I did extensive research on the Names of God using many internet resources.
Check the list at the bottom of the last page

Some Old Testament Names of God #4
El-Shaddai, and El-Emunah
Gen. 17:1-3

Introduction Change of Heart
Mom got up early Sunday morning and got the kids ready for church. Dad sat in the living room,
reading his newspaper and looking out at the snow.    They'd had the conversation before, but nothing had changed. "Why don't you go with us this week?" she asked. He didn't look up from his paper. "You know why," he said out loud and then in his own mind finished the answer with "A truly great God wouldn't care about puny humans anyway." The man replayed the argument in his mind: "If God is so perfect and great, why would he care about helping us? If God is so powerful, why would he make his son become a human being? Why would he stoop so low to help us.... if God is really so great."

The house was silent except for the sound of the logs crackling in the fireplace. From the other
end of the house came a strange thump. The man put down his paper and walked down the hall.
Outside the window huddled a group of birds. In confusion and fear, they had flown into the
window pane and fallen to the ground. They huddled together in the snow trying to figure out
what to do next.

The man felt sorry for the birds. He thought to himself, "The birds could go in our barn and
they'd be warm there." So he went outside and opened the door to the barn. Then he waited in the
cold. The birds didn't move. "I know, I'll shoe them over to the barn door," the man thought.
But as he tried to herd the birds to the barn they simply scattered. Only after he left them alone
did they come back to their spot in the snow.

The man had one last plan. He went back in the house and got a loaf of bread. Carefully, he tore
off pieces of bread and made a path to the barn door. But the birds just huddled closer together,
ignoring the gift of life which the man was offering. Stumped, the man stood looking at the
birds, wondering just what it would take to get them to safety. He thought to himself, "If only I
could become a bird and lead them to safety, then they wouldn't have to die." And he stopped
and thought about it again. And he finally understood.

That man needed a more complete understanding of God. All of us can learn more about God
and one way to do that is to understand the meaning of the names given for Him in the Bible.
 
 

Introduction. El Shaddai : Shaddai occurs in the O.T. 48 times and is always translated, '
Almighty This term for God means: Mountains" or "The Almighty God." Shaddai means
mountain or breast, sustenance, strength, satisfaction or sufficiency. All that a mother is to her
baby, El-Shaddai is to His children.

This term is found more in Job than any other book in the Old Testament. Can you imagine
anyone having problems bigger than one can handle than Job? Yet he found El-Shaddai to be
sufficient.

El-Shaddai, is a name for God that is rather prominent because of the popular song. It is a
Hebrew word that means Almighty.

A.    What Does El-Shaddai mean related to God? Gen. 17:1-2
And when Abram was ninety years old and nine, Jehovah appeared to Abram, and said unto him,
I am God Almighty; walk before me, and be thou perfect. 2 And I will make my covenant
between me and thee, and will multiply thee exceedingly.

            1. El-Shaddai Means the Almighty Is . . The Sufficient God.

                a. Sufficient for a 90 year old.
                b. Sufficient for my problem and yours.

That's the first time that El-Shaddai is mentioned. The word Shaddai has many connotations to it.
One of them is Almighty and so every time in the New American Standard Bible the word is
translated, it is translated Almighty. But Shaddai occurs 48 times in the Old Testament and is
always translated as Almighty. This term for God means mountains or the Almighty God.
Shaddai means mountain or breast, sustenance or strength, satisfaction, or sufficiency all that a
mother is to her baby, El-Shaddi is to His children.

It is interesting to noted, although the translations bring out Almighty as the primary emphasis of
the word El-Shaddai, it is also in the context, also one of the connotations of the word that could
be The Breasted One. And all that a mother's breast is to a baby that God is to us. One of my
daughters, my older daughter, said, "Dad do you know that when a mother holds her baby and
breast feeds it that the eyes of a baby can see just about 18 inches and that's the distance from a
mother holding her baby to her face." Said, "isn't that interesting how God worked that out."
Well, Yes it is. All the connotations, all the thoughts that you could bring up that are wholesome,
wonderful, that are just so beautiful about a mother-child relationship that is included in the idea
that God is Almighty. He is the sustaining One. He is the One to whomever or whatever we
need, we can go to Him.

The term is found more in the book of Job than any other book in the Bible. Isn't that interesting.
If you pick out someone out of the Bible and said, who has more trouble, more problems more
difficulties than anybody else, you know, for a lifetime and it's Job. But he says that God is
Almighty. Can you imagine anyone having more troubles than Job? I cannot and yet he said
God is Almighty.

