Psalm 33:1-11 Elohim Amar - The God Who Speaks

You are listening to the podcast of Recast Church in Mattawan, Michigan.

I am again. It seems like it was just yesterday I was standing up here, you know. Telling my wife on the way here, it's kind of a strange experience, this thing they call preaching. You prepare, and you hope, and seek God's leading, and then you pray that it makes sense, and you're here, and everybody's looking up at you, and some people are smiling, some people look angry, and some people are falling asleep, and it's just, it's quite an experience, actually.

You know, to stand up here and speak words, like, you know, quite a few words. I don't know, hopefully less words than last week. Words that convey ideas, and thoughts, and truth. Words that come from God.

The Gift of Words and the God Who Speaks

And that's why I'm willing to get up in front of everybody, and hopefully not make a fool of myself. But words from God, this is a treasure. And so I am excited about sharing it. Speaking of words, guess how many words are in the English language?

50 ,000? Okay. You know, I had no clue, so I looked it up on the internet. 1 ,025 ,109 words in the English language. That's a lot of words. You know, I probably know maybe a hundred of them, I don't know.

I'm always looking words up, you know, to see what they, you know, wow, what is this word? It's kind of crazy though, isn't it? That there would be so many different words that have different meanings.

Like, Bill, where are you going with this? You know, sitting here talking about words. Well, here's another question for you. How many languages do you think there are spoken on this earth? 150? Hey, you know, I, again, I, you know, actually I had heard the number before, but I wanted to look it up just to see how many different languages are spoken on this earth.

Well, the first website I went to, it said 6 ,500. And then I went to another website and it said 7 ,100 and some. And so there's a little bit of debate about, you know, how many different languages are, but there's at least 6 ,500 different languages.

Isn't that kind of crazy? Trace that back to the Tower of Babel where God, you know, originally we all spoke one language. I think it's fun to hear people speak in a different language. Anybody with me there?

Even though I can't, like, understand. I know, like, Jesus, that's like the, you know, most important word in Spanish, right? It means Jesus. Christos, you know. Parlez-vous Francais? I don't know. That's all the French I know, you know.

But it's just intriguing to me to listen to different languages. Where does this ability come from? This amazing ability to communicate comes from the Creator Himself. God is the very first being to speak.

And so open your Bible with me to Genesis chapter 1 this morning. I want to introduce to you another name for God this morning. So Genesis chapter 1, back to the very beginning, and we will read verses 1 through 3.

I'm just going to, I'm going to pray over us in our service this morning. Father, just thank you that we can gather here together in your name. Thank you for your presence, that this is a holy place, that you are here in a special way and you know how much we all need you.

And I thank you that you love us and you want to speak into our lives. You want us to grow in faith and wisdom and nearness to you. And I pray that through the, through your word, through your spirit, through the music, that we would grow closer to you today, that you would speak to our hearts.

And so we're asking that you would give us revelation of who you are this morning. We love you, we thank you, and we praise you in Jesus' name. Amen. All right, so very first verse of the Bible, 1 through 3.

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.

And God said, Let there be light, and there was light. Very first words in history, God speaking, at least the first recorded words that we're aware of, and he said, Let there be light. So last week I talked about the Old Testament Hebrew name for God, which is Elohim, that's how you pronounce God in the Hebrew language.

So this in verse 3 is Elohim. And this word said right next to it is the Hebrew word Amar, Amar. And so I entitled this message, Elohim Amar, the God who speaks. God is the God who speaks. And so the question is, does he want to speak into my life?

Can I hear the voice of God? So three messages ago I taught on El Rai, and that is the God who sees me. Last week we looked at Elohim Shamar, the God who hears. And so we discovered that God sees every one of us.

He sees our heart, and he hears every word that we speak, whether it's a prayer or not. And he knows every thought that we think. That's amazing, but this is how awesome, all-knowing, however present this awesome God is that we can call Heavenly Father.

Wow, this is my Father. He knows all about me, and he does want to speak into our lives. And so I want to look at this morning, the God who speaks, and I want to look at four different aspects of his word with the hope that we'll learn to listen more to God.

