Okay, so I call this sermon All in a Name, and my key text is Revelations 2.17, that says, he who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes, I will give some of the hidden manna to eat, and I will give him a white stone, and on the stone, a new name written, which no one knows except him who receives it. And that, when I first read it, you know, I read it many times, but when I first paid attention to it in my life was like a couple weeks ago. And I thought it was really peculiar because a name that no one knows except for me and God. He's gonna give me a name that only he and I know what it means, right? And I thought that was pretty cool. Identity, I just want to talk a little bit about identity, or the relevance of a name, and we'll start with identity. Now, a regular practice from thousands of years ago was to change the name of slaves, not just in the African American slave, Atlantic slave trade, but it was a regular practice. If I was going to enslave you, I wanted to remove your ancestry, you know, yeah. Remove any kind of way for you to get back, even knowing where you're going. I would rather give you a false map, you know, and tell you you came from Haiti when you really came from Guyana, or whatever, right? All this kind of sort of stuff was a regular practice. Rather than your full name, say for instance, if the name of a slave was Adana, in Nigeria that means her father's daughter, then slaver would call her number one. Then there's number two and number three and number four, you get it? and or give them a name like Mary or Sue, you know, something just really typical with no surname or anything like that. Just something that you could recognize that we're gonna call you when we call you. So if we call you number one, you should respond or you get whipped or beat or whatever the case may be, right? And A kidnapped children would, in a lot of cases, would never know their birth name and so have a difficult time locating their true family. So in that case, it's been stated by many, they knew something was wrong. There's a lot of people coming to an awareness of themselves and their embodiment and their psychological status and, you know, Spiritually, there's an awareness in us when something's wrong. If I was a kid and my parents decided to change my gender by the time I'm going into puberty, you can't tell me something's wrong. I mean, this is all right, something's wrong. And so, because we were designed by God, and when stuff is tampered with, or missing, or there's a deficit of any sense, then we're prone to wanna know something's wrong. I can't put my finger on it, but something's not quite right, right? If you went into surgery, Whatever the surgery, you know, if they fix your finger, your finger will never feel like it used to. It's gonna feel different because it's not the way it was. It's different, so you'll grow accustomed to it, you know, and over time you'll forget about it, but you know something's wrong. So... Now on the other hand, if you had a baby taken from you, you would more than likely spend the rest of your life pursuing the recovery of that baby, right? So not just the person that got enslaved, but now you enslaved my child. And now this is a lifelong pursuit. I couldn't stop it if I wanted to. All I wanna hear is one day, right? Just one day, my baby's back, right? Okay, so, um Genesis 3 8 9 says then the man and his wife heard the sound of the lord god as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day And they hid from the lord god among the trees of the garden, but the lord called to the man and said where are you? Um, so God is obviously looking for adam his creation, right? a son of God, right? Where are you, right? You're missing. Look, have you been enslaved? Has something happened now? Have you been kidnapped, seduced away from me, right? Okay, yeah, and then, Luke 19.10 says, for the son of man came to seek and save the lost. That lost would be the person that was kidnapped and or seduced away or, you know, lured away or whatever the case may be. And John 3.16 through 18 says, for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only son of God. So, your earthly sons have been kidnapped. Now we're talking earthly. Say somebody kidnapped your kids, right? And we learned of a stranger, when we were growing up, we learned the stranger danger. I don't know how they taught it on the West Coast, but in the Midwest, it was stranger danger. You guys heard of stranger danger? Okay, all right. So you were privileged too then, okay. So yeah, we had stranger danger. You weren't supposed to take candy. Don't let them lure you with cake or a game or a toy or anything like that You're supposed to be you know, so we're training our kids so that they're not lured away Because the Candyman I think that was a crazy scary movie the Candyman who come in and lure you away and so Imagine from a human standpoint you charge your firstborn son or your oldest son to go get my sons back You know, this is your you know, these are crazy people. They took my sons. I want you to go get them Okay now from a biblical standpoint Jesus I've heard it said, and I believe this, that his biggest remorse was separation from his father. He did not want to be separated from God. Dying and being killed and beaten and slapped and all of this kind of stuff was not the issue. It was that