Live Sermon | Honor God’s Name

The words we toss out without thinking can carry more spiritual weight than we realize. We open Exodus 20:7 and confront a command that many people reduce to “don’t cuss” even though it reaches much deeper: don’t empty God’s name of its value, don’t treat Him like background noise, and don’t represent Jesus casually with our speech or our lives.

We talk through why God’s name matters so much in the Bible, from the way names reveal purpose and identity to how the Lord introduces Himself personally as Yahweh and sovereignly as Elohim. Along the way, we connect the power of God’s name to Scripture’s big moments, including David facing Goliath not with size or weapons but with the name of the Lord. That same thread runs into the New Testament, where salvation is tied to calling on the name of Jesus and living as His ambassadors in the world.

Then we get practical: what does “in vain” actually mean, and how do we do it today? We challenge the obvious issue of profanity, but we also challenge passivity like empty religious repetition, weak witness, and a thankless heart that forgets God’s benefits. We close by showing what it looks like to exalt God’s name with trust and repentance, pointing to Jonah’s story and to Jesus as the greater Savior who invites us to come to the Father through Him alone.

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Transcript

Welcome And Series Setup

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Welcome to the Kid Us Out First Podcast, where we're building transformed lives one message at a time. Each week you'll hear Christ-centered sermons from Dr. J. Perry Fowler, rooted in the truth of God's Word. This is where real faith meets real life, because a life built on truth is a life that lasts.

