped other gods. To these men, Malachi addresses in verse 15, Did he not make them one, with a portion of the Spirit in their union? And what was the one God seeking? Godly offspring. So guard yourselves in your spirit, and let none of you be faithless to the wife of your youth (Mal. 2:15). We read in Genesis 1 something that Malachi and his contemporaries would have been familiar with: So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them (Gen. 1:27). God then commanded the man and woman to create and fill the earth with people like themselves and to manage creation. Furthermore, we are told in Genesis 1:28 that God told Adam and his wife, Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth (Genesis 1:28). This is the covenant of marriage, and in Genesis 2:24-25 we are told of the sacredness of marriage and the place that sex had within that covenantal relationship: Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh. And the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed (Genesis 2:2425). By profaning the covenant of their fathers (Mal. 2:10), the people (mostly the men) treated everything about marriage as common. Their primary reason for doing so had more to do with sex than anything else. The way Malachis contemporaries were treating marriage and sex was not all that dissimilar to the way marriage and sex is treated by our own culture where marriage and sex is treated as common instead of sacred. Malachis day and our own treats marriage as something to be experimented with or to be experienced with few barriers, if any. As it is treated in our day, so it was in Malachis day: Marriage was not viewed as a sacred covenant by those who claimed to know God, nor as a covenant instituted by God. The reason why this was, is the same reason for our own day: They did not stand in awe of Gods name. Gods response and feelings toward the way the people treated the covenant of marriage in Malachis day is still the same for our own day, and we see that response in verse 16. There are two legitimate ways Malachi 2:16 can be translated; both ways are seen in the way the ESV and the NASB translates this verse: For the man who does not love his wife but divorces her, says the Lord, the God of Israel, covers his garment with violence, says the Lord of hosts. So guard yourselves in your spirit, and do not be faithless.(Mal. 2:16; ESV) For I hate divorce, says the Lord, the God of Israel, and him who covers his garment with violence, says the Lord of armies. So be careful about your spirit, that you do not deal treacherously. (Mal. 2:16; NASB20) What is the point? God hates divorce because of what it does to the institution He has called sacred. Why is it sacred, well besides the obvious, marriage is also a portrait of something much greater than the love two people have for one another. Here is what the apostle Paul said of marriage: Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh. This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church. However, let each one of you love his wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband (Eph. 5:3133). Not only were the men and women of Malachis day faithless to those within their community of faith as worshipers of One true God, but they were faithless to God because they desired the women of foreign gods over the women who loved Yahweh. This was evil in the sight of God, but what was even more detestable was the way the Hebrew men treated their Hebrew wives by divorcing them because they desired to be with the women of a foreign god more than they wanted to be with their own wives because they did not really know, love, or stand in awe of the God they offered sacrifices too. Conclusion Remember Jesus answer to the question regarding the greatest of the commandments: You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets (Matt. 22:3740). I will reiterate again that the way you love others is symptomatic of the kind of love you have for God. The apostle John picked up on this in his epistle by writing: Whoever says he is in the light and hates his brother is still in darkness. Whoever loves his brother abides in the light, and in him there is no cause for stumbling. But whoever hates his brother is in the darkness and walks in the darkness, and does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes (1 John 2:911). Did you know that there are at least 59 one another verses in the New Testament? At least 12 of those 59 one another statements include: Love one another. Do you know why that is? Because if you are a genuine Christian, you are able to love God in such a way that it will affect the way you treat others. What is different about you is that you, will never be more resurrected at the core of your inner self than you already are because of what Jesus has done for you and in you. Now that you know God and are loved by Him, you are able to love others in a way unlike the rest of the world. I am going to say something that might shock you into wanting to leave frustrated or angry, but it really needs to be said. So here it is: the point being made in Malachi 2:10-16 is that the reason you treat people, sex, and the institution of marriage as common is because you love the act of sex and or the person you