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Amen. The title of the sermon this morning is kind of a different sermon, but it's called What's in a Name? What's in a Name? Let's look at Proverbs 22, verse number one. It says a good name is rather to be chosen than great riches and loving favor rather than silver and gold. Let's have a word of prayer. Heavenly Father, Lord, we thank you so much for this day and Lord for all the people that are here. It's good to see old friends and I pray that you just bless each and every person in attendance today. Lord, I pray that you'd help them to discern your word this morning. Lord, give me the voice to do those things and Lord fill me with the Holy Spirit and with boldness and let me speak the truth in your name we pray. Amen. So what's in a name? So I was actually just kind of out to dinner last night with my kids and great-grandchildren and we were talking about names and different things and I just thought it was a really good idea for a sermon. So sometimes life gives you some sermons. I wasn't sure what I was going to preach about this morning, but I actually got really interested in it and I started digging into the scriptures. I think it's important that we understand there's a doctrine about names in the Bible and so it's kind of going to be a little bit of a Bible study, but I have some lighthearted things in here too, but it is a good thing to have a good name. The Bible says a good name is rather to be chosen than great riches and so you know a lot of people are having babies these days and you know when you're sitting down to choose a name for your child you know Adolf Hitler shouldn't be you know the name that you choose. Okay so a good name is rather to be chosen and so you know obviously some people have different views on what what's a good name what's not, but that name is probably Adolf Hitler. Sawyer would probably not be a good name for Justin's next child and I would start to wonder is this guy a racist or what's going on here? All right so but almost everything in this world has a name if you think about it and we identify things by the names of them. We identify people by their names and we think certain things the moment that that name is spoken into into our ears right and names of places you automatically picture certain things like what do you think of when he's when he here in Multnomah Falls? You think of a beautiful waterfall that's in the in the gorge right and so lots of different names for things and sometimes you don't think good things about the names that you hear like Adolf Hitler for instance you don't think good things you don't you think about him you know basically almost taking over the whole world and you know he was a wicked person and he killed a lot of people and his goal was to take over the whole world so so God finds names important also and sometimes God changes people's names sometimes God names things certain things and hey when God names something that should be the name of it right and when God changes your name that should be your name that you go by right so you think about different times when God's changed names in the Bible but also places so we have like places like the World Trade Center you think about what do you think of now you probably think of 9-11 but at the time before it was just like a place where all the Jews you know stored all the money or something I don't know but he thought of those two giant buildings in New York right but now we think of the World Trade Center we think of destruction and chaos and all those types of things when we think of when I think of Main Street I think our church is on Main Street when I think of normal Falls I think of beautiful things when I think of Vancouver I think you know Vancouver Washington not Vancouver British Columbia so I mean I like British Columbia but I think of Vancouver I think of home I think of you know so names are important and the things that we name our children the things that we name certain things do have a lot to do with our everyday life and if you think about it you don't get through a day without naming the name of something do you so let's look at Genesis chapter 28 to this morning and we'll look at some I'm just gonna kind of guide you through a few things before I start the main part of the sermon but Genesis 28 verse 17 the Bible says this and he was afraid when you talk about think about a place he was afraid and said how dreadful is this place this is none other but the house of God and this is the gate of heaven this is Jacob speaking of course and Jacob rose up early in the morning and took the stone that he had put for his pillows and set it up for a pillar and poured oil upon the top of it and he called the name of the place that place Bethel but the name of the city was called Luz at the first so Jacob named this city Bethel and ultimately that name became what the name was of the place before it was called Luz and then of course after the conquering of that area by Joshua and the children of Israel it became Bethel all right so but why did he call it that because it was called because he said this is the house of God so that's what Bethel means is the house of God and a lot of times and especially the book of Genesis that like start it starts to name all these places for you and as you read the Bible over and over again these names will start popping up in different parts of the scriptures for you and then you're like why do I why do I know that name law or not law why am I thinking long well you think of good night I can't think of his name anyway I'm having a senior moment here but what do you think of job that's what I'm thinking that's what I meant to say job I don't know why law job you know mess me up but it does job is a lot better than what but job so he was fat he was in the land of us right the Bible says he lived in the land of us but as you're going through the book of Genesis when you start reading who the Dukes are you know the Duke of Earl the Duke of you know not the big girl but Esau so Esau had all these dukes and then it says what their names are and it says them over and over again I think it's a Genesis chapter 38 but he just keeps it keeps naming all these people and then you see that us is one of his descendants and so when you know that job was in the land of us well where was he at where did he live well he lived in the in the area where Esau lived so that's because it was named that place was named after us which is one of his descendants so and then you even look at the friends that came to visit job like the team a night tea you know team in was one of his descendants also so that area called seer is were you know if Mount Sears were like Esau's relatives all live in that area which is also a really interesting thing because I and Dylan helped job jog my memory about this last night because I was I was reading through Genesis just recently I'm still in it but I was reading through Genesis and the name seer came up and seer was also a name of a person and so the land is called seer because of the person that first was there so I just thought that's it's interesting that there's all these places that are they're named and they have names for certain reasons and when you're reading through the Bible don't just skip over those names and go and then Duke of blank and then you go to the next chapter because you're gonna learn some stuff from the names of the Bible the names of places the names of people the names of God named people and when he changes their names I mean it's really interesting and the more you read through them the more you're gonna catch so names are important that's why God lists them in the Bible for us so that we can know there's a certain knowledge that he's wanting us to get out he doesn't just put names in there so that we can be bored in our Bible reading he puts names in there so we can read it so we can read it and understand and and connect things in the Bible as we grow as Christians because I can tell you what the first few times it wasn't really that big of a deal to me but now