An Introduction to God, part five, teaches that knowing God as Adonai, owner, master and ruler, turns a believer from a servant who can walk away into a bond servant who stays out of love, and that this is where God reveals Himself as a friend. Dr. William P. Hohman reviews Elohim, Jehovah and El Shaddai, then completes his two-part teaching on Adonai through Exodus 21, Gethsemane and the apostles who called themselves bond servants. It continues from An Introduction to God (The Names of God) #4: Adonai, Owner, Master and Ruler.
Below you will find the full video, a structured summary of the sermon, the Scripture behind each point (linked to the New King James Version on Bible Gateway), a timestamped outline, and practical steps for making Jesus your Lord this week.
Sermon at a Glance
This message is part of the An Introduction to God series at NTC Ministries and was posted on November 28, 2023. It runs about 65 minutes and ends with an invitation to stand and make Jesus Christ Lord. Pastor Hohman explains why he calls the series an introduction: the world does not know who God is, and much of the church does not either.
He describes this as the second half of a two-part teaching on Adonai. It is the only name of God, he says, that comes with a great responsibility attached, and in accepting that responsibility a believer discovers the great blessing God provides.
| Detail | Information |
|---|---|
| Speaker | Dr. William P. Hohman |
| Series | An Introduction to God: The Names of God, #5 |
| Main texts | Exodus 21:1–6; Philippians 2:5–11; John 15:13–15 |
| Key theme | Adonai, owner, master and ruler, and the bond servant who becomes a friend |
| Length | About 65 minutes, ending in a prayer of commitment |
An Introduction to God and Why His Names Matter
Pastor Hohman begins in the garden. God gave Adam dominion over all the works of His hands, and when Adam sinned he invited corruption into all of creation. Even a beautiful sunset, he says, is the corrupted version. God still came in the cool of the day to walk and talk with Adam, but Adam heard His voice and hid, then blamed his wife.
The curses that followed were not God looking for ways to show His wrath; they came from the seeds that had been sown. God told the serpent in Genesis 3:14–15 that the seed of the woman would crush his head. The word head, he explains, means authority. Through Mary’s child, Satan’s authority was crushed, yet most Christians live as if he still has it.
That is why he rejects calling a tornado an act of God. The thief comes to steal, kill and destroy, but Jesus came to give abundant life (John 10:10). Psalm 8:4–5 says God crowned man with glory and honor, and Revelation 5:10 says we have been made kings and priests to our God.
When we set our minds on things above (Colossians 3:1–3), God opens up and reveals who He really is. After the fall, He began revealing Himself through titles that describe what He does. Pastor Hohman compares it to meeting someone introduced as the mayor: knowing the role draws you closer than knowing a name. In Jesus, all of those names are fulfilled.
Elohim, Jehovah and the New Commandment
He reviews the first names from earlier in the series. Elohim appears in Genesis 1:1 and points to the Trinity and to strength: the strong Creator. God rested on the seventh day, not because He was tired, but like an attorney who says “I rest my case.” He has not stopped creating, though. Anyone in Christ is a new creation (2 Corinthians 5:17), so every believer has experienced Elohim.
Elohim also wanted covenant, so He could act in people’s lives and let them experience Him. Pastor Hohman notes that the word covenant means to cut until blood flows. God cut covenant with Abram, and now we are redeemed from the curse of the law so that the blessing of Abraham comes on us (Galatians 3:13–14).
In the new covenant, Jesus gave a new commandment: love one another as I have loved you (John 13:34). It is not an extra rule added to the others; it supersedes them all. Someone walking in love will not covet a neighbor’s household and will gladly keep a day of rest to worship God, because love fulfills what the commandments required.
Jehovah, the covenant keeper and grace giver who dwells with His people, came to fulfill covenant in Jesus. Pastor Hohman applies this to marriage. Husbands are to love their wives as Christ loved the church (Ephesians 5:25), and headship means making sure every blessing comes into the home. Paul’s confidence in Philippians 1:6, that He who began a good work will complete it, is the confidence of covenant.
Time Does Not Heal All Wounds
Pastor Hohman takes aim at the saying that time heals all wounds. In more than four decades of ministry, he has watched people grow more bitter, more resentful and more sick over time, not healed. His reversal is that time wounds all heels, drawn from God’s word to the serpent that the woman’s seed would have its heel bruised.
