WEBVTT 00:00:00.400 --> 00:00:03.040 Dawn and I uh we married pretty young. 00:00:03.200 --> 00:00:06.240 Uh she was 19 and I was 21. 00:00:06.639 --> 00:00:14.080 Um shortly about five months later, we learned oh, she's pregnant. 00:00:14.240 --> 00:00:17.120 Uh and um it happens. 00:00:17.280 --> 00:00:27.440 Uh and uh so we were expecting this new little life that was being formed in her uh by the fall uh of that year. 00:00:27.920 --> 00:00:34.240 And we we chose not to find out if it was gonna be a boy or a girl, uh which drove my mom nuts. 00:00:34.399 --> 00:00:38.640 Um and she just said, we have the technology, let's use it. 00:00:38.880 --> 00:00:55.359 Um and so we did what most parents did at that time, we would grab a baby book like this one and uh begin to go through these lists, I mean, just lists of names, uh, and trying to decide what we are going to name this baby if she's a girl. 00:00:55.439 --> 00:01:00.000 Uh we already had the boy name picked out for a long time, but it was trying to figure out the girl name. 00:01:00.159 --> 00:01:07.519 And so we ended up landing on a name uh that that honored her grandmother and a very dear friend of ours. 00:01:07.599 --> 00:01:15.280 Uh, and but we decided we're not gonna tell anybody their names until that the baby's born, and so we held on to it. 00:01:16.079 --> 00:01:26.159 Dawn had uh ended up having three different arrival dates uh assigned, and she passed all three of them, um, and she was ready. 00:01:26.319 --> 00:01:42.159 Um and uh we ended up on October 2nd, 1998, we rushed to the hospital, and we get uh we get to the hospital, and my wife is an incredibly strong woman. 00:01:42.400 --> 00:01:50.959 Um I was in the space room when she decided I'm gonna have this child uh naturally uh without any any pain meds. 00:01:51.439 --> 00:01:58.799 And uh and I was in the room when she had a 10-pound six-ounce baby girl. 00:01:59.040 --> 00:02:03.280 Uh and um she's pretty amazing. 00:02:03.439 --> 00:02:08.080 Um this little girl could have walked out of that room on her own. 00:02:08.240 --> 00:02:09.280 She was so big. 00:02:09.439 --> 00:02:14.879 And um, and she has, as we later learned, she has this independent spirit. 00:02:14.960 --> 00:02:19.360 She would have done it if we let her walk out of the room. 00:02:19.680 --> 00:02:23.919 Um and we introduced her to everyone as Victoria Evangeline. 00:02:25.360 --> 00:02:28.319 I remember the weight, I can still feel it. 00:02:28.479 --> 00:02:33.599 I remember the weight and the power of naming this little life before me. 00:02:33.840 --> 00:02:36.560 It felt like so, like, oh, this will be final. 00:02:36.719 --> 00:02:41.919 She will carry this name with her everywhere she goes from this point on. 00:02:44.000 --> 00:02:54.080 The brilliant writer Madeline Lingle said, To name is to love, and to be named is to be loved. 00:02:55.520 --> 00:03:14.080 This week uh I was driving over to visit a uh longtime uh member of our church, Doris Fitzgerald, um, and Danny and I were on the phone, and Danny says to me, Now, one of the sweet practices that Doris has is to say your name a lot during her conversation with you. 00:03:14.319 --> 00:03:24.960 And so I arrive at the rehab uh place that Doris is uh staying uh is in right now, and so I sat with her, such a sweet spirit, if you I'm sure you know if you know her. 00:03:25.120 --> 00:03:34.639 And I I sat with her, and and sure enough, within just moments of storytelling, she peppered my name throughout the conversation. 00:03:34.800 --> 00:03:41.439 And there is something sweet about somebody remembering your name and and saying your name. 00:03:41.599 --> 00:03:43.759 Uh and Doris said it often. 00:03:43.919 --> 00:03:57.599 This great book, uh, best-selling book of uh of all time, How to Win Friends and Influence People, uh, the author Dale Carnegie says, names are the sweetest and most important sound in any language. 00:03:58.000 --> 00:04:02.159 Have you ever been in a crowd of strangers and somebody yells your name? 00:04:02.319 --> 00:04:04.240 And it just kind of gives you hope. 00:04:04.400 --> 00:04:06.560 Uh somebody notes me. 00:04:07.599 --> 00:04:14.400 A name is also more than a bunch of consonants and vowels forming some phonetic sounds. 