That we'll daily seek to hear the voice of God, and I know that many of you are doing that already. But I hope that as we look at the word, this will encourage us even more to try to have listening ears to what the Spirit is trying to say into our lives, and that we'll once again be encouraged to be in this book every day, this revelation of God, seeking him, and that he will speak to us on a daily basis from his word, because that's life-giving, isn't it?

When God speaks to you, that encourages you unlike anything else. So I'm excited about looking at some scriptures on Elohim Amar, the God who speaks. So with that, I'm going to turn it over to the worship band, and let me just pray as they come up, and we'll sing God's praises together.

Father, just thank you that you do speak. You speak our language. You speak every language. Thank you for the gift of your word, what a treasure your book is, and I pray that we would just be able to take that to heart.

Pray as the band leads us now in some beautiful words that communicate your beauty, that we would realize your beauty and glory this morning. We just pray, hallowed be your name in this place, Father, that you would show forth your beauty and glory in Jesus' name.

Amen. Good morning again. Just want to thank Don for this opportunity to teach this morning. You know, somebody made a comment about the pastor being here. You know, that always makes the filling guy more nervous, you know.

Really appreciate Don and all the work that goes into crafting a message. You know, there are so many good words that you can teach on, and it's just, I see it as a very important responsibility. You know, my goal today is, God, just use me that we would be encouraged together, because if you're anything like me, you kind of get discouraged almost on a daily basis.

I mean, life is not easy, is it? Right? Okay? Lots of struggles, lots of heartaches. We all have them. It's part of being a human being. But you know what? There's no blues in heaven. I just heard that song this morning, there's no blues in heaven.

So before I came here, I was at the chapel at the Kalamazoo County Juvenile Home, and we had the Holy Ghost Blues Band there for a concert this morning. Dwayne Hagan playing the harmonica. And, you know, is there such a thing as Christian blues?

I don't know, but he was playing them. But he sang this song, There's No Blues in Heaven. So, you know, to chapel this morning means that I got up early this morning. I had to meet the band to help them set up early.

And so I got up at about quarter to six, and the first thing I always do, like many of you, is stumble out to the coffee pot, right? Put the coffee on. I'm still in my bathrobe. Not a pretty picture. Don't try to picture it.

But, you know, the coffee's brewing. I get my cup of coffee, and I sit down in my chair where I like to meet with God. My quiet time, I have a chair. And I open my Bible, and we have this dog living with us right now.

And the dog lives in its little, you don't want to call it a cage. You know, it's their house, right? Okay? So at night, Bella comes in and sleeps inside in our mudroom. And I'm just starting to enjoy my coffee.

And what does she say to me? That coffee smells good. Bring me back a cup. No. She said, like, Bella, it's not even seven o 'clock yet. Truly you don't have to go out. And, whining, you know. You guys heard my animal impressions last week.

Very lame. But she's whining, but she can't tell me I really got to go to the bathroom. Could you come and take me out now? But she's whining, right? And so I have to get dressed to take her out to her area where we have her in the backyard.

I'm kind of grumbling, you know. Oh, Bella, Bella. And I open the door and she's husky. And husky's kind of like they try to talk. Like, I don't know if you've ever heard of it. They're just like that, you know.

But she can't talk. She can't speak English. You know, animals are amazing, right? Aren't they? They have their limited ways of communicating. But you don't hear them sitting down and having a conversation, do you?

Now, I talk to Bella, you know, all the time. Like, Bella, why do you keep knocking your water dish over? Don't you know that when you do that, you know, you're going to be thirsty? And she keeps doing it anyway, you know.

So I don't know if she understands me or not. But this ability to speak is really amazing. And we as human beings, as far as life forms go on this earth, we are unique in that way, aren't we? To be able to communicate.

And this gift comes from the Creator Himself, the One who speaks, the One who has always spoken. He created man and woman in His image and in His likeness, and He gave us the ability to communicate and to speak words and to understand words.

And there's a very deep purpose that He gave us that ability for. God's Word is always to communicate, always. And He gave us this ability to communicate because He wants us to have a personal relationship with Him, our Heavenly Father.

And so He has given us the ability to speak and to understand speech because He wants to speak into our lives. This morning I want to look at four aspects of the Word of God. Number one, that His Word is creative, and this communicates His beauty, His glory, and His wisdom.

