JEHOVAH - Jehovah Nissi - The Lord our Banner // One Church Podcast, 31st July 2023

We are one church. We love God, love people, love

his mission and love his church. Welcome to the One Church

Podcast. Hello, my name is Callum and

it's my privilege to welcome you to the One Church Podcast today.

It's been a great summer so far, in spite of the weather here in

Leicester, and I believe it's only going to get better as we

begin our new teaching series Jehovah.

Unpacking some of the names of God to understand what they mean

for us today. But first, I would love to

encourage you all with Ephesians 320.

All glory to God, who is able through His mighty power at work

within us to accomplish infinitely more than we might

ask or think. Whatever mountains are in your

path this week. Know that you have the power of

God working in you, and through that power He can accomplish

more than you would ever have dreamed possible.

So buckle up and get ready for our message from Pastor Susan,

recorded at the OB site on Sunday the 30th of July as we

find out about the victory that we have in Jehovah Nissi, the

Lord Arvana. Today is all about, as Tom said,

in the worship. We're starting a series on the

names of God, particularly the ones that start with Jehovah,

and we're going to talk a bit about lifting up our hands

today. So that's.

Really good. But I wonder when you meet

somebody, one of the first questions, what's one of the

first questions that you might ask them?

But I would imagine you might say, what's your name?

What's your name? It's a bit embarrassing if you

have to say that. If you, if you know that, you

really should know that person's name.

You've known them actually a long time and suddenly that name

goes out of your head. If that ever happened to you.

I remember when we first came to lead 20 Life Church 16 years

ago. I remember asking Jesus for a

special anointing, a special gift, to be able to remember

people's names, because I knew there was so many new people we

were going to meet. And I do think he helped me with

that actually. And so that's, that's good.

But most of us have more than one name, really, that we're

known by. And how people talk to us

depends on their relationship with us or the name they call us

by. So for me, if you wanted to be

very formal, you could call me Susan Elizabeth Hynde.

If you wanted to call me by a nickname I was known as at

school, you could call me Shep. So my name was Heppel, Susan

Heppel. And so my friends used to call

me Shep because it's S Heppel. And also there was a sheep dog

on Blue Peter, which was a program back in the day called

Shep, and I don't know why they thought I was like a sheep dog,

but maybe that's a compliment. Anyway, David, by the way, used

to be called be no because of Heinz beans and also Angel eyes

because he had sort of very fair eyelashes.

Our children and grandchildren will often call a star in Meemaw

because Annabelle, when she was a little girl, couldn't say

grandma. So she used to start.

She started calling me Meemar and then since then everyone's

called me Meemar. And in fact, even people on the

staff now call me Pastor Meemar or memes.

So yeah, there you go. But it depends on the relation.

You know the relationship we have with a person.

Determines what we might call them or name them and the way

that they are revealed to us. And God is known by many names

in the Bible, and his names reveal different aspects of who

He is and who he is to us and how he wants to reveal himself

to us. Do you know?

The understanding and speaking out and declaring the names of

God is very powerful. So it says in Psalm 138 you have

exalted above all things, your name and your word.

God's name and God's words stand above all other things.

So above all your feelings, do you know what that's true?

That whatever you're feeling, God's name, God's word is above

those things. Above all rule, above all

authority. We've sung that this morning.

You're lifted high above all other things.

There's two friends of ours who have a son.

And over the last few months, in fact, the last year or so, he's

been trying very hard to get into a particular program.

He's actually in the army and it's it's been really difficult.

It's a really, really, really difficult and elite sort of

training program and they've been speaking over him every

day. Certain scriptures, particularly

as I have 40 about you will run and not grow weary, you'll walk

and not grow faint. And just this last few days they

heard that he had actually got into this program that he's

passed and graduated and it's a very rare thing.

So they were absolutely delighted and their son has said

because he knew this was happening and he's had quite a

few encounters with God. Over this whole season, just

through the whole process, and he's having written on the

inside of his cap, he's having written that scripture as I-40,

you will run and not grow weary. You will walk and not grow

faint. You know, it's powerful thing to

speak God's name, God's word over our children, over people

close to us. But Jehovah is God's personal

name. In the beginning of the Bible,

he's revealed as Elohim. Our creator.

