God knows, “More than your name”
John 10:3 NKJ.
3 To him the doorkeeper opens, and the sheep hear his voice; and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.
Isn’t it amazing, that no matter where those sheep wonder off to, there master still knows them by name and they know his voice.
It seems like sometimes in the world in which we live, its easy to get lost in the shuffle of life and feel like just a face in the crowd.
Have you ever been in a large public place? Say for example an airport, where no one there knows you by name.
If you’re lucky, you’ve got all your papers, luggage and ticket in order.
But if you don’t, if you can manage just to remember your conformation number than usually everything will work out all right.
Its kind of funny, how were identified by numbers isn’t it?
Ever been asked for the last four of your social, now a days, their asking for the last five of your social.
The first time I was asked that and still now, I have to think about that fifth number.
Society uses numbers a lot, ever made a phone call and heard the following options?,
Enter the parties extension number now if you know it, or press 1. if you want to this,
or press 2. if you want to that, or press 3. if you want to leave a message in the general mailbox,
four if would like to hear these options again, or 0 to talk to the operator
And then you hear a message say, I’m sorry, but I’m away from my desk right now “please leave a message” at the beep.
Or a beep followed by, I’m sorry, but the person’s mailbox to whom you wish to leave a message is full.
Please try to call again later, thank you.
Talk about feeling depersonalized and dehumanized, there is nothing more aggravating then that.
And that is exactly how the devil wants you to feel — that you do not matter much to anyone, especially to God.
You see, the devil knows little by little, the more you are beat down by the world, the more you will start to think, that you don’t matter at all to anyone.
But T.B.S. (the bible says)you matter to God!
He knows everything about you, He knows you by name. He even knows your whole social, not just the last 5 digits of it!
He knows exactly what you are going through and where you are hurting.
He sees you and cares for you, there’s no detail in your life He’s not interested in, He knows everything about you.
Ps. 139:1-6 NKJ.
1. O LORD, You have searched me and known me.
2. You know my sitting down and my rising up;
You understand my thought afar off.
3. You comprehend my path and my lying down,
And are acquainted with all my ways.
4. For there is not a word on my tongue,
But behold, O LORD, You know it altogether.
5. You have hedged me behind and before,
And laid Your hand upon me.
6. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me;
It is high, I cannot attain it.
The bible says He knows something about you, that you don’t even know! Imagine that, someone more concerned about you, than you are!
Matt 10:29-31 MSG.
29-31"What’s the price of a pet canary? Some loose change, right? And God cares what happens to it even more than you do. He pays even greater attention to you, down to the last detail—even numbering the hairs on your head! So don’t be intimidated by all this bully talk. You’re worth more than a million canaries.
That’s how much that God cares about His Children. He knows everything about you.
T.B.S.(the bible says) that he even goes out of His way to care for us.
He is more than willing do for you what He did for the woman at the well in Samaria.
John 4:3-6 NKJ.
3. He left Judea and departed again to Galilee.
4. But He needed to go through Samaria.
5. So He came to a city of Samaria which is called Sychar, near the plot of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph.
6. Now Jacob’s well was there. Jesus therefore, being wearied from His journey, sat thus by the well. It was about the sixth hour.
7. A woman of Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Give Me a drink.”
He didn’t have to go that way that day, but the Bible says that “He needed to go through Samaria”.
In other words, Jesus intentionally went out of His way that day and went through Samaria,
to speak to the woman who had been searching for answers and for something in her life to satisfy her.
John. 4:9-10 NKJ.
9. Then the woman of Samaria said to Him, “How is it that You, being a Jew, ask a drink from me, a Samaritan woman?” For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.
10. Jesus answered and said to her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, ‘Give Me a drink,’ you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water.”
Clearly, she had no idea who He was, or what He was about that day.
But, He knew who she was, He knew that she had a need. One that needed to be met that day.
Like the woman, a lot of times we don’t know exactly what Jesus is up to,
The good news is that we don’t have to know what Jesus is up to, we can rest assured, knowing that He is working all things together for our good.
John 4:15-17 NKJ.
15. The woman said to Him, “Sir, give me this water, that I may not thirst, nor come here to draw.”
16. Jesus said to her, “Go, call your husband, and come here.”
17. The woman answered and said, “I have no husband.”
Jesus said to her, “You have well said, ‘I have no husband,’
18. for you have had five husbands, and the one whom you now have is not your husband; in that you spoke truly.”
This woman, had had five husbands and the man she was living with was not her husband.
Its evident, as we read this woman’s story, that things had not been going right in her life.
She had been looking anywhere and everywhere all of her life, for answers and fulfillment.
