Praise the Lord Saints of the Most High God! Praise the Lord everybody! It's great to be in the house of the Lord today. It’s great to be in the house of the Lord any day.
I thank God and this congregation for the opportunity to stand behind this sacred desk that we call a pulpit, and bring forth the word of the Lord. I do not take this privilege lightly, I take it very seriously.
It says in "James 3:1 My
brethren, be not many masters, knowing that we shall receive the greater
condemnation." A pastor; or even any other leadership position in the
church is held to a higher standard that just your average Saint. So don't be
too anxious to be in a leadership position in the church!!!
Introduction:
I want to talk to you today about what’s in a name. I once saw an article in the Bakersfield Californian which said, that people with initials that spelled things like BUM, or RAT, DUH, or ILL, lived an average of five years less than a person whose initials spelled SIR, or SON, or LUV. So what’s in a name? There’s very much in a name as we’ll soon discover. Someday we’ll have a new name, one that’s “written up in glory” as the song says….. A name written on a white stone that no one else will know as the scripture teaches.
I want to ask you right now, what do you want your name to spell? SICK, or WEAK, how about WIMP? Try this one, LOST! Personally, I would prefer LOVING, JOYFUL, PEACEFUL, LONGSUFFERING, GENTLE, GOOD, FAITHFUL, MEEK, TEMPERATE, and how about this one SAVED! These are the things that I would prefer my name to spell!!!
Text:
If we would all
stand in honor of the reading of the word. Please turn with me to:
Colossians 3:17 And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him.
You may be seated
There are a lot of things in a name. In those ancient times when the stories we read about in the bible were being played out, they meant a lot. People in those days were generally named after someone or something. We have many examples of this in the bible. Take these names for instance:
· Jacob, according to Genesis 27:36 it means “Supplanter”. How would you like a name that depicts you as a deceiver, or a thief?
·
· Emmanuel, according to Matthew 1:23 means “God with us”
· Jesus renamed Simon to Peter in Mark 3:16. Peter comes from the Greek word Petros which means “A piece of Rock”
· James and John the disciples were renamed “Boanerges” by Jesus, which according to Mark 3:17 means “ The sons of thunder”
· But what does the name Jesus mean?
· What can it possibly mean?
· What effect can it possibly have on our past?
· What effect can it possibly have on our present?
· What effect can it possibly have on our future?
Let’s look a little further into the name Jesus.
· The name Jesus is a Greek translation of the Hebrew word Jehoshua, or even Joshua, both of which have the same root meaning of “Jehovah Saved”
What’s in a name you say? Everything is in the name! Everything you could ever want or imagine is fulfilled in the name of Jesus Christ! Everything that ever was, or is, or is to come is fulfilled in the name of Jesus.
· Every knee shall bow
· Every tongue shall confess
· That Jesus Christ is Lord!
Praise God, He’s worthy of all honor
· He’s worthy of all praise
· He’s worthy of all prayer
· He’s worthy of all acceptation
· He’s worthy of all love
· He’s worthy of all glory
· He’s worthy of all our time
· He’s worthy of all that our heart, soul, mind, and strength has to offer him.
· He’s worthy of all our faithfulness
· He’s worthy of all our determination
· He’s worthy of all our goods and services
· He is eternally, past, present, and future, worthy of all we could ever do for him in any way, shape, form, or fashion.
·
To cover anything else that I might have left
out, let me again say these simple words. He
is worthy!
The Jews in biblical times knew the value of a name. They knew the exact meaning of Jesus name. Yet they still rejected him as their savior at that time. But one day they’ll recognize him for who he really is. One day they’ll call on him for salvation from an enemy and he will deliver them in person. On that day they shall look upon him whom they pierced. On that day they shall see him face to face.
· Their Jehovah
· Their Healer
· Their Peace
· Their Provider
· Their Messiah
· Their Salvation
· Their Jesus!
Oh can’t you just imagine that day in your own life when you see Jesus? The rejoicing we do down here on earth will never compare with the celebration we’ll take part in on that day!
That day when we’re caught up in the air to be with him. That day when we’re changed in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye. That day when we’re transformed from this corruptible flesh into that incorruptible form.
