Sharing good news of great joy to all people.
Elation Church. Today is week number three. Everybody
say week number three. Week number three in our
series that we've entitled, Hello, My Name is
God. Hello, My Name is God. What are names all
about? What's in a name? Each week I've been
giving you examples about what's in a name. So
names signify identity. Everybody say identity.
Names signify identity. And something curious
about me is when I was growing up and I wanted
to play junior high school football in the state
of South Carolina, I had to produce a state birth
certificate. I had a county birth certificate,
but I didn't have a state birth certificate.
So when it came in, it didn't help me much. Because
on my state birth certificate, it said that my
name was No Name Forrest. My parents didn't name
me before we left the hospital. So actually on
my county birth certificate, it says Unnamed
Forrest. On my state birth certificate, it said
No Name Forrest. We had to get that changed,
and to this day, my state birth certificate has
an asterisk on it. And the asterisk lets people
know that my name has been changed from my birth
name. So technically, I'm no name Forrest, even
though I've always gone by Jeffrey Dean Forrest.
Most people just call me Dean. And there's a
name that... has been mine since I was nine years
old, Friday morning when I was nine. I got a
new identity, and that name is that I'm a Christian.
I'm a Christ follower. That's not just something
added on. I mean, that's who I am. That's my
identity now. I am in Christ, and I am following
him. So names signify identity, but names also
signify relationship. I've got a lot of relationship
names. Now, my mom always called me baby. Even
when I was 50 years old and she was introducing
me to people, she would say, this is my baby,
Dean. That's because I was the youngest of four.
I was always the baby. Didn't matter how old
I was. She called me baby. She rarely said my
name. All I heard. was baby most of the time.
That's what mom called me. Now, my dad didn't
call me baby. My dad just called me son. Come
here, son. So, that's a relationship name. In
October of 84, I became a husband. Why did I
say October? I don't know. There I am trying
to be good, and I wasn't good. It's definitely
August. It's August 5th, to be exact. That's
a different testimony. I was called in the ministry
in October of 92, and sometimes October just
comes out. August 5th of 1984, I became a husband.
But Ganna does not call me husband. She does
not say, husband, can we go shopping today? That's
not what she says. Now, here's what she calls
me. Most of the time, when I'm doing good, she
calls me honey. But maybe after me saying October
today, I might not get honey the rest of the
day. I'm not sure. But she calls me honey. In
January 31st of 1992, not October, I became a
father. But Jeffrey, I don't believe, has ever
called me father because we don't live in Great
Britain. Oh, father, can I have $20? No, he doesn't
call me father. He calls me dad. And that kind
of changed. It used to be daddy when he was young,
but then we dropped the D -Y as he got older.
He calls me dad. These are all relationship names.
If I just tell you these names are my names,
you automatically know. that I'm married, that
I've got a child. You learn things about me by
hearing my names. Right? I'm also a brother,
an uncle, a nephew. All those names. Now, names
also signify activity. Activity. Everybody say
identity. Everybody say identity, relationship,
activity. I've got a lot of names that identify
my activities, the things that I've done, what
a person does. I was a student for a lot of years.
I was a cook. My junior year of high school,
I became a cook at Quincy's Steakhouse. They're
not around anymore, but it's not my fault. It
was good food. Does anybody remember the big
fat yeast roll? Anybody ever been to Quincy's?
Big fat yeast roll. I've actually been paid to
run sound at events. I was a custodian at Disney
for a while when we first came down part time.
Been a janitor. My wife and I had a contract
where we would go clean offices. I was a screen
printer. Bought my own equipment and did my own
artwork, made my own screens, screen printed
t -shirts. I was an A &R director. That was before
screen printing t -shirts because that put me
in the face of a lot of singing groups that needed
t -shirts to sell when they went out to sing.
So I was an A &R director at Mark 5 Records.
I still don't know what that means. I know it
means artists and repertoire, but I don't know
what that had to do with my job. I don't know.