The Third Commandment Read Aloud

Why Your Tongue Matters

Why God’s Name Is Personal

David And The Name That Wins

How We Empty God’s Name

Profanity And A Lost Reverence

Passivity In Faith And Prayer

Remembering God’s Benefits And Names

Jonah And Exalting Jesus’ Name

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We've been studying through the book of Exodus. That's one of the things we do here. We go through the Bible verse to verse to verse to verse to verse because God says his word will never return void. So guess what? You never waste your time when you open up God's word because God will speak to you through it. The Bible says it is alive, it's living, and it is active. So God's word will always speak into your life. This is the word of God. In the word of God, we read this for you, verse 7 of Exodus 20. You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain. Now we can all say that together, can't we? Now you shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain. Let's do it one more time. You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain. Now notice what it says that happens if we do take it in vain. It says, For the Lord will not leave him unpunished who takes his name in vain. The Lord will not leave him unpunished who takes the name of the Lord in vain. I want you to think about your tongue this morning. Probably it's not something you woke up this morning and thought, I think I'll just sit around and think about my tongue at church for a minute. But the tongue is one of the most intriguing organs in the body. When we think about our tongue, matter of fact, that we are told that your tongue is probably one of the most important organs in your body. And what we know about it is it contains eight muscles. This is one of the things that makes it very unique. It contains eight muscles that are intricately intertwined together, uh, and it's part of God's creative design. It proves to you there is a God. Matter of fact, if all you had to look at is your tongue, you would say, there is a God. All right? So there is a God, and that God, he created the world, and among that, he created your tongue. And what we know about is that tongue can move in different directions, it can help you speak, eat, and also form facial expressions. So that's one of the purposes of the tongue. That's one of the things that makes it unique. Another thing is the tongues are different sizes. Matter of fact, the average uh adult tongue is 2.8 ounces. I know you really need to know that. But what's even amazing, more amazing about this, is the blue well. Guess how big its tongue is? Its tongue is 5,000, 5,400 pounds all by itself. That's the size of an adult elephant. So when you think about that, the tongue, it comes in all different sizes. Matter of fact, your tongue is uh is very unique to you. Did you know that you could look at your tongue and your tongue would be so unique that it's like your fingerprints? No people's two tongues are the same. Everybody's tongue is different. It has varying numbers of taste buds, and they're as individual as you are. As well as you have uh taste cells in your tongue which are specialized. Uh one each one of those have the ability to taste a certain flavor, which again shows this design that God has that he's proven that he is the creator of everything. Also, your tongue is like a light indicator on your car. How many of you have ever gone to the dentist and they say, stick your tongue out? And they look at your tongue all around. That happened to me this week. Went to go get my teeth cleaned, and my dentist she looked at it and she said, Okay, you look good. Your tongue. I thought, well, here she is, looking at my tongue. At least I have a good-looking tongue, you know? But yet, you also are able to take your tongue, and your doctor will say, stick out your tongue and say, All right. And they'll take a look at your tongue. It is an indicator of your health. And your tongue is also very unique in this. Your tongue can do all types of things. They can make all kinds of sounds. As a matter of fact, just for fun, this morning I want to show you uh one of the strange abilities of the uh it's a it's a group that's called the Australian Alps Tongue Choir. This is very strange, but this will prove to you you can do a lot of strange things with your tongue. Watch this. Let's just sit and talk about our tongue for one for one reason. How do you use your tongue? You know, James in the book of James tells us it's like a rudder. It's like a ship. It can lead and it can guide your life. Whatever is used for your tongue will greatly impact how your life turns out. Because your tongue is like a rudder of a ship, or like a bit in a horse's mouth. Also, your tongue is like a spark, James says. He says it's like a it's like a fire that's in the hearth. You have fire in the hearth that can keep your home warm, but if it gets out of the hearth, that tongue can destroy your home. It's also like a pen. It's a pen of a skillful writer. It writes out before others what is present in your heart. So when we think about the tongue, though, it's very intriguing to see that in the commandments, there's one particular verse that specifically talks about how we use our tongue when we say the name of our God. In verse 7, it says, you shall not, say it with me, take the name of the Lord your God in vain. Now, what this does is this will generate a lot of questions. When