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Good morning, my name is Dan and I'd like to welcome you to Harbor West today if

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this is your first time we're glad you come. I would like to welcome the ladies

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back from their women's retreat I heard it was a great time. I heard there was

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not a ton of sleep but a lot of fun and a lot of awesome stuff going

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on so it's great to have you guys back. We got a lot to get through so if you

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will you go ahead and turn in your Bibles to Exodus chapter 20. Exodus

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chapter 20 if you're using one under the chair in front of you it's on page 64.

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Like I said my name is Dan I'm not one of the pastors here but we'll talk about

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why I'm up here in a little bit. Exodus 20 page 64 as you're turning there I

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just want to talk about some names. Yeah names are important. My wife and I we

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have three kids. My wife's her name is Danielle and our kids names are

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Kalissa, Daniel, and Jeremiah. And their names are important and their

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names mean something. Calissa her name means "most beautiful" and my wife was the

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one who picked out that name. Daniel his name means "God is my judge" and I'll let

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you guess who picked out that one. And then Jeremiah he means his name means

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"the Lord is exalted" and my wife picked out that one too. I got one though. Each

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of my kids they have a nickname. What kind of sorta? Kalissa her nickname is

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Callie but she also has a special name a name that I get to call her and that's

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Swedish Fish. How we got Swedish Fish it's a long story but that's my nickname

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my special name for her. Daniel we call him Dan. When he was little we called him

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Danboy but now he's taller than me and he's faster than me and and so I mean

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can't really call him Dan boy anymore. He prefers to be called The Cooler Dan so

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if you see him you can feel free to call him the cooler Dan. Jeremiah though we

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we don't really have a nickname for him. We tried coming up with one like the

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Jeremy didn't really work but I still was like I was like you know I want him

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to have a special name. And so I actually I developed instead of a name a

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special name I developed a whistle for him and this was before I had seen the

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Sound of Music and I realized it was socially unacceptable to call your kids

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by a whistle but even to this day I have a special whistle for him and thankfully

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he actually skipped out on the service now so he doesn't have to hear me talk

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about it because sometimes maybe a little embarrassing but anyway when he

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was little I actually spent almost 20 months away on an unaccompanied tour in

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Honduras and my wife and I we did something though about seven months and I

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was able to come home and she picked me up at the airport and I was able to

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surprise him at school and he was in he was in pre-k at the time so he was

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sitting in his class just you know paying attention listening to the

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teacher just you know being being very a very good student and I walked up to the

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edge of the door and I did his whistle I was I went like this I was like I'm

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sorry and he heard it and he looked to the door and he was like dad and he like

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sprinted to me as fast as he could and it is literally like my favorite memory

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of him as a little kid and it was a very special memory for us funny story that

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real quick funny story at the end of the 20 months I came home again and my wife

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we did the same thing we picked him up and or she picked me up at the at the

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airport we took me to the school they're actually doing their field day there

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there are a couple teachers who never saw like a reunion between a soldier and

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the kids and they're all this is gonna be great this is gonna be awesome and

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they had their phones out my kids they're like oh hi dad and whatever it's

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okay but I have that memory from when he was a little kid real little all that to

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say though our names are important our names they often say something about us

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but our names also represent us to other people and their names are the way we

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recognize other people by their names and and can you actually say you know

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somebody if you don't know their name today we're going to talk about the name

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of our God about his name how it's an important name it's a valuable name it's

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a name we must all know and some name we must all call call upon but it's also a

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name that we must respect honor or revere in many ways we should fear so

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look at Exodus 20 and starting it we're gonna read the first two verses and then

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skip through to to our verse today Exodus 20 says the Lord I'm sorry then

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God spoke all these words I am the Lord your God who brought you out of the land

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of Egypt out of the place of slavery now skip to our verse today it's verse 7 do

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not misuse the name of the Lord your God because the Lord will not leave anyone

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unpunished who misuses his name let's pray

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as we sang about your name and we think about your name oh Lord we pray that

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you would help us to see it with reverence to believe in it to look to

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you the one your name represents may we uphold your name with honor and respect

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oh Lord may we live it out may we carry your name like a banner of our lives in

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such a way that others see it and they want to know you more and Lord I pray

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as we dig into your word may your name be glorified in our hearts and in our

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minds and may the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be

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pleasing to you oh Lord our rock and our Redeemer we pray these things in your

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most precious name in Jesus name amen all right that says 20 verse 7 says do

