Key points
1God's names in Scripture reveal His attributes, but Yahweh is His formal, personal name.
Pastor Bill uses the Sandlot scene where Smalls doesn't recognize 'the Great Bambino' to show how many of God's titles function like descriptive nicknames, while Yahweh (often rendered Jehovah) is His actual, formal name declared in Genesis 2 as Yahweh Elohim. He notes the Hebrews so revered this name they removed the vowels rather than pronounce it casually.
Because he is, I can
2God created us, Yahweh Elohim, for both relationship and purpose.
In the garden, God walked with Adam and Eve (relationship) and gave them a job to tend the garden and be fruitful (purpose). Pastor Bill argues these are two sides of one coin — pursuing relationship without purpose leaves faith flatlined, while pursuing purpose without relationship is just self-help religion.
3Moses tried purpose without relationship, and it backfired — then God met him in the wilderness forty years later.
Moses killed an Egyptian officer in his own strength, became a fugitive, and spent forty years as a shepherd before God appeared to him in the burning bush at Sinai, picking up a conversation about Israel's suffering as though continuing something already begun.
A story from life
Pastor Bill describes how he and his wife of nearly 30 years can pick up a mid-conversation with no context, illustrating God's intimate knowledge of Moses' unspoken concerns
4When God calls us to go, our instinct is to start with 'I can't' by looking at ourselves instead of at God.
Moses immediately protests, 'Who am I to appear before Pharaoh?' Pastor Bill says this is the universal human reaction — we lead with our past, our fear, our lack — but God's answer is simply 'I will be with you,' shifting the focus from Moses's inadequacy to God's presence.
We start by looking at ourselves instead of looking at God
5God reveals His name as 'I AM WHO I AM' — Yahweh — meaning eternal, self-existing life itself.
Pastor Bill unpacks Yahweh as meaning 'to be,' pointing to God's existence, reality, and eternality: He always was, is, and will be, and everything else was spoken into existence by Him. This declares there is only one God, not a territorial deity among many.
I am the only thing that has always been, that always is, and always will be.
6Jesus is the great I AM — Yahweh in the flesh who came to save.
Pastor Bill shows that Yeshua (Jesus) means 'Yahweh saves,' and in John 8:58 Jesus says 'before Abraham was, I am,' using the same divine name. The angel of the Lord at the burning bush was the pre-incarnate Jesus, the same one who created all things in John 1 and who still calls people to go on mission.
Jesus is Yahweh
7God asks us to bring only what we have, and He empowers it beyond what we imagined.
When Moses protests again, God has him throw down his ordinary shepherd's staff, which becomes a snake, and put his healthy hand in his cloak, which becomes diseased and then healed. Pastor Bill explains this shows God takes what's already in our hand — however ordinary — and does something greater with it once we surrender it.
Paraphrase
There is a vast difference between going and leaving.
Stop leaving and start going
A story from life
Pastor Bill's nearly-three-year-old grandson insists on 'just leaving' without giving him a hug, illustrating the choice to leave a God-encounter without embracing His call
Illustration
The Sandlot scene: a boy has no idea who Babe Ruth is until his friends list all his nicknames, illustrating how names describe a person's attributes
Application
Pastor Bill's charge is to trade every "I can't" for "because He is, I can."
Accept His grace if you never have
If you've been trying to be good on your own like Moses did, stop and cry out to Jesus, admitting you're a sinner who needs Him, and be born again.
Find a place to serve at church
If this is your church and you're not serving anywhere, Pastor Bill says you're not listening to God's call, since He always calls us into community, not isolation.
Give God your time
Stop saying you don't have time; if you don't have time to do what God asked, you're spending time on something you shouldn't be doing.
Honor God with your finances
Give as part of the kingdom movement rather than holding your money apart from God's purposes, trusting Him to bring freedom and peace, not just more money.
Go, don't just leave
Don't just feel moved during the service and walk out unchanged like his grandson refusing a goodbye hug; embrace God's love and commit to His purpose before you go.
Take it into your week
Rewind AI contributed study material from the sermon transcript; church-authored wording and verified sermon quotes keep their own source. Always trust the sermon itself over anything here. How Rewind uses AI
