God’s favorite House part 4
The importance of His name
Text Genesis 32:24-32
The importance of a name can easily be understood when we look back to the early 1980’s. In that time frame a new revolutionary diet control candy hit the market.
The candy was gaining popularity nationwide and was growing in sales. Then suddenly without warning the revolutionary diet candy was no longer popular. Being shunned by people everywhere.
The name of the candy was AYDS and when the AIDS epidemic started gaining notice, the candy quickly lost its national appeal.
This true story reminds us of the importance of a name. In proverbs 22:1 the wise man said it best when he wrote 22:1 A good name is rather to be chosen than great riches, and loving favour rather than silver and gold.
Names are apart of us everyday and in every way. We name everything. We call each other names when we are happy or when we are mad.
We name our dogs, cars, boats, houses, and everything else you can thing of.
I was at a MIP conference once and I heard about a preacher that named his bed.
He named it The Word. That way when someone called him late at night and said what are you doing he could honestly answer laying here in the Word.
Names are important.
In the Bible when something extraordinary happened to someone then that person would sometimes name the place appropriately. In our story Jacob named the place where his transformation happened. He named it Penuel.
Names are important and they show importance.
Names can show love and honor they can show respect and adoration. Names can show same and humiliation Names can change the whole outlook of various situations.
Names are important.
Names can vary and many names can be given to us or to God.
In fact God has many names.
When Moses asked God what his name was. He said "I am that I am."
Some of the names of God are
In Genesis he is the creator.
Creating everything the world and everything in the world.
In Exodus he is the Deliverer.
Delivering his people out of bondage to the Egyptians.
In Leviticus he is the Teacher.
Teaching the Israelites how to approach Him.
In Numbers he is the Chastiser.
Showing how unbelief bars the way to God.
In Revelations he is the Alpha and the Omega the beginning and the end.
Names are important.
Just like in these instances names show a relationship and also give a testimony of our character.
Choosing a name is a very important part of our lives.
I. The choice of a name.
If I were to ask one or more of you what your name was and what your name meant could you tell me?
No doubt all of us know what our name is, but do we know what it means?
Some of us may not care what our name means but to others it is very important.
After all most likely none of us choose our own names, they were chosen for us.
A. Often the choice of a name often reflects on the circumstances that may have surrounded the time of our naming.
Maybe it was about the time that a famous group of singers were in the media all the time and your name is John Lennon.
Maybe it was about the time that Neil Armstrong walked on the moon. Maybe your name is Neil.
My daughter is named Amber Jordan, after the famous Michael Jordan. If I would have had a boy his name was going to be Christopher Jordan after Michael Jordan.
B. Some people are named after family members.
My brothers middle name is Dale after my father Larry Dale.
My wives older brother is named Richard after his father.
My son’s named Matthew Mark because that is what I was going to be named when I was born but got stuck with Randy Ray.
C. The importance of naming
The importance of naming a child can be seen everywhere you look.
Often names given to children are very characteristic of the parents themselves. The choice of a child’s name is quite important to most parents. Some names just wont do. I mean really most parents think twice before naming people after Adolf Hitler or Judas Iscariot.
Names are important to us to our children to those around us.
D. Names may be in correlation with some turn of events.
Often babies that are born in extreme circumstances get names like…..
Faith…. Because it took great faith to continue throughout the pregnancy.
Joy…. Because the child brings joy to a family that otherwise was on it lasts leg.
Hope…. Because the only reason for this child may have been the hope that God gives.
Grace… Because by the Grace of God all things are given.
E. Often Babies are named per the region they live in….
Not many Mohammed Dilips are born here in America,
And by the same token not many John Smiths are born in India.
Not many John Boy’s are born in the north east….
And not many Christian Thomas Nelsons the 14th are born in the Southwest.
F. Names are often dictated by our ethnic background.
The way we name our children or anything else for that matter is not written in stone somewhere.
We don’t just through a name out there and let it land on a child. We take our time we weigh the names, we make sure that name that is given is the best name possible. After all, that name is something he/she will be stuck with the rest of their life and it tells a story about them.
Names are important.
God was not hidden to this fact of the importance of a name.
God knows how important a name is.
In fact names are so important that when it came time for God’s plan to be laid in motion, He did not leave the naming of His only begotten son to some mere human.
He sent an Angel to tell Joseph in Matthew 1:21 And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins.
Again Proverbs 22:1 A good name is rather to be chosen than great riches, and loving favour rather than silver and gold.