when I read through I'm like oh okay well that's why that place was named that and that's why seer is called seer and it's important so the name of Bethel is called Bethel because Jacob will wrestled with you know oh no that was it was because he woke he had a dream of the ladder and the angels descending and all that stuff and so he called that place the place of God and he put the pillars put the anointing oil on it and all that stuff so that's why it's called Bethel because it's called the house of God so also animals have names so animals have names that we named him scientists have named them these weird Latin names but I don't think that's what Adam called him he didn't call him you know you know whatever the the name that they come up with but like they just they discovered him or something Adam named every single animal the day that they were God like brought them before him and said what are you gonna call this one what's this one called bear you know and when so when you think of these animal names most of them you know by just the common English name of them right and so you know bear is a big furry animal that's will rip your face off if you get too close to them people just think that they're all cute and sweet and they just try to walk up to them try doing that in Alaska see what happens try doing that in northern Canada don't know don't try it don't try it you know people think they could just live with bears and you know everything's be okay but then I've ever seen that documentary where the guy was like hung out with the Bears and then he got killed by one of them so they are wild animals folks but Genesis to Turner Genesis 2 and we'll see how the ain't the names of the animals came to be Genesis chapter 2 by the way the book of Genesis is just an awesome book I love reading the book of Genesis Genesis chapter 2 verse 19 it says and out of the ground the Lord formed every beast of the field and every fowl of the air and brought them unto Adam to see what he would call them and whatsoever Adam called every single or every living creature that was the name thereof and so those names stuck whatever whatever he called them that's what God called them that's pretty interesting now that God just allowed Adam to name all the animals like that so lions and tigers of bears snakes squirrels rabbits frogs I mean I don't know if that's you know the Hebrew word for it or whatever but what what they're called in the Bible is a translation of what Adam called them in the beginning you know so what the names of the animals are when we say bear you know Adam called him a bear I think that's what I believe I mean they might think that sounds crazy but when God translate you know when God had the prophets write things down and Moses wrote things down like Genesis 1 26 it says and God and God said let's make man our image after our likeness and let him have dominion over the fish so Adam named all these animals and if he named them fowl that's the name that they were called right we call them birds today which means you know it's the same thing but the names are important and the names have came down to us for thousands of years and you know what I'm when it says a bear that's exactly what Adam called it when he first named him that's what I believe I mean you can believe something else if you want but you know why would God call him something different than what Adam called him because he said whatever the name was that's what he named him right so you think of oceans and rivers and and things like that we have names like the Pacific Ocean the Atlantic Ocean the Indian Ocean you have rivers like the Columbia River the Willamette River the Jordan River etc and so on and so forth in the Bible the Bible names certain places also it doesn't just say it's just AC you know he lets us know what kind of see what see he's talking about and so I'll just give you an example here turn to Exodus chapter 15 verse number 4 Exodus 15 verse number 4 the Bible reads Pharaoh's chariots and his host hath he cast into the sea his chosen captains also are drowned and what the Red Sea it doesn't say the Reed Sea it says the Red Sea and I know that modern scholars so called would like to say well this is the Reed Sea because it wasn't deep enough and they could all walk over it that's not what the Bible says the Bible says they passed over on dry ground not shallow ground our shallow water he didn't say that he said that they pass over on dry ground and so it wouldn't be much of a miracle if they just walked across the swamp okay the miracle was is their back was against the wall they were at the sea was here the Egyptian army was here and then Moses held out his staff and then he said behold the salvation of the Lord and then the seas parted right there and then they walked across on dry ground it took them some time to get across that so it was a sea it wasn't a swamp it wasn't a little tiny river it was a sea and it's called the Red Sea and it's still in Egypt today so and you couldn't walk just walk across that so that's why they try to call it the Reed Sea which is up a little further because they want you to think there's no such thing as miracles in the Bible but the name of it was called the Red Sea and that's what God called it or whatever that it was called before whoever named it that that God specifically tells us what that place is where that place is and we can go back we can go and get on Google Maps or whatever and we can look at the Red Sea right now if you if you want to you know after the service or whatever you can look at it and check it out and it's a real place and the name of it is called the Red Sea because that's what it was named so people here's another thing so when we get to people when we talk about people's names a lot of times in the Bible people were named after something that happened when that child was born if you notice in the book of Genesis that says Edom what was why was Esau named Esau yeah he was a hairy little guy he was red and so he had red hair and when he yeah the name Edom means red so when you think about Edom you think a little a little redheaded kid little ginger but Jacob means supplanter and Jacob was holding on to the heel because he was the supplanter you know what did he do he supplanted people and so sometimes you're you become like the namesake that your name so be careful what you name your kids because you know they might become that name I don't know but you got to be careful with that like you don't want to name them demon because then they're gonna be a demon right so anyway that's a joke but yeah so let's look at Genesis 2 verse 22 Genesis 2 verse 22 I'll give you a couple examples here that I thought was interesting that actually it's really interesting but look at Genesis chapter 2 verse 22 says and the rib which the Lord God had taken from man made he a woman and brought her unto the man and Adam said now or this now is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh she shall be called woman because she was taken out of man so what was what was she what was what was Eve named before she was named Eve woman right that's what it says God had taken so look at it again it says in the rib so first it was the rib and then the name was the rib then the Lord God had taken from man made he a woman and brought her unto the man and Adam said this is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh she shall be called woman so she had the name woman first oh you know and because she was taken out of the man that's why he so he named her woman didn't he first she was rib then she was woman okay now look at Genesis 3 verse 20 he changes her name here in Genesis 3 verse number 20 says an Adam called his wife then excuse me an Adam called his wife's name Eve because she was the mother of all living so apparently Eve means mother of all living and so that's the great thing about the Bible too is that a lot of times when you see these names in the beginning of Genesis or whatever you'll see that God tells you what the meaning of their name is inside the inside the verses too which I