What's In A Name: It's What's In You

August 9, 2026

Rev. Roby Tanner

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:01

Now, Lord, as you serve us, pray, that you let the words of our mouth, the meditations of our hearts and be pleasing and acceptable in our side of the body of our shortcut. Through Jesus Christ, we greatly anticipate all that you're about to say and that you speak, Lord, for your people to hear. Now, Lord, use me even in spite of myself, O God, in spite of my own flaws and shortcomings. Lord, lift out this word to your children, that they their spirits might be touched, O God, that their hearts and minds might be left, O God, to draw closer to you. Lord, that you might receive glory, honor, and praise for trusting you are worthy. We thank you again, oh God, for all that you have done for us, all that you are doing, and your wonderful plans for our lives. In Jesus' holy name, we do pray. Amen. This is a day the Lord hath made. We ought to rejoice and be glad in it. I want to say thank you to our wonderful pastor. I just keep getting blown away that God gave me such a wonderful pastor. I don't have an evangelist, but I have a pastor. And if you remember here also, you have a pastor. I do want to say that I am very nervous this morning and kind of trembling here because something happened last week that just I just said I don't want to, I don't want to preach this Sunday. I was hoping something happened on the car on the way here that I didn't didn't make it. But unfortunately, I'm here. I'm not gonna say why, call no names. But yeah, something happened right here in this very pulpit. Somebody just preached like they it was their last time on earth. So but it made me uh it reminded me of something that there's something uh that we need to get back to, and that is perhaps the foundations of our faith. And it's called us called me to uh to bring out this text that I want to lift out to you on this warning found in John chapter 1. That's St. John chapter 1. Um actually uh starting at verse 10, going down through uh verse 17. Um but due to the length of the passage and limitations on our time, I just want to focus our Sonic spotlight this morning on a couple of verses starting there at verse 12. In your quiet time, in your study time, go back and read all of chapter 1, all of Matthew chapter 1, and all of Luke chapter 2, for they shall indeed be the context from which I attempt to preach on this morning. And I'll be reading to you from the New King James Version, and it reads as thus better for clarity. Let me read from the 10th verse. Sorry, media team, but I'm gonna do 10 and 11 real quick. Um He was in the world, and the world was made through him, and the world did not know him. He came to his own, and his own did not receive him. But as many as received him, to them he gave the right to become children of God to those who believe in his name, who were born not of blood, not of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. And I want to put a tag on this text and for just a few moments with your prayers. I'd like to use as a subject from which to preach. What's in a name? It's what's in you. In the second act of the play of Romeo and Juliet, it opens with a scene in Capulette Archer, with Romeo just below Juliet's bedroom window, unbeknownst to her. Romeo is speaking to himself of Juliet's beauty and his desire to be with her. Until finally Juliet speaks, and these are the words that she speaks. Oh Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou Romeo? Deny thy father and refuse thy name. Or if thou wilt not, be sworn my love, and I'll no longer be capulet. 'Tis but thy name that is my enemy. Thou art thyself, not a Montague. What's a Montague? Is it not, is it nor hand, nor foot, nor arm, nor face, nor any other part belonging to a man? Oh be some other name. What in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell so sweet. So Romeo, were he not Romeo called, retain that dear perfection which he owes. Without that title, Romeo doff thy name, and for that name which is no part of thee, take all of myself. Romeo overhears this and starts speaking out, and he says, I take thee at thy word. Call me but love, and I'll be new baptized. Henceforth I never will be Romeo. Juliet startled, she says, What man art thou that thus be screeneth in the night, so stumbleth on my counsel? And finally, Romeo said, By a name, I know not how to tell thee who I am. My name, dear Saint, is hateful to myself, because it is an enemy to thee. Had I it written, I would tear the word. In a very real sense, my brothers and sisters, Romeo and Juliet are acting out what is happening here in chapter one of St. John. It is really a beautiful scene that each and every one of us that we deal with in our lives. Three things I believe that the text is teaching us. One is you have to receive. The second is you have to believe. And the third is you have to be born. We've kind of gotten away with this, with all the other things, with our name it and claim it, reach up