I was the vice president of Heartlook Records,
one of our record companies. One day the boss
came in with some business cards that said I
was the vice president of Heartlook. The only
thing was I didn't get a raise. I just got business
cards and a title. I've been the music director
of state and national... organizations. I've
been an event planner. I've rented space and
planned events all over the place. Nashville,
Indiana, Arizona, here in Florida, in South Carolina,
North Carolina, Alabama, Tennessee, I've planned
events. I was a crusade director several times.
I've been the president of state and national
organizations and a non -profit corporation.
I've been the worship leader at events. I guess
the closest thing to a claim to fame is I led
worship in the Ryman Auditorium. Nobody even
said, ooh, ooh. That and about $12 will get you
a cup of coffee at Starbucks. All right. i've
been a conference director we started a conference
that ran for 21 years for students in myrtle
beach over new year's i was an evangelist for
over 20 years i was a chaplain for nine years
i've been a preacher since 1992. Some people
call me preacher. Some people call me preacher
dean. Some people call me pastor. Some people
call me pastor dean. Look to the person beside
you and say, that's a lot of names. That's a
lot of names. That's more than 29 names because
I added a few. 29 names. Now, if you've never
met me before, you just found out a lot about
me and my past by just hearing my activity names.
I found out a lot about me, but I'm just one
person. And in this series, we're looking at,
hello, my name is God, but in the Word of God,
God has given us names to let us know more about
who He is, who He wants to be in relationship
with you and me, what He wants to do, the things
He wants to do for you and for me. We find out
a lot of those things by looking at the names
that He gave us. So we see identity, we see relationship,
we see activity in a name. Psalm 910, this is
our foundational verse for this series. It says
this, And those who know your name will put their
trust in you. For you, Lord, have not forsaken.
Those who seek you. I want you to think about
that. Those who know your name. When we know
who God is, when we know him by name, then we
can put our trust in him. That word trust can
also be translated confidence in English. When
we know who God is, when we know his name, Then
we can have confidence in Him that that's who
He is. That's what kind of relationship He wants
to be in with us. That's what He wants to do
in our lives. We find that out when we know His
name. And we can have confidence because of the
second half of this verse. We can have complete
confidence because God has not forsaken. He has
not turned His back. On anyone. He doesn't do
that. He will never leave you. He will never
forsake you. I'm sure in your life you might
have experienced sometimes when you thought that
God was not there when you were going through
some difficult times. We all go through difficult
times. I've been in that place before. I was
like, God, where are you at? I'm hurting. I'm
in trouble. Where are you at? But God did not
forsake me during those times. And I can tell
you that He didn't forsake you. Because God does
not forsake those who seek Him. Sometimes when
I felt abandoned and all alone, it's because
I wasn't seeking God. I was so overwhelmed by
what I was facing that I wasn't even thinking
about God. I see about three heads shaking. Does
anybody else know what I'm talking about? Listen.
When you know who He is, you can put your trust,
you can put your confidence in Him. And you can
be so confident knowing that He will not turn
His back on you. He will not forsake you when
you are seeking Him based on who He says He is.
That's good preaching. That's my amen button
that the church gave me for my birthday. I just
hit it every once in a while. Hello, my name
is God. Let's look at the name that we're looking
at today. We started out with Elohim. Everybody
say Elohim. And Yahweh. Everybody say Yahweh.
And last week we looked at Yahweh Shalom. Everybody
say Yahweh Shalom. He is our peace. Today we're
looking at Jeremiah 23, verses 5 and 6. For the
time is coming, says the Lord, when I will raise
up a righteous descendant from King David's line.
He will be a king who rules with wisdom. He will
do what is just and right throughout the land.
And this will be his name. You ready? The Lord
is our righteousness. Notice that this doesn't
say, the Lord is righteous. We would all agree
with that, right? He is righteous. But, when
Jesus came, this is a prophetic verse talking
about Jesus. It said, His name is... The Lord
is our righteousness. And this is Yahweh in the
Hebrew. Yahweh Sidkenu. Go ahead and try your
Hebrew. Yahweh Sidkenu. He did great. Did great.
