I'm going to ask you to turn your Bibles to Psalms 95. We're going to read just one verse here, but I want us to read it together. Psalms 95. Psalms 95 and verse 6. O come, let us worship and bow down. Let us kneel before the Lord, our Maker. Let me read it again. O come, let us worship and bow down. Let us kneel before the Lord, our Maker. And that phrase, the Lord, our Maker, is a compound name of God. And that's what we're going to look at here tonight. It's Jehovah Hosinu. Jehovah Hosinu. And what it means is the Lord, our Maker. Let's bow our heads for a word of prayer and we'll get into the study for tonight. Father, I pray in these next few minutes you'd share with us the great truth about your name. We understand that every name that you have in scripture is another way to express the almighty, infinite God to us finite creatures that are the object of your love. And so, Father, I pray as we learn this, it will not just be academic, But it will help us to love you more and appreciate your working in our lives. And I pray this now in Jesus name. Amen. Jehovah Hosinu. The Lord our maker. And here again, I have the verse Psalms 95 and verse 6. O come, let us worship and bow down, let us kneel before the Lord, our Maker. And I want us to notice the Hebrew word for Maker pronounced Asah, when applied to Jehovah, describes him as our Maker. It is not creation it describes, which is interesting, it's not creation, but formation. There's the difference. The idea that God is ever making us into that which pleases him. So we know that God is a creator. In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. We read how in chapter 2 he created man of the dust of the earth and breathed in his nostrils the breath of life. We know that God is a creator. But this aspect of the name of God is not telling us about his initial creation. But His continual hand in forming us into the person He wants us to be. That's an amazing thing about God. He didn't just create us and let us go. He's working on us. I told my wife I was wanting the kids to come in at the end of the service and sing the song, He's Still Working on Me. Because that's the whole idea of this name of God. The fact that He is still working on us. Aren't you glad God's not done with you? Wouldn't you be awfully discouraged if He was? Wouldn't you say, oh man, this is the final project? You know, this is it? Not very good. But praise God, He is still working on us. And He is doing that all the time. Let's look at some things here. Psalms 90 and verse 15. Make us glad according to the days wherein thou hast afflicted us and the years when we have seen evil. He says here to make us glad. In other words, the psalmist is asking God to do a work in his life. And he's saying God does a work in his life. He said I was afflicted but now God's making me glad. That's the Lord our Maker. That's God's hand in our lives. Have you seen times when you should have been devastated, but you were okay because God held you up? You should have been filled with fear, but you just trusted the Lord because He's done a work in your life. He's making you into a person of faith. He's trusting you. God uses the circumstances of life just like an artist would use a hammer and a chisel, or maybe a scapula, or maybe a paintbrush and a canvas. Just as they use those mediums, God uses the circumstances of life. I remember just the other day, or yesterday, we had a great time with a prime time with Pastor, cruising up and down the Willamette on the Spirit of Portland. It was a beautiful trip. But I was telling someone, I'm not so sure we even looked outside. We enjoyed talking with each other so much. Here we are seeing all the sights, but we were just enjoying the fellowship, making friends, having a great time. I was talking to Tom in the back here, He was given his testimony how he was in business and very successful. But back in the 80s, around 1980, he said it just got devastated. And the business went, you know, crash. When we were going through a recession as a country and business went crash and IRS was owing taxes and all these things. He said, but it's the best thing ever happened to me. Because God got my attention. I didn't get rich," he said, but I got rich on the inside. That's God making him. That's the providential hand of God to pull people to himself and to mold us into his image. Sometimes we forget that even sicknesses that we're praying for can be used to draw people to himself. Especially when we have someone who doesn't know Christ as their Savior. That's the second person I've heard tonight that is in the hospital or critical and they're lost. But see, God can use that to tenderize a heart. I've got to lead people to the Lord that weren't interested in anything spiritual until they were in the hospital, or until they attended a jail service, or until they were at a funeral of a loved one. Or until, you know, God just brings these circumstances and all of a sudden the heart that was hard and the heart that wasn't interested is just open. Well, just as God works for the sinner to get saved, He works in our life all the time. And that's the thought behind this Jehovah Hosinu. Well, that's going to overlap them. The Bible says, know