period of time that there was a separation that that he didn't want to have happen So he knows however that there will be a time he's separated from his father. And of course he loves his father He will have to die. He's also aware that he'll have to die The bond is so strong between him and his father that he has no doubt that that he'll be reunited with his father because he trusts his father and he has faith in his father's ability. If I was aware that I was kidnapped, that's different than being a child not knowing you've been kidnapped and you're growing up, right? But if I'm aware you kidnapped me, you don't have to tell me. My father is looking for me, right? You don't have to tell me he's gonna do everything he can to get me back. because I have this faith in my father, right? Now, in an earthly sense, I have faith he's gonna try to do everything he can, but in a spiritual sense, if my father is God, he's going to get me back. He's gonna bring me back safely home, right? Okay, so Jesus is aware he had to die, you know, and he knows that he can place faith in his father, We must also have this faith in our father's provision for us and the process by which he's going to bring us home. It's through his son, right? Okay, so he sent his son out. His son went through everything and some to get us back. But the Bible says that his word, God's word, will accomplish exactly what he sent it for to accomplish. It will not come back void. Jesus is the word of God. He went out, he accomplished exactly what his father wanted, whatever the case, right? This is, when we look at Christ and his attitude, we have to see how short we come up. You get it? We're not living 100%. for the Lord. Some may think they are. Some may believe that. Some may think they're farther along than others. But I'll tell you this, the further you get from others is really a distance that's not so healthy if you're not working to bring others to the place that you are at. Right? Okay, this is, look, in a spiritual sense, we're not here to upstage or upshine or up one another. It should break my heart if someone is still bound in a stronghold, believing wrong. Okay, you know, look, Jesus died for that very reason, and we need to go and do likewise. We need the Lord. We need to ask the Lord, give us what, we don't have this. You know, it's one thing getting my mind together, but knowing God's word, it tells me that I could get big headed, okay? I can get a big head. Right? Look, God's not, he doesn't lie to us. It's like, no, I'm taking care of you so you can take care of her so she can take care of her so she can take care of him. And right, okay, so if I gave you too much, you might go away. Paul had an affliction. He needed it, he needed to stay buffered. It's not because, look, I'm gonna use him greatly is what the Lord says. I'm gonna use him mightily. Right? But he's right, he's gonna suffer for this, because if I don't allow him to suffer, it can go, look, the knowledge God dumps on us can take us away from him. Satan was perfect in all his beauty and adorned in his wisdom and all of this stuff, and he went south. Okay? And he'll lure us south when we think we know something. Okay, so what we want to do is we what we really want to do is be humble and when we're not humble We're asking the Lord make me humble And he will he's gonna humble us we really don't want the ramifications of what that means It could mean any number of things but what God is gonna do is he's gonna humble us and I and then use us. So the process, I'm beginning to understand the sanctification process is just, it's needed. It's not just zap, you're done, right? No, it's needed, right? And I just trust God, he's gonna do what he's gonna do the way he does it, and we're gonna appreciate him. And in the end, we're gonna see his glorious work in us. So, If you're in a foster situation, right? And you might not mean much to others, right? You're right. Because they're working in your behalf to get you placed or whatever, and you're a cute little baby, right? But you're not, according to the world, that significant, right? And so obviously the world is not putting much emphasis on even fetuses So as we're now fighting to have what is this eight breaths or whatever? Yeah, so the world isn't placing and and that's gradual we're watching something start in the womb that is is according to these smart people Oh, that's not a life, it's not a baby. So if we can get away with that, we can make a month old not a baby and not a life. It's a gradual process. But if you're in a foster situation, your name might not mean much to others, but in contrast, if you were fortunate enough to have been born into the family of Rockefellers, eyes would be on you from the moment of your birth. Because, you know, right, because I can make money off of you because you're an heir. You're gonna start having Rockefeller money and all of this kind of sort of stuff. So they're not only after you, they're luring your parents to bring you to this goal and to take you over to you, right? They wanna get in there. The enemy is working to, you know, to use, you know, your relevance or what the world believes is relevant. And so, I wish I could keep this stuff, stay there. Okay, so from an earthly human standpoint, there are those that have birth names that afford them privileges. So those names and titles they