00:04:15.199 --> 00:04:18.639 I mean, names come with meaning. 00:04:19.040 --> 00:04:20.879 Names come with reputation. 00:04:21.759 --> 00:04:23.920 Names come with with history. 00:04:25.600 --> 00:04:30.720 I mean, if I gave you a single name, I could tell you a whole story just by saying the name. 00:04:31.839 --> 00:04:37.279 I mean, we think about a very the very tragic story associated with Hitler. 00:04:39.279 --> 00:04:43.199 We think of a very courageous story of Rosa Parks. 00:04:44.639 --> 00:04:53.920 We think about the fictional love story between Romeo and Juliet, where Juliet will muse what's in a name, and she'll talk about a rose. 00:04:56.480 --> 00:05:00.160 The scriptures, the wisdom scriptures, speak of the power of a name. 00:05:00.240 --> 00:05:05.759 In Proverbs chapter 22, it says, A good name is more desirable than great riches. 00:05:06.079 --> 00:05:10.480 To be esteemed is better than silver or gold. 00:05:11.360 --> 00:05:18.720 This very moody Solomon wrote in Ecclesiastes, he says, a good name is better than fine perfume. 00:05:18.879 --> 00:05:25.120 And then he just kind of kills the vibe and he says, the day of birth is better than the day, or sorry, the day of death is better than the day of birth. 00:05:25.360 --> 00:05:27.360 Ah, Solomon, he's so moody. 00:05:28.240 --> 00:05:33.360 But he does say that a good name is is better, is better. 00:05:35.360 --> 00:05:40.720 Look out how the writer of Proverbs describes the power of the name of the Lord. 00:05:41.199 --> 00:05:46.319 This says in Proverbs 18, 10, the name of the Lord is what? 00:05:46.879 --> 00:05:48.800 A fortified tower. 00:05:49.199 --> 00:05:52.000 And the righteous run to it and are saved. 00:05:52.720 --> 00:05:58.720 That God's name is a fortified tower, is what this writer says. 00:05:58.879 --> 00:06:11.040 The psalmists say that some will trust in chariots and some will trust in horses, but but this psalmist, he is going to trust in the name of the Lord, he writes, that he would trust in God's name. 00:06:12.240 --> 00:06:14.480 And here's the truth about us humans. 00:06:15.199 --> 00:06:17.120 We will put our trust in something. 00:06:18.399 --> 00:06:21.920 Every one of us will put our trust in something or into someone. 00:06:23.600 --> 00:06:26.800 And when we do, we are named by that thing. 00:06:28.480 --> 00:06:31.279 Or by that person, or by that God. 00:06:33.279 --> 00:06:37.439 There are many things that we can put our trust in that puts their name on us. 00:06:37.600 --> 00:06:47.839 Like our careers and our dreams and our finances and the politicians that we follow and the substances that we use and the material possessions that we collect. 00:06:48.000 --> 00:06:54.560 It can slowly, we put our trust in it, depending on our internal struggles or the external situations. 00:06:54.720 --> 00:07:00.879 We'll put our trust in certain things and they begin to put their names on us and identify themselves with us. 00:07:04.240 --> 00:07:08.879 It's almost like they put their names right on our foreheads. 00:07:10.639 --> 00:07:16.480 Sometimes invisible ink, but sometimes it's very apparent to people around us what we put our trust in. 00:07:18.639 --> 00:07:26.399 So last week we we got into this Exodus story, and Moses is out in the desert, and God tells him his name. 00:07:26.560 --> 00:07:28.160 He says, I am Yahweh. 00:07:28.319 --> 00:07:31.360 I am the one who is, is basically what he was saying. 00:07:31.519 --> 00:07:36.959 I'm the one who is, I am, I've always been and always will be, and I'm right here with you too. 00:07:37.120 --> 00:07:41.839 And God says, I want you to go and rescue this group of people, and you know what I'm gonna do? 00:07:42.000 --> 00:07:44.879 I'm gonna put my name on them when I do. 00:07:45.279 --> 00:07:49.920 And so Moses takes up this, he very tentatively takes up this charge, this mission. 00:07:50.079 --> 00:07:55.920 And then when Yahweh saves this group of people, he enters this covenant relationship with them. 00:07:56.079 --> 00:08:04.160 A covenant relationship is this agreement between two parties, and the creator is the one that makes this covenant, this promise with this group of people. 