· Into that eternal body that feels no pain
· That feels no cold
· That feels no heat
· That feels no hunger
· That feels no loneliness
· But feels total and complete peace within.
What’s in a name you say? There’s so much in the name of Jesus.
Point
2: What does this name mean to us?
What does this name mean to us? You might be willing to say that’s a stupid question. You just answered it in the last monologue. But did I really? Did I really answer what his name really means to us? Let’s look just a little bit deeper into that supposition.
We already know that it means:
· Our Savior
· Our Provider
· Our Peace
· Our Healer
· Our Messiah
· Our Comfort
I just want to go a tad bit further along this line of thinking, and I hope to expand your thinking just a little. Sometimes we want to put God in a box. We want to say that God can only do this much and not that. We limit God to our realm of faith and that limits what He can do for us.
Remember that nothing is impossible for God except that He cannot lie, He cannot fail, nor can He cease to exist. All other things are possible through God. We’re only limited in what we can receive from God, by our lack of faith that He’s able to accomplish what we have need of in our lives.
Now, I qualify that in that what you ask of God must be in accordance to His word. But we; as the children of the most high God, who are believers in His holy name. Have the ear of Jesus at all times!
· And we one God
· Apostolic
· Tongue talking
· Holy Rollin’
· Heaven bound
· Born again
· Believers in the Most High God, know that above all else, that Jesus Christ is God manifest in the flesh! He to whom every knee shall bow and every tongue shall confess that He is Lord!!!
People, I want to propose to you right now that the name of Jesus means Power! Yes, you heard me right. I said Power!
· Pure
· Unadulterated
· Unlimited
· Incorruptible
· Incomparable
· Incomprehensible
· Infinite
· Inestimable P-O-W-E-R! POWER!
Saints of God, let’s just take a glimpse at a fraction of the power that we can have in the name of Jesus Christ. I say a glimpse because we can never know the full power we have in God in the context of a sermon.
We
have to find it in fasting and prayer. We need to experience it in reality. We
have to seek it out with all our heart. We have to desire to use it for the
cause of Christ in a holy and worthy matter. We have to study to find the
fullness of that power and the areas that it pertains to. Not just to consume
it on our lusts. But to use it for the eternal glory of the
Here is just a short list of the power we have in Christ:
A. To cast out Devils
We always say to cast out demons. But the proper biblical term
is to cast out devils. You won’t find the word demon in the bible anywhere, Old
or New Testament. I believe that we need to be as accurate as possible when we
talk about things in the bible. But that’s just a part of being a Christian.
But let me read you Luke Chapter 9 and Verse 1
Luke 9:1 Then he called his twelve disciples together, and gave
them power and authority over all devils, and to cure diseases.
·
I ask you today, are
you a disciple of Christ?
·
Have you repented of
your sins?
·
Have you confessed
Jesus Christ as your Lord and your God?
·
Have you been baptized
in Jesus name?
·
Have you been filled
with the Holy Ghost with the initial sign of speaking in other tongues as the
Spirit gives the utterance?
·
Do you have love one
for another?
·
Are you serving God
with all of your heart, soul, mind and strength?
If you have, and you do, then you’re His disciples indeed!
And you’ve been given power to cast out devils. But you have to take that
authority, and take it without doubt. You have to be living a Holy, consecrated
life before God and man. You have to be full of God’s power from fasting and
prayer!
Moses, when he went up the mountain to receive the Ten Commandments,
was in the presence of God for forty days and forty nights. When he came down
from that mountain he had a glow on his face that scared the children of
What a shame that some of us don’t have that same glow on
our faces to convict the world today of its sin and its shame. And I’m speaking
to myself when I’m speaking to you. Oh Saints, let’s get into the presence of
God and stay there! Oh sinners please get into the presence of God and never
leave there!
Jesus didn’t have
to fast and pray whenever he needed to cast out a devil. He fasted and prayed
on a regular basis. He was always prayed up. He stayed hungry on a regular
basis. While He was with us in the flesh He had to deal with His flesh just
like we have to. He knew what to do and set the example for us. Let’s be
followers of Christ in all that He's done!
