Two verses, actually it is three, two verses. And Moses said unto God, behold, when I come unto the children of Israel and shall say unto them, the God of your fathers has sent me unto you, they shall say to me, what is his name? What shall I say unto them? And God said unto Moses, I am that I am. And he said, thus shall thou say unto the children of Israel, I am. has sent me unto you let's pray together heavenly father we just thank you so much for uh children for having workers to help the children thank you for bible school this past week and thank you for the decisions that were made i pray lord we still see lasting fruit continuing on and lord work in our lives as workers and leaders that we would continue to to seek you and to strive to serve you and please you however possible. And Lord, as we think about this morning's message, it really is geared towards service. And so, Lord, may we be willing to do what you have called us to do and not simply be content to sit on the sidelines. And so, Lord, bless our time together, please. In Jesus' name, I pray. Amen. First of all, in back of a bulletin, you'll see the little outline there, and the first of the two-word, there's four two-word couplets, and the first one is, I am. I am is the first two. Moses comes on the scene, and earlier in the chapter, he's in the desert, and he sees a bush that does not be consumed by the fire, and so he goes to the burning bush, and he turns aside, and God says, take off your shoes, this is holy ground, and he encounters and talks with Moses, and he answers questions in chapter four. God does some miracles and says, you know, Lord, if I'm gonna go down and deliver the Israelites, or you're delivering the Israelites, and they're gonna ask me, now, who sent you down here to deliver us? Who am I going to say sent me to the people of Israel? And he says to Moses, I am has sent you. I am that I am. That is my name. Now, in English language, in most languages, as you well know, there are two different kinds of verbs. There are active and inactive. There are transitive and intransitive. An intransitive verb would be like, the bird sings. There's no direct object. A transitive verb would be like, the dog chases the squirrel. And so a squirrel being a direct object. And so there's transitive and intransitive. So we have here, I am is an intransitive verb. There doesn't need to be a direct object. It's just, that's who God is. I am the great I am. That's who he is. He's the eternal God. And he uses the first person singular present tense. the form to be. I am. What a wonderful statement. God lives not in our time constraints. God lives outside of time. He lives in the ever-present. So your birth, your salvation, your death, all those things, God sees at once. Now we cannot understand that because we're limited. We have a finite understanding, but God is infinite. He's the eternal God. Do you remember in John 8, 58, the Pharisee says, well, who are you? He said, before Abraham was, I was. No, before Abraham was, I am. So he is there, always has been, is now, always will be. By the way, that should be very comforting to us, that God has it all planned. He knows the end from the beginning. He knows the next time you go fishing how many fish you're going to catch or not catch. He knows in the millennium perhaps or even in the new order, the eternal order, that I will possibly have a property with a big pond on it that has a lot of fish in it. He knows all of those things. And he also knows that when I go to heaven, all my ugliness and all those sinfulness will be eradicated. For I have been predestined to become like his son. That's part of, I'm a child of God. If you're a child of God, you will become like Christ, glorified. That's what God has planned for us. Three words regarding who God is. First of all, we see on the presence. God is everywhere at once. Now, light travels, for example, at 186,000 miles per second, which is quite a handy speed, if you would. But I believe the speed of thought would even be faster than that. So if we, by the speed of thought, could go two days approximately out into, or three or four days out into the, Universe out into space three four days in the past and we would see pastor Tim nearly standing on his head with the young Especially the toddlers over here trying to lead the singing He was up and I owe and all these different songs and pastor you could watch that if you could go Two or three or four days into the future go somewhere out in space What we're doing even right now is still going on somewhere as the sounds that you make there It's still you see what it's still carrying out and wherever it goes. God is still there He's still there. The speed of thought being faster even than the speed of light. No, why all that? Because you think back in your life, think back in your life, perhaps the most shameful thing you've ever done. So if you go far enough out there when I was 14 or whenever it was for you, the most shameful thing and we go out there someone could could still see that event happening 50 years ago. There are 50 Light years, if you want, are out in space. That is still going on. God is still there. He is the great I Am. He's omnipresent. It's a frightening thought in some ways. But thank God for the blood of Christ who's forgiven us. So why do I say all that? I say this perhaps, and