ye that the Lord he is God, and it is he that hath made us and not we ourselves. We are his people and the sheep of his pastures. And I go on to state here that we are not self-made individuals. We're not. Know ye that it's the Lord who has made us and not we ourselves. Now I know as Christians we'd say, well I'd never do that pastor, but You know the temptation of humanity is to sort of brag about what we've accomplished. Well, you know, I've raised up in the ranks and now I'm the foreman of the factory or now I got my own business or now I got my credentials and I got my doctor's degrees and I do this and I do that. And if we're not careful, we almost imply that we did all that. No, not as a believer. We're not self-made, we're God-made people. And that's exactly what it's saying. Know ye that the Lord, He is God, it is He that hath made us. And here again that idea of made, it's not just He created us and then out of that we became what we were supposed to become. No, He had His providential hand in every aspect. And that's the idea of the Lord our Maker. He is not talking about creation. He's talking about formation. Forming us. And that's a good thought to know. Let's look at some things here. It all began when we were first conceived. See, God had his hand there. That's what it says in Psalms 139 verse 15. My substance was not hid from thee when I was made in secret and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. You say, well, what are you talking about? I'm talking about conception. Those of us who, you know, studied a little bit, this is a school, know that those cells that have joined together and formed that first molecule of life, The DNA pattern of every individual was already set. I mean, when that baby is first the size of the head of a pin, the DNA is already there. You know what color your hair is going to be, what height you're going to be, your bone structure, your facial structure, everything, every aspect about you. is already set. That's an amazing thing to think. God, it says, He created us right from the start. And He put that in us. It's like the acorn that will one day be the mighty oak. But we will one day mature into everything that DNA says that we're going to be. And God's the one who wrote it. And everyone's different. Out of all the billions of people that have ever been born on planet Earth, that DNA is always different. It's just amazing. I go on to say that abortion is not killing what man created, but what God created using a man and a woman. See, some people who justify abortion thinks, well, we created it, we can end it. Well, the problem is you didn't create it. I mean, you were just the vessels God chose, but God did the creating. We need to realize that, you know, we're living in terrible times. When we'll save a whale or kill a baby. I mean, honestly, if you went out and shot a stray cat, they'd put you in jail. But you could kill millions of babies every single year and get a pay raise for the more you do. Our world's turned upside down. Folks, if it doesn't turn around a little bit soon, I'm looking for Jesus to come. Amen? I'm going to be upset if He comes after we pay this building off. I'm just thinking that. I'd just like him to come before we have to do all that. The great evil of abortion is not that a life was lost. See, in God's economy, there is no life that's lost. Where does that baby wind up? In heaven. It's a person as soon as it's conceived. Those babies, you say, well, you know, I lost a child. You'll see the child again. Say, I didn't carry a baby to term. You'll see that baby one day in heaven. You will have missed out in seeing that baby raised up, but that baby hadn't missed out on anything because it went right to heaven. So the great loss of abortion is not that a life was lost. For that life will live forever in heaven. But it is to deny God's plan for life. The greatest problem with abortion is saying no to God as the Creator. It's saying, we're not going to let God have this life that He created. It's saying no to His plan for that individual. to promote the killing of unborn babies is to, in essence, thumb your nose at God and just say, God, we're in charge, you're not. We control things, you don't. First of all, that's folly even to think that way. But that's the great sin of it, is saying no to God as our maker or the molder of life. So God helped create that life, but someone has denied God the opportunity to mold that life throughout their years on planet Earth. Life and death ought to be God's decision. Man, I want to go to heaven. If it was up to me, I'd probably be there. I love heaven. But that's God's decision. And just like it's wrong to end a conceived life, a little baby in the womb, it's just as wrong to end the life of someone in their senior years. It's just as wrong. Because God wants to mold that life and that future. And that's all in God's plan. You say, well, what's going to happen there? Well, God knows. It's amazing what God could do. Think about this. Moses didn't even get his start until he was 80. Abraham didn't even have a child until he was 100. Didn't have the child of promise until he was 100. Noah didn't start building the ark till he was 500. I'm so glad somebody