What is this El-Shaddai mean as it relates to God? And there is so many things that I just have to
choose out a few to relate to that. But first of all, I would say El-Shaddai means that God is
Almighty, He is The Sufficient God. He was sufficient for the ninety year old Abram and the need
that he had. Abram wanted his lineage to go on. He wanted to have someone to pass on his
genealogy, his lineage to and he had no one. And God comes to him as a ninety-nine year old
man and He tells him you're going to have children. There's going to be a lineage, your children
are going to be as many as the sand of the sea. And it is so as we look to the sufficiency of
El-Shaddai that we have the example of Abram.

What is the difficulty that you face right now? Whatever it is, let me ask you to think about
El-Shaddai being The Sufficient One. The Almighty God is Sufficient in whatever that problem or
need is. El-Shaddai affirms that He is the Almighty God who is Sufficient to handle the problems
of life. That His strength will carry us through and that He alone has the solutions for our
problems. We can go to God.

Illustration
When I was a college student I worked as a draftsman for Style Craft Manufacturing in St. Louis;
every once in a while I needed to go out to the shop and see if I could not get some problem
corrected. I had to relate to some problem. And the shop superintendent would say regularly,
"well, tell your troubles to Jesus." He always did that in a way of being snide or ridiculous, not
to me, but he just said that to everybody. I said I'm going to get the opportunity one of these
days when there's no one else but he and I and I'm going to tell him I do tel my troubles to Jesus.
One day I that opportunity as he said, "Well, tell your troubles to Jesus." And I said, "Bob."
And he looked at me, and I said, "I do." He said, "You do what?" I said, "I do tell my troubles
to Jesus." He didn't know how to relate and just walked away.

Well we need to relate and know that El-Shaddai means He is The Sufficient God.

        2. El-Shaddai Means the Almighty Is . . The Sheltering God. PSA 91:1
He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty.

We sang 'Rock of Ages, cleft for me'. We get that from In Psa. 91:1. Resting in the Shelter of
God. He is the Rock of Ages, cleft for me. You know it is so good of an idea that they have at
St. John's Hospital and I know that everybody who has visited there will make some notice of this
and maybe some comment about it. But they have pictures that they have taken of their
employees and their children, their families and have put Biblical connotations to it. And there is
one, I don't remember what floor it's on but I think it is near an elevator door. As you open up
the elevator door, there is a little child underneath a rock that looks like it could just fall off at any
time and the scripture is Rock of Ages, cleft for me. He is a Sheltering God. He is a God who
can Shelter us and if we are in His Shelter, then the shadow of the Almighty will be upon us.

        3.    El-Shaddai Means the Almighty Is . . The Sinless God.

JOB 5:17 "Blessed is the man whom God corrects; so do not despise the discipline of the Almighty."
Job 22:23 If you return to the Almighty, you will be built up; You will remove iniquity far from your tents.

He is also the Almighty meaning the Sinless One. The Sinless One in Job 5:17 and Job 22:23 corrects and removes sin.     So that the emphasis is that He is the One who can correct us. He is the One who can discipline us. He is the One who can forgive us. How is that true? It is because He is the Sinless One.
And so with my sin, with my needs, and my problems, I must go to Him. El-Shaddai He is the
Almighty, the All Sufficient God. That's what it means, the connotations about God. And we
certainly can make many applications to our life.

Now lets approach El-Shaddai from a different angle.

B.    What Does El-Shaddai mean related to Mankind?

        1.    El-Shaddai means Mankind Can Be . . Patient

First of all, I think it means that we should be Patient. In the connotation that He is the Sufficient
God then you look at Abram and Abram says, "Man, I've been ninety-nine years and I don't have
a child." God said, "Just wait. Just wait, just be patient." And you and I can look at difficulties,
or problems, and needs that we have and we can look to El-Shaddai. God is saying be patient,
I Am the Sufficient God. Whatever my need, whatever my difficulty, He is Sufficient. All of us
need to learn more patience. You know, you've seen the little cartoon character that says, God
give me patience and give it to me right now. Probably everyone of us have been there. You
know, I think patience and waiting is one of the most difficult things in life. God disciplines us in
this particular arena.

        2.    El-Shaddai means Mankind Can Be . . Protected.

Secondly, I think it means that we are Protected. El-Shaddai is a Sheltering God therefore, I am
protected. All that the Rock of Ages is applies to me and you. We are protected. I believe we
have a right to expect His protection when we are diligently walking with Him. We do not have
that right if we are walking away from Him.