we've heard it's tell when you get to heaven. When you get to heaven, they're going to play the video projector back then if you heard the message. Video projector of everything you've ever done in your life. And all these bad, terrible things are going to be shown and you're going to be so embarrassed. So here I am. I'm standing up there and I have this thing that happened when I was 14 and how embarrassed I am about it. And I'm standing there and here comes my life and I'm watching my entire life and everybody else is watching. This is just an illustration. Everybody else is watching my entire life and I get to that spot. It's coming up and I bow my head and what goes by, And there's no sin. He has forgiven that. He's buried as far as the east is from the west. He doesn't remember my sins anymore. What an amazing thing. That's the I Am that I Am. The omnipresent. The divine editing power of God has removed. I have been justified. Declared righteous. Made just as if I had never sinned by the almighty power of God. Not only is he omnipresent, in the outline also, he is omnipotent. We want to understand, theoretically, scientists can electromagnetically take the sounds, if you would, that are embedded in the objects. So, in theory, if you could go to Mount Vernon, you could actually hear George Washington's voice talking, if you could pull those sounds out of the wall. If you would go to Monticello, you could have heard. Has anybody else been to Monticello, anyone? The Thomas Jefferson's home? Thomas Jefferson's actual voice. If you could go to the Sea of Galilee, you might find, probably all have rotted by now, that very ship where Christ taught from. If you could pull that ship out somewhere from the dregs of the ocean, you can maybe pull his voice out of there. More importantly, if possible, we could go to your house, if you read that one devotional, very convicting this week. We could go to your house and pull all the things you said at home this past week. to your family, to your wife. How would that go over? Interesting, the whole devotion was like, it's not who you are in public that makes a difference. Who you are at home in private is who you really are. But God is powerful. He could do that. He's omnipotent. He can do whatever He wants. He also is omniscient. He's all-knowing. He has a record of our mind from, I understand, I don't know if it's still going on, but experiments were being done to try to transfer all of your mind's energy into some kind of static piece that could conserve and record all of your energy, perhaps would even, I think there are some trying to be put into a status like maybe a hundred years from now, have all their mind downloaded to a robot or something and be awakened a hundred years from now and have all that transferred back Can I just say before AI came along, God was still in control and AI is still an invention by a finite human being. We serve an infinite God. So however smart AI gets, God is still infinitely greater than that. Now, AI is going to play a large part, and it may even play a part in our area here down the road, but AI is going to be a part of our lives. One pastor said, I think it's here to stay. They were talking about, can, by the way, you can go on a chat, GPT, whatever it is, and you can say, I want a sermon on this topic, and I want some illustrations, and I want an illiterate outline. Two, and it can, in a moment's time, generate one as if someone else preached it, and even have that kind of, you could do that. Are you supposed to do that? No. You're not supposed to do that. Now, chat GPT for research and things, yes, but you are to allow the Spirit of God to, as you teach your Sunday school class, as you talk to people about the Lord, we must allow the Spirit of God to direct what we say and do. So God is omniscient, he's omnipotent, he's omnipresent, he's all those things. That's who God is. It's part of his intrinsic character. Part of your intrinsic character is you need to have blood running through your veins and arteries to live. Part of your intrinsic character is you have a heart that keeps you alive physically. The intrinsic character, who God is, he's omnipresent, he's omnipotent, he's omniscient, he's all those things. That's who he is. Now, for years, the argument has been, perhaps we'd be like Plato, who said, to be is to do. That is, what you do is out of your being. Socrates said, oh, if you do this, then you will become this. Those attitudes of various degrees, we have now existentialism, which is so rampant in our world today. Look with me, please, at 1 Corinthians 15, 10. But what about for the Christian? I was asking this week during, I tried to throw in some Bible questions during the music time, and I said, when you pass from this life, what is the most important thing you should be known for? And the little girl said, a Christian. I said, whoa, I like that answer, a Christian. So what is, who are we in 1 Corinthians chapter 15? One of the most powerful chapters in all the New Testament, if you know chapter 15, verse 10, and by the grace of God, I am what I am. You are a Christian what you are by the grace of God, what God has made you. I am what I am, Paul says, by the grace of God. What the Spirit has done in our lives, that's what really is the most important thing about you and me. You may be the best, yard