B. To heal the sick
Mark 3:14-15 And he ordained twelve, that they should be with him, and that he might
send them forth to preach, And to have power to heal sicknesses, and to cast
out devils:
You’re probably
thinking that you aren’t a preacher so this doesn’t apply to you. Wrong! The
word translated preach here is from the Greek verb Kerusso (Kay-roos-so) this word
means to herald, especially divine truth, to preach, proclaim, or publish.
It seems to me
that this is just a tad bit like witnessing how about you? The great commission
of Matthew
28:19 tells us to proclaim the gospel in all
nations. We’re all ministers in a sense. Not all of us have been
commissioned by an organization to preach from a pulpit. But all of us
have been commissioned by Jesus Christ to witness, to herald the good news, to
proclaim and to publish what God has done for us!
I don’t know
about you, but I’m tired of the devil tormenting our people with sickness. Now
I know that in the book of Proverbs; Solomon proclaimed that “time and
circumstance happeneth to us all” and that in the book of Matthew Jesus told us
that “The rain falls on the just and the unjust”. But a lot of times we let the
devil tell us that God can’t or won’t heal us.
This is where the devil pushes us around. God won’t heal
everybody but we need to seek him earnestly for those he wants to heal. I
personally have been healed instantaneously more than once. I’ve also been told
by the Lord that “My grace is sufficient” for other things I wanted to be
healed of.
·
Too often we pray
half-heartedly or not at all for someone to be healed. We have to be earnest,
on fire, and full of faith when it comes to healing.
·
Too often we pray
little “Now I lay me down to sleep” prayers for people who need a real touch
from God.
·
Too many times we come
up to this altar to pray for someone and we don’t come expecting God to answer
our prayers. God won't heal if we don't believe.
·
Remember, only a
select few of the disciples were with Jesus when He healed the worst cases.
That was because Jesus only wanted people of real faith around Him when it came
time to perform a major miracle.
·
It may not be the
touch of your hand that heals someone. But your faith can allow God to move
through who he does use. Remember that Jesus could do very few miracles in his
home town because of the unbelief of the people. He did many more miracles away
from home than he did at home.
I really don’t think enough emphasis is being put on
healing in most churches today. I think there’s a real need for prayer warriors
who feel the calling to the ministry of healing, and for intercessory prayer
for the sick. If we want miracles to happen in this church, we have to preach
that miracles can and do happen. We need to publish, proclaim and herald those
miracles when they do happen! We have to want them to happen; and we have to be
willing to pay the price to get them to happen!
C. Power to witness
Acts 1:8 But ye shall receive power,
after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me
both in
If we want to be good witnesses; we need the Holy Ghost inside of us big time! How can we tell someone about Jesus if we’re too scared to talk to them? I’d be willing to bet that most of you initially are scared to death if the Pastor calls you out to testify. If we can’t give a testimony in church, where the people love us. What makes us think that we’ll testify to someone about Jesus in the streets? How are we going to be able to answer questions of unbelievers if we aren’t prayed up?
· The Holy Ghost will bring all things to our remembrance.
· The Holy Ghost will give us boldness.
· The Holy Ghost living in us is applying the name of Jesus to our hearts every time we pray!
I don’t believe we’ll go to heaven if we aren’t witnessing for Jesus. If we aren’t witnessing for Jesus then we must be ashamed of him. Jesus said that if we’re ashamed of him before men, he’ll be ashamed of us before the Father.
We need to pray in Jesus name everyday for boldness to witness. That our life will be a good testimony of what he’s done for us, and in us. Saints of God, declare the name of Jesus as your Lord and Savior everywhere you go.
· While waiting in line at the Super Market.
· While filing up the car with gas
· While walking down the street.
· While waiting at the bus stop.
· Witness, Witness, Witness, Witness, Witness!!!
D. Perform signs and wonders
Luke 1:17 And he shall go before him in the spirit and power of Elias, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just; to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.
Elias, also known as the Prophet Elijah, performed many miracles in his lifetime. He once declared a drought in the land that lasted three years before he asked God to lift it. He turned the people back toward God and away from Baal when he called down fire from heaven to devour the offering that was soaked with water.
He also called down fire from heaven upon two different groups of 50 soldiers King Ahaziah sent to force him to come and meet him. Through these signs and wonders people knew that God was real and that he was all powerful.
Acts 6:8 And Stephen, full of faith and power, did great wonders and miracles among the people.
