Sharing good news of great joy to all people,
Elation Church. Week number eight in our series
that I've entitled, Hello, My Name is God. Everybody
say that with me. Hello, my name is God. I mean,
we all have been to those events where they give
you one of these name tags that look like this,
right? It's a little name tag and you got to
write your name on it. But we're going to be
talking about... We're going to start out by
talking about what names are about. Okay? Just
so we can get our head wrapped around everything
involved in a name. So what is in a name? First
of all, names signify identity. Everybody say
identity. Identity. Now, I've got this story
that the people who have been here in this series,
they already know it, but a lot of you haven't
been here for this series. You know, when I wanted
to play junior high football, anybody play sports?
Any sports player? When I wanted to play junior
high football in the state of South Carolina,
I had to produce a state birth certificate. Okay?
Even though I'd gone through school all the way
from kindergarten on, I had to have a birth certificate.
So we didn't have one, so we ordered it from
the state, and when it came in, I found out that
my name was not the name I had been going by
my whole life. Because I kid you not, you can't
make this stuff up. My South Carolina birth certificate
had no name Forrest on it when it came in. No
name Forrest. So that's why I answered anything.
Because my real name is no name. I didn't find
out until I was like 11, 12 years old. I mean,
that was my official name in the state of South
Carolina. It was No Name Forrest. So I missed
out on the first three weeks of my junior high
football career. And finally got my name changed
on my birth certificate to the name I'd been
going by. See, my parents didn't name me before
we left the hospital. So it just slipped through
the cracks. So my real name now is Jeffrey Dean
Forrest. I guess my real name is no name for
us, but my name is Jeffrey Dean Forrest. My South
Carolina birth certificate has an asterisk on
it signifying that my name has been changed from
my birth name. Go figure. But I'm Jeffrey Dean
Forrest. Most people call me Dean. Most people
call me Dean. I have another identity name that
I want to share with you. And that is that I
am a Christian. And that's just as much my identity
as my given name or my birth certificate name.
Christian is my identity. It's not just a tagged
on description. It's who I am. So names signify
identity. Names also signify relationship. Everybody
say relationship. I've got a lot of names. A
lot of names. My mom, because I was the youngest
of four, always, her entire life and my entire
life, she called me baby. Even when she was introducing
me to someone when I was 50 years old. In my
50s, she would say, this is my baby. Sometimes
she would forget to put Dean on it after that.
She would say, this is my baby. I would say Dean
if she didn't say Dean because I didn't want
everybody to call me baby. My dad never called
me baby. He just called me son. So that's one
of my relationship names. In 1984, I became a
husband. I've been married 40 years. But my wife
doesn't call me husband. She doesn't say, oh,
husband, could you take out the trash? No. Most
of the time. Everybody say most of the time.
Most of the time she calls me honey. Unless I've
aggravated her or irritated her, and then she
doesn't call me honey. Look at the person beside
you and say smile. This is the comedy portion
of the program here, so at least smile. I became
a father in January of 92. That's my son, Jeffrey.
So that's one of my names. One of my relationship
names is I'm a father. But he's never called
me father because we don't live in the UK. Oh,
father, could I have $20? No, he just calls me
dad. He started out calling me daddy, but then
as he got older, you know, we dropped the D -Y,
so he just calls me dad. So I've got other names.
I'm an uncle. I'm a great uncle. I'm a nephew.
I'm a cousin. All of those are relationship names.
Everybody say relationship. Then there are also
names that signify people's activity. Everybody
say activity. What a person does. Has anyone
ever had a business card made at work? And it
would have what you do on the business card.
You know what I'm talking about? So names signify
activity as well. I've got a lot of those names.
I was a student for a very long time. when i
was in high school i was a cook for quincy's
family steakhouse they're now out of business
but it's not my fault they were in business long
after i left i've been a salesman at multiple
businesses i've been a sound man i actually paid
to run sound at events i was a custodian at disney
for a little while when we got here i was also
a trainer and a coordinator there my wife and
i After work, after a real job, we picked up
a job cleaning offices, and we'd go clean offices
three days a week after we got off of our real
job. So we were janitors there. I had my own
screen printing business for a while, screen
printing T -shirts and all that's involved in
that. I was an A &R director for Mark V Records.
