64 | Naming Rights

What if the way you describe your life… isn’t actually yours to define? 

This week on Sermons on the Side, Richard shares a simple but profound moment with a friend named Jamal. When asked how his day was going, Jamal responded, “It’s not for me to call.”  That phrase sparks a deeper conversation about who truly has the authority to name our circumstances - and ultimately, our identity. 

We journey back to Genesis, where tragedy and truth collide. As Rachel gives birth to her son in her final moments, she names him Ben-Oni - “son of my sorrow.” But in the very next breath of Scripture, Jacob steps in and renames him Benjamin - “son of my right hand.” In that culture, the father held the right to name the child.

So what does that mean for us? 

If God is our Father, then He alone has the authority to name who we are - not our pain, not our past, not our circumstances. We don’t get the final word… He does.

And why does He have that right?

Because He paid for it. 

Just like Truist Park bears its name because of a financial transaction, our lives carry God’s name because of a far greater price. Scripture reminds us: we were bought with a price. Our identity isn’t self-assigned - it’s divinely given.

This episode is an invitation to release the labels you’ve been carrying… and receive the name your Father speaks over you!

Song Credit: This episode includes a brief acoustic portion of "Before the Throne of God Above" performed by Shane & Shane. Used here for devotional and illustrative purposes. 

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Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:01

Welcome to Sermons on the Side. I'm Brad. And I'm Richard. And life can move pretty fast. So we're here to slow down, dig deep, and find the story hidden in everyday moments.

SPEAKER_05 0:14

With years spent in ministry, friendship, and navigating real life together, we're all about blending humor, honesty, and faith into conversations that meet you right where you are.

SPEAKER_01 0:24

So whether you're brand new or you're back for more, we are so glad you are here.

SPEAKER_05 0:30

So relax, listen in, and let's discover meaning together.

SPEAKER_01 0:34

In the ordinary, the messy, and everything in between.

SPEAKER_05 0:38

Sermons on the side, finding meaning in the everyday.

SPEAKER_01 0:44

But about the time that I'm leaning, there's this big gust of wind. I mean, middle of the day wind.

SPEAKER_04 0:51

Rushing mighty wind.

SPEAKER_01 0:52

That just the Lord's moving wind, okay? You know, but I have but I'm aware of it. And I'm like, you know what I need to do? I need to quickly turn and grab this car door before it, and about that time I'm turning to grab it, and the wind's already caught it, boy. Too late. Thwink! Oh, and it just did. There's a lot of big. Can you tell that I've got a three-year-old boy? Think about another episode of Sermons on the Side. Yes, indeed.

SPEAKER_05 1:46

How are you, Richard?

SPEAKER_01 1:47

Man, I'm better after that intro. I'll tell you what, we're getting the we're getting the energy a little turned up here on this Thursday. Hope you guys enjoy the cooler weather at the beginning of the week because it is gone. Yes. And the warmer weather is back with a vengeance. And uh I think it's here to stay. So yeah, summer is upon us down here in South Georgia. Yeah, remember our four seasons are fall, winter, pollen, and summer. Here we go. We're back.

SPEAKER_03 2:16

That is it. Help us, Lord. Hey, man. Brad, how you holding up, bro? I know you guys have been through a journey.

SPEAKER_01 2:23

No, we we've had the this past weekend's been below average. We're batting south of the Mason Dixon line, sub 200 right now. You can call us the Philadelphia Phillies because this weekend we got swept. This little Braves reference there for you.

SPEAKER_03 2:39

Oh, that makes my heart happy.

SPEAKER_01 2:42

No, we uh I uh I got I was the last in our family to get hit with whatever this little stomach bug that hit us. It was last week's on drop day, actually.

SPEAKER_05 2:53

So oh, that's when it hit.

SPEAKER_01 2:54

That's when it hit, dude. So when everybody else was enjoying sermons on the side, I was enjoying sermons in the toilet. That's what I was doing. Sermons were going in the toilet. Can I say that? I don't know. I don't know if we can say that. Am I gonna have to like select this as an explicit episode? There's a little E popped up by this episode. I was like, what the sermons on the fucking edgy?

