And I am just in awe. It never ceases to amaze me, and I hope that I don't pass that stage where it never ceases to amaze me when I see the Lord leading. I love to see the Lord leading. My heart was blessed last night at the wedding.
My heart was blessed, encouraged, and challenged at the breaking of bread. And as we're just singing now, my heart is in awe. Jesus, your name, your name is power, breath, and living water. My message title this morning is your name.
I never told anyone what I was speaking on. Normally I give Misson's challenges. We were with new transmission. Almost 20 years, three months shy of 20 years in the Lord led.
Now we're full-time with NBI. I'm still passionate about missions. And I still am representing the mission, but involved with the Bible school. I love speaking and sharing and pointing people to the Lord.
And I'm so thankful for this opportunity. I was down front there and I was thinking I wish my wife was with me. For more reasons than one, but my wife loves to sing. She's a gifted singer and musician.
And I thought, I got to go home and tell her about this. And she's going to be like, please, my wife wanted to come. She wasn't able to come because we have three boys and they had to be seven different places this weekend. One of our boys has a birthday today and I'm always away on birthdays, but hopefully I'll get home tonight, the cake and, but thank you.
My heart is encouraged. Let's go before the Lord now. Father, I thank you for who you are. Lord, as was mentioned this morning in the breaking of bread, there is so many things that can distract us.
May we set our affections on things that are above. And Father, you know that there's many times I've set. And my mind has not been on the things above. Not only when we were meeting, but throughout the week.
Oh God, give us just more and more insight to who you are. And we may fall deeper in love with you. May we be more rooted and grounded in your word. As I was standing there singing, I was thinking, we got into the world with this attitude of praise.
We'll turn Halifax upside down for the Lord Jesus Christ. Oh Father, I thank you for who you are in your name is power, breath and the living water. Lord, I ask that you would guide this morning as we look into your word. Amen.
If you have your Bibles, turn with me to Philippians chapter 2. You know, earlier in the week when I started putting this message together, I knew what the Lord had me to share. In fact, I had the middle and the ending, but not the beginning. It doesn't always work that way.
And I was saying, well Lord, I don't know how to start this one off. And again, you know, it never ceases to amaze me how the Lord leads and works. And one thing I'm teaching at MBBI this year is the notions, something that I started teaching because I'm finding more and more people don't know how to study the Word of God. We don't know how to do our devotions.
And I am so convinced we need to be in the Word on a regular basis studying and drinking from the Word of God. And the other day, I was doing my devotions and as I was doing my devotions, the Lord directed me through my devotions and Philippians chapter 2 and starting at verse 5, let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus. If we could take that right there and implement that in our life, that our mind was the same as the mind of Christ. Oh, wouldn't it change us?
Wouldn't it change us? The times that were hurt, that were offended, that were disappointed, that were discouraged, that maybe we feel insignificant or one way or the other way. And we're all proud. But if we had the mind of Christ for seven years, I was a representative for New Christ mission.
And one of the things that would discourage me is people would say, I was challenged to get involved in missions, the incredible task of taking the gospel to those that never hurt. And then they say, but I can't do that. I couldn't live like this. I couldn't give up this or that or whatever.
Let me draw your attention to this verse 5. Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus, who being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God, but made of himself of no reputation and took upon him the form of a servant and was made in the likeness of man and being found in fashion as a man. He humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Praise the Lord.
What an amazing God. And sometimes we have the audacity to say, I can't do this. I can't do that. I could never do that.
And sometimes we may not say it. We say, I won't do that. Oh, if we could just take these verses and just soak in them and be saturated by them. And verse 9 is the verse that the Lord drew my attention to wherefore God also has highly exalted him and given him a name which is above every name.
Oh, do we realize that? Folks, if the ramifications of that, if we dwell on that realizing we're saying just a few minutes ago stronger, why would we be afraid? Too often, as believers, we walk around defeated. We shouldn't.
Again, my heart has really been blessed and encouraged. And I don't know very many of you, but something the Lord has laid on my heart. Let me ask you a question. Are you active?
Are you active in your walk with the Lord? Living out your faith. Taking a step of faith. I want to encourage you to do that.
Sam just gave a little plug for going out on Friday nights. Oh, I would encourage you folks. Take a step of faith and live out your faith. Get involved.