Number two, that His Word is powerful. This is to communicate His strength and ability to do all things. Number three, His Word is living. This communicates His life and His being and His ability to give life.

And last of all, His Word is written. And this is to communicate the revelation of who He is and what His divine will is for us. So we're going to look at these four aspects of God's speaking and then kind of try to apply that.

What does this all mean for us personally? So open, if you will, again to Genesis chapter 1. And I just want to look at this expression where it speaks of God's said. And again in the Hebrew, it is Elohim Amar.

And Amar means to speak. Now I want you to notice just in chapter 1 alone, it says 10 times Elohim Amar, Elohim Amar, Elohim Amar. God said, God said, God said. And I want you to notice that every time God spoke, something beautiful and amazing happened.

Okay? So start with me in verse 3. And God said, Let there be light, and there was light. Jump down to verse 6. And God said, Let there be an expanse in the midst of the water. Let it separate the waters from the waters.

And God made the expanse and separated the waters that were under the expanse from the waters that were above the expanse. And it was so. Jump down to verse 11. And God said, Let the earth sprout vegetations, plants, yielding seed, and fruit trees bearing fruit, in which is their seed, each according to its kind, on the earth.

And it was so. All of this beautiful vegetation sprang forth. The apple, the orange, the pineapple, all this amazing stuff that we get to enjoy and eat all of the beautiful trees, the evergreens. I mean, He created the light.

And so this can be seen in the sky and the atmosphere. Jump down to verse 14. And God said, Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day from the night, and let them be for signs and for seasons and for days and years.

So God created the massive fireball that we call the sun that heats our planet and gives us light. He created the billions and trillions of stars and planets. And we're going to look in a minute, why did He even create all those stars?

He didn't need to do that. But He spoke and something very powerful happened. These fireballs proceeded from the mouth of God. Jump down to verse 20. And God said, Let the water swarm with swarms of living creatures and let birds fly above the earth and across the expanse.

And so God created all of these amazing life forms. I love to watch the birds as they come to my feeder in the winter. They're just amazing. God's creation of what He has done. Jump down to verse 26. God said, Let the earth bring forth living creatures according to their kinds, livestock and creeping things and beasts of the earth according to their kinds.

And it was so. The creative power of God made all of these amazing animal creations. I don't know, anybody enjoy going to the zoo and looking at all the different amazing animals that God made? All the color patterns, each unique.

It's just mind-boggling what God has made. You see, His creative word reflects His beauty and His glory and His wisdom. That He could make the elephant and He could make the ant. I mean, everything in between.

He is so amazing. Jump down to verse 26. Then God said, Let us make man in our image after our likeness and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the heavens, over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.

So He created man in His own image, in the image of God. He created him male and female. He created them. He created humans unique. It says we are created in the image and likeness of God. Really, our deepest purpose is He created us to be His sons and daughters.

If you look up Ephesians 1, verse 4, it's very clear that He predetermined this before He created anything. That He would create us in His image and likeness. And with that comes the ability to speak words and hear words and understand because God wants to speak to His children.

He wants us to be in personal relationship. When God speaks, amazing things happen. When God says, Let there be, it happens. Elohim Amar, the God who speaks. Look at Psalm 33, verses 6 and 9 with me. Some more scripture on God's creative word.

Remember that His creative word is to reveal His beauty and His glory and His wisdom. Psalm 33, verses 6 through 9. By the word of the Lord the heavens were made, and by the breath of His mouth all their host.

He gathers the waters of the sea as a heap. He puts the deep in storehouses. Let all the earth fear the Lord. Let the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of Him, for He spoke and it came to be. He commanded and it stood firm.

This is our Father. This is our Lord and our Savior. Jesus, as we're going to see, He's the word. And that creation came through the word, through the logos. Look at Hebrews chapter 11 with me. And you guys know I like to flip through the Bible.

So be ready. I got some scripture. But you know, hey, it's the word that has something to say. And that's where the blessing and the power is. So I just want to let the word speak this morning to us. I love how Don teaches us that he goes through a book of the Bible at a time.