cutter, fisherman, wood chopper, sower, cooker in the world. But what you are by the grace of God, that is what really we want to talk about, who you are. We suffer in a world of identity crisis. People can't make up their mind whether they're a man or a woman. And we have seen that the last couple of 20 years. We have the transgender. And not only can they not make up their mind, they're trying to actually physically change themselves. Now, who you are, well, just look in the mirror, and you'll see who you really are. I am, by God's grace, a man, a father, a husband, an American by birth. My mother-in-law would say, if she was preaching, which she would never have done, she would say she was Southern by the grace of God. But I am all those things. As a matter of fact, I'm even a grandpa now of a 15-year-old and a six-year-old. That's what I am. Now, I want to be a good father. I want to be a good husband. I want to be a good grandpa, papa. I want to be those things. I want to be an employee. I want to work. faithfully and spend my time and not be caught sleeping at my desk because they sent around a thing. It wasn't me this time. They sent around a memo, there's no sleeping on the job, please. No sleeping on the job. I want to be those things. In other words, what's really important about us, though, Paul says, and the focus on what I am by the grace of God. What has God made you? You are a child of God. You've been, if you're no Christ's Savior, you've been redeemed. And that should be. I feel so sorry, and they really should pray, and folks whose so singular emphasis of their lives is what kind of gender they are, or that's the most important thing about me, I am this, and celebrate this. That's a minor thing, I mean, it's not minor, but compared to who you are in Christ, it's sad that that has become such a focal point. The most important thing is your eternal destiny, your soul. We should pray for. I shouldn't laugh about it. I should be concerned about those. I'm not laughing about it. I'm saying it's sad that we've come to the point where that's the most important thing about us. What about the spiritual needs? Your soul is going to live somewhere for eternity. That should be it. we're talking about. I am what I am by the grace of God. By the way, I'm not trying to be a child of God. You are a child of God as a Christian. It is not out of context. It is not inconsistent with my being to act like a child of God, for that is what I am. Now, you're either a good child of God or you might be a bad child of God, might be obedient child of God or a disobedient child of God. But you are a child of God if you're saved. If you trust Christ as personal savior, I'm a witness. Nowhere in the Bible does it say, try to be a witness for me. Nowhere does it say that. It says in Acts 1a, and ye shall what? Be my witnesses. That's who you are. Pastor, okay, hold on just a minute. I'm not, the child of God thing is okay. But be a witness? Yes, you are. Whether you like it or not, For good or for ill, I hope for God, you are a witness because that's who you are. You are a child of God. Perhaps you're active or inactive. Perhaps you're trained or untrained. Perhaps you're consistent or inconsistent. Perhaps you're good or a bad witness, but regardless, you are that. By the grace of God, you are those things. Whenever we behave as a Christian, as a witness, you're not behaving outside the realms of being who you are. that short-legged Cruz shortstop plays for the Reds. When he's out there in the Reds uniform and he's playing shortstop, that's who he is because that's what he does. He's the shortstop for the Reds. Is that what he plays? Shortstop for the Reds? Okay, that's what he plays. So he's out there. You and I were children of God. We are to be representatives of his. I am that I am. God is. What's important to us is I am what I am by the grace of God. The epistles, which are not so much giving us commands, but how we are to walk the Christian life. The epistles of the New Testament are teaching us who we are. We are to act consistently with what we are by the grace of God. And it also holds us accountable. So the first two little words, I am. Secondly, I can. Turn with me, please, to Philippians chapter three, four, verse 13, Philippians 4, 13. We're all setting up the stage for the end. So first, I am, I can. Philippians 4, 13. Philippians 4, 13. I can do all things through Christ which strengthens me. I can. So not only I am who I am by the grace of God, but I can do all things through Christ which strengthens me. Perhaps in the past, and they're not so much popular anymore, but you had a big fire truck, and you had a big fire truck you gave to your child, and they started opening, they tore the wrapping off, and got all those things off, and it opens up, and you turn the switch on. And nothing, absolutely nothing happened. I mean the sirens would go wail and the squirt, little holes would squirt water and it would move and go forward and backward. But it was not doing anything and the child was clicking the on and off switch. Nothing happens because you forgot the batteries. So he put the battery pack in there and everything starts working again. It starts working. I am what I am by the grace of God. We are built to function marvelously for his glory. But not only did he build us, he puts the power pack inside. and gives