bear have no relevance in the kingdom. While we do have significant birthright in the kingdom, it's not an extension of any dignified surname we were born into this side of eternity. So I don't have to explain that. you can be Pope John the 25th. That doesn't matter in heaven, right? Okay, so yeah, so that's easy to understand. We have our reputations, our names have, um... The relevance of our names, our identity, and then, you know, we have our reputation, our status, and that's where I got the foster situation from, and then our reputation. And we talked about Harry, and Harry's wife is Megan. you know, the royal people, right? And so no matter how disconnected they try to be from the dynasty they plan to be, in the minds of others, they're connected. So I don't care if they move away and say we're not royal anymore or whatever, you know, everybody's gonna know them for being Harry and Meghan, okay? They know they're connected to this royal family. If we hear the name Hefner, as in Hugh Hefner, what's the first thing that comes to mind? You don't have to tell me, you know, okay, right? So his name represents his lifestyle, right? He's operating in a way or has been operating in this certain way that it doesn't, it's the moment you hear it. If you heard John Hefner, you'd think, is that a relative? Is that a son? Is that Hugh's son, right? And so we know Hugh, so. I don't have much information on the Hefner family, but if his parents had any reservations concerning anything moral, their son's choices would have been a blemish on their name. And I heard his family, they were conservative Methodists, and his mother wanted him to become a missionary. And yeah, he went on a mission, but it wasn't, yeah, yeah. So what's in the name? Does God have a hand in our earthly names? Okay, so Isaiah 43, one says, but now thus says the Lord, he who created you, O Jacob, he who formed you, O Israel, fear not, for I have redeemed you, I have called you by name, you are mine. So, how earthly names are chosen? Is God involved? Okay, John the Baptist, Zachariah, was that him, Zachariah? Yeah, so the angel said unto him, fear not, a Zacharias, Zacharias, yeah, fear not for thy prayer is heard and thy wife Elizabeth shall bear you a son and thou shall call his name John. So that's an earthly name. This is the name everybody on earth knew him by, right? And that name came from divine, from a divine source, right? And so then Joseph was instructed also, she will give birth to a son and you're to give him the name Jesus because he will save his people from their sins, right? So obviously he is involved. God is intricately involved in all the affairs of the people on earth. He uses the bad stuff to work it together for our good. So he's even involved in what the bad people are plotting and planning, okay? So, what about the rest of us? I'm not John the Baptist and I'm definitely not Jesus. What about someone like me, David, who got named probably in a drunken fight or something, who knows? You never know. My parents were, they had, our parents were youthful too and then maturing. By the time most of us came on the scene, we had young parents. You know, it might have been David. No, I said Mac. No, you never know. And so you think, well, was God in that? Well, yeah, it ends up that he knew my name. The Bible says he knows my name. Or the song says he knows my name. Don't get me, don't get me up here. It might say that he knows my name. So, yeah, so what's the point of all this? The rest of us, We have names, God knew what our names would be. He knew, he knows how we're gonna respond. Names do have meaning, but there's a time that they stopped having the meanings. People weren't being named by what parents wanted to achieve in these kids. And then if a kid was ripped off or kidnapped, of course, they got a name that was not. the name that God still knows who they are and what they're going to accomplish, but we have to consider these things. We live on an earth that is just really full of sin, and it has been. Names matter, and we were talking about Hebrew, and the thing I like about Hebrew is that even the letters have significant meaning. So since our study was about Satan, the tet represents Satan, and the tet looks like a little symbol of a snake coiled up. Right? So this is in biblical early Hebrew, that it looks like a little snake coiled up. It doesn't just mean Satan. If you look at it, if it was written with other letters, if you look at it, it could mean deception, adversary, all these bad things, evil, wicked, all of this, right? But the letter has meaning and it's pictorial. So you're looking at an image. So just looking at this image, you can see what the letter means. And then if you put images together, you can reason out what's being conveyed in these images. So that's all it really was back then. There were no articles to tie to it. There were no periods. There were just images, and people were able to understand what the images meant. So names, even by the letter, if for instance, if I had, if I said the word bet, the letter B means, the letter B is bet in Hebrew. So that letter means a house, okay? And then, so just that one letter, and it's designed, that means house, right? And then if I wanted to, if I wanted to, make a word, lehem means bread, so bet lehem, right? So it's kind of really, so if I had your name, in other