00:08:04.399 --> 00:08:08.240 In grace, he rescues them first without them doing anything. 00:08:09.120 --> 00:08:11.199 They did not earn their rescue. 00:08:11.439 --> 00:08:20.319 God comes in, he rescues them out of Egypt, he brings them into a safe place, and he says, Okay, now let me tell you who I am, and I want you to bring, I want you to worship me. 00:08:22.160 --> 00:08:29.920 And in that he says, I'm gonna rescue you such that that you are no longer owned in slavery by that Pharaoh back in Egypt. 00:08:30.240 --> 00:08:34.000 You are mine, and I am yours. 00:08:36.320 --> 00:08:43.200 And then we read last week that God calls them his treasured possession, which is pretty remarkable. 00:08:45.759 --> 00:08:51.919 So a little later in that Exodus story, we uh we find Moses' brother named Aaron. 00:08:52.080 --> 00:08:54.080 And Aaron becomes the priest. 00:08:54.320 --> 00:09:08.159 And Aaron is told by God to say a blessing over the people, and maybe you're familiar with this blessing, maybe because of a song that was written just a few years ago or several years ago now, or maybe it's just because it's a scripture verse that you've heard a few times. 00:09:08.320 --> 00:09:13.600 But here God tells Aaron to say this, Aaron and his sons to say this over Israel. 00:09:13.840 --> 00:09:20.720 In Numbers chapter 6, the Lord said to Moses, Tell Aaron and his sons, this is how you are to bless the Israelites. 00:09:20.879 --> 00:09:25.919 I want you to say to them, the Lord bless you and keep you. 00:09:27.519 --> 00:09:32.960 The Lord make his face to shine on you and be gracious to you. 00:09:34.000 --> 00:09:38.480 The Lord turns his face toward you and gives you peace. 00:09:40.080 --> 00:09:46.320 And then right after that blessing, when the blessing's done, God says, This is what's gonna happen in verse 27. 00:09:47.360 --> 00:09:49.039 They will put my name. 00:09:49.200 --> 00:09:51.840 Oh, sorry, say the yellow with me. 00:09:52.000 --> 00:09:57.600 Uh so they will put my name on the Israelites and I will bless them. 00:09:58.159 --> 00:10:01.919 God says, my very name is gonna be put on this group of people. 00:10:03.679 --> 00:10:11.679 It's like God says, let's put a tattoo on them with my name, and I will write it on them. 00:10:12.559 --> 00:10:15.759 So uh my son had a birthday yesterday. 00:10:16.000 --> 00:10:20.480 Um our kids, our daughter and son, are two years and one day apart. 00:10:20.639 --> 00:10:28.799 Uh and so our son would always he would always see Victoria being celebrated, and he's like, okay, I know how you're gonna celebrate me tomorrow now. 00:10:29.039 --> 00:10:33.039 Um and so uh he he turned 26 yesterday. 00:10:33.279 --> 00:10:37.679 And uh the way that his wife celebrated him is getting him a tattoo. 00:10:37.840 --> 00:10:43.279 Uh because if you've not met my son, his one of his legs is just covered in tattoos. 00:10:43.360 --> 00:10:53.440 Uh, but this time he chooses uh a bigger tattoo, and he said it took about two hours, and it was so painful he thought, I don't know if I'm ever gonna get another one of these. 00:10:53.600 --> 00:11:04.240 Um so here we find in the story of Exodus a group of people who are familiar with a name tattooed on a forehead. 00:11:05.840 --> 00:11:19.679 In the ancient Near East, if you were a slave or a servant, a common practice would be to put the owner's name on your head, or to write it on your hand, or to put it on your forearm. 00:11:22.639 --> 00:11:34.879 For uh the temple servants of other gods and goddesses, they would have practiced branding their forehead with the name of their God, or on their hand, or on their forearm. 00:11:35.840 --> 00:11:41.200 Maybe that feels a little like a revelation story, if you know the book of Revelation. 00:11:43.200 --> 00:11:48.159 And here God is saying, I want to put my name on your forehead. 00:11:48.480 --> 00:11:51.200 But this was this is gonna be different. 00:11:51.440 --> 00:11:56.000 This is gonna not, it's not gonna just stay like a name tattooed on your forehead. 