The Power Of His Name (3) Series

ILL. A New York City businessman, moved to the country because of this bad economy. He went to the local feed and livestock store and talked to the owner about how he was going to take up chicken farming. He then asked to buy 100 chicks."That’s a lot of chicks," commented the proprietor. "I mean business," the man replied.

A week later the new farmer was back again. "I need another 100 chicks," he said. "Boy, you are serious about this chicken farming," the man told him. "Yeah," the man replied. "If I can iron out a few problems." "Problems?" asked the proprietor. "Yeah," replied the man, "I think I planted that last batch of chicks too close together." (http://www.sermoncentral.com/sermons/does-the-devil-know-your-name-mike-fogerson)

We cannot grow by burying ourselves and expecting sprouts. We will never be Christians, despite the label we love to display, ignoring the basic, Christianity 101, - talking about the 3rd C.

We are going to be continuing with our series on the Ten Commandments. Ex 20:7… Some people think: "Oh, we’ve got all these old rules and regulations. You know, the Ten Commandments are pretty bad. They’re restricting my life."

Actually I believe God has in these Commandments the blueprint to happiness. And here, God is saying that if we want the most out of life, keep the commandments, not to save ourselves, but because we are saved. Exodus 20:7 read (KJV) We’re not supposed to take His name in vain, are we? We are going to examine ways we might take the Name of God in vain. In vain… easy, in a useless way, profanities as well, but it’s more in this C…

1) 1. The Declaration of God’s Name. Read Ex.20:7. Point one is that we should not swear. We should not take the Lord’s name in vain.

Why would He even put swearing in here, among the 10 C? I mean, there are a lot of rules in the Bible. Is this one of the top ten that God has for us? Apparently it is. But, why would God choose that? Why is cursing so bad? It’s listed up there along with killing & adultery & everything else.

Q. Could you swear if you didn’t have the ability to talk? Mute? Garry is a roofer from Conway, helping his brother’s business. He cannot talk; he is mute since a motorcycle accident damaged his temporal brain lobe. I meet him while remodeling a church.

One day somebody accidentally push him and he immediately showed the middle finger… The whole group laughed, and his brother yelled from the back yard: hey Garry, we are not using profanity here, this is a church!...

Could you break the Third Commandment if you couldn’t talk? Speech is a great tool. But it can be misused. This C is so important that Jesus even repeated it in Matthew 6:9 (KJV) when He said "Our Father which art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name." That’s just basically restating the 3rd C in a positive way.

In order to swear effectively a man must refer back to God. Imagine a nonbeliever, an atheist trying to swear. Imagine an evolutionist trying to swear. An evolutionist cannot swear in the name of a monkey or in the name of a swamp-dwelling worm or whatever.

And every day people swear. And, unfortunately, every day millions of so-called Christians profane God’s holy name. Swearing is becoming an extensive problem.

Boys think, "Well, you know, this is going to make me more grown up. I’ll be more like a man." And men think, "This is going to make me bigger in somebody’s sight." And it really doesn’t.

Now think about: this Commandment is broken out in the open. Swearers want people to hear what they say. It’s intended by the profaner that you would hear those words. When a person commits adultery they try to hide it. When they lust, or when they kill, or whatever they do, they conceal it. But this one is done out in the open…

2. The Desecration of God’s Name. God’s remnant people certainly would avoid using any word that refers to some of the attributes of God’s holy character.

Have you ever heard anybody say, "Mercy!" What are they saying? That’s a character trait of God. Or some other people will mention other of His character traits. They will say, "Goodness Gracious!" Oh, my Goodness” – every three minutes…

What are they saying? Should we do that? Why do we refer to God? Because these are attributes of God Himself. And I think even such expressions as "G-O-S-H." If you look them up in the dictionary, that’s referring to God. And the first syllable of Jesus name, "Jeez”… We hear that over and over, don’t we?

ILL. I went to a doctor for some pain here, upper side of my stomach… in those days I used to eat 6 times a day like for 3 people… But my doctor was sick too, staying home, another doctor replacing him. His name was Vlad Tzepelea – in translation THE IMPALLER… like Dracula… Vlad the Impeller. I turned around and I got serious on herbs’ tea and natural remedies…