That's his name. That's who he is. That's what
he wants to do for you and for me. Yahweh is
his name. Sid Canoe is what he gives. I am is
our right. That's a direct translation from the
Old Testament. I am is our right. So I can say
it personally. I am is my right. I am is my right.
God's name, Yahweh's Sidkenu, takes us somewhere.
It takes us from works -based righteousness to
gift -based righteousness. That's so good, I'm
going to say it again. God's name takes us from
works -based righteousness to gift -based righteousness.
This changed my life when I found this out. I've
never been the same since I found this out. Works
righteousness is I'm achieving righteousness
through my actions. I'm just struggling to be
right with God. You know, have you ever said
about somebody, they're just not right with God?
Have you ever thought that about yourself? I'm
just not right with God. Well, if you're depending
on your ability to perform, you will never be
right with God. You can look through the Bible.
No one has ever been right with God based on
their ability to perform. No one except one,
and his name's Jesus. He's the only one. The
only one. Now, this might be hard for some of
us to swallow, but go ahead and say this. In
Christ. I am righteous. See, there was a time
when I probably couldn't say that, I couldn't
stand and say, I'm righteous. See, no one but
Jesus has been righteous based on His ability
to perform. So God's name. I am is my right that
moves me from looking at my ability to be right
with God to me receiving God's righteousness
as a gift. When we're in Christ, here's what
it means. It means that we've been declared innocent.
Not that we've just been declared not guilty.
We've been declared innocent. Like it was never
there. Like your sin never took place. Now when
I look in the mirror, I say, well, I've sinned
a lot. But when God looks at me, He says, innocent.
It's like I've never even sinned. And we're declared
innocent when we're in Christ. In Old Testament
and New Testament, we could say this. Righteousness
is a gift for everyone who is in faith and everyone
who is in Jesus. Now I'm going to prove it. 2
Corinthians 5 .21 For God made Christ, who never
sinned, to be the offering for our sin, for your
sin, for my sin, Right with God. We could be
made right with God through Christ. I remembered
this. I memorized it. I am the righteousness
of God in Christ Jesus. If you've memorized that,
and we memorize different versions, listen to
that good news. Jesus, who never sinned, became
the offering for your sin. So that you could
be made right with God in Him, through Him. That's
just almost too good to be true news, isn't it?
Romans 4, 7 and 8. Oh, what joy for those whose
disobedience is forgiven, whose sins are put
out of sight. Yes, what joy for those whose record
the Lord has cleared of sin. There's no book
in heaven with your sins written down in it.
Some of you are like a calf looking at a new
gate. Somebody smile. Because if you're in Christ,
There is no record of my sin in heaven. Because
my sin was put on Jesus on the cross. I used
to be afraid that I was going to get to heaven
and there was going to be a big book come out
and every sin that I ever committed is going
to be in this book and I'm going to have to deal
with that before I enjoy heaven. Has anybody
ever thought there's going to be a video? and
it's just going to show everything you've met,
everything. And not only are you going to see
it, everybody else is going to see it too. I
don't know where in the world preachers come
up with such nonsense. Oh, what joy! For those
whose disobedience is forgiven, whose sins are
put out of sight. Guess what? Joy for those whose
record the Lord has cleared of sin. God saved
you by His grace when you believed. And you can't
take credit for this. It's a gift from God. Salvation
is not a reward for the good things we have done.
So none of us can boast about it. None of us
can boast about it. We're saved by grace through
faith. God's grace, most of the time we just
say unmerited favor. But I'm not sure that we
grasp How big that is. Grace is God's unmerited.
That means we don't earn it, work for it, or
deserve it. It's His acts. It's His actions of
kindness and favor towards you and towards me.