        3.    El-Shaddai means Mankind Can Be . . Pardoned.

El-Shaddai is the Sinless One. Therefore, I can come and I can be pardoned. I can receive the
pardon for my sin. I can receive forgiveness and there is multitudes of examples in our world.
In the early service today, Sarah Cantrell came stating that she had made a profession of her faith
and she wants to follow the Lord in baptism. The other day one of our men talked to me about
His son making a commitment of his life to Christ and he wants me to talk with him. Both of
these children will be baptized at a future date.

We will also baptize Ray DeWett an 82 year old man. The little ones come and their sincerity
and their sweetness as a little child. Ray comes as a mature man but the pardon is the same.
They come to Him and He is the One who pardons and forgives their iniquities. He is El-Shaddai.

What about you have you come to Him for the pardoning of your sins?

Illustration
Christa and I have heard several people talk about Ryan's menu on Thursday night. They have
prime rib on Thursday night and we decided one of these days we're going to go down there.
And so a week ago Thursday night, we went and we had their prime rib. Now I'll tell you in
advance it's $11.00 and that's not extremely expensive, but if you're not going to be that big an
eater you don't want to spend $11.00. We went and they give you a blue plate so that identifies
you as one who gets prime rib. So I put my plate in front of the guy and he sliced off about 12 to
16 ounces of prime rib. It was way too much for me. I just don't eat that much anymore and so
when I ate about half of it and Christa said, "are you going back?" I said, "no, but if you want
more, you can have half of mine. She said, "No I can't eat all they given me." Well, we thought
about asking for a doggie bag, and you know that's a nasty word at Ryan's. You just don't
do that. Well about that time the waitress said, "do you want a plate to go back for more?"

We risked it and asked "what about a doggie bag?" She said "I'll get in trouble if I give you a
doggie bag, but why don't you just wrap it up in your napkins?"    Well, what are you going to do with used prime rib? We were going to give it to our daughter Teri's dog, that's what we were going to do with it. Just freeze it and the next time we go over take it and you know dog would have thought he was in hog heaven or whatever. It would have been a beef heaven, wouldn't it.

On the way over to Ryan's, we saw a Lassie kind of a dog, it was in the Collie family, that looked
about as mangy as you've ever seen a Collie. His or her tongue was hanging out, I mean the
dog was walking like it was on its' last leg. Remember the temperatures were way up high
ninety's. When we came back, that dog was on the other side of the street. I said, "Christa,
you've got this water here why don't we stop and give that dog water, and some prime rib?"

And so we turned around and the dog was on our side of the road again. He crossed the road for
us, so I thought, "well, the dog knows prime rib is coming. He's heard it somehow or another."
I pulled around and got out of the car and took the prime rib, we had and two little bottles of
water. You know what, I couldn't get that dog to come to me. He just kept going under the
viaduct and I'm sure there must have been some little dirty stream down there that he's going
to get at least some water. And I'm saying, "hey dog," I finally hollered out to him, "prime rib,
prime rib." But he didn't understand that at all. But I had probably had one of the best meals
for him that he'd ever had and some clean water, but he didn't pay any attention to me.

It makes me think of this verse of scripture where Jesus said, "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who
kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your
children together, the way a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were unwilling.
Matt 23:37.

Friend so much of our world that is like that. El-Shaddai is willing to be Almighty God. He's
willing to be Sufficient, He's willing to be the Shelter, He's willing to be the Sinless One who
pardons your sin, willing to be all of that and yet people turn a deaf ear.     It's almost like they think He don't mean to do them good but harm. I've said this and I will say it a again and again when a person has refused over and over again to come to the Lord and then they come to Him, you know what I hear? "Why didn't I do it sooner? Why didn't I do it sooner?"

Now I want to tell you El-Shaddai is such that you need to come to Him as quickly as you can.
That's for the person who's never made a commitment of their life to Christ and it's for we who
are Christians who sometimes try to handle it by ourselves. Come to El-Shaddai.

El-Shaddai is a very prominent Hebrew name and made popular by that song. Now I want to
share about a less prominent name of God called El-Emunah.
 
 

Introduction FAITHFULNESS
A. Noun. 'emunah ^530^, "faithfulness." In the Hebrew Old Testament, the noun occurs 49 times, mainly in the Book of Psalms (22 times).