00:11:56.080 --> 00:12:02.639 This is gonna be more than wearing a t-shirt, putting a bumper sticker on your car, or putting some plaque on your, on your uh, on your house. 00:12:02.879 --> 00:12:03.759 This is gonna be more. 00:12:03.840 --> 00:12:04.799 I'm gonna expect more. 00:12:04.960 --> 00:12:11.759 I'm gonna say, hey, whatever you say and however you live, I want it to represent my name. 00:12:12.080 --> 00:12:20.480 Your very life is going to declare to the nations, this is who my God is, and this is the kind of God I live, I serve. 00:12:26.879 --> 00:12:35.759 So within the Ten Commandments that we started studying last week, God asks the Israelite people to wear his name faithfully. 00:12:37.440 --> 00:12:40.639 So in the opening of the Ten Commandments, I'm gonna read that again. 00:12:40.720 --> 00:12:45.519 Uh He's saying to them, You don't you no longer belong to any earthly empire. 00:12:45.679 --> 00:12:49.759 There's not an empire that you belong to that you could associate yourself with. 00:12:50.000 --> 00:12:57.600 You belong to me now, and I am of a heavenly kingdom, and you're gonna act like you live within a heavenly kingdom, he says to them. 00:12:57.919 --> 00:13:02.399 I am, he says in verse 2, I am the Lord your God. 00:13:03.039 --> 00:13:09.120 He puts ownership on them and allows them to put ownership on him, like you are ours and we are yours. 00:13:09.519 --> 00:13:13.120 Who brought you out of Egypt, he says, out of the land of slavery. 00:13:13.360 --> 00:13:22.879 And then in the third word, that third instruction, that third commandment, God expresses his expectations and how they should live. 00:13:23.120 --> 00:13:34.799 And he says this in verse 7 You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God, for the Lord will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses his name. 00:13:38.879 --> 00:13:40.399 What does he mean by that? 00:13:43.440 --> 00:13:48.559 Like, what would what would Yahweh mean by misusing his name? 00:13:49.919 --> 00:13:57.759 So I want to I want to show this video uh of uh from our friends at the Bible Project to explain a little bit about what it is. 00:13:58.559 --> 00:13:59.200 All right. 00:13:59.519 --> 00:14:01.679 Well, let me just share with you, it's okay, guys. 00:14:01.919 --> 00:14:11.679 Um so this this idea of misusing God's name, what he is saying is, my name is on you now. 00:14:11.919 --> 00:14:19.840 I have claimed you as my own, and you are mine, and so everywhere you go, you're going to represent who I am. 00:14:20.080 --> 00:14:34.000 It's like it's it it's the idea of how when a name that we are given at birth begins to like really fit us and identify who we are, and then we also represent the whole family that I've been born into. 00:14:34.240 --> 00:14:37.519 So sometimes our reputations precede us. 00:14:37.600 --> 00:14:50.080 If you were the youngest of siblings and you go to school and then you meet a teacher who's had an older sibling of yours, and your name has already been like they already they're wondering, are you like that older brother or sister? 00:14:50.240 --> 00:14:57.759 Um either are you as bad as the older brother or sister, or um, oh maybe you're better. 00:14:57.919 --> 00:15:03.039 Um and so you carry this reputation around with you with this name. 00:15:04.320 --> 00:15:14.159 And what God is asking you to do, or asking the Israelite people is when you go out, will you represent my name to the nations? 00:15:15.120 --> 00:15:26.799 The way that you live, the way you engage with the with your neighbors, with your coworkers, with with uh the marketplace, when they see you, will they see the name of God? 00:15:27.519 --> 00:15:30.000 Will you represent who God is well? 00:15:30.159 --> 00:15:40.240 And at one point in this, in uh, uh at one point, uh Aaron, the brother of Moses, um, he uh he becomes a priest. 00:15:40.320 --> 00:15:47.279 And one of the actions of before going into this very holy tabernacle was to put on all of these clothes like a priest. 00:15:47.440 --> 00:15:56.480 And and so he puts on these uh different pieces of articles of clothing, and one of them has 12 jewels that are all right here on the front of him. 00:15:56.639 --> 00:16:01.360 And each jewel represents one of the tribes, the people uh of Israel. 