SPEAKER_03 3:18

Wow, look at that.

SPEAKER_01 3:20

No, but seriously, I it was you know, it takes you what, six hours to purge everything, and then it takes you six days to recover. And so I'm like it really coming out of the recovery and feeling much better, but I'm I'm still eating very bland foods. But uh oh, I'm happy to be here. So glad you are here, bro. Thankful for another week.

SPEAKER_05 3:41

And we just shout out all the families uh with young'uns that uh for for whom this sort of thing sadly can be part of the rhythm from time to time.

SPEAKER_01 3:52

It can, and and when you're in the middle of it, it's you know, woe is you and woe is me. But we we you know we've got friends, we even very dear mutual friends that have much larger um health complications. And so I on one hand, I want to say tongue in cheek, oh, thank God for your health. But on the other hand, genuinely thanking God for health and for the opportunity to praise him. And um, it's just it's just one of those things.

SPEAKER_05 4:20

Yeah, it is, and and I applaud you and Lisa for getting coming through that and and grinding and and coming out strong. So bravo to you.

SPEAKER_01 4:30

I appreciate it, man. Thank you.

SPEAKER_05 4:31

All right, now now, Brad, last week we sort of teased out that a really funny story happened in our lives, mine and your lives together. Yeah, right? Yeah, and uh, and look, I just think we need to go there right now. We need to the bank.

SPEAKER_01 4:48

Hold on. Before we do, there were, if you recall, there were two funny moments that happened at the bank. Are we talking about both of them?

SPEAKER_05 4:55

Right. Yes, yes, yes. Just just so you know, Brad and I met at a local bank here in Columbus because we are starting up, we have started up, it's official.

SPEAKER_01 5:06

Yep.

SPEAKER_05 5:07

Uh, we've started up a uh non-for-profit uh organization organization and uh for the purposes of well, just a lot of different ministry stuff that we're in uh you you and I are involved in together. Yeah, and so we'll you know, we'll probably share more of that as we go. But we had met at the banquet because we were gonna, you know, finalize some paperwork. We pull up, happen to pull up beside each other.

SPEAKER_01 5:32

Yeah, there were it was you, it was you, an open spot, and then another car. Yes, boom, boom, boom, right? And uh you were on the right side and the open car was on the left side. There's a spot right in the middle. And so what do I do? I just pull right in the middle. You know what's up, dude. And I've got a couple of the paperwork that I'm you know bringing.

SPEAKER_05 5:49

No, no, no. You have all the paperwork, ladies and gentlemen. Brad Williams, the glue that holds the whole thing together. I don't know about that. So he brought all the gear that we were gonna need for this uh paper sign, this document signing appointment.

SPEAKER_01 6:04

So I I open my door very carefully and just kind of crack it open, and then I lean in the opposite direction across to the passenger side to just sort of gather to scoop up these couple of folders and you know, different documents that we're bringing in to verify all the different, you know, stuff. But about the time that I'm leaning, there's this big gust of wind. I mean, middle of the day wind.

SPEAKER_04 6:27

Rushing mighty wind.

SPEAKER_01 6:28

That just the Lord's moving wind, okay? You know, but I have I but I'm aware of it. And I'm like, you know what? I need to do I need to quickly turn and grab this car door before it, and about that time I'm turning to grab it, and the wind's already caught it, boy. Too late.

SPEAKER_02 6:48

Thwink!

SPEAKER_01 6:49

Oh, and it just dings. I do there's a lot of yeah. Can you tell that I've got a three-year-old boy? Think and it hits this car, and I feel so bad. I'm like, oh, you know, the door dang. The door ding, yeah. And uh it's this beautiful black BMW looking type of car, and you know, my little Cambry that ain't had a bath in, you know, 15 years. No.

SPEAKER_03 7:13

Yeah, because we don't wash it.