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not misuse the name of the Lord your God that begs the question then what is his

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name what is his name in Exodus chapter 3 Moses was up shepherding his father

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his father-in-law's flock and he's out in the wilderness just leading the sheep

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through the wilderness and he got it gets up on top of a mountain and he

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sees a bush on fire and he says I gotta go check out this bush why is it not

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being burnt up and he goes over to the bush and then God starts talking out of

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the bush to remember a couple weeks ago Justin talked about how important and

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amazing it is that God actually speaks to us so here God is speaking out of a

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bush and he commissions Moses to go to Egypt and lead the people of Israel out

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of slavery out of Egypt Moses initially asked two questions and I think that

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maybe later today should go home and read this Exodus chapter 3 because it's

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pretty interesting the first question he asks is who am I who am I and when you

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read Exodus 3 you'll see God's response it's funny like I said because God

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doesn't respond to his question God answers the question with I am with you

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see God was actually addressing his need more than he was addressing his question

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Moses needed more than just knowing who he was who Moses was he needed to know

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who God was and he didn't know that God was going to be with him then Moses

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asked the question that we asked today he said okay so what is your name when

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you think about it God Almighty didn't necessarily have to say his name he just

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says he could have just said do what I told you to do right but he said his

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name and I have it here on the screen Exodus 3 verse 14 and 15 it says God

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replied to Moses I am who I am this is what you are to say to the Israelites I

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am has sent me to you God also said to Moses say to the Israelites the Lord the

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God of your ancestors the God of Abraham the God of Isaac the God of Jacob has

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sent me to you this is my forever name this is how I'm to be remembered in

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every generation if you look at God's response the first was a self declaration

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I am who I am he is God he is the everlasting one self he's um excuse me

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sorry let me figure out where I was in my notes oh yeah he's self-existent not

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dependent upon anyone or anything he is who he is he is God and as we read

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through scripture we learn that he's the same yesterday today and tomorrow he

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won't he's the one who is who was and is to come he's the Almighty he's the Alpha

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and the Omega the beginning and the end and he says this is how I want to be

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remembered through every generation he says this is my name the Lord is my name

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the Lord that's how our English Bibles translate the Hebrew word YHWH sometimes

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we say as Yahweh or Yehovah but that's the name that God reveals himself here

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and at the root of the word YHWH which we say the Lord is the same word for I

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am the self-existent one the God the Creator the one who is not dependent

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upon anyone or anything and then throughout scripture and God reveals his

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name often associated with his different attributes that he has sometimes it's

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simply just called God Genesis 1 John 1 he simply just says God and that is his

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name sometimes it's God Almighty if you read through Abraham oftentimes he will

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talk about in Genesis he'll talk about God Almighty God Almighty sometimes

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you'll hear the name El Shaddai that's what that means El Shaddai is God

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Almighty he's also the everlasting God and he also reveals himself as the Lord

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our healer the Lord our provider the Lord our banner and the Lord our Creator

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and then check this out in the New Testament we talked about this a couple

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weeks ago he revealed his name as Jesus which is the Lord saves he also is Jesus

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Christ the Lord saves the Anointed One the Promised One and then Jesus in

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Matthew 28 he reveals his name more fully as the Father the Son and the Holy

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Spirit we call this the Trinity Trinity is not in the Bible but it's the word we

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use to describe our God being one being and yet three persons the Father the Son

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and the Holy Spirit it sometimes is a difficult concept to understand and I

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think we can think about it deeply and we should think about it deeply and as

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you think about it you're gonna realize that our one God in three persons lives

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in perfect unity and perfect harmony and perfect relationship and that is

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important because it's part of who he is it's a part of him being God it's a

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part of his name the Lord is his name and each of these each of these names

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listed up here they're an acceptable way to refer to our God so then the question

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becomes now that we know his name is how do we misuse his name before we get to

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that though look at look at Genesis I'm sorry Exodus 20 verse 1 and 2 look at

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those verses real quick the first two verses says then God spoke all these

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words what's verse 2 what's the first thing he says look at verse 2 he says

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his name right I'm the Lord he says his name and I think that's of utmost

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importance for us to remember that the foundation for the commands is his name

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the foundation for his commands is a relationship God wants to be known he

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wants us to know him and that is absolutely essential for us to

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understand that obedience comes after relationship just like Justin talked

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about two weeks ago right that the Israelites were in slavery God led them