00:16:01.519 --> 00:16:03.840 And their names are on those jewels. 00:16:04.080 --> 00:16:17.919 And what and when he goes into the tabernacle to to meet God in the Holy of Holies, he represents all 12 tribes as he goes in by bearing, carrying their name on his chest as he goes in. 00:16:18.159 --> 00:16:22.399 And so this one man represents the whole group of people, Israel. 00:16:22.639 --> 00:16:41.600 And what God is saying is, when you, and the literal words of of that command is when you carry my name, when you think of Israel, uh of Aaron carrying the name of these twelve tribes, it's just like when you carry my name with you everywhere you go, are you gonna represent me? 00:16:43.120 --> 00:16:47.679 And and what does it look like to misuse the name of God? 00:16:47.919 --> 00:16:54.720 Like what does it mean to in the King James to say God's name in, do you remember? 00:16:54.960 --> 00:16:55.360 In vain. 00:16:55.600 --> 00:16:56.559 Oh, a lot of you remember. 00:16:56.720 --> 00:16:57.039 Okay. 00:16:57.279 --> 00:17:02.080 So carrying God's name in vain, what does that actually mean? 00:17:02.480 --> 00:17:10.319 Well, they would have understood it as taking a false oath in God's name, like if you made an oath but it was actually a false oath. 00:17:10.640 --> 00:17:16.960 Or if you're making a vow using God's name, or if you're profaning the sacred name of God. 00:17:17.119 --> 00:17:26.559 So in the American culture, what we would understand that to mean is this flippant use of God's name in a curse word, like when we add God's name into all of these curses. 00:17:26.720 --> 00:17:32.640 And so it does include that, but it's that's not, it is much more than that as well. 00:17:32.799 --> 00:17:40.720 Sometimes we reduce it down to that, where you're saying God's name in a curse word or in a flippant way, but it actually is much more than that. 00:17:40.880 --> 00:17:53.759 Uh, Old Testament scholar Carmen Imes says it this way: to bear God's name in vain would be to enter this covenant relationship with God, but to live no differently. 00:17:56.960 --> 00:18:02.559 So, brothers and sisters, do you carry God's name with you? 00:18:04.799 --> 00:18:09.440 And in so doing, does it cause you to live differently? 00:18:13.920 --> 00:18:19.519 In another part of the Exodus story, Moses and God are talking, and Moses is like, I just want to see you. 00:18:20.000 --> 00:18:21.920 I just want to see what you look like. 00:18:23.519 --> 00:18:27.519 And God's like, okay, I'm gonna pass by you, but I'm only gonna show you a little bit of me. 00:18:28.640 --> 00:18:32.240 But I'm also gonna declare my name to you. 00:18:32.559 --> 00:18:41.599 In Exodus chapter 33, 19, God says, I will cause all my goodness to pass in front of you. 00:18:41.920 --> 00:18:47.200 And I will proclaim my name, the Lord, in your presence. 00:18:47.599 --> 00:18:53.839 I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. 00:18:54.799 --> 00:18:58.559 You see, God's name represents what in this passage? 00:18:59.519 --> 00:19:01.119 It's right there on the screen. 00:19:01.759 --> 00:19:04.240 Mercy and compassion. 00:19:04.400 --> 00:19:09.200 And so he's saying it's not just my name Yahweh, but it also represents my character. 00:19:09.359 --> 00:19:12.960 And my character is gonna be merciful and compassionate. 00:19:13.119 --> 00:19:21.279 And so when God says you're gonna carry my name, then we would conclude what are the two things that are that we're gonna carry with us everywhere we go? 00:19:22.319 --> 00:19:38.720 Mercy and that should be known of us as followers of Jesus, of followers of Yahweh, that we would be merciful and compassionate, that those are the things that ooze out of us when we go about our day in the marketplace, at the workplace, and with our neighborhood. 00:19:41.119 --> 00:19:47.680 And Israel and God end up having this conversation over and over again for the rest of the Old Testament about them. 00:19:47.839 --> 00:19:50.480 Are they carrying God's name like they should? 