And sometimes when he has to cover certain passages, I always think, boy, I'm glad I'm not trying to teach on that one. So to preach the way Don does, that can be very challenging. You know, I teach more topical, which, you know, is easier, really.

So thanks for what you do, Don, with that. Hebrews 11 .3. By faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God. He spoke it into existence. We believe that. It makes sense. When you see a beautiful painting, you know there was an artist behind it.

When you see a building, you know that there was a builder. When we see creation, it proclaims that there is a beautiful divine creator, a beautiful artist, and that we can know this artist. So that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible.

Wow. Okay, we can create things, can't we, as human beings? But we can't take nothing and make it into something. But that's the power of God's creative word. He is able to do that. He is so amazing and so powerful.

This word created, I looked it up in my Strong's Concordance. I won't even try to say the Greek word. It's so long and strange. I know I would just butcher it, but it means to complete thoroughly. When God speaks, it's done.

His word carries authority and power. So again, just think of creation and the vast universe and all the beauty that's on this earth that he made from the beautiful flower to the trees, the animals, to human beings.

It just proclaims that God is amazing. Psalm 19 .1 says, The heavens declare the glory of God. What are those stars supposed to do out there? Just proclaim the glory of God, to show his beauty, to show his handiwork.

And so his creation communicates his beauty and his glory and his wisdom that God could make the earth and the ecosystem and design it so that the waters evaporate from the oceans and turn to clouds and water the earth.

To take a little tiny seed and a mighty oak tree can spring forth from it. This just shows us that God is an amazing artist, that he is the divine builder, the divine creator. Knowing God's creative word, knowing his power, I pray that God will create things in my life and in the lives of the loved ones that I pray for every day and the lives of the young people that I pray for every day.

One of my ongoing prayers, and I pray this daily, it comes from Psalm 51, verse 10. Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me. I'm asking God to do that because he's the mighty creator, and I know how troubled my heart can become and that it's not always pure.

So I pray this prayer over my family every day. Create in me a clean heart, O God, renew a right spirit within me. Psalm 51, verse 10. I also pray this every day. Father, form Jesus in me. Form Jesus in me.

That comes from Galatians 4, verse 19. I pray that over my loved ones. I pray every day, Father, conform me to the image of your Son. Create me into the kind of man that you want me to be, because I know of God's creative power, and it has to be a work of God in our hearts.

I'm praying for some family members that don't know Christ, and here's how I pray for them, from 2 Corinthians 5 .17. If anyone is in Christ, they are a new creation. I pray, Father, and I name the person's name, create them into a new creation in Christ Jesus.

I pray that over people I know that don't know Christ, that God, in his creative power, would help them become a new creation in Christ Jesus. Number two, his words are powerful, and this is to communicate his strength and his ability to do all things.

God's word is powerful. We see that through creation. Turn with me to Jeremiah, chapter 32. Jeremiah, if you've read the book of Jeremiah and you know anything about his life, he had it really rough. He was called to a very difficult mission.

The nation of Israel was falling apart, worshiping idols, sacrificing children to these idols. I mean, it was just horrible what was happening, what was going to happen to the nation. Jeremiah knew these things.

But God, as you read Jeremiah, God would speak these words to Jeremiah, who, as the prophet, would record them for us, so we have them today. If you look at verse 17, as the revelation of God unfolded to Jeremiah and he learned more and more of who his Father in Heaven was, under the inspiration of God, he makes this proclamation, verse 17, "'Ah, Lord God, it is You who have made the heavens and the earth "'by Your great power and by Your outstretched arm.

"'Nothing is too hard for You. "'Nothing is too difficult for our Heavenly Father.'". I have a little book in my library and it's called, Your God is Too Small. And I think for most of us, our God is too small.

We need a deeper revelation of His power and what He can do, and we need to believe God for more. Because He is a mighty, awesome God. He is still a God of miracles and wonders. I love how God is described in Psalm 77, verse 14.

It says, "'You are the God who works wonders. "'You have made known Your might among Your peoples.'". You are the God who works wonders. He still works miracles today. Don't be afraid to pray for Him.

When you have a loved one who is sick, pray for their healing. He can do it. You know, He works in mysterious ways. He doesn't always heal because we pray, but He can. You know, my dad, I think I shared this last week, I prayed for him for many, many years that he would come to Christ.