we study God's word together, it always generates a lot of questions. But this morning I want us to look at three different questions this particular commandment leads us to ask. And the first question is why is God making such a big deal about his name? Why is it? What is this about God's name that is such a big deal that God says, I won't leave anyone unpunished who takes the name of the Lord in vain? Well, that that that is obviously something that we want to know. Why is God's name so important to God? And why, as a result of it, should his name be so important to us? Now, one of the ways we can know why this is is by simply looking at the Bible and understanding the reasoning why God gave to parents the responsibility of giving names to their children. And the reason why God did that, we see it in scripture, is often so that in turn, that the parents can somewhat sometimes see the personality of that child. For example, Jacob, which means subplanter, he was grabbing hold, of course, is his brother's heel. And when this happens, this is part of his personality, and that was something that followed him in his name the rest of his life. So it can say something about your personality, but also it can say something about your purpose. For example, Judas, who betrayed Jesus, Judas was a man who his name means praise Jehovah or praise God. But obviously, he didn't live up to his name. His parents obviously had a desire by naming him praise God or Praise Yahweh, but yet he did not do that. He didn't live up to his name. So there's a couple of reasons why in the Bible we see God using names. One of them was to display their personality. The other was so that in turn that it could communicate purpose. And Jesus, of course, he renamed Peter, and he did this because his name mattered. Abraham became Abraham became Abraham, which means father of many nations. God was using and us always use names to say something about the personality or the purpose of that individual's life. Now, when we think of Jesus, we know that there was an angel that came to Mary, and the angels said this: they said, You shall conceive in your womb, this virgin birth, you shall conceive in your womb, and you shall bring forth a son, and you shall call his name, say his name, Jesus. You shall call his name Jesus, which means Jehovah saves. So the purpose of Jesus' life was that he would come in the flesh, God in the flesh, the incarnation of God himself, and what we know he came to do is he came to bring salvation for all who would call upon, here it is, his name. So the name of Jesus really matters. The name of God really matters. And here in this passage, we see that God reintroduces himself. See, when you meet somebody, you introduce them and you tell them what your name is. And this is some one of how we understand who God really is. God comes, and one of the reasons why he gives these names, he says, I am the Lord your God. Why does he do this? Why does he introduce himself? The reason why is because God wants a relationship with you. God wants you not to just know about him, God wants you to know him personally. And so what we find here is the Bible says, you shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain. The word Lord there is God's most personal name. And what it is, it's the word Yahweh, from which we understand the meaning behind that is he is Almighty. He is the one and the only Almighty God. And that's how he introduces himself in this particular, this particular set of commandments. He says, I am the Lord, that's Yahweh, your God. The word God is the word Elohim, and Elohim literally is a picture of I'm the king, I'm the king of the universe, I'm in charge, I'm always present, I'm always there. So God here says, I am the Lord your God. But when you study the Bible, what you will learn is there are 24 different names that God uses to display and to declare who he is. And among them are these two names, the Lord your God. And we'll talk about some of the other names in just a second. But there is a plethora of names that God uses, 24 to be exact, to display and to say something about his personality and about how he achieves his purpose and his desires for your life because he happens to be the creator. He happens to be the Lord of all. Aren't you glad that he is? Now, with this, we see him saying to us, you shall not use the name of the Lord your God in vain. So God here tells us, my name really matters. And one of the ways we see that is through certain things, like, of course, the stories of the Bible. You go to the Old Testament and you find David. You find this young man, you find him in the book of Samuel, and you find him there as a young man who obviously is a teenager who comes up against Goliath. Now, if you want to think about how tall Goliath is, look at how far up I am right now. And imagine you standing down there. That would be like that. Goliath was like nine feet tall. That is one tall dude. So standing on stage, here it is. I've got a little help here so that I can stand up. And it would be like Goliath, it's just standing on solid ground. And Goliath, of course, comes, and I want you to see what he does. He uses God's name in vain. He shows vanity toward the name of God. In 1 Samuel chapter 17, we read this: when the Philistine looked and saw David. You remember David came. And when David came as a young, young boy, a young man, probably a teenager, what he does is