The Creator Is Calling | Brian Lucas – PAX Christian Church (The LORD is Salvation | 03/27/22)

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This is from the 10:00 AM service from PAX Christian Church on 03/27/22.
We are a non-denominational church in the Gardnerville Ranchos in northern Nevada.

This current series is called “The LORD is Salvation (The Path to Easter)”.
Wk1: “The Creator Is Calling”

Get the notes for this message here: https://bible.com/events/48866934
Find out more about PAX: http://paxchristian.church

Matthew 1:20-21 NIV

20 But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. 21 She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.”

JESUS is the Greek version of a Hebrew name: JOSHUA
JOSHUA = Yehoshua = יְהוֹשׁוּעַ
יְהֹוָה = YHWH = Yahweh / Yehowah / Jehovah (usually “LORD” all-caps in any English translations)
יְהוֹשׁוּעַ = יְהֹוָה + יָשַׁעYehoshua = YHWH (the LORD) + yasha (save/deliver/salvation)
“The LORD is salvation” or “The LORD saves”
This new series is about the plan of salvation from Creation to the Resurrection and beyond.
Taking a “pause” from Luke, to look through Isaiah for our lead-up to Easter.

Luke 3:23 NIV
23 Now Jesus himself was about thirty years old when he began his ministry. He was the son, so it was thought, of Joseph,the son of Heli,

Luke 3:38 NIV
38 the son of Enosh, the son of Seth, the son of Adam, the son of God.

Luke shares this genealogy to tie Jesus’ ministry, death, and resurrection to the Creation from the first moments of human existence.
THE CREATOR IS CALLING YOU TO SALVATION IN HIS PRESENCE.

Isaiah 43:1-7 NIV
1 But now, this is what the Lord says—he who created you, Jacob, he who formed you, Israel:“Do not fear, for I have redeemed you;I have summoned you by name; you are mine. 2 When you pass through the waters,I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you.When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze. 3 For I am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior;I give Egypt for your ransom, Cush and Seba in your stead. 4 Since you are precious and honored in my sight, and because I love you,I will give people in exchange for you, nations in exchange for your life. 5 Do not be afraid, for I am with you;I will bring your children from the east and gather you from the west. 6 I will say to the north, ‘Give them up!’ and to the south, ‘Do not hold them back.’ Bring my sons from afar and my daughters from the ends of the earth— 7 everyone who is called by my name, whom I created for my glory, whom I formed and made.”

THIS IS FOR ISRAEL.
BUT THIS IS ALSO FOR US:

OUR CREATOR IS CALLING US TO SALVATION IN HIS PRESENCE.

Genesis 12:2-3 NIV
2 “I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. 3 I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.”

This is the Abrahamic Covenant.
Abraham > Isaac > Jacob > 12 boys > tribes of Israel
The whole point of the nation of Israel is to be a blessing to all peoples on earth.

Genesis 3:13-15 NIV
13 Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?”The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.” 14 So the Lord God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this, “Cursed are you above all livestock and all wild animals! You will crawl on your belly and you will eat dust all the days of your life. 15 And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.”

Adam and Eve eat the fruit and are cursed.
But in this initial curse to the serpent, there’s a promise of future victory as well:
To the serpent: you will strike his heel, but he will CRUSH YOUR HEAD.
The goal is ultimately to restore us to the garden. Look:

Genesis 3:22-24 NIV
22 And the Lord God said, “The man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil. He must not be allowed to reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever.” 23 So the Lord God banished him from the Garden of Eden to work the ground from which he had been taken. 24 After he drove the man out, he placed on the east side of the Garden of Eden cherubim and a flaming sword flashing back and forth to guard the way to the tree of life.

The path is blocked. Not destroyed. Not sealed off forever. Guarded until restoration happens.
THE CREATOR IS CALLING YOU TO SALVATION IN HIS PRESENCE.

Isaiah 7:14 NIV
14 Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel.

Matthew 1:23 NIV
23 “The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel” (which means “God with us”).

Isaiah 8:7-10 NIV
7 therefore the Lord is about to bring against them
the mighty floodwaters of the Euphrates—
the king of Assyria with all his pomp.
It will overflow all its channels,
run over all its banks 
8 and sweep on into Judah, swirling over it,
passing through it and reaching up to the neck.
Its outspread wings will cover the breadth of your land,
Immanuel!” 
9 Raise the war cry, you nations, and be shattered!
Listen, all you distant lands.
Prepare for battle, and be shattered!
Prepare for battle, and be shattered! 
10 Devise your strategy, but it will be thwarted;
propose your plan, but it will not stand,
for God is with us.

There is a “now and not yet” in scripture. God is with Israel “now” as the prophecy is telling them, and there is future promise of a time when God will be with us in a new and saving way.
THE CREATOR IS CALLING YOU TO SALVATION IN HIS PRESENCE.

Colossians 1:15-23 NIV
15 The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. 16 For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him. 17 He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. 18 And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy. 19 For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, 20 and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross. 21 Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior. 22 But now he has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation— 23 if you continue in your faith, established and firm, and do not move from the hope held out in the gospel. This is the gospel that you heard and that has been proclaimed to every creature under heaven, and of which I, Paul, have become a servant.

The whole point of this is to be reconciled to God, and to have the restored privilege of being in His presence. That is what we were created for.
THE CREATOR IS CALLING YOU TO SALVATION IN HIS PRESENCE.

Isaiah 43:5-7 NIV
5 Do not be afraid, for I am with you;
I will bring your children from the east
and gather you from the west. 
6 I will say to the north, ‘Give them up!’
and to the south, ‘Do not hold them back.’
Bring my sons from afar
and my daughters from the ends of the earth— 
7 everyone who is called by my name,
whom I created for my glory,
whom I formed and made.”