Names of God – Part 2 Lawson and Aaron Perdue

Praise the Lord, friends, and welcome to the broadcast. I’m so glad that you’re with us today. We’re beginning this series on the names of God, and we’re going to be talking about today the true nature of God, and that the Lord is our provider. He always has been. He always will be. He was always the same. And you can understand who God is when you go to the scriptures. Be blessed. Friends, it’s so good to have you with us today. And I’m so happy to have Aaron. We’re actually sharing from his teaching this week on the names of God. And when we look at the names of God, we really begin to see the true nature of God. And if you don’t understand who God is, then it’s going to be hard for you to receive what God wants to do in your life. But when you begin to understand who the scripture says that God is. God’s promises come from his nature. And then you look into the life of Jesus, Jesus actually is a perfect representation of the Father. He is the visible representation of the invisible God. And you go into the epistles and you find out Christ is in you, and you actually have the nature of God in you as a born-again believer. And it makes it much easier for you when you understand who God is to begin to receive what God has to give.

 

  I like something that you have always said too about faith, and true faith is knowing God. If you’re going to have real faith that changes your life, that puts you in that place of destiny where God wants you, it starts with having a relationship with God. And God wants to have a real, vibrant, life-giving relationship with you. And the way that you have that relationship with God is through Jesus. And God loves you so much. A lot of people have a wrong image of God. They have a wrong representation of God.

 

   Right.

 

  And when they think of God, they think of him as being something that he is not. That’s why I like studying the names of God. These redemptive names of God found throughout the Old Testament revealed in the person of Jesus, and these promises are still available to us as believers. Because these names, God has called himself these names. This means this is who God is. When God says, “I am Jehovah Jireh or Yahweh Jireh,” he’s saying, “I am the Lord your provider.” That means God is not one who takes away. Even today Christians sing songs saying that you give and you take. And God doesn’t take away. He takes away sickness. He takes away disease. He removes iniquity, but he’s not a thief. He doesn’t steal from you. He doesn’t impoverish people. He’s a provider.

 

  Amen. That is the gospel truth. And you know, people sing that, the song comes from Job, that when Job was saying that, job was not inspired. And if you read the context of what’s going on, when Job says the Lord gives and the Lord takes away, what was really going on was God had given to him, but it was the devil taking away. And if you read the context of the scripture, the scripture reveals that. But people just get emotional because they feel something. And your feelings doesn’t mean something’s true. And we need to go with the word of God over our feelings. Quit being led by our emotions and start being led by the truth of the Word of God and led by the Spirit of God into the truth of God. so we can receive what God wants us to receive.

 

  I want to say something right now too. ‘Cause some of you know that God doesn’t necessarily take away or God doesn’t do these things, but you think that God allows these things. And I want to say something about that phrase and that way of thinking. I was actually just talking to one of my best friends about this. He was saying, “Well, God doesn’t do this, but God allows it.” And I said, “Well, even if you use the word ‘allow,’ it places responsibility on God. That God allows people to die at a young age, or God allows wars to happen.” Some people think that, but that’s actually a lie.

 

  Right.

 

  That’s actually a lie. And if you say, “Well, God allows these things,” it’s placing blame on God in some sense. Recently, several months ago, there was a young man who was deranged and shot some people and killed them. And the courts actually tried the parents and found the parents guilty for not stopping their son. They didn’t do the crime, they didn’t commit murder themselves, but they allowed it. So they’re now in prison. The parents are in prison because they allowed this to happen. So if you say that God allows things to happen, these evil things to happen, you’re putting blame on God. God does not allow evil to happen. God is not the author of sin. He’s not the author of disease. He’s not the author of death. He’s not the author of evil. God is purely good. He is purely light. And he’s allowed humanity to have a free will. He’s allowed me and you to have authority. And some people use their free will for very wrongful things.

 

  Right.

 

  Very evil things. They allow the enemy to come in and do his will. God does not allow it. People allow bad things to happen.