SPEAKER_01 7:14

To make it worse, I look through the car door. The lady, I'm not kidding, is sitting in the passenger or no, sitting in the driver's side seat. She's sitting in the car. Why is she sitting in the car? Like, leave. If you're in the car, I guess I'm in the car, but like if you're in the car, get out of here. Oh, I felt terrible. I start getting out of the car, she starts getting out of the car. I'm like, ma'am, I am so sorry that Gustawin. She's this really sweet-looking lady that I'm not really making eye contact with. She's coming around the oh, I'm sure it's not that bad. And as I'm investigating, it actually didn't hit her car. My door hit her mirror kind of on the lower side. Oh, there you go. And there was, I mean, the tiniest little, I mean, I probably buffed it out with my finger. And so thank God it didn't leave a dent, it didn't leave a scratch or anything like that. But you still feel horrible with the situation. Yeah. And I'm like, oh, look, yeah, yeah. It's just, oh, it's not bad at all. She's kind of talking over, oh, yeah, no, no, no, no worries. It's it's okay. You know, that kind of, you know. And uh as she's walking away, she said, Um, you know, Brad, I bet you don't remember me.

SPEAKER_00 8:21

I stopped froze.

SPEAKER_01 8:23

And I looked at this lady and she goes, she told me her name. And I sure enough, I went to, I was a uh child when we went to uh church together. I mean, just decades ago. And and her and her husband, uh, her husband's a fantastic musician in town. And uh I said, Oh my goodness, what a way to reintroduce myself after all of these years. It's great to see you. So, Miss Jennifer, if this ever comes your way, and uh I'm so sorry for hitting your car. And great to see you that day. Um, I'm sorry it was under those circumstances, but that's just the first story. That's not even the story that we teased. That's right. It's the appetizer.

SPEAKER_05 9:04

Yes, and I had forgotten that. Well, so Brad and I apparently avoid a lawsuit for this brand new organization.

SPEAKER_01 9:13

We hadn't even opened up the bank account, we're getting sued.

SPEAKER_03 9:16

Oh Lord. Just kidding.

SPEAKER_05 9:18

It never was that bad. But uh, so we go into the the the bank there, we sit with this uh lady who's gonna walk us through the whole process, and it was amazing, right?

SPEAKER_01 9:30

Yeah, it was and it was a lot of time. And we're sitting with this lady, we're answering lots of questions, we're signing lots of documents. I mean, we're probably there for the better part of an hour. Easy. And we get to spend a lot of time with this lady and answer a lot of questions, both about the business, but also personally. And um, anyways, very pleasant, very professional, and incredibly proficient at her job. And right, um, we're sort of towards the end and asking about a couple of different authorizations and you know who can sign for what and who can do, you know, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And uh, and she starts asking some questions.

SPEAKER_05 10:02

Well, and and one of the questions she had just it was we it was deciding who was gonna sign a particular document. Right. Would it be but one or one or the other of us, and in that process, she was just uh trying to get her wrap her head around some of the structure of what the different what you and I, the different roles that we would have in the organization.

SPEAKER_01 10:25

Because she was essentially saying it didn't matter who signed it, it just it needed to be one of us. And she looked at me and she said, Mr. Williams, I know you've got a different last name than Mr. Moore, who I'm assuming is your father. That was the funniest thing. I looked her dead in her eyes, and the first words out of my mouth were thank you so much for that moment. That is going to be in a podcast very soon. Oh my god. This is not my father, but we could not stop laughing. Oh, do we we're still we're still. I mean, we think about that moment, and it is it was just so funny.

SPEAKER_03 11:07

I just was like, um, what do I what do I look like as I'm over there in that chair? Hey, Shiny, come help your pa out of this chair. I'm wheeling you out in a wheelchair.

SPEAKER_01 11:21

Oh my father here no, dude. Seriously, she goes, I'm assuming this uh Richard is your father? I assume.

SPEAKER_03 11:29

Oh, dude, we Mr. Moore is your father. Oh, there you have it.

SPEAKER_01 11:35

Those are the two great bank stories of 2025, 2026, the year of our Lord.

SPEAKER_05 11:41

I think our organization is out off to a rousing start.

SPEAKER_01 11:45

Well, that's one word for it, brother. There's lots more that are appropriate.