he comes and he hears Goliath using God's name in vain, and he's defying the name of God. And this is what we read. When Philistine looked down and saw David, he was contemptuous. He was contemptuous of him. For he was only a youth and reddish with a handsome appearance. So the Philistine said to David, Am I a dog that you come to be with sticks? Notice what he does. And the Philistine cursed David by his small G O D S, by his gods. The Philistine served multiples of gods, and he used those names to curse or to in some way bring vanity against the name of the one true Almighty God, the Elohim, the Yahweh, that we see here in this passage. And notice what David does. David responds to how he uses that name, and David said to him to the Philistine, and I quote, You come to me with a sword and a spear and a saber, but I come to you, notice this, in the name, in the name of the Lord of the armies, the God of the armies of Israel, which you have defied. And you know the rest of the story. You know that there on that day, David, of course, took five stones, took one of them, hit, of course, Goliath between the eye. God aligned that perfectly, as God is Almighty God, and he brought about the death of Goliath. And what we know is Goliath, he came with a sword. But David came with a name. Goliath came with size, but David came with the swords. And what we know in Proverbs 18, verse 10, the Bible says, and the name of the Lord is a strong tower. Now, how many of you know how powerful the name of the Lord is? The name of Jesus, the Bible says, at the name of Jesus, everybody, I don't care what your background is according to the Bible, the Bible says every name, every knee will bow, every tongue will confess. Jesus is Lord. Do you know why it's just saying? Jesus is God. Now that's what God says in his word. Jesus is Lord. And that's what the scripture says. There is power in the name of Jesus. There's power in the name of our God. There's power. You're going to see in just a few moments. The Bible says, didn't we? There will be some that come and say, Lord, Lord, didn't we cast out demons? And they're going to say, in your name. Or didn't we perform miracles? In your name. And the Lord will say to them, Depart from me, for I never knew you. See, there's that much power in the name of Jesus. There's much that much power in the name of the Lord. And we need to understand that. So that's what his name is like no other name. And that's why we would look at a verse like this and say, I don't want to use that powerful name in vain. Now I want to just kind of illustrate it this way. We have in America, we have uh in our presidential cabinet, we have a press secretary. We have press secretaries. For example, Jody Powell was the press secretary for Jimmy Carter. Jim Brady was the press secretary for Ronald Reagan. George Stephanophilos was the press secretary for Bill Clinton. And today, Caroline Lovett is the press secretary for Donald Trump. Now think about what they do. They speak for the president. They speak in the name of someone else. Now understand this. When we think about who we are as believers, if you're a Christian today, you name the name of Christ in your title. What I mean by that, if you say, Well, I'm a Christian, you're saying, I know Jesus Christ. I am a follower of Jesus Christ. So in that, understand this. You are a spokesman. The Bible says in the book of 2 Corinthians, it says, we are ambassadors for Christ. Now think about that. We we we in when we live our life, we are to speak the name of Jesus. There's power in the name of Jesus. We share the name of Jesus. We go into the world and speak the name of Jesus. Why? Because it is in his name that we go. Matter of fact, even when we pray, we pray in the name of Jesus. And the reason why we do is because there's power in that name. And we are representing Jesus when we speak his name. And what a glorious blessing it is to be able to understand that there's power in Jesus Christ's name. It is an honor, one of the highest honors of your life, to in your heart not only know Jesus, but through your mouth to confess him among men. And the Bible teaches us that's what we do. In a matter of fact, to be saved and to truly know Jesus. The Bible says, if you will confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, what's it say? It says, you will be, what's it say with me? Say it with me. You will be saved. So there's power in the name of Jesus. So this is why God's name is so valuable. This is why God says, listen, don't use my name in vain. The reason why is because it is the name above every name. And he declares, God's word declares, every knee will bow. No matter what your background is, no matter what your religion has been, no matter what your thoughts may be, one day, I promise you, God says this you will bow your knee in heaven or in earth, you will bow your knee and you'll proclaim Jesus Christ as Lord. It is the most powerful name of all. The second question that comes up is then what is speaking? Vanity. How do I speak his name in vain? Well, there are two ways we do that, but let me first just describe this for you and explain to you. It says, don't use the name of the Lord in vain. The word vain is the Hebrew word shah, which means this, to reduce its value. To reduce its value or to make it empty. Now you'd say, well, how do I do that? Well, one of the ways we do that is through profanity. He said, Oh, I knew that was