think is really interesting but so he called him woman because she was you know he called Eve woman before and then he named her Eve after the fall and then look at Genesis chapter 5 verse number 2 just one page over or two pages over this is what God named them though he said male and female created he them and blessed them and called their name Adam so they both had the same name Adam that's what God called him and the day that they were created so it's not interesting how the names kind of work and and this just I just thought was a really interesting study about specially about Adam and Eve I mean I really never thought about the fact that he called her woman first but then he gave her like a proper name of Eve because she was the mother of all living and that God called both their names at the same time Adam why do you think he did that probably because they were one flesh but you know obviously they we he calls her Eve later on in the scriptures because that's what Adam named her like in 1st Corinthians when it says Eve was beguiled he used the name Eve by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit and of course we know Adam is used several times throughout the scriptures to talk about the first man so the book of Genesis has a lot of naming in it I mean we could really go on for a long time but I'm not gonna do that but there I mean if you just think about all the names that people were named in the Bible some really interesting it's just it's an interesting study and you could really get down and deep into it if you really want to so I'm just trying to cover some surface material about just the names and what's in a name and and why do we have names and why do we use names and and things like that so number one this morning after this is that was all introduction but number one this morning the names we choose are important the names we choose are important that's spelled out for us in Proverbs 22 one where it says a good name is rather to be chosen than great riches so it I mean people are like well it doesn't matter what I named my child well that's not what the Bible says the Bible says it does matter what you name your child a good name is rather to be chosen who chooses the names the parents usually right and that's you know that's God's Word saying that so is it important what you name your child it is and it's importantly name them a good name that's what the Bible says so before I was saved I named my children heathen names okay and there's you know their names are good though I was looking up Remy's name and it means like an orman or something and there's girl Remy's to the R E M I which the people I would always get mad when people would try to spell his name REM I because that's the girl spelling it's like Aaron AARON and then Aaron ERIN and people just try to spell one name with a knee I'm like uh-huh hold on now I'm not a girl I don't know any men named Aaron unless they've some kind of transvestite or something all right so but it is a good thing to name your children good names I like the names I named my kids but it went Remy Nia Joshua so could you see where I became a Christian and if I had more children I would name them Christian names so Jasmine's got a heathen name you know poor Jasmine no they're good names though I mean they're good names and and really what you make of your name is what you make of it so when people think of Remy hopefully they think of good things hopefully they think that he is an honorable person to his parents and you know they think they when they when someone thinks of his name a Remy Thompson they think of a good person they think of a good child of God that that tries to follow the Bible and things like that and when they think of Nia same thing hopefully but Nia's name I think it just like means a I don't know I can't remember what it what it was it's like there's different cultures that have Nia and I think like there's African people that name their children Nia and there's also there's also so like Africa I think African princess is one of the names or something like that she definitely doesn't look like she's from Africa but she but there's also people from England and you know ever there's like variations of the name Nia but the point is is that you know what I'm trying to make those that we should name our children good names and you know maybe I would have chose different names that had I been saved when I chose chose their names but I mean I'm still okay with their names they're kind of unique names not a lot of people I know named Remy not a lot of I don't think I know any Remy's I don't think I know any other Nia's I've met people called that or I've seen people called that but it's alright but at least they have well at least Remy has David as his middle name so he's not a total heathen name but Joshua now he was the the son of the you know he was our last born son and he got all Christian names except for his last one of course but it's Joshua so many people don't know this and you're gonna learn something new today Joshua has two middle names he's like Hispanic kind of so yeah has two middle names Joshua Ian James Thompson you're like well Ian's not a Christian name well Ian means John in Irish or whatever so but also like my friend that passed away I kind of named him after him a little bit too and then also James is a good Bible name but I named him after King James a lot many people don't realize that because King James gave us our great Bible right so so there's good things about Joshua's name you know Joshua's a great name too but his name was changed from from Ocea or whatever to Joshua so it actually if you if you do a study on the names of Joshua it actually calls them several different names throughout the Bible and different variations of that name but Joshua is the name that he settled down with there so anyway moving on it's a good thing to name your children good names I'm not saying you have to name your children look it's none of my business what you do but I think it's it's actually in the Bible it says to choose a good name so you know whether that's from the Bible or whether that's from some baby book or whatever at least make sure it's a good name all right so there's lots of Mary's in the Bible in case you didn't notice in the New Testament so what is Mary what's the name of Mary in Spanish brother Timo Maria right so and I didn't know this until this week but the Spanish language is a root from the Hebrew language and I thought that was really interesting but because Maria you know Miriam is what the Jewish name is for Mary you know that's where they got that that that married name from in the New Testament was from Miriam the the sister of Moses so but Maria is what a lot of Spanish-speaking people will call Mary right so but that's a good name there's nothing wrong with that name and then of course Mary the mother of Jesus Christ and then of course Mary Magdalene and all the other Mary's that are in the new tennis like everybody's name that was like the popular name at that time apparently was Mary because there's like seven different Mary's or something in the New Testament that it talks about but also you see the name John a lot John Mark John the Baptist John the Revelator if you want to call him that John the Apostle of Jesus so John was obviously a popular name James was a popular name at that time because there's a couple guys named James in the Bible there's guys named Judah in the Bible but a lot of times people choose good names but sometimes people choose bad names and what's really weird is they'll name them after some notoriously wicked person and it's not very often that people do that like most people won't call their child I've never met a truck child named Judas before have you I've never met Judas I mean that's a notoriously wicked name isn't it I mean if you think about Judas you think of unsaved devil false prophet betrayed the Lord Jesus Christ but you know there's somebody there's Satanists out there too that you think that they would name their son Judas but they don't they'll name a mother bad