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out of slavery brought them out of slavery and then he gave them command

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freedom comes first freedom from slavery for the Israelites actual slavery from

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us freedom from sin the relationship comes first knowing God knowing who he

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is that relationship comes first but then there's the command right there's

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the relationship and then the command he says do not misuse my name do not misuse

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the name of the Lord your God so how do we misuse it I'm not gonna give you an

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all-inclusive list I think we can spend time thinking about this and we should

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spend time thinking about how we can miss you how we end up misusing God's

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name but I'm gonna give you a couple examples to help kind of to point it out

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with oh one and I think this is the most common way that we misuse it or we we

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think people misuse it is with a lack of respect and this is certainly true when

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we when we do not hold God's name is holy and reverent and valuable like we

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should when we misuse his name with and we use his name with a lack of respect

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we certainly misuse his name this is most clearly seen usually when people

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use his name as a curse word when when they say the name of our God and then

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they wish damnation upon something or someone but they say in the name of

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Jesus Christ and wish damnation on something or someone or sometimes they

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just use his name as a curse the name of God the holy name that we should lift up

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above our lives and they use it as a curse you know our God is the Creator

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God who wants to have a relationship with us he wants us to know him he wants

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us to know him as the creator the healer the provider the sustainer the God

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Almighty he wants us to know him and yet some people use his name so flippantly

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and without respect and without honor that it's due another way we misuse

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God's name is when we use it just to emphasize something we're saying

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sometimes we do that to emphasize like shock we feel like we'll say oh my god

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or God no sometimes we use it to emphasize the truth of a matter I swear

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to God is that really honoring the name of our God to use it just as emphasis

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to emphasize the truthfulness of what you're saying Leviticus chapter 19 says

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don't swear falsely by my name and then Jesus actually expounds the truth in

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Matthew chapter 5 Jesus says don't even swear by things in heaven or by things

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on earth but let your yes be yes and your no be no let the pattern of your

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speech be such that trustworthy and truthful things come out of your mouth

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not things that you have to add the name of our God to to emphasize it if you

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need to like if you find yourself in a place of shocking you need to call out

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to our God yeah call out his name I was there before I was in a spot one time

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where things were going chaotic and I could share the story with you all I

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could do is say God help and he did but don't use his name just to emphasize

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that you're trying to be truthful about something or show how shocked you are

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about something use his name rightly though another way and this mess this

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may be the most dangerous way to use the name of our God is to falsely claim to

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be a Christian to falsely claim to know him when you really don't look at what

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Jesus taught in Matthew chapter 7 and I have it on the screen it says not

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everyone who says to me Lord Lord will enter the kingdom of heaven but only the

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one that does the will of my Father in heaven on that day many will say to me

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Lord Lord didn't we prophesy in your name drive out demons in your name or do

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many miracles in your name then I will announce that's Jesus speaking I will

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announce to them I never knew you depart from me you lawbreakers you see these

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people they claimed to know God they claim to know the Lord they thought that

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they would be right with God based upon that claim but what was their

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justification for being right with God look at it it says Lord Lord didn't we

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didn't we prophesy in your name didn't we drive out demons and do miracles in

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your name didn't we do this didn't we do this didn't we do this didn't we do all

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of these works and we even did them in your name

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Jesus says I never knew you they were self-dependent self-reliant they were

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saying I'm a good person I do good things therefore I should be right with

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you this may be the worst way to misuse God's name because not only do they

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deceive others but they deceive themselves and the truth is is I was

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guilty of this for a long time I've shared before I misused God's name by

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misrepresenting him by claiming to be a Christian for years and years before I

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actually came to meet Christ so it is possible to look like a Christian to act

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like a Christian to go to church do Christian ease things it is possible to

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even have right theology and yet not know Christ you look at what Jesus said

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in John chapter 6 verse 40 he says this is how you do the Father's will only the

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thought the people who do the Father's will are right with God and it says this

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is the will of my father that everyone who sees the Son everyone who looks to

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Jesus and believes in his name will have eternal life to look to Jesus to believe

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in Jesus to actually have a relationship with God that's what's important that's

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what's important that's what's foundational just like the command the

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relationship with God is foundational right the relationship God is

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foundational for obedience the relationship with Christ is

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foundational to be a Christian

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the third command essentially says do not take my name when you're not one of

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my kids it's kind of like Charlie saying earlier right who the Sun sets free it's

