i stand as a witness to the Truth which is within me… pastor~bryan

In Him was life; and the life was the Light of men. (John 1)

The blood of Jesus… has brought me into the bloodline and i carry His Name. i am a son of God and so are you when you call upon His Name.

 There it was—the true Light [the genuine, perfect, steadfast Light] which, coming into the world, enlightens everyone. He (Christ) was in the world, and though the world was made through Him, the world did not recognize Him. (John 1)

God is God alone. In thankfulness to God for His great work for us and in us, we worship Him as God alone. We will have no other gods before us. And because we acknowledge that He alone is Sovereign and that He alone has the right to demand of us what He wills, we have received from His mouth a direct order, which in essence calls us to worship Him only in the way that He Himself has appointed in His Word, chiefly hearing Him in the lively preaching of His Gospel, in order then to respond to Him with thankful praise.

John 4

²³ But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him.

²⁴ God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.

The Truth has saved us and therefore the God Whom we serve as our heavenly Father, is the God Who is perfectly holy. And if He is holy — and believe me He most certainly is — then His name, by which He reveals Himself to us, is also holy.

A name is not merely a random combination of sounds. The name conveys the nature and essence of the thing named. It represents the history and reputation of the being named.

This is not as strange or unfamiliar concept as it may seem at first glance. In English, we often refer to a person’s reputation as his “good name.” When a company is sold, one thing that may be sold is the company’s “good will,” that is, the right to use the company’s name. The Hebrew concept of a name is very similar to these ideas.

An example of this usage occurs in Ex. 3:13-22: Moses asks God what His “name” is. Moses is not asking “what should I call you;” rather, he is asking “who are you; what are you like; what have you done.” That is clear from God’s response. God replies that He is eternal, that He is the God of our ancestors, that He has seen our affliction and will redeem us from bondage.

Because a name represents the reputation of the thing named, a name should be treated with the same respect as the thing’s reputation. For this reason, God’s Names, in all of their forms, must be treated with enormous respect and reverence.

Person and name are inseparable. 

But to as many as did receive and welcome Him, He gave the right [the authority, the privilege] to become sons of God,that is, to those who believe in (adhere to, trust in, and rely on) His –Name— ¹³ who were born, not of blood [natural conception], nor of the will of the flesh [physical impulse], nor of the will of man [that of a natural father], but of God [that is, a divine and supernatural birth—they are born of God—spiritually transformed, renewed, sanctified]. (John 1)

By a man’s name, and what is told about him, his reputation is recorded in the minds of others as a man with a good or a bad name. And so in the Proverbs 22:1 we read that a good name is rather to be chosen than great riches. And in Ecclesiastes 7 we are told that a good name is better than precious ointment. Therefore we also realize that when a man’s name is reproached or slandered, it is his person that bears that expression of hatred and contempt.

God’s name also is inseparable from His very Being. By His name He reveals Himself. The name of God is that which He Himself makes known of Himself and all His virtues. In the first place, that name of God is unveiled in all the works of His hands, in creation and in history.

Through all those things God has made Himself known, establishing His reputation, if you will.

Psalm 145, the Holy Spirit declares through the Psalmist… his resolution to praise the name of God, his King, forever and ever. This man is compelled and driven by the Holy Spirit, as i am.

He speaks of God’s name as that by which God has revealed Himself. Listen:

“Every day will I bless thee; and I will praise thy name for ever and ever. Great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised; and his greatness is unsearchable. One generation shall praise thy works to another, and shall declare thy mighty acts. I will speak of the glorious honour of thy majesty, and of thy wondrous works. And men shall speak of the might of thy terrible acts: and I will declare thy greatness” (Psalm 145:2-6).

He continues to speak of the works of God in all the creation, and in the outworking of His counsel in history, standing in awe of the fact that “The LORD is righteous in all his ways, and holy in all his works….The LORD preserveth all them that love Him: but all the wicked will he destroy” (verses 17 and 20).

And so the Holy Spirit concludes,

“My mouth shall speak the praise of the LORD: and let all flesh bless his holy name for ever and ever” (vs. 21). In Psalm 8 the same truth is expressed, namely, that God’s name is made manifest in the works of His hands, and is especially magnified in the eyes of us who are His. For our confession is exactly this: “O LORD, our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth!”

2 Timothy 2:19: “Let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity.” In honor of His name, you and I are called to live unto Him. Thank God for this wonderful freedom He has given us, to walk in the way of His Word.

REPEATEDLY WE ARE CALLED IN SCRIPTURE TO “GIVE UNTO THE LORD THE GLORY DUE UNTO HIS NAME.”

That requires in our hearts the wonder work of God’s grace in Christ Jesus. You understand that, don’t you? How we use God’s name reveals the deepest recesses of our hearts. From the horrible corruption of our sinful flesh which makes us so often treat God as if He doesn’t even exist, from the enmity of our heart which moves us to trample under foot the holy name of God and live in such a way that we drag Him through the mire of sin, we have been delivered by the power of God’s irresistible grace. We hear this law now as those who stand on Mount Zion, redeemed by the blood of Christ, delivered from the bondage of sin and death.

i spent 11.5 months in my living room calling upon His name and the baptism of His Spirit is a miracle… supernatural.  you will know when this happens.  the Holy Spirit says Today is the day of Salvation.  i have had people call on the Lord this very day and instantly they were baptized… Never give up.  O my… how this is the most glorious action you could ever do on earth, to step into Eternity, into the Bosom of your Father once again.

Romans 10

8 But what does it say? “THE WORD IS NEAR YOU, IN YOUR MOUTH AND IN YOUR HEART”—that is, the word of faith which we are preaching, 9 that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; 10 for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation. 11 For the Scripture says, “WHOEVER BELIEVES IN HIM WILL NOT BE DISAPPOINTED.” 12 For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, abounding in riches for all who call on Him; 13 for “WHOEVER WILL CALL ON THE NAME OF THE LORD WILL BE SAVED.”

The Name Jesus is honey on my lips and more precious than wine.  He is precious and the Lover of my soul.  i am in Love with Him and do my very best each and everyday to honor Him.  How can I not when He saved me from the world of pain.

Thankful Heart…

Pastor~b