us the power to do that. So I was, I bought a little stick, a little stick, a Milwaukee stick water drainer, for lack of a better term, and you put it in the water, turn it on, put the battery on top, and it shoots water out of the basement. Woo-hoo, not used it yet, not even got it out of the box yet. Then I just saw yesterday, they had one you put on the ground, hook the hose in there, and it looks a whole lot easier to use, and you put the battery in there, and off it goes, and there goes the water out of your basement, click as a whistle. But there's nothing without the battery. You can sit in the water all day. And you and I, I can do all things through Christ which strengthens me. You cannot do it yourself. I think sometimes it's discouraging. If you've ever gone to the ministry or you've ever been a part of leading a group of Christians together, sometimes, now I have to say, it doesn't apply much to here very often, but sometimes in the ministry you might come up to someone and say, hey, how about you doing this or serving in this ministry? And they might, well, I'm a preacher, I just can't do that. You know, what if the Bible were filled with the I can't hurt you? Well, Noah, I need you to build an ark. It's going to be this big, yay big and yay long. And it's going to have all these things. It's going to be a big boat of gopher wood. And here's the design. I want you to make it and prepare it for you and your family. And Noah would say, hey, I can't do that. How about Abraham and the Earl of the Cowdeys? Abraham, I want you to pick up your belongings and I want you to move and just trust me. I can't do that God because I've got a whole business here I've got to keep going on and I just kept what if what if the Bible had been filled with I can't hers Instead of I will trust Look with Luke, please just a moment Luke chapter 6 verse 10 and 11 New Testament Luke chapter 6, please if you would 10 and 11 Jesus comes to a man with a withered hand And look what happens here in Luke 6, verse 10. Luke 6, verse 10. And looking around upon them all, Luke 6, 10, he said to the man with the withered hand, stretch forth thy hand. And he did so, and his hand was restored whole as the other. Stretch forth thine hand. The natural response to a man with a withered hand is, Lord, don't you see this hand doesn't work? Can you ask me to use this hand? Because this hand's available. It can do something. This hand is withered. It's not usable. So, Lord, can you please just... Why are you asking me for this hand when this hand works? Why? If we as born-again, grace-made children of God, if we only do those things that we have the natural ability to do, guess who gets the credit? It is us. He's very talented in that way. is what the things we do that God knows that we can't, and everybody else knows we can't do on our own. We ask you to do those things. And why does He ask you to do things you can't do on your own? Because He gets the credit then. He gives you the power. I can't teach Sunday school. I can't teach in Bible school. I can't. But I'm willing to try, Lord. And then, by God's grace, you did that. I can't make it through this treatment. By God's grace, with His help, you can do those things. So many times we are just fundamental, Bible-believing, practical humanists. We do what we are humanly capable of doing. That is it. That's all further I can do. I can't do anything else. I'm going to tell you, whenever you say, I can't do what God has asked you to do, what you're really saying is, the grace of God has not been sufficient in my life, and the power of God is not working in my life. There's not anything humble about us saying, oh, I'm just not worthy to get involved in that. What you're really saying is, God has failed in my life. And let's just be honest. It's not so much, I can't, but I won't do that. If he's called you, where God guides, he provides, he empowers you. So not only I am what I am by the grace of God, I can serve with his power. The third little word as you're turning to John 7, third little couplet, not only I can, I am, I can, I will. I am is doctrinal, I can is visionary, and I will is decisionary. And I'm not sure decisionary is a word, but it rhymes with airy. So decisionary, I will, John 7, 17, please. I will, John 7, 17. By the way, we were asking Bible questions during one of the music classes. And so they were answering, and they were all raising their hand and everything. I said, well, how is Pastor Tim? So no one would have to go automatically to raise their hand. And bless his heart, Charlie Dickens said, 38. I said, yes. So I gave him a prize later on. He goes, I think I gave him a prize later on. I gave him a little brace or something. 