are with more than you love God. The good news is that this does not have to be the legacy of your life. In the words of Richard Gaffin, if you are a Christian, then At the core of your being, in the deepest recesses of what you arein other words, in your inner selfyou will never be more resurrected than you already are. God has done a work in you, and that work cannot be undone if you really are a Christian and not only religious. What this means is that it is not too late for you! I asked you last week: What threshold were you hesitant to cross to go all in to follow Jesus? What are you holding onto that Jesus is asking you to surrender to Him? What act of obedience have you not taken because you are more afraid of what others might think than you are of what God thinks? God wants life for you. He is not against your joy He is for your joy! The same appeal that was always before Israel is before you today: I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse. Therefore choose life, that you and your offspring may live, loving the Lord your God, obeying his voice and holding fast to him, for he is your life and length of days, that you may dwell in the land that the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them. (Deut. 30:19-20) That relationship you participated in that included sex outside of marriage does not need to define you. That marriage you entered into with your unbelieving spouse is worth investing in and your spouse is not beyond the reach of grace of God. That divorce you initiated or pursued and now you are in your second or third marriage your present marriage can thrive! If you are single, married, divorced, or remarried if you are a Christian, Gods will for your life cannot be any clearer that what is found in 1 Thessalonians 4:3, For this is the will of God, your sanctification. For the same power that raised Jesus from the dead is doing the impossible in your life too! In closing I leave you the hope of Romans 8:11 to combat the lie of the enemy that would convince you that your old self is who you are: If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you. Amen. [1] Jim Davis, Michael Graham; The Great Dechurching (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan; 2023), p. 3. [2] Ibid; p. 5. [3] Ibid, p. 24. [4] Ibid. [5] Ibid, p. 33. [6] Ibid, p. 9. [7] A.W. Tozer. The Knowledge of the Holy (San Francisco, CO: HarperSanFrancisco; 1961), p. 1. [8] Paul Miller; A Praying Church (Wheaton, IL: Crossway; 2023), p. 73.
Jesus was asked what he believed the greatest of Gods commandments was, and his answer was simple: You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets (Matt. 22:3740). Jesus answer can be reduced to seven words: Love God and also love your neighbor. How you love God will affect the way you treat the people in your life, and the way you treat the people in your life can serve as a barometer for the spiritual climate of your heart and relationship with God. What does this have to do with Malachi 2:10-17? The way the people were treating one another and the way the men were treating their wives, was symptomatic of their relationship with God. Because the men did not think highly of the promise made to their wives, God did not regard or accept their worship. We will unpack verse 13 but consider the shocking tone of this verse to set the tone for the whole passage: You cover the Lords altar with tears, with weeping and groaning because he no longer regards the offering or accepts it with favor from your hand. I am reading a book titled, The Great Dechurching; what got my attention before I purchased the book is what it said in the back: We are currently experiencing the largest and fastest religious shift in US history. This shift is greater than the First and Second Great Awakenings combined (when America experienced the largest religious shift in the Church towards growth) but in the opposite direction. In the opening pages of the book, Jim Davis and Michael Graham glean from the largest and most comprehensive study of dechurching in America: About 40 million adults in America today used to go to church but no longer do, which accounts for around 16 percent of our adult population. For the first time in the eight decades that the Gallup has tracked American religious membership, more adults in the United States do not attend church than attend church. This is not a gradual shift; it is a jolting one.[1] What this means in the words of Davis and Graham: More people have left the church in the last twenty-five years than all the new people who became Christians from the First Great Awakening, Second Great Awakening, and Billy Graham crusades combined.[2] Here are some of the takeaways so far from my reading of The Great Dechurching: Dechurching is happening on every income level, regardless of educational status, and area of the country people live, which means that people all over the country are, deciding to forgo their in-person worship for other activities on Sunday morning.[3] And they are doing so for a variety of reasons.[4] The children of the dechurched will inevitably become unchurched, which in the words of the authors of their book will change, the nature of spirituality in America significantly.