6- Jehovah Mekkoddishkom (I am the LORD who sanctifies thee) by Pastor Sam Blakely

Jehovah-Mekkoddishken
Exodus 32:12-13

I am the Lord that sanctifies you.

The names of our God can and should become special friends to us, once we learn them and use them in our prayer time with our Lord Jesus.



For example:
A.  Jehovah - The Self-existent God
      Exodus 3:13-15
13 And Moses said unto God, Behold, when I come unto the children of Israel, and shall say unto them, The God of your fathers hath sent me unto you; and they shall say to me, What is his name? what shall I say unto them?
14 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.
15 And God said moreover unto Moses, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, the Lord God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, hath sent me unto you: this is my name for ever, and this is my memorial unto all generations.

B.  El-Shaddai - the all-sufficient God or the Lord God Almighty.
Genesis 17:1 And when Abram was ninety years old and nine, the Lord appeared to Abram, and said unto him, I am the Almighty God; walk before me, and be thou perfect.

C.  Jehovah-Jireh - The Lord God our provider.
Genesis 22:7-8
7 And Isaac spake unto Abraham his father, and said, My father: and he said, Here am I, my son. And he said, Behold the fire and the wood: but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?
8 And Abraham said, My son, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering: so they went both of them together.

D.  Jesus-Emmanuel - God with us, or our wonderful counselor.
Matthew 1:23 Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us.

But this name which is not so familiar to us is:  Jehovah-Mekoddishkem -- The Lord who sanctifies you.


1.  Exodus 19:2-6
2 For they were departed from Rephidim, and were come to the desert of Sinai, and had pitched in the wilderness; and there Israel camped before the mount.
3 And Moses went up unto God, and the Lord called unto him out of the mountain, saying, Thus shalt thou say to the house of Jacob, and tell the children of Israel;
4 Ye have seen what I did unto the Egyptians, and how I bare you on eagles' wings, and brought you unto myself.
5 Now therefore, if ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people: for all the earth is mine:
6 And ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation. These are the words which thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel.

In other words, God is saying to Israel, "I saved you Israel, by my mighty hand.  I redeemed you, and now you are a set apart people.  You belong to me."
1.  Exodus 31:12-17
12 And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying,
13 Speak thou also unto the children of Israel, saying, Verily my sabbaths ye shall keep: for it is a sign between me and you throughout your generations; that ye may know that I am the Lord that doth sanctify you.
14 Ye shall keep the sabbath therefore; for it is holy unto you: every one that defileth it shall surely be put to death: for whosoever doeth any work therein, that soul shall be cut off from among his people.
15 Six days may work be done; but in the seventh is the sabbath of rest, holy to the Lord: whosoever doeth any work in the sabbath day, he shall surely be put to death.
16 Wherefore the children of Israel shall keep the sabbath, to observe the sabbath throughout their generations, for a perpetual covenant.
17 It is a sign between me and the children of Israel for ever: for in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day he rested, and was

Notice the phrase in verse 13 -- "that you may know that I am Jehovah Mekoddishkem, the Lord that sanctifies you."

Is not that the very words He tells us today?  I Thessalonians 4:1-4
1 Furthermore then we beseech you, brethren, and exhort you by the Lord Jesus, that as ye have received of us how ye ought to walk and to please God, so ye would abound more and more.
2 For ye know what commandments we gave you by the Lord Jesus.
 
3 For this is the will of God, even your sanctification, that ye should abstain from fornication:
4 That every one of you should know how to possess his vessel in sanctification and honour;

St. Paul tells us that we are sanctified by God the Holy Spirit.  Romans 15:16  That I should be the minister of Jesus Christ to the Gentiles, ministering the gospel of God, that the offering up of the Gentiles might be acceptable, being sanctified by the Holy Ghost.

In John 17:17 we are told we are sanctified by the truth of God's words.

In I Thessalonians 5:23 St. Paul tells us that the very God of peace sanctifies us wholly.  That our whole spirit, soul, and body may be blameless at the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ.