38, I like it. So we find here, it says in 717, if any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God or whether I speak of myself. If you will do his will. Mark one, please, Mark chapter one, verse 40. Speaking of the glory of the Father and his relationship, if you will do his will, Mark 140 and 41, please. Mark chapter one, verse 40 and 41. Very early in his earthly ministry, Christ comes to the leper. And there was a leper came to him, beseeching him and kneeling down to him and saying to him, if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean. Somehow this leper had the comprehension that this was the omnipotent God who could make him clean if possible. What a statement of faith! If thou wilt, thou can make me clean. And it doesn't say while in there anyway, but I think the faith was strong and Jesus was moved with compassion. We would say while. Put forth his hand and touched him and said unto him, I will be thou clean. if thou wilt. See, it's the will of God, it is the will that God has given us that God will not violate in your life. It is doctrinally true, whatever you have to say about it, or whatever you think about it, and what aspects of it, however much you want, know about it, that the grace of God has made you, you have this will, this choice to serve. I believe I have a choice to receive Christ as Savior. This is, you are offered it, but you must repent and believe. So there's that will. He's not gonna violate the will in your life. Well, you do. So you're witnessing to someone, you're sharing the gospel with someone. You say, well, all have sinned and come short of the glory. I was doing it this week. I got to lead two girls to the Lord this week. It was wonderful. Right here in the front pew. Here it is. It says, we're all sinners. Christ died for sinners. Do you believe that? Yes. And He was raised from the dead. Do you believe that? Yes. And you believe He died for you and He wants to forgive. And you're a sinner. Yes. And all these things. And you say, yes. Now, will you receive Christ as personal Savior right now? And they say, oh, well, I would like to do that someday, Pastor. It didn't happen this week. They all both said yes. Just imagine now, we're giving an illustration. They say, well, I've shared it. Here it is. Will you do that? Well, I'd like to do that someday. And you give them a gospel again. They say, well, will you trust Christ as your personal Savior? Well, you know, Pastor, I'm trying to be saved. Are they saved yet? No. No. But you say, will you trust Christ as your Savior? And they respond, I will. And you say, are you willing to do that right now? Yes, I am! And that's when the wills meet. God is not willing that any should perish. And so when the wills meet, then there's that wonderful, they confess their sin and receive Christ as Savior. However much they understand about salvation, or how little they understand, they know that they are a sinner in need of Christ. You know, did you know everything you received? Do you even today know everything you received? We don't know everything we received as salvation. My goodness, I'm 60-some years old. I'm still learning about all that Christ has, and I will think forever we will see the benefits of being saved and trusting Christ as our personal Savior. We don't know all those things, but what I knew enough at six years of age, I'm a sinner and I need to be saved. I need Christ's forgiveness applied to my life. much more practical thing, we might say there's every once in a while here in our church and across our areas there'll be a special day and the auditorium will be all decorated with flowers and there might be a trellis up here and everything will be all decorated really nice and then out of the side, comes the pastor and about five really nervous men in tuxedos especially one very nervous right beside the pastor and they're standing there and everybody says oh that looks nice and the and the chords and music's playing and then and then here comes the uh the ladies down the aisle and then finally comes and everybody looks and stands and here comes the bride walking down the aisle and she looks so beautiful and and and the dad's perhaps and they have the arm and he comes up to the front and he stops there and when he gets there he takes her arm off his and puts into the hand of the future son-in-law I don't know what he says there I said to Sam I said you're getting one of my two greatest treasures give to that and then they come they stand up here and there's some things said and there's maybe a music or two and a prayer or two And the preacher says, dearly beloved, we are gathered here. Now, I never say the part about if does anyone have just cause why these two should not be married. I never say that because I don't want to cross that bridge or go down that road. And we get there and finally he looks at the groom. He says, young man, will you have this woman to be your lawfully wedded wife to have in the home from this day forward, etc, etc? Well, you know, preacher, I surely do love her. He said, young man, will you have this woman to go through the whole spiel again? And he says, will you take this woman to be your wife? And he says, well, you know, preacher, I really want to do that. And he goes through it a third time. Will you have this? And finally, he says, you know, I will. He turns to the girl, young lady, who's about to pass out. Will you have him? And she might change her mind by then. But she says, I will. Right then, they're married, in my thinking. When the will of the one meets the will of the... I know we got to kiss the bride and all those things, bring out your man and wife, all those things are the way around. Do you see what I'm saying? When the will of one meets the will of the other, they are united. When the will of God, not willing that any should perish, meets the will of an ornery stinking, Sinner, will you trust Christ? I will. And he repents and receives forgiveness. I will, I will. Have you done that? Has your