[5] One of the most alarming findings that I have read in The Great Dechurching so far is what the authors state at the beginning of their book: We learned in our research that 68 percent of dechurched evangelicals said their parents played a role in the decision to leave the Church.[6] There was something about the culture of the home these evangelical dechurched Christians experienced that turned them away from the church. I believe Malachi 2:10-17 speaks into the phenomena of the great dechurching. Know God as Your Father Tozer said it well when he wrote, What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us. The history of mankind will probably show that no people has ever risen above its religion, and mans spiritual history will positively demonstrate that no religion has ever been greater than its idea of God.[7] I have used this quote so many times in sermons, Bible studies, and classes I have taught; it still has not lost its punch because it is so true! So, who is this God we identify as our Father? Or as Malachi states in the form of a question: Have we not all one Father? Has not one God created us? (v. 10). If you are a Christian, then our Father is the creator God who spoke the galaxies into existence with only the word of his mouth in only six days (Gen. 1:1; Exod. 20:11; Heb. 11:3). Our Father is El Elyon, which means, The Most High God. There is no God like him and there is not god above him (Gen. 14:18-20; Ps. 57:2; Isa. 46:8-10). Our Father is El Roi, which means, The God Who Sees. Nothing goes unnoticed by him. He sees our circumstances, he sees the secret places, he sees when no one else notices, he sees all things (Gen. 16:13-14; Prov. 24:12). Our Father is El Shaddai, which means, The All-Sufficient One. He lacks absolutely nothing, he cannot be outdone, and he is able to do what he says he will do. Our Father is Yahweh who is the covenant keeping God; He does not break his promises and He is faithful even when we are faithless (Exod. 3:13-14). Dear brothers and sisters, what comes to mind when you think of the God that you call, Father? As Yahweh, our Father provides (Yahweh-Jireh) for his children (Gen. 22:11-14). In Exodus 15:26, we discover that our Father heals his children (Yahweh-Rapha). In Exodus 17:15, our Father is a banner for his people in Whom we find our true identity and purpose (Yahweh-Nissi). In Exodus 31:13, we discover that our Father loves his children too much to leave them as they are, for He is the one who sanctifies His people (Yahweh-Mekoddishkem). In Judges 6:24, our Father is the only One who is able to bring peace (shalom) to His children (Yahweh-Shalom). In Psalm 46:7, our Father is a refuge and fortress for his children even when you find yourself standing on the ashes of what once was (Yahweh-Sabaoth). In Psalm 23, our Father is our Good Shepherd (Yahweh-Raah). But wait, there is one other name I want you to see that describes what our heavenly Father will do for His children in Jeremiah 23:5-6, Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch, and he shall reign as king and deal wisely, and shall execute justice and righteousness in the land. In his days Judah will be saved, and Israel will dwell securely. And this is the name by which he will be called: The Lord is our righteousness. Now skip down to Malachi 3:1; the Messenger Malachi prophesied would come to prepare the way for the Lord, is the One Jeremiah described as, The Lord is our righteousness. The messenger would be John the Baptist: Behold, I send my messenger, and he will prepare the way before me. And the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple; and the messenger of the covenant in whom you delight, behold, he is coming, says the Lord of hosts. Malachi 3:1 is a part of next weeks sermon, but before we look at the rest of Malachi 2, I want you to hear two things: The Righteous Branch from David is Jesus, the righteousness of all whose faith rests in Him, for in Jesus we discover a Father who is our righteousness who sent His Son to be our righteousness: For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God (2 Corinthians 5:21). Because of what Jesus accomplished for you, Christian, we read in five verses earlier in 2 Corinthians 5:17, Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold the new has come. Richard Gaffin wrote something that amplifies the significance of what it means to have God as your Father in the following statement: At the core of their being, in the deepest recesses of what they arein other words, in the inner selfbelievers will never be more resurrected than they already are. God has done a work in each believer, a work of nothing less than resurrection proportions that will not be undone. Such languageis not just a metaphor.