You may have never heard of Mark V Records. You
wouldn't have heard of them unless you were into
southern gospel music. So I was the A &R director
at Mark V Records. I actually got a business
card one day when I was at Mark V Sandcastle
Recording Studios. I got a business card one
day that said I was the vice president of Heart
Look Records. We had three record companies,
Mark V, Heart Look, and Evidence. I became the
vice president, but I didn't get a raise. I just
got a business card. I got a vice president title.
I've also been the vice president of State. and
national organizations the music director of
state and national organizations i've been an
event planner i was just talking about planning
an event in indianapolis with the family here
from indiana but i planned events and rented
space all over the united states for events been
a crusade director our ministry we were on the
road for over 20 years and i was a crusade director
we had 31 area -wide crusades and I was the crusade
director at two or three of them. J .T., who's
sitting back there in the back waving at everybody,
his dad was the festival director and crusade
director at all the other ones. I've been the
president of state and national organizations,
president of a nonprofit corporation, been the
worship leader at some events. Me and my family
led worship, and my claim to fame there is I...
We were the worship leaders at the Ryman Auditorium
in Nashville one time, which is a historic place
for those of you who've never heard of the Ryman.
Look at the person beside you and say that and
about $20 will get you a cup of coffee at Starbucks.
All right. Let's see. I've been a conference
director. We had a youth conference called the
Big God Conference where as many as 1 ,900 students
came over New Year's to a conference that we
did. I was an evangelist, like I said, on the
road for 20 years, a chaplain for nine years
at Lakewood Camper Resort. Some people call me
preacher. Some people call me pastor. You can
call me anything. Look at the person beside you
and say, that's a lot of names. Now, if you've
never met me before, you just found out a lot
about me, didn't you? Probably more than you
wanted to know. You found out my abilities and
things that I've done. Because names signify
identity, relationship, and activity. I've shared
with you over 29 names, but I'm just one person.
And this series is about the names of God. And
I want you to realize that even though God has
given us a lot of names, so that we can know
who He is, His identity, we can know His... what
kind of relationship he wants to be in with us,
and we can know his activity, what he wants to
do in our lives by knowing his names. This verse
is very important in the study. Psalm 910 says
this, and those who know your name, everybody
say God's name, those who know your name will
put their trust, See, when we find out who God
is, how he has revealed himself to us, then we
can put our trust in him. That Hebrew word that's
translated trust here in English can also be
translated confidence. So when we know his name,
we can put our trust, we can put our confidence
in him based on who he is, his person. Somebody
smile or say amen or something. Okay. So when
we know Him, we can put our trust and confidence
in Him. And then it says this, For you, Lord,
have not forsaken those who seek you. So when
we seek God based on who He is and who He has
revealed Himself as, then we can be confident
that He's not going to turn His back on us. He's
not going to say, well, you know, I do that for
some people, but I'm not going to do it for you.
I'm going to forsake you, even though I haven't
forsook some other people based on who I am.
No. He has not forsaken those who seek Him. Now,
sometimes we seek Him not knowing that that's
who He is or what He wants to do, and then we
find out that, That seeking is not fulfilled
because God's never made that promise. God's
never identified himself to do that. Are you
with me? It's not just our imagination. It's
based on who he is. And when we seek him based
on who he is, then we know that he's not going
to forsake us. Somebody smile. That ought to
make you smile. Right there. That ought to make
you smile. Hello, my name is God. Today we're
going to focus in on two names of God that are
very close to being the same, but a little bit
different. They have to do with relationship.
Everybody say relationship. Relationship. So,
the first name is this. Jesus said in Matthew
6, 9, talking to His disciples, He said, Pray
like this. Our Father in Heaven. Everybody say,
Our Father. Our Father. Now, that word is the
Greek word... Wait a minute. Sometimes I put
the wrong... I put the accent on the wrong syllable.
But you don't speak Greek anyway, probably. But
I believe it's pater. Pater. You'd look at it
and say patter, but it's pater. I don't know
if I'm pronouncing it right or not. I'm just
trying. Pater. Father. Now, the New Testament
brings greater emphasis and deeper revelation
on God being our Father than in the Old Testament.