But the word Jehovah, he's revealed as the God who wants

relationship. Jehovah's actually a combination

of the word Yahweh, the holy Holy name of God, and AD and I,

which was the spoken name that the Jews would speak.

And those have been mixed together and made the word

Jehovah. So over the next four weeks,

we're going to look at four names of God that start with

Jehovah and, you know, as we preach, the mighty names of God.

We can expect deep transformation in us, and we can

expect a wide impact in our lives and through our lives.

So I want us to raise our faith that as we really understand

more of these names of God and speak them out in our lives,

we're going to see impact and change.

We're going to look at Jehovah Shalom, the Lord our peace.

We're going to look at Jehovah Jira, the Lord our provider,

Jehovah Rafah, the Lord our healer.

And today we're going to begin with Jehovah Nissi, the Lord,

Our Banners. So a bit about banners.

Well, a banner today is like a sign, isn't it?

Or a flag. We might think of a a sporting

event where people wave a flag to say which team they support.

In ancient times, you see people going to war under a banner

lifted up for everyone to see. The symbol of victory, A

reminder for the Jews, as we're going to read in a moment, that

the victory was God's alone, and the Israelites followed the

Lord's banner into battle, and it's in His name that they

conquered. Jehovah Nissi, the Lord our

banner. So we're going to read from

Exodus 17 where this name is first mentioned in the Bible.

So here we go, Exodus 17 So these lights have just come out

of the promised land, just started wandering in the desert

and here they come across the first attack.

The Amalekites came and attacked of the Israelites at refedeem.

Moses said to Joshua. Choose some of our men and go

out to fight the Amalekites. Tomorrow I will stand on top of

the hill with the staff of God in my hands.

So Joshua fought the Amalekites as Moses had ordered, and Moses,

Aaron, and her went to the top of the hill.

As long as Moses held up his hands, the Israelites were

winning. But whenever he lowered his

hands, the Amalekites were winning.

When Moses hands grew tired, they took a stone and put it

under him, and he sat on it. Aaron and her held his hands up

one-on-one, side 1 on the other so that his hands remain steady

till sunset. So Joshua overcame the Amalekite

army with the sword, and then the Lord said to Moses, write

this on the scroll as something to be remembered, and be sure

that Joshua hears it, because I will completely blot out the

name of Amalek from under heaven.

Moses built an altar and called it The Lord is my banner,

Jehovah Nissi, he said. Because hands were lifted up

against the throne of the Lord, the Lord will be at war against

the Amalekites from generation to generation.

And here we see the power of that name.

Jehovah nissi. The Lord is our banner, and

that's at all times. So, Lord, we just ask you, come

and reveal yourself through this name, through this mighty

powerful name. And Lord changes as we read your

word right now as we look into it.

Amen. So Jehovah Nissi is our banner

when we are weak if we look back a few verses before this passage

that we just read. We read this.

The whole Israelite community set out from the desert of Sin,

traveling from place to place as the Lord commanded.

They camped at Refadeem. This is the place where they

they are when the attack comes. But there was no water for the

people to drink. So the Israelites have just seen

this amazing victory over the Egyptians.

They've been taken through the Red Sea, parted amazing miracle

out towards the promised land. They're experiencing the desert

life now. They're dependent on God.

But complaining also was started.

So they've already complained at Mara because of bitter water.

And the Lord's done a miracle where Moses struck the rock with

his staff and the water became fit to drink.

They've grumbled about the food, and God has provided manner and

he's provided quail for them. And they've traveled to

Refadine, where there's no water to drink.

So they are in a place of weakness.

And God instructs Moses it says this.

It says I will stand there before you.

This is what God says by the Rock at Horreb.

Strike the rock, and water will come out of it for the people to

drink. So Moses did this in the sight

of the elders of Israel, and he called the place Masa and

Mariba, which because the Israelites quarrelled and

because they tested the Lord saying, Is the Lord among us or

not? So Moses struck the rock, and

water came gushing out. And they called this place

testing and quarrelling. And they were asking, is the

Lord with us or is he not with us?

So this is a place of weakness for them.

This is a place maybe of weariness.