 

  Right. You go back to creation. God gave dominion over the earth to humanity, to mankind. And then Satan came, right, lied to Eve, lied to Adam, and actually usurped their authority. Now, what Jesus did is Jesus came to bring us back into a position of authority. And we as believers have authority over the works of the devil. But that doesn’t mean… See, this is the challenge. Satan is still the God of this world or this evil age, but Satan is not lord. Jesus is Lord of the earth, always has been, always will be. But Satan is god of this present evil world’s system. And there’s a time coming when the kingdoms of this world in Revelation 11 become the kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ, and he shall reign forever and ever. And so a lot of people have blamed God for things that are actually the works of the devil. And when you understand the teaching of the Bible, Jesus said, “It’s the thief that comes to steal, kill, and destroy, but I have come to give you life, and that life more abundantly.” He was explaining his nature in John 10, verse 10, James says this in James chapter 1, in verse 17. “Every good and every perfect gift comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.” In other words, if it’s not good and not perfect, it could not come from God, because that’s all he has to give.

 

  So we know that from studying God’s names, that, first of all, he is the Lord who provides.

 

  Yes.

 

  And we see this revealed in the life of Abram. And I like to start at the beginning of Abram’s encounter with God. It says in Genesis 12, starting in verse 1 through 3, it says, “Now the LORD.” And that’s LORD all caps. That means it’s talking about Jehovah, Yahweh, YHWH. “So the LORD,” all caps, “said to Abram, ‘Get out of your country, from your family, from your father’s house to a land that I will show you. I will make you a great nation. I will bless you and make your name great, and you shall be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you. I will curse those who curse you. And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.'” So when God spoke to Abram, he spoke blessing to him. God wants to bless you. God does not want to curse you. He does not want to defeat you. He wants to bless you. He wants to bless you so much that you can be a blessing to other people as well.

 

  Amen. And that’s what he told Abraham. And so a lot of people just don’t have the proper image of God. And the fact is they don’t get their image of God from the scripture, or they get it from just the Old Testament. And you know what? They don’t really understand the context of what is happening sometimes there. And so they’ve got this image that God is not only good, that God has a mixed nature. And you’ve gotta realize that God is always good. And Jesus reveals that. For instance, a lot of people think that God puts sickness on people. We’ll study this week and find out that God has called himself Jehovah Rafa, the Lord our healer. And he said, “I’ll put none of these evil diseases upon you,” so on and so forth. And when you look at the life of Jesus, there is not one person that Jesus ever put sickness on, period. In fact, there’s 14 times in the New Testament that it’s written, “They brought unto him all that were sick with every kind of disease,” so on and so forth, “and he healed them all.” He healed them everyone. And so Jesus reveals the true nature of God, but a lot of people don’t understand the true nature of God. A lot of people have a skewed image of God. And if you have the wrong picture of God, it’s going to be hard for you to receive what God wants to bring.

 

  And some people have the wrong mentality too. Like they just have this mentality that they’re defeated, that they’re victims, that there’s nothing they can do to get out of their situation. You need to have a blessed mentality. I love the story of Abraham because whenever God spoke to him, he always spoke blessing, right? I love when Melchizedek comes out and meets Abraham, or Abram at this time in Genesis 14. Melchizedek, who is a type of Christ, comes out. He’s the priest king of Salem. It says in Genesis 14:18 that he brought out bread and wine. He’s the priest of God most high. And he blessed him and said, “Blessed be Abram of God most high, the possessor of heaven and earth. And blessed be God most high, who has delivered your enemies into your hand.” And Abram then gave a tithe of all. Notice that Abram, the blessing came first. And because Abram believed that he was blessed, he then gave a tithe. That was his response to faith, right? I’m a tither not because I’m trying to get blessed. I’m a tithe because I know I’m blessed by the most high God, the possessor of heaven and earth. And then I give a tithe because I’m excited that I am blessed and that God’s the one who provides for me, God’s the one who delivers me for my enemies, God’s the one who does that. And when I tithe, that’s my response to it. Grace comes first, the blessing comes first, and then our response of faith comes after it. And giving is an awesome way to express your faith.