Names are important and their importance can be seen in our everyday life.
Now admittedly Jesus’ name is and always will be the most important of all.
In Philippians 2:9 Paul makes this very clear to us when he wrote. Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name:
A name that is above all other names.
A name that all power is given in heaven and in earth.
The name of JESUS.
Now to understand this further we need to know a few things about
Jesus’ name.
Christ is not his last name it is his office. It means the anointed one and also….
Jesus is the Greek form of the Old Testament Jewish name Yeshua.
In English, most of us know the name better in its biblical form as Joshua.
This Hebrew name was translated into Greek for the Septuagint as I_sous, from which we get our transliteration Jesus.
In its older form, the name means "Yahweh is salvation" or "Yahweh rescues"
It testifies to the power and love of Yahweh.
It points to all that hear it to look to the Lord for help and redemption.
The importance of a name can very easily be seen in the name of Jesus.
The name that will drive away all problems, all doubt, all evil. The mere mention of his name causes demons to flee and Satan to cringe.
In Philippians 2:10 Paul tells us the importance of the name of Jesus.
Philippians 2:10 That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth;
Names are very, very important now, as well as then.
In our text we see that Jacob was wrestling with an Angel. In wrestling with this Angel the Angel noticed that the daylight was beginning to break the sky.
He told Jacob, "Let me go for the day breakth."
This passage of scripture can be understood better if we look back in the past of Jacob.
We must know that he was a deceiver in fact his name meant deceiver.
We must realize that he had deceived his brother Easu out of his birth right.
Out of his rightful blessing.
Out of his life.
He had deceived Isaac his own father, with his mothers help, into blessing him with the blessing that Esau should have received because he was the first born.
He ended up running from his family to another country and there he was himself was deceived by his kinsman.
Now our text that we read today brings us to a place where Jacob was on his way home and he was getting ready to see his brother Esau, from the way I understand it the next day
We find Jacob in the middle of a crisis.
His brother which vowed to kill him, was on his way to meet him and that scared Jacob. Jacob was worried about what was going to take place when he met his brother.
He was probably like some of us, pacing the floor by his self and worrying.
Wondering how he was going to get himself out of this situation.
The Bible tells us that he prayed and asked God to help him.
Sounds like you and I today.
We do something that gets us into trouble and then we beg God to get us out.
God help me, I know I am not worthy of your love and your mercy but please help me get through this situation.
Jacob is pacing wondering, praying, thinking, feeling sorry for his self, scared wrestling with his emotions and in the midst of all that emotional wrestling he began to wrestle with an Angel. Out of nowhere there appeared an Angel, the Bible does not tell us how he got there it just tells us they started to wrestle with each other.
He wrestled with this Angel. He would not stop. He would not give up. He would not let go. He wrestled as if he were wrestling with his life. He was in distress. He was in need of something.
The Angel told Jacob, "Let me go for the day breakth."
He would not let him go so the Angel hit him on his thigh and knocked it out of Joint.
Can I tell you that sometimes God must inflict a wound on us to accomplish a healing on our lives?
In order to get our attention He must sometimes allow us to be wounded.
I once knew a man named Frank Mcreynolds He was a good man do any thing for you but was not saved. One day in the early part of January he was in a car wreck and I prayed God open his eyes. God asked me to go by there and talk with Frank and for 3 days I said no to God. Finally it was to much to bear and I went by there. I did not know where Frank lived exactly so I drove. Thinking of a way to get out of it I told God if I can’t find it I am off the hook. So I kept driving and driving finally I said well God sorry but I can’t find it. At that time I was at a stop sign or corner and I looked both directions to go and when I looked to the left I was sitting in front of Franks House. =( Long story short I told him about what God had done he came to know God and lived happily ever after.
In Brother Franks case he had to be stopped to a complete stop before he was set into motion. And look at him now, seems as if someone has lit a fire under him.
Sometimes is can even be in our Christian walk with God.
Maybe there is something we are going through and we want to hear from God, we want to follow God’s will and we want to understand God’s will.
God, we cry with a loud voice, I need something from you. I need to know what this is about. Am I on the right road? Did I hear from you? Did I truly hear from you?
If we will listen to God and I mean really listen to God, then we will truly hear what God is saying to us.
We must let God with all of his wisdom give us the answer in the way that He deems necessary.
Sometimes that answer is not the one that we feel is the best but if it came from God then you can bank on it. But it may be that we have to change our name.
II. Changing names
The importance of a name has been established. We know that names are important and that our name tells something about our character.