words, yeah, I could understand what it is that your purpose was just by looking at the letter. So the letter in your name is, all right, this letter plus this letter plus this letter. Okay, so if I had like, say for instance, Tav, and I'm just going off the back of my head right now, but Tav, Tet, Aleth, would probably mean something like this, like snake or deception, right? Aleph is strength, right? That means the strong, all right, so this is a Hebrew lesson now. That means the strength of the house or the father or the ox, strong ox. So if you saw that symbol that looks like an ox's head, you'd see strength. And vav is a nail. Okay, so I would assume that name Tav must mean something about a strong deception trying to nail us or trying to stronghold us. I would just assume that. So people are coming up, nowadays names don't have the significance that is or would be moral or with a standard or godly or spiritual or anything like that. They are names that are gonna help them succeed in this world, right? There's some crazy names that crazy people name their kids. Right? Okay, and I've seen it, you guys have seen it, and a couple of them that I looked up were Empress. Somebody named their kid Empress. Lemon, Envy, Arson, Yo-Yo, Moo, Moo. I'm sure chicken head is out there somewhere. Marijuana, somebody named their kid marijuana, and somebody named their kid cyanide. And there's more kids that have these names, and I'm not just saying one kid. I'm saying multiple kids are bearing these names. People are naming their kids behind brands, Tesla, Maybelline, ESPN. Right. Yeah. And then, um, some have changed their names for the sake of reinventing or commercializing their, their selves like Lil Boosie, you know, um, OT Genesis, Lil Uzi Vert, Young Thug, Cardi B, Jay Z, P Diddy. Eminem is Marshall Bruce Mathers and Vanilla Ice was Robert Matthew Van Winkle, right? So there, you know, you can get to the origin of the names by the Winkle, right? You know, you're going Irish or something, right? But the point is is that, look, for me to become a success, I want a name. I want to build myself, my reputation on a name, right? I'm branding myself. I actually wanna be somebody. I want my name to be known. And this has been an issue for people on this planet since the beginning, okay? Satan talked Adam and Eve or Adam into, look, you'll be like him. You'll be great. Basically, you're going to make your name great if you disobey him, right? Okay. So where am I going with all this? Oh, well, there was at least one popular personality that chose to somehow make himself nameless. Who was that? Right, right, I knew you'd know. And start calling himself the X symbol, yeah, and all of this stuff. So you could not divorce Prince from his attempt, right? We were gonna know you as what you do and who you are, right? It's just not gonna happen. Now God is in the habit of changing names. All right, so why does God change our names? He changed Abram to Abraham. He changed Jacob to Israel. You know, Sarai to Sarah. Okay, and these names meant something. Sarah's name, her Sarai meant princely, and Sarah means queen of princes. And when God changes your name, it's an upgrade, okay? Yeah, you're being upgraded. Yeah, bless the Lord. Okay. Yeah, because First of all, you won't survive in his kingdom with your name the one that you're it's a downgrade and you're literally If you're climbing and trying to hold to that fame like so many people do today to keep legendary status when they're all bent over and broke down and can hardly breathe but they want one more hit, one more movie, one more something that's gonna be a hit. They hate they're dying. They hate that, right? And so they want their name to soar, right? Falling stars is what that's called. Yeah, falling. Okay, so... Our names represent, if we were named properly, because half of us don't know our names, right? In other words, if you've been kidnapped or you've been raised in a foster system or something like that, you're only banking on whatever anyone told you. But God knows our name, and this is important. He knows who we are, and he has plans for us to give us a new name, right? Not only does he know this name and what we're supposed to accomplish, but the new name has significance as well. Bless the Lord. We are first of all wearing a surname now, right? Okay. We're gods, we belong to God. We're not gods, right? And look, there's an argument there where a lot of people will say, see, the Bible says we're gods. No, Jesus was even making a mockery out of the statement. We're not gods, okay, but we belong to God, D apostrophe S, G-O-D, okay? We're gods, so we wear his surname, all right? So that's invisible, but God knows who belongs to him. So if we're traveling on this planet, which we are we need to live up to the name Okay, we need to live up to this name. That means we belong to the Most High God Because he put his son to death so that we could be rescued from even the insanity that my name should be Chaka boom Okay, we'd be rescued from that, right? Okay, so hear me out. God's plan, He's working to bring us to sanity. Okay, first of all, you might not have been a person that wanted fame or fortune in any formal way or something. Some of us are very incognito and low-key and what's the word when you're disconnected, you're withdrawn, right? Of course, I'm not like that. But