names but the Judas isn't usually one of those names that people will choose so turn to 1st Samuel chapter 25 1st Samuel chapter 25 we'll talk about a let's look at a guy whose name he became what his name was in the Bible 1st Samuel 25 says now the name of the man was Nabal now we're talking about when David was running from Saul and there was a man named Nabal that he went and asked for for some food and stuff like that from him and he refused to him and you know wasn't very nice about it when he refused I mean it's one thing to say yeah I really don't have what I got but he was like you know just saying a bunch of junk to him this is now the name of the man was Nabal and the name of his wife Abigail and she was a woman of good understanding and of a beautiful countenance but the man was churlish and evil in his doings and he was of the house of Caleb so churlish just means you're rude and mean-spirited have you ever met people like that they're just like no matter what you do no matter what you say you walk up and they're just like you know they just don't have any good things to say about anything about work about people about anything else and that's what churlish means that they're rude and mean spirited but that's what this guy Nabal was like he was churlish and evil in his doings and he was of the house of Caleb now skip down to verse 25 it says let not my Lord I pray thee regard this man of Belial so what do we know about him now he was the son of the devil he wasn't just rude and churlish he was a child of the devil even Nabal for his as his name is so is he Nabal is his name and folly is with him so what do we know about Nabal what does that name mean it means foolish means foolish so because it says of folly is with him he's a foolish man he's a man of Belial he was churlish and evil in his doings it says but I thine handmaid saw not the young men of my Lord and that whom thou did sin so she's trying to cover up and help out the fact that she's married to this reprobate and he and David is pissed he's coming with all his soldiers to come and wipe everybody out and in another verse down if you're there it says that he was gonna wipe out everyone that pissed up against the wall you know everybody that was of Nabal's family he was every child and his family was gonna die because of the disrespect that he showed but she came and helped it out and then his heart became a heart of stone he end up dying and then David married Abigail so but it's interesting that she points out the fact that Nabal is his name and folly is with him he is as his name is and so we don't want to be caught like if we have a name like that's a weird name to call somebody right hey foolish hey fool come over here you know it's like mr. T named him or something what's it what's his name gonna be fool I pity the fool now I'm just kidding but what a weird name to name someone like foolish but you know it's foolish to name people foolish names and things and names like that I don't know what his dad was like maybe he was a reprobate too or something it's like what am I gonna call him fool because I want him to be just like me a fool that doesn't believe in God and that's what Nabal was he was a son of Belial so I looked up some of the weird names that people named their kids just for fun and I found that some of the answers I didn't want to know for sure I mean some of the things that people name their kids is so weird that I had to share with you this morning okay so I want you to be part of the study process that I that I used to study this for the sermon so names here's some names I wouldn't choose for children and these are the names of it says kind of the weirdest baby names or whatever some of the more bizarre examples Tesla is I mean it's a car I mean to name your child Tesla I mean Tesla is named after you know Tesla was an inventor or whatever but to name it says a hundred and thirty girls were named Tesla and eleven boys I mean they are known for being able to smoke and have Ford f-150 would they can pull an old Ford f-150 and they're the supposedly the fastest car on the planet or whatever but I mean to name your child Tesla is kind of weird right how about Fanta I like strawberry strawberry Fanta a lot especially if I'm going to Popeyes chicken and you don't have Fanta isn't like one of the options that you they would get at most places but I mean to knit and guess what it's 24 girls named Fanta and then you got Beretta Beretta is also named at 21 girls I think this isn't from 2017 but Beretta then there's Maybelline like name your child after a makeup company Evian for 10 boys that's like the drinking water isn't it I mean I don't know it's kind of a weird ESPN sport sports freak anybody but there was like several people that were women and men that were named ESPN and then you got the different kinds of fabrics denim someone named a child denim suede and then halo they said that this was a religious thing but I think it might actually be from the video game unfortunately but here's another one Ohm Ohm is like some kind of I don't know heathen thing and then amen I guess that's an okay name it's just amen amen what what do you want you know you're efficient if they end up being in church all the time they're gonna be thinking people are calling them a lot so but then there's Calvary and then 24 boys named Lucifer can you believe that they must think that they're raising the Antichrist or something they're like I will name him Lucifer how weird is that get seminy for 12 get some me and they spelled it wrong for 11 girls Yogi Kaiser Caesar Pharaoh Empress heiress milady milady M-I-L-A-D-Y general Tsarina and Tsar these people like think their kids are royalty or some Duchess spelled wrong Sir Prince koi what do you think what do you think of koi like some you know those big koi fish that come up and try to eat the little balls eat I don't know anyway yeah that's a an odd name lemon when life gives you lemons at alp like maybe after the Alps maze fennec vanity oh that's a weird name right I'll think I'll call her vanity because I'm so vain envy there's another one named envy brazen riot havoc shooter that'd be an interesting name shooter you're right if you're stuck in arson there's 11 boys named arson in 2017 yo-yo furious Slayer yeah Slayer that's funny I was over at a friend's house a long time ago and there was a girl that she was like trying to be a gangster but at the same time she listened to heavy metal music and we were just messing around with her and said hey do you like Slayer she's like yeah like Slayer cuz I was thinking about that when I read that name that was a long time ago was so weird yeah like Slayer cuz like that's like you don't know anyway weird Cleopatra Jezebel 27 girls named Jezebel stay away from them and then you got Jesse James all one word it's not it's not like separate something Jesse James so-and-so it's Jesse James Quatte Mo 15 boys named Quatte Mo so I actually looked up the name Quatte Mo and I like did I like totally got off my notes last night I was like what is this man made of over here but Quatte Mo is like the last Aztec king or whatever and he was captured by Cortez and I don't know why it said his name was an infamous name I don't think that's very infamous I mean it's kind of a cool name I guess it took me about three years to be able to pronounce it correctly but there's statues in Mexico with Quatte Mo but there's none of Cortez because he was a wicked person see when you think of Cortez for I think it was Ferdinand Cortez he like went and slaughtered all the Aztecs and totally destroyed them and took him over and he was a really ruthless person he was spoke they think he killed his own wife and he just you know slaughtered people without weapons and he was a totally wicked person so I think Quatte Mo is not a bad name compared to Cortez I wouldn't want to be called Cortez because he was wicked but anyway I thought it was interesting that Quatte Mo was one of the names that they thought was like infamous or something but anyway there's Attila Stalin seven boys named Stalin usually people