They don't really know what's happening, but God had helped

them. He was the Lord, their banner.

Even in that moment, even before this battle that we've just read

about, He met them in weakness, You know, in one Corinthians

10/2 to four, it says this powerful scripture.

It says they were all baptized into Moses.

This is in the New Testament, says this in the cloud and in

the sea. They all ate the same spiritual

food and drank the same spiritual drink.

For they drank from the spiritual rock that accompanied

them, and that rock was Christ Jesus Christ, the solid rock,

The cornerstone was struck. He was beaten.

He was crucified on the cross and way back.

Even like right near the beginning of the Bible, the the,

the power of this, this cross still gave victory to the

Israelites. And for anyone who will call on

Jesus today, even today, He is our banner.

When we are weak, Jesus is our banner in times of weakness.

Jehovah Nissi, you know he will enable us to run and not grow

weary. To walk and not grow faint as

you let him be your banner. He'll enable you to run and not

grow weary. To walk and not grow faint.

I wonder, are you feeling a bit weary today?

Are you feeling a bit weak today in one way or another?

Well, lift up your hands today, because the Lord, your banner is

with you. He can still strike that rock if

you like, and the water can come out to refresh you.

Jehovah Nissi is our banner at all times when we're weak.

And secondly, Jehovah Nissi is our banner when we are at war.

So now the attack comes suddenly.

The Amalekites came, it says and attacked the Israelites at

Refidine. The Amalekites, the relentless

enemies of the Jews they came in attacked.

Interestingly, attack will always happen or often happen to

the people of God while we live in this world.

But refedeem here means a place of rest.

The Amalekites came and attacked, if you like, when

their God was down, when they maybe you're losing confidence

where they're a bit confused when they're weary.

They were saying it just before this is the Lord really with us

or not? And suddenly this enemy comes

and attacks them. But Moses takes charge.

It says Moses holds up the staff.

Tomorrow, he says, I'll stand on top of the hill with the staff

of God in my hands. I got a bit fascinated when I

was studying for this about this staff and just thinking back to

what this staff actually was, that Moses held up.

Well, this is the staff that he had in his hand when God called

him at the burning Bush that we looked at a few weeks ago.

It was his normal tool of the trade.

It was his shepherd's crook that became a catalyst for performing

miracles. It was used when he showed the

signs to Pharaoh, when all those different curses came on the

people in Egypt. So that eventually Pharaoh let

his people go. This is the staff that Moses

lifted over the Red Sea and it parted.

This is an ordinary thing, but it was a catalyst for miracles.

And remember, God had said to Moses when he called him, he

said, what is in your hand? And Moses had said, I've got a

staff in my hand, and God had used that and wonder for us

today, What do we have in our hands that we can lift up to

God? You know, it's time to maybe

lift up a skill that we might have again.

And say here I am, Lord, I'm lifting that up to you.

Maybe it's time that we can lift up to him.

Say I have this time. What?

What do you want for me to do with it?

Resources. Have we got resources that we

can lift up and say to God, what do you want to do with those?

Maybe it's our heart or prayer. This is really a sign of prayer

that Moses lifts up the staff in his hand.

But we bring our whole selves, don't we?

We bring our whole selves and say, Lord, I'm lifting up the

staff to you if you like. I'm lifting up that ordinary

thing, my life to you, and say, what do you want to do with it?

And that's the way that we win the victory.

And then it's hands up for victory because it was the

lifting up of hands. So it says, Joshua fought the

Amalekites as Moses had ordered, and Moses, Aaron and her went to

the top of the hill. And as long as Moses held up his

hands, the Israelites were winning.

But whenever he lowered them, the Amalekites were winning.

To lift up your hands like that in a a battle situation was a

military signal. For beginning the battle, or to

advance and possibly to lower your hands again, was a sign to

retreat. And here it shows that winning

the battle is all about prayer. It's all about dependence on

God. It's true for us as much as it

was for them, that we can only win the battles that we face.

As a church, we can only win the battles we face.

As individual people, with God's help, we have to lift up our

hands and say, Lord, this is all about you.

Moses stands on the hilltop. When his hands are staying

lifted up, then the Israelites are winning.

Psalm 63 says this. I will praise you as long as I

live, and in your name I will lift up my hands.