didn't say, we don't need these 500 year old people around here. You see, God has a plan. God not only begins our life, notice in Ephesians chapter 2.10, for we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus unto good work, works which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them." We are His workmanship. What's that mean? Workmanship. This is the work of some fella who made this. It wasn't born, it didn't evolve, but it was made. Everybody couldn't do it. Probably some of you here in the congregation could. You might have the skills. This routering might be a little more difficult. Some of it is difficult, but some guys would have that skill that they could do that. But whoever created that, this piece of furniture right here, it's his workmanship. It's the product of his labor. And what this verse is telling us that we are the product of God's labor. God's working on us. Remember that little skit we did a few weeks ago, God doesn't make any junk. I don't make junk. It's a sin to think you are junk. Because that's not That's saying that God didn't know what he was doing. God knew what he was doing. If you're short, it's because God wanted you short. Not because you had too much coffee and it stunted your growth. God wanted you like you were. He made that. He planned that. He orchestrated that. And it's not for us to gripe at God for who we are. Some guy can eat a five-course meal and never gain an ounce. Another can look at food and gain a pound. You say, well, that's not fair. Well, it's just how God made us. And you better just learn to rejoice in who you are. Because you're not going to be anybody else. So you're either going to go through life saying, I don't feel good about myself. Or you're going to say, you know, I'm just who God made me and I'm happy with that. You're not going to change yourself either way. You might as well get happy about what God's created in your life. Philippians 1.6, being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ. So in other words, God started the work, God's going to finish the work, but God's going to do everything in between. God our Maker. The Lord our Maker. That's what this name of God It's talking about God is our maker, not just the one who initiates it. He began the good work, but he will also finish it, and he will do everything in between. I said before, one of my favorite phrases of amazing grace is this, "'Tis grace hath brought us safe thus far, and grace will lead us home." So when you start getting anxious about the future, just realize, hey, you made it till now. And that was God's goodness. That was God's grace. And the same God that's brought you to where you are is the same God that will take you the rest of the way. I guarantee you that. God will work on us till we stand before Him in heaven. So that's good news. He's still working on us. How many of us like this have ever looked at a godly, older, saint, Maybe he attends church with us, and you say, man, they're so godly. I wish I could be like them. Anybody like that? I do that all the time. I look at Brother Burl Yates. I look at Art Hauser. I look at other people. I say, man, look how they love the Lord. I want to be like them. Well, you will one day. God's not through with you. Maybe he wasn't when he was in his 50s. Who knows? He does. But I'm hoping the older I get, the closer I get to God. There ought to be maturity. You get up in years, you ought to have a walk with God. You ought to have a mellow spirit. You ought to have a heart for God. But you grow in grace and you keep growing and keep growing and keep growing and keep growing and keep growing and keep growing. I don't want to be a Christian that stops growing. I don't want that. I want to keep on growing. And that's why this verse is saying, God will work on us. Now, it is proper to ask God to make us. God's the maker. So, I mean, why even bother asking? God's the maker. That's His job. He's going to do it. Except in Scripture we find that people ask God to make them. I don't know about you, but I've prayed prayers like that. Lord, make me more at peace with the situation. Lord, help me to understand. Lord, give me wisdom. Lord, give... I don't know about you. Anybody else pray that way? I pray that way all the time. Lord, change something in me. Is that wrong? No, that's proper to pray that way. Because He's the maker. He's the one that can do it. Remember, he said to his own disciples, he said, you can't change your stature and you can't even change your hair. You don't have control over almost anything in life. But God does. He's the maker. OK, let's look at some verses here. Job 13, 23. How many are mine iniquities and sins make me to know my transgressions and my sin? So what's he asking? He said, Lord, Make me to be sensitive to sin. That's what he's saying. You know, you'll never be a great Christian until you reach that place you start being sensitive to sin. Now, does that mean you're going to walk around condemned all the time? No, there's no condemnation to them who are in Christ Jesus. So no, you're not going to feel guilty, but if you're going to be close to God, you're going to be sensitive to the sin in your life. When we become calloused to the sin in our