The basic meaning of 'emunah is "certainty" and "faithfulness s." (from Vine's Expository Dictionary of Biblical Words) (Copyright © 1985, Thomas Nelson Publishers)

That is the idea of faithfulness. When it is used as a noun, it means faithfulness. In Hebrew Old
Testament, the noun occurs 49 times, mostly in the book of Psalms. But the basic meaning is
certainty and faithfulness. That's the noun use.

It is so interesting when you get down to the verb use of this word, you know what it means?
Amen. It means Amen. Certainty. You know when Jesus says in the New Testament, "Verily,
verily I say unto you." It is the Greek word amen, amen. It says truly, truly. Verily, verily, so be
it, so be it that's what He is saying. And so when you think about El-Emunah and relating to God
and as the Faithful One, the verb form is the amen to the noun. That's exactly what He is, He is
the Faithful God.
 

A.    What Does El-Emunah mean related to God?

        1. El-Emunah . . God Is Faithful In His . .Character.
What does it mean related to God? It means that God is faithful in His character. Faithful in His
Character and anybody who does not want to emphasis character is away from God. You cannot
be close to God and at the same time not think character is important. Because character is what
you are and when you look to God, that's what He is. He is a Faithful God, Faithful in His
character. He's faithful in His commandments.

        2. El-Emunah . . God Is Faithful In His Commandments. Psa. 119:86
All Thy commandments are faithful; they have persecuted me with a lie; help me!

David said Lord. I have followed You, I have been faithful, Your commandments are there, I'm asking You now Lord, to be faithful according to Your commandments. He is calling upon the Lord and His commandments.

        3. El-Emunah . . God Is Faithful In His . . Compassion. Exod 34:6-7
6 Then the LORD passed by in front of him and proclaimed, "The LORD, the LORD God, compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in lovingkindness and truth; 7 who keeps lovingkindness for thousands, who forgives iniquity, transgression and sin; yet He will by no means leave {the guilty} unpunished, visiting the iniquity of fathers on the children and on the grandchildren to the third and fourth generations."(NAS)

Illustration
We visited our Tami Thursday night and Friday night and Anna, a little two year old girl, she was
coloring and her one year old sister took some crayons and she wanted those crayons and so she
took them away from her. And her Dad saw it, and her Dad said, "Anna, give those back. Anna,
you apologize to your sister." You know what, Anna did not want to do that. She just flat did
not want to do it. But you know what her Dad did, he got a little rocking chair out and said,
"Okay Anna, you sit over here while your sister plays with the crayons." Anna didn't like that at
all. But you know what, a good Dad hugs his children, honors his children, blesses his children
every way that he can, but also corrects his children.

God is faithful in His compassion. Compassion to correct, as well as compassion to love.

Illustration
A fifth-grade class from Lake Elementary School in Oceanside, California, made headlines when
all the boys in the class showed up for school one day with their heads shaved. A mark of
rebellion? No--this time the shaved heads were a mark of compassion.

You see, one of the members of that class, Ian O'Gorman, had developed cancer and was
undergoing chemotherapy. Ian's hair had begun to fall out. To make their friend feel less self-
conscious, all of his classmates agreed to shave their heads (with their parents' permission).

The teacher was so moved by the spirit of his class that he shaved his head, too.

        4. El-Emunah . . God Is Faithful In His . . Continuity. Lam 3:23
                {They} are new every morning; great is Thy faithfulness.(NAS)

I serve a faithful God. I serve a God that in spite of any kind of turmoil or trouble, I can say
God is good, God is faithful and we will look through this experience and see what He has done.

Now let's look at what El-Emunah the Faithful God mean to mankind.
 

B.    What Does El-Emunah mean related to Mankind?

        1.    El-Emunah Affects my . . Calling. 1 Sam 26:23
23 "And the LORD will repay each man {for} his righteousness and his faithfulness; for the LORD delivered you into {my} hand today, but I refused to stretch out my hand against the LORD'S anointed. (NAS)

Those of you who are pretty good Bible students should remember this story. It was that Saul was pursing David and Saul had the intent to kill David but David in his hiding accepted that he pursed Saul and he comes upon Saul and he finds him asleep and he leaves evidence, says that I'm leaving you evidence that I was here and t I could have taken your life. But it so interesting those last words, I refuse to stretch out my hand against the Lord's anointed.

David said call me for this purpose, and I'm going to be a person who is faithful in my calling. Not called to undermine God and what God is doing.