[8] If you can truly call God, Father because you have reconciled to Him by faith through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, then you, will never be more resurrected at the core of your inner self than you already are. Before we can go any further, I want you to let that truth settle upon your heart for a moment. Recognize the Bond You Share with Gods People If you are a Christian, then God has done a work in your life that has changed the DNA of your inner self is such a way that what was once spiritually dead is now alive! That work will and can never be undone (if you doubt that, just read Ephesians 1:3-14 and Romans 8). So, if you are tempted to believe the lie that you cannot change, you need to preach to your own heart that the same resurrection power that raised Jesus from the grave, is the same power that has made you spiritually alive and empowers change in you. The power at work in your life is a power those addressed in Malachi 2 did not know. The evidence that a person can truly call God, Father is seen by that persons loving response to God and those who bear His image. So, for those in Malachis day who claimed to know God as Father, but were faithless to one another received the following rebuke: Why then are we faithless to one another, profaning the covenant of our fathers? Judah has been faithless, and abomination has been committed in Israel and in Jerusalem. For Judah has profaned the sanctuary of the Lord, which he loves, and has married the daughter of a foreign god. May the Lord cut off from the tents of Jacob any descendant of the man who does this, who brings an offering to the Lord of hosts! (Malachi 2:1012) What was the covenant of the fathers that was being profaned? It was the covenant that included certain prohibitions, and one such prohibition was not to marry individuals from certain people groups who did not love or worship Yahweh because they worshiped other gods. Specifically, God instructed His people: You shall not intermarry with them, giving your daughters to their sons or taking their daughters for your sons, for they would turn away your sons from following me, to serve other gods (Deut. 7:34). Generations before Malachi, Solomon married women from other people groups who worshiped other gods and they turned his heart away from God and the consequences where catastrophic for the nation of Israel. Solomons disregard of Deuteronomy 7 was the soil that resulted in nation-wide idolatry and the eventual discipline of God that exiled the Hebrew people, yet the men of Malachis day ignored all of that and went and married women who worshiped other gods anyway. If God is a Father to you and you know Him to be all that He has identified Himself to be, then why on Gods green earth would you enter into the one covenantal relationship that was instituted by God with a person who does not love or worship that same God as you do? If God is God and He is a Father to you, then why would you risk entering into a relationship with someone who will at best make the worship of Him burdensome and at worst turn your heart against Him? If the God who instituted marriage where sex is to be enjoyed and the procreation of children to be shared for the purpose of raising them up to know the One True God, why would you willingly enter into a relationship where your child/children will inevitably be torn between whatever god is worshiped by one parent verses the true God worshiped by the other? Listen, Malachi 2:10-12 is not just for Malachis contemporaries, these verses are for the Church too! What is in Malachi 2:10-12 is not an Old Testament principle to be ignored by New Testament saints in the name of grace or missionary dating, for we are told in the New Testament: Do not be mismatched with unbelievers; for what do righteousness and lawlessness share together, or what does light have in common with darkness? Or what harmony does Christ have with Belial, or what does a believer share with an unbeliever (2 Cor. 6:1415, NASB20)? Listen carefully, the point being made in these verses is that the only reason you would want to marry someone who does not love or know the true God is because you love the unbelieving man or woman more than you love God. To profane the covenant of marriage in verse 11, is to treat the covenant of marriage as common and nothing more than simple romance that can be disregarded when the feelings fade, or the intimacy is gone. If what I just said seems harsh to you, then how else do you explain verse 13, which states: And this second thing you do. You cover the Lords altar with tears, with weeping and groaning because he no longer regards the offering or accepts it with favor from your hand. This is exactly what Esau did after he found out that by trading his birthright for a bowl of stew and after the blessing was given to his younger brother, he wept (see Gen. 28:30-38); Hebrews 12:17 describes Esaus response this way: For you know that afterward, when he desired to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no chance to repent, though he sought it with tears (Heb. 12:17). Sin is simply the trading your birthright in for a bowl of stew that will not satisfy your soul. Faithfully Nurture the Covenant You Have Entered The other thing the men in Malachis day were doing, was that they were divorcing their Hebrew wives to marry women who worshiped other gods. The way the men were treating their wives was evidence that they really had little regard for the covenant of marriage. There were some who desired marriage with foreign women who worshiped another god, and then there were men who married a Hebrew wife who did worship Yahweh but divorced them to marry women who worshiped other gods. To these men, Malachi