And you will see how the Lord works and what God does in your life. A name which is above all names. We just had exams Thursday at NBDI. So I'm still in the mode of exams, I guess.
What I would love to do this morning as we think about this, a name above all names, is I would like to hand out blank pieces of paper and pens and say, right. What that name means to you. That would be a good assignment to do. To sit down and write.
What does that name mean to you? Years ago, one of my teachers did that to me. And you know what I'll tell you, I was ashamed of how little I could write. I was ashamed.
I realized how little I knew and how much I lacked in my relationship with the Lord. A name which is above all names. A name that changes. A name that transforms.
Turn with me to Acts. Acts, chapter 9. Acts, chapter 9. Verse 1 says, and Saul was yet breathing out threatening and slaughtering.
Acts, chapter 9. Verse 1 says, and Saul was yet breathing out threatening and slaughtering against the disciples of the Lord. Could you imagine this individual and went to the high priest and desired letters to Damascus, to the synagogues that if he found any of these, whether they be men or women, he might bring them bound unto Jerusalem. Could you again imagine an individual like this?
In verse 3 says, as he journeyed, he came to Damascus and suddenly they're shined round about him a light from heaven. And he what fell to the earth? And heard a voice saying unto him, Saul, Saul, why persecute us thou me? And he said, who art thou Lord?
And the Lord said, I am Jesus. A name. A name above all other names. And I believe you know the story, how it ends, how that name above all names saved him, transformed him, empowered him to do things that we can't even hardly imagine.
Let me ask you this question. Here we see that Saul had an encounter with the Lord Jesus Christ. Let me ask you this question because I'm convinced that too often we presume that people are Christians. Have you had an encounter with the Lord Jesus Christ?
Have you had an encounter with him? You know, I am so excited what the Lord is doing. We have three boys. My oldest son is strong-willed.
He's never wrong. He's determined. He's just like his mother. No, he's like his dad.
The apple didn't fall too far. But you know what? The last few years in talking to my son, I challenged him and I said, Jed, I don't believe you're saved. And he would almost always tell me, dad, you're old.
You're outdated. You're a legalist, et cetera, et cetera. But I said, Jed, by the word of God, I don't believe you're saved. Oh, he went to prayer meetings.
He wore Christian clothes. He spoke Christianese. But you know what? On July 9, 2015, he accepted the Lord.
And you ought to see him now. He came to me when he did not want to go to MDBI. He fought it until he got saved. And he went to MDBI and he said, dad, I'm just going to MDBI because he wanted to be a professional football player.
He's really good. But he ruined both of his ankles, had to have surgery. And the second day he was at MDBI and he said, dad, I hope you're okay with convicting your son. I want to be a missionary.
I said, it wasn't me, it was the Lord. My son wants to be a missionary. God's not an amazing work in his life. Have you had an encounter with the Lord Jesus Christ?
And then let me ask you, secondly, are you growing in him? Folks, we have got to be growing in the Lord. I have found this in my relationship with the Lord. I can't give what I don't have.
If I'm not feeding myself, if I'm not growing, I cannot. I have got to be John, chapter 15. I have got to be connected to the vine. I have got to be connected to him.
One thing that I like to talk about is homegrown missionaries. So I call people that grow up in their church, their assembly, their taught, their nurtured, their developing, their gift. As Paul said to Timothy, develop the gift of God, which is in thee. And they're active in their local church and their assembly.
When I was serving as a representative and somebody said, hey, I want it or I want to become a missionary. I'd like to join new tribes mission. The first question I would ask them is what are you doing in your church? Are you active in your local assembly?
What are you doing? You would not believe how many times people respond by saying, I don't even go to church. I don't do anything. Let me tell you this, to the degree we know him, to that degree we will serve him.
To the degree we know him, we will serve him. We have got to have an active relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. The last few months, the Lord's really been burdened my heart with a persecuted church. I don't know if you follow the persecuted church or not, but some of the things that are happening around the world today.
Incredible. Back in August, we passed the number 3000 that so far this year, over 3000 believers have been martyred for Christ in different parts of the world. I read a book a couple years ago, it's worth rereading, but Tortured for Christ by Richard Warmbrand. I'm not sure if any of you have read it, but I would highly recommend that book.