The practical point is that every believer will be wounded. It does not matter which relationship, job or church you are in; at some point something will be said or done that hurts. His counsel is blunt: grow up, forgive, and go on. Great peace have those who love God’s law, and nothing causes them to stumble (Psalm 119:165). The law he points to is walking in love.
He later returns to the same idea when he speaks about children and parents. The Bible warns that in the last days the love of many will grow cold, even within families. The only way to live above that, he says, is to make Jesus Lord, stick it out, and draw from His love.
Adonai and the Bond Servant of Exodus 21
After a brief reminder of El Shaddai, the God who provides and nurtures, Pastor Hohman explains how to spot Adonai in an English Bible. Where Lord is printed in capital letters, the Hebrew is Jehovah, the covenant keeper. Where only the L is capitalized, the word is Adonai: owner, master and ruler. People who treat grace as permission to do anything they want, he says, do not know God as Adonai.
Exodus 21:1–6 describes the Hebrew servant. A man who could no longer support himself would sell his life to a well-to-do family. The master paid his debt, clothed, housed and trained him, and after six years he could go out free, with provisions for a fresh start.
But if the servant plainly said, “I love my master, my wife and my children; I will not go out free,” his ear was pierced at the doorpost and he served for life. He became a bond servant, and Pastor Hohman teaches that bond here means love: a love servant who stays by choice because of the goodness he was shown.
| Question | The servant | The bond servant |
|---|---|---|
| Why he serves | Debt and need | Love for his master |
| Can he leave? | Goes out free in the seventh year | Chooses to stay for life |
| Mark he carries | None | Pierced ear and the family’s earring |
| Inheritance | Leaves without the family’s benefits | Stays within the family’s blessing |
| How he is known | A servant | A friend |
That, he says, is us. Some come to Christ needing a job or a spouse; God answers, and they disappear. They went out free, but they forfeited their inheritance in the kingdom. He shares that he once could have been surrounded by thousands who knew his name and still felt completely alone inside. Every person, sooner or later, chooses whether to go out free or stay.
Not My Will but Yours: The Mind of a Bond Servant
In Luke 22:42–44, Jesus prays in Gethsemane, “Nevertheless not My will, but Yours, be done.” An angel strengthens Him, and His sweat becomes like great drops of blood. Pastor Hohman sees Jesus declaring Himself a love servant to the Father: He could have gone free, but He stayed.
He adds a side note on prayer. We should not pray “if it is Your will” about what God has already promised. Jesus prayed that way because He was going to the cross for the world’s redemption, and none of us is doing that. With long life God promises to satisfy us (Psalm 91:16), so we can pray in confidence.
Philippians 2:5–11 says, “Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus,” who took the form of a bondservant and became obedient to the point of death. Therefore God highly exalted Him and gave Him the name above every name. Pastor Hohman applies it to the job God gave you that you now want to quit: He placed you there to be a witness of His power and goodness.
He speaks of being lied about and mistreated by friends, relatives and church members over 37 years in one place, and still staying. His sheep know His voice (John 10:27), but asking everyone what they think opens the door to strange voices. He and his wife Pam, married 50 years, kept their love on the altar and chose to stay together.
The paradox comes in 1 Corinthians 7:22: whoever is called as a bondservant is the Lord’s freeman. 2 Corinthians 3:15–17 adds that where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. If you want to be one hundred percent free, he says, be one hundred percent committed to the Lord as His bond servant. The church is a battleship, not a cruise ship, and everyone has a part to do.
From Servant to Friend
Pastor Hohman lists his own titles: Dr. in educational circles, apostle by function, bishop over churches in 34 countries. None of them compares with bond servant. Paul opens Romans calling himself a bondservant of Jesus Christ (Romans 1:1). James, the Lord’s half-brother, does the same (James 1:1), and so does Peter, who once denied Him (2 Peter 1:1).
In John 15:13–15, Jesus says, “No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends.” Pastor Hohman paints the scene of a Hebrew household at the table: when the servant brings in the tea, conversation stops and he is told only what to do. A friend is in the know.
The disciples stayed when the crowds left, so Jesus revealed everything to them. Peter’s confession that Jesus is the Christ came from the Father, not from flesh and blood (Matthew 16:15–18). Those who leave every time they are hurt cut themselves out of that intimacy. Paul’s words in 1 Corinthians 13:11, about putting away childish things, apply here.