In I Timothy 4:5 that the very food we eat is sanctified by the word of God and prayer.
To sanctify means to be made holy.
A.  Greek: Hagiasmos -- it means to become separated to God which is initial sanctification.
1.  I Corinthians 1:30 But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption:

2.  II Thessalonians 2:13  But we are bound to give thanks alway to God for you, brethren beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth:

3.  I Peter 1:2  Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ: Grace unto you, and peace, be multiplied.

Sanctification also describes the course of life we are to be living.
1.  I Thessalonians 4:3-4
3 For this is the will of God, even your sanctification, that ye should abstain from fornication:
4 That every one of you should know how to possess his vessel in sanctification and honour;



2.  Romans 6:19-22
19 I speak after the manner of men because of the infirmity of your flesh: for as ye have yielded your members servants to uncleanness and to iniquity unto iniquity; even so now yield your members servants to righteousness unto holiness.
20 For when ye were the servants of sin, ye were free from righteousness.
21 What fruit had ye then in those things whereof ye are now ashamed? for the end of those things is death.
22 But now being made free from sin, and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life.

3.  Hebrews 12:14 Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord:

St. Paul tells us that God desires to establish our hearts unblamable in holiness.
1.  I Thessalonians 3:13  To the end he may stablish your hearts unblameable in holiness before God, even our Father, at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all his saints.

Which is entire sanctification, taken from the Greek word "Holokeros", which means to become complete and sound in every area of your life.

The term progressive sanctification comes from the Greek word, "Holokeria" which means to continuously grow in grace unto maturity.
1.  Acts 3:16 And his name through faith in his name hath made this man strong, whom ye see and know: yea, the faith which is by him hath given him this perfect soundness in the presence of you all.

2.  James 1:4-5
4 But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.
5 If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.

Also, we find the Hebrew word "Shalom" meaning not only peace, but also wholeness or to be made perfect.
1.  Genesis 17:1 And when Abram was ninety years old and nine, the Lord appeared to Abram, and said unto him, I am the Almighty God; walk before me, and be thou perfect.

2.  II Peter 3:14  Wherefore, beloved, seeing that ye look for such things, be diligent that ye may be found of him in peace, without spot, and blameless.

In closing:  I personally believe every believer in Christ Jesus needs to discover Jehovah-Mekoddishkem -- The Lord who sanctifies us -- in our every day walk with our Lord Jesus Christ.

Thank you for allowing me to teach these lessons to each of you. May God always bless and keep you forever, until He comes for us.

Pastor Sam

5- Jehovah-Nissi (The LORD is my banner) by Anita Wilson

Jehovah-Nissi  -  The LORD Is My Banner

(A survey of Exodus 17:8-16 by Anita Wilson)

v. 8  Amalek was the _Grandson of _Esau_  which made the

Amalekites natural blood enemies.

 Esau and Jacob were twins. Their story is told in Genesis.  Esau sold his birthright for a bowl of bean soup. As a result they separated paths. Jacob later became the founding father of Israel.  His name was changed to Israel.  Each of his 12 sons became the father of a tribe of all the Jewish nation we know now.  Jacob and Esau later reconciled but the Amalek must not have shared in his grandfather’s feelings.  His nomadic tribe made their living off of raiding settlements and commentaries say they killed for pleasure.  When the Israelites became a target, they remained in Amalek’s sites and in Exodus 17:8-16 the Amalekites will be in a battle that changes history.

v9.

Joshua’s name means The Lord is Our Deliverance.   Joshua’s name in

Greek is Jesus.  (Therefore, Jesus’ name means Our Deliverance)

   Joshua’s name is another example of the importance the Hebrew’s placed on names.  True to his parent’s dreams Joshua was indeed part of God’s plan for the deliverance of Israel.  This is the first time Joshua is mentioned and the very beginning of his career as the leader of Israel’s army.

Q.  How prepared to battle do you think the men of Israel were?

• They had spent generations in slavery.
• But they were an organized workforce with a leadership structure.
• Men with leadership skills and physical strength.
• No military training

Q.  Why did Moses take the staff of God with him to the top of the hill?

• Given to him by God
• Showed to transfer God’s power through Moses
• Used in miracles
• Symbolic of God’s presence.

v10.

Three men on the hill.   Moses the leader of the nation.  Aaron  a priest and Hur just a regular guy willing to serve, perhaps Moses’ brother-in-law but history doesn’t know for sure.

I have another image of three men on a hill, that I can bring to mind when I need encouragement.

Two of the three men on the hill were recognizable leaders.  But Hur is just a citizen. We don’t know who he is.  There is speculation that he is Moses’ brother-in-law but no historical fact. So he is willing and selected for this task.  

v.11

The battle was being won by the staff of God through his servant Moses’ hands more than the sword in the hands of Joshua and the army.