Just like sin never happened. I don't know what
it'd take for some of you to smile. If you're
not smiling now, I don't know how to make you
smile. Because this is good. Romans 4, 4 and
5. When people work, their wages are not a gift.
I used to have jobs, and when payday came, I
was looking for my paycheck. Because I've worked,
and now I want my paycheck. I'm thankful that
that doesn't work that way with God. Because
I've done a lot of work that deserves a bad paycheck.
But God, through His mercy, says, no. You're
not going to get that paycheck. Because I don't
see that. I've dismissed that. I've cleared that.
I've declared that you are innocent. And here's
why. Because when I look at you, I see the blood
of Christ. I see Jesus dying for your sin on
the cross. I don't see your sin anymore. I see
the sacrifice that was given for your sin. When
people work, their wages are not a gift, but
something they have earned. But people are counted
righteous not because of their work, but because
of their faith. Everybody say faith. Because
of their faith in God who forgives sinners. Genesis
15, 6. Abraham believed the Lord. Everybody say
faith. Abraham believed the Lord and the Lord
counted him. as righteous because he was a really
good person. Is that what it says? Not what it
says. The Lord counted Abram, who we know as
Abraham, counted him as righteous because of
his faith. How simple does it need to be for
us to take hold of it? Righteousness is received
by faith. Like all of God's grace gifts, like
all of God's promises in His Word, they're received
by faith. Just like salvation is received by
faith, righteousness is received by faith. What
are the steps of faith? We've done whole series
on this. I'm just reminding you. First of all,
you have to hear it. You have to hear it. I can't
tell you how long I was a follower of Christ
before I heard what I'm telling you today. I
had to hear it. So you hear it. You hear God's
Word. Then you wholeheartedly believe it. Now
even the first time I heard it, I probably didn't
wholeheartedly believe it. Because I had so much...
religious baggage that it was hard for me to
believe it. Does anybody know what I'm talking
about? I praise God for those people who have
no idea what I'm talking about. Because you never
just had all that religious bondage, baggage
to take care of. You don't have things to unlearn.
You can just hear the truth and believe the truth.
But we hear, we believe. Then we begin to put
our words in agreement with what we wholeheartedly
believe. So we look in the mirror and look at
ourselves and say, I'm the righteousness of God
in Christ Jesus. I am right with God. God's not
ashamed of me. God's not mad at me. God doesn't
have a big list of everything I've ever done
wrong in heaven to bring up to me. No, He separated
that as far as the east is to the west. That's
what the Bible says. So every time I start feeling
condemned or feeling shame or feeling guilt and
feeling condemnation, I need to go to what I've
heard and what I've believed and I need to speak
that. Are you with me? And then I need to receive
it. I need to hold on to it. I need to act like
it's so. Act like it's real. Isaiah 61 .10 I
am overwhelmed with joy in the Lord my God. You
know why we're... Overwhelmed with joy. You know
why you can be overwhelmed with joy in the Lord
your God? Because He has dressed me with the
clothing of salvation. And draped me in a robe
of righteousness. It's a great exchange of salvation.
Because my righteousness was like filthy rags
before I came to Christ. No matter how good I
tried to be, it was like filthy rags. But when
I came to Christ, I took off my righteousness
and received His righteousness. He gave me the
clothing of salvation. He draped me in a robe
of righteousness. I'll take it too. So give for
righteousness is not doing right or trying to
be right in our flesh. Give for righteousness
is just being right because God has declared
us right. It's putting on right clothing. Right
clothing. John 16, 8. When He, the Holy Spirit,
comes, this is before Pentecost. When He, the
Holy Spirit, comes, He will convict the world
of its sin. Does anybody remember that day that
you were convicted of your sin? You're convicted.
He will convict the world of its sin. And of
God's righteousness. And of the coming judgment.