and grab it, tag it and bag it, it's yours. We missed out what this thing is really all about. For you see, down in the 16th verse, 16th and 17th verse of this passage of the same chapter, it says, and uh, and of his fullness we have all received, and grace for grace, for the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. So I know, I know you came, you said, Roby, I gotta receive something today. I need to take something home. Well, there's two things you can take home this morning. You can take grace and truth. Grace and truth ought to be something that you're happy about. I'm sorry I don't have any money for you. My wife has all the credit cards. But grace and truth ought to be what we're excited about. We're excited to receive that we are receiving the fullness of Christ. And the problem is, I think with receiving that, is we only want part of Him. We want to treat our Jesus like a banquet. Walk up to the table and pick and choose what we want to get. We want a little mercy, we want a whole lot of grace, we want some forgiveness. Don't forget that. But no, I don't want to love my enemy as myself. As a matter of fact, I expect God to take him out today. We want to pick and choose, pick and choose. But you, this is what God is giving us. This is what Jesus is giving us, that we receive grace and truth. And in our in 2026, it seems like truth is nowhere to be found. We would prefer, as the Bible says, to hear a lie rather than hear the truth. I want to hear that we won the Iran war. I want to hear that the economy is doing great and my pockets are full. I want to hear that, but the truth of the matter is that's just simply not the case. The war is still going on, and if you'll check my pockets, they ain't fat. We don't want to receive because we have no choice in what we receive. Grace and truth. But not only do we have to receive, but we also have to believe. And I think y'all may have gone to sleep on me, so let me bring it to current time. Y'all know the debate that's going on, right? I know you've had it at your job, at your home. Who is the goat? LeBron of Jordan. Y'all ain't had that, y'all ain't had that. See, I was kind of like that too. I don't want to hear about the goat. I want to know about the lamb who takes away the sin of the world. I want to know about the lion who's already overcome and is coming back. I want to know about the lion and the lamb, not the goat. I'm not concerned about that. We gotta be careful about what we are what we believe, because some people will believe anything. And the angel came down and he made it very clear. He said, Let me tell you one thing. If you don't get nothing else that I said, she is gonna have a son, not a male, not uh, not a uh if a male, maybe a female, but she's gonna have a son, and his name, just so you know, is going to be Jesus. I know we're really ready. We want to believe in Buddha, we want to believe in Muhammad, we want to believe in Vishnu and Shinnu. We want to believe in Ra and Orysis, in Thor and Zeus and in Poseidon. We want to believe in all of these other gods and just lump them together and say they just God. No, the angel was very clear. The name that you need to know is none of those names, it's the name by which every knee will bow and every tongue will confess. It is the name by which our salvation is in. It is the name that we have to believe that he is indeed Jesus. I don't care whether you say Jesus wasn't back in in Hebrew, they didn't have vows and stuff. I don't care, but what do you tell the person who speaks Mandarin what his name is? They'll tell you that his name is Jesus. So what do you talk about? The one who speaks Latin. The one in Latin will say Jesus is his name. What about the one who speaks French? The one who speaks French says Jesus. Yeah, yeah, yeah. What about Swahili? Let's move on over to the African continent. Let's say we call him Jesus. I don't care what language you want to call him, whether you want to put a vial in there or not. But his name that the angel proclaimed is Jesus. It's Jesus in the morning, it's Jesus in the noonday, and it's Jesus forevermore. Jesus is the name that we will have to proclaim. Listen, but but it's not only that, it's not only that. We've got to make sure that we don't perpetrate. Because the angel was clear that you shall have a son and his name shall be called Jesus. But somehow we want to walk around and act like we're but we're prophet and bishop. We are none other than the Christ. We want to be the Christ for our children to save them out of this and that. But you need to make sure, just like John said, when they started asking him, Are you Elijah? He said, No, man. He said, Are you Jesus? He said, Are you the Christ? And he said, wait a minute, let's make it very clear so y'all can stop this. No, I'm not Elijah. No, I am not Jesus. I am not the Christ, but he's on his way. He's already here. And if you will receive him, you need to understand, Pastor is not Christ. He is the one that Christ is, uh the one that Christ uh set here to