Exalting His Name

Paul Sheppard: When you pray, say this. Our Father who art in the heaven, hallowed be thy name. Hallowed be thy name. So, he taught us even in praying to make sure that praise and acknowledgement of who God is is part of our prayer life.
Guest (Male): Sing the praises of the Lord, all you people. Praise his holy name. That's Psalm 30 verse 4, and this is destined for victory with Pastor Paul Shepherd. It's always a pleasure to have you with us. You know, when we praise the name of God, we're not really doing anything for him. We're doing something for ourselves. Lifting him up draws us closer to him, and he in turn draws closer to us. Coming your way next, an important message about learning to exalt the Lord's name and how doing so can truly benefit our lives. Before we get to today's message, I want to remind you to be sure to visit our website, pastorpaul.net. That's where you can listen to any recent message on demand including today's, pastorpaul.net. Today's destined for victory message is called Exalting His Name, and it starts right now.
Paul Sheppard: We are currently on a 50-day journey as a congregation. I've entitled the preaching series Following Jesus, and we are looking at the life and the teachings of Jesus to learn what are the things that he taught us to do and to be as we seek to follow him. You know, those original disciples got to literally follow Jesus where he went, and they heard him, and they saw him, and they lived with him. Well, we are centuries removed from his physical existence on Earth, but the reality is we're still called to follow him. So, through the pages of scripture, we can learn what it is to follow Jesus. And we've been covering a number of themes along the way. And this weekend, I want to focus on the aspect of following Jesus that has to do with our praise and worship life. And I want to talk about exalting his name. Jesus taught us in Matthew chapter 6 in what we call the Lord's Prayer, but it was actually the prayer he taught his disciples to pray. He said these words, when you pray, say this. Our Father who art in the heaven, hallowed be thy name. Hallowed be thy name. So, he taught us even in praying to make sure that praise and acknowledgement of who God is is part of our prayer life. He taught the woman at the well in John chapter 4, the day is coming, he said. In fact, it's already here when those who worship God must worship him in spirit and in truth. There is a right way, in other words, to worship God. And Jesus was about modeling what it is to truly worship and praise and honor and acknowledge the name of God. And so, he said in the disciples's prayer, hallowed be thy name. That word means to give reverence and appreciation and exaltation to thy name. Now, a name in scripture, when the Bible says hallowed be thy name, it's talking about who God is because names throughout Bible times were more significant than we tend to make them these days. You know, our tendency now is to just find a name that sounds good, that goes good with your last name, and that's what you pick for your kids. Very often, that's what happens, but the reality is in Bible times, there was much more awareness that a name was a label that was to signify something about the character of the individual. So that when a person had a significant encounter with God, it wasn't uncommon for their very name to change. You remember Jacob, don't you, in the Old Testament? Jacob was a tricky man and so named. Jacob means trickster, supplanter, or deceiver. And he certainly lived by that label. But one day, he got tired of himself. One of the best things you can do sometimes is get sick of yourself. I've preached already. Some of us just need to get sick enough of ourselves to want to get well. And he wanted to get well, and he went to God and said, Lord, I can't take me anymore. And he wrestled with the Lord till the breaking of day. God said, all right, I'm going to bless you and let me change your name to go along with the blessing. You are no longer Jacob. Now, you are Israel because Jacob means trickster, but Israel means prince with God. Names are significant. So, when Jesus said, honor and exalt the name of God, that means you got to get to know the character of God. Who is God? And you worship him in spirit and truth first by recognizing who he really is. Well, there are two personal names for God that would be found in the Hebrew scriptures that Jesus would have referred to when he was talking to his first-century disciples. They have the Old Testament scriptures, and so he would have been referring to them understanding the names designated how God had revealed himself under the Old Covenant. And there are two in particular that I want to lift up to you. The first is Elohim, and the second is Jehovah. Well, originally Yahweh. Elohim. Elohim has to do with God's divine power. When God revealed himself in scripture as Elohim, he said, I am the God who has all power. I want you to know that I'm not just a powerful God. I am the all powerful God. Because you know, the pagans and the nations around Israel thought they served gods who they believed to have some power. But when God revealed himself to Israel, he said, no, no, you don't understand. I don't have some power. I am power. My nature is power. I speak and the world leaps into existence. I have all power. So, we serve Elohim. Jesus was suggesting we serve the God of divine power. I want to let you know that there is nothing in your life, nothing you will ever face that is hard for God. Sometimes we say, is anything too hard for God? Well, let me correct the question. Is anything hard for God? Forget too hard. Is it hard? No, no. If God wants it to happen, he just wills it so and it happens. The hardest God has ever worked is he spoke. That's the hardest job. That's the hardest thing. That's the only muscle he had to move. And of course, when the Bible talks about the mouth of God, the voice of God, you know, we're just giving him human characteristics so we can understand God is spirit. But yet, he speaks not in the same way we do, but he wills and pronounces a thing so. And the Bible says God spoke, let there be light. Bam, there was light. That's the hardest God's ever worked. Your life isn't too hard for God. You're not going to make God sweat. God's not looking at you saying, oh, oh, my goodness, huh. Woo, what