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free indeed they are sons don't claim to be one that you're not there's one more

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way I want to speak about and we misuse God's name when we misrepresent God to

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the world in the original language the the command do not misuse my name or do

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not take my name in vain brings with it the imagery the idea of lifting God's

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name up like a banner like a banner over our lives and what God is saying is do

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not hold my name as a banner over your life in a way that is inconsistent with

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who God is if you think about it people on a parade or a protest they will carry

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a banner over their lives because they want themselves to be associated with

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the cause with the cause that they want to associate themselves with they hold

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it over their lives and that's the same thing that God is saying don't lift up

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my name above your life if you're not part of the cause and also don't lift up

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my name above your life if you're gonna do it in a way that misrepresents me I

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said earlier my name is Dan Kessler that means I'm a Kessler and if you look at

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the screen I have some pictures of me and my dad I carry on his family name I

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actually spent my entire life trying to be just like that guy when I was a kid I

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wanted to have the same haircut as my dad when I was in high school my dad

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played football so I played football my dad he was in the military so you know

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what I did I joined the military I messed up though my dad was in the Air

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Force and I'm in the army but it's okay we're not all perfect right um but

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that's my dad I want to be just like him even in hobbies and my dad's a wood

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worker and I too have taken up the hobby to be a woodworker even to this day I

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want to be just like him if I if I wake up early and read my Bible it's because

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I saw my dad wake up early and read his Bible if I if I give some of my

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belongings to somebody in need it's because I saw my dad give some of his

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belongings to someone in need and if I stand up against injustice it's because

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I saw my dad stand up against injustice but why do I want to represent my dad so

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well is it simply because I'm a Kessler no it's because of a relationship it's

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because the relationship I have with my dad from the earliest times I can

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remember my dad was always there for me teaching me coaching me training me and

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at times even correcting me and even to this day to this very day if I'm doing a

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woodworking project and I can't figure something out you know what I do I call

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my dad I call my dad because it's not about just the name it's about the

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relationship now I'm gonna pause here real quick and say I'm keenly aware

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keenly aware that not everybody has a dad that they can say the same thing to

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I'm keenly aware of that and I want to offer this encouragement that while you

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may not have an earthly father that you can look up to like that we all have a

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heavenly father that we can look up to like that a heavenly father who cares

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for us who loves us who wants a relationship with us who wants us to

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know him and make him known a heavenly father who teaches coaches trains and

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even corrects us a heavenly father who is literally always there for us to call

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upon in our time of need the truth is I don't always represent my dad that well

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sometimes in the morning instead of getting up and reading my Bible I hit

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the snooze button sometimes when I see a need or an injustice sometimes I look

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the other way

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the crazy thing is it's not just my dad that I do this to the truth is is

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sometimes I misrepresent my heavenly father I remember a few good years ago

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is that work and I developed a habit I've developed a bad habit of

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misrepresenting my God by making fun of a particular individual not just the

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typical poke fun at the new guy in the office or make fun of the rook but like

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literally just being unkind to somebody

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and sometimes I would embarrass him you know just call him out single him out

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just embarrass him in front of others I was truly being unkind and then one day

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it was just he and I in the office and he's basically the same distance between

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Craig and I are right here and I was just making fun of him pointing phone of

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him making fun of him and you know what he said to me

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to Dan aren't you a Christian Christian means Christ like one he called me out

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because my actions were anything but Christ like in a moment it was as if a

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baseball bat had hit me square in the stomach I was confronted with the

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reality of what I was doing I took the name of my God the name that this young

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man needs to call upon to be saved the name that I want to fly as a banner over

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my life I took his name and I threw in the mud and I walked on it I misused the

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name of my God do not misuse the name of the Lord your God because the Lord will

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not leave anyone unpunished who misuses his name whether we misuse it by using

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it without respect or emphasizing the truthfulness of a statement whether we

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misuse it as falsely claiming to be something we're not or if we misuse it

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by misrepresenting our God it's punishment and the punishment is strict

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and Leviticus chapter 24 verse 16 it says that whoever blasphemes the name of

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the Lord whoever misuses the name of our God deserves death to misuse the name of

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our God sin and in Romans chapter 6 verse 23 we hear that the wages of sin is

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death the rightful payment the thing that you are do what you deserve is

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death if you look up at the on the screen it's up here it says but the gift

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of God the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord through

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the very one whose name I ran through the mud through the very one whose name