Stephen, Paul, Peter, James, John, Phillip and others performed many signs and wonders proving that God was real, and their relationship with God was real. How is your relationship with God today? How do you want it to be?
· We need to ask God to manifest himself in signs and wonders again.
· We need to seek God in fasting and prayer that the power of the Post crucifixion Apostolic era return to us.
· We need to ask God and seek him in fasting and prayer that the power of the Azusa street outpouring of the Holy Ghost returns to us again.
·
We need to fast and pray so that the power being
manifested today in foreign fields is manifested here in
I’m not saying
these are things that aren’t being done today. I’m saying that as a rule they
aren’t being done in our churches in
But if the signs and wonders return we won’t have to beat the highways and the hedges to compel people to come to church. They’ll be beating down our doors to get into the church!
Now things are
starting to happen more and more in the church in
John 1:12 But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:
What’s in a name you say? Do you really at his point still believe there’s nothing in a name? If you really want to become a child of God you have to believe on that name. That name that is above every name, the name of Jesus Christ.
You notice that scripture said His name, singular. Not their name as in a plurality. There is no plurality of gods. There is only one God and his name is Jesus. There is no trinity nor has there ever been! The Jews are ardently monotheistic, and for good cause. That “cause” being that God has been one from the beginning, and since He never changes He will always be one and only one!
What’s
in a name you say? It’s the name that carries the authority. You can order me
to do something in the name of the president, and I’ll say the president of
what. You can say in the name of the president of the
The name of Franklin D. Roosevelt doesn’t carry much weight anymore. That is unless he’s got his picture on the front of a very large bill. What’s in a name? Everything is in the name! The authority, the power behind that authority. The recognition that you belong to that name.
There was a time that being an American carried respect in the world. If you told someone that you were an American they would take notice. They would treat you respectfully. But not anymore.
You see our politicians have lost that respect for us. But really it’s our own fault. If we would have taken seriously the name of Jesus and the commission that comes with it. This would still be a Christian nation and we would have leaders worthy of respect. Then the name “American” would still have respect.
· What have you done with the name “Christian”?
· Have you nurtured it?
· Have you grown it in a way that brings respect to the name of Christ?
· Have you fulfilled His great commission and sought out souls that need saved?
· Have you believed on his name?
What’s in a name you say? Everything’s in the name. Absolutely everything is in the name.
Acts 4:12 Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.
· Do you want to be saved today?
· Have you taken on the name of Jesus Christ?
· Have you been baptized in His name?
· Titles don’t count, you’ve gotta take His name.
· You have to fall in love with that precious, wonderful, omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent, name of Jesus Christ.
Don’t miss out on heaven because you don’t think that a name means anything! Call on his name! Do it today! Do it now! Don’t wait for tomorrow, because tomorrow may never come for you. Give your all to Jesus Christ today. Call on His name today.
Close:
If
the musicians will come at this time, I’m going to close.
· I want everybody right now to call on His name. You know which name, the name of Jesus.
· I want us to lift up His name right now in worship and prayer.
· I want everyone that hasn’t taken on the name of Jesus to come to this altar.
· I want you to pray and seek God to find out if what I’ve said today is true.
· I want you to know for yourself that Jesus Christ is the name above all names.
· I want you to take on His name and all that goes with it.
Saints of God, if you haven’t glorified God in all that you’ve done with your life, seek him now for the power you need in order to change that! We need His name; and the power and the wisdom that comes with it in order to fulfill His Great Commission.
· Let’s call on his name for the power.
· Let’s call on his name for the wisdom.
· Let’s call on his name and ask him for opportunities to witness.
· Let’s call on his name and ask him to help us be faithful to serve him with all of our heart, soul, mind, and strength.
· Let’s call on His name for a vision of what this church can really be.
I know that I haven’t tried to prove to you that Jesus is God manifest in the flesh, but most of you already know that He is. To teach that Jesus is God would take another whole sermon, or two, or three. But I know that you now know that there’s something in that name.
I want everybody to come to this altar right now. Don’t wait, come on down now. If you need to pray, then pray. If you aren’t praying for yourself, then pray for someone else.
I ask you one more time as your Pastor, what’s in a name? Come on down and find out now!!