Father is used as a name for God only 15 times
in the Old Testament. But it occurs, get this,
at least 245 times in the New Testament. God
being your father. Now, when you say God is a
father, that messes some people up. Because their
only understanding of a father is based on their
earthly father. And that's the only concept that
they have. And when you compare our heavenly
father with our earthly father, you know what?
Some earthly fathers are absent. Some earthly
fathers are abusive. Some earthly fathers are
neglecting. In a room this size, there are people
who have experienced earthly fathers that this
would be a good description of. That they were
absent, abusive, or neglecting. I'm not going
to make you raise your hand. Alright? But some
of you know exactly what I'm talking about. And
I want to tell you this, even if you had a great
father, You know, even the best earthly father
is still limited. They're limited in ability
and their resources. There's a limit. But when
we look at God being our father, you know what?
Nothing is too big for him. Nothing is too hard
for him. Nothing is beyond. His ability. Hello,
somebody. I need to put a mirror up here so you
can see your faces. I mean, you need to smile
at least every once in a while. Because the kingdom
of God is about righteousness, peace, and joy
in the Holy Spirit. So if you've got joy in the
Holy Spirit like we were singing about, it's
good to remind your face that every once in a
while. We have joy. But even the best earthly
followers are limited, but God is limitless.
He's a good father. He's a good father. And a
good father always loves. A good father always
leads. A good father always provides. And a good
father always protects. Those are some signs
of a good father. And God is a good father. Jesus
preached on this parable. I don't know, even
since Christmas and another series, I brought
this parable up, but that's okay. I believe we
can look at the same text every week for at least
two or three months and not exhaust it. Because
the Word of God is living and powerful and effective.
I need an amen right there. Amen. Alright. Let's
take a look at this familiar story. Don't tune
out on me because you're familiar with it. Luke
15, verses 11 through 24. A certain man had two
sons. And the younger of them said to his father...
Now, I'm going to go ahead and bring this out.
I believe this parable has more to do with God
than it does with the sons. Most of the time
when we look at this parable, we just focus on
the sons. And we're going to talk about the sons
because the sons represent us. It represents
our two misaligned relationships with God. Let's
put it that way. So it represents how messed
up we can be. But most importantly, it represents
God, our Father. Certain men had two sons. A
younger of them said to his father, Father, give
me the portion. of goods that falls to me. Give
me my inheritance. So he divided to them his
livelihood. Not many days after, the younger
son gathered all together, journeyed to a far
country, and there wasted his possessions with
prodigal living. But when he had spent all, there
arose a severe famine in that land. And he began
to be in want. Then he went and joined himself
to a citizen of that country, and he sent him
into his fields to feed pigs, swine. And he would
gladly have filled his stomach with the pods
that the swine ate, and no one gave him anything.
Has anyone ever been around pigs? We had some
pigs when I was growing up. and we had a slop
bucket. Has anybody ever had pigs in a slop bucket?
You take all your leftover food and all the parts
of the vegetables, really, that you don't want
to eat, and you throw them in a slop bucket under
the sink. I don't know if the slop bucket ever
got washed, but I can still smell it. And that's
been over 50 years ago. I can still smell it.
But we had a slop bucket, and then when that
slop bucket would fill up, we'd take it out to
the pigs and throw it in the pig pen, and pigs
will eat anything. They will eat anything. So
this boy was taking care of pigs, and he was
so hungry, he wanted to eat out of the slop bucket.
Somebody say, yuck. He would have gladly eaten
what the pigs ate. But he couldn't even eat that,
so he was very hungry. But when he came to himself,
he said, how many of my brothers, I'm sorry,
how many of my father's hired servants have bread
enough and to spare? And I perish with hunger.
I will arise and go to my father, and I will
say to him, Father, I have sinned against heaven
and before you, and I am no longer worthy to
be called your son. Make me like one of your
hired servants. And he arose and came to his
father. But when he was still a great way off,
his father saw him and had compassion. Everybody
say compassion. And ran. Everybody say ran. And
ran and fell on his neck and kissed him. So when
the father saw the son coming over the horizon,
I can't help but think that he probably looked
out over that horizon every day that his son
was gone. Because his love for his son was so
great. He was saying, is today the day? Is today
the day? And my son's going to come home? What
great love. And the son said to him, Father,
I have... He did his rehearsed speech. Father,
I have sinned against heaven and in your sight.