        2.    El-Emunah Affects my . . Contributions. 2 Chr 31:12 a
12 And they faithfully brought in the contributions and the tithes and the consecrated things; and Conaniah the Levite {was} the officer in charge of them. . . . "(NAS)

It affects me if I really believe God is faithful. If I really and truly believe that, then how is it
going to relate in my life? It's going to be relating in my being faithful in my calling and also be faithful in a very practical way of my contributions.

I cannot understand how come this church goes up and down in finances as much as it does. It has done that for ten years. One month will be way up, one month will be down, one week will be way up, one week will be way down. If you look at the scriptures and you say here is what God  says that He will do and we know it true, then why doesn't everybody do that? Why doesn't every Christian be faithful to God who is a faithful God? There's some of you who just want it on a one way street. You want God to be as faithful to you in everything that you want to but say

God, I'll be lackadaisical in my commitment. Friend my belief about El-Emunah effects my
contributions.

        3.    El-Emunah Affects my . . Children. 2 Chr 31:18 (NAS)
18 And the genealogical enrollment {included} all their little children, their wives, their sons, and their daughters, for the whole assembly, for they consecrated themselves faithfully in holiness.

Where are your children. Are they faithful to the Lord? If my children were not faithful to the Lord, I would ask myself the question, does it relate to my faithfulness? Was there an example of faithfulness in my life or is it possible that my children are not faithful because I wasn't faithful?

I do not want to display myself as super parent. I am not bragging, but I just want to tell you
that I think I know myself and this relationship I would not be lackadaisical about the fact that my
children were not with the Lord. If they were not with the Lord, it would be something that
would be a burden on my heart. There would be a prayer request every time we had a prayer
meeting. I'd pray for my children and my grandchildren. Some of you have got lost children and
lost grandchildren and I never hear a prayer request. Well, why not? Could it be that their faithfulness, or lack of faithfulness, comes back to Mom and Dad or Grandma and Grandpa?

I know the ones that usually get concerned about what I'm saying right now are those who
diligently tried or maybe there's a wife who tried without a husband, that kind of thing, or there's
someone who is saying you know pastor, I sinned away some years of my life and now I'm trying
to restore it, I'm trying to correct it and it's just burdens me so much. I appreciate that and I can
understand that. The person that I really want to hear this is you who do little or nothing about the commitment of your children.

El-Emunah is a faithful God and He is such that He prompts us to have faithfulness with our
children.

2 Tim 2:13
13 If we are faithless, He remains faithful; for He cannot deny himself. (NAS)

I want you to get your hymnal and look at page 54. The song is Great Is Thy Faithfulness. We're not going to sing it, we're just going to look at these words and see how tremendous they are and relate to this idea that God is Faithful. It says,

"Great is Thy faithfulness, O God my Father, there is no shadow of turning with me. Thou
changes not, thy compassion's they fail not, as Thou hast been Thou forever will be. Summer
and winter, spring time and harvest, sun, moon, and stars in their courses above. Join with all nature in manifold witness to Thy great faithfulness, mercy and love. Pardon for sin and a peace that endureth Thine own dear presence to cheer and to guide. Strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow. Blessings are mine with ten thousands besides.

Great it is Thy faithfulness great is Thy faithfulness, morning by morning, new mercies I see. All I have needed Thy hand has provided. Great is Thy faithfulness, Lord unto me.

El-Emunah a Faithful God.

Have you made a commitment of your life to Jesus Christ? I certainly hope so. If you have, how
does His faithfulness relate to your faithfulness? Is there a need in your life for a new commitment for a return to God? If you have never made the commitment of your life to Christ, I
urge you to do it. Some of you say I have been a Christian for many years but you've never
followed the Lord in baptism. You've moved other things into this community, you've not
moved your life and your membership into the church. I urge you to do it. Will you stand?

Internet Sites I used in gleaning information.

http://www.joshhunt.com/Names.html
http://www.springsnet.com/christian/biblestudies/namesofgod/index.shtml
http://www.fbcg.org/sermons/sermons.html
http://jf.org/sermons/cmlsofns.htm
http://www.jehova.net/jehova1.htm
http://www.c-concepts.com/wbroward/series17.htm
http://www.ldolphin.org/Names.html
http://worldaccessnet.com/~rdodd/god02.html
http://www.parentcompany.com/awareness_of_god/awarenes.htm
http://www.tyndale.com/nlt/lasb_charts/names_of_god.html
http://www0.delphi.com/in_the_garden/
http://www.livingbiblestudies.org/html/names/names.shtml