She’s not so different from you and I. Before we came to know the Lord, we were in the world doing our own thing,
oblivious really, to what we really needed.
Searching for fulfillment anywhere and everywhere.
Even though, not in the same way that this woman had lived, we were all still guilty of more than our share of sin.
Sometimes Christians, tend to judge others and think that what they have done is somehow not as bad as the next persons offenses.
The truth is, T.B.S. “sin is sin”
When we come to Jesus, none of us our worthy. We all come as “filthy rags,”
But praise God, the blood of Jesus washes us whiter than snow,
When we stop trying to find the answers and fulfillment were looking for on our own
and give everything over to Jesus and rest in Him and what He can do, for us alone.
We then find complete forgiveness and the peace were looking for, praise the Lord!
He doesn’t keep condemning us like the condemner and the world does, He offers something they can‘t, “Forgiveness.”
Like He did for the woman, He will meet us where we are and offers complete forgiveness and no condemnation,
Our sins are forgiven never to remembered again!
Church, all of humanity “matters to Jesus”
Just like the woman at the well, in spite of all she had done, she mattered to Jesus!
T.B.S. He needed to go to her to minister to her. And indeed, after she met Jesus,
the redeemer, she was transformed.
John 4:28-30 MSG.
28-30.The woman took the hint and left. In her confusion she left her water pot. Back in the village she told the people, "Come see a man who knew all about the things I did, who knows me inside and out. Do you think this could be the Messiah?" And they went out to see for themselves.
The world had made her feel like a second rate citizen, but Jesus because He had went out of His way that day,
Had turned her world around with forgiveness and treated her with 1st class treatment!
He treated her, like she was somebody!
She was no longer ashamed, and went into the city and told everyone she knew what had happened that day,
He had set her that day, on course for the abundant life that He has for everyone that comes to know Him.
He had plans for her that day, T.B.S. He has plans for you too!
Jerm. 29:11 NKJ.
“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”
Everything about “Jesus” and what He offers to all who choose to come to know Him, is first class and that’s exactly how He wants to treat you this morning too!
Romans 1:7 NKJ.
7. Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Have you ever been in a really top notch restaurant?
When you are at a 5star restaurant, the staff works together with precision, they wait on you hand and foot, you want for nothing.
They ask you, “Is everything okay?”
Before you need a refill, your drink has already been filled.
There are no crumbs on you table, you don’t have to look for your server, they are constantly on the look out for your needs.
They give you preferential treatment, they make you feel like your somebody.
But its nothing, compared to way God treats those that love Him.
The grace of God is defined as “undeserved, unearned and unmerited favor”.
He gives you His best, you get “preferential treatment”!
You’ve heard it preached before, But let me tell you again,
God doesn’t want you to just know about His favor, He wants you to start living in His favor and experiencing it.
If your not living in it, then you really don’t believe it.
Today, God wants you to know that you can and do have His favor on you.
He wants you to know, that you matter to Him.
He wants you to know that He gives you preferential treatment which you do not deserve.
And He wants you to depend on and take full advantage of it in your life.
God also wants you to know that His favor in your life can be increased.
You can experience more of His favor from day to day.
How? The Bible tells us in 2 Peter 1:2 that God’s grace (or favor) is multiplied to us “in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord”.
The more you look to Jesus and His love for you, the more you believe and confess that God’s favor is on you,
And the more you will see His favor work for you in your life.
Church, Jesus left His home in heaven and died on the cross, so you could have complete forgiveness from sin
and all the benefits that His finished work on the cross made possible.
You more than matter to Him. He came to give you life and life more abundantly.
To Jesus, “You are more than just a number, or just a face in the crowd.”
If you have never thought you were somebody, let me tell you, your somebody to Him.
He knows you by name, even by the number of hairs on your head
and He loves and cares for you more than you know.
And in spite of the mess that you might
Have made out of your life, He wants to help meet your every need,
He wants you to enjoy the abundant life He has promised to all!
There’s an old country song by Billy Jo Shaver, that sums it up pretty good this morning.
I’m just an old chunk of coal, But I’m gonna be a diamond some day,
I’m gonna grow and glow ’til I’m so blu pure perfect, I’m gonna put a smile on ev’rybody’s face.
I’m gonna kneel and pray ev’ry day, Lest I should become vain along the way.
I’m just and old chunk of coal now Lord, But I’m gonna be a diamond some day.
Even though you might only see yourself, as a stone that’s rough around the edges,
God sees through your rough exterior, as the “Diamond” you already are!
If you don’t know Jesus as your personal Saviour today, why not make Him the Lord of your life today and ask Him in your heart.
He already knows your name, why not get to know Him and find the peace and answers that you’ve been looking for today.
Lets pray.