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we treat without honor and respect the very one whose name sometimes people

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falsely call upon the name that people use as a curse word it is that one that

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one who gives us life you see there can actually be freedom from punishment this

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freedom from punishment is based on the actions of another you see there's only

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one person who ever fully kept the entire law there's only one person who

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ever faithfully represented God there's only one person for everything he ever

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said was true and right there's only one person and that person is Jesus Christ

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and when you put your faith in him when you trust in him he took the punishment

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for you and gives you the freedom that he deserves the commands they point to

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our need for another they point to our need for Christ you know it's

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interesting as Charlie mentioned John chapter 8 and in John chapter 8 Jesus

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was actually accused of breaking this very command he was accused of breaking

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this very command and in helping them understand that the differences of who a

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child of Abraham was they acted the Jewish leaders asked what do you know

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about Abraham who do you know do you even know Abraham and in Jesus answer

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was before Abraham was I am he invoked the name of who he is the same name that

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he revealed himself to Moses is the am I am the one who is the self-existent one

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Jesus took that name and if he if he wasn't God then yes this would be the

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hubris of blasphemy but the reality is is he is God proven in his death and his

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resurrection and if we're told that if we confess with our mouth that Jesus is

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Lord that Jesus is the I am that Jesus is God and we believe in our hearts that

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God raised him from the dead it will be saved will be saved from the punishment

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that we all rightfully deserve the punishment that were rightly owed Jesus

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told a story of two men praying in a temple one man was a Pharisee is the

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religious leader and what this one man did is he took all of God's commands he

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put him in neat little boxes and then he checked off those boxes and so he's

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standing in the temple and he's lifting his hands up and he's praying to God

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he's saying God I thank you I thank you that I'm not like that man over there

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who's a sinner there's another guy who's a tax collector we'll talk about him in

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a second he said I thank you God that I'm not like him that I do all these

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things I keep the checkbox I check all these things off I don't have any idols

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I don't have any gods before you I don't use your name like that man over there

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uses your name I thank you God that I'm not like him and then there's a another

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guy the tax collector tax collectors were synonymous with sinners

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synonymous with people who win their turn their back against their people and

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the tax collector was standing in the temple beating on his chest and he's

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crying out God forgive me have mercy on me a sinner he see what they what he did

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is he looked into the righteous law of God and he saw his guilt he saw his guilt

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and he asked for forgiveness he asked for mercy Jesus said which one of the

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two walked away justified it's not the one who falsely represents God it's not

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the one who put the commands of God and neat little boxes that he could check

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off no it's the one who the Word of God came to and pierced his heart and

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convicted him of his sin and the reality that he could never live up to God's

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righteous commands that's the one who walked away justified because he wasn't

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relying on his own works but he was relying on the works of another and the

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best part about it it's not not only are we free from punishment we come God's

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way not only are we free for punishment which is great we're also free to

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represent God if you take the command as it says here do not misuse the name of

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the Lord your God and you say it in the positive it's saying this use my name

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use my name properly you see God wants us to have his name as a banner over our

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lives God wants us to lift up his name over our lives a couple weeks ago I was

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having coffee with a guy and he and I were talking about this command trying

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to we kind of discussed some misconceptions we had especially as

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children about the command and what floored both of us was the reality that

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God actually wants us to hold his name high he actually wants us to lift his

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name up above our lives and it's actually like it's mind-blowing that God

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would want us to do that you know the Creator God could have used his angelic

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mess and job messengers right to come and tell people about him and at times

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he has used that but his primary way that he wants us to do it now is through

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us through you and me those who rightfully fly the banner of Christ over

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our lives he wants us to represent him well

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if you check out 2nd Corinthians chapter 5 I got on the screen verse 17 and then

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we're gonna skip a couple to 20 and 21 it says this if anyone is in Christ he

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has a new creation and then skip to 20 it says therefore we are ambassadors for

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Christ since God is making his appeal through us we plead on Christ's behalf

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be reconciled to God he God made the one who knew no sin Jesus to be sin for us

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he took our sin so that we can have his righteousness so we can become the

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righteousness of God you see it starts in verse 17 it says if anyone's in

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Christ it begins with a relationship the relationship is utmost importance

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looking to Jesus confessing your sins repenting turning to him looking to him

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trusting in him and once you have that relationship then you can be an

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ambassador an ambassador representing a better king representing a better