going to come. Today is going to be the cussing sermon. We're going to talk about the cussing sermon. Well, listen, there are a lot of words that can be used in profanity, but I cannot think of any worse way to use profanity than to use the name of God or to use the name of Jesus. When you think about it, especially we as Christians, you'll see, you know, often we don't hear of other God's names being used in vain. I mean, you don't hear Buddha's name being used in vain. You don't hear some multiples of other gods' names in vain. You just hear people use Jesus' name in vain. Why is that? Do you think there's something too That maybe just the demons know who the true and living God is. Listen, that's what we know. And that's why people use this name in vain. I've heard people use God's name in vain. I've heard people use Jesus' name in vain. I've even heard them use Mary's name that way. You know what I'm saying? But anybody connected to God, to Jesus, it seems like there's a consistency of using his name in vain. You can barely turn on the TV without hearing it. You can't even listen to a news report without using someone using profanity. Now, what's interesting about that as well is that this has progressed through the ages. I want you to see this, I'm going to just specifically speak of America, but I want you to think about how it has progressed. Some of you have lived long enough and you're like, there are some words that are used nowadays, and it's just flippantly used that were never used when I was younger. And you're like, why is that? Why have people become more and more accustomed to profanity? But the one thing that people are just even Christians struggle with this thing of saying the name of God in vain, or saying, oh Lord, or something like that, using that in a vanity way. And so God says, listen, don't empty my name. Don't make that a small thing. But over the years, it has become more and more part of almost the American custom to use God's name in vain. As a matter of fact, one of the greatest places we see that, and one of the places we see it the most, is in our military. For example, think about this. How many of you ever heard they cuss like a all right, you Navy guys? You know you think about that. Where did that come from? I want to just read something to you that our first president, George Washington, said about profanity. This is what he said, and I'm going to quote him. You can look it up in history, but this is what he said. He said, the foolish and the wicked practice of cursing and swearing is so vice, so mean, so low that every person with a sense of character detests it and despises it. Did you believe that? In America, our first president, our president, George Washington, said, listen, the use of swear, swearing curse words, using God's name in vain. Everybody with a sense, uh, with a sense of character detests it and despises it. Not only that, let me read you another quote he said. The general, and he's speaking about him, General George Washington, most earnestly requires and expects the articles of war established by the government in the army, which forbids, this is what he says. I'm forbidding this as the commander-in-chief, which forbids, forbade forbades uh profane swearing, profane cursing, swearing, and goes on to say, and drunkenness, and in like manner he requires all and expects all officers and soldiers in an actual duty of punctual attendance upon divine service to implore the blessings of heaven upon the means used for safety and defense. You know what Washington was saying? He knew verse 7 of Exodus chapter 20. And what he's saying is this, we don't want to use God's name in vain because what we know to be, God says, listen, I am not going to leave you unpunished if you use it in that way. And what Washington knew is he says, I want God to bless America. And because I want God to bless America and not have to, if you will, curse America or in some way discipline America, what I want you to do is I want you to do two things. He said, first off, don't use. I forbid the using of cursing and profanity in my army. Furthermore, he went on and says, and what we're going to do is we're going to require punctual attendance, is what I just read to you, upon the divine service to implore the blessings of heaven. What's he saying? He's saying, I'm going to expect my military men to go to church and go sit down and to worship and exalt the Lord because we're looking for the blessing we want God to bless America. That's what George Washington knew. But what has happened? What has happened since 1776 all the way to 2026? What has happened is there has been this loss of understanding, this lack of fear of God and understanding of who God is. Listen, He is worthy. His name is a name above every name, and that's why we should never profane it. So one way we do that is through profanity. The second thing is through passivity. Now, this is mentioned several times in the Bible. Jesus himself talked about it. And one of them I already mentioned, we can passively call ourselves by Christ's name. If you call yourself a Christian, listen, that is not a passive thing. You should be bold as a Christian. You should boldly proclaim Christ. The Bible says, if you confess me before men, I will confess you before the Father who is in heaven. That's what Jesus promises. But he also does say that there will be many that will come on that day, that day of