name their German Shepherd Stalin right or something like that but Stalin isn't a very good person right to name your kids after Casanova especially you know Casanova if they're ugly it's like oh man you're gonna have a hard hard life there kid Charlemagne Capone God diva I am I hyphen am nil boy son girl baby boy baby girl mr. Paul PAW man my papa you're not supposed to name yourself Papa God some people name their kids God how crazy is that moo it's good for a nickname I had to put mr. moo on there and then any I mean just the things that people name their kids I mean why don't you name them something normal not not Stalin who murdered hundreds of thousands of people and I think millions of people here's here's some other ones that didn't make this list Cain I've met people named Cain several people named Cain but that's a wicked person to name your child after I mean I wouldn't use that Bible name it was a false prophet he killed his brother I mean they really have a lot of things going for himself Judas Ahab Nabal Adolf I mean Adolf should never make a comeback as a child's name somebody at work that I know said that their their best friend's name is Nike just do it I've met girls more than one named sativa which is can't yeah I mean must have been smoking a lot back anyway but people also name their kids after alcoholic beverages old II wouldn't be something I would call my kid or you know I like the name brandy but it is an alcoholic beverage so but nobody with the last name of Bundy is ever probably gonna name their kid Ted all right nobody with the last name Dahmer is going to name their kid Jeffrey okay so I mean there's some you know limitations within names I mean yeah Bundy is a common name so yeah definitely probably I would venture to guess that there's probably no Ted Bundy's around right now but you never know I mean if people call their kid Lucifer then all bets are off at that point so can you think of any other names like that would be a weird name anybody no we've covered the names huh yeah Damien yeah but Damien is like you know of course from the movie the omen we're in he's the Antichrist in it so yeah Damien I always thought that was a weird name to call somebody moonbeam yeah what does that say my first girlfriend and fit in kindergarten her name was her name was honey love Krauss her real name was honey honey love that's whatever I mean obviously her parents are probably hippies right anyway so those so it's important to pick a good name names from the Bible are always good ones now maybe some for cultural reasons I would probably not name my daughter hog look that might be a tough name in the English language for people you know it's probably get teased a lot hey hogla you know probably not a good one it's a great it's a good name it's a Bible name but you know there's all kinds of different names you can pick from the Bible that mean good things and there's all kinds of things you know there maybe aren't in the Bible that are good names that you could choose but you know there's some that you probably should avoid Jesse James probably not a choice name unless you're really into bloodthirsty murderous outlaws but I mean Jesse James people like Jesse James but he really was an evil person he wasn't good number two the names we earn number two the names we are and let's look at Genesis chapter 32 of verse number 22 Genesis 32 verse number 22 and this is a really great chapter in the Bible Genesis 32 verse 22 now this whole story is really interesting and Jacob is before Jacob has to go and face Esau and then he is kind of off by himself and you know next thing you know he's wrestling with somebody but look at verse 22 it says me he arose up that night talking about Jacob and took his two wives and his two women servants and his 11 sons and passed over the Ford Jabak so a Ford is like a place where you can cross the river easily it's like a shallow spot where you could drive your herds over but even that had a name the Ford Jabak so like they like these places are real places I mean you know the Bible isn't just a made-up fantasy book right so then he took them and sent them over the brook and sent over that he had and Jacob was left alone and there wrestled a man with him until the breaking of the day so like he's off by himself the next thing you know he's in a jiu-jitsu match he doesn't even know how it happened well he doesn't really explain like all sudden he just I mean where do you get to the point where just like you see some guy and you're just like let's go come on double underhooks you know you're like just wrestling he's wrestling with this guy from the brick to the break of day and it you know a lot of people say this is the first MMA match recorded in history because look what it says it says and when he saw that he prevailed not against him he touched the hollow of his thigh and the hollow of Jacob's thigh was out of joint as he wrestled with him so he put the submission move on him popped his leg out his his hip out of socket that's hard to do very painful and he said let me go for the day breaketh and he said I will not let thee go except thou bless me and he said unto him what is thy name and he said Jacob and he said thy name shall be called no more Jacob but Israel for as a prince hast thou power with God and with men and hast prevailed so what happens well he tells him his name is Jacob and then he's renamed at that point to Israel which means a prince and so that's a good that's a good name to be renamed to sub planter to Prince I mean that's he jumped up they jumped ahead in the name game there didn't he so you know it's not weird I don't think it's weird to rename somebody you know because God doesn't think it's weird to rename somebody so maybe I mean to people out there I don't I can't think of anybody that named their kids something really evil or weird in this room but all over the world people people name their kid Lucifer that's a name I'd want to change I'd change that right to Israel as soon as I got the chance to the light bearer Satan himself to a prince with God so anyway I thought that was interesting that he changes his name here but it says and he said wherefore is it that oh okay look at verse 29 says and Jacob asked him and said tell me I pray thee thy name and he said wherefore is it thou dost ask after my name and he blessed him there so the guy he was wrestling with refuses to give his name and I believe that this is a pre a pre you know the parents of Christ in the Old Testament so you know he obviously God why do I think that well it says that in verse 30 that Jacob called the name of the place Penuel for I have seen God face to face and my life is preserved so Jacob saw God face to face now we know that wasn't God the Father because no man can see the face of God the Father and live so and I actually had someone say that that was a contradiction in the Bible to me before but see if you believe in the Trinity it's not a problem because Christ appeared in the Old Testament more than one time and he when people would ask him his name he wouldn't tell him because that was kept secret from the foundation of the earth the name of Jesus wasn't revealed to us until the New Testament and it actually says in the book I think it's in the book of Matthew that that that's a scripture that was fulfilled that his name was kept secret from the found the things that that he was telling him were kept secret from the foundation of the earth so there's a lot of stuff that happens in the New Testament that's a lot of allegory that's a lot of things that that do apply to us now in the New Testament of course but a lot of the things about the Lord Jesus Christ and about the Messiah were kept a mystery to us and now we can understand it because it's been revealed to us but Jacob face to face wrestled with the Lord Jesus Christ and obviously he could have smoked Jacob anytime he wanted to you know it's not like Jacob actually won but you know the fact that he was trying to win you know his effort that he was putting forth in there I mean he wrestled all night most people couldn't