SPEAKER_05 11:48

And I personally don't want uh your dad, uh Johnny Williams, or as I call him, Johnny Memphis. I don't want Johnny being offended by that. You know, I would never presume to be of the stature of your actual dad.

SPEAKER_01 12:04

Of course not. You know, nobody can be no Pops is one of one. Yeah. But I'm trying to figure out which one of us should be more upset than we is it you like where like where did my red hair come from, right?

SPEAKER_03 12:18

First of all, but then also Did she not remember because she she ushered us into her little office area? Did she not remember that you were literally twice as tall as I am?

SPEAKER_01 12:30

The height from my mom? I guess I got the red hair from my mom.

SPEAKER_00 12:34

How did you think that?

SPEAKER_01 12:37

I got my ability to spell from my mom.

SPEAKER_03 12:42

You know, she bless her heart. She did her, listen, she did a great job.

SPEAKER_01 12:47

She did, and she and to be fair, she's she's followed up with us multiple times and just made sure that all of our I's are dotted and T's are crossed. So y'all be praying for us just to stay afloat, but also be praying about this new uh venture that we feel very, very much so that the Lord has called us into as part. And podcasting sermons on the side is gonna be a small part of that, but also men's ministry, recovery ministry, and just ministry in general. Um, and so we're really, really looking forward to to that.

SPEAKER_05 13:17

Ah, good stuff. And thanks for laughing along with us.

SPEAKER_01 13:20

That was awesome. All right, so we've wasted enough of these people's time. Dive into the sermon. I'm so pumped for this one. This one's been kind of brewing for a couple of weeks. It has, yes. And I think it's gonna be fantastic.

SPEAKER_05 13:32

So without further ado, bro, thank you for the for teeing that up for me. Uh, not long ago, I was talking with a friend of mine that uh lives and works kind of up in the Noona and Sharpsburg, which is a little more central Georgia, yeah, and we're down South Georgia. And this gentleman's name is Jamal. This young man is amazing, really cool guy, uh, hardworking guy, got a got his his career going real well. And uh so I I happened to see him on this particular day, and I go up to him and I say, brother, how you doing? How has your week been? It was kind of midweek when I was speaking to him, and he said to me, he was about to, you know, he was about to answer, and he goes, you know, honestly, I can't call it. I can't call it. It's not for me to say whether it's been good or bad. Now, at first I was like, okay, I don't know what that means. Is it is it because maybe it's hard for him to grade how the week has been.

SPEAKER_01 14:34

That's fair.

SPEAKER_05 14:35

Maybe it's been a mix. Oh, absolutely, right? Uh maybe it's been a mix or something like that. But he went on to say he he said, you know, really, what I'm saying is is that it's been it's been fine. There's been good things happened, it's been some hard things going on, ups, downs, you know, the whole package. He said, but it's not for me to say whether it's been good or bad. It's just for me to keep going. And I'm like, dude, you were wise beyond your years.

SPEAKER_00 15:06

Yeah, I love that.

SPEAKER_05 15:06

That was a cool line. I mean, and and he was genuinely saying, I really, in this moment, I guess in that moment, what what he was saying is he didn't want to get wrapped up in, am I having a thumbs up day or a thumbs up week, or am I having a thumbs down, or is it just kind of in the middle? He's he he the perspective that he was telling me was really, I couldn't, I probably couldn't be accurate if I tried to name it. If I tried to grade it, if I tried to describe it, I might be I might be missing the mark. So I'm not gonna, I'm not gonna, it's not for me. He literally said, it's not for me to make that call. And I thought that is pretty cool. And it got me thinking about something. Okay, there's this Bible story in the book of Genesis, and it's in chapter 35, and it happens between verses 16 and 18, those three verses, right? And it's the story of Jacob, one of those great Bible heroes. He has had a ton of kids. He's a little older now, and so he's had all these sons, and in his old older age, his wife Rachel gets pregnant again, turns out, with another son, the the final son that would be born to him. And sadly, it was a super hard pregnancy. His his wife Rachel, as she's giving birth, she she dies shortly after childbirth, which is so tragic. And the love story between Jacob and Rachel is a big deal. So, you know, this was heartbreak, heartbreaking for everybody. So Rachel has the boy, and she says, with one of her like her dying breath, she names the child. And she names him this uh Hebrew name is Ben Onai, which means son of my suffering. So she's in deep distress because she knows her her life, she's given her life to give life to this to this child. And in her distress and sadness, she names the child a sad name. Son of my suffering, or son of my sorrow. But Jacob, the father of the child, decides to name him something different. And you gotta understand, Jacob is grieving. I mean, his his the love of his life has just passed away and is is brutal upon him. And yet, instead of naming instead of choosing a name like like the the dying mom did, Rachel, uh, that that is that kind of expresses the depression and the darkness, he chooses a name and he says, No, we're gonna name him Benjamin. And Benjamin means son of my right hand.