am I going to do here? No, no, no, no. All we have to do is learn who it is that we're serving and put our lives in the hands of Elohim because he has all power. Well, Jehovah is the other name they would have been familiar with. Jehovah came from Yahweh. Originally, God revealed himself as Yahweh. In fact, in Exodus chapter 3, you remember when Moses was introduced to God because God had ordained him to be the deliverer of his people out of bondage in Egypt. The Lord spoke to him by drawing his attention to a burning bush. You remember that? Exodus chapter 3. What drew Moses's attention was the bush was on fire, but it wasn't being consumed. It was just an ever burning fire, and he looked at it. He said, I spend my life on these hills. I've never seen a bush fire not die. And he said, let me go and see. And he got close. And when he got close, God spoke to him and he said, I want to introduce myself to you. And he used the word we now call Yahweh. He said, I am that I am. God said, my name is self-existence. So, Elohim speaks of divine power, and Yahweh or Jehovah speaks of divine self-existence. What that means is God is eternally. He has eternal isness. We serve a God who has eternal isness. He's never had wasness. I want you to get this now so you can learn to rejoice in the God who has revealed himself to you. God isn't a has been. He's not getting old. He's not moving along in time. Well, you know, God used to be something else. I tell you, back in the day, oh, man. No, no. He has eternal isness. I am that I am. Exodus 3, I believe is verse 14, when Moses said, well, now if you're appointing me the leader of Israel to deliver them out of bondage, but they don't know that. And so, when I go to them and say, God said I'm y'all's leader, who should I tell them appointed me leader? And he said, just tell them Yahweh. Tell them I am that I am. Tell them the eternal existing one has sent you to lead them out of bondage. What that tells us is we serve a God of all power, and we serve a God who never changes. He always was. He always will be because he has eternal existence, self-existence. He's the only one who is complete and eternal within himself. He has placed eternity in our hearts, but the difference is our eternity is moving forward. Ours doesn't extend backwards. Get this little bit of theology before I get into more practical stuff.
Guest (Male): Still ahead, the rest of today's message on Destined for Victory. Our mission is to serve you and all of our listeners by sharing timeless truth for a victorious life. And you make it possible. Your prayers and financial support help us share the gospel of Christ with people all over the world. To make a generous donation today, please call 855-339-5500 or give safely and securely at our website, pastorpaul.net. You know, when the Bible encourages us to exalt the name of God, what it really means is that we should exalt the names of God because he has many, and they're all worthy of our praise and attention. Let's get you back to the rest of today's message, Exalting His Name.
Paul Sheppard: You got to understand God is the only one who has eternal isness. The Bible says he is from everlasting to everlasting. Well, when did God start? He didn't. You say, well, I don't understand that. Right, he's God. Don't try to get your mind around God. If you could get your mind around God, he wouldn't be God. He'd be something you understood. God has eternal isness from everlasting to everlasting. Thou art God, Psalm 90 says. So, we serve a God who always existed. All of us have a point in time when we started, and we will have a time when we leave this Earth, but God is ordained that we will share the rest of eternity in his presence or outside of his presence depending upon how we respond to his grace. And so, let me tell you something. We serve an awesome God. You and I are finite. He is infinite. And don't buy into these false and kooky religions that all of us have some God. We are all gods, and we just have to learn to discover the God in us. And what's wrong with the world is people don't know that they're really God. No, no. No, don't buy into that kind of thing. That's a deceptive teaching. We are finite. Got these people believing in reincarnation. You know, I used to be here. I remember. And I finally met with someone who revealed to me, and it came clear to me that a thousand years ago, I used to live in a castle somewhere. No, baby. You're confused. Bless your heart. Let me help you. You are confused. You're mixed up. You've never been here before. The Bible says it's appointed once to every man to die. Once, once, once. And after death, the judgment, not after death you get recycled. God is the only one who determines our beginning and our end. And then it's funny, all these folk who claim they've been here before, none of them when they were here before were poor and messed up and bad off. Have you noticed all of them sitting on these talk shows and stuff? Yes, I used to be a queen back in the And that's why even today, even though I don't have much, I just have a higher taste for things because I really used to live. If y'all don't think America is a mission field, hurry up and wake up. We got more people to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ to in this nation than you can shake a stick at. We're buying into all kinds of craziness. But the truth of the Lord endures forever. And it will judge us in the end. So, we have to know who the God is that we serve. And he has revealed himself as Elohim, the powerful one, and Jehovah Yahweh. By the way, where we got the word Jehovah, it was originally Yahweh. But the ancient Jews were uncomfortable with voicing the revealed name of God. And so, they became accustomed to referring to him as Adonai, which means my Lord. And over time, they took some of the vows of one name and some of the consonants of the other and came up with Jehovah. But Jehovah really is Yahweh, the self-existent God. Well, God revealed himself in a number of ways as Jehovah. And so, in the interest of time, let me just throw a few of them at you to begin you on the journey of thinking about who the God is that we worship and that we praise cuz the more you know about him, the more you'll praise him. And I want you at some point in your personal study to really look at the names of God as you're reading scripture