wrestle for like five minutes and they're done but Jacob was a strong guy he was a tough guy I mean if he could move a big old giant stone off the the mouth of a well then he's pretty strong guy so but he named that play there's just so many names that are being thrown around in here I just thought was a really interesting chapter because I mean you got the Ford Jabuk and then you got the the angel the Lord asking Jacob what his name is renaming him to Israel and then him asking him his name and he's like no I'm not gonna give you my name and then Jacob naming that place Penuel because he saw God face to face and his life was preserved so he saw the face of God which was the Lord Jesus Christ and he lived see because lots of people you know will say these oneness people will say well nobody seen God God's face did nobody saw Jesus that's the most ridiculous thing ever because you know people were talking to Jesus like the whole time in the Old Testament so I don't know where they get that from it's really retarded doctrine but when Jacob saw the Lord Jesus face to face that was before his you know he was made into a human child on earth so anyway yeah so Penuel means face of God is what that means so and then you got examples in the scriptures were the names you know and why do I say it's the names we earn well Jacob earned that name that's why God gave it to him he's like no more you're gonna be called the supplanter now you're a prince you know so obvious obviously he had favor with God and God didn't want to be called that anymore he wanted to be called him to be called Israel so same thing happened with Abraham God changed Abraham's name or Abram to which means high father to the name Abraham which means father of a multitude Genesis 17 verse 5 if you want to write that reference down and his wife his name her name was called Sarai which means my princess to Sarah means mother of nations that's also a Genesis chapter 17 verse 15 and 16 so God renamed lots of different people in the Bible and Abraham was from Abram Sarai to Sarah so change the names of them you know maybe they were heathen names that they had or something to that effect that he just wanted to change them to something a little more godly he wanted their name to mean who they were because Abraham was he not the father of many nations as God promised that he would become I mean he had a lot of different kids that came went turned into many different nations and from him all the earth was blessed because the seed that came after him which was which was Isaac you know and then the seed after that was Jacob who became Israel so you know we can also acquire nicknames can't we and at work lots of people to me have various different nicknames and I'm sure that everybody here probably is in that situation too if you work with a lot of different people eventually you start you know calling people nicknames right I call people nicknames and sometimes people get upset so if they get upset then I just stop calling them that and I try not to say rude nicknames unless I'm just you know if it's people at work I'll give them rude nicknames but but some people don't like it like one time I call Robert Alcorner does not like you to call him anything but his name Robert and I'm okay with that hey if someone has like they don't want to be called nicknames because some people just don't like nicknames I think I called him Bobby or something one time he's like hey my name's Robert okay like gave me that look he like gave me that look like he was gonna do something to me I was like all right Robert from now on loud and clear the message was sent but you know I don't think it's wrong to call people make up nicknames as long as they're okay with it because Jesus gave people nicknames didn't he he did so if you look at some of the next nicknames he gave look at John chapter 1 verse number 41 John chapter 1 verse number 41 in the New Testament there John chapter 1 verse 41 the Bible says in verse 41 he first findeth his own brother Simon and sayeth unto him we have found the Messiah's which is being interpreted the Christ so there's another one there's a bonus for you and the names right there that Messiah means what Christ Sam Gipp that's what it means Messiah means Christ I know Sam Gipp couldn't figure that out but that's what it means so and then verse 42 it says and he brought him to Jesus and when Jesus beheld him he said thou art Simon the son of Jonah for thou shalt or excuse me thou shalt be called Cephas which is by interpretation a stone so Jesus nicknamed Peter the stone a stone and I don't know why he named him that you know but Jesus just you know pick nicknames and they stuck right so a lot of times you'll see Simon or Cephas but it means the same so Cephas means a stone so that's what it says right and turn to Mark chapter 3 we'll see another time when Jesus gives people nicknames and for all we know Simon the Canaanite could be a nickname but I think it probably was just the name he was given because he was the one of them he's just trying to tell us hey it doesn't matter what nationality you are you know if you're a Canaanite you can still be saved so I think Simon was a Canaanite but verse 41 says or excuse me in verse 17 in Mark chapter 3 it says and James the son of Zebedee and John the brother of James and he surnamed them Boanerjers or whatever Boanerjers which is the son of thunder so he nicknamed John and James the brothers he named them the sons of thunder that was their nicknames so I mean I don't know why he called him that but usually sons of thunder thunders a loud popping sound like that some of you up out there but it's a loud clap of thunder and it like it this can be loud right so maybe they just have loud voices or they preach loud when they preach or something like that I don't know why he named him that but that was their nickname and there's nothing wrong with having a nickname as long as your nickname isn't something you know saying how bad you have a worker you are or different attributes about you like the nose or whatever kind of bad physical feature hey don't nickname people stuff after their physical appearance it's rude so I mean as a Christian I wouldn't do that obviously but I have lots of nicknames that I've been given over the years there's a reason why because I'm big guy right and some of my names I'll just give them to you right now is tiny there's one of my nicknames jolly green giant is another one I used to hate those green giant commercials because that's what people would nickname me after ho ho ho green giant you know Shrek is another one I've been nicknamed and also biggin I've been called biggin and stretch mongo mongo's from some stupid movie where he was like this big guy can knock oh I've ever seen that where he knocks the horse out or whatever it's mongo anyway I saw those are usually Nick nicknames from work right mongo come bring me that you know whatever mongo lift this you know mongo is supposed to be the strong guy or whatever but it anyway or you know Shrek get over here I've had that was a new recent one so I don't mind being nicknamed stuff like that though it doesn't bother me at all because I'm just used to it but some people would really be offended over some of that you know tiny I mean obviously you know they're making fun of the fact that I'm not tiny so but if you do nickname someone make sure it's not in a mean spirit I would say that like Gail the whale don't ever name your child Gail either if they're gonna be heavy or patty if you think they might have a chance to be you know fatty patty or you know something like that so yeah be careful what you nickname people I mean you don't want to be rude so there's some other things some other attributes about being called certain things that we don't want to fall into this category okay turn to Deuteronomy chapter 22 first number 14 I'll get a little serious here for a minute Deuteronomy 22 verse number 14 the Bible says in verse 14 and give occasions of speech so this is about someone that's you know pretending to be a virgin they end up not being one