some of us are. And what the Lord wants to do is show us our relevance. And one way to show us our relevance is to say, you may not know the origin of your name when you got here, but you have a surname. You belong to me, right? I'm your God. and you're my children, right? And so that means you cannot operate in the name of your choice or in the name of anyone's choice, that anyone that's trying to apply a name to you today, it is irrelevant. We belong to God, right? So it's important to uphold the family name. It matters. It matters what we do. All our choices, they matter. We should walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, redeeming the time for the days are evil. So we're paying attention, we're methodic, we're thinking before we speak. We're graduating through a gradual process, but it's meticulous, because the enemy wants to trip us up, and we're gonna bring shame to the name of God. Right? We don't deserve to wear that name. It's a gift. It's just one more gift that we have this side of eternity. It should make us sorrowful. I don't care what we're doing. We need to think first. We do not measure up. Christ makes us relevant in the eyes of God, right? The more I'm doing, the more I need to be doing for this body. I don't care what it says. And look, there's body members all out in the street. They're all over everywhere that don't even know God, right? Okay, so if I'm really doing all this and that, I need to be giving my life for the cause of salvation, right? This is what God wants from us. And this is the call on our lives to spread the gospel, right? It's important that we represent our households. It's very important, our household. So what we don't wanna do is make our God equivalent to those other guys' gods around us. Everybody's saying and referring to God, but is that the same God? No, the Pope is ecumenical. He's, again, bowing and shaking with the Hindu priests and the Buddha priests and the Catholic, well, he's Catholic, all the others, right? We're having a one-world collaboration here. because we're headed into a one world order, and that looks very much like the position of an anti-profit, but I'm not sure, so I'm not really vested in all that. I just know that some stuff is apparent. I won't say this because, yeah. All right. The Bible says in Psalms 9.10, those who know your name, they put their trust in you. John 17.6 says, manifested your name, showed them your person. I'm sorry I didn't put all of that in there, but consider manifesting the name of our father. That means we're blowing it up, we're making it big. and we're showing the people his person, his personality, his character, right? It's gonna be, that means we're gonna be of no reputation so that he's of a reputation to people. Now look, we got two more minutes on this planet, okay? I hate to keep saying that. Some people are not comfortable knowing the inevitable. We're leaving here one way or another. Either he's coming or we're going. But it's not just because I have a diagnosis. One or the other, right? And he knows the time and the place and the date. And because I'm breathing right now, I have a provision that is a gift that's gonna warrant me a new name of overcoming. an overcomer's name that he's gonna write on a white stone, that means a pure stone, and he's gonna give it to me, and that name is gonna be between him and me. Me and him will only know what all I've overcome, okay? Because he wants an intimate relationship with you, and one with you, and one with you, and one with you, and a collaborative, unified relationship with everyone, okay? But he created each one of us unique. And if the parable is right, each one of us has all we need to fill the mark, okay? Each one of us. I don't care what it is. Each one of us, we don't need the millions that Rockefeller has, and we can't use that as an excuse for not sharing our father's surname with dignity, right? So in other words, if he gave me five cents, I owe him five cents worth of investment. However that turns out, he wants to reward me for doing what I did with five cents. And I need to do what I'm doing right in his name, okay? This is God, this is his will for us, right? So look, the process, it doesn't have to be an envious one though. It might not be so bad to envy each other's gift when we're out there working for the Lord, Okay, I think there's a scripture that says that, right? That, you know what, that kind of envy is okay if it propels me to get busy, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah, you need this. And so, stir each other up into good work, okay? Bless the Lord. And so, now, I know this ain't my typical, let me tell you, this is not my typical fashion, but this is what the Holy Spirit, He wouldn't give me anything else, right? This is what He wanted us to talk about, okay? And so, and I wanna do, look, I don't wanna be, hey, I don't wanna make my name great. and then lose the name that he's gonna give me in the day that he gives me a name that represents overcoming. Okay, I wanna overcome my flesh, my thought life, all of these discrepancies. I wanna overcome those and I need him to help me. I need him to instill in me this truth that I'm more valuable serving him than I'll ever be being a servant of the enemy. and it's cut and dry. I'm either serving God or I'm serving Satan. I don't care how you look at it. Well, I'm