His Name is Elohim
Genesis 1:1-5, 26-28, 31 – First this: God created the Heavens and Earth – all you see, all you don’t see. Earth was a soup of nothingness, a bottomless emptiness, an inky blackness. God’s Spirit brooded like a bird above the watery abyss. God spoke: “Light!” And light appeared. God saw that light was good and separated light from dark. God named the light Day, he named the dark Night. It was evening, it was morning – Day One. . . . God spoke: “Let us make human beings in our image, make them reflecting our nature So they can be responsible for the fish in the sea, the birds in the air, the cattle, And, yes, Earth itself, and every animal that moves on the face of Earth.” God created human beings; he created them godlike, Reflecting God’s nature. He created them male and female. God blessed them: “Prosper! Reproduce! Fill Earth! Take charge! Be responsible . . . . And there it was. God looked over everything he had made; it was so good, so very good! It was evening, it was morning – Day Six. (The Message)
Three Questions About Our Powerful God
1. How Is God “Elohim?”
▸ God alone is _____________________________
Genesis 1:1 – First this: God created the Heavens and Earth – all you see, all you don’t see. (The Message)
John 5:24 – [Jesus] said,] “I tell you the truth, those who listen to my message and believe in God who sent me have eternal life. They will never be condemned for their sins, but they have already passed from death into life.” (New Living Translation)
▸ God alone is _______________________________________
Genesis 1:26 – Then God [or Elohim] said, “Let us make people in our image, to be like ourselves. . . . (New Living Translation)
2 Corinthians 13:14 – May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all. (New Living Translation)
2. Why Does God Introduce Himself as “Elohim?”
▸ He wants me to know Him as __________________________
▸ He has made me with a _______________________________
Isaiah 49:4 – I replied, “But my work seems so useless! I have spent my strength for nothing and to no purpose. Yet I leave it all in the Lord’s hand; I will trust God [Elohim] for my reward.” (New Living Translation)
2 Timothy 1:12 – . . . for I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that He is able to keep what I have committed to Him until that Day. (New King James Version)
▸ He is ________________________________ in my life
Isaiah 44:2 – I am your Creator. You were in my care even before you were born. (Contemporary English Version)
Psalm 139:16 – You saw me before I was born and scheduled each day of my life before I began to breathe. Every day was recorded in your book! (The Living Bible)
3. What Does It Mean to Me that He Is “Elohim?”
▸ I have been created in the _______________ of a personal God
Romans 3:23 – For all have sinned; all fall short of God’s glorious standard. (New Living Translation)
Romans 6:23 – For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord. (New Living Translation)
2 Corinthians 5:20-21 – 20 . . . We urge you as if Christ himself is pleading with you, “Be reconciled to God!” 21 For God made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin, so that we could be made right with God through Christ. (New Living Translation)
Romans 10:9-10 – Say the welcoming word to God – “Jesus is my Master” – embracing, body and soul, God’s work of doing in us what he did in raising Jesus from the dead. That’s it. You’re not “doing” anything; you’re simply calling out to God, trusting Him to do it for you. That’s salvation. With your whole being you embrace God setting things right, and then you say it, right out loud: “God has set everything right between Him and me!” (The Message)
▸ I can be __________________ my life has purpose and design