and what to do about that okay this isn't give give occasions of speech against her and bring up an evil name upon her and say I took this woman and when I came to her I found her not a maid so this is a person that would say that they're a virgin and then they don't turn out to be one but look at it says and bring an evil name upon her so we could be categorized by the names that people give us because of the sins that we partake in and that's where you don't want to bet have these types of nicknames here you know like I don't want to name anybody's name in here I can't think of on Gail the whore you know that's not a good nickname hey oh you mean that whore you don't have a nickname of whore do you in verse 20 or verse 19 it says and they shall immerse him in a hundred shekels of silver and give them unto the father this is if the guy is lying about her and she really is a virgin and give them unto the father of the damsel because he hath wrought brought upon an evil name upon a virgin of Israel and shall and she shall be his wife and she he may not put her away all of his days so basically he gets punished for what he does by lying about her and he doesn't get to get out of it but it's because he hath brought an evil name upon the Virgin of Israel so sometimes falsely accusing somebody can put an evil name on somebody also so names just doesn't mean the name that you're named it could mean the name of that people think of like the sin that you've committed that's attached to your name what do you like Judas I mean obviously you know that he betrayed the Lord Jesus Christ that's the first thing I think of is that he was a devil and he betrayed the Lord Jesus Christ for money and that he was you know a reprobate so you don't want to get into this category where someone's calling you by the sin that you committed in your life right because those things can stick with you and this is the important thing about the whole name thing is that hey what kind of name do you make of yourself because it's important not to be called you know Joe the whoremonger or you know Remy the thief Dylan the liar I'm gonna use my own family now Nia the murderer Sherry the gossip Kylie the tailbearer or whatever adulterer adulteress whatever name that you that is that you could think of that's a bad wicked sin hey you don't want your name to be attached to those types of sins because those sins can follow you those types of names can follow you that that reputation that you have attached to your name can follow you into the last parts of your life and who wants to be known as the person that betrayed Pastor Thompson or whatever the person that you know dropped out of church oh yeah I remember that cut that couple they came for our church like three years but they quit and now they go to you know she kinda you know community community church or something you don't want to have your name attached to some sort of sin you don't have to go to our church to not be named as sin I'm not saying that but like if you go to Shekinah community community Christian Church after you leave here I think that God would probably have a problem with that so especially because that's just a blasphemous name in the first place it's just a made-up name obviously you know made-up Church I don't think there's any churches named Shekinah or is there there could be anybody with a smartphone could find that out really quickly but so yeah you don't want to bring you don't want to have a name of reproach of me a sin attached to your name is you know hey Scott Dunn the the liar you know he was just lying to everybody that's all he ever did and then that's what your name is your name is mud right basically you know obviously as Christians we should forgive people for the things they do and things like that but I mean sometimes like there's people in the Bible that you just you think of certain things the minute you think of them what do you think of when you think of Nabel you think of you know that guy that you know that was a reprobate right so anyway so when people when people you know talk to you about your work is it positive is that something that people look at you know your work ethic and go hey he's got a good word that word worth a work ethic excuse me or do they say he's a lazy bum he could ever find him he's always on break when he goes on break that's exactly what he does he breaks he takes off you know is that the name that you have or like you know she's an ostrich mom do you want that reputation do you want you know I mean our names are important look at Ecclesiastes 7 verse 1 so point number 3 is your name should bring honor not reproach your name should bring honor not reproach I got a I just realized I'm out of time so let me get through this really quickly a good name is better than precious ointment Ecclesiastes 7 1 a good name is better than precious ointment and the day of death than the day of one's birth so a good name is better than precious ointment you know why because you know God says so that's why a good name is better than precious ointment precious ointment is something that would help heal you and and you know like you know it's like Neosporin or something right but better because back then I'm sure we lost the true Neosporin and now it's some lab-made thing but you know a good name is better you know and so to you what do people think of when they think of your name do they think that you're a good worker they think you're a good parent they think you're a good child hey there's some children in here today what do people think of when they think of your name oh she's just a little brat he's just a little jerk he's just a he's a monster you know you don't and obviously parents have everything to do with that but kids you have your own choices to act like you have your choices to act good to you know obey your parents obey the Bible and you'll be a good called a good child but if you're always trying to get over on everybody get over on your parents look you could probably out sneak your parents a lot of times but there's always gonna be that one time that you get caught and then you're gonna get a bad whooping right so we should be good people and our name hey our to have a good name is better than precious ointment for us to have a good name it's important it's important to God it's important to each other it's important to your parents and it's important to your family Genesis chapter 34 I'm gonna read all this because I'm out of time but you know I'm gonna have you turn to Genesis 34 look at verse 30 I'll be done here just a couple minutes but I'm gonna read for you first Peter 4 for 15 it says but let let none of you suffer as a murderer as a thief or as an evildoer or as a busybody and other men's affairs so that's not something that we want to attach our name to is being a busybody someone's always minding somebody else's business why don't you worry about yourself you got believe me you everybody in this room has plenty of things to work on without having to work on everybody else's stuff so if you've run out of things for yourself then you think you're perfect you come see me and I'll let you know where you're not Genesis chapter 34 verse 30 says and Jacob said to Simeon and Levi you have troubled me to make me stink among the inhabitants of the land among the Canaanites and the Perizzites and I being few in number they shall gather themselves together against me and slay me and I shall be destroyed I in my house and they said should he deal with our sisters as with the harlot so basically these guys overreacted Simeon and and his brother Levi they went and because this guy defiled their their sister they went and talked him on to get themselves circumcised and they said they were gonna share families and to be this one big community but all they're trying to do is trick them so they could get him sore and then kill all of them while they're defenseless and hurt which is a wicked thing to do I mean what they did was wicked but there were heathens and unbelievers and didn't realize that what they were doing it says the guy that did that