addresses in verse 15, Did he not make them one, with a portion of the Spirit in their union? And what was the one God seeking? Godly offspring. So guard yourselves in your spirit, and let none of you be faithless to the wife of your youth (Mal. 2:15). We read in Genesis 1 something that Malachi and his contemporaries would have been familiar with: So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them (Gen. 1:27). God then commanded the man and woman to create and fill the earth with people like themselves and to manage creation. Furthermore, we are told in Genesis 1:28 that God told Adam and his wife, Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth (Genesis 1:28). This is the covenant of marriage, and in Genesis 2:24-25 we are told of the sacredness of marriage and the place that sex had within that covenantal relationship: Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh. And the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed (Genesis 2:2425). By profaning the covenant of their fathers (Mal. 2:10), the people (mostly the men) treated everything about marriage as common. Their primary reason for doing so had more to do with sex than anything else. The way Malachis contemporaries were treating marriage and sex was not all that dissimilar to the way marriage and sex is treated by our own culture where marriage and sex is treated as common instead of sacred. Malachis day and our own treats marriage as something to be experimented with or to be experienced with few barriers, if any. As it is treated in our day, so it was in Malachis day: Marriage was not viewed as a sacred covenant by those who claimed to know God, nor as a covenant instituted by God. The reason why this was, is the same reason for our own day: They did not stand in awe of Gods name. Gods response and feelings toward the way the people treated the covenant of marriage in Malachis day is still the same for our own day, and we see that response in verse 16. There are two legitimate ways Malachi 2:16 can be translated; both ways are seen in the way the ESV and the NASB translates this verse: For the man who does not love his wife but divorces her, says the Lord, the God of Israel, covers his garment with violence, says the Lord of hosts. So guard yourselves in your spirit, and do not be faithless.(Mal. 2:16; ESV) For I hate divorce, says the Lord, the God of Israel, and him who covers his garment with violence, says the Lord of armies. So be careful about your spirit, that you do not deal treacherously. (Mal. 2:16; NASB20) What is the point? God hates divorce because of what it does to the institution He has called sacred. Why is it sacred, well besides the obvious, marriage is also a portrait of something much greater than the love two people have for one another. Here is what the apostle Paul said of marriage: Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh. This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church. However, let each one of you love his wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband (Eph. 5:3133). Not only were the men and women of Malachis day faithless to those within their community of faith as worshipers of One true God, but they were faithless to God because they desired the women of foreign gods over the women who loved Yahweh. This was evil in the sight of God, but what was even more detestable was the way the Hebrew men treated their Hebrew wives by divorcing them because they desired to be with the women of a foreign god more than they wanted to be with their own wives because they did not really know, love, or stand in awe of the God they offered sacrifices too. Conclusion Remember Jesus answer to the question regarding the greatest of the commandments: You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets (Matt. 22:3740). I will reiterate again that the way you love others is symptomatic of the kind of love you have for God. The apostle John picked up on this in his epistle by writing: Whoever says he is in the light and hates his brother is still in darkness. Whoever loves his brother abides in the light, and in him there is no cause for stumbling. But whoever hates his brother is in the darkness and walks in the darkness, and does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes (1 John 2:911). Did you know that there are at least 59 one another verses in the New Testament? At least 12 of those 59 one another statements include: Love one another. Do you know why that is? Because if you are a genuine Christian, you are able to love God in such a way that it will affect the way you treat others. What is different about you is that you, will never be more resurrected at the core of your inner self than you already are because of what Jesus has done for you and in you. Now that you know God and are loved by Him, you are able to love others in a way unlike the rest of the world. I am going to say something that might shock you into wanting to leave frustrated or angry, but it really needs to be said. So here it is: the point being made in Malachi 2:10-16 is that the reason you treat people, sex, and the institution of marriage as common is because you love the act of sex and or the person you are with more than you love God. The