 

  Amen. Praise God. And so we’re going to look into Genesis 22 when we get in the second half of the broadcast, and we’re going to begin to see the first redemptive name of God. And the first redemptive name of God, God says, “I am Jehovah Jireh. I am the Lord your provider.” And there’s seven of these redemptive names of God in the Old Testament. And in the Old Testament, there is a progressive revelation of who God is. And then when we get into the gospels, we begin to see Jesus. And John says about Jesus, “No man has seen God at any time, but the only begotten son who is in the bosom of the Father, he has revealed him. He has openly made him known. He has declared him.” Then when you get into the epistles, you find out that Christ in you is the hope of glory and you have the true nature of God in you as a born-again believer. And if you’ll renew your mind in the Word of God and begin to understand who you are in Christ, you’ll begin to move into these promises. All the promises of God come out of his true nature. God did not make a promise that is inconsistent with who he is and what he wants to do. And when you begin to understand this is who God is and this is what he wants to do, it’s going to be easier for you to begin then to receive from God. So we’re going to be back after a short break. If you need prayer, you can call in during the break. Blessings. Friends, I’m so glad that you’ve been watching. We’ve been sharing from my son Aaron’s teaching on the names of God. And in these broadcasts, we’re just able to share only a small portion of the teaching. But you can get the entire teaching on eight downloadable audios on our website, free of charge, at CharisChristianCenter.com.

 

  We can have nothing better than the word of God. Your ways are not better than his ways. Your thoughts are not better than his thoughts. Your morals are not better than his morals. Your righteousness is not better than his righteousness. I don’t care how many people vote a certain way or think a certain way about a certain issue, if God says it, that settles it. You don’t get a vote on truth.

 

  Friends, I’m glad you stayed with us. And we’re here. We’re talking about the names of God. And Aaron, this is a teaching, really, that you developed when you were in college. You went to Rice University, got your master’s and your doctorate there. But while you were getting your doctorate, you were studying primarily music at Rice University, but when you got your doctorate, you took this class as a elective and studied the Hebrew, Biblical Hebrew, and you got a tremendous revelation on the true nature of God when you did that.

 

  Biblical Hebrew is a beautiful language, and it’s actually a great language to study, a great thing to do, because there’s only one text for ancient Hebrew, and that’s the Bible. If you study ancient Greek, there’s all types of Greek texts that are in existence today, but there’s one source for ancient Hebrew. That’s the Old Testament, the old Covenant, the Hebrew Bible. So it’s a great language study, and I learned some interesting things too that, that actually give you revelation about who God is. God, his name, Yahweh, it’s based on a three letter verb, Which is “hayah,” which means to be. So God, his name LORD, all caps in the Old Testament, that means he is the one who is, the one who was, the one that will ever be.

 

  Amen.

 

  So God’s very nature is to be. It’s a verb, it’s to take action.

 

  He’s the self existent, eternal God, the most Holy God, Jehovah or Yahweh, depending how you look at that. But you’ve got a tremendous revelation. The first redemptive name of God, one of seven that we see in the Old Testament is found right here in Genesis chapter 22. And Abraham at this time is about 114 to 125 years old. Different Bible scholars look at it different. But Isaac then would be 14 to 25 years old and God speaks to him and tells him to take him up to a place that he shows him and to offer him there. And so he obeys God and on the third day he sees this place, it talks about this in verse four. It’s Moriah, where the current temple mount is there, in Jerusalem today. And I think that’s not inconsistent that Jesus was raised from the dead on the third day. But Aaron, you wanted to jump into the scripture. And as he’s going there up to the mountain and upon the mountain, Isaac asks him in verse 7 and says, “Hey, we have the fire, we have the wood, but where is the lamb? And Abraham says in verse 8, “My son, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering so they went both of them together. So you can jump in right there.

 

  Well, and really Abraham prophesies what’s going to happen. He knows that God’s going to provide. He knows that God is going to come through. And when you get a revelation that God is the one who provides, it sets you free. A lot of people look to other people as sources for their provision. They maybe look to their spouse as their provider. They maybe look to their family, maybe look to their employer as their provider. They maybe look to a political party as their provider, the one that’s going to solve all their problems. Ultimately, you need to look to God. You need to look to Jesus to provide for you.