The world's sin is that it refuses to believe
in me. And listen. Righteousness is available
because I go to the Father and you will see me
no more. This is what the Holy Spirit does. He
convicts us of our sin, but he doesn't just condemn
us in our sin. He convicts us, and then he says,
hey, you're a sinner, and your sin separates
you from a holy God. All have sinned and fallen
short of the glory of God. The wages of sin is
death. But I've got some good news for you. Righteousness
is available. That's the work of the Holy Spirit
in this earth. He does a lot more things for
us too, but this is the beginning. Righteousness
is available. Righteousness is available through
Christ's finished work on the cross. To become
right with God, that's the first step of receiving
God's righteousness. And the second step is to
be right with God. To be free from the guilt
and the shame and the condemnation of sin. You
can be free. You can be free. According to God's
Word, when I'm in Christ, I'm clothed in Christ's
righteousness. My record has been cleared. And
then I can reject shame, guilt, and condemnation.
And I can receive righteousness by faith, just
like Abraham, just like every Christ follower.
Righteousness is available. I was hoping I had
another slide, but if it comes up later, it's
okay, because I just need to say it now. My whole
experience with God changed. When I found out
who he was. It changed. The two. That's why we
started with him. The two compound names of God.
Yahweh Shalom. And Yahweh Sidkenu. Completely
changed my life. I accepted Christ when I was
nine years old. My dad's a preacher. So I was
at the church every time the doors were open.
And we didn't just have a Sunday morning service.
We had Sunday morning. Well, first we had Sunday
school. Then we had Sunday morning preaching.
And then we had a discipleship training. And
then we had an evening service. And then we had
a Wednesday night service. And then at least
twice a year, we had revival, which was Sunday
night, our Sunday morning, Sunday night, Monday
night, Tuesday night, Wednesday night, Thursday
night, Friday night. And I was at every one of
them. And then we would have special events.
You know, Vacation Bible School was Monday, Tuesday,
Wednesday, Thursday, Friday. I was there. I never
missed. But I missed Yahweh's Shalom and Yahweh's
Sidkenu. Because I spent years with my religious
experience. I was just focused on my ability
to perform. And that's what my whole experience
was. Every Sunday, I just... thought about every
Sunday night, Sunday school, discipleship training,
Wednesday night, every time I was at church,
I was just like, boy, I really messed up. I've
messed up. You know, my attitude, the things
that I say, what I've done. God is so disappointed
in me. And I would just think, I constantly thought,
about how sorry I was. I'm just a sorry Christian.
Because I keep messing up. I'm serious. Always
under guilt. Always under shame. Always under
condemnation. That may be why some people get
to the point where they don't even want anything
to do with church anymore. Because all it does
is make them feel bad. I mean, it's not that
my dad preached condemnation. It's just, that's
just all I ever thought about. I've been into
some churches that actually preach condemnation
and shame and guilt. My dad wasn't that kind
of preacher, but that's just what my experience
with God was just always about. But then I found
out that I can have peace. I found out in Romans
8 .1 that now there's therefore no condemnation
for those who are in Christ. I found out those
things. And it took me a little while to, I like
to call it, kicking over the sacred cows. You
know what I mean? I mean, it's like all these
religious entrapments that I was in. I mean,
it took me a while to shake it off. But I'm here
today to tell you that I'm free. I'm free. Now,
some people listen to messages like this and
they think, well, preacher, you know, you're
just giving people a license to sin by what you're
saying. Has anybody ever heard that phrase before?
Or is it just preachers that hear that phrase?
You're just giving everybody a license to sin
if you tell them that God is their righteousness
and it doesn't have to do with their ability
to keep the rules. You're just telling people
to just go be as wild as they can possibly be.
That's not what I'm saying. If you taste and
see that the Lord is good, if you get a hold
of what He did for you, what Jesus did for you
on the cross to become your righteousness, you
don't want to go live a wild and loose life.
I mean, Paul even said, Should we go on sinning
that grace would abound? Some of the strongest
language in the Bible is no way. We'd never do
that. If that's what you take this message to
mean, you don't even know the grace of God. You've
never got a hold of that. But I became free.