SPEAKER_01 18:01

And I and I would just quickly interject, you know, maybe in our westernized, you know, lens, oh man, there there would be something beautiful had the child's name just continued to stay been onai, whatever the, you know, as a as a tribute to the to the mother, yeah.

SPEAKER_05 18:22

To her sacrifice.

SPEAKER_01 18:24

But that's that's not our culture. Like the culture and the reality of that time was one where the fathers were the ones that made the name.

SPEAKER_05 18:35

Exactly. And really, that's why that story popped into my head. Because I remember it being said, what you just described, that the father gets to decide the name of the child. And so I'm thinking that's an important truth to understand. As we say now, yeah, like like when your kids are born, it's kind of a team project. You know, you you and your you and Lisa together decided the names of your kids. It wasn't just I am the man of the house and I will take, you know, so that's like you said. Because if never mind that is correct, yes, indeed. But so to to the point, the reason that that's an important thing for us to understand, yeah, it was a cultural custom.

SPEAKER_01 19:25

Yeah, it was a reality of that time.

SPEAKER_05 19:27

Sure, right? But there's a principle in it because it that story finds its way into the Bible, it's the biblical narrative, but there's some truth in that that we could latch a hold of.

SPEAKER_01 19:38

Okay.

SPEAKER_05 19:39

That the father is the one who gets to name his children. We, as children of the heavenly father, that's important for us to know.

SPEAKER_01 19:51

Oh, come on.

SPEAKER_05 19:52

We have names on our identifications, on our birth certificates that were chosen by our earthly parents. But I want to look at this idea and this concept as it relates to identity, like our personal inside, our minds and our hearts, and uh to mark our lives, the identity that God would have us to live out. The name, the the identity, really how he would name us. And that's a big deal. Yeah, because in life, and look, anybody who's listened to a lot of sermons on the side, the identity piece and the labeling idea, we hit this a lot. Yeah, we talk about it frequently, and the reason is is because it's it matters.

SPEAKER_01 20:39

It does.

SPEAKER_05 20:40

It's such a big thing in life that we along the way we don't change our name based on, you know, we don't legally change our name based on a bad thing we go through, yeah, or a tragedy, or a great failure, or some super weird upheaval in our lives. Our names stay the same on our identification, on our driver's license. But sometimes, in fact, I say often, when we go through things in life mentally and in our hearts and in our pain, sometimes we pick up names for ourselves and identity for ourselves and labels. And we can find ourselves saying, Yeah, my name, like for me, my name is Richard, but my identity is failure. My identity is divorced, my identity is let people down, my identity is addiction. My identity, you see what I'm saying about how the identity piece flows in, and you go back to this story about Rachel and Jacob when Rachel tragically passes away, she names the Child based on what happened. And the father stepped into this story, being Jacob, and he names the child based on what he believes the child can become.

SPEAKER_01 22:14

Oh man, dude. It's a big deal. It is a big deal. And it's not, and it's not just limited to the voices and the identities that we speak over ourselves, but it's the ones that we start imagining other people saying over us. And we start, or the enemy speaking over us, and we start believing a lie about our identity.