run this church, but is not Christ. Over in Acts 19, you gotta be careful about your uh perpetrating that you are holy like that. Because over in Acts 19, there was a scene that is described. Go read it in your quiet time, that they were over there trying to cast out some demons. The demon said, Hold on, I gotta testify a moment. The demon said, Jesus, I know. Paul, I know, but who are you again? No, no, no, no. You may have a podcast, you may be have all these followers on YouTube and on social media, but I don't know who you are. I know those two. You need to stop perpetrating and let them know I am nothing more than a sinner, say by grace. My Lord and Savior is Jesus Christ. Just let me put it on record just so you don't get it mistaken. But in this thing, in believing, we have some rights. Now, I I was I was messed up with this. If we have some rights, and immediately what started popping in my head was Miranda rights. Hold on, hold on, hold on. Uh uh, hold on now. No, I ain't never been to jail, no, I ain't never been arrested, but my wife loves Law and Order, Law and Order in the morning, law and order in the afternoon, law and order. And they always on there reading, Miranda rights. You have a right to remain silent. Anything that you say can and will be used against you in a court of law. You have a right to an attorney. If you cannot afford one, guess what? We got we got bubble waiting for you. But I'm not talking about Miranda rights, I'm talking about Jesus' rights because this text says we have the fullness of Christ. So there are some rights that we have that found over in Hebrews chapter 4, verse 15 and 16. We have a right to be intimate with our God, with Jesus, none other. Over in John chapter 10, verse 10, it says, You have a right to abundant life. He said, I came that you might have life and have it more abundantly. You have a right over in Hebrews chapter 12, it says, to be lovingly disciplined. I'm not talking about just beat up and abused, but you have the right to be lovingly disciplined. Not only that, in John 14, you have a right to authority and power. I figured I'd get you right there. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Because we want some power. We want some power to dominate over our enemies. We want some authority to tell people where to go, when to come, how to go, and how we want to tell them what they can say and can't say, but that's not the authority I'm talking about. Because Jesus didn't do that. But not only that, you have a you have a right to security and assurance. Go over and read John chapter 10. He tells us very clearly that your that your faith, that your salvation is secure, and you can be assured of that because I died, and and out of all three of those guys that were on the cross that day, only one got up. I know there's a whole bunch of other prophets, but there's only one that died for my sins. I understand there was a whole bunch of folk that died, but there's only one that died up. Got up with all power, declared it from the tomb, said, Listen, I got it all in my hands. That's the power and assurance, that's the security that we have. But I've kept y'all way too long. Oh my Lord. Over in the third, my third point is you have to be born. Over in verse 13, it reads as thus who were born not of blood, not of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. You need to be born again of God. Understand, I I know why we have a problem with this because to be born again, it is it is the picture of a baby, of a newborn baby. They can't feed themselves, they can't clothe themselves. It is a helpless baby. And I remember my two sons that when they were babies, they would sleep on my chest. We got in a rhythm where when I breathe, they breathe. When I exhale, they exhale. And see, I had the I had the good fortune of feeding them and changing their diapers. Yeah, I said good fortune. Changing their diaper because I was their father. Okay, y'all not getting this, y'all not getting this. They were a baby, helpless, totally dependent upon me and my wife to care for them for their good, not for their bad. Y'all, y'all, y'all said. This is a born again. You gotta let go of all of your stuff that you know, that you think you know. You gotta let go of all your pride because you pulled up your own bootstraps, you made the boots, and you put them on yourself. You gotta let that go. You gotta understand that this thing is a total surrender. My sons, whether they liked it or not, had to be totally submitted to me. And I told them when they got up. I didn't tell them when they go to bed because I was happy whenever they wanted to. But when they ate, I fed, we fed them. When they were tired, we cared for them. When they needed to be clothed, we clothed them. They were wonderfully happy in that state. But God's not leading you that way. He says, listen, that's what you have to do is be born again. Because this thing is not from the outside end. This thing is from the inside. Y'all ever know a doctor to put a baby inside a womb?