will been surrendered to God's? We're okay with that. When it comes to weddings, what about service? Is it bragging to say, is it bragging to say you know that you're saved? You know, probably a lot of people, a lot of folks in our surrounding churches areas that might be a little bit not, don't like that very well. You know, if you know you're saved, raise your hand. People ask that now. If you raise your hand, well, how arrogant is that? It's not arrogant. I'm simply saying that Christ saved me. I am nothing. He is everything. So I'm on my way to heaven. And those who do not have the security of Christ as Savior, they may argue against that, but I'm telling you, we can know Christ. And it's all because of Him. By the grace of God, I am what I am. Now, if we can do that in marriage and salvation, what about service? One of the early premiers of Israel was Golda Meir and she was talking to a politician and we're talking about how unworthy he was to be here and he's going on about how unworthy he was and she turned and said to him, you don't have to be so humble because you're not all that great. We're not all that great. We should be humble. He's what grace of God. You are what you are, Christian, by what God has done in your life. Everybody already knows we can't do these things. You don't have to tell, I'm just not very good at that. We all know that. We're going to trust God. Well, I just don't have much talent. We know that. God knows that. But He wants to take what you do have and use it for His glory. By the grace of God, I am what I am. That is, I am the first couplet, I can, I will. And finally, as you're turning to 2 Timothy, I did. All these three lead to this wonderful fourth one, 2 Timothy 4. If we could do the first three, we can repeat with Timothy here. 2 Timothy 4, three of my most favorite verses in all the scripture. For I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand. I fought a good fight. I finished my course. I have kept the faith. Henceforth, there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness. which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day, and not to me only, but unto all them also that love is appearing. So in essence, he said, I did it. I did it. So he's saying where the power of God has worked in him. It's not that he was some great, the fight that he fought, oh, I'm a good fighter. It's not what he's saying at all. He may have been a great fighter. I don't know. I don't necessarily think so. But the fight that he was in, I fought a good fight. And that's the fight you and I remain in. Sometimes it gets discouraging. We want to give up. He did what God wanted him to do. He's been saying the same thing he's been saying all along in all his epistles, I am what I am by the grace of God, I can by the power of God, I will by the strength of God, and I did to the glory of God. So what I'm saying to us this morning is don't give up. We are to continue on. And it will be worth it all when we see Christ. One of these days, we're going to stand before our precious Lord, and I trust you'll long to hear. Well done, thou good and faithful servant. The glory of God worked in us, and I did it because of He working through me. That's what we're going to be saying. That's what we're going to be saying. I am, I can, I will, I did. So how about you this morning? Not so much about the pastor now. It's about you. What will you do? It is not I am trying or I want to or I'm praying. No, it's are you willing to do? Remember the guy standing in the altar. Well, I sure love that girl. Or I sure want to be married to that girl. Or she sure can cook good. Will you take her as your wife? Well, you know, preacher, I will. Will you take the call to service for him for the rest of your life? And if you're already doing that, will you continue? I am, I can, I will. And one day, I really want to hear, I did, I did. How about you? Let's pray. Heads are bowed, eyes closed. I wonder this morning, So clear in Sunday school was the explanation of, reminder of rest, that God's calling even now, behold now is accepted time, and you can still yet, if you're here this morning and you do not know Christ as Savior, and there's that burden on your heart, there's that guilty feeling, you just need to do something. You know, it's just not right. He's still, He's wooing you. The Holy Spirit, if He's convicting, He wants you to respond. Christian. The Holy Spirit's working on our lives and hearts and lives and saying, you know, there's something you need to get rid of in your life or it's just not pleasing or something you need to start doing that you're not. You are what you are by the grace of God and because you're that, then we're responsible. It's not that you're choosing to be a witness. You are a witness. You are a Christian. You are an example. Christian. And if in any of those aspects we are failing him, we confess and forsake. Heavenly Father, during this invitation time, if Lord, if you've spoken to my heart, the hearts of anyone in this auditorium today, may they respond, perhaps in their seat, perhaps they need to come forward, perhaps for salvation, perhaps they're not sure of their salvation with you, for baptism, for church membership. I don't know, Lord, what the need is, but you, the Holy Spirit do. So Lord, you work in hearts and lives, please. In Jesus' name I pray, amen.