 

  Amen.

 

  And his provision, it’s without limits, it’s abundance. When God provides for us, it’s always more than enough.

 

  Thank God. And more than enough, even that. It comes from the nature of God. God told Abraham, “I am God almighty. I’m the many-breasted God. I am God who is more than enough.” And then he says later, he reveals himself here in Genesis 22 to Abraham as Jehovah Jireh. So go ahead and share the scripture with us here.

 

  So here Abraham tells Isaac, “‘My son, God will provide for himself the lamb for a burnt offering.’ So the two of them went together.” Then verse nine, it says, “They came to the place of which God had told him, and Abraham built an altar there and placed the wood in order, and he bound Isaac his son and laid him on the altar upon the wood. Abraham stretched out his hand and took the knife to slay his son. But the angel of the Lord called to him from heaven and said, ‘Abraham, Abraham.’ So he said, ‘Here I am.’ And he said, ‘Do not lay your hand on the lad or do anything to him, for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me.’ Then Abraham lifted his eyes and looked, and there behind him was a ram caught in a thicket by its horns. So Abraham went and took the ram and offered it up for a burnt offering instead of his son. And Abram called the name of the place the Lord will provide, or Jehovah Jireh, as it is said to this day, ‘In the Mount of the Lord it shall be provided.'” I love that it says, “And as it is said to this day.” So who wrote this? Who penned that verse? Moses.

 

  Right.

 

  Moses wrote this verse. So hundreds of years later…

 

  Right. About 400 years later.

 

  “In the amount of the Lord it shall be provided.” It was a common saying hundreds of years later. So when Moses was writing this, as the Israelites were going through the wilderness to the promised land, they knew that that God was a provider, as it is said to this day, “In the Mount of the Lord.” Moses really wanted to get to that mount. Moses wanted to see that mount. Moses wanted to go to Moriah. Because that represented that God would provide, that God would provide the sacrifice. And God has provided. At that same exact place, God provided a sacrifice. God provided complete provision for us. This same location, this is the same area, the mountains of Moriah, this is where Jesus…

 

  Right.

 

  was crucified. God provided the sacrifice for us. It’s not up to us to sacrifice for ourselves. God is our provider.

 

  Amen. Now, when you look at that, I’ve been to Israel and I’ve been to that mountain there, and you’ve been there too. But when you go up on that temple mount, and I believe that Abraham was going up from the west looking towards the east where that temple mount is today, and he was taking Isaac with him. But just to the north of Mount Moriah is Mount Calvary, the hill of the skull. And that’s where most Bible scholars believe that Jesus was crucified, right? And then buried there in a tomb that was about not very far from where he was crucified. But I believe Abraham looked over there at Calvary and he saw Jesus. And actually, I believe Abraham looked over there and he saw a ram caught in a thicket by its horns. I believe that was actually on Mount Calvary. And maybe we’ll see this, when we get to heaven, replayed to us. And he looks over there and he rejoices, and God stops him when he is about to slay his son. And he says, “By myself I’ve sworn,” says the Lord in verse 16, “because you have done this thing and not withheld your son, your only son, in blessing, I will bless you I will multiply you as the stars of heaven, as the seed which is upon the seashore, and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies.” Aaron, this is the same thing, really, that you were saying at the beginning of the broadcast, is that we have authority and we can’t blame God for all the evil and the junk on the earth. But you see, a lot of people don’t realize this, but there’s not only a God who loves us, who cares for us, who does good things, there’s also a devil. And Satan is the thief. He’s the one that comes to steal, to kill, and destroy. And so he said, “I’m going to bless you, I’m going to multiply you.” And because he could swear by no greater, Hebrews says, he swore by himself and said, “I’m going to do this.”