His last passage is the parable of the great supper in Luke 14:16–24. One guest had bought land, another five yoke of oxen, another had married, and each made excuses. The master did not plead with them; he told his servant to bring others, so that his house would be filled. The church, he says, can only be built on the lordship of Jesus.
Living Under Adonai This Week
Pastor Hohman closes by recalling the rich young ruler, who walked away sad because he could not do what was asked, and by noting that he and his wife twice gave away everything they owned and were blessed beyond anything they expected. Here are steps drawn from this message:
- Make Jesus Lord, not only Savior. Pray as he led the church: Jesus, You are my Adonai, my owner, my master and my ruler.
- Stay where God planted you. When feelings are hurt at work, church or home, ask whether God has released you before you leave.
- Stop asking everyone what they think. If God has spoken, obey Him and let His voice grow stronger.
- Forgive quickly. Time will not heal the wound; walking in love and forgiving will.
- Pray before the trouble comes. Jesus went to Gethsemane to be strengthened ahead of the cross.
- Do your part. Treat church and family as a battleship where every hand is on deck.
Timestamped Outline
- 0:00 Why this series is an introduction to God
- 2:08 Adam hides and corruption enters
- 3:09 The seed of the woman crushes Satan’s authority
- 5:23 Kings and priests: Psalm 8 and Revelation 5
- 6:31 God reveals Himself through titles
- 7:44 Elohim, the strong Creator
- 10:08 New creation in 2 Corinthians 5:17
- 11:36 Covenant with Abram and Galatians 3:13
- 12:41 The new commandment of love
- 14:56 Time does not heal all wounds
- 17:19 Jehovah, the covenant keeper
- 20:24 El Shaddai and how to find Adonai in your Bible
- 22:26 Exodus 21: the Hebrew servant
- 24:34 I love my master: the pierced ear
- 26:48 Becoming a bond servant
- 28:54 Going out free and forfeiting an inheritance
- 33:32 Gethsemane: not my will but yours
- 36:48 Philippians 2: the mind of a bondservant
- 40:23 Married 50 years and staying on the altar
- 44:16 The Lord’s freeman: 1 Corinthians 7:22
- 47:35 Paul, James and Peter as bond servants
- 49:57 John 15: no longer servants but friends
- 55:53 Luke 14: the great supper and its excuses
- 1:02:00 Invitation to make Jesus Lord
An Introduction to God Series
This message is part of the An Introduction to God series on the names of God at NTC Ministries:
- First message: An Introduction to God: The Names of God, Part 1 — Elohim, the Creator Who Makes Covenant
- Previous: An Introduction to God (The Names of God) #4: Adonai, Owner, Master and Ruler
- You are here: An Introduction to God (The Names of God) #5: Adonai and the Bond Servant
- Next: An Introduction to God: The Names of God #6 — Jehovah Jireh, the Lord Who Sees and Provides
Frequently Asked Questions
Why does Pastor Hohman say bond servant is his highest title?
He lists the titles he carries, from doctor in educational circles to apostle and bishop overseeing churches in 34 countries, and says they are only functions. Bond servant describes a relationship: someone who has chosen, out of love, to belong to the Lord for life. He points out that Paul, James and Peter all opened their letters with that title rather than with their positions.
What does he mean that the church is a battleship, not a cruise ship?
Some people complain that a church only wants them to serve. Pastor Hohman answers that everyone has a part to do, just as in a household where things become harder on everyone when someone stops doing theirs. Parents must teach children their part, and husband and wife each keep doing theirs. As believers commit to what they are asked, God gives His authority and power.
Why does he warn against seeker-friendly churches?
His concern is that people can blend into the crowd without responsibility or accountability, and no one is able to speak into their lives. When someone finally does, they leave because it is no longer convenient. He reminds listeners that they signed up for lordship the moment they asked Jesus into their lives.
Scripture References
All passages open in the New King James Version on Bible Gateway:
- Exodus 21:1–6 — the servant who chooses to stay
- Genesis 3:14–15 — the seed of the woman
- Luke 22:42–44 — not My will, but Yours
- Philippians 2:5–11 — the mind of a bondservant
- 1 Corinthians 7:22 — the Lord’s freeman
- John 15:13–15 — I have called you friends
- John 13:34 — the new commandment
- Luke 14:16–24 — the great supper
How this summary was made: written with AI assistance from the sermon’s own transcript and checked against the Scriptures listed above.
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