And my... My religious experience moved from
looking at me all the time to looking at God
and looking at other people. Because when I was
focused on my inability to perform, I was pretty
useless for the kingdom of God. Because I was
just self -focused all the time. I mean, it was
a bad way, but I was just looking at me all the
time. God doesn't want us that way. He doesn't
want you that way. To just be focused on yourself
and your inability to perform all the time. That's
not what God wants. That doesn't please God.
Because if that's the way you're living, you
know what? You haven't got a hold of who he is
yet. And I'm telling you today that he is the
I am. who is your right, and you need to hear
it, you need to wholeheartedly believe it, you
need to put your words in agreement with it,
and you need to act like it's true. Romans 14,
17. I quote this one a lot. I rarely have it
on the screen. Kingdom of God, the eternal rule
and reign of God, is not eating and drinking
because they have a lot of rules. Everybody say
rules. Rules. What they could eat, what they
couldn't eat, what they could drink, what they
couldn't drink. Judaism. They had a lot of rules.
But the Holy Spirit tells us through Paul that
the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking.
It's not about just being so concerned about
the rules. It's not what it's about. Here's what
it's about. It's about righteousness. It's about
peace. It's about joy in the Holy Spirit. And
if your religious experience is not focused on
gift righteousness and the peace of God that
surpasses all understanding and the joy that
we can have in the Holy Spirit, well then, you're
focusing on the wrong things. Because that's
what the kingdom of God is about. So here's the
DFV of the verse I just read. You don't know
what DFV means. That means Dean Forrest Version.
Just expanding that verse. Commentary on the
verse that I just read. When we have confidence
in Yahweh Shalom and take hold of His peace,
That is beyond understanding. He is your peace.
If the only peace you have is dependent on what's
going on around you, all you have is the world's
peace. You don't have the peace of God. There's
a peace that's greater than that. There's a peace
that is beyond my understanding, beyond the understanding
of humanity. that you can have even when nothing's
going right. There's a peace that you can have.
I mean, this past Tuesday, I preached my sister's
funeral. There's a peace that you can have. There's
a peace. It's who God is. Jesus has given you
His peace. And it's who He is. You can have it.
But you have to receive it by faith just like
you receive salvation by faith. You have to receive
Yahweh's shalom by faith. That that's who He
is. That's what He wants to do for you. That's
what He has given you. And then now you hear
it. You believe it. You put your words in agreement
with it. And you receive it. When we have confidence
in Yahweh Shalom and take hold of His peace,
it is beyond understanding. And have confidence
in Yahweh Tzidkenu to embrace this freedom that
I'm talking about. The freedom of God's gift
righteousness. When you take hold of both of
those things by faith, Listen, you will overflow
with joy in the Holy Spirit. Just letting you
think about it a second. I know you're ready
to go home thinking about what you're going to
eat and all that kind of stuff. This is bigger
than that. This is spiritual food that will carry
you a long time. When you have confidence in
Yahweh Shalom, take hold of His peace. that is
beyond understanding, to have confidence in Yahweh's
sick canoe, to embrace the freedom of God's gift
righteousness, you're going to overflow with
joy in the Holy Spirit. And you're still not
smiling. Joy is not deep and hidden. That's not
what the word in the Bible means. It doesn't
mean that it's deep and hidden. It means that
it's expressed. Those who know your name, those
who know that God is Yahweh Sidkenu, those who
know that God is their righteousness, will put
their trust and put their confidence in it. knowing
that He will not forsake them, He will not turn
His back on them. You can hold on as the righteousness
of God in Christ Jesus. When we trust and have
complete confidence in Yahweh's sick canoe, here's
that slide I was looking for. When we trust and
have complete confidence in Yahweh's sick canoe,
our focus moves. From our ability to perform,
which is works righteousness, to our place in
the kingdom of God, which is gift righteousness.
This online worship experience was brought to
you by the friends and partners of Eulation Church.