At the age of 78, he became a child of God. And I saw a transformation in him at that age, and I'll get to see him again in heaven. God used cancer in my mom's life to bring her to His feet. And she was ready when He called her home.

And she got healed, but she got healed in heaven. A friend of mine, Chris Jepack, some of you might know him. He's from Mattawa. He was filled with cancer. And he called his elders. He called, this was back in the days of Westwood Baptist where I went at one time, called the elders in, asked them if they would anoint him with oil and pray over him.

That's not what they typically did at my old church. Sure, we'd pray for healing, but it was only, you know, healing was his only hope, really. And they came in and they prayed over him and anointed him with oil in the name of Jesus.

And he went in for surgery because they were going to try to remove as much cancer as they could. And when they opened him up, the cancer was gone. Amazing. He showed up at my house. I didn't even recognize him.

And he told me his story. He, God, is still a God of wonders and miracles. And His Word is powerful. Pray about your finances. Pray about the heartaches of your family. Pray about that lost loved one that you want in heaven with you because God wants that loved one in heaven too.

There's still hope for this nation because God is a God of wonders and miracles. We need to be praying for our leaders. We need to be praying for this nation. We need to be praying for what's happening around the world because God's family is everywhere on this planet.

And I pray every day. I say, Father, help us to humble ourselves and pray and seek your face that we would turn from our wicked ways and that you would heal our lands because He is able to do it. He is able.

He can bring revival. We're not too far gone as a nation. Maybe the devil would like you to think so that you just give up and quit praying and quit trying to advance the kingdom of God in our community.

He's still a life changer. He still raises up from the dead. He takes a dead man like I was at the age of 20, hooked on alcohol and drugs and just a wreck, and He makes me into a new man. That's His power to change.

That's who He is. His Word is also living and life-giving. Look with me again. Let's go back to Hebrews 1. So in John 1, Jesus is called the Logos, which means Word. And it starts out, In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

The same was in the beginning with God. And then you jump down to verse 14, and it says, The Word became flesh and dwelt among us. The Word is living. Jesus is the living Word of God. The Word of God is powerful.

This Logos, this Word, this Jesus, He's Creator. That becomes very clear in the New Testament. Hebrews 1, look at what it says about our Savior. Verses 1 through 3. So we're looking at Elohim Amar, which simply means the God who speaks.

God said. It's also translated to tell, to promise, to command. That's how that word is used. It's used over 5 ,000 times in the Old Testament. That when God speaks, amazing things happen. And here we see that God is the God who speaks.

Look at verses 1 through 3. Long ago at many times, in many ways, God spoke. There it is. God spoke to our fathers by the prophets. But in these last days, He has spoken to us by His Son, whom He appointed the heir of all things, through whom also He created the world.

There it is. Jesus, Creator. He is the radiance of the glory of God, the exact imprint of His nature, and He upholds the universe by the word of His power. After making purifications for sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high.

That's Jesus, the Living Word. The Word of God brings life. The Word of God brings us Jesus. The very expression of God. If you want to know how God wants you to live, study Jesus' life. That's how He wants us to live.

He shows us so clearly. He wants us to be like Jesus. Through Jesus, the Word of Life, comes the gift of eternal life. Right? What a blessing. I'm never going to die. Well, this old earthly body, and I don't want to take this body with me to heaven.

Right now, I've got this nasty poison ivy on my arm. Oh, I don't even... It's not good, okay? This body is aging, right? It's meant for the earth. It's not meant for heaven, but this guy living here, and you as a child of God, we have eternal life.

He gave it to us. We'll never die. You know, for the believer, the death of the body is just our birthday into eternity. And so we don't have to fear it. We don't have to fear aging. We're just getting closer to heaven.

He'll give us the grace. That's one thing I've seen. That He gives grace when needed. But this living, this Word brings life. It's life-giving. You know, my mind always goes to the story of Lazarus. He's been in the grave for four days, and Jesus purposely delays so that He can teach everyone that He is the resurrection and the life.

And he who believes in Him will never die. That's what He said right before He raised Lazarus from the dead. Four days in the tomb. That's His power to give life. Lastly, I want to talk about His written Word.