Imagine being in the middle of the battle and you could look up and see Moses with that staff.  The staff that brought the plagues to Egypt and your Freedom, the staff that parted the Red Sea, the staff that brought water from stone, the staff in the hand of Moses that has become a symbol, an icon to fight for, a banner over the army.

Q.  What are some of the words you use to describe a spiritual struggle in your life?

• struggle
• fight
• oppression

All negative words, or words that are indicative of fight, struggle, physical weariness.

“Praying work, if done with due intenseness of mind and vigour of affection, will be found hard work, and, though the spirit be willing, the flesh will be weak.”­­­­  Matthew Henry Commentary

We tend to separate our physical selves from our spiritual selves.  But we are intertwined.  Our spiritual battles will affect us physically.  If God has placed a burden on you and you haven’t lost sleep over it, you aren’t taking it serious enough!  If you have not fasted and prayed over a stong hold, you have not prayed enough

v12.

In order for there to be victory it wasn’t enough for Moses to have companionship; He had to have his friends willing to go into spiritual battle with him.

Having our friends beside us is not enough.  Sometimes we must engage them in our struggles.  Ask them to lift our hands for us, perhaps literally.   Fast and pray.  Lose sleep with us.  Actively put together a battle plan if you will.

v13.

And So…..  Because of…

Because of all the previous things Joshua won this battle and introduced to Amalek what a fight with God’s Israelites would be like.

.v.14  

This is the first mention of written language in the Bible.

Moses is the accepted author of the Pentateuch, the first 5 books of the Bible.  Also called the

Torah which is actually the parchment or scroll upon which it is written.

It could be that this is the very beginning of when Moses started to write and journal about the journey.  It could be the first written story of the Bible.

v.15

The ultimate victory is the Lord’s

Moses, Aaron and Hur holding up Moses’ arms with the staff was a great symbol.  A banner.  Moses commemorated that banner by giving all the praise to God where it belonged.  The memorial he built he named The Lord is my Banner.  Jehovah-Nissi.

Q. If you were to build a monument to God based on your experience of him this past month, what would it look like and what would you name it?

4- Elohim and Jehovah-Rapha (The LORD who heals thee) by Pastor Sam Blakely

Elohim/Jehovah-Rapha
by: Pastor Sam

Intro:  one of the first things you and I ever learn about one another is our first names.

Therefore, I ask -- Does God have a first name?  



Probably not, or at least not like we have; but He does have a name that was used first in the written Word.

Genesis 1:1  In the beginning "God" created the heavens and the earth.

    1.  The Hebrew word God here is the beautiful word -- Elohim.

2.  In fact, Elohim is the primary name for God throughout the Old Testament.

I.  Just how important are these names of our God to us today?  Well, let's look at some scriptures and see if we can answer that question.  

1.  Proverbs 18:10  (NASB) The name of the Lord is a strong tower;  The righteous runs into it and is safe.

2.  In the Lord's Prayer

a.  John 17:3 (NASB)  This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent

3.  Philippians 3:10  (NASB)  that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death;

This, my friends, is most important

A.  Knowing  your God should mean everything to you.  In fact, knowing our God truly is:

1.  The difference between victory or defeat.

2.  The difference between rest or constant turmoil.

3.  The difference between an abundant life and a life of barren               emptiness.

4.  The difference between deliverance or captivity.

5.  The difference of finding a refuge or living as a fugitive.

6.  It's the difference between eternal life or eternal death.

7.  The fact of the matter is, it's the difference between Heaven or Hell.

The promise of God is revealed to us in:

A.  II Timothy 2:15  Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.

Notice what David tells us in:

A. Psalm 20:7 (NASB)  Some boast in chariots and some in horses,               but we will boast in the name of the Lord, our God.

1.  What does it mean to "boast in the name of the Lord?"

2.  It means to:

a.  Have confidence in

b.  To trust in His names

c.  To know His names -- is to know Him.

d.  To have a settled confidence in Him as your God.

B.  All of us have our times of trials and temptations, and at times, days of trouble.  But notice what the Psalmist tells us in:

1.  Psalm 50:15 (NASB)  Call upon Me in the day of trouble;
         I shall rescue you, and you will honor Me.

II.  How can the name Elohim serve as a strong tower in the lives we live today?

A.  Just ask yourself these questions:

1.  Have you ever struggled with your self image?

2.  Have you ever wept over the Spiritual condition of your family?

3.  Have  you or one of your family members ever resented who you or they are in the struggles of life?

4.  How about your own reflection in your mirror, or your own physical limitations.

  THEN

Elohim truly is there proving to you that He is your strong tower.