was more the most honorable in his whole house and he didn't he just didn't know and so for children of God to destroy some heathen like like they did really put a stink in the land for Jacob and if it wasn't for God making the terror of him be known that they probably would have got killed trying to get out of there but what's the point of me telling you this well in Genesis 49 when Jacob is going to bless his sons look what he says turn to Genesis 49 while you're turning I'm just gonna say this once the damage is done to your good name you might not ever be able to live it down once the damage is done to your name you might not be able to live it down so just think about the fact that you have your parents name and the things that you do could dishonor your parents and they can make your name to stink in front of the land they can make your name to stink in front of your family and we don't want it to happen you know obviously for serving Christ and that's why people hate our name well that's different I'm talking about because the wicked things that we do and once the damage is done to your good name you not you might not be able to live it down so look at Genesis 49 verse 1 this is what I'm talking about right here and Jacob called unto his sons and said gather yourselves together that may tell you that which shall befall you in the last days gather yourselves together and hear you sons of Jacob and hearken unto Israel your father Reuben thou art my firstborn my might my beginning of my strength and excellency of dignity and the excellency of power unstable as water thou shalt not excel because thou wentest up to thy father's bed and defile us thou it he went up to my couch so basically you know it says concubine that he slept with his father's concubine and he did hear about it but concubine see people think that concubine just means it's your girlfriend that's not what it means concubine means wife it does mean that so it just isn't the it's like kind of like a servant wife like somebody that was your servant you married them they might not have had a choice in the matter that type of thing but it says thou to follow to my you know so basically he slept with his wife his dad's wife it's a wicked thing to do you know and what does he do on his blessing at the day of his death it's not really a very good blessing is it it's like you're unstable as water you know you'd even go to your father's wife and and to file his couch so Simeon and Levi remember we just got done talking about Simeon and Levi what they do they went up and killed a whole town massacred everybody and you know what else they did I didn't have time to get into this but they also took all their children and their wives and the women's as servants as slaves took them out of the city killed all their all their husbands and all that it's a pretty wicked thing to do isn't it but what he says about them Simeon and Levi are brethren instruments of cruelty are in their habitations oh my soul come not thou into their secret unto their assembly mine honor be not thou united for in their anger they slew a man and in their self will they dig down a wall cursed be their anger for it was fierce and their wrath for it was cruel I will divide them in Jacob and scattered them in Israel so the things that be followed in the latter days that's that's unlike a blessing to you it's not a blessing you know why because they made their dad's name to stink in the land and he had to leave that place that he was at because of what their his sons did so it is really important how we conduct ourselves in our lives and we need you need to remember what your last name is and maybe your last name was mud before but you know what you can change that by being better you know as Christians we can change the way our names are you know if your last name's Munson you know change you know you can change that to being a better name right you're not Munson down the middle of nowhere but anyway you know if somebody had like if your name's Judas make that name good again or change it but what my point is is that we can we can do better and we need to make sure that we remember whose name we have and you know what we should remember that we're God's children and that we need to make sure that we're making his name not to stink in the land too because you know Christ is the one that we're supposed to be serving Christ is the one that we're supposed to be us you know we're a servant of Christ right and so we don't want his name to stink in the land because of the things that we do we don't want to give Christ a bad name you know because his name is the greatest name in all the universe there's no name higher than the name of the Lord Jesus Christ in Acts 4 7 it says and and when he had sent them in the midst they asked by what power by what name have you done this what power what name did you did you do to have you done this for then Peter filled with the Holy Ghost said unto them he rulers of the people and elders of Israel if we this day be examined of what good deed done to the impotent man by the that which by what means he is made whole be it known unto you all and to the people of Israel that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth whom he crucified whom God raised from the dead even by him that this man stand before you whole this is the stone which made which was set at not of you builders which has become the head of the corner neither is there salvation in any other any other what any other name for there's none other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved you know what how important names are there's no other name under heaven that's more important than the name of Jesus because you know what without it you're not gonna get saved what's Jesus are they talking about Jesus Christ of Nazareth the Messiah right so that name the name is so important that we are actual salvation depends upon it because if you don't call upon the name of the Lord and Joel 2 32 says and it shall come to pass that whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be delivered in Romans chapter 10 verse 13 says for whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved hey if we don't have the name of Jesus then what how are we gonna get saved that's how important names are and we need to make sure that our name is doing is lining up with the name of Jesus and that we thought that we we got to take it serious because we don't want to make our Lord's name to stink among the people do we and you know if you're being called a thief or a liar or gossip or any of this other stuff hey you know in here you can have a great reputation online you can have a great reputation online on Facebook you can have a great reputation hey look they have the perfect marriage they have the perfect kids at the perfect life their Thanksgiving look perfect but you notice people don't take the pictures of the Thanksgiving of the food on the floor afterwards and the tables and chairs all messed up afterwards hey they take pictures of what when it looks all good and fine and that's what people do too and that's what people's personas online are like too but you know what is your name like outside of this place what do people think about you outside of church that's what's really important we need to make sure that we're trying not to make our Lord's name stink among the heathen let's pray Lord we thank you so much for this study on names Lord there's so much more that could have been gone over Lord but just pray that you would bless the people Lord and and when we go to study about names that we just wouldn't skip over our Bible reading and think you know this isn't important because every word of God is pure Lord and we know that's true and I pray that you'd help us to when we get to these parts in the Bible and we would take some time to study and figure out why these things are important and and all these types of things and I just pray that you'd bless Lord pretty watch over Luke and angel and their time of need right now and pray you bless them and take care of them and Jesus name we pray amen