life, it's because we've distanced ourselves from God. But we get closer to God. That's what Job's praying for. Lord, help me to be sensitive to my sin. Notice here another one. Psalms 39 verse 4. Lord, make me to know mine end and the measure of my days, what it is that I may know how frail I am. Now, he's not saying, Lord, let me know the day I die. No, he's not asking that. But he's saying, Lord, help me to realize life's a vapor. I mean, we appear for a little while and we're gone. Folks, if we appear for a little while and we're gone, we ought to do something with the life God gave us. I've told you the story, but when God laid on my wife and I's heart to come to Oregon and start a church. I knew I had to tell my mom and dad, and I told my mom, I said, Mom, God's called us to Oregon. And here's the first thing she said, Why so far away? We need churches here. I think if I pastored close to my mom, I think she'd come to the church I pastored. I believe that. When she comes out here, she says, I love this church. She loves the people. She loves the environment. I said, Mom, you and I are going to spend eternity in heaven, but between now and then, we need to do something for Jesus that we'll rejoice about throughout all eternity. Wow. You know, my mother, just about a year and a half ago, She is helping a brand new church get started. And she travels about 40 minutes one way to the church. And she goes Sunday morning and Wednesday night. They don't have a Sunday night service yet. So she goes twice a week, 40 minutes one way. And you know, all she's been talking to me about lately is they're building fun. I need to raise money. She's even sent stuff to me in case I want to contribute. Thank you, Mama. Payback time, huh? But she's all the time thinking, I want to do this, I want to do that. And she was asking me a few months ago, she said, Do you think it's wrong of me to have some money in the bank? Maybe I should just give it all to the church and just live by faith." I said, Mom, that's not called faith. God expects us to lay up. Remember the principle, I go to the aunt, thou sluggard, the aunt lays the store for a winner. Oh, OK. So that's OK to have some money in the bank? I said, yes, Mama, it's OK to have money in the bank. I already know she probably double tithes or more. But if she can sell something, she's thinking of the building fine. She wants to see that church get a building. That's wonderful. But you know what that is? She's saying, look, I'm not going to live forever, but I want to use this time I have. I want to use this time I have. You know, that's what Burl Yates is all about. He's smart enough to know he's not going to live forever. But every day he has, he wants to use for God. Every Sunday he can, he wants to get up here and teach. He wants to say the prayer. Sometimes he's taking medications for his heart or something, you know, and I'm having a little trouble hearing him pray sometimes. I wouldn't consider changing having anybody else pray. You have someone who walks with God like that? I want to hear him pray. I want to see somebody who's battled some storms in life and walks with God and get up and pray and what a blessing. I told him he's got a place of service here till heaven knocks on his door. But I want to have that same place of service. I want my life to count for Christ. If there's ever a prayer I've prayed all my days, it's always been that. Lord, help my life count for you. I want my life to count for Christ. And that's what it means. That's what he's saying there to the psalmist. Here's another one. Psalms 51, verse 8. Make me to hear joy and gladness that the bones which thou hast broken may rejoice. Psalms 51, that's the psalm of repentance. And here he is broken and contrite about his sin. But he says, Lord, help me to rejoice again. Help me to hear joy and gladness. Psalms 119, verse 27. Make me to understand the way of thy precepts, so shall I talk of thy wondrous works. Help me to understand your Word. That's what he means by precepts. In Psalms 119, every single one of those verses, all 176 of them, refer to the Word of God. And precepts is one of the words they use that's synonymous to the Word of God. Precepts. Laws. Word. Help me to understand the way of thy precepts. Al Malsbury, I'll tell you, before he reads his Bible, he'll pray. He'll say, Lord, help me understand this. Because I taught him to do that many years ago. Before you read the Bible, you don't read it like a newspaper. You pray. Ask God to open your spirit. I get something from every time I read the Bible. But some people say, I read it and I don't get anything. Have you prayed before? So the Holy Spirit will help you understand it. It's a spiritual book. Here's another one, Psalms 119, verse 23. Make me to go in the paths of thy commandments. There again, another, something that's synonymous for the word, commandments. For therein do I delight. Help me, so see in verse 27, help me to understand your word. In verse 35, it's help me do your word. Well, we need prayer for both, don't we? Lord, help me understand it, then help me do it. The Lord is our Creator and the One who molds us throughout life. He is our Maker. And that is Jehovah Hosinu. Jehovah Hosinu.