Remember:  Without Elohim as  your own personal strong tower, none of these other names  of God will have any menaing to you.

    NOW:

Jehovah-Rapha

     The Lord who heals.

I.  Jeremiah 8:22 (NASB)  Is there no balm in Gilead?  Is there no physician there?  Why then has not the health of the daughter of my people been restored?

A.  Gilead was a city known for its healing ointment.
1.  It was a healing balm that had both medicinal and cosmetic properties.

2.  But Jeremiah knew that his nation needed more than a topical salve, more than a bandaid.

3.  His nation's wounds reached all the way down into their very souls.

4.  These people were critically ill because of their personal sins.

5.  Jeremiah knew there was only one who could heal his people. He knew there was only one who could bring back health and beauty to his sin-sick nation.

6.  But the question was, would they turn to Him?

II.  From the time of the Israelite's journey through the wilderness until now, God has always been the Lord who heals.

A.  Exodus 15:22-26 (NASB)                                                                                                    22 Then Moses led Israel from the Red Sea, and they went out into the wilderness of Shur; and they went three days in the wilderness and found no water.                                                                                                       23 When they came to Marah, they could not drink the waters of Marah, for they were bitter; therefore it was named Marah.                                        24 So the people grumbled at Moses, saying, “What shall we drink?”    25 Then he cried out to the Lord, and the Lord showed him a tree; and he threw it into the waters, and the waters became sweet. There He made for them a statute and regulation, and there He tested them.                         26 And He said, “If you will give earnest heed to the voice of the Lord your God, and do what is right in His sight, and give ear to His commandments, and keep all His statutes, I will put none of the diseases on you which I have put on the Egyptians; for I, the Lord, am your healer.”

1.  Think about the day you were saved.

a.  On that very day you received the greatest healing that has ever taken place in your life.

b.  Look at these notations in Exodus 15:25  And the Lord showed Moses a tree.

(1)  Genesis 2:9 in the center of the garden of Eden there   was -- the tree of life.

(2)  Revelation 2:7 -- we shall eat of the tree of life.

III.  On March 10, 1968 in our bedroom, I discovered who Jehovah-Rapha was.

A.  At first, I only knew Him as Jesus Christ, my Savior and Lord.

B.  But, as I studied His written Word, I soon learned He truly is Jehovah/Rapha.

1.  There in that bedroom I found the one and only Balm of Gilead.

2.  He was and still is the healer of our sin-sick souls.

3.  He truly is the Great Physician.

4.  His name, Jehovah-Rapha, the Lord Jesus Christ, the true Prince of Peace.

a.  Galatians 3:13-14                                                                                      13 Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree:

14 That the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ; that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.

 b.  I Peter 2:24-25                                                                                           24 Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed.

25 For ye were as sheep going astray; but are now returned unto the Shepherd and Bishop of your souls.

C.  My dear friends there is but one physician who can heal all the illnesses of our souls.                                                                                                   1.  Therefore, we only need to look to the Lord our God and trust in His most awesome name.

a.  Isaiah 50:10 (NASB)                                                           Who is among you that fears the Lord,
That obeys the voice of His servant,
That walks in darkness and has no light?
Let him trust in the name of the Lord and rely on his God.

IV.  There is nothing wrong in seeking out other doctors.                                                

A.  But, I also believe we are to bow before our own Jehovah-Rapha, and as       we do so, many times He may lead us to use other:

1.  Doctors

2. Hospitals

3.  Medicines

4.  And counselors as His instruments of healing.

B.  Yet, all these other instruments are powerless without our Great Physician's power.

1.  Matthew 6:33   But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.

In closing:  All of us need to realize that sin affects our spirit.

a. Psalm 38:18 (NASB)    For I confess my iniquity;
I am full of anxiety because of my sin.

One of our daily prayers ought to be drawn from:

a.  Psalm 139:23-24 (NASB)                                                              23 Search me, O God, and know my heart;
Try me and know my anxious thoughts;
24 And see if there be any hurtful way in me,
And lead me in the everlasting way.

Let me ask you tonight these questions:

Are you in distress?

Are you troubles?

Are you weary?

Are you trying to make it on your own?

Then why not right now run to Elohim who is your strong tower and seek the healing that is found in Jehovah-Rapha who truly is the Lord who heals you.