00:19:50.559 --> 00:19:53.759 And God's like, no, you're not, you're dragging my neighbor through the mud. 00:19:53.839 --> 00:19:55.039 We need to correct this. 00:19:55.200 --> 00:19:57.200 And God keeps doing it over and over again. 00:19:57.359 --> 00:19:59.680 He's so faithful and he's so long-suffering. 00:19:59.920 --> 00:20:03.119 And at one point, he does this really unexpected thing. 00:20:03.279 --> 00:20:08.160 He comes down to earth to show us what his name really looks like. 00:20:10.240 --> 00:20:15.759 Roughly 1400 years after Moses, an angel visits this young woman named Mary. 00:20:16.240 --> 00:20:30.880 And the angel says to her, after calming her down, because she freak she's freaking out about an angel, and uh he calms her down and he says, You're gonna conceive and give birth to a son, and you are gonna call his name Jesus. 00:20:34.160 --> 00:20:42.960 If Jesus' name were in like this name, uh you know, this baby name book, right next to it, it would say, Yahweh saves. 00:20:44.160 --> 00:20:46.240 That's the name of Jesus. 00:20:46.799 --> 00:20:48.160 Yahweh saves. 00:20:48.799 --> 00:20:53.839 A little later, the angel visits Joseph, who's engaged to Mary, and gives him the same news. 00:20:54.000 --> 00:21:02.640 She is going to give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save the people from their sins, he says. 00:21:02.880 --> 00:21:09.200 And from this point on, all of the writers of the New Testament equate the name of Jesus. 00:21:09.440 --> 00:21:17.920 They give the name of Jesus the same weight and glory and worship like the Yahweh of the Old Testament. 00:21:18.160 --> 00:21:28.880 In fact, all throughout the book of Acts, the first church constantly is saying they believe in the name of Jesus, that they had the they believed there was power in the name of the G of Jesus. 00:21:29.039 --> 00:21:32.400 They found that in the name of Jesus there was salvation. 00:21:32.720 --> 00:21:36.079 They found that in the name of Jesus they would know forgiveness. 00:21:36.240 --> 00:21:38.720 In the name of Jesus, they would be baptized. 00:21:38.880 --> 00:21:41.440 In the name of Jesus, they would experience healing. 00:21:41.599 --> 00:21:45.680 In the name of Jesus, they would witness signs and wonders. 00:21:46.799 --> 00:21:50.480 What do you think the New Testament writers are trying to tell us about Jesus? 00:21:56.960 --> 00:21:57.519 Yeah. 00:21:59.200 --> 00:21:59.680 They are inner. 00:22:00.160 --> 00:22:07.680 Introducing us to the mysterious and stunning character or being of a triune God. 00:22:08.880 --> 00:22:16.400 That Jesus is the second member of the Godhead, God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit. 00:22:16.640 --> 00:22:23.920 That when the New Testament writers are writing the name of Jesus, they are pointing right back to the name of Yahweh in the Old Testament. 00:22:26.960 --> 00:22:31.359 There's a man named Paul who gets transformed by the encounter with Jesus. 00:22:31.519 --> 00:22:35.200 And look at what Jesus says over him in Acts 9 15. 00:22:35.440 --> 00:22:43.279 But the Lord, this is Jesus, said to him, Go, for he is a chosen instrument of mine to bear my name. 00:22:43.440 --> 00:22:49.599 That's Old Testament talk, to bear my name before the Gentiles and the kings and the sons of Israel. 00:22:49.759 --> 00:22:53.440 He is going to go out and he's going to carry my name everywhere. 00:22:53.759 --> 00:22:57.599 Just like that third commandment asks of us. 00:22:59.039 --> 00:23:04.559 Jesus changes Paul's life from a murderer to one who would bear his name. 00:23:06.559 --> 00:23:11.680 And then Paul writes a letter to the church and encourages them to do the same in Colossians 3. 00:23:11.839 --> 00:23:22.400 He says, And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him. 00:23:23.039 --> 00:23:35.599 There's this great Quaker theologian, Elton Trueblood, who warned the church about this temptation of misusing God's name. 00:23:37.440 --> 00:23:40.400 And here's what he writes it back in 1961. 00:23:41.519 --> 00:23:48.720 You know what is dangerous is not intellectual atheism, which the church was a little afraid of, atheism. 