You see at one point in time, Richard says that he started to think that he had suffered more than Christ. The terrible, terrible things that he had gone through, but then he started to reflect on the Lord Jesus Christ, and he realized that he knew nothing about suffering. I overheard my wife, I wish I could have brought my wife with me, I've got a tremendous wife. But one time I heard my wife explaining to a young lady who was going through a hard time, and the lady was saying, you know, it says that his grace is sufficient for me, but she said, I'm about out of grace.
And I loved how my wife explained it to her. My wife said to her, God doesn't give you a basket of grace. Because you see, if we did give us a basket of grace, what we would do is we would be focusing on that, and we would be like, okay, it's full. And then as time went on, you'd be like, it's getting emptier, and it's getting emptier, and I'm running out of grace.
But you know, folks, you'll find that his grace is sufficient when you need it. Walking with him, you will see that his grace is sufficient. A name above all names. And you know, Joseph and Mary didn't give him that name.
I was thinking last night when David was talking about when Mary was born, and he was saying, it's a girl. Philip's not gonna work. I could relate. I was convinced.
Jed was a girl. We had the name all picked out, and I've never been able to use it. Mariah Esther was going to be her name. And he was born, and there he was, the umbilical cord still not caught.
And I said, it's a boy, and the doctor turned to me and said, very good. I wanted to be the father of a little girl so bad, but God knew I'd be a basket case someday. You did very well. I would have not done that well.
And she would have had me wrapped around her little finger. So I had to come up with a name. Thankfully my wife approved. But you see, Mary and Joseph didn't pick that name.
Luke chapter 1, verse 33 says, And behold thou shalt conceive and thy womb and bring forth a son, as the angel is telling Mary, and says, Thou shalt call his name Jesus, Jehovah is salvation. A name above all other names. Let's go to Hebrews. Oh folks, something that would be good to study.
I would encourage you to do a study on the names of God. Hebrews chapter 1, and verse 4. I can't take the time and read the previous verses, but verse 4 says, Being made so much better. You should go through Hebrews, and underline or highlight.
Every time you see much better, much more. Any time you see the word much, you should do a study on that in this book. And being made so much better than the angels, as he hath white inheritance obtained what? A more excellent name.
What an amazing God in God. I'm convinced that we just know a little sliver of who he is. And then go to chapter 2 and verse 9, as we think of the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. The great I am.
Chapter 2 verse 9 says, But we see Jesus who has made a little lower than the angels. For the suffering of death, crowned with honor and glory, that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man. Verse 10, For it, Becane him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things. He sustains everything.
His power. By his word. What an amazing God. What an amazing name.
Let me ask you this question. What are you willing to do for the name of the Lord Jesus Christ? What are you willing to do? I remember one time when I was a boy.
My parents had six children. And my parents raised us this way, that we knew how we were to act. And my parents were not going to be in the store and say, I've told you 10 times to straighten up. My mom just had to look at me and I knew what was going to happen when we got home.
I knew because you see, my parents taught us how we were to act. And one time we were in the store and it must have been in the devil that made me do it. It must have been. No, you know, that's not true.
I was misbehaving. And my mother was frustrated at me. And she walked over to me and she grabbed me by the shoulders and she said, Michael, now I go by Mike. She said Michael, that caught my tension.
And then she said, John. And I knew it was to the woodshed. She said, Grant, Ouch, thank you. She said, start acting like a grant.
She said, you are embarrassing the family name. Stop it and act like you are taught. And I have never forgotten that. I have never forgotten that.
What are we willing to do for the matchless name of the Lord Jesus Christ? We should be willing to do anything to go to the ends of the earth. Turn with me back to Luke chapter 2. As we were just talking about angels.
Think about angels for just a second. And in Luke chapter 2, well known Christmas story here in chapter 2. In the angel appears to the shepherd and verse 10 chapter 2 saying, And the angel sit unto them, Fear not, for I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David, a Savior, which is Christ the Lord, and this shall be a sign unto you.
You shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger in verse 13. Catch verse 13. And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of heavenly hosts, praising God, saying glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace and good will toward man. I'm under the impression from studying this and meditating on this, that the angels couldn't contain themselves anymore.
As they were hearing this announcement that they couldn't, they just came out and were praising God. Now we don't run on emotions, okay? We don't in feelings. But as this announcement was being made, that the Lord Jesus Christ was coming to save.