I'm no longer worthy to be called your son. But
the father, notice that he didn't even acknowledge
what his son said. Because that was his son.
He loved his son. I mean, If I was writing this
story, I'd say, well, you know what? I told you
you were going to mess up. I told you you were
doing the wrong thing. I told you that this wasn't
going to work out too good. So tell me how miserable
you've been. Right? Even a good earthly father
would probably, you know, call out a little bit.
I mean, I think I'm a pretty good dad, but I
would probably call him out a little bit. I know
you're in church, and you would say you would
never do that because you're in church. But if
you weren't in church, just think about this
story. If you were not in church, how would you
respond to a child that ran away and wasted all
of his inheritance and came back smelling like
pigs? And remember, this is a Jewish family,
and you know what they think about pigs, right?
But the father said to his servants, didn't even
acknowledge what his son said. His father said
to his servants, bring out the best robe. He
didn't say go get the hose pipe and a brush and
wash him down. He said go get the... Come on,
somebody. Bring out the best robe. That robe,
the one, you know which one I'm talking about.
Put it on him. Put a ring on his hand. Sandals
on his feet. Bring the fatted calf here and kill
it. And let's eat and be merry. For this my son
was dead and is alive again. He was lost and
is found. And they began to be merry. This is
a picture of God. And God is a loving father.
God is a running father. I talk to people all
the time and they're like, I've messed up and
God's mad at me. Have you ever felt that way
before? Come on, let's be honest. You know, I've
messed up again and God has to be disappointed
in me because I've let him down again. God has
to be mad at me. God's out to get me now. A lot
of times when... When bad things happen because
we live in a fallen world and it rains on the
just and the unjust, a lot of times we say, oh,
that's God getting me. It's God getting me back
because of what I've done. But that's not God.
God's a loving Father. God's a running Father.
He's just waiting on you to turn to Him. He's
waiting on you to come to your senses. And He's
going to run to you just like this parable Jesus
said. He wants us to know who the Father is.
And religion will tell you that the Father is
mean. He's out to get you. He's putting all this
bad stuff on you to teach you something because
you did that wrong thing. That's what religion
will tell you. But Jesus in this story is saying,
no, the Father... will run to you, hug you. He
won't even listen to that talk about your unworthiness.
Because you've been made worthy not based on
your ability to perform, but you've been made
worthy by what Jesus did on the cross. If we
can only be in right relationship. With our Father.
James 4 .8 says, draw near to God and He'll draw
near to you. You turn to God, He'll run to you.
That's what the Bible says and teaches. God is
a restoring Father. He's a restoring Father.
By calling for that robe, you know, His Son said,
I'm no longer worthy to be called your son. The
father didn't even acknowledge that. He said,
go get the robe. And when you study in the language,
it's like he's talking about a specific robe.
He's talking about a family robe. He's talking
about a son's robe, that robe. You know the one
I'm talking about. That's all included in this
language. And here's what he did. He didn't wash
him up. He smelled like pigs. It was nasty, dirty.
But when he came back home, the father put that
robe on him. And that robe covered all the filth
and dirt, all of his mistakes. When you're in
Christ and when you come to Christ, you're clothed
in the righteousness of Christ. That's what you're
robed in. That's what the Bible tells us. I'm
not just making this up. He covers us with a
robe of righteousness. And the garments of salvation
is what the verse says. And the robe of righteousness.
And in the ring. He put a ring on his finger.
He was immediately restored to the authority
that he had walked away from. Immediately restored.
He didn't have to grovel and work his way up.
No, he's immediately restored. Put shoes on his
feet. How many of you like to wear shoes, especially
in the hot sun in Florida with asphalt? Aren't
you glad you have on shoes on hot days when the
asphalt is 120 degrees? Shoes made his walk.
He didn't have asphalt, but he had rocks and
dirt and all that. Shoes made his walk and his
work easier. Let's everybody say this with me.
God is a good father, a loving father, a running
father, a restoring father. That's who He is.