not a devil worshiper. If you're not serving God, you're being used by the devil. That's how it works. I don't care what you think or believe. If you think I'm wrong, look it up. You can resist it in your heart. You can say, no, there's good people. They live on planet Earth. Then that makes God a lie. Because no one's good. There's not one that's good, except God. Right? All right, so battle it out. Look, what do you call it? Depreciate your sins? Depreciate them, make them less than. Make them minute or whatever. In comparison to Pastor Jamie, you know, I'm not that bad. He'd be out beating up the neighbors, right? Okay, yeah. Okay, so I'm not that bad, right? Okay, because all I do is tell them off. He knocks them out. Okay, so think about it. No, but think about it. If God is holy, having no sin at all, neither of us are measuring up, right? There's no planetary, look, somewhere out in the planets, there's some good that came to earth a billion years ago or whatever. That defeats the whole Genesis intention, okay? It's not, there's nothing happening before in the beginning, okay? Bless the Lord. Yeah, we can literally, we can literally It's not figurative. We can literally live up to a call that we could not live up to in any other way, by any other means than by serving the Lord and doing His will in His name. So you can do all things through Christ who strengthens you, through Christ who strengthens you, okay? You can do all things in his name, in his name. You know, ask anything of me. Read the earlier preceding scriptures. Ask anything of me means after, right, you're submitting to my will. We can do, look, don't just ask for a Maserati, read the whole thing. Be in alignment with his will. He knows you don't need a Maserati, but you never know. He might think you do. To make a point. Bless the Lord. His name is holy. When Jesus taught Peter to preach, it was to pray, it was to reverence the name of God. His name is to be revered, okay? Though we pretty much put each other down, we're made in his image. We put each other down, make fun of each other. One moment, my favorite star is up on top, and the next moment, trampled under the feet of men. And I'm baffled, but some of the antics, the caricatures, all Babylon B, and everything will get in there and make me laugh. Right? Had me laughing. When it's really not a laughing matter, here's a person with a gift that's been trampled on. The gift is given without repentance, so the person did not have to repent, but God's longing is that you use this gift to serve the kingdom so that I can bless you. I mean, you wanna bless your kids. And I've said this before. It's not always so much that you want them to do something because you just want it done. You want them to see where the reward is coming from and how grateful you are when they follow your will, right? And that's God, you know? He's pleased when we follow him. It's gonna be a benefit for everyone concerned, for everybody. Now, this is getting long. How long have I been up here? And that light, I'm telling you, that one just blinds me. I don't get it. It just shines right down. I'm just the right height. I think, oh, dang, don't move. Pastor Rick talked about, we talked about about Satan and him and his name, or lack of a name now, being blotted out, right? Right, so what we, now the truth of the matter is, is that if you start reading scriptures, or if you continue reading scriptures, I thought about, there's other people who, they don't have their names mentioned in the Bible, especially in parables. Jesus will say, you know, three men, or something like that. He's not saying exactly who. Parables are meant to impart some understanding to us. But Lazarus came up in my mind, the other day, the Lazarus that was at Abraham's bosom, right? And while the rich man that he used to serve was over in torment. And that was his name, the rich man. Not a name that qualifies, right? Nothing godly, nothing, you know, there's no, look, the intent was that rich man, he over there burning up, all right? And you're over here being comforted by Abraham. And I thought that was pretty key in that there's a name God wants to give everybody. It's like, There's a battle between Calvinists and Arminists that is you were called or you have to accept the call. It's kind of like a battle going on about predestination. But the Bible says that it's the will of God that every man be saved, right? Though the battle makes sense, it's relevant. I see relevance on both sides, I really do. I believe this supersedes, it supersedes everything. It's God's desire that every man be saved and come to the knowledge of who he is, okay? If your name had been being defamed by the people you love, out talking about you and make, I saw some guys Joe Rogan and then, What's those Darwinian guys? I can't think of their names, but they don't have a problem blaspheming God and making fun. They were making fun of Noah's Ark. Well then, how are you gonna get? I believed it when I was eight. They're just making all kind of jokes and this sort of thing. Do you know that it made me sick, but God's desire is that they be saved? It's kinda like this. Look, operating in the name of God means we have a different outlook, right? It's really not I can jump on the bandwagon and shake the dust off my feet, okay? Though Jesus is saying this when you go into a certain