judgment, and will say to me, Lord, Lord, didn't we do this in your name? Didn't we do that in your name? This is what it reads. Did we not prophesy in your name? Did we not drive out demons in your name? In your name, did we not perform miracles? And Jesus said, On that day, I will say to them plainly, I never knew you. See, the reason why God has introduced Himself to us is not that we would simply have a religion, but that we would have a relationship. When someone introduces themselves by name, they're inviting you into a relationship with them. And our God does that all the way back to Exodus chapter 20. Aren't you grateful for that? We can call upon his name. No matter what dark corner we're in life, no matter what need we have in life, we can say the name of Jesus and we sense the presence of God every time we say his name. But we also can passively uh pray in his name. Jesus made this mention when he was talking about the Pharisees. He said, But when you pray, do not use, here it is, vain repetitions as the heathen do, for they think that they shall be heard by their much speaking. So they use vain repetition. So this is what happens a lot. What happens a lot, some people say, I just want my religion to be a series of ritual statements. And what we'll do is they'll come to church or they'll come to a certain place and they'll ritually just mouth off these rituals back and forth and back and forth. And it's just, and it's not something that's necessarily in their heart. It's just something that they're saying because they're doing a religious thing. This is what the Pharisees were doing. And Jesus said, those are vain repetitions. It's almost like this talk to me, know me, know that I've come, I've introduced myself to you, and I know your name. I know who you are. God knows the number of hairs on your head, the Bible says. And the in the interesting thing about that is when it speaks of that in the language, it means he's counted every hair. He knows everything about you. And so when you come and you call upon his name, he responds. Why? Because you're speaking his name. Also, there's a passive thanklessness. The Bible talks about in the last days, people will be unthankful and unholy. And so, one of the reasons why we come together and why we worship is so that we will remember the Lord our God. Jesus Christ Himself. Remember what he did the night before he died. He sat down and he put together what we know to be this last supper. And when he did, he took the bread and he took the cup and he says, and do this, here's what he said, in remembrance of me. We need to remember the Lord. Jesus himself had a group of lepers that came to him, and when they came to him, Jesus healed them and he sent them to the priest so that they can be inspected, and only one came. And Jesus said, Where are the other nine? One of the greatest blessings of our life is to come like we have this morning, pause like we have this morning, recognize the name of Jesus, recognizing the name of our Lord and our God, to celebrate him for who he is and to exalt and lift up his name. You know what the Bible says? Let us exalt his name together. And that's what we've done this morning. And what a glorious blessing that is to be able to have this freedom to worship. God doesn't want us to forget all of his benefits. Matter of fact, the book of Psalms says this. It says that we should do just that. It says that we should remember our Lord and forget not his benefits. It reminds me in 1923, I love history, and in 1923, what I know happened is there was an earthquake in Japan. And when there was this earthquake in Japan, Americans responded. There were many people that were that were injured, many people that died in that earthquake, and America responded and sent sent help. And the result of that was the leadership of Japan said these words. They said, Japan will never forget. But what's intriguing about that is 18 years later, Japan bombed Pearl Harbor. And you know what Americans said at that time? Japan must have forgot. That was what they said. We should never forget. We should always remember one of the values of going over and spending a lifetime in God's Word and reading the stories of Jesus and reading and understanding the blessings of God is so that we would never forget his benefits. Listen, and God has 24 different names. For example, when you have lack, he's Jehovah Jireh, he introduces himself that way, our provider. When you are broken, he's Jehovah Rapha, who is our healer. When you're lost, Jesus here teaches us that God is Jehovah Ra or our shepherd, the Lord our shepherd, and he leads us into paths of righteousness. When you feel guilty, he's Jehovah the righteous one, the one that forgives our sins. And when you feel alone, he's Jehovah Shema. And there are multiples of names of God. And one of the best studies I've ever done, just if you want to do something on the side, is Tony Evans did a study on all those names. And it's incredible to be able to go through and learn all 24 of those names and learn about who our God is introducing himself as. The Bible says those that know his name will put their trust in him. So when we know the name of the Lord, when we honor the name of the Lord, when we celebrate the name of the Lord, when we exalt the name of the Lord, we remember who the name of the Lord is, we remember his benefits, and we celebrate him. And we bring him praise all to the glory of God