SPEAKER_05 22:36

Oh my goodness. It is such a big deal. And so that's that's why I mean this whole conversation started with me thinking about my man, my friend Jamal, saying about just a three-day period of time. He's like, he I'm asking him if it's a good week. And he's like, you know what? Not really for me to make that call. And I'm like, bro, you have no idea how smart and wise and cool that is, what you just said. Because what if I could take that Jamal kind of approach to some of the some of the biggest, uh darkest parts of my life? The mistakes I made, the straight up drop the ball moments I did, or the painful things that have been done to me, perhaps over the years. Or all the confusion, the misunderstanding, the worry, the fear, the depression, the anxiety. I name myself all too often based on those things. And God is trying to say, you know, that's really not for you to call that. It is, Richard, it is not your job to name yourself. It's not your your job to even name that chapter of your life. Regret will mess with you and make you label yourself or other people in an unhealthy way.

SPEAKER_01 24:01

Whoa, whoa. Say that again. Say that again about that.

SPEAKER_05 24:04

Regret will mess with us. It will make us name ourselves or other people in unhealthy ways.

SPEAKER_01 24:12

Man, I'm feeling the Holy Spirit knocking on some conviction doors in my heart right about now. No, I really I'm not. In a good way. In a good way.

SPEAKER_05 24:22

Absolutely. I think God does want to take this principle and say, in love, as a loving heavenly father, I'm the one that gets to make the call.

SPEAKER_01 24:34

And you know what's beautiful about that? And the same is true about this story. The suffering and and the the trauma of the situation isn't forgotten by the father. Yes. The father doesn't ask everyone, let's pretend that Rachel didn't just pass away. Oh, that's so good. Yes. No, no, no. We we are going to recognize the suffering. And as a father, I'm claiming to redeem it.

unknown 25:04

Oh yes.

SPEAKER_01 25:05

You know? And that's what God does with our story. He's listen, I don't want us to forget our scars are there.

unknown 25:14

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 25:15

And I don't think the Lord's asking us to just pretend that it didn't happen. But he is saying, hey, for in some some, we talk about Genesis 50, 20. In some world where he's God and I'm not, what the enemy meant for evil, God somehow means for good, and he is redeeming our suffering.

SPEAKER_05 25:36

Oh I mean, how many times do I say about a situation, a season of my life, a day, a week, a month, uh, something I've done, something somebody else has done, whatever. How often do I say, what? How in I I ask the question, how can anything good possibly come out of this? Well, I'll tell you how. Because the father gets to make that call. He gets to name it. Now, I want to give you another example. A week or so ago, I'm watching the Braves, like you do every night. Uh yeah. And I'm watching them. They're in the home, they're playing a home game, it's awesome, they're winning. And I just notice the name of the ballpark. It's truest park, right? Now, that is a banking organization, I think. Yep. Well, I'm sitting there going, okay, they named that building Truist. And so my question is, how does Truist get to put their name on that building? How do how does that happen?

SPEAKER_01 26:44

Well, they pay a lot of money, they pay a ton of money to be that stadium's sponsor.

SPEAKER_05 26:52

You know what the phrase is called naming rights.

SPEAKER_01 26:55

Right.

SPEAKER_05 26:55

You they bought the naming rights. They they get because of the price they paid, yes, they got the privilege of putting their name on that ballpark. So, my my question is to you, how is it that God gets this right to name things, to call us and to call our lives or anything that we've gone through, any day, week, month, situation? What gives him the how does he have the naming rights? Because he paid the price. Oh, brother, does that ring for you?

SPEAKER_01 27:36

Oh man, that's the that was it.

SPEAKER_05 27:39

What he listened first Corinthians 6 verses 19 and 20. It says, Do you not know that that you're you're not your own? You were bought with a price, so honor God with your body. Bro, the price was the blood of Jesus shed on the cross. And we are bought with that's the price God paid. So he gets to name it. He gets to name you and me and everything we ever go through. Yes. He gets to name it. But I'm gonna quote Jamal again.

SPEAKER_02 28:20

Come on.