good news is that this does not have to be the legacy of your life. In the words of Richard Gaffin, if you are a Christian, then At the core of your being, in the deepest recesses of what you arein other words, in your inner selfyou will never be more resurrected than you already are. God has done a work in you, and that work cannot be undone if you really are a Christian and not only religious. What this means is that it is not too late for you! I asked you last week: What threshold were you hesitant to cross to go all in to follow Jesus? What are you holding onto that Jesus is asking you to surrender to Him? What act of obedience have you not taken because you are more afraid of what others might think than you are of what God thinks? God wants life for you. He is not against your joy He is for your joy! The same appeal that was always before Israel is before you today: I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse. Therefore choose life, that you and your offspring may live, loving the Lord your God, obeying his voice and holding fast to him, for he is your life and length of days, that you may dwell in the land that the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them. (Deut. 30:19-20) That relationship you participated in that included sex outside of marriage does not need to define you. That marriage you entered into with your unbelieving spouse is worth investing in and your spouse is not beyond the reach of grace of God. That divorce you initiated or pursued and now you are in your second or third marriage your present marriage can thrive! If you are single, married, divorced, or remarried if you are a Christian, Gods will for your life cannot be any clearer that what is found in 1 Thessalonians 4:3, For this is the will of God, your sanctification. For the same power that raised Jesus from the dead is doing the impossible in your life too! In closing I leave you the hope of Romans 8:11 to combat the lie of the enemy that would convince you that your old self is who you are: If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you. Amen. [1] Jim Davis, Michael Graham; The Great Dechurching (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan; 2023), p. 3. [2] Ibid; p. 5. [3] Ibid, p. 24. [4] Ibid. [5] Ibid, p. 33. [6] Ibid, p. 9. [7] A.W. Tozer. The Knowledge of the Holy (San Francisco, CO: HarperSanFrancisco; 1961), p. 1. [8] Paul Miller; A Praying Church (Wheaton, IL: Crossway; 2023), p. 73.
Do you ever struggle with doubting God? I for one am so glad that the truth of who God is does not change based on the strength or weakness of my belief. I've had times in my life when I doubted, and I found comfort in one of God's names, “El Elyon,” which means “The Most High God.” That name is used first in Genesis when Melchizedek is described as both a king and priest of the Most High God—the creator-God of the Heavens and creator of the Earth. And this just reminds me that there is no power in the world that surpasses God. Nothing that happens in my life will overwhelm Him. None of my confusion can erase His existence. That is a relief. If you struggle with doubt, bring all your thoughts before The Most High God. Despite your doubt, ask Him to help you. He wants to meet you right where you are. Scripture Reference: Genesis 14:18-19 radio.hopewithgod.com
God sits in the position of “most high” above all else. There is none like Him and He is exalted above all creation. The name El Elyon (God Most High) bespeaks of God's “highness” and the fact there is none like Him. In this study, Nathan examines the beauty of El Elyon and how we—like Satan—attempt to put ourselves in God's “most high” position. He also gives three practical ways that affect our daily lives when we allow Jesus Christ to be our Most High God.------------For more information about Daily Thunder and the ministry of Ellerslie Mission Society, please visit: https://ellerslie.com/. If you have been blessed by Ellerslie, consider partnering with the ministry by donating at: https://ellerslie.com/donate/
The Names of GodEl Elyon - The God Most HighNo one can ever be bigger than God. He is the Name above all names, the King above all kings, and the God above all gods.For You are the Lord Most High over all the earth;You are exalted far above all gods. - Psalm 97:9 NASB 1995For by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things have been created through Him and for Him. He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together. - Colossians 1:16-17 NASB 1995We also read from Psalm 115:4-8 NASB 1995.What does it look like to let God sit on the throne of your heart in all things? Where is God revealing Himself to you as Most HighBlessing you to know Lord Most High over all the Earth!Become a PatronCultivate Connection has reached listeners in 157 countries, averaging 1,100 downloads a week. Help us reach even more by sharing Cultivate Connection with others.If you are one of the many who have been blessed by Cultivate Connection, become a monthly patron. As a patron, your generosity helps us create, host, and promote experiences that help others grow their relationship with God. Learn more on our website at CultivateConnection.com
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