They hopelessly lost earth. They couldn't help, but coming out and rejoicing and praising God to the glory of God. This isn't the first time that the angels acted this way, by the way. You go back to Job chapter 38, and as God is talking to Job, and then he says to Job, I'm going to paraphrase it, but he says I'm going to ask you a few questions.
Now, gird up your loins and answer me like a man. And then he goes on and says, Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? And then he asks them, the first signs test ever, I think. I hope to do in different things.
But then he says there in verse 7, when the morning stars were created, the angels shouted for joy. Stars were never there before. And God spoke them into existence, and the angels were rejoicing. The heavens what?
Declare the glory of God. Says the angels shouted for joy. And here when they hear it, they can't contain it. You know Friday at MBBI we were blessed.
Tim Watley, the director of New Tribes Mission, Ethnos, Canada. I'm going to keep calling it New Tribes because I was New Tribes for 18 years. But Tim Watley was with us. Tim Watley was actually born in Halifax.
And one time his parents, when he was two, went down to Pennsylvania to attend the missions conference to learn how to be senders, how to send missionaries. And he told his wife before they left Halifax. We're just going to learn how to become better senders. We're not having anything to do with missionaries.
And they were there and the first day Tim said, get me a card. Or Tim's dad said, get me a card. I want to sign up. I want to be a missionary.
And they went to Indonesia and planted a church up in the mountains. And they had five children. And every one of those five children either have served our are in Indonesia today. And Tim graduated and came home and went through the training.
And then he himself went back to Indonesia to a very remote place up in the mountains. And there was so much vegetation. And it's hard to explain this to the neo-national geographic. But there were so many plants and trees that the helicopter couldn't even land.
That it came down about ten feet. And Tim and his brother-in-law threw their bags. And then they jumped from the helicopter because they couldn't even land. And the people group that they had landed in called a moi had never seen a white person before.
They never heard the name of Jesus. In fact, the very first man that Tim met had just killed his third wife. Because he was convinced that she was an evil spirit. And so he strangled her.
Could you imagine meeting someone for the first time and saying, what have you done? Well, I just strangled my wife. Oh, you want to go for coffee? And after some time, they were able to present the teaching.
And you see, these people were animistic. These people were afraid. Anthropologists will tell you they're fine. Leave them alone.
But they're not. Tim showed us countless pictures. And in every face, in every eye, you could see fear and hopelessness. And when they started teaching them about God, and Tim had a picture, I got to get a copy of it, because this man who had killed his-one of his wives and had killed other people, when he had heard for the first time, that God is good.
You should have saw the look on his face. These people lived in fear. They lived in fear. Man never tops children.
Because they were afraid that if they liked their children, showed attention to their children, that the evil spirits would take them. The women never bathed. Nobody bathed. But the women, when they gave birth, they never even washed off the effects of being birth.
The placenta. Because they believed that evil spirits were in the water. They never drank when they were pregnant, because they believed that would put a spirit right into the baby. And they had countless countless miscarriages, children born weak and malnourished, and they thought that was good, because a healthy child was assigned that it had an evil spirit.
And one day, this lady brought a newborn baby, and his toes were cut off. And Tim's wife said, why did you cut off his toes? And the lady said, because I've had, this is my fifth children. And my other children have all died.
The spirits took them. So I cut off his toes, so the spirit would think that he's ugly, and that I hate him. And so maybe this child will live. Can you imagine living in that fear and bondage?
But you know what, when you see the picture of this man, when the first time he hears that God is good, the picture is not worth the... Will he say, picture is worth a thousand words? I don't think a thousand words would describe the hope that you see in this man. And you know what, now there's a thriving church there.
There's a thriving church, and then that man became a believer. Not long after he became a believer, his eight-year-old daughter got sick and died. And Tim was very concerned about him, because you see, remember that the evil spirits, they were convinced that the evil spirits was taken. They didn't realize that it was malnutrition and other things.
And so when this new believer lost, his eight-year-old daughter, Tim was so concerned, and I would like to bring that man here and have him do some grief counseling. Because when Tim went and talked to him, he said, how are you doing? How are you feeling? And he up the man's at home?