What does lifting hands mean? Well, we could think of lots of

different meanings, but maybe surrender, Maybe praise.

Maybe just lifting your hands to heaven, saying, Lord, this is

all about you. This this battle is being fought

in the heavenly places and worked out on the earth, and

we're part of that. What happens on the hilltop

determines the outcome in the valley.

The sword of Joshua in the valley, fighting practical

action. The earthly battle.

The flesh and blood, if you like, And what was happening on

the mountain? The spiritual battle that's

fought above can I say Fight the good fight of faith.

Pray and fight for your marriage.

Pray and fight for your children.

Pray and fight for your business or for your testimony.

The you know the arm of flesh that speaks about in the Bible

will fail alone. But with God we have the

victory. With God we have the victory.

I was reminded preparing this of a card that I received many,

many years ago, 30 years ago, from a wonderful lady that used

to be in our old church. And it was when our eldest son

Sam was first diagnosed with autism.

And she wrote Psalm 20 and a card for me and underlined some

bits. And suddenly while I was

preparing this, it came back to me and it was really powerful to

me because this is what she wrote, she wrote, May the Lord

answer you when you were in distress.

May the name of the God of Jacob protect you.

May he send you help from the sanctuary and grant you support

from Zion. May he remember all your

sacrifices and accept your offerings.

May He give you the desires of your heart and make all your

plans succeed. May we shout for joy over your

victory and lift up our banners in the name of our God.

And then it's it. It says the Lord gives victory,

and so on. Some trust in Chariots and some

in horses, but we trust in the name of the Lord our God.

And I was thinking when I when I thought about that card, and I'm

pretty sure I have it somewhere, if I bothered to look it out,

it's in a box somewhere. I was thinking, well, look what

the Lord has done. Because yesterday Philippa and I

went to a tea party, like a hen tea party with Fiona.

Who's the lovely lady that Sam's going to marry in a few weeks

time. When I look at Sam, now that

he's done a degree, a master's degree, that he's.

Living on his own, when he was told he would never live

independently all those amazing things that God has done in his

life and that our answers to prayer and we lifted up our

banners in the name of the Lord, we said before we even saw that

victory. We said this is our victory and

we we declared it and we praised God and we spoke the scriptures

over him, and we did everything we knew to do and look what the

Lord has done, because we couldn't have done that.

But he has done an amazing, mighty thing.

And you know He can. You know, he can do that in

situations that you might be facing right now.

We lift up our banners in the name of the Lord our God we say

Jehovah. We see you are the Lord our

banner. The victory is written over your

banner already and we declare it.

But you know we cannot win alone because it says here Moses hands

grew tired. And you know every person gets

tired at times, don't we? And when he grew tired, they

took a stone and they put it under him and he sat on it.

I love that picture. Just on there.

Moses will get a stone and sit down.

And they held his hands up. Erin and her held his hands up

one-on-one side, 1 on the other, so that his hands remain steady

till sunset. And that phrase there that just

struck out to me when I was reading this passage.

His hands remain steady till sunset.

It's not what we want for our lives that our hands remain

steady, remain steady till the very end, the very sunset of our

life in on this earth that our hands remain.

Steady. He couldn't do it by himself.

He needed the family. If you like, can I say find an

error on find a her who will stand with you, Who will stand

in prayer. In our prayer army zoom meeting

on Friday we had, I felt we had a great time of prayer, praying

all around the world. And in our little small group.

When we broke into groups, one lady really blessed David and I,

just the way she was thanking God for our church and for all

the amazing different people in the church.

And what a blessing it was to her.

And that just blessed our heart. But I wonder, where are your

Aaron and her? Don't neglect being alongside

other believers. There's going to be a great

surge in small groups. I'm going to speak it out.

We're going to have more small groups.

We're going to have more opportunities for people to

connect together, to love one another and to grow together.

Joshua overcame the Malachite army, it says with the sword.

It happened because Aaron and her stood with Moses and they

declared together and they lifted up their hands to heaven

and the battle was won. You know, in a small group, you

can agree on things together with other people, you can agree

with your friends, you can stand together.

So don't keep. If you've got a need even in

your life today, don't keep it to yourself.