and get some Bible tools so that when you come across a name of God, Adonai or Jehovah or Elohim or El Elyon or any of those Hebrew names, you'll stop and look at what it is because they all speak of the character in the nature of God. Let me just give you a few and then I'll let you go. God revealed himself as Jehovah Jireh in Genesis 22. You remember the story in Genesis 22 where Abraham now has passed the test. You know that Abraham and Sarah were given a test before God had changed their names. They were given a test of obedience. God said to Abraham, when he was Abram, I want you to get up back in chapter 12, I believe it is, of Genesis. Go to a place where I'm going to show you. And Abraham got up and went and by faith began to follow this God. And so, the Lord over time tested him and said, I'm going to make a nation out of you. Now, here was an a man in his 70s by the time you get to the point where God's telling him he's going to have a child. And the Lord said, I'm going to give y'all a son. And through your seed, the nations of the Earth are going to be blessed. And you know what happened. They put their thimble full of brains in God's business and decided that we can't come up with that. They didn't honor and exalt Elohim because had they said this is the God of power, then he's got no problem giving old folks a baby. No problem at all. But they didn't honor him. When you don't honor and exalt the name of God, you make foolish decisions. And so, they decided God needed help. The ultimate insult is for powerless, pitiful people like us decide we need to help the powerful God. That's what they did. They decided God needed a little help. Sarah gave Hagar to her husband so that God could not look bad. If I give you this young woman as your servant now, listen. If you're not going to obey God, why worry about how he's going to pull off what he said? Why not just say, hey, if God said that's going to happen, let's let him happen? Especially, why would Sarah defy her own nature? What woman do you know is going to give her husband another woman so that he and God can come up with what they were talking about? You know that defies a woman to be like, oh, please. I wish I would give him Hagar, little young pretty thing so that you and God by some conversation y'all had out there in the woods somewhere can come up with something. Oh, no. If anybody ought to have been believing God, it should have been Sarah cuz she'd be like, well, if God going to do something, I'm the one right here. Y'all know that's how it should have gone down. But anyhow, they failed the test because they came up with this surrogate child trying to fulfill a divine promise. They came up with Ishmael, but that wasn't what God said. And so, years later, when Abraham's pushing a hundred, he's 99. And Sarah is pushing 90. She's 89. God says, now if y'all are ready, I'm going to give you the makeup cuz you failed the test before. When I make you a promise, the promise is going to be fulfilled on the basis of my power, not your ability to pull something off. And so, they finally got in sync and came up with Isaac, this child of promise. And then years after that, when the boy is in his teens in all likelihood, we get to Genesis 22. And it says, the Lord tested Abraham. And he said, Abraham, I want you to take your son, your only son cuz at this point Ishmael and Hagar had been put out. But God said because he's your child, and God loves us so much, he will bless the mistakes we made when we get back in sync with his purpose. Ain't somebody glad that we serve a God who will bless your mess? After you repent, after you get straight, God said, I'll work it out. He said cuz I know it would be on your heart. He said, I'm going to take that son you should have never had, and I'm going to make a nation out of him. And to this day, a lot of the conflict that we're dealing with in another part of the world are the sons of Ishmael. And let me tell you something. God said, I'm going to raise up a nation, but now this your only son Isaac, I want you to take him up on the mountain, and I want you to sacrifice him there. Now, why in the world would God promise you that through your seed, the nations of the world are going to be blessed? And then he tells you to sacrifice the very child. It's because when God blesses us, he doesn't bless us for us. He blesses us for his name's sake. And we reap many benefits and byproducts of his blessing. But he has to make sure that we don't take the blessing to ourselves. And so, every now and then, you'll see God bless you, but he tests you with the blessing because he wants to make sure you know your husband is not yours. Your wife is not yours. Your job is not yours. Your money is not yours. Your career is not yours. Your ambition, your gifts are not yours. They are mine. And if you take what is mine in another direction, I cannot bless you. So, he said, I want you to take him up on the mountain, and I want you to sacrifice him there. And he takes him up on the mountain. And at one point in the trip, read it in Genesis 22, Isaac says, Father, we have the wood. We have the materials to build the altar for a sacrifice, but we don't have the lamb. Where is the lamb? And Abraham looked at his son and said, my son, God will provide the lamb. And the moment came when they built the altar and placed the wood there. The moment came when Abraham had to take his son and place him on the altar. What a defining moment in scripture. Because here you see not only the unconditional obedience of a man who's determined to follow God, but you find the unconditional compliance of the son of the promise. You know, when you're looking at Isaac in Genesis 22, you're seeing a really good type of Jesus Christ because like Isaac, Jesus laid his life down. And Isaac was willing in that moment to lay his life down.
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Paul Sheppard: And I'm here to tell somebody who's letting God down in their mind and in their heart and in their values and in their priorities, no wonder the enemy is is mopping the street up with you because you've got to lift up and exalt the name of the gods you serve.
Guest (Male): That's tomorrow in our continuing message, Exalting His Name. Until then, remember he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion. In Christ, you are destined for victory.