part of town, right, for a certain circumstance. Our hearts are inclined by Christ, or should be, that we're still praying. Our desire is that this person would accept the Lord. Look, if it's not, then we need to be on our knees asking the Lord, give me this desire. This is the truth. Okay, yeah, you made me sick, but, Light of where you may be in eternity. I would never want that to happen to you. I Would not I want you to get it and be a part of the body. God was showing me. I'm gonna close Because I always have five sermons in one. I Yeah, and yeah, to keep you guys tethered, you know, and never leave. But God was showing me about his body, and you know, so let me get this right. Yeah, so you know how we are with my own body. If I wanna pick this paper up, right? I don't go hand, go over there and pick up this paper, right? It's because I'm functioning right, it's my will that I retrieve this paper. And my body, my organs, my members, my limbs, they respond to my will. And God is like that. It's like when I was explaining God's decision to put Adam and Eve out of the garden for their own sake. It was done before the words came out of his mouth because it's his will. He didn't have to say and wait for the angel to go walk them out. You get it or okay. I want them out. So okay in an hour, so they should be packed and gone This is our reality. That's not God's reality He doesn't have to speak out all the steps. It's his will It's done, right? God's will is that we remain here right now this moment and Serve him in his name Right now, this moment, if his will was, well, I'll name me, because then somebody might get scared. If his will was that I drop dead right now, bam! What can I say, right? Hopefully, I've done what I needed to do. So that when the day of rewards comes, I'm not talking about hell, I'm not talking about a judgment call on whether I'm going to heaven or hell, that's satisfied. But when the day of rewards is before me, I want this pure stone. Do you ever want to be friends with someone that you're idolized when you were growing up? I know Donna loved Elvis. No, I'm just playing. But you idolized and you just wanted to be their friend. No, she did not love Elvis. I don't know. I wanted to be his friend. So Johnny Mathis, you see what I'm saying? But you just wanted to be connected. Some people would have those clubs. What do you call them? Fan clubs, fan clubs. And they're writing all this stuff back and forth, you know, promoting their idol, the person that they love so much. So what I want is this secret connection with God that he's saying will be based on him and me alone. You get it? A name that represents he and I, my achievements, my downfalls, my thinking at the time, you know, how I resisted, where I would step up, you know, why wouldn't I step up? What are all the things that kind of made me the person that I am? and how he worked in my life in areas that only I could explain to him. I can't break it down to anyone else, though I wouldn't mind. He wants that kind of intimacy, and I want that name. I want that name on that stone. Right? It's between me and him. It obviously means something. We're designed to be connected. but we need to be connected to God and then to each other. And I want this. This is what I want. I want him to make me a servant that I've never been before. It might mean I have to quit clowning or being so bossy, you know, or any of those things, you know. It might, and I've said this before, and I don't know if you guys have been paying attention, but there's been about a 5% decrease in clowning, but it's getting there, right? See pastors seen it. Yeah. So look and it was what was my clowning was a like many comedians, you know, sometimes it's because you can't cope, you know, yeah, insecure, you know, hey, you know, and it's easy for somebody to say, oh, you shouldn't be insecure, and they stabbing people at night, you know, so, you know, it's kind of, yeah, you know, this is my issue, okay, yeah, so, I just know that I'm gonna be, or my desire is to be, in his will, the connection that we have that's not even spoken, it's real. You can start talking to God without opening your mouth. But what we're gonna have is unlimited, no barrier, no filter, just this God that I can commune with that knows me and I know him. That's in a name that he's gonna give me. Bless the Lord. Bless the Lord. Let's pray. So Father, I just pray, Lord, I hope I made sense. I believe that I got the point across. If not, Lord, if it's not all done, we know you to keep fueling us. You'll keep us feeding on this. It'll change our direction. We'll be less into ourselves and more released into you so we can be fruitful on these branches of your vine. We just, we don't know what we're missing. Wake it up in us, Lord. We have a hard time seeing it's greater later. So, Lord, teach us, Lord, bring us to a place where we're willing to forsake all, to wear your name proudly and with dignity. on this planet. And this is what we're praying for, Lord. We just bless you. We bless you for sickness, any sickness and disease. We're blessing you for our family, this immediate family, Lord, Clefina and any other number of people, Mianca. Lord, you know, we just wanna keep our family lifted up, Lord, so that we can be healed to serve you. And this is what we're asking for. In the name of Jesus and for his sake, amen.