Make sure you ask somebody to pray with you.

Ask someone to stand with you, because we need one another.

And in one church at the moment, I think this scripture is a

really good one for us. The the horse is prepared for

the day of battle. It says pro verse 2131.

But victory belongs to the Lord. It feels like everything's being

got ready for this new day that is coming.

Jehovah Nissi is our battle at all times.

And you know what? His arms never get tired.

Moses arms got tired. But Jesus arms, our our Father's

arms, they never get tired. They're always lifted up on our

behalf when we're weak, when we're at war.

And finally, Jehovah Nissi is our banner when we worship, the

Lord said to Moses, write this on the scroll as something to be

remembered. Sometimes when we we are

worshiping, it isn't just singing.

Sometimes it can be. It can involve actually

recording something, actually saying this is what you've done,

Lord, I'm declaring that, or this is what you're going to do.

I believe it. It's like a banner is a reminder

of what he's done and what we're praying for him to do in the

future. It's a testimony of his

faithfulness. And sometimes when we're

singing, we're just saying I'm testifying to what you've done

in my life, his faithfulness in every season.

I was reminded a few weeks ago because I met with a lady called

Marianne who was an old school friend that I've known since I

was 12 years old. And we haven't seen each other

for many, many years. And we had quite an emotional

moment in the car park in this place where we met, where we

just because we both, honestly, I think we both look really,

really not the same as we did at 11, but certainly as the last

time we saw each other, we didn't look that different and

we just had a big hug and it was just so nice and so easy to

talk. We felt I was just kicked off

again where we left off. But it made me remember what I

was like at 1314, an insecure, lost young lady.

You know, I had quite a hard family life at that time, quite

a lot of challenges and even though my parents were wonderful

but things, things were not that easy at home achieving.

Well, I was happy in a new great school, but inside I had this

longing for God, longing to know God.

I'm not sure how to find him, but just full of full of

potential if you like. And then I was captured by

Jesus, heard the gospel, the simple gospel explained for the

first time that I couldn't get to God on my own.

There was this wall in between us of of my sin and I needed

Jesus. I needed to invite him to come

and be the bridge between me and God.

And just that very simple explanation.

I just said yes to Jesus in my heart and that was the star of a

whole new life for me. 50 years later, I'm in the 36th year of a

marriage to the love of my life, serving this amazing church,

more confident in the goodness of God than ever before.

You know Jehovah Nissi, I can say he's my banner.

We could, we could probably now stop and spend many, many hours

while you will tell your testimonies of how the Lord has

been your banner. You you give a witness to what

the goodness of God in your life but us as a house as well as as

a church. His faithfulness bringing us to

this .5 thriving sites and about to plan to six.

That's exciting to now be thinking about reaching out

again. The story of even what you've

seen on the screen, the development of 1 Center.

Look at what the Lord has done. The Lord is our banner.

He's brought us this far and our best days are ahead.

You know, this week we had an e-mail from somebody in one

church and she sent us a song And she, she said while she was

listening to this song, she just saw loads of children dancing

into the new yearly refurbished 1 center in a sort of a vision

and filling the aisles and all around waving flags, big

beautiful flags, banners in the name of God, bright color and

joy on their faces. And she said, I felt like God

was saying we're coming into an open heaven.

And she said quite a few other things as well.

What she doesn't know is that I'm not going to give away any

secrets, but there's going to be some exciting things a bit like

that in very, very similar. And even the same song that she

sent us is going to be used as children dance in our new

center. So she's hearing from God there.

But that's so exciting to think that God is going ahead.

He's bringing us an open heaven. And that won't just be in one

place. That will be across all our

sides, Lift up his name and bow down in worship.

Moses built an altar and called it the Lord is My banner.

The battle is the Lord's. God will contend for us.

God will fight with those who contend against us.

And you get under the banner of the Lordship of Jesus, and he

will give us the victory. It's a safe place to be Jesus.

He raised a bloodstained banner, if you like.

And in him we have victory over unbelief.

We have victory over fear, victory over temptation.

And in the battle for his Kingdom in this world, One

Corinth is 15 says this. For sin is the sting that

results in death, and the law gives sin its power.