and Father through Jesus Christ. Now a third question. A third question is, is then how do I exalt his name? I think that's a good question. Psalm 8.1 says, O Lord, O Lord, how excellent is your name in all the earth. And as I've already mentioned, Psalm 34, verse 3 says, Let us exalt his name forever. So we have two choices. We can either profame his name in vanity, or we can trust his name in victory. Now I want to just kind of tell you a story and we'll kind of take this home. But I want you to think about Jonah the prophet. When we think about Jonah, Jonah was given the responsibility to go to Nineveh. And Jonah was supposed to go to Nineveh, and what was he supposed to do? He was to proclaim the word of a God. He was to proclaim the name of God to the people from Nineveh. I want to tell you, if you study history and you understand these Ninevehes, you can see why Jonah did not want to go. Now I could tell you because I've studied it deeply to understand who the Ninevehes were, and I can tell you, I any of us would have looked at that call and that that thing that God wanted him to do, and we said, I don't want to do it either. And the reason why is because they were evil, they were perverse people. They were people who were just evil to the very core. And they worshiped a God named Dagon. Now I want to explain to you that God in just a few moments. Another name for that God is the name Onah. But they worship this pagan God. And what we know is they they were just like their God. They were a very militant people. And they were people who really, if I told you the stories and the things that come into my mind when I think about the Ninevites, listen, I want to tell you, you would not have lunch today because some of the stories I've heard and some of the things we've learned through history about them, I mean they were some evil people. So no wonder Jonas said, listen, you want me to go to Nineveh, I'm going to Tarshish. In other words, he said, okay, you want me to go north, I'm going south. That's literally what he did. And he got on a boat, you know the story, and the Bible tells us that while he was on the boat, remember what God did. God revealed himself for who he is. He is the God who is almighty. And what he did is he brought about a storm, you know the story, and in that storm, what we find is Jonah, this reluctant prophet, said, Listen, just throw me overboard and the storm will cease. And these people, these people threw him overboard. And when he threw him overboard, this is what the Bible says that God had done. The Bible says that the Lord had prepared, literally, the Lord had appointed or arranged for a great fish to swallow Jonah, and Jonah was inside the belly of the fish for three days and three nights. How many of you believe that story? If you do, say amen. That's good because you're in good company because Jesus said the story is true. Jesus made it very clear that that story is true, and I'll read you the verse in just a moment. But what we know happened is of course he God had appointed this great fish to go and to swallow him up, and he was in the belly of this great fish for three days and three nights. Now, what happened after the three days and three nights is uh, of course, uh the Bible says, and the Lord. Every time, by the way, when you see Jonah, it's always prefaced by the Lord did this, the Lord arranged for a great fish, and also the Lord commanded the fish, and it vomited Jonah out on dry ground. Now, what a nice way to get ready to go to lunch, talking about vomit. But nonetheless, that's what happened. But I want you to see what happened. Jonah ended up being vomited out, and when he was vomited out, he went and he spoke the name of the Lord. He went across Nineveh and he preached God's word. He did it reluctantly, but he did it, and the king put on sackcloth and ash, and all the people repented, and it was a glorious, glorious, not a revival, but an awakening in Nineveh. You might say, well, how did that happen? Well, I'll tell you what, God has this way of getting our attention. Because the God that we know to be Dagon, this is what he looked like. He looked like a fish with a man emerging out of him. I want you to see that picture. Right there it is. He looked like a, this is Dagon. This is this is an from archaeology, this is the God of Dagon. And what we know happened was, of course, when Jonah was vomited out, it would have been more a little bit like this next picture. There should be another picture. It would have been more like that. Now, I want you to see, can you imagine what it was like for those fishermen to be on the side of the shore in Nineveh, and all of a sudden this man emerges out of a fish and he starts preaching the name of the Lord. Well, they knew immediately this must be the true man that knows the true and living God because he is here. And absolutely, the picture was very well laid out for them, and what they did is they repented. They repented. Do you know why? Because God, he's not just a name to repeat, he is a God who calls us to repent. He is not just a God who is present, he is God who is living in your very existence and in your life. He knows you. And right now, where you're sitting, what is God doing to get your attention? How is God speaking into your life? He was speaking into the people in Nineveh's life by this man named Jonah, who was who came up and emerged out of the belly of a great fish. But you know