What Is Your Name?/ What's In A Name?

Little Penny told her mother one evening that she had learned a new prayer in Sunday school.

She wanted to say it instead of her usual “ Now I lay me down to sleep”. Her mother agreed but was surprised, when Penny began

“Our Father who art in heaven, hello, what be thy name?”.

God might well ask you a similar question: My child sitting in this hall, hello, what be thy name?”

God wants to encourage us at this time. He is a God of LOVE - He is a God of judgement –

He is a God of covenant –

To God names are important -

"Let them praise the name of the LORD: for his name alone is excellent; his glory [is] above the earth and heaven." Psa 148:13

Throughout Scripture God reveals Himself to us through His names.

El Shaddai (el shad-di’)

All-Sufficient One, Lord God Almighty

El Elyon (el el-yone’)

The Most High God

Adonai (ad-o-noy’)

Lord, Master

Yahweh or Jehovah (yah-weh)

Lord, Jehovah

Jehovah Nissi (yeh-ho-vaw’ nis-see’)

The Lord My Banner, The Lord my Miracle

Jehovah-Raah (yeh-ho-vaw’ raw-aw’)

The Lord My Shepherd

Jehovah-Rapha (yeh-ho-vaw’ raw-faw’)

The Lord that Heals

Jehovah Shammah (yeh-ho-vaw’ shawm’-maw)

The Lord Is There

Jehovah Tsidkenu (yeh-ho-vaw’ tsid-kay’-noo)

The Lord our Righteousness

Jehovah Mekoddishkem (yeh-ho-vaw’ M-qadash)

The Lord who Sanctifies You, The Lord Who makes Holy

El Olam (el o-lawm’)

The Everlasting God, The God of Eternity, The God of the Universe, The God of Ancient Days

Elohim (el-o-heem’)

God, Judge, Creator

Qanna (kan-naw’)

Jealous, Zealous

Jehovah Jireh (yeh-ho-vaw’ yir-eh’)

The Lord will Provide

Jehovah-Shalom (yeh-ho-vaw’ shaw-lome’)

The Lord is Peace

Jehovah Sabaoth (yeh-ho-vaw’ se ba’t)

The Lord of Hosts, The Lord of Powers The Lord of Armies

God wants you to think about your name. Not so much the name on your birth certificate or drivers license- but the name by which you know yourself.

In the bible names are important & mean something. God changed the names of various people to better describe who HE intended them to be.

Abraham – Sarah – Israel – Peter are some examples

Even Jesus was divinely assigned His name.

Matt 1:21 And she will bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins."

You bear several names that describe you. These names you have either placed on yourself or you have accepted them from somebody else. I would say that there is a 99.9% chance that each of these names is a negative or derogatory one. They serve as labels for your basic self concept of who you are.

There are 3 areas I want to cover today.

1. A name to describe your most basic instinct.

2. A name to describe your present condition or state of mind

3. A name to describe your relationship with God

In each of these areas God wants you to have a GOOD name.

If your present name (how you see yourself) is a bad or negative name God wants to change it.

Let’s look at these 3 areas this morning.

1. A name to describe your most basic nature.

Sinner – sinner - sinner

Many of us have sinned so much and been confronted with it so often, we wear that name as our badge. We are stuck with it – and we don’t realize God has changed our name to something better.

We need to realise that that’s the past – that’s the old man.

Let’s look at Ephesians Chap 2 v 4 again.

But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, 5 even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), 6 and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7 that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. 8 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, 9 not of works, lest anyone should boast. 10 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.

We have not deserved God’s favour – we have sinned against Him –

We had the name sinner for a reason – we deserved it

However, God totally accepts us –not by who we are – but who Jesus is.

And God accepts us totally through the merits of Him – Jesus.

It’s not our righteousness it’s His ( Jesus’) righteousness

When we by faith accepted Christ as our personal Lord and saviour, we became more than sinners saved by grace – that’s what we were – but now we have a new name, because God didn’t just forgive us, He made us new creatures ( we need a new name – new creature – new name) and adopted us into His family ( again we need a new name – new family new name)