I have perfect peace. Because I trust my loving Heavenly Father, a man who lived in fear his entire life, but as a new believer, he said, I trust my Father's plan. And then he said this, I am grateful that God gave me her for eight years. We could learn so much from that new believer, trusting my Father's plan.
But you see, the name of Jesus was an incredible name for him. It was hope. It was peace. Eternal life.
What does the name Jesus mean to us? How does it impact us? The name of Jesus is a special name. It's a superior name.
It's a stainless name. It's a strong name. It's the strongest name. It's a saving name.
And it's a serving name. And we could go on and on and on. But let me ask you this. What does the name Jesus mean to you?
Turn in your Bibles. I want to go just in closing here to Acts chapter 13. And again, I hope it never ceases to amaze me and excite me. What God does in the life of a believer that says, here am I, send me.
Here I am Lord. I'm going to commit myself as a living sacrifice. I'm going to serve you. You see, what we have a habit of doing is we put God in a box.
And this is our comfort zone. And we say, God, I trust you in this box, in this area. But then there's some other things over here. No, I can't do that.
All right, I can't. God can be trusted in an arena with no boundaries. We can take a step of faith and follow him. Whatever he has us to do.
And what amazes me here about the life of Paul. Paul is just an individual, folks. Let's not put him up on a pedestal. He is just an individual that applied the word of God to his life.
As he said in 1 Timothy chapter 1, this is a faithful and trustworthy saving. Christ Jesus came to save sinners of whom I'm chief. You see, the more he grew in understanding, the name of Jesus. The more he realized who he was.
And he also understood what the Lord could do in through his life. And here in Acts, actually I want to go to Acts chapter 11. Acts chapter 11, in beginning to read at verse 22. And it said, then tidings of these things came unto the ears of the church, which was in Jerusalem.
And they sent forth Baribus that he should go as far as Antioch, who when he was come had seen the grace of God was glad and exhorted them all with the purpose of heart that they would cleave unto the Lord. For he was a good man and full of the Holy Ghost and of faith. And much people were added unto the Lord. Then departed Barnabas to tarsus to seek Saul.
Wait just a second. Didn't the church send him there? You see one of the things that I love about this is Barnabas was sent there. And we know that Barnabas was such an encourager.
But when he got there, he saw the people. He encouraged the people. But then he thought, think what the Lord can do with these people if I go and get Saul. And then he went and got him and brought him back.
And when they found him, he says brought him unto Antioch, verse 26. And it came to pass out a whole year. They assembled themselves together with the church and taught much people. And the disciples were called Christians, followers of Christ, first in Antioch.
I'm a firm believer. We need to take a step of faith. Follow the Lord. But we also need to recognize.
We need the body of Christ. That we need others. And I think how with this story of ended, if Barnabas would have said, hey, I'm just going to do it all by myself. I don't mean to embarrass Warren, but we were talking earlier.
But the blessing when you're out doing evangelism and serving together. And someone else says something. And that encourages you and it motivates you. Folks, Christianity is not for the Lone Ranger.
It's not. But so often that's what we tried to do. When we served in Bolivia, I had a tremendous coworker. I miss him to this day.
We worked well together. But you know what, I didn't always start out that way. Because you know why? I wasn't teachable.
I wasn't teachable. When he would point out things in my life, I would get defensive. And I'd point out flaws in his life. Good Christian boy.
You gave it to me. I'm going to give her a right back. You give me a right hook. I'll give you a left jab.
Oh, and guys, what the Lord did. And we became good friends. When I realized he was just helping me. Pointing out areas that could grow in.
And we became tremendous friends and a great team. I say, I miss him today. We need one another. And the thing we need in the body of Christ.
Especially man. Man that will admit to another man. Hey, I'm struggling. I'm weak.
I need help. And then that brother will help us grow. Encourage us. Put his arm around us.
Oh, let's be a people. That will do that. Let's pray. Father, just thank you for who you are.
Lord, we thank you for the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. A name above all names. And Father, may we just have a burden, a desire to grow in knowing you. And Lord, may we not be ashamed to speak the name of Jesus.
May we not be ashamed to let it show in our actions. Our daily encounters. I grew up singing stand up, stand up for Jesus. And so often Lord, I don't.
I'm a coward. Lord, I thank you for your indwelling Holy Spirit. For the word of God. And the work that it does in through us.
For your honor and glory. Amen. God bless you.