Now let's look at the other son. Meanwhile, the
older son was in the fields working. When he
returned home, he heard music and dancing in
the house. And he asked one of the servants,
What's going on? Your brother is back. He was
told, and your father has killed the fattened
calf. We are celebrating because of his safe
return. Let's be happy. The older brother was
not happy. He was angry. He wouldn't go in. He
refused to go into the party. His father came
out and begged him, son, come in. Come inside.
Come to the party. But he replied, all these
years, I've slaved for you. And you've never
once refused to do a single thing. Wait a minute.
I've never once refused to do a single thing
you told me to do. And in all that time, you
never gave me even one young goat for a party
with my friends, to feast with my friends. You
didn't even give me a goat. Now you done killed
the fatted calf and he ran off and wasted everything.
I've been serving you. I've slaved for you. All
these years since he's been gone. Yet when this
son of yours, notice he didn't say when my brother
comes home. When this son of yours comes back
after squandering your money on prostitutes,
you celebrate by killing the fattened calf. His
father said to him, listen. Look, dear son, you
have always stayed by me and everything I have
is yours. He didn't just give it to him. It was
already his. Hello? Everything I have is yours.
Neither son. was in a good relationship with
their good father. They were both not in the
type of relationship that their father wanted
to have with them. That's why it's important
for us to know who God is and what kind of father
He is. Because He wants us to be in the right
kind of relationship with Him. But based on what
they each believed about their father, neither
one of them were in the right relationship. The
first son, he thought it would be better to live
independent of his good father, to take what
he could from his good father, and then run off
and be in relationship not with his father or
the things his father was concerned about, but
to be in relationship with the world. He took
all he could and then ran out on his own. And
that's how a lot of people are with God. They
want to take all they can, but then they want
to live independent of God. They might even come
to church on Sunday morning, but... They live
independent of God on Sunday evening and Monday
and Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday.
They live their lives independent of God. Look
to the person beside you and say, he's preaching
a little hard. Just pulling your toes just a
little bit. But that's son number one. Living
independent of his good father. Son number two.
He had been with his father. He had never left
his father. He was there all the time. He slaved.
But in that position, in wrong relationship,
everybody say wrong relationship, he lived below
the privileges of his good father. His father
said, look, everything I've got is yours. Why
are you complaining? Because I've never given
you anything. I've already given you everything
you need. But you've never taken hold of it.
And a lot of people live that way. Don't they?
Oh, they're serious about the things of God,
serious about coming to church, all that kind
of stuff. And they've been slaving for God for
a long time. I mean, they're working, they're
volunteering, they're doing all they can. But
then they're like... You'd never do anything
for me. You know, I see you blessing these other
people, but you'd never do anything for me. Can
you see it? Both in a wrong relationship. In
a wrong relationship with a good father. Both
of them were. Romans 8, 15. So you have not received
a spirit that makes you fearful slaves. Instead,
you received God's spirit, listen, when he adopted
you as his own children. And now we call him
Abba, Father. This is the other name that we're
looking at today. Abba. God wants us to know.
That he is our Abba. Abba means dearest father.
We can look at it like a child calling out daddy
to God. Now, that verse says that we've been
adopted. Is anyone in Christ today? If you're
in Christ, it means that you've been adopted
into the family of God. Now, adoption is the
legal act of permanently placing a child with
a parent or parents other than their birth parents.
It's just a definition of adoption. And this
is what we need to understand. Adoption was not
prescribed in Jewish law. I mean, we look at
the Old Testament and you read through Leviticus
and you don't see any rules for adoption in the
Old Testament. surrounding the law. It wasn't
really practiced by the Israelites. In fact,
the term adoption does not occur in the entire
Old Testament. Now, you might say, now wait a
minute. What about Moses? What about Esther?
Well, those didn't happen in Jewish culture.
They took place in foreign societies in Egypt
and in Persia. So, here's what we have to understand.
Because when we look at the Word of God, we need
to see how the original hearers heard it and
how it was written. We don't just take it into
our own modern day understanding all of the time.
We need to see how it worked. And what would
have been Paul's understanding? Paul's understanding
of adoption would not be from, him being a scholar
of the Old Testament, the law and the prophets.