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No.

SPEAKER_00 19:16

No. The baby is taken out of the womb. And what comes out of the womb is the child. And that child already is just fully open to development, their character, their integrity, because that's what a child of God has to develop. They have to let go of all the stuff, all the habits they used to have, all the things, the ways they used to do it. Yeah, yeah. Okay, okay, okay. I I know this. If if y'all like me, y'all like the movie Lion King. Anyway, I'm talking about the original Lion King. The original Lion King, where Simba and Mufasa were there, and Mufasa was the king of the jungle. He was he he was the man. And there's a scene in that movie where they go over to the hyenas, they clowning around, and they say, Mufasa. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And that's what it say it again, Mufasa. Ooh, Mufasa. Just the sound of his name invokes some things. Just the sound of it, just saying his name invokes them. They automatically conjured up a strong warrior, a man after God's own heart, someone who stands flat footed, toe-to-toe, I'm ready to go with whoever wants to go. But we're gonna do what's right in my tribe. You have to understand, character integrity, born over time, developed over time. It is something that you have to be born again because this world has taught us too much fatal stuff that we drink. I I'll go ahead and testify. Yeah, yeah, I love coke. I don't know why, it kills me. I love sweets, I love sweets. All you gotta do if you want Reverend Tana anywhere. Hey, we got some chocolate chips. Oh, I'm there, I'm there. But it's bad for me. I know this. It is something about being born again. God did not leave this thing out. When he came talking about his son, this is what he said. He didn't come and list a whole bunch of miracles, he didn't list all his assets that he had. He came and said, Listen, what I'm going to give you is a son, and his name is what you have to be impressed by, what you have to believe in, what you have to receive. Jesus. Let me close with this. Let me close with this. In his book, An Anthropologist on Mars, a neurologist, uh Oliver Sachs tells about Virgil. Virgil was a man who had been born blind. He was 50 years old now. Virgil underwent surgery and was given the gift of sight. But as he and the and Dr. Sachs found out, having the physical capacity for sight is not the same thing as seeing. Virgil's first experiences with sight were confusing. He was able to make out colors and movements, but arranging them into a coherent picture was more difficult. Over time he learned to identify various objects, but his habits, his behaviors, they were still those of a blind man. Dr. Sachs asserts one must die as a blind person to be born again as a seen person. It's the end term in limbo that is so terrible. To truly see Jesus, his truth means more than observing what he did or what he said. It means a total change of identity. I'm no longer Roby Channel. I'm a child of God. I'm no longer Roby's boy, uh Less's son. I am a child of God. Because if I was Roby's boy, y'all sure enough would not like me. And if I was Leslie's son, y'all would walk all over me. But I am none other than a child of the king. I've had my identity changed. I don't know about you, but it's time for an identity change. I'm not just a Christian. I'm not just a believer. I'm one who believes in Jesus, that he is the Christ, yet that they were not successful when they killed him, because he got up three days later. My Bible declares that that wasn't the end of the story. Because he came around and said, listen, I'm going away because what you got here, that's all right. But what I'm going to do is I'm going to go away and prepare a place for you when there's no more crying, when there's no more dying every day. The old folks say it's hobby, hobby. When you will walk the streets of gold, yes, you won't have to worry about sickness no more. I'm going away to prepare a place for you. Do you believe in church that our Jesus is preparing a place for us? But I know I know how you're feeling, Christ community. I need some help right here in 2026. Well, let me tell you one thing. I turned the lights on for you this morning. They were a little bright for you. It's a little hot for you. If you need me to, I'm gonna turn on the IAC in just a moment because I'm just that type of God. I didn't leave you alone to just live in this world, a defeated life. But you are an overcomer. Don't worry about what you're going through now. I have overcome the world so that you might be my son, be my daughter. What's in the name? Depends what is in you. You can you can confess that any name of God is all right. But unfortunately, your salvation is not hinged upon any name. Your salvation is hinged upon the name of Jesus. I had a conversation with a lady who was a metaphysicist. She told me, Rode, I don't know how you can believe that Jesus is his name. I said, Well, if you'll just hold on a little while and you find your knee bending and something making you confess, you'll know why. I call on the name Jesus. If you would bow and pray with me. Dear Heavenly Father, I pray right now that everything that you desire to be said has been said. Lord, I know that your word will not return to your void, O God. We thank you for this word of letting us know that we need to return back to the foundations. To your son. To what salvation was meant. That the only reason he came was for salvation. That we would have a relationship with him. We thank you. We adore you for everyone here, everyone online, oh God. Thank you. In Jesus' name. We pray. Amen. Today.