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kingdom an ambassador who flies the name of his king over his life in the way he

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speaks and the way he lives an ambassador who goes to people and says

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do you know my king do you know my king an ambassador goes to people says the

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table is big there's plenty of room come come into the kingdom you can be an

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ambassador he wants us to be ambassadors for him it starts within a relationship

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and then it's lived out as we are ambassadors for Christ you know our

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church our church has a vision we want to see the name of God lifted high as a

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banner over the islands we want to see the name of God lifted up the people

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throughout the islands are worshiping our God we call it the 1-100 we're

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praying that God would increase the population of believers by 1% of

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the population of Hawaii if God increases that by 1% that means we're

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gonna need a hundred new churches just to meet that need alone and so what

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we're doing is we're preparing for it we're preparing for it by by having what

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we call Harbor you which is what I'm part of and that's why I'm here to

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preach we get we're teaching guys how to be pastors and preachers so that we can

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have more people who are ready to teach and preach when the time comes we're

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preparing for it by giving sacrificially so that when the time comes we'll have

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the financial resources to send out churches as God leads we're preparing

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for it we know that God is gonna is gonna lead we know that God's gonna meet

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the needs and God's gonna prepare but we are getting ready to and while we're

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also desperately praying for it we're desperately praying for it but you see

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the name of God doesn't just get lifted over churches because we have a church

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the name of God that gets lifted over churches because we have people in the

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church who are lifting the name of God over their lives people in the church

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who are representing God well to their world and so we ask this question who is

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your one who's the one person that God has put in your life for you to fly the

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name of Christ over your life and represent to them it's for you to want

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to live your life in such a good way that they may see your good works and

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worship your God by the words that you say and the actions that you do who is

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the one that you're being intentional about reaching after

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maybe maybe it's gonna take a month maybe it's gonna take a year or 10 years

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or 15 years don't give up fly the banner of Christ of your life pray for the

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people that God has put in your life to hopefully so you could bring them to him

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to introduce them to your God maybe you're thinking but who am I funny

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enough right Moses asked the exact same question who am I what was God's answer

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to Moses I'll be with you when Jesus commissioned us to do this very thing

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that I'm talking about to go and make disciples you know what Jesus said I'll

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be with you I'll be with you not about it's not a matter of how much skill you

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have or articulate it you have or if you're able to come up and play an

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instrument it's not about that it's about God being with us it's about Jesus

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being with us well you're like well maybe maybe you're thinking I don't know

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God that much I don't know him that well and that's what we're here for we're

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here to help you learn about God we're here to help you learn how to study your

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Bible how do you read his words and understand what he said because can you

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really know somebody if you don't know their name and can you really know

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somebody if you don't know who they are and what they say but we want to help

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you learn that and we do that through multiple venues in this church

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primarily through our community groups because in the reality is we all need

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community we all need people to partner with us and I'm saying this not to me so

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that we get more community groups bigger we don't have numbers isn't the deal the

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reality is this we all need help we all need we're all gonna fall as we're

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carrying Christ's name over our lives we're all gonna trip we're all gonna

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fall and we need people around us to help us to help pick us up and help

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point us to the one who won't fall community groups who also I mean we had

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our women's retreat this weekend I heard it was a great time right we have a

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women's retreat we have a youth retreat coming back or coming up soon for our

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high schoolers and middle schoolers we have kids ministries we have women's

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Bible studies men's Bible studies about a new men's Bible study about to start

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we're gonna go through the book of James and learn how to apply the Word of God

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to our lives in practical ways starting I think this Saturday there's a new a

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new young adults ministry starting this Saturday as well I think it's a Saturday

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see Sarah if it's not Saturday anyway all that to say there's plenty of ways

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to get involved and to get to know more about our God so that you can then as

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well fly the banner of God over your life in such a way that others would see

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it and believe just remember though it begins with a relationship you got to

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be in relationship with our God and we would love to show you how to do that as

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well look to Jesus trust Jesus know that he's with you you know when the young

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man called me out I I got up across I got up from my chair and walked across

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the room and I said you know what you're right I wasn't being like the one who I

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should be like I wasn't being like Christ will you forgive me because the

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reality is we're all gonna fall short what we do is we point to the one we

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point to the one who never falls short we point them to him and then we go and

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we fly his name of our lives a life that lives in confession and repentance we

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fly his name of our lives so that others may see and others may believe and

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others may come and be part of the kingdom let's pray