And God said unto Moses, I Am That I Am: and he said, thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I Am hath sent me unto you. Exodus 3:14
Dear Friends
Happy New Year! I hope God kept you safe wherever you were this New Years’. I personally was glad that John and I decided to stay close to home because of the snow and high winds that swept through Mt. Clemens the past week.
During the past week I started watching a show “The Equalizer.” It is about a former CIA agent who decides to level the playing field between good and evil. The agent takes on hopeless cases of injustice so that justice can win out.
It seems to me that there are people who try to bring God down to our own level, to in a sense, level the playing field, by believing that human beings can do what God does and maybe even better. There are those who think that they are capable of eradicating whatever injustices are present in our world, and so they take matters into their own hands.
That was not the case for Moses. Moses was being called to do something that would be most challenging. He would be the one to free the people from slavery. He may have understood that it needed to be done, but it was not something he thought of doing on his own. He would not have considered himself to be an Equalizer. When God came to him and charged him to this task, he doubted his abilities to carry out this mission. Just in case he got resistance from the Israelites, he wanted to be able to tell them who it was that had sent him. God responds “I am that I am.” God says this to signify The Lord’s eternal, self-existent, and unchanging nature—He is Being itself, the source of all existence, independent of anything else, and the same yesterday, today, and forever, a name Jesus also claimed to identify with His divine, timeless identity. The name shows God cannot be fully defined or contained by human understanding; He simply is. It assures people of The Lord’s constant presence and faithfulness to The Lord’s promises, as God is the "I AM" who sent Moses, as well as the same Lord that sends us out.
How do we talk about God?
How does God interact with our own lives?
Over the next month and a half, we will be exploring the different aspects of God through the worship series “God is Like...”
As we begin a new year, may we be assured of God’s presence in our own lives, recalling all the way God is manifested in our own lives. God with us now and forever.
I thank God for you,
Pastor Kathy Nealand
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The worship series, God is Like...
We want to highlight a NEW sermon series from Sermons.com, titled 'God Is Like....' This 1eries will help us appreciate and understand more about the divine mystery of God.
1. God Is Like...Bread - Joel 2: 23-30, John 6:25-35-Jan. 4
2. God Is Like...a Potter - Jeremiah 18:1-11, 1 Cor. 15:20-26-Jan 11
3. God Is Like...a Face - Genesis 33:1-11, 2 Corinthians 4:5-6-Jan 18
4. God Is Like...a Name - Exodus 3:1-15-Jan 25
5. God Is Like...a Comforter - 2 Corinthians 1:3-7-Feb 1
6. God Is Like...a Friend - 2 Corinthians 5:16-20-Feb 8
7. God Is Like...the Word Made Flesh - Isaiah 40:18-31, John 1:1-14-Feb. 15
A Christmas version of 1 Corinthians 13
“But the angel said to her, “ Do not be afraid , Mary; you have found favor with God.” Luke 1:30.
“Thus says God, the Lord, who created the heavens and stretched them out, who spread out the earth and what comes from it, who gives breath to the people upon it and spirit to those who walk in it: I am the Lord; I have called you in righteousness. I have taken you by the hand and kept you, a light to the nations, “ (Isaiah 42:5-6 NRSVYE)
“What then is Apollos? What is Paul? Servants through whom you came to believe, as the Lord assigned to each. I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. So, neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth. The one who plants and the one who waters have one purpose, and each will receive wages according to their own labor. For we are God’s coworkers, working together; you are God’s field, God’s building. 1 Corinthians 3:5-9 NRSVUE
“You will keep in perfect peace those whose minds are steadfast, because they trust in you.” (Isaiah 26:3)
“So in the present case, I tell you, keep away from these men and let them alone, because if this plan or this undertaking is of human origin, it will fail; but if it is of God, you will not be able to overthrow them—in that case you may even be found fighting against God!’” (Acts 5:38-39a)
"We also celebrate in seasons of suffering because we know that when we suffer, we develop endurance, 4 which shapes our characters. When our characters are refined, we learn what it means to hope and anticipate God’s goodness. 5 And hope will never fail to satisfy our deepest need because the Holy Spirit that was given to us has flooded our hearts with God’s love.” Romans 5:3-5(The Voice)
“So, here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out.” Romans 12:1-2 (The Message)
“ For ever since the world was created, people have seen the earth and sky. Through everything God made, they can clearly see his invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature. So, they have no excuse for not knowing God.” Romans 1:20
“So, if you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. 2 Set your minds on the things that are above, not on the things that are on earth.” Colossians 3:1-2