 

  One thing I realized too, which was really interesting, the first time that Jesus spoke to someone and openly declared that he was God was actually at the same location. It was actually till Satan tempted Jesus. Right after he was water baptized, Satan tempted him three times. The second time that Satan tempted Jesus, he took him up on the top the temple here. This is the same location where Abraham was told to sacrifice Isaac. And he got this revelation, built this altar, that the Lord would provide. Satan took Jesus up to the pinnacle of this temple and said, “Throw yourself off if you are the son of God.” So every time Satan tempted Jesus, he was tempting him in his lordship. “If you are the son of God, if you are deity, if you are the son of God, throw yourself off this temple mount, off the pinnacle of this temple.” And he took scripture and actually twisted it. And he said, “The angels will…” He was quoting Psalm 91, “The angels will bear you up, lest you dash your foot against a stone.” And Jesus spoke to him from Deuteronomy 6 and said, “You shall not tempt the LORD,” all caps. You shall not tempt Yahweh, the LORD your God.”

 

  Right.

 

  He actually told Satan, “You shall not temp me.” That’s from Deuteronomy 6. In Demy 6, the Bible says, “Hear O Israel the Lord, YAHWEH,” all caps, “the Lord your God, he is one.”

 

  He is one. So Jesus is Lord of all. And Jesus said in John 8, “Abraham saw my day and he rejoiced in it. He was glad to see my day. Abraham saw the gospel here and the gospel made him think, “This is who God is. This is who our great redeemer is. This is the gospel, is that God is going to provide. He’s always going to provide the sacrifice.

 

  Amen. In John 8, verse 58, the scripture said “Jesus said, ‘Abraham rejoiced to see my day. And he saw and was glad.'” And I believe that’s when Abraham was ready to offer Isaac his son. And he looked over there at Calvary, about a quarter mile away from Moriah, and saw this ram. And I believe he went and got that ram and offered him in the place of his son. And Jesus was offered in our place. And Jesus took our sin and our anxiety and our sickness and our poverty on the cross. And because of that, we have provision through Jesus. Now, when you talked about this temptation, in this temptation, when Jesus was tempted by Satan, every time that Satan tempted him, it was an attack on his identity. And Aaron, I believe the same thing happens with us when the devil comes to tempt us, it is an attack on our new identity. And when you find out who you are in Christ and who Christ is in you, it’s an attack on your identity. Now, we begin to find this out. And if you go over to Paul’s letters, in Philippians chapter 4, verse 19, Paul says, “My God shall supply all of your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.” And the fact is that we are blessed by the most high God, the possessor of heaven and earth, and God has already made provision for us spiritually, emotionally, physically, and financially in Christ’s death, in his resurrection.

 

  I got this revelation years ago that I am blessed by the most God, the possessor of heaven and earth. And when I got that revelation, I wasn’t here yet. I was in Houston. I was going through a tough financial time, but I received this revelation that I was blessed, and I actually started tithing to this ministry and my finances exploded. Because I believe that this is good ground, but I also got that revelation that I’m blessed, that God’s going to give seed to the sower. So I believe if you’d like to become a partner with our ministry, you can give us a call right now. You can make a one-time gift or, or sign up for a monthly giving amount at any level. But I believe that God will bless you and he’ll multiply you.

 

  And if you need prayer, give us a call. Blessings.

 

  God gradually revealed his true nature and his plan for salvation for mankind. One way he did this was through his name itself. Each of the seven redemptive names of God are revealed in the Old Testament, fulfilled in the life of Jesus, and available to the believer today. We’d like to bless you with a digital copy of “Names of God,” a $24 value, free of charge. Download your copy today at CharisChristianCenter.com.

 

  Friends, it’s great to have you with us today, and I want to invite you to attend services with us at Charis Christian Center in Colorado Springs. The atmosphere is amazing. Recently in one service, I had people from 10 Nations and several states. They watch us on a regular basis online and they said, “This is amazing.” So if you can’t come physically, come and attend online at Cares Christian Center or YouTube. Blessings. Friend, I invite you to pray with me right now. Heavenly Father, I believe that Jesus Christ is your son. I believe that he died for my sins and you raised him from the dead and made him Lord on the third day. And right now, I surrender my life to the lordship of Jesus Christ. In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen. Thanks so much for being with us today. Blessings.

 

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