The Incredible Awe-Inspiring Names of God (Part 3)| Pastor Tina Notz | 6/28/2026

Revelation’s throne room thunders, “Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever,” and the elders throw their crowns, confessing, “You are worthy… for you created all things.” That worship locates history in God’s hands and tells the church to keep looking up because the Holy One “who was and is and is to come” is coming. Elohim, the strong Creator, steps onto Scripture’s first page and speaks light into darkness, form into the void, and life into emptiness. Elohim not only creates; Elohim sustains. While humanity sleeps, creation holds together in his majesty, and every boundary, season, and story stays under his authority.

Elohim’s transcendence exposes human limits and corrects small thoughts of God. “My thoughts are not your thoughts,” Isaiah says, and that distance is mercy. Yet Genesis turns a page and reveals Yahweh Elohim. The shift from Elohim to Yahweh Elohim pulls God’s universal power into personal nearness. The Creator who flung the stars also bends low, present, accessible, near to all who call on his name. God is big and God is near.

Elohim calls the believer to trust his unlimited ability. Abraham and Sarah’s laughter meets the promise, “Is anything too hard for the Lord?” and a child arrives on schedule. Mary’s question meets overshadowing power, and virginity becomes the cradle of the Son of God. The doctrine is simple and seismic: with God, nothing will be impossible. Fear shrinks when Elohim fills the frame.

El Roi then steps into the wilderness. Hagar, used, mistreated, and fleeing, is found by the Angel of the Lord and sent back under a hard roof so that promise can rest on her son. The God who rules galaxies also sees the maid by the spring and names her story. “You are the God who sees me,” becomes a lifeline for every hidden ache, every dry season, every tear that thinks it fell unnoticed. The wilderness often sharpens hearing; weakness becomes the place where holy gumption rises.

The intersection of Elohim and El Roi steadies the soul. Majesty and mercy meet. The God who counts stars counts hairs. The Creator of all things knows names. So the church lays down the impossible in Elohim’s hands and hands over the hidden to El Roi’s care, trusting the Father who saves, not to condemn, but to make new hearts and fresh starts by grace.

Key Takeaways

• 1. Elohim creates order from chaos God’s first word drives back darkness and assigns boundaries to the void. That same voice can speak clarity into confusion and fruitfulness into emptiness. The believer’s hope is not in control but in the God who calls light to show up. When chaos swells, creation’s opening line still holds. [11:51]
• 2. God is big and God is near Genesis shifts from Elohim to Yahweh Elohim so that transcendence meets tenderness. Infinite power does not cancel intimate presence; it guarantees it. The One beyond time walks into time to shepherd hearts, not just planets. Trust grows when majesty becomes personal. [16:38]
• 3. Nothing is too hard for the Lord Abraham’s age and Mary’s virginity bow to the same sentence. Human limits mark the spot where God loves to work, not where hope dies. Waiting requires surrender, not scheming, because promise keeps its own calendar. Faith looks impossible in the eye and remembers who spoke worlds from nothing. [22:03]
• 4. El Roi sees the unseen life Hagar’s wilderness is not God-forsaken ground; it is God-found ground. The God who sees notices the tear before it falls and meets the runner with a word that heals and repositions. Invisible battles are not invisible to heaven, and heaven’s sight carries provision. Being seen becomes strength to obey. [33:13]
• 5. Return and face the hard places Hagar’s command to return is not cruelty; it is alignment under promise. Not every hard thing is a cue to flee, and not every desert is a destiny. Courage is often obedience in the exact place flesh wants to quit. Endurance can be the doorway where blessing finally lands. [29:43]

Youtube Chapters

• [00:00] - Welcome
• [01:45] - Names like a diamond
• [07:31] - Meet Elohim and El Roi
• [08:08] - Elohim creates from nothing
• [11:51] - Light replaces chaos
• [14:43] - From Elohim to Yahweh Elohim
• [16:54] - God is near and not confined
• [20:35] - Trust Elohim with the impossible
• [22:03] - Is anything too hard for the Lord
• [24:06] - With God nothing is impossible
• [26:33] - El Roi, the God who sees me
• [29:43] - Hagar, return and promise
• [33:13] - Seen by the One who sees
• [39:38] - Strength and care held together
• [45:45] - Love that saves, not condemns

1. What specific actions did God take when Hagar felt unseen and abandoned in the wilderness? (See Genesis 16:7-14)
2. How does the sermon describe the relationship between Elohim’s power to create and His ability to sustain order in our lives? [11:51]
3. What two names of God are highlighted in the sermon, and what key attributes do they reveal about His character?

1. Why might God have instructed Hagar to return to a difficult situation instead of freeing her immediately? How does this reflect His purposes?
2. The sermon says, “God is big and God is near.” How do the names Elohim (Creator) and Yahweh Elohim (Lord God) illustrate this tension? [16:38]
3. In Genesis 18:14, God asks, “Is anything too hard for the Lord?” How does this question challenge both Abraham’s doubt and our modern struggles with impossibility?

1. What “impossible” situation (e.g., relational conflict, fear, or a stagnant dream) do you need to place in Elohim’s hands today, trusting His power to create solutions from nothing? [22:03]
2. Where in your life do you feel unseen or overlooked, like Hagar? How might acknowledging El Roi (“the God who sees”) change your perspective on that struggle? [33:13]
3. The sermon says, “Not every hard thing is a cue to flee.” Is there a situation you’ve been avoiding or running from that God might be calling you to face with courage? What practical step could you take this week? [29:43]
4. How can reflecting on God’s transcendence (His “bigness”) diminish fear or anxiety in your current circumstances? What specific worry needs to shrink in light of His power?
5. When have you experienced God’s nearness in a wilderness season? How does that memory encourage you to trust Him in future trials? [36:14]
6. The sermon asks, “What burden have you been hiding?” Identify one hidden struggle you need to surrender to El Roi’s care. How can you actively release it this week? [42:05]