That this written Word is to communicate the revelation of who He is. Nature, creation does that. But this Book gives us His names and His attributes and who He is. This is a deep, deep revelation of God.

This is where we're going to get the clearest view of who He is. And we need to be going through the whole Book. You know, even though we're under the New Covenant, the Old Testament is so valuable because it reveals who our Father is and what He can do and His names that are in that Old Testament.

The amazing written Word of God. And just a brief note on how we came to have this treasure. Look at 2 Peter with me. 2 Peter 1. So I get asked all the time by kids, Bill, how do you know the Bible is the Word of God?

And I have some really good truths to answer that question. I think this Book has stood the test of time. All the prophecies that have been fulfilled, there's many powerful evidences that this is the Word of God.

And so I always want to explain how we came about getting the Word of God. There's so many misconceptions when it comes to the Bible and what it is. So Peter, he was the friend of Jesus. He was an eyewitness of all that Jesus did.

Saw His beauty, His glory, the resurrection. And Peter writes these words for us. We're going to pick it up in v. 16 of chapter 1. It's what Peter says. He says, "...witnesses of His majesty. For when He received honor and glory from God the Father, and the voice was born to Him by the majestic glory, this is My beloved Son in whom I am well pleased.

We ourselves heard this very voice born from Heaven, for we were with Him on the holy mountain.". Wow, what would have that been like to hear the voice of God? I can't imagine that. Like to hear a voice thundering from Heaven?

And yet people have had that experience. God could do it today if He chose to. I mean, you can read some amazing stories of how Muslims are coming to Christ. Some amazing, miraculous things. Like Jesus coming to them in dreams and things like that.

He's still doing some unusual things. But don't expect to hear a voice from Heaven. We might worry about you if you tell us you're hearing voices from Heaven. Peter says, you know, we had that opportunity, but look at what he says in verse 19.

"...And we have the prophetic word more fully confirmed, to which you do well to pay attention to us, to a lamp shining in a dark place until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts.".

He said, yeah, I heard the voice of God. But you have something more sure and more confirmed than if you heard a voice from God. And it is the word of the prophets. And that's what we have in this book.

Old Testament and New Testament. It is the word of the prophets given to us for our benefits. Verse 20, "...knowing this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone's own interpretation.

For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.". The prophets were given the message and told to write. And that's what they did.

God had a very clear criteria to determine who was a true prophet also. And back in the day of the writing of the Scriptures, it's not like today where people will stand up and say, God spoke to me, and then they give the message, and you're wondering, wow, did they really hear that from God?

Because if the prophecy did not come to pass 100%, they were to be executed. I mean, God was very careful making known who the true prophets were. And it was passed down from generation to generation and given to us.

And now we have this treasure. It wasn't that many years ago where only the wealthy people could afford to have copies of the Word of God. And now we're blessed to have it in a book, the full revelation.

Why? Because God knows our memory. Anybody ever play the game telephone? You know that game? You have two teams. You line up, right? Same team gets the exact same message. And they have to whisper it one person at a time.

And until it gets to the end of the line, whatever team is closest to the original message wins. What always happens to the original message? It's completely changed by the time it gets to the end. It's crazy.

And so God had to put it in black and white so that we couldn't change it. So that we would have it, we would be able to open it, and He would be able to speak to us and communicate to us. This written Word is to communicate the revelation of who He is and His divine will for our lives.

How should we then live? It's all right here in black and white. We just need to be in this Word. This Word is transforming. It's life-changing. 2 Timothy 3 .16 -17 says that it's God-inspired and that it's profitable that it will build us up in wisdom and equip us to do the works of God.

Just in closing, for my application, I want to look at the example of Mary and Martha. Just a short little story, and we'll close with this, okay? Because we know that God is the God who speaks. I think that's one of the reasons why we come together.

We want to hear His Word, right? His voice. We want Him to speak into our lives. And I challenge you to be daily asking God to speak into your life. I don't know if that's a practice of yours. If it's not, I challenge you, make that a practice.

Like, God, speak into my life today. And at some point, open His book and say, Father, speak to me. Come to me to see Your beauty and glory. Talk to me. And then go into your day with that mindset. God, just speak to me.