No, it didn't come from that. It came from Roman
law and culture. So here's a couple of things
we need to understand about adoption and Roman
culture. Adopted children had equal rights with
biological children, and adopted children had
full inheritance rights. You could not adopt
a child and give your inheritance to your naturally
born children and exclude the adopted child.
That was part of the adoption. It was a legal
transaction. They had equal rights with the natural
born children. And they had full inheritance
rights. Also, this is even more important. An
adopted child's past was erased. All previous
debt was canceled. They were regarded as a new
person. I mean, even if they're 12 years old,
it's like they had no life before that point.
Every debt canceled. A past, anything they did
in their past was completely erased. Any bad
thing that they did. They were regarded as a
new person with a new name and a brand new life.
Somebody ought to get excited. What did I just
read? You have not received a spirit that makes
you fearful slaves. Instead, you received God's
spirit when He adopted you. So when you came
into a relationship with Christ, you know what?
Your past was completely erased. Any debt you
have was canceled. You're regarded as a new person
with a new name and a brand new life. You have
equal rights. Guess what? The Bible says Jesus
is our joint heir. I've got a question. What
do you think is available to Jesus? I've got
two everythings over here on the front row. I
think they're getting what I'm saying here. What's
available to Jesus? What's available? Everything
that you are confident is available to Jesus
is available to you if you're in Christ. If we
could only get a hold of this and apply it to
our everyday lives, in our relationship with
our good Father, if we could get it. Here's some
more verses for you. Galatians 4, 4 -7. But when
the right time came, God sent His Son, born of
a woman, subject to the law. God sent Him to
buy freedom for us who were slaves to the law
so that He could adopt us. As his very own children.
Somebody say hallelujah. Thank you Jesus. Amen.
And because we are his children. God has sent
the spirit of his son into our hearts. Prompting
us to call out daddy. Abba. Father. Now you're
no longer a slave. But God's own child. And since
you're His child, God has made you His heir.
If we could only grab a hold of this, I think
it would change the way we live on Monday and
Friday and every other day. If we could only
get a hold of this, through faith in Christ,
I have been adopted by a good Father. He indwells
me by His Spirit, drawing me into an intimate
relationship and prompting me to call out to
Him, to cry out to Him, Daddy, and I possess
and have access to all the resources of heaven.
That's what those verses say that I just read.
Would you be bold enough to say this with me?
Would you be bold enough to believe what the
Bible says? Let's say it. Through faith in Christ,
I have been adopted by a good father. He indwells
me by his spirit, drawing me into an intimate
relationship and prompting me to call him daddy.
I possess and have access to all the resources
of heaven. That's his name. That's who he is.
It's the relationship he wants to have with us.
And those who know your name, when you know him
as a good father, when you know him as daddy,
you can put your trust in him. You can put your
confidence in him. And know that he's not going
to turn his back on you. When you seek him, when
you seek him as your good father, when you seek
him as your daddy, you know he will not forsake
you. When we confidently trust in and know God
as our dearest good father, daddy, we can live
in close fellowship with him and enjoy the blessings
of his inheritance. We need to embrace who God
is. I wish I could come up with specific applications
for each person and each age group in this room.
But we see who He is, what kind of relationship
He wants to be in with us. And we need to believe
it. And we need to begin acting like it's true.
Just act like it's true. I mean, how many kids,
when they find themselves in trouble, run to
daddy? Huh? I remember running to daddy when
I felt challenged. Has anybody ever felt challenged
in life? Has anybody ever felt pressured? Anybody?
When we turn to Him, He'll run to us. Here's
the problem. We turn to everything else before
we wind up last resort turning to God. Really?
Can anybody say, yep, that's me? A lot of times,
that's me. You know, we don't want to raise our
hands because we're in church and we want everybody
around us to think how spiritual we are. But
I'm talking about in life. Do we wait to go to
God as a last resort? Or do we say, wow, this
thing that I'm facing, I know my God is big enough
to take care of it, so I'm going to run to Him
first. I'm going to run to Him first. Because
He's my good Father. He's going to protect me.
He's going to provide for me. He's going to love
me. He's going to restore me. He's a good God.
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