the Bible tells us in Hebrews 1, God in sundry times and diverse manners, he spoke many different ways. We hear about that. But he says, in the last days, God speaks now through his son. His son is Jesus. And when we read about Jesus, Jesus likened himself unto Jonah. Let me read to you what he said. Jesus said in Matthew 12, 40 and 41, Jonah, this is Jesus confirming the story was true. Jonah was three days and three nights in the stomach of a great fish. And the Son of Man, this is what he said of himself, will be in the heart of the earth, or in the grave also three days and three nights. And he said, someone greater than Jonah is here. In other words, there's someone that's come to speak to us. And his name is Jesus. You know what Jesus tells us? He says, I am the way. I am the truth. The word way there is the word hodos, which means I'm the pathway. You come with me. You come follow me. I am the way. And then he says, I am the truth. The word there is a word which gives a picture of I am the absolute truth. In Greek, it's Alithia, which is a beautiful word if you study it, because it's a word that just brings joy to your spirit. It just speaks of pure words. I am the way, I am the truth, and I am the life. This is who Jesus says he is. I am the way, I am the truth, and I am the life. And then he says, no man comes to the Father, but through, here it is, through me. Through me. At the name of Jesus, every knee will bow, the scripture says. Every tongue will confess that he is Lord. Someone greater than Jonah is here, Jesus says. In Romans 10, 13 says, whoever will call upon the name of the Lord will be saved. Acts chapter 4, verse 12 says, Neither is there salvation in any other. For there is none other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved. And someday every knee will bow to that name because Philippians 2, 10, and 11 says, At the name of Jesus, every knee will bow. Those in heaven, those on earth, and those under the earth. And that every tongue should confess Jesus is Lord to the glory of God. And Father, you want to exalt that name? I'll tell you the greatest way to exalt that name is to call upon that name right now. And to receive the gift that God has for you. To declare today there is no other name that I'm trusting. I'm not adding Jesus to my multiplicity of gods like they did in the Old Testament. When they wanted to add God to their multiplicity of gods, God said, I have no other gods before me. But when we exclusively pause and we know it's true, the Bible says that if you will confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you'll be saved. So as we bow our heads and close our eyes, we think about giving the exaltation to the name of Jesus. We close the service today before we sing, exalting the name of Jesus by me pointing to you to that name. Maybe this morning, where you're at, whether you're here present or you're online, God is speaking to your heart right now. And you today know that there's no other name like the name of Jesus. You know that He did live for you and He did die for you. He took your place, He became your substitute because you and I have all sinned and come short of the glory of God. The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God, you want to receive that today, is through Jesus Christ our Lord. And right where you're at, as you bow your head and you open your heart right in this very moment to the person of Jesus Christ, I invite you to call on his name. Would you say something like this to him today? Jesus, I know you are Lord. Jesus, I know you are the Savior of the world. And Jesus, this day, I'm inviting you to come and to live in my life, to be the Lord of my life, to take the throne of my heart and to live in me. I receive you as my savior today. I will follow you as the Lord of my life. And today, Jesus, I trust you by faith, because I know that not only did you die for me on the cross, but you rose again from the dead, and you stand at the right hand of the Heavenly Father today, and today I bow my knee and I say, Jesus, you are Lord, and I'm asking you to be the Lord of my life. Listen, if that is your prayer today, you have exalted the name above every name. And when you lift him up, he lifts you up. He guides your life, he lives in your life, he changes your life. And this morning we exalt that name. I invite you to publicly make that known this morning as you're here in this place. So maybe you're online, you want to call our church office. We'd love to talk to you about your new relationship with Jesus. But it's important that you tell others Jesus Christ is my Savior and Lord. And this morning, one way to do that is to come up to one of our counselors and let us pray with you and invite you to know him and set up time for you to be baptized to publicly acknowledge Jesus as Lord and Savior of your life. Well, I want to pray for you as we get ready for this song. Father, in Jesus' name, I pray that you would give us boldness to say your name and to speak your name, to pray your name, and to exalt your name now and forevermore. For we pray it in Jesus' name. Amen and amen. Let's stand together and listen.

SPEAKER_00 49:29

We're glad you joined us for today's segment. We believe a life built on truth is a life that transforms everything. To stay connected, share this message, subscribe, or visit us online at Kennesaw First.church. We'll see you next time. Keep building your life on truth.