Another thing to note is that names show relationship with others.
When a man marries a woman the woman will take the mans name.
Now I realize that is not how it works all the time anymore, but it is the way works most of the time.
When I married my wife she became Rebecca West she was no longer Rebecca Smithson. She took my name to show a sign of our relationship.
Her name was changed.
When Paul was stopped and Jesus changed his life from bad to good, he also changed his name from Saul to Paul.
Why? Because his name carried with it a reputation of bad news.
If you were a Christian and you lived in that time frame the last thing you wanted to hear about was that Saul of Tarsus was on his way to your house or community.
He was bad, bad, bad.
He tortured folks, he killed Christians he done everything he could do to stop Christianity in its tracks.
When we get saved we are given a new name.
We are given the name of Child of God.
Why? Cause we were bad, bad, bad.
We did everything we could do to stop Christianity in its tracks.
How you ask? By not living the way we should be living. But I was good I did everything right and I did this and that. But you did not do the only thing that it took to get to heaven. That is the important part, YOU DID NOT ACCEPT THE NAME OF JESUS.
Names say something about who were are.
What does our name say about our relationship with God?
Does it testify of him or shame him?
The Angel hit Jacob on his side, "Let me go for the day breakth." He said.
Jacob responded "I will not let thee go, except thou bless me."
"Hey" Jacob was saying, "I am in need here. I need to something from you, I will not let you go until I get what I need from you."
Jacob was being persistent.
Isn’t it funny how we can be so persistent when it is something that we really, really want?
It is not hard to hang in there when the circumstances are so bad that we know if we let go we are going to fall thousands of feet.
It is not hard to hang in there when it is something that we are scared of.
It is not hard to hang in there when we feel we have to.
But we will not even think twice about giving effort to something less important to us.
Jacob responded "I will not let thee go, except thou bless me."
"I really need this I will not give up this time."
"Ive ran from my problems time and time again, I will not give up this time."
He said.
Now do you think that the Angel really needed to wait for Jacob to let go of him to leave? NO!!!!
He was making Jacob understand the value of Persistence.
Be persistent when you are praying for that Loved one.
Be persistent when you are praying for that New Job.
Be persistent when it seems everything is failing and you can’t see the light at the end of the tunnel.
Be persistent with your prayers, your praise, your sacrifice.
Be persistent with God.
Cause he is persistent with us.
Jacob responded "I will not let thee go, except thou bless me."
The Angel asked Jacob "What is thy name?"
The angel did not need Jacob to tell him his name. He knew his name.
He wanted Jacob to say it.
He wanted Jacob to hear his name spoken out loud, to understand that he was a deceiver and he was the one who had gotten himself into this predicament.
The Angel asked Jacob "What is thy name?"
Jacob knew what his name was and he knew what it meant.
JACOB He called out.
Jacob is my name.
Yes I know that I am a deceiver and I know it is my fault I know that I am the cause of my troubles. I know who I am and where I stand with God.
Jacob is my name.
The Angel told Jacob "Thy name shall be called not more Jacob but Israel: for as a prince hast thou power with God and with men, and has prevailed."
The Angel told him no longer are you Jacob the Deceiver but you are now Israel = "God prevails."
His name was changed from something bad to something good.
He no longer had to worry about what people thought of him now. He was a prince with God.
The Bible tells us that the Angel hit Jacob on the thigh and in verse 31 says that he halted on his thigh.
The word halted means to limp.
Now some Bible scholars believe and teach that Jacob halted or limped on his thigh for the rest of his life.
I don’t know if he did or if he did not the Bible does not say. But, if he did probably every time he limped he thought of that wrestling match with the Angel. And how He I was once a deceiver but now I am a prince.
Praise God I am a prince with God.
Praise Him, Praise Him.
Praise God I am a prince with God He has changed my name.
Conclusion:
Names are important to us, to those around us and to God.
Our names tell something about our character, it has a testimony all in itself.
What is your name saying about you?
Does it tell of a person who lives a lie?
Does it tell of a person who once had a life with God but has not slacked off and fallen away a little?
What’s your name today?
Is it Anger? It can be peace
Is it hate? It can be love.
Is it pain? It can be delight.
Is it Disobedience? It can be Happy to serve.
Is it Ought against my neighbor? It can be Love for one another?
Is it Deceiver? It can be Prince with God.
Whatever you name is tonight it can be changed to Child of God.
Names are important.
What’s your name tonight?