But thank God he gives us victory over sin and death

through our Lord Jesus Christ. So lift up His name.

He is the Lord our banner. Just imagine even over this

place, this huge blood stained banner that we're lifting up

with Jesus name on it just says Jesus.

We're building an altar of worship because we cannot do

this ourselves. We cannot see many people find

Jesus without God's help. We cannot build His Kingdom

without His help. We cannot even face the battles

in our own personal lives without him.

So whether you're at weak, you're feeling weak this morning

or you're at war, and actually, if we, if we know it or not,

we're all at war in one area or another, we will worship.

You know, we go out under his colors, if you like.

We go out under his flag. And the wonderful thing is that

he's already won the victory. It's already won.

I was listening to a song this morning in the car and I thought

I'd just write down the words. It's a song called Valor by

Christy Knuckles And it says with you I will face the day and

the war that's over me and what I choose to believe.

You're the lifter of my head and a shield above me as you answer

my cries for help. And Jesus, you keep calling my

by name with a love that just keeps hunting me down just to

hold me up. I'm still here standing in a

strength that's not my own. I don't face this hour alone

because Jesus, your cross, your death, your resurrection life in

me. You'll always be my Vella.

I'm standing in a battle that's already won.

I can almost hear it, the sound of the trumpet calling me onward

to a better country. So raising up a banner means we

declare it, we nail our colors to the mast.

And I wonder today I thought it would be good and to end with a

time of of worship. And somehow, I'm not quite sure

how this is going to go. But I know it needs to involve

us lifting up our hands because we're going to lift our hands to

heaven. We're going to say Jehovah

Nissi, you are the Lord, my banner.

I'm feeling weak. I need your strength.

I'm at war. I need your victory.

And we're going to declare his worship.

And we're going to declare our testimony.

So wherever you're at today, I just wonder if you would stand

with me this morning. And let's lift our hands.

Let's surrender. Let's give him all we have.

All we are, we're saying, Lord, we need you.

We praising you. We say, Lord, in your name.

We have the victory. And whatever it is, whatever it

is that you're standing for right now, it could be you're

contending for a family member. It could be you are contending

for something in your own life. It could be your thoughts go

wider to the world around us and where the battles are raging.

And we're saying Jehovah Nissi, the Lord, you are our banner.

We're lifting up your name. We're lifting up your name.

Thank you, Jesus. Thank you, Jesus.

I wonder if you, if you speak in in tongues, if you just speak in

that language that you've been taught by him, you might want to

sing. You might want to sing your

victory song. Sing your victory song.

You're singing over me and we're singing to him.

You know the amazing thing is as we lift our hands, Jesus is in

heaven. He, it says in Romans 8 Jesus,

who died more than that, who was raised to life, is at the right

hand of God and is also interceding for us.

And it says in these things we are more than conquest.

Through him who loves us. Nothing can separate us from his

love. We come under his banner.

Thank you, Jesus. Well, we lift up your name.

What a powerful thought from pastor season there.

I love the image of Erin and her holding Moses hands up for him.

If you would appreciate prayer or support, please get in touch.

We would love to help you keep your own hands raised.

A few items of family news today.

This Sunday we handed out hundreds of postcards inviting

you to the launch of our newly renovated and almost completed

building on the 9th and 10th of September.

This whole journey has been fantastic so far and it's been

about so much more than a new Center for us.

Do all that you can to join us and invite your world to What an

amazing thought that we could begin as we mean to go on with

many people responding to the gospel that weekend.

Depending on when you're listening back to this, our

missions team to Tanzania are either in the air or have just

landed safely in Nairobi, Kenya. Let's be praying for them over

the next week as they preach the gospel, serve the poor and dig

some toilets. And off the back of that, we are

so excited to announce the applications are open for our

next mission strip. That's right, in March 2024,

we'll be going to Israel to see the very ground on which Jesus

walked and to meet some of our amazing mission partners who are

working tirelessly to see Jesus proclaimed in the Holy Land.

If your heart has been stirred for mission recently, then get

in touch for more details. Have a great week and remember

we're here if you need anything. The Lord bless you and keep you.

The Lord make his face shine upon you, and be gracious to

you. The Lord turn his face towards

you and give you peace.