SPEAKER_05 28:21

I'm sorry, man. It's just not for me to call it. I can't call it. I'm gonna call it what God calls it. That's right. Redeemed. I'm gonna call it restored. I'm gonna call it broken but beautiful. Oh yeah. Reconciled, rebuilt, learning, healing. These are what that's the those are the words God uses when He names us and labels us and calls us. That's what He calls us. Oh, that's so good, dude. And so I just want as we wrap up, I want to challenge everybody, listeners. We're doing it. You and I are doing it in real time right now while we're sitting around this table. And I hope that as you're listening to this, y'all will do this as well. That you'll consider what are some of the names and labels that you've picked up along the identities that you feel are the best way to describe you, what you've been through, what you've done, what you've not done, all of it. What are some of the names? What are some of the identities? What are the labels? And sometimes I'll tell you, there's there's a label that we can sometimes grab a hold of and believe. And that label says my label sometimes used to say, it's too late for me. I'm too far gone. I missed out on that. So I gotta just I just gotta lower my dreams and my expectations and my hopes. But I'm telling you, there's nothing, if you're listening to this, this is true of you, there is nothing that you've been through, nothing you've done or haven't done. Nothing that's been done to you. No disappoint nothing. Nothing, none of that. I can name you. Nothing. Your heavenly father would get us to do that because he paid the price. And that price was his son's blood. So when we quote, say Isaiah 62, verse 2, it says, You will be called by a new name that the mouth of God will give you. We say that confidently. When we talk about Isaiah chapter 49, verse 16, where God Himself speaks through the prophet and says, I, your God, have engraved you on the palm of my hand. Your name is written on God's hand, emblazoned in his heart, because he paid, he bought you, he paid the price to redeem you, to forgive your sins, and to divine your life, and name you a name that no man or woman or or group of people or situation can ever take away from you. And they also can't attach the names they want to put on you, and all the lies you've believed in your own mind, and the labels you put on yourself. All that matters is that your name is written on God's hand. And so that's our sermon on the side for this week. It is realizing that God purchased the naming rights for you, for me, for Brad, for all of us. And let's uh learn to live in the light of what he calls us, of his name for us, not any of the other names or labels.

SPEAKER_01 32:31

Man, I just I absolutely love that. And you know, we we were talking beforehand, yeah, and there's so many different songs out there that that talk about this in some capacity, but there was a specific song that was just really burning on my heart over the last few days um in preparation for Sunday morning at our home church, Mountain Shadows, and then even in preparation for tonight, um, an old hymn that's been made more uh more modern by Shane and Shane, but before the throne of God above. And there's there's a lot of great lyrics in here, um but that kind of chorus-esque, repeatable uh and you were just talking about it. My name is graven on his hands. And um and so I just I would love for us to just kind of in response to this beautiful sermon on the side, I'd love for us to just worship together. Um and so, Richard, could you just kind of pray for us and kind of usher us into this time?

SPEAKER_05 33:41

Lord, we want to believe. We want to believe that you have a new name for us. A name that's different than all the labels we've put on ourselves over the years, and or maybe we've had put on us by someone else. But we need your help, Lord. We need your help, and we ask you to keep reminding us of your names for us, of how you see us, of how you look at us, and of all the possibilities that you have in mind for our lives. So, Lord, we're just asking you in the days ahead of it. Show us show us your names for us in the scriptures and we we're gonna keep our eyes and ears open. And Lord, most of all, we just thank you for paying the price. Buying us, buying our redemption, our forgiveness, our futures, our eternity. Paying that incredible price, the the the blood of your own son. We can never thank you enough. But we ask you to receive this song as part of our thank you.

SPEAKER_01 35:09

Accept and part of our hope and our desire to lean towards you and your names for us before the throne of God above, I have a strong and perfect plea the great high priest whose name is Allah whoever lives and pleads for me. My name is Graven on his hands. My name is Reden on his heart. I know that while in heaven he stands, no tongue can bid me dance. Deep heart, no tongue can bid me dance, deep heart when Satan tends me to despair and tells me get with see him there who made an end up my since save your time. My sinful soul is counting free for God just satisfied to condemn behold him there, the wizard my perfect spot, righteousness, the great changes the king of horizon of Christ I cannot my soul is my side.