00:23:50.160 --> 00:23:54.000 He said, that's not the danger here in our culture. 00:23:54.720 --> 00:24:03.039 What the danger is, and that is fairly unpopular, which I agree with today, we live in a very spiritualized culture today. 00:24:03.119 --> 00:24:13.119 I know there's lots of conversation about the church, and our people still going to church, and uh, but I think we live in a very uh in a culture that believes in spirituality. 00:24:13.279 --> 00:24:19.119 And uh and so atheism isn't necessarily a great threat or a danger. 00:24:19.359 --> 00:24:28.400 But what what True Blood says, the danger is mild religion, which is very popular. 00:24:29.599 --> 00:24:35.759 The real enemy is not irreligion, but a vague religiosity. 00:24:37.519 --> 00:24:44.079 Basically saying the real danger is when we don't live what we believe. 00:24:45.039 --> 00:24:53.519 When the church misuses the name of God by saying we're gonna go on Sunday, but it doesn't get reflected the rest of the week. 00:24:55.200 --> 00:24:58.480 So here's the practice I want us to consider this week. 00:24:59.279 --> 00:25:08.640 I want us to take this seriously and literally, in a sense, of carrying the name of Yahweh with us everywhere we go this week. 00:25:09.200 --> 00:25:17.359 And maybe there are a number of names throughout the Bible that define who God is and define and declare who Jesus is. 00:25:18.160 --> 00:25:26.000 And what I want us to do is maybe there's a specific name of God that you hold on to in this season of your life. 00:25:26.319 --> 00:25:28.880 I'll throw a few of them up here on the screen. 00:25:29.039 --> 00:25:32.480 Um go ahead, Julie, go ahead and forward that on. 00:25:34.079 --> 00:25:38.480 We have names of God like Adonai, which means Lord and Master. 00:25:38.720 --> 00:25:53.119 We have names that say the God who sees me, the God who heals, our Father, as his prayer prayed in the Lord's Prayer, the rock, as we saw, fortified uh fortress. 00:25:53.519 --> 00:26:06.880 Jesus, the Lord saves, our Yahweh saves, the Good Shepherd, uh Emmanuel, God with us, light of the world, good shepherd, great high priest, comforter, advocate, helper. 00:26:07.119 --> 00:26:11.119 And so here's what I want to encourage us to do the practice I want us to consider. 00:26:11.359 --> 00:26:19.440 Taking a piece of paper and writing the name of God that we want to cling to this week and we want to represent this week. 00:26:19.680 --> 00:26:23.200 And maybe you stick that piece of paper on our visor as we're driving. 00:26:23.359 --> 00:26:30.160 Um, or maybe you put it on uh as a wallpaper on your phone that is right there every time you open your phone. 00:26:30.319 --> 00:26:34.720 This is the name of God that I want to cling to and I want to represent this week. 00:26:39.680 --> 00:26:46.160 The Apostle Paul he uh we he includes a song in the book of Philippians. 00:26:47.200 --> 00:26:53.599 And this song um is the passage uh the Darlene read earlier. 00:26:53.920 --> 00:26:57.200 It would have been sung probably by the church of Philippi. 00:26:57.759 --> 00:27:03.920 Um it makes it very clear how powerful the name of Jesus is. 00:27:04.640 --> 00:27:08.640 So let's finish on that as we get ready to celebrate communion. 00:27:09.119 --> 00:27:12.559 Philippians chapter 2, verse 9 through 11. 00:27:13.359 --> 00:27:21.519 Therefore, God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name. 00:27:22.400 --> 00:27:40.319 That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth, and under the earth, and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. 00:27:41.039 --> 00:27:46.559 It's pretty remarkable that God trusts us with his name, isn't it? 00:27:48.000 --> 00:27:52.640 I mean that's pretty amazing that God would trust us with his name. 00:27:53.599 --> 00:28:09.519 It shows how merciful and forgiving he is, that his new mercies every morning keep me going, that I would pick his name right back up the next day, even if I fumbled the day before, and he welcomes me to do it. 00:28:10.640 --> 00:28:19.279 This table tells us that every time we